Claims
- 1. A method of calculating engraving parameters for a gravure cylinder at a desired raster, cell shape and stylus angle given an estimate of said engraving parameters, said method comprising the steps of:(a) inputting a set of initial parameters including an initial raster, an initial cell shape, an initial stylus angle, an initial highlight width, an initial shadow width, an initial channel width and an initial space; (b) calculating an initial value of a cell volume from said initial parameters; (c) inputting a set of new parameters including a desired raster, an estimate of a desired highlight width, an estimate of a desired shadow width, an estimate of a desired channel width and an estimate of a desired space; and (d) calculating a new value of said cell volume from said new parameters.
- 2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of calculating an initial value of a cell surface area from said initial parameters.
- 3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of calculating an initial value of a cell wall width from said initial parameters.
- 4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of calculating a new value of a cell wall width from said new parameters.
- 5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of calculating a new value of a cell width from said new parameters.
- 6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of calculating a new value of a channel width from said new parameters.
- 7. A method of calculating the amount of ink solution that a given gravure cylinder will use in making a specified number of impressions, said cylinder having a plurality of cells with a plurality of digital values, dv, ranging from 0 to 255, said method comprising the steps of:(a) creating a histogram of dv counts; (b) setting said dv to zero; (c) calculating a cell volume for one of said cells at said dv; (d) multiplying said cell volume by a count of cells with said dv; (e) incrementing said dv by one; (f) repeating said steps (c)-(e) until said cell volume of all of said cells has been calculated; (g) summing said products of said step (d); and (h) multiplying said sum of said step (g) by said specified number of impressions.
- 8. The method of claim 7 wherein there is a total cost associated with making said specified number of impressions, wherein said ink solution includes a specified percent of constituents each having a cost, calculating said total cost further comprises the steps of:(a) multiplying said cost of each of said constituents by said percent of each constituent used in said ink solution; (b) summing the products of step (a); and (c) multiplying said sum of step (b) by said result of step (h) in claim 7.
- 9. The method of claim 7, wherein there is a total cost associated with making said specified number of impressions, wherein said ink solution includes a specified percent of constituents each having a cost, and wherein said result of step (h) in claim 7, is used in the following equation to determine said total cost:total cost=(result of step (h))·Σ(cost of a constituent)·(% of constituent).
- 10. A method of determining the optimal cell geometry for a gravure cylinder comprising the steps of:(a) inputting a set of initial parameters including an initial raster, an initial cell shape, an initial stylus angle, an initial highlight width, an initial shadow width, an initial channel width, and an initial space; (b) inputting a minimum cell wall width; (c) calculating an initial value of a shadow cell wall width and an initial value of a shadow cell volume from said initial parameters; (d) calculating an initial value of a cell surface area from said initial parameters; (e) calculating an initial value of a cell volume from an initial value of said parameters; (f) inputting a set of new parameters including a new raster and cell shape; (g) calculating a new value of said shadow cell volume from said new parameters; (h) calculating a new value of said channel width from said new parameters; (i) calculating a new value of said shadow cell wall width from said new parameters; (j) calculating a new value of a highlight cell volume from said new parameters; (k) calculating a new value of a highlight cell width from said new parameters; and (l) calculating a new value of said shadow cell wall width from said new parameters.
- 11. A method of calculating engraving parameters for a gravure cylinder at a desired raster, cell shape and stylus angle given an estimate of said engraving parameters, said method comprising the steps of:(a) inputting a set of parameters including a raster, a cell shape, a stylus angle, a highlight width, a shadow width, a channel width and a space; and (b) calculating a cell volume from said parameters.
- 12. The method of claim 11 wherein said calculating step further comprises the step of calculating an initial value of said cell volume from an initial value of said parameters.
- 13. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of:calculating a new value of a cell width from a new value of said parameters.
- 14. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of:calculating a new value of a channel width from a new value of said parameters.
- 15. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of:calculating a value of a cell surface area from said parameters.
- 16. The method of claim 15 wherein said calculating step further comprises the step of calculating an initial value of said cell surface area from an initial value of said parameters.
- 17. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of:calculating a value of a cell wall width from said parameters.
- 18. The method of claim 17 wherein said calculating step further comprises the step of calculating an initial value of said cell wall width from an initial value of said parameters.
- 19. The method of claim 17 wherein said calculating step further comprises the step of calculating a new value of said cell wall width from a new value of said parameters.
- 20. A method of determining the optimal cell geometry for a gravure cylinder comprising the steps of:(a) inputting a set of initial parameters including an initial raster, an initial cell shape, an initial stylus angle, an initial highlight width, an initial shadow width, an initial channel width, and an initial space; (b) inputting a minimum cell wall width; (c) calculating an initial value of a cell wall width and an initial value of a cell volume from said initial parameters; (d) inputting a set of new parameters including a new raster and cell shape; (e) calculating a new value of said cell volume from said new parameters; (f) calculating a new value of a highlight cell volume from said new parameters; (g) calculating a new value of a highlight cell width from said new parameters; and (h) calculating a new value of said cell wall width from said new parameters.
- 21. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of:calculating a new value of a channel width from said new parameters.
- 22. A method of calculating engraving parameters for a gravure cylinder at a desired raster, cell shape and stylus angle given an estimate of said engraving parameters, said method comprising the steps of:(a) inputting a set of parameters measured from the cylinder; (b) calculating a cell volume from said parameters; and (c) calculating a new value of a channel width from a new value of said parameters.
- 23. A method of calculating engraving parameters for a gravure cylinder at a desired raster, cell shape and stylus angle given an estimate of said engraving parameters, said method comprising the steps of:(a) inputting a set of parameters measured from the cylinder; (b) calculating a cell volume from said parameters; and (c) calculating a value of a cell wall width from said parameters.
Parent Case Info
This is a divisional of application Ser. No. 09/027,263, filed Feb. 20, 1998.
US Referenced Citations (17)