Patent Application
20160248945
This application is a Continuation of International Application No. PCT/EP2014/073543, filed on Nov. 3, 2014, and for which priority is claimed under 35 U.S.C. § 120. PCT/EP2014/073543 claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) to Application No. 13306510.2, filed in Europe on Nov. 4, 2013. The entire contents of each of the above-identified applications are hereby incorporated by reference into the present application.
1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a scrolling system for scrolling a printed roll of media comprising a mechanical scrolling apparatus and a user interface device. The mechanical scrolling apparatus comprises a first winder for placing the printed roll and from which first winder the printed roll is unwindable, and a second winder for winding up the printed roll unwound from the first winder. At least one winder of the first and second winders is drivable by a motor. An unwound area at which is a piece of the printed roll that is unwound from the first winder and not yet wound up on the second winder.
2. Description of Background Art:
Nowadays, printing systems are available for printing images on a roll of media. When the roll of media is printed completely with images, it is difficult to find a specific image printed on the roll. Mechanical solutions are provided such that a user interaction is limited to a start and a stop of the unwinding of the roll.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a system for facilitating an easier way of looking for an image printed on a roll of media.
According to the present invention, this object is achieved by a scrolling system, wherein the user interface device is configured to receive a selection of a part of a digital representation of images printed on the roll. Upon receiving a selection of the part of the digital representation of the images printed on the roll by means of the user interface device, the motor is activated in order to scroll the printed roll by means of the first and second winders until a piece of the printed roll arrives in the unwound area, which piece of the printed roll corresponds to the selected part of the digital representation.
An operator selects the image he needs on the digital representation of the images of the printed roll by means of the user interface device. The printed roll will be automatically unwound to the correct position on the printed roll. According to an embodiment, the mechanical scrolling apparatus measures which part of the printed roll arrives in the unwound area by a sensor or a camera positioned near the media unwound from the roll. According to another embodiment, the mechanical scrolling apparatus registers the amount of media already unwound from the first winder and/or the amount of media already wound up on the second winder. By doing so, the part of the printed roll in the unwound area is exactly known.
According to an embodiment, the user interface device is configured to display at least a part of the digital representation of images printed on the roll in order to facilitate the selection of the part of the digital representation. The operator or user may select on a display of the user interface device a part of the digital representation. For example, a particular image may be selected or a plurality of images may be selected. The plurality of images may have been consecutively printed on the roll.
According to an embodiment, the user interface device is configured to receive a scrolling action for scrolling to a part of the digital representation, and scrolling to the part of the digital representation on the user interface device invokes an activation of the motor in order to scroll the printed roll by means of the two winders until a piece of the printed roll arrives in the unwound area, which piece of the printed roll corresponds to the part of the digital representation scrolled to. Scrolling may be enabled by means of a touch screen of the user interface device or by means of a display of the user interface device, which display shows scrolling bars along the part of the digital representation of the images printed on the roll. Forward and backward scrolling is enabled and forward and backward winding of the first and second winders is enabled, respectively. In case of forward and backward winding the printed roll, two motors, one motor coupled to a holder of the first winder and one motor coupled to a holder of the second winder, may be envisioned. In this way, the scrolling mechanical apparatus may be designed rather symmetrically with respect to the first winder and the second winder.
According to an embodiment, the scrolling system comprises a camera system for determination of a moment of arrival of the piece of the printed roll in the unwound area. The camera system registers the printed images on the roll and compares the printed images with the digital images on the digital representation. By doing so, synchronization of the scrolling of the digital representation and the winding of the winders is established.
According to an embodiment, the unwound area comprises a view area for viewing the piece of the printed roll, which piece of the printed roll corresponds to the selected part of the digital representation. By doing so, the user or operator is able to check the piece of the printed roll that arrives in the unwound area.
According to an embodiment, the scrolling system comprises a finishing system positioned near or in the unwound area for finishing a piece of the printed roll, which piece of the printed roll corresponds to a part of the digital representation, which part of the printed roll is selected on the user interface device. Such a finishing system may be a cutting system, a grommet machine, a puncher, a stapler, etc. The finishing of a particular piece of the printed roll may be indicated in a corresponding part of the digital representation by means of finishing marks alongside of or within the corresponding part of the digital representation. A finishing mark on the digital representation may determine an activation of the finishing system when a location on the piece of the printed roll corresponding to the finishing mark on the representation of the printed roll arrives at the finishing system in the unwound area.
According to a further embodiment, the finishing system is a cutting system for cutting the printed roll into at least two portions, and wherein upon cutting the printed roll into the at least two portions, the digital representation of the images on the printed roll will be split into a first digital representation corresponding to printed images on media left on the first winder and a second digital representation corresponding to printed images on media left on the second winder.
According to an embodiment, the scrolling system comprises a roll-to-roll printing system. The roll of media is printed upon in the unwound area. When the roll is completely printed upon with images, the first and second winder may be activated to unwind the printed images from the second roll, again by means of user interface device. The unwound area may be enlarged to allow printing on the unwound media in the unwound area and/or viewing in the unwound area of the images printed on the media and/or finishing of media in the unwound area.
The present invention also relates to a method for winding a printed roll, the method comprising the steps of: displaying, by means of a user interface device, at least a part of a digital representation of images printed on a roll; receiving a selection of a part of the digital representation by means of the user interface device; and automatically winding the printed roll to a piece of the printed roll, which piece of the printed roll corresponds to the selected part of the digital representation.
According to an embodiment of the method, the part of the digital representation is selected by scrolling to a position of the digital representation on the user interface device.
According to an embodiment of the method, the printed roll is wound until the piece of the printed roll is visible for operator inspection.
According to an embodiment, the method comprises the further steps of: receiving a command at the user interface means for finishing the piece of the roll with a finisher; and finishing the piece of the printed roll.
The present invention also relates to a non-transitory recording medium comprising computer executable program code configured to instruct a computer to perform the method according to any of the previous method embodiments.
It may be clear for the skilled person that the previous embodiments of the scrolling system may be combined in one way or another resulting in embodiments, which also fall under the scope of the invention. It may be clear for the skilled person that the previous embodiments of the methods may be combined in one way or another resulting in embodiments, which also fall under the scope of the invention.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the present invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:
The present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same reference numerals have been used to identify the same or similar elements throughout the several views.
The mechanical scrolling apparatus 5 is available for an operator or user working with one of the user interface devices 8A-8C and intending to find an image printed on a roll 1 wound on a first winder 1A. The mechanical scrolling apparatus 5 is connected to the network N via a wired or wireless connection 6 and is suited for receiving activation calls from at least one of the user interface devices 8A-8C. The network N may be wireless. The mechanical scrolling apparatus 5 comprises a local user interface unit 8A suitable for displaying print jobs, selecting a print job, editing settings of a print job and constructing and displaying the digital representation comprising digital images of the images printed on the roll according to the present invention.
The digital representation may also be constructed or displayed on at least one of the workstation 8A-8B and/or at the mobile device 8C wired or wirelessly connected to the printing system. The digital representation may be built at print time, for example by a printing system on which the digital images are printed. In another embodiment, a user interface is provided as a network site that is accessible with a browser on a client computer. The user interface device 8A-8C is connected to a control unit 3 of the mechanical scrolling apparatus 5.
The control unit 3 is suited to activate and deactivate the first winder 1A and the second winder 2A in order to unwind the printed roll 1 from the first winder 1A and to wind up the printed roll 1 on the second winder 2A. Digital images representing the images printed on the roll 1 may be stored in a storage 7 contained in the control unit 3 or may be stored elsewhere and being available via the network N. The digital images may, for example be stored in the workstation 8B. The digital images may also be stored in the mobile user interface device 8C. The mechanical scrolling apparatus 5 works up the roll 1 of wound printed media having a length, which is defined as a largest dimension of the media when unrolled. Media material may be paper, textile, overhead sheet material, plastic or any other kind of material or substrate suitable for winding up on a roll. The printed roll 1 has been put on the winder 1A. Individual digital images have been printed on the roll 1. The printed media 9 on the roll 1 is entering the mechanical scrolling apparatus 5 on the left side, is transferred through an unwound area 4, and leaving the mechanical scrolling apparatus 5 on the right side. The printed media 10 leaving the scrolling apparatus 5 is wound up upon a second winder 2A—similar to the first winder 1A. Media 2 has been unwound from the first winder 1A and has been wound up on the second winder 2A. The unwound area 4 is the area at which a piece of the printed roll 1 is unwound from the first winder 1A and not yet wound up on the second winder 2A.
At least one winder of the first winder 1A and the second winder 2A is drivable by a motor (not shown). The motor is, for example a step motor whose normal shaft motion consists of discrete angular movements of essentially uniform magnitude when driven from sequentially switched direct current power supply. The velocity of the media through the unwound area is recordable and/or derivable at each moment and can be used to determine the amount of winding before the selected part of the digital representation arrives in the unwound area 4.
According to an embodiment, synchronization of the scrolling of digital images of the digital representation and the winding of the two winders is established by a gauge at the beginning of the printed roll 1 and at the end of the printed roll 1. The gauge is compared to an indication mark at the beginning of the roll and the end of the roll, visualized in the digital representation (See
According to another embodiment, the synchronization is established by a camera system (not shown) being part of the scrolling system. The camera system is connected to the control unit 3 of the scrolling system. The camera system determines a moment of arrival of a piece of the printed roll in the unwound area 4, which piece corresponds to a selected part of the digital representation.
The user interface device 8A-8C is configured to receive a selection of a part of a digital representation of images printed on the roll. Such a digital representation may be stored on at least one of the user interface devices 8A-8C or in the storage 7 in the mechanical scrolling apparatus 5 or on any other storage location which is accessible by means of the network N.
A user may start a software application on one of the user interface devices 8A-8C in order to display the digital representation of the images printed on the roll 1. When the user selects a part of the digital representation of the images printed on the roll 1 by means of the user interface device 8A-8C the motor is activated in order to scroll the printed roll by means of the two winders 1A, 2A until a piece of the printed roll 1 arrives in the unwound area 4, which piece of the printed roll 1 corresponds to the selected part of the digital representation. The digital representation of the images printed on the roll 1 comprises, for each image printed on the roll 1, digital information at which position on the roll 1 the image is printed.
Each item 41-44 corresponds to an image printed on the roll. For each item 41-44 in the list 40 a file name 46 and a length item 47 of a start position of the corresponding image on the roll and an end position of the corresponding image on the roll are shown. The list 40 of items may be sorted in a same order as the order in time of the printing of the corresponding images on the roll. Besides the file name 46 and the length item 47, other metadata of the printed image may be shown in the list 40, for example, creation time of the digital image, print time of the printed image, etc.
The embodiments shown in
According to an embodiment, the digital representations 25 (
If the user interface device comprises a touch screen, forward and backward scrolling may be achieved by applying swiping gestures to the digital representations 25, 35, 45 in corresponding directions.
Scrolling to a part of the digital representation on the user interface device 20 invokes an activation of the motor of the mechanical scrolling apparatus in order to wind the printed roll by means of the two winders until a piece of the printed roll arrives in the unwound area, which piece of the printed roll corresponds to the part of the digital representation scrolled to on the user interface device 20. Since forward and backward scrolling of the digital representation is enabled, forward and backward winding of the first and second roll is enabled, respectively. In case of forward and backward winding the printed roll, two motors, one motor for the first winder and one motor for the second winder, may be envisioned. In this way, the scrolling mechanical apparatus may be designed rather symmetrically with respect to the first and second winder.
A software application may enable the selection of a type of finishing mark belonging to a specific finishing operation in order to select images printed on the roll which have the finishing marks indicated by the (x, y)-pair of ordinates.
In a standard graphic arts workflow, finishing marks are added to the digital images to be printed on the roll during a production preparation step before printing or during a finishing preparation step after printing. A software application may be installed at the user interface device or at the controller of the mechanical scrolling apparatus for recognizing the finishing marks on the digital representation. The shape and the color of the finishing marks 62-67 are round and white, respectively, but in order to easily distinguish and recognize a finishing mark from an individual digital image on the digital representation of the roll, another shape and/or another color are envisioned. The software application may enable scrolling through the images of the digital representation to a next finishing mark. The software application may also enable the selection of a specific finishing mark on the user interface device, to which specific finishing mark will be scrolled to in the digital representation. Substantially simultaneously with the selection, the roll of media will wind to the correct position for the finishing operations indicated by the selected type of finishing mark by means of the at least one motor driving the first winder and/or the second winder.
When the finishing system is a cutting system for cutting the printed roll into portions, the digital representation 75 comprises at least one finishing mark 76 and four individual digital images 71-74, for example an indication 76 of a cut line at an appropriate location on the digital representation 75 of the roll on the user interface device as shown in
Upon cutting the printed roll into a first portion and a second portion, the digital representation 75 of the images 71-74 on the printed roll will be split into a first digital representation 85 as shown in
The first digital representation 85 may be linked to the corresponding winder, for example via an identifier attached to the corresponding winder. The second digital representation 95A may be linked to the corresponding winder, for example via an identifier attached to the corresponding winder. The identifier may comprise a barcode, a QR code, a RFID unit, an electronic beacon, etc.
According to another embodiment, the first portion and the first winder are taken from the holder and the second portion is switched from the holder at the second winder to the holder at the first winder. In order to represent the printed images now positioned on the first winder for further operations to be conducted on the second portion of the roll, the order of the individual digital images 93B, 94B, 96B of the corresponding digital representation 95B has been turned in opposite order as shown in
The cutting system may comprise more than one knife. The cutting system may, for example comprise two knives for cutting a selected piece comprising at least a part of a printed image out of the roll.
In a first step S1, at least a part of the digital representation of images printed on a roll is displayed on a display of the user interface device. The part may contain at least a part of one or more digital images representing images printed on the roll.
In a second step S2, a selection of a part of the digital representation is received by means of the user interface device. The selection may be achieved by clicking on the part by a mouse or by a touch in case of a touch screen. Multi-selection of images may be supported.
In a third step S3, the printed roll is winded to a piece of the printed roll, which piece corresponds to the selected part of the digital representation. An end point B of the method is reached.
According to a further embodiment of the method, the part of the digital representation is selected by scrolling to a position of the digital representation on the user interface device. This is in particular advantageous if the number of digital images of the digital representation is large. A search option for an image characteristic, like a filename, may be supported.
According to an embodiment of the method, the printed roll is wound until the piece of the printed roll is visible for operator inspection. In the unwound area, a view area is established for viewing the piece of the printed roll. The printed roll is wound—forward or backward—until the piece of the printed roll is in the view area within the unwound area.
According to an embodiment, the method comprises the further steps of receiving a command for finishing the piece of the roll with a finisher, and finishing the piece of the printed roll. The command may be received in several cases. In a first case, the digital representation comprises a finishing mark at a digital image. As soon as the printed image corresponding to the digital image comprising the finishing mark arrives at the finisher, the command may be generated. The command may be generated by control software of the scrolling system which comprises the finisher. The command is transferred to the finisher. In a second case equal to the first case, the command is also generated but only after a consent is given by the operator for finishing by means of the user interface device.
The present invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the present invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13306510.2 | Nov 2013 | EP | regional |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/EP2014/073543 | Nov 2014 | US |
| Child | 15145014 | US |
