JP4842428B2 - Plate making system - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a plate making system for transmitting plate making image data to a plate making apparatus for making a master.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Among multi-color printing apparatuses in which a plurality of printing drums can be mounted, there is a type that does not have a plate making function. In a multicolor printing apparatus that does not have a plate making function, a master to be wound around a printing drum is made by a plate making apparatus provided separately from the multicolor printing apparatus, and the plate making master is wound around the printing drum by this plate making apparatus.
[0003]
In the plate making apparatus, the thermal head of the plate making means generates heat based on the plate making image data transmitted from the data sending means, and the plate making image corresponding to the unfinished master plate making image data is written to make the plate.
[0004]
In the plate making apparatus, in order to know how many colors of ink printing drums are set in the main body of the apparatus, an operator of the apparatus checks each printing drum that is installed one by one. Therefore, the plate-making image data is transmitted from the storage unit of the data transmission means as full-color plate-making image data obtained by combining a plurality of plate-making image data, and is color-separated (separated) for each ink color constituting the full color by the controller. All of the color-separated plate-making image data is transmitted to the plate-making apparatus. In the plate making apparatus, after confirming the ink color of the drum on which the apparatus operator is mounted, the plate making image data corresponding to the ink color is selected from the transmitted plate making image data.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the conventional configuration, it is troublesome to look at the apparatus one by one to confirm the ink color of the printing drum mounted on the plate making apparatus. Since all the platemaking image data is transmitted from the data transmission means to the platemaking apparatus because the attached ink color is unknown, it takes time to transmit the data and the time until the platemaking starts is lengthened. In addition, since the apparatus operator confirms and selects the ink color and transmitted plate-making image data, the ink color of the printing drum set in the plate-making apparatus and the color information of the plate-making image data transmitted from the data transmission means are A mismatch may also occur, resulting in a plate making error.
An object of the present invention is to provide a plate making system capable of reducing plate making mistakes while shortening the plate making time by shortening the data transmission time.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a plate making apparatus for making a master for winding on a printing drum that can be attached to and detached from the apparatus main body based on transmitted plate making image data, and plate making image data for the plate making apparatus. a prepress system comprising a data transmission means for transmitting, and has the ink color detection means for detecting the ink color of the printing drum mounted on the plate making device.
[0008]
Further, in the present invention , the data transmission means color-separates the full-color plate-making image data stored in the storage unit for storing the combined full-color plate-making image data for each color information, and performs this color separation. And a controller for transmitting only the plate-making image data corresponding to the ink color of the printing drum mounted on the plate-making device from the plate-making image data. According to the present invention, the combined full-color plate-making image data stored in the storage unit of the data transmission unit is color-separated for each color information by the controller, and is attached to the plate-making apparatus from the color-separated plate-making image data. Only the plate-making image data corresponding to the ink color of the printing drum is sent to the plate-making apparatus.
[0009]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of a plate making system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. This plate making system includes a plate making device 1 in which one printing drum 15 can be attached to and detached from the apparatus main body 1A, and data transmission means 30 for sending plate making image data 22 corresponding to ink color to the plate making device 1.
[0010]
The plate making apparatus 1 includes a plate making unit 2 for making a master for winding on a printing drum 15 to be mounted, a plate discharging unit 3 for discarding a master after printing, and a contact operation of the attached printing drum from below. A press roller 4 as a printing pressure member is provided in the apparatus main body 1A and has a printing function. Of course, a plate making device having no plate making unit 3 and having only a plate making function may be used. A known impression cylinder may be used as the printing pressure member. The printing drum 15 is mounted at the approximate center of the apparatus main body 1A. The facing portion between the mounted printing drum 15 and the press roller 4 is a printing unit 10 that transfers an image to the paper 6.
[0011]
On the right side of the apparatus main body 1A, a paper feed table 5 for placing the paper 6 is provided so as to be able to move up and down. In this embodiment, the paper 6 is used for printing and printing. A paper feed roller 8 that feeds the paper 6 toward the printing unit 10 is disposed above the paper 6 placed on the paper feed tray 5. Between the paper feed roller 8 and the printing unit 10, a registration roller pair 9 is provided for feeding the fed paper 6 to the printing unit 10 at a predetermined timing. On the left side of the apparatus main body 1 </ b> A, a paper discharge table 7 is disposed as a discharge unit for the paper 6 that has passed through the printing unit 10. The paper discharge table 7 is provided with known end fences and side fences. A transport unit 11 for transporting the paper 6 that has passed through the printing unit 10 to the paper discharge table 7 is disposed between the paper discharge table 7 and the printing unit 10.
[0012]
The plate making apparatus 1 includes an ink color detection sensor 13 as an ink color detection means for detecting the ink color of the printing drum 15 mounted on the apparatus main body 1A, and a drum attachment / detachment sensor 12 for detecting the presence or absence of the printing drum of the apparatus main body 1A. Are arranged in the apparatus main body 1A.
[0013]
A connector 16 is disposed on one side of the apparatus main body 1A. The connector 16 forms a connection part with the controller 18 which is one configuration of the data transmission means 30, and is connected to the controller 18 by a data communication cable. The connector 16 is cable-connected to the control means 14 provided in the apparatus main body 1A.
[0014]
A display device 17 as notification means is provided on the upper part of the apparatus main body 1A. The display device 17 notifies the state of the printing drum 15 attached to the apparatus main body 1A. To notify the state of the printing drum 15 is to notify the apparatus operator by displaying the ink color of the printing drum 15 mounted on the apparatus main body 1A, whether or not the drum is mounted, and the like. In this embodiment, a liquid crystal display is used for the display device 17. As a notification means, you may comprise so that a notification operator may be notified to an apparatus operator with a voice message using a voice generating device instead of the display apparatus 17, or a notification content is notified by lighting or blinking of a lamp using a lamp. It may be configured to do so, or may be a combination of these.
[0015]
The data transmission means 30 includes a personal computer 20 as a storage unit that creates plate-making image data 22 for each color information, or stores plate-making image data 22 for each color information that has already been created, and a controller 18. . The plate making image data 22 for each color information stored in the personal computer 20 is created for each ink color such as yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), black (BK), etc. It is image data. In this embodiment, the four plate-making image data 22 corresponding to the four ink colors are used. However, the ink colors are not limited to the four colors. It is only necessary to create plate-making image data or store plate-making image data corresponding to desired color information.
[0016]
A display device 21 for displaying the processing contents and various information is connected to the personal computer 20. The personal computer 20 can communicate with the controller 18 via a local area network (hereinafter referred to as “LAN”) 19 which is one form of the network. The LAN 19 includes a form in which data communication is performed by connecting the personal computer 20 and the controller 18 via a cable, and a form in which data communication is performed wirelessly. In this embodiment, cable connection is used.
[0017]
The controller 18 transmits the ink color information detected by the ink color detection sensor 13 to the personal computer 20 side, and extracts only the plate-making image data of the color information corresponding to the ink color detected by the ink color detection sensor 13 from the personal computer 20. A function of transmitting to the plate making apparatus 1 is provided. In this embodiment, the controller 18 is provided separately from the personal computer 20. However, the controller 18 may be provided integrally with the personal computer 20 or may be provided in the plate making apparatus 1.
[0018]
The control means 14 is composed of a well-known microcomputer and is connected to a power source 66. As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 14 is electrically connected to a plate making unit 2, a plate discharging unit 3, a drum attachment / detachment sensor 12, an ink color detection sensor 13, and a display device 17 together with a drive unit (not shown) of the plate making device 1. Yes. The control means 14 transmits the ink color information detected by the ink color detection sensor 13 to the controller 18, transmits the plate-making image data 22 transmitted from the controller 18 to the plate-making unit 3, and makes the plate-making operation of the plate-making apparatus 1. It has a function to control.
[0019]
As shown in FIG. 3, the ink color detection sensor 13 is a button switch having a plurality of push buttons 75, 76, 77, 78 attached to the main body frame 70 of the apparatus main body 1A. Turns on. The printing drum 15 is rotatably supported by the drum support frame 68. The side plates 69 of the drum support frame 68 are arbitrarily formed with openings 85, 86, 87, and 88 for receiving buttons 75 to 78, respectively, when the drum support frame 68 is mounted on the apparatus main body 1A. The opening 85 is disposed so as to accommodate the push button 75, the opening 86 is accommodated in the push button 76, the opening 87 is accommodated in the push button 77, and the opening 88 is accommodated in the push button 78. The ink color detection sensor 13 is configured such that each push button is not pressed by the outer surface 69a of the side plate 69 in a state where each push button is accommodated in the corresponding opening. The openings 85 to 88 are formed in the side plate 69 so that the positions and the numbers thereof differ according to the ink color. In this embodiment, the push button 75 is pushed by the drum support frame of the printing drum having yellow ink, and the push button 76 is pushed by the drum support frame of the printing drum having magenta ink. The push button 77 is pushed by the drum support frame of the printing drum having cyan ink, and the push button 78 is pushed by the drum support frame of the printing drum having black ink. In FIG. 3, an opening 88 is not formed in the side plate 69, and a printing drum having black ink is formed.
[0020]
The plate making process by the plate making system having such a configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
In the plate making process, as shown in step 100 of FIG. 4, the ink color detection signal of the ink color detection sensor 13 is read, and the ink color of the printing drum 15 mounted on the plate making apparatus 1 is read. In step 101, plate-making image data of color information corresponding to the read ink color detection signal is selected and transmitted to the plate-making apparatus 1 in a postscript format, for example. In the selection of the plate-making image data, the ink color detection signal is compared with the color information of the plate-making image data, and the one in which both match is selected.
[0021]
In step 102, the ink color detected by the ink color detection sensor 13 is displayed on the display device 17, and in step 103, a plate-making operation is executed based on the transmitted plate-making image data, and this process ends.
[0022]
According to such a configuration, the plate-making image data transmitted from the data transmission unit 30 to the plate-making device 1 is transmitted only in an amount corresponding to the ink color of the printing drum 15 mounted on the plate-making device 1, and therefore the transmission time is increased. It's short. Since the transmitted plate-making image data is data corresponding to the ink color of the printing drum 15, there is no plate-making error due to a wrong ink color. When the printing drum 15 is mounted on the plate making apparatus 1, the ink color is detected, the ink color is displayed on the display device 17, and the plate making image data of color information corresponding to the mounted ink color is transmitted. The operator does not need to check the ink color or select the plate-making image data one by one, and the workability is improved.
[0023]
In the present embodiment, since the plate making apparatus 1 is a plate making integrated type printing apparatus, the printing process will be briefly described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In the printing process, the printing number A is set by operating the personal computer 20 in step 200, and the printing operation is started in step 202 when a printing command is input from the personal computer 20 in step 201. When the printing operation is started, each part of the plate making apparatus 1 is operated so that the printing drum 1 shown in FIG. 1 is rotated in the clockwise direction, and the paper 6 is fed and wound around the printing drum 15 by the printing unit 10. This image is printed and discharged to the paper discharge tray 7 by the transport unit 11.
[0024]
When it is detected by a paper discharge sensor (not shown) that the paper 6 has been discharged to the paper discharge tray 7, as shown in step 203, the print number A is updated by subtracting the print number A, and in step 204, the number of prints is printed. The printing operation is continued until A becomes 0 (zero). When the number of printed sheets reaches 0 (zero), the process proceeds to step 205, where the printing operation is stopped and the printing process ends. In the plate making operation, only one sheet 6 is fed, and is printed on the printing unit 10 and discharged to the sheet discharge tray 7.
(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 6 shows the overall configuration of the plate making system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. This plate making system differs from the plate making system shown in FIG. 1 in the transmission method of data transmitted from the data transmission means 300. The following description will focus on the differences from the plate making system shown in FIG. 1, and the same components as those in the first embodiment will be denoted by the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. To do.
[0025]
The data transmission means 300 according to this embodiment includes a personal computer 20A as a storage unit in which the synthesized full-color plate-making image data 220 is created and stored, and the full-color plate-making image data 220 stored in the personal computer 20A for each color information. The plate-making image data 22 of the color information corresponding to the ink color of the printing drum 15 mounted on the plate-making device 1 is separated into the plate-making device 1 from the color-separated plate-making image data 22. It is comprised from the controller 180 which transmits.
[0026]
The personal computer 20 </ b> A can communicate with the controller 180 via the LAN 19. The controller 180 is connected to the connector 16 by a data communication cable.
[0027]
The plate making process by the plate making system having such a configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
In the plate making process, as shown in step 110 of FIG. 7, the ink color detection signal of the ink color detection sensor 13 is read, and the ink color of the drum mounted on the plate making apparatus 1 is read. In step 111, full-color plate-making image data 220 stored in the personal computer 20A is transmitted to the controller 180.
[0028]
In step 112, the transmitted full-color plate-making image data 220 is set as plate-making image data 22 color-separated (separated) for each color information by the controller 180. In step 113, the prepress image data of the color information corresponding to the read ink color detection signal is selected from the color-separated prepress image data 22 and transmitted to the prepress apparatus 1 in, for example, a postscript format.
[0029]
In step 114, the detected ink color is displayed on the display device 17, and in step 115, a plate-making operation is executed based on the transmitted plate-making image data, and this process ends.
[0030]
According to such a configuration, the plate-making image data transmitted from the data transmission unit 300 to the plate-making device 1 is the amount corresponding to the ink color of the printing drum 15 mounted on the plate-making device 1 as in the first embodiment. Since only data is transmitted, the transmission time is short. Since the transmitted plate-making image data is data corresponding to the ink color of the printing drum 15, there is no plate-making error due to a wrong ink color. When the printing drum 15 is mounted on the plate making apparatus 1, the ink color is detected, the ink color is displayed on the display device 17, and the plate making image data of color information corresponding to the mounted ink color is transmitted. The operator does not have to check the ink color and select the plate-making image data one by one, and the workability is improved.
[0031]
Next, a comparison of transmission times in the conventional transmission method of plate making image data and the transmission method of plate making image data according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
8, (A) shows the transmission time by the transmission method of the conventional plate-making image data, (B) shows the transmission time by the transmission method of the plate-making image data according to the first embodiment, and (C) shows the transmission time. The transmission time by the transmission method of the prepress image data concerning 2nd Embodiment is shown.
[0032]
In FIG. 8, T indicates the data transmission time from each personal computer to each controller, and T1 indicates the data transmission time from each controller to the plate making apparatus. In FIG. 8A, full-color plate-making image data is transmitted from a personal computer (referred to as PC) to the controller, and the controller uses yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), black (BK), and the like. All color separations, that is, color separations for each color information are transmitted to the plate making apparatus.
[0033]
On the other hand, in the transmission of the data shown in FIG. 8B according to the first embodiment, the color corresponding to the ink color is selected from the plate-making image data preliminarily separated for each color information and stored in the personal computer 20. Only the plate making image data of the color information to be transmitted is transmitted from the personal computer 20 to the plate making apparatus 1. For example, when the full-color plate-making image data is a combination of plate-making image data of color information of four colors, only one printing drum is mounted on the plate-making apparatus 1, so the amount of data to be transmitted is from a personal computer. Between the controller and the controller and the plate making apparatus, the transmission time is shortened to 1/4 of the conventional one.
[0034]
In the transmission of the data shown in FIG. 8C according to the second embodiment, the plate-making image data transmitted from the personal computer to the controller is full-color plate-making image data as in the conventional case. However, since the data transmitted from the controller to the plate making apparatus is only the plate making image data of the color information corresponding to the ink color, the transmission time between the controller and the plate making apparatus is 1/4 of the conventional, Transmission time is shortened.
[0035]
In each embodiment, only one plate-making device 1 is connected to the LAN 19, but a plurality of plate-making devices 1 are connected to the LAN 19, and the ink colors of the printing drums mounted on the plate-making devices are detected and detected. A configuration may be employed in which only the plate-making image data corresponding to the ink color is transmitted to the corresponding plate-making apparatus. Even with such a configuration, data transmission time can be shortened and plate making mistakes can be reduced, and the apparatus operator does not have to check ink colors or select plate making image data for a plurality of plate making apparatuses. The workability can be further improved. The controllers 18 and 180 are connected to the personal computers 20 and 20A via the LAN 19, but may be directly connected to the personal computers 20 and 20A without using the LAN 19.
[0036]
In each embodiment, the push button switch is exemplified as the ink color detecting means. However, the invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as long as the ink color of the printing drum can be detected. May be an optical sensor that detects ink color from its reflectance, or may be a magnetic sensor that provides magnetic information corresponding to the ink color on the printing drum side and reads the magnetic information. .
[0037]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, the plate-making image data transmitted from the data transmission unit to the plate-making apparatus is transmitted only in an amount corresponding to the ink color of the printing drum mounted on the plate-making apparatus, so that the transmission time of the plate-making image data is short. Thus, workability can be improved while shortening plate making time and reducing plate making mistakes.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic overall configuration diagram of a plate making system showing a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a connection relationship between data transmission means and components connected thereto according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a plan sectional view showing an example of the configuration of ink color detection means.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of plate making processing.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating one form of print processing.
FIG. 6 is a schematic overall configuration diagram of a plate making system showing a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing one form of a plate making process in the second embodiment.
FIG. 8 is a timing chart of data transmission of conventional plate-making image data and plate-making image data according to the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Plate making apparatus 1A Apparatus main body 13 Ink color detection sensor 15 Printing drum 18, 180 Controller 22 Plate making image data 20 and 20A for every color information Storage part 30 and 300 Data transmission means 220 Full color plate making image data

Claims (1)

A plate making apparatus comprising a plate making apparatus for making a master for winding around a printing drum detachable from the apparatus main body based on the sent plate making image data, and data transmitting means for sending the plate making image data to the plate making apparatus. A system,
Having ink color detecting means for detecting the ink color of the printing drum;
The data transmission means determines the ink color of a printing drum mounted on the plate making apparatus from the storage unit storing the synthesized full color plate making image data and the detection information of the ink color detection means, and stores the storage A controller that separates the full-color plate-making image data stored in the unit for each color information and transmits only the plate-making image data corresponding to the mounted printing drum from the color-separated plate-making image data to the plate-making apparatus prepress system to have a door.

Images