Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B26—HAND CUTTING TOOLS; CUTTING; SEVERING
  • B26D—CUTTING; DETAILS COMMON TO MACHINES FOR PERFORATING, PUNCHING, CUTTING-OUT, STAMPING-OUT OR SEVERING
  • B26D5/00—Arrangements for operating and controlling machines or devices for cutting, cutting-out, stamping-out, punching, perforating, or severing by means other than cutting
  • B26D5/20—Arrangements for operating and controlling machines or devices for cutting, cutting-out, stamping-out, punching, perforating, or severing by means other than cutting with interrelated action between the cutting member and work feed
  • B26D5/30—Arrangements for operating and controlling machines or devices for cutting, cutting-out, stamping-out, punching, perforating, or severing by means other than cutting with interrelated action between the cutting member and work feed having the cutting member controlled by scanning a record carrier
  • B26D5/34—Arrangements for operating and controlling machines or devices for cutting, cutting-out, stamping-out, punching, perforating, or severing by means other than cutting with interrelated action between the cutting member and work feed having the cutting member controlled by scanning a record carrier scanning being effected by a photosensitive device
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B26—HAND CUTTING TOOLS; CUTTING; SEVERING
  • B26D—CUTTING; DETAILS COMMON TO MACHINES FOR PERFORATING, PUNCHING, CUTTING-OUT, STAMPING-OUT OR SEVERING
  • B26D5/00—Arrangements for operating and controlling machines or devices for cutting, cutting-out, stamping-out, punching, perforating, or severing by means other than cutting
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B26—HAND CUTTING TOOLS; CUTTING; SEVERING
  • B26D—CUTTING; DETAILS COMMON TO MACHINES FOR PERFORATING, PUNCHING, CUTTING-OUT, STAMPING-OUT OR SEVERING
  • B26D7/00—Details of apparatus for cutting, cutting-out, stamping-out, punching, perforating, or severing by means other than cutting
  • B26D7/27—Means for performing other operations combined with cutting
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B26—HAND CUTTING TOOLS; CUTTING; SEVERING
  • B26F—PERFORATING; PUNCHING; CUTTING-OUT; STAMPING-OUT; SEVERING BY MEANS OTHER THAN CUTTING
  • B26F1/00—Perforating; Punching; Cutting-out; Stamping-out; Apparatus therefor
  • B26F1/38—Cutting-out; Stamping-out
  • B26F1/3806—Cutting-out; Stamping-out wherein relative movements of tool head and work during cutting have a component tangential to the work surface
  • B26F1/3813—Cutting-out; Stamping-out wherein relative movements of tool head and work during cutting have a component tangential to the work surface wherein the tool head is moved in a plane parallel to the work in a coordinate system fixed with respect to the work
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
  • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
  • B41J11/00—Devices or arrangements  of selective printing mechanisms, e.g. ink-jet printers or thermal printers, for supporting or handling copy material in sheet or web form
  • B41J11/66—Applications of cutting devices
  • B41J11/663—Controlling cutting, cutting resulting in special shapes of the cutting line, e.g. controlling cutting positions, e.g. for cutting in the immediate vicinity of a printed image
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
  • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
  • B41J3/00—Typewriters or selective printing or marking mechanisms characterised by the purpose for which they are constructed
  • B41J3/44—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms having dual functions or combined with, or coupled to, apparatus performing other functions

Definitions

• the present invention is related to printing images on a carrier, preferably a sheet or a roll of paper.
• the invention is related to a method wherein one or more additional processes are performed on the printed image, such as a cutting operation, or a second printing step.
• a reference frame is used as a registration mark, in order to allow a friction feed cutting plotter to automatically detect the reference box/frame size & position.
• the image is printed inside such a reference frame, which is basically a rectangular box with a given line thickness, surrounding the printed image.
• the cutter through use of a laser based optical sensor, detects the presence of this frame, and measures the dimensions and position of the frame.
• the present invention aims to provide a method and a system which can automatically read the cutting or re-printing information from the inserted media.
• Summary of the invention [0007] The present invention is related to a method, a system and a computer program such as described in the appended claims.
• Fig. 1 represents a schematic overview of a system for performing the method of the invention.
• Fig. 2 represents a view of one complete image, comprising a reference frame, an image and two barcodes .
• Fig. 3 represents a view of a roll of paper comprising several images, to be treated according to the method of the invention.
• Fig. 4 illustrates the mapping from the theoretical vector space to the printed area.
• Fig. 5 illustrates the embodiment wherein the reference frame is subdivided into a number of segments .
• Fig. 6 illustrates the detection steps of the multiple segments of fig. 5.
• Fig. 7 illustrates the detection of a single reference point .
• the present invention is related to a method for printing an image, followed by one or more further operations, either printing on top of parts of said images, or cutting out a part of said image along a pre-defined cutting path, or other.
• a system comprising at least (see fig. 1) : - a printing/plotting device 1, a second device 2, for example for printing or cutting, a computer 3, coupled to both said devices 1 and 2.
• a software tool according to the invention runs on the computer 3 , and governs the method of the invention, as described hereafter.
• a ⁇ job' is defined as a sequence of operations, the first of which is the operation of printing an image by device 1.
• the initial printing step is performed on the basis of an image file, such as a bitmap, created for example by a known design software.
• an image 4 is printed on a carrier 5, for example a roll of paper, and a number of features are added to the image per se : - a reference frame 6, i.e. a preferably rectangular box, drawn around the image,
• identifier 7a and/or 7b this is preferably a bar code, such as a UPC code or a postnet code, readable by a suitable reading device.
• two mutually identical identifiers 7a and 7b are printed in the frame, one at the bottom and one at the top, so that the second operation may be performed regardless of the insertion direction of the carrier into the second device 2.
• the identifiers are preferably equally placed in the corner.
• the identifying elements are printed in the vicinity of the image 4, preferably in the vicinity of the frame 6, more preferably inside said frame.
• the carrier is inserted into the second device 2, for example a cutter.
• the invention's software has generated a job specific file for every image.
• This file is uniquely defined by its name or an ID tag embedded in the data, and by which the file is linked to the identifier 7. This means that reading the identifier, for example scanning the barcode, allows to identify the ID tag and thus the job specific file.
• This file comprises the data or a link to the source data of the job which is stored on the computer 3 : bitmap data of the printed image, coordinates of the reference frame, information about subsequent operations in the job (e.g. vector path for a cutting operation) .
• This sequence comprises the following steps : the second device 2 detects the position of the reference box 6, - the second device detects and reads the identifier 7a or 7b, to obtain the ID tag relevant to the printed image 4, the second device sends a message to the computer 3, said message comprising the ID tag, - the relevant source data stored in the computer is identified and output data is sent to the second device, the second device performs the second operation, on the basis of said output data.
• the output data may comprise the source data, supplemented by additional data, for example data relevant to the orientation of the image and/or the transformation which is to be applied to the image due to scaling or a deformation during printing.
• the transformation matrix may be calculated by the central computer, or by a processing means present in the second device 2.
• the second device may be a second printer/plotter, for example when the first printing operation is a white ink or coating printing onto a non- white carrier. Then this first printing step may be followed by a normal inkjet printing step on another printer on top of the white layer. Possibly, this second operation may be followed by a third, for example a position-related lamination, performed through the same sequence of steps described above . In between these operations, process steps may be performed which are unrelated to the image or the position of the reference frame, for example a position-unrelated lamination step.
• the identifiers 7 are barcodes, which are read by the same laser based sensor already used in the art to detect the reference frame.
• the barcode may be scanned by a separate scanner, possibly even a hand-held scanner. Whatever the case may be, the scanning of the identifier reveals the ID tag of the relevant source data, comprising the necessary input to the operation which is to be performed by the second device 2.
• the scanning of the identifier reveals the ID tag of the relevant source data, comprising the necessary input to the operation which is to be performed by the second device 2.
• the corners are found by detecting the position of the vertical sides at two points, for example points 12 and 13, and the position of the lower side at two points, for example points 14 and 15. This allows to scan the barcode 7a along a direction parallel to the lower side. These steps are necessary in case the frame is slightly deformed or tilted. Then the barcode 7a is scanned and read, The cutter detects whether or not the barcode has been read in its normal position, or rotated over 180°. This capability of detecting whether the code has been read from left-to-right or vice versa is a known feature of bar code detection systems. If the barcode is rotated, this means that the sheet or roll of paper has been inserted the other way round, i.e.
• the cutter links the specific barcode to an ID tag, and sends a message to the computer to look up the matching vector file,
• This file is then sent to the cutter, From this file, the dimensions of the non-deformed frame are read, allowing a measurement of the actual printed box dimensions, taking into account scaling of the box, rotation, skew or other types of deformation.
• the measurement involves the detection of the corner points PI' to P4' of the frame, see figure 4.
• the non-deformed frame dimensions are derived from the vector file, defined by points PI and P2. - After that, the mapping from the effective measured printout coordinate system (bottom part of fig. 4) to the theoretical vector space (top part of fig. 4) is calculated, by a transformation calculation, known in the art. This transformation is applied by the cutter to the theoretical vector data which is stored in the file.
• this calculation is performed by the cutter itself, not by the central computer, Finally, the transformed path is cut out.
• the measurement of the reference frame dimensions and the calculation of the transformation Parts of the communication between the cutter and the computer may also take place in a way which is known in the art.
• Characteristic to the method of the invention is the so- called 'RADAR' functionality, which is similar to the operation of 'plug and play' devices, and defined by the following : In the background, the computer 3 continuously listens to the connected devices ( "server” principle ) . Once the ID is scanned and recognized, it is automatically sent to the computer.
• the new and inventive concept of the present invention lies in the fact that an identifier is added to the image, and subsequently read by another device, allowing automatic identification of a particular job.
• the operations taking place after the computer has sent the necessary output data to the cutter, may be performed according to the method already known and documented. The difference is that according to the invention, it is not an operator who manually transmits the output data to the second device, but it is this device itself which detects the ID of the job, and requests automatic transmittal of the output data.
• FIG. 5 shows a further embodiment of the method of the invention, wherein the reference frame 20 is not a full rectangle but comprises segments 21.
• the short sides 22 of the frame are still printed in full, as are the top and bottom sections 23 of the side lines, drawn in the feed direction of the printer. These sections 23 need to be sufficiently long for the laser to detect the points 12 and 13 (fig. 2) . In between sections 23, the side lines are drawn as dotted lines.
• the dots are formed by short lines 24, at a given distance from each other.
• Each pair of corresponding dots on either side of the frame indicates the end of a segment, as well as the borderline between neighbouring segments.
• the second operation e.g. a cutting operation, is performed in sequence in each of the segments 21.
• the position of the dots 24 can be chosen automatically or manually. In the latter case, the segmentation may be adapted to the printed image.
• the vector file related to the image as a whole is divided into subfiles, which are all linked to a single barcode, but which otherwise have all the characteristics of a vector file described above.
• the middle of P3 and P12 is calculated to start scan move M4 and M5 and measure P5 and P6.
• the middle of P3 and P4 , P34 is taken, as well as the middle of P5 and P6, P56. Now the middle point of the rectangle, Pref is calculated by the perpendicular projection of P34 on the line defined by P56 and P12.
• said device measures the complete segment (P12, P13 , P21 and P22, fig. 5) and sets the transformation matrix. Segments are processed (cut or reprinted) one by one .
• the invention is equally related to any system able to perform the method of the invention.
• One embodiment of such a system is shown in figure 1, even though it may take on other forms.
• more than two devices might be coupled to the computer 3, for performing a series of consecutive operations .
• the devices might be coupled to several computers linked together in a network.
• the second and third devices are equipped with a means for reading the identifying elements. As described above, this preferably takes on the form of a laser based sensor, able to detect the frame 6 and to read the barcodes 7.
• the device 2 needs to be able to communicate with the computer 3 and needs to be equipped with a means for doing this.
• the computer which is equipped with a means for communicating with the second device.
• the invention is equally related to the software which is to be run on the computer 3, for governing the method of the invention.

Landscapes

• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Forests & Forestry (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Handling Of Sheets (AREA)
• Record Information Processing For Printing (AREA)
• Manufacture Or Reproduction Of Printing Formes (AREA)
• Printing Methods (AREA)
• Editing Of Facsimile Originals (AREA)
• Dot-Matrix Printers And Others (AREA)

Priority Applications (7)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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Family Applications (1)

Country Status (10)

Cited By (5)

Families Citing this family (2)

Citations (3)

• 2004
  • 2004-01-09 EP EP04447004A patent/EP1552945A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2004-10-27 DK DK04789658.4T patent/DK1702293T3/da active
  • 2004-10-27 PL PL04789658T patent/PL1702293T3/pl unknown
  • 2004-10-27 PT PT04789658T patent/PT1702293E/pt unknown
  • 2004-10-27 JP JP2006548043A patent/JP4302742B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2004-10-27 ES ES04789658T patent/ES2381980T3/es active Active
  • 2004-10-27 EP EP04789658A patent/EP1702293B1/en active Active
  • 2004-10-27 AT AT04789658T patent/ATE545101T1/de active
  • 2004-10-27 SI SI200431871T patent/SI1702293T1/sl unknown
  • 2004-10-27 WO PCT/BE2004/000153 patent/WO2005066881A1/en active Application Filing
• 2012
  • 2012-05-07 CY CY20121100421T patent/CY1112726T1/el unknown

Patent Citations (3)

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