The present invention concerns an inspection machine for printed matter in the form of printed sheets, such as securities, notes, banknotes, passports and other similar documents.
The present invention also concerns an inspection process for printed matter in the form of printed sheets, such as securities, notes, banknotes, passports and other similar documents.
In the field of securities, i.e. banknotes, passports and other similar documents, it is well known to use security features for protecting said documents against forgery. In this field, it is also necessary to produce printed documents with high quality in order to distinguish real printed documents and securities from fake.
Accordingly, the inspection of said printed matter must be carried out in a precise manner with high quality standards to accept only printed documents that fulfil the quality criteria and reject misprinted documents or documents that does not meet the preset quality criteria.
Known inspection machines and quality control machines for printed matter such as securities include (for example) WO 01/85586, WO 01/85457, EP 0 796 735, EP 0 668 577, EP 0 734 863, EP 0 612 042, EP 0 582 548, EP 0 582 547 and EP 0 582 546, the content of which is incorporated by reference in the present application.
It is an aim of the present invention to improve the known inspection machines and processes.
In particular, it is an aim of the present invention to provide an inspection machine and process which optimises the transport and inspection times required for performing inspection of printed sheets.
Another aim of the present invention is to make it possible to build an inspection machine with a compact configuration.
It is a further aim of the present invention to provide a simple and reliable inspection machine and process.
To this effect, the invention complies with the definition of the claims.
The invention will be best understood with reference to drawings in which
In
From the transfer cylinder 3, the successive sheets are taken over by a first inspection unit. This inspection unit is made of a transparent cylinder 4 in which an illumination lamp 5 is placed to illuminate in transparency the sheet carried by the transparent cylinder 4. As is known in the art, the successive sheets are held on said cylinder 4 by gripper means placed in a pit of the cylinder. A camera 6, for example a CCD camera known per se in the art, takes the image created by this illumination.
This image is a transparency image of the printed sheet since the cylinder is transparent and is used to check the position and quality of the features only visible in transparency, for example watermarks. To this effect, the image taken is transferred to a computer device (not shown) with appropriate programs to analyse the data (see for example the above-cited prior art references) and generate a result of the inspection.
The transparent cylinder 4 is made, for example, of plexiglas or other similar suitable material. Since this cylinder is non-metallic, it is possible to control the magnetic properties of the printed sheet, with a magnetic detector 22.
Once this first inspection by transparency has been carried out, the sheet is transferred to a second inspection unit formed by a second inspection cylinder 7 (in direct contact with the first inspection cylinder 4) with a second illuminating means 8, such as a lamp, and a second camera 9. As is known in the art, the successive sheets are held on said cylinder 7 by gripper means placed in a pit of the cylinder. This second inspection unit takes a picture of one side of the sheet on cylinder 7, for example the recto side of the sheet, and is used to control the print quality of said side of the sheet by appropriate computer devices and programs, as is known in the art. For example, this unit could control the register of the securities, banknotes, the colors etc. as is standard in the art (see for example as disclosed in the above-mentioned prior art documents incorporated by reference) and generate a result of this inspection.
This second inspection unit may comprise, in addition, second additional inspection devices referenced 10 and 11 in
After this second inspection, the inspected sheet is then transferred to a third inspection unit formed by a third inspection cylinder 12 (in direct contact with the second inspection cylinder 7) with a third illuminating means 13, such as a lamp, and a third camera 14. As is known in the art, the successive sheets are held on said cylinder 12 by gripper means placed in a pit of the cylinder. This third inspection unit is similar to the second inspection unit but takes a picture of the other side of the sheet on cylinder 12, for example the verso side of the sheet if the second unit inspected the recto side, and is used to control the print quality of said verso side of the sheet by appropriate computer devices and programs, as is known in the art. For example, this third unit, as the second unit, could control the register of the securities, banknotes, the colors etc. as is standard in the art (see for example as disclosed in the above-mentioned prior art documents incorporated by reference) with known appropriate devices (computer, programs etc) and generate a result of this inspection.
This third inspection unit may comprise, in addition and similarly to the second inspection unit described above, third additional inspection devices referenced 15 and 16 in
Once this third inspection is terminated, the sheet inspected is transferred via second 17 and third 18 transfer cylinder to a marking unit to be marked if the inspection has detected a sheet with defects. The marking unit comprises a marking cylinder 19 and a marking device 20. After the marking unit, the sheet is taken away by a chain gripper transport system 21, known per se in the art of printing machines, and is delivered in a pile delivery system. Preferably, the sheets are sorted in this delivery system, i.e. the defective (marked) sheets are put in a defective pile and the sheets with no defects are put in another pile. As is known in the art, the successive sheets are held on said transfer cylinders 17 and 18 by gripper means placed in a pit of the cylinders.
Preferably, the cameras used are linear CCD cameras that take successive linear images of the sheet being inspected. Therefore, in order to be able to take the proper image of the entire sheet being inspected, they are synchronized with the sheet transport on the cylinders 4, 7 and 12 through an encoder of said cylinders. In order to have a perfect match between the encoder reading of each cylinder 4, 7 and 12 and camera image taking, the sheet must be completely inspected before they are transferred to the next inspection cylinder. The relative position of the cylinders must be such that this condition of complete inspection before transfer is maintained. In this case, the sheets can be properly inspected and the transfer operation from one cylinder to another does not influence the inspection operation per se.
Preferably, the transfer and inspection cylinders 3,4,7,12,17 are arranged in a zigzag manner, as shown in
Preferably, as shown in
Preferably, the transfer and inspection cylinders are carrying only one set of grippers each (each cylinder being thus adapted to transport one sheet at a time), and the diameter of the cylinders is minimized for minimal transport and inspection time while maintaining the conditions defined of transfer only once the inspection is finished. In the machine configuration shown in
In
In a first step, the successive sheets to be inspected are transferred from the feeder into a first inspection unit in which the inspection by transparency is carried out.
Then, once this inspection has been done, the sheets are transferred to a second inspection unit in which a second inspection is carried out, for example on a recto side of the sheets. In this second inspection unit, it is possible to control visible features of the printing (ink, colors, registration) and non-visible features (IR, V, magnetic properties).
After this second inspection is terminated, the sheets are transferred to a third inspection unit similar to the second inspection unit but it is the other side (for example the verso side) of the sheets that is inspected in a similar manner, i.e. the visible and non-visible features are controlled.
Once this third inspection is terminated, the sheets inspected are transferred in a marking unit and are marked if the result of one of the inspection is a fail (that is the sheet has a defect).
Finally, the sheets are transported in a delivery unit and sorted in delivery piles (with or without defect) which then can be used for further processing of the inspected sheets.
Of course, in the machine of
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
04009513 | Apr 2004 | EP | regional |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/IB2005/001060 | 4/15/2005 | WO | 00 | 9/27/2006 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2005/104045 | 11/3/2005 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
4561103 | Horiguchi et al. | Dec 1985 | A |
4630813 | Watanabe et al. | Dec 1986 | A |
5530562 | Eisenbarth et al. | Jun 1996 | A |
5592573 | Eisenbarth et al. | Jan 1997 | A |
5598006 | Stringa | Jan 1997 | A |
6301374 | Stringa | Oct 2001 | B1 |
7096784 | Giori et al. | Aug 2006 | B2 |
7185749 | Armanini et al. | Mar 2007 | B2 |
7423738 | De Toni et al. | Sep 2008 | B2 |
20030107004 | Leach et al. | Jun 2003 | A1 |
20040026851 | Schaede et al. | Feb 2004 | A1 |
20050052711 | Schaede | Mar 2005 | A1 |
20060011447 | Hornung et al. | Jan 2006 | A1 |
20060038340 | Schinzel-Reiner et al. | Feb 2006 | A1 |
20060208412 | Reinhard et al. | Sep 2006 | A1 |
20060213384 | Reinhard et al. | Sep 2006 | A1 |
20070027818 | Lofgren et al. | Feb 2007 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
32 48 928 | Jul 1983 | DE |
41 03 832 | Aug 1992 | DE |
196 04 856 | Aug 1997 | DE |
102 31 409 | Jan 2004 | DE |
102 36 028 | Feb 2004 | DE |
0 582 547 | Feb 1994 | EP |
0 582 548 | Feb 1994 | EP |
0 582 546 | Mar 1994 | EP |
0 612 042 | Aug 1994 | EP |
0 668 577 | Aug 1995 | EP |
0 734 863 | Oct 1996 | EP |
0 796 735 | Sep 1997 | EP |
2023547 | Jan 1980 | GB |
61-175552 | Aug 1986 | JP |
61-175552 | Aug 1986 | JP |
2000-85095 | Mar 2000 | JP |
WO 0013128 | Mar 2000 | WO |
WO 0185457 | Nov 2001 | WO |
WO 0185586 | Nov 2001 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20070274567 A1 | Nov 2007 | US |