Patent Application
20070078617
In a printing operation, a sheet of material such as newsprint, is feed from a roll mounted in a splicer, to a sequence of printing equipment, such as printing presses, a dryer, a chill roll, cutters, folders and delivery equipment. The output of the equipment is a plurality of signatures, each having a printed image. The individual signatures are assembled with other printed signatures to form a final product, such as a newspaper.
During the printing process, quality control measures are implemented to assure that certain parameters of the printed product, such as density, registration, ribbon position, fold and so on, are satisfactory and commercially acceptable. The determination of less than satisfactory parameters, and identification of the location of the less than satisfactory conditions have consistently presented technical challenges in respect of a precise and accurate sensing and tracking of the parameters. Accurate tracking of parameter quality, particularly with an ability to identify specific signature location, will provide an improved good count and waste count for the printing press output. An ability to accurately track specific signature locations would also facilitate insertion of unique and specific data on a preselected, specific signature, and provide improved overall control of the printing operation.
According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a method for tracking printing press operation comprises the steps of generating unique individual signature identification information, tracking printing press operation information and associating the printing press operation information with the unique signature identification information.
According to a further exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the method includes the further step of processing individual signatures as a function of the associated unique signature identification information and corresponding printing press operation information.
In a yet further exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a system for tracking printing press operation is provided for use in a printing press arrangement. The system comprises a plurality of sensors arranged in a preselected configuration in the printing press arrangement to sense preselected printing press operation information, and a press control and tracking controller coupled to each of the plurality of sensors. The press control and tracking controller is arranged and configured to receive inputs from the plurality of sensors to generate unique individual signature identification information, track printing press operation information and associate the printing press operation information with the unique signature identification information.
Referring now to the drawings, and initially to
Each of the printers 20, 22, 24, 26 comprises rollers 28 arranged and configured to impress an image on the newsprint 16 as it passes between the rollers, in well known printing techniques. The printers 20, 22, 2426 may each apply a different color ink, for example, the three primary colors and black.
A dryer 30 is arranged downstream from the printers 20, 22, 24, 26. The dryer 30 is used to apply heat to the passing newsprint 16 to dry the ink of the images impressed by the printers 20, 22, 24, 26. The newsprint 16 then passes to a cooling unit 32, for passage between water cooled rollers 34 before entry into a folder 36. The folder 36 cuts and folds the roll of newsprint 16 into individual signatures 38 for input to a delivery mechanism 40, as well known in the art.
Pursuant to a feature of the present invention, a plurality of printing press operation information sensor components 42 is provided in the printing press arrangement 10, as shown in
Referring now to
In accordance with a feature of the present invention, the press signature tracking manager 50 of the computer 44 utilizes input information received from the sensors 42 to generate a signature information table in the queue 52. The table is arranged to provide a queue that associates printing press operation information represented by the input information obtained from the sensors 42 with identification information that uniquely identifies each individual signature produced by the printing press arrangement 10.
For example, the sensor 42 provided in the splicer 12 can be arranged and configured as an encoder to sense printer speed to indicate the speed at which the newsprint 16 is passing through the arrangement 10. From the speed information input by the sensor 42 to the computer 44, from data stored in the press data bank 46 and the job data bank 48 and a measure of elapsed time, the press signature tracking manager 50 calculates when each length of newsprint 16 that corresponds to a signature length, has been output by the splicer 12, and generates a unique indicia for each signature length. (In the event that the newsprint 16 is two signatures wide, two indicia can be generated per signature length). Thus, each signature produced by the arrangement 10 will have a unique identification which is stored by the computer 44 in the queue 52.
As shown in
In addition, the press signature tracking manager 50 continuously monitors the inputs received from the various sensors 42. The sensors 42 may include densitometers, color spectrometry, registration sensors, cutoff sensors, fold sensors, and so on. These sensors are arranged to provide quality control information for the signatures as they move through the printing press arrangement 10. The PROCESS KEY column lists indications corresponding to the various sensors. From the press data bank 46, the press signature tracking manager 50 determines the position within the printing press arrangement 10, of each sensor 42 corresponding to the PROCESS KEY indication. In accordance with a feature of the present invention, the press signature tracking manager 50 associates a sensor output for a specific PROCESS KEY indication received as an input, with the particular signature passing the position of the sensor 42 at the time sensor output is received. The press signature tracking manager 50 then stores the particular sensor output in the SIG DATA column corresponding to the SIG ID of the signature at the sensor at the time of the output.
In this manner, the table of the press signature queue 52 provides detailed quality control information on each individual signature as it passes through the printing press arrangement 10. In accordance with another feature of the present invention, the process control manager 51 accesses the press signature queue 52 to process the quality control information for each individual signature. Parameter ranges for the signatures are input to the process control manager 51. These can include, for example, density ranges for each color, cutoff control ranges and fold target ranges. The process control manager 51 parses the table of the press signature queue 52, and for each signature listed in the SIG ID column, compares the data from the sensors 42 for that specific signature to the stored ranges to make an accept, reject termination.
Control signals can be transmitted by the process control manager 51 to downstream operations to divert rejected signatures to designated bins. The specific rejected signature can be diverted to a bin as a function of the nature of the rejection, to facilitate analysis and tracking of specific reasons for product rejection.
According to another feature of the present invention, process control manager 51 can control certain press operations to print customer specific information on certain ones of the identified signatures. Moreover, the process control manager 51 can control the application of other components such as scents, to specific signatures.
In the preceding specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments and examples thereof. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims that follow. The specification and drawings are accordingly to be regarded in an illustrative manner rather than a restrictive sense.
