JP6909063B2 - Information processing equipment, printing system and information processing method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a printing system and an information processing method used in a printing system.

Conventionally, a printing system such as a gravure printing system may handle information on the quality of a base material for quality control of a base material such as a web. For example, in the technique of Patent Document 1, when a color shift occurs on the web in multicolor printing, data indicating the position of the color shift is generated, and the data is used for inspection of the web.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-72037

The technique of Patent Document 1 merely provides the range in which an abnormality such as color shift occurs in the base material, and cannot grasp information on the printing operation of each printing unit. As a result of the examination by the present inventor, it was recognized that there is room for improvement in the prior art in order to realize advanced information management.

A certain aspect of the present invention is made in view of such a situation, and one of the objects thereof is to provide a technique capable of realizing advanced information management in a printing system.

An aspect of the present invention relates to an information processing device, which is an information processing device used in a printing system that sequentially prints on a substrate that is continuously conveyed by a plurality of printing units, and is a print information storage unit that holds print information. When the base material is divided into a plurality of unit areas in the transport direction, the print information includes a plurality of operation information regarding the printing operation for the unit area for each print unit, and the transport direction of the unit area. The operation information of each printing unit corresponding to the same unit area is associated with the order number of the unit area, including the order number indicating the order in.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to an information processing method, which is an information processing method used in a printing system in which a plurality of printing units sequentially print on a base material that is continuously transported, and the base material is directed in the transport direction. When divided into a plurality of unit areas, print information corresponding to the operation information related to the printing operation of each printing unit corresponding to the same unit area and the order number indicating the order in the transport direction of the unit area is printed. Store in the information storage unit.

According to the present invention, advanced information management can be realized in a printing system.

It is a block diagram which shows the printing system which uses the information processing apparatus of embodiment. FIG. 2A is a view of the base material viewed from the arrow Pb of FIG. 1, and FIG. 2B is an enlarged view of the range Pc of FIG. 2A. It is a block diagram which shows the function of the printing system of embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the information which the operation information storage part of an embodiment holds. It is a figure which shows an example of the information which the print information storage part of embodiment holds. It is a figure for demonstrating the process performed by the data processing part of embodiment. It is a graph which shows the misregistration amount of the 2nd printing unit to the 4th printing unit for each order number of a unit area. It is a graph which shows the cumulative misplacement amount from the 1st detection mark to the other detection mark for each order number of a unit area.

Hereinafter, in the embodiments and modifications, the same components will be designated by the same reference numerals, and duplicate description will be omitted. Further, in each drawing, for convenience of explanation, some of the constituent elements are appropriately omitted, and the dimensions of the constituent elements are appropriately enlarged or reduced.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a printing system 10 in which the information processing apparatus 18 of the embodiment is used. The printing system 10 is for sequentially printing on the base material 12 which is continuously conveyed by a plurality of printing units 14-A to 14-D. The term "printing" as used herein includes not only the case where the ink is transferred so that a predetermined pattern such as a character or a pattern is formed intermittently, but also the case where the ink is transferred so as to be uniformly continuous. Is done. The former is performed by, for example, gravure printing or offset printing, and the latter is performed by, for example, a coater. In this embodiment, an example in which the gravure printing system is applied to the printing system 10 will be described.

The base material 12 of the present embodiment is a web, but a box-making sheet, a single sheet, or the like may be used. The base material 12 is supplied from a base material supply mechanism (not shown) and is continuously conveyed using a transport member such as a guide roll (not shown).

The printing system 10 mainly includes a plurality of printing units 14-A to 14-D, a control device 16, and an information processing device 18. The plurality of printing units 14-A to 14-D are sequentially arranged in the transport direction Pa of the base material 12. In this embodiment, four printing units 14-A to 14-D are arranged. Hereinafter, the plurality of printing units 14-A to 14-D will be named "first, second, third, fourth" in the transport direction Pa of the base material 12, and will be designated by "-A". , -B, -C, -D "to distinguish. These are omitted when they are generically referred to. The same applies when distinguishing the components related to each of the plurality of printing units 14-A to 14-D.

The printing unit 14 is for printing on the base material 12 by transferring the ink from the transfer roll 20 to the base material 12. The printing unit 14 of the present embodiment transfers inks of different colors to the base material 12 in the individual printing units 14. The transfer roll 20 is set to have the same peripheral length in each printing unit 14. In addition to the transfer roll 20, the printing unit 14 mainly includes a drive motor 22, a rotation detection device 24, and a sensor 26.

FIG. 2A is a view of the base material 12 viewed from the arrow Pb of FIG. 1, and FIG. 2B is an enlarged view of the range Pc of FIG. 2A. Each rotation of the transfer roll 20 prints a detection mark 28 together with a printed image such as a pattern. The detection mark 28 of the present embodiment is a register mark used for register control described later. The plurality of printing units 14 of the present embodiment print so that the detection marks 28 corresponding to the respective printing units 14 are arranged in order in the transport direction Pa. For example, the first printing unit 14 prints the first detection mark 28-A, and the second printing unit 14-B is located adjacent to the downstream side of the first detection mark 28-A in the transport direction Pa. 2 Print the detection mark 28-B. Further, the third printing unit 14 prints the third detection mark 28-C at a position adjacent to the downstream side of the transport direction Pa of the second detection mark 28-B, and the fourth printing unit 14-D prints the third detection mark 28-C. The fourth detection mark 28-D is printed at a position adjacent to the downstream side of the transport direction Pa of the third detection mark 28-C.

Return to FIG. The drive motor 22 is for driving the transfer roll 20. The printing system 10 of the present embodiment employs a sectional drive system in which each transfer roll 20 is independently driven by an individual drive motor 22.

The rotation detection device 24 is connected to the rotation shaft of the drive motor 22. The rotation detection device 24 is for detecting the rotation angle of the transfer roll 20. The rotation detection device 24 is, for example, an encoder, a resolver, or the like.

The sensor 26 is for detecting operation information related to the printing operation of the printing unit 14. The sensor 26 of the present embodiment detects the amount of misregistration as the operation information of the printing unit 14. As shown in FIG. 2B, the misregistration amount here is the detection printed by the printing unit 14 to which the printing unit 14 belongs from a specific point on the detection mark 28 printed by the printing units 14 adjacent to the upstream side. Refers to the distances A2 to A4 to a specific point of the mark 28. Returning to FIG. 1, the sensor 26 of the present embodiment is provided on the downstream side in the transport direction Pa from the transfer roll 20 of the printing unit 14 to which the sensor 26 belongs. The sensor 26 of the present embodiment is individually provided in the second printing unit 14-B to the fourth printing unit 14-D.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the functions of the printing system 10. Each block can be realized by various elements and circuits in terms of hardware, and can be realized by a computer program or the like in terms of software. Here, the functional blocks realized by their cooperation are drawn. These functional blocks can be realized in various forms by combining hardware and software.

The control device 16 includes a control unit 30 that controls a plurality of printing units 14, and a control information storage unit 32 that holds information used for the control.

The control unit 30 is connected to the drive motor 22, the rotation detection device 24, and the sensor 26. The operation information (misregistration amount) detected by the sensor 26 and the rotation angle of the transfer roll 20 detected by the rotation detection device 24 are input to the control unit 30. When the control unit 30 receives the operation information detected by the sensor 26, the control unit 30 stores the operation information in the control information storage unit 32.

The control unit 30 executes registration control that controls the register adjustment mechanism so that the misregistration amount becomes smaller based on the misregistration amount of the printing unit 14. In the present embodiment, the drive motor 22 of the printing unit 14 is used as the register adjustment mechanism, and the register control is executed by correcting the rotation phase of the transfer roll 20 so that the amount of misregistration is small. Since this register control is known, the description thereof will be omitted.

The information processing device 18 includes a data processing unit 34, a storage unit 36, an output unit 38, and an abnormality determination unit 40. The storage unit 36 includes an operation information storage unit 42 and a print information storage unit 44. The data processing unit 34, the output unit 38, and the abnormality determination unit 40 will be described later.

See FIG. In the present embodiment, the base material 12 is divided into a plurality of unit regions 46 in the transport direction Pa, and information is managed for each individual unit region 46. In this figure, the boundary line of each unit region 46 is shown by a chain double-dashed line. The individual unit regions 46 are defined as regions having a constant length in the transport direction Pa with reference to the state in which the base material 12 is transported. When the base material 12 is long in the transport direction Pa like a web, each region in which a single base material 12 is divided into fixed lengths in the transport direction Pa is regarded as a unit region 46. When the base material 12 is short in the transport direction Pa like a single leaf, each base material 12 may be regarded as a unit region 46.

In the present embodiment, the length La of the transport direction Pa of the unit region 46 is a length corresponding to the peripheral length of one rotation of the transfer roll 20. The unit area 46 of the present embodiment is regarded as an area including the entire printed matter obtained after printing by the printing system 10. This printed matter is obtained by cutting the web printed by the printing system 10 at a predetermined position by a cutting machine (not shown).

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of information held by the operation information storage unit 42. The operation information storage unit 42 holds the operation information of each of the plurality of printing units 14. In this figure, misregistration amounts A2 to A4 are shown as operation information of each of the second printing units 14-B to the fourth printing units 14-D.

The operation information storage unit 42 holds the time-series data 48 in which the operation information for each cycle of the printing unit 14 is arranged in the cycle order (time-series order). Here, for each of the plurality of printing units 14, the operation in which the transfer roll 20 of the printing unit 14 rotates at a predetermined rotation angle is defined as one cycle. The rotation angles of the transfer rolls 20 required for one cycle in each printing unit 14 are set to the same size. Since the peripheral lengths of the transfer rolls 20 are set to the same size in the individual printing units 14, the cycle times required for one cycle in the individual printing units 14 are set to the same size. This "predetermined rotation angle" is set so that the peripheral length of the transfer roll 20 corresponding to the rotation angle coincides with the length La of the unit region 46 in the transport direction Pa. In the present embodiment, one cycle is an operation in which the transfer roll 20 rotates at a rotation angle equivalent to one rotation. The operation information storage unit 42 holds the operation information for each cycle of the print unit 14 as a plurality of time-series data 48 collected for each print unit 14.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of information held by the print information storage unit 44. In this figure, the operation information (misregistration amount) of each printing unit 14 corresponding to the same unit area 46 is arranged in the order of the order number of the unit area 46 described later. The print information storage unit 44 holds print information 50 related to the print contents of the print system 10. The print information 50 includes a plurality of operation information regarding the print operation for the unit area 46 for each print unit 14, and an order number indicating the order of the unit areas 46 in the transport direction Pa. The plurality of operation information includes operation information for each print unit 14 corresponding to each of the plurality of unit areas 46. This ordinal number is assigned to each unit region 46 in ascending order toward the counter-transporting direction Pa of the base material 12. The anti-transportation direction Pa here means a direction from the downstream side to the upstream side of the transportation direction Pa. The ordinal number of the unit area 46 in the present embodiment indicates the number of sheets counted in the printing order with respect to the plurality of printed matter obtained after the printing of the base material 12 by the printing system 10. In the print information 50, the operation information of each print unit 14 corresponding to the same unit area 46 is associated with the order number of the unit area 46.

Here, the data processing unit 34 of the embodiment performs the following processing in order to obtain the above-mentioned print information 50. The basic concept of this process will be described below.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the processing performed by the data processing unit 34 of the embodiment. In this figure, the operation information of the X-th cycle of the p-th printing unit 14 in the transport direction Pa is referred to as _Ap-X. X is a natural number of 1 or more.

Passes the length along the transport direction Pa from the printing position of the printing unit 14 (hereinafter referred to as the upstream unit) on the upstream side to the printing position of the printing unit 14 (hereinafter referred to as the downstream unit) on the downstream side. The length is Lc [m]. The printing position of the printing unit 14 here means a position where the transfer roll 20 of the printing unit 14 transfers ink to the base material 12. The transport distance of the base material 12 per cycle is defined as a unit transport distance Ld [m / cycle]. Further, as shown in the following equation (1), the integer portion of the number obtained by dividing the path length Lc by the unit transport distance Ld is defined as the shift number S. The shift number S represents a number close to the number of cycles required for the base material 12 to be conveyed by the path length Lc. Since the peripheral length corresponding to the rotation angle for one cycle of the transfer roll 20 coincides with the length Lb of the unit region 46, the unit transport distance Ld becomes the same as the length Lb [m] of the unit region 46. Therefore, the shift number S is represented by the following equation (2).
S = INT (Lc / Ld) ・ ・ ・ (1)
S = INT (Lc / Lb) ... (2)

For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the number of shifts S corresponding to the path lengths of the second printing unit 14-B and the fourth printing unit 14-D is 4, and the third printing unit 14 and the fourth printing unit 14- It is assumed that the number of shifts S corresponding to the path length of D is 2. In this case, the unit area 46 passing through the printing position of the second printing unit 14-B in the 14th cycle is likely to pass through the printing position of the fourth printing unit 14-D after the lapse of four cycles. Similarly, the unit area 46 that passes through the print position of the third print unit 14 in the 16th cycle is likely to pass through the print position of the fourth print unit 14-D after the lapse of two cycles.

This is shown in the black box at the lower left of FIG. 6, the operation information A _{2-14 of the 14th cycle of the second printing unit 14-B, and the operation information A 3-16} of the 16th cycle of the third printing unit 14-C. _{This means that the operation information A 4-18} of the 18th cycle of the fourth printing unit 14-D is likely to be the operation information of the same unit area 46. From another point of view, the operation information of the Xth cycle of the 4th printing unit 14-D, the operation information of the X-2nd cycle of the 3rd printing unit 14, and the X-4 of the 2nd printing unit 14-B. The operation information at the cycle th is likely to be the operation information of the same unit area 46. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the operation information of a specific number of cycles is regarded as the operation information of the same unit area 46 for each of the printing units 14, and the operation information is associated with the operation information. It will be explained in more detail.

The data processing unit 34 of the embodiment performs the associative processing including the following steps (a), (b) and (c). In step (a) of the present embodiment, the operation information of the Nth printing unit 14 (hereinafter referred to as a reference unit), which is the operation information of the Xth cycle counted from a predetermined start timing, is acquired. Here, N indicates the number of all printing units 14. Since N = 4 in this embodiment, in step (a), the operation information of the Xth cycle is acquired by using the fourth printing unit 14-D as a reference unit.

Further, in step (b), the operation information of the m (m ≠ N) th printing unit 14 in the transport direction Pa is obtained by a predetermined shift number S from the Xth cycle counting from the above-mentioned start timing. Acquire the operation information in the shifted cycle. Here, m is a natural number other than N among 1 to N. In the present embodiment, in step (b), the operation information of the second printing unit 14-B and the third printing unit 14 is acquired. That is, the operation information of each of the printing units 14 other than the Nth printing unit among the 2nd to Nth printing units 14 is acquired.

A value corresponding to the m-th printing unit 14 is set for this “predetermined number of shifts S”. The shift number S of the m-th printing unit 14 is obtained by using the above equation (2) based on the path length Lc of the reference unit 14 and the m-th printing unit 14 and the length Lb of the unit area 46. These path lengths Lc and length Lb are stored in the storage unit 36 in advance.

The start timing in the present embodiment means the timing when the data processing unit 34 receives the start signal output from another device. As shown in FIG. 1, the printing system 10 of the embodiment includes a start signal sensor 52 for generating this start signal. The start signal sensor 52 of the embodiment can detect a splice point that is a seam of a plurality of base materials 12 (webs), and is arranged immediately before the sensor 26 of the fourth printing unit 14-D. The control unit 30 of the control device 16 outputs a start signal to the data processing unit 34 of the information processing device 18 at the timing when the start signal sensor 52 detects the splice point of the base material 12.

In steps (a) and (b), the data processing unit 34 uses the rotation detection device 24 to specify the number of operation cycles of each of the plurality of printing units 14. The data processing unit 34 specifies the number of operation cycles of the print unit 14 by using the rotation detection device 24 of the print unit 14. Specifically, the data processing unit 34 has a counter (not shown) that counts up each time it reads that the transfer roll 20 has rotated at a predetermined rotation angle using the rotation detection device 24. The counter resets the count value to the initial value (for example, 1) at the start timing described above. The data processing unit 34 acquires the count value of the counter as the number of operation cycles of the print unit 14. The data processing unit 34 of the present embodiment has counters corresponding to each of the plurality of printing units 14, and acquires the count value of the counters as the number of operation cycles of the corresponding printing units 14. The data processing unit 34 of the present embodiment independently specifies the number of operation cycles of the print unit 14 for each of the plurality of print units 14.

In step (c), the operation information of each print unit 14 acquired in steps (a) and (b) is associated with the operation information of each print unit 14 with respect to the same unit area 46. By the above association processing, the operation information of each print unit 14 can be associated with the same unit area 46 from the time series data 48 in which the operation information of the plurality of print units 14 is arranged in the cycle order.

The data processing unit 34 generates print information 50 by associating the operation information of each print unit 14 with respect to the unit area 46 obtained by the above association processing with the order number corresponding to the unit area 46. This ordinal number has a correspondence relationship with the number of cycles. For example, in the present embodiment, at the printing position of the fourth printing unit 14-D, the first unit region 46 passes through the entire base material 12 when the splice point of the base material 12 is detected. Therefore, the operation information output from the sensor 26 of the fourth printing unit 14-D in the first cycle corresponds to the first unit area 46 in the entire base material 12. That is, the actual ordinal number of the unit region 46 of the base material 12 and the number of cycles match. Therefore, the operation information of the Xth cycle of the 4th printing unit 14-D may be associated with the same number of ordinal numbers as the number of cycles.

The method of associating the ordinal number with the operation information is not limited to this. For example, a table or formula that defines the correspondence between the number of cycles and the number of sequences is stored in the storage unit 36, the number of sequences is calculated based on the number of cycles using the table or formula, and the calculated value is the number of sequences. May be.

Next, an example of an information processing method using the information processing device 18 of the present embodiment will be described.
The control unit 30 of the control device 16 controls the drive motor 22 and the like so as to sequentially print on the base material 12 by the plurality of printing units 14 while executing the registration control described above. The sensor 26 sequentially detects the operation information (misplaced amount) of the conveyed base material 12, and outputs the operation information to the control device 16 each time the operation information is detected.

The control unit 30 of the control device 16 sequentially stores the operation information output from the sensor 26 in the control information storage unit 32. Each time the control unit 30 stores the operation information of the sensor 26 in the control information storage unit 32, the control unit 30 outputs a strobe signal corresponding to the printing unit 14 to which the sensor 26 belongs to the data processing unit 34 of the information processing device 18. In the present embodiment, the strobe signals corresponding to each of the second printing unit 14-B to the fourth printing unit 14-D are output to the data processing unit 34. The sensor 26 of the printing unit 14 outputs operation information (misregistration amount) regarding the unit area 46 once for each cycle, that is, for each rotation of the transfer roll 20 of the printing unit 14 to which the sensor 26 belongs. Along with this, the control unit 30 outputs individual strobe signals corresponding to each of the second printing unit 14-B to the fourth printing unit 14-D to the data processing unit 34 for each cycle.

Each time the data processing unit 34 receives the strobe signal output from the control unit 30, the data processing unit 34 acquires the operation information of the latest cycle of the printing unit 14 corresponding to the strobe signal. The data processing unit 34 acquires the operation information of the latest cycle of the printing unit 14 by reading the control information storage unit 32 of the control device 16. The data processing unit 34 associates the acquired operation information of the print unit 14 with the number of cycles and stores it in the operation information storage unit 42. For each of the plurality of print units 14, the data processing unit 34 associates the operation information of the latest cycle of the print unit 14 with the number of cycles for each operation cycle of the print unit 14, and stores the operation information in the operation information storage unit 42. Store times. The data processing unit 34 of the present embodiment generates time-series data 48 in which the operation information of the printing unit 14 is arranged in a cycle order, and stores the operation information storage unit 42.

The data processing unit 34 performs the above-mentioned association processing based on the operation information held in the operation information storage unit 42. The data processing unit 34 may perform the associative processing each time the operation information is stored in the operation information storage unit 42, or may perform the associative processing at other timings.

The effects of the above information processing device 18 will be described.
The print information storage unit 44 of the information processing device 18 holds print information 50 in which the operation information of each print unit 14 corresponding to the same unit area 46 and the ordinal number of the unit area 46 are associated with each other. .. Therefore, the operation information of each printing unit 14 can be managed in units of ordinal numbers in the unit area 46, and advanced information management can be realized.

For example, when the operation information of the printing unit 14 is a misregistration amount, there are the following advantages. The print information 50 includes misregistration amounts A2 to A4 of each print unit 14 for each order number of the unit area 46. This means that, as shown in FIG. 2B, information for specifying the relative position of all the detection marks 28 for each unit area 46 in the transport direction Pa is included. Therefore, by using these misregistration amounts A2 to A4, the distance from the specific point of the arbitrary detection mark 28 to the specific point of the other arbitrary detection mark 28 can be calculated.

For example, FIG. 7 is a graph showing the misregistration amounts A2 to A4 of the print units 14-B to 14-D for each order number of the unit area 46. _{Further, FIG. 8 shows the cumulative misregistration amounts A 1 → 2} and A _{1 → 3} from the first detection mark 28-A to the other detection marks 28-B to 28-D for each ordinal number of the unit area 46. , A _{1 → 4} is a graph showing. Any of these graphs can be obtained using the print information 50 described above. Using these graphs, it is possible to analyze the tendency of changes in the printing position and the like.

In addition to this, by using the abnormality determination unit 40 described later, it is possible to identify which printing unit 14 is the cause of the abnormality, and what order number the abnormality occurrence location is in. Can be identified. In this way, by obtaining the operation information of the individual print units 14 corresponding to the same unit area 46 and the print information corresponding to the order number of the unit areas 46, various analysis methods for the operation information of the print unit 14 are obtained. Can be converted.

Further, the data processing unit 34 stores the operation information of the plurality of printing units 14 in the operation information storage unit 42 for each cycle, with the operation of one rotation of the transfer roll 20 as one cycle. Normally, the printing unit 14 outputs operation information (misregistration amount) in a cycle much shorter than this cycle. Therefore, the amount of data stored in the operation information storage unit 42 can be suppressed rather than sequentially storing the operation information output from the print unit 14.

Other features of the information processing apparatus 18 of the embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, as described above, the information processing device 18 includes an output unit 38 and an abnormality determination unit 40 in addition to the data processing unit 34.

The output unit 38 outputs the print information 50 held in the print information storage unit 44 in a visible manner. The output unit 38 of this embodiment is a printer, but it may also be a display or the like. The output unit 38 outputs the print information 50 in the form of a table, a graph, or the like.

The abnormality determination unit 40 performs determination processing for determining whether or not there is an abnormality in the printing operation by the printing unit 14. The abnormality determination unit 40 performs determination processing based on the operation information of the print information 50 held in the print information storage unit 44, not the operation information held in the control information storage unit 32 of the control device 16.

The abnormality determination unit 40 performs determination processing by comparing the determination threshold value set for the numerical value (misplaced amount) of the operation information of the print information 50 with the numerical value of the operation information. The determination threshold value may be set in advance before the association processing by the data processing unit 34, or may be set after the association processing. When the numerical value of the operation information exceeds the determination threshold value, the abnormality determination unit 40 generates abnormality information indicating that there is an abnormality in the print unit 14 corresponding to the operation information and the unit area 46 of the ordinal number. As shown in FIG. 5, the abnormality determination unit 40 of the present embodiment updates the print information 50 held in the print information storage unit 44 in association with the generated abnormality information. As a result, the presence or absence of an abnormality can be determined by changing the determination condition even after the printing operation on the base material 12 is completed, and the analysis method regarding the presence or absence of an abnormality can be diversified.

The abnormality determination unit 40 performs the above-mentioned determination process based on the operation information of the plurality of print units 14 for each order number of the unit area 46. As a result, it is possible to determine whether or not there is an abnormality in the printing operation by the plurality of printing units 14 in units of ordinal numbers in the unit area 46. For example, in the example of FIG. 5, it can be identified that the occurrence location of the abnormality having a large misregistration amount is in the 14th to 16th unit areas 46 and that the occurrence cause is in the second printing unit 14.

Incidentally, in Patent Document 1, the position of the color shift of the base material is stored by using the distance information indicating the distance from a certain reference position in the transport direction of the base material. When the position where an abnormality such as color shift occurs is specified by using the distance information of the base material in this way, the distance of the base material from the reference position changes due to the influence of the expansion and contraction of the base material, and the occurrence of the abnormality occurs. It may not be possible to pinpoint the location accurately. In this respect, in the present embodiment, the position where the abnormality occurs can be specified by using the ordinal number of the unit region 46. Therefore, there is an advantage that the position where the abnormality occurs can be specified without being affected by the expansion and contraction of the base material.

The examples of the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above. All of the above-described embodiments are merely specific examples for carrying out the present invention. The content of the embodiment does not limit the technical scope of the present invention, and many design changes such as changes, additions, and deletions of components are made without departing from the idea of the invention defined in the claims. It is possible. In the above-described embodiment, the contents that can be changed in such a design are described with notations such as "in the embodiment" and "in the embodiment", but the contents are designed without such notations. It's not that changes aren't tolerated.

The printing system 10 has been described by taking a gravure printing system as an example, but the specific example thereof is not particularly limited. For example, a coater system, a box making machine system, a sheet-fed machine system, or the like may be used. An example in which the printing system 10 adopts a sectional drive method as a drive method for the transfer roll 20 has been described. This drive system is not particularly limited, and for example, a compensator system may be adopted.

Although the operation information has been described as an example in which the amount of misregistration of the printing unit 14 is used, the specific example thereof is not limited to this. For example, the operation information may be a detected value of the speed, rotation position, or torque of the drive motor 22 of the printing unit 14, or may be a deviation between the target value and the detected value.

Although the example in which the length of the transport direction Pa of the unit region 46 is a length corresponding to the peripheral length of one rotation of the transfer roll 20 has been described, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it may be a length corresponding to the peripheral length of half a turn of the transfer roll 20.

The data processing unit 34 has described an example of acquiring the operation information of the second to Nth printing units 14 in the transport direction Pa. In addition to this, the operation information of the first printing unit 14 may be acquired and associated with the operation information of another printing unit 14.

The data processing unit 34 may associate defect information regarding the presence or absence of print defects detected by the print defect detector with the print information 50 held in the print information storage unit 44. The printing defects here are stains on the base material 12, foreign matter, missing characters, and the like. In this case, the data processing unit 34 may associate the defect information of each unit area 46 output from the print defect detector with the ordinal number of the unit area 46. In addition to this, information on the quality of the base material 12 handled in ordinal units of the unit area 46 may be associated with the print information 50.

The data processing unit 34 shifts the operation information of the m-th print unit 14 by S cycles using the time-series data 48 in which the operation information of the print unit 14 is arranged in the cycle order, and shifts the operation information after the shift by the S cycle. An example of associating with the operation information of another printing unit 14 has been described. In addition to this, the operation information of the m-th print unit 14 is shifted by the S cycle using the serial input-serial output type shift register, and the operation information after the shift is the operation information of the other print unit 14. May be associated with.

In the embodiment, an example in which the number of cycles of the other printing unit 14 is shifted based on the number of cycles of the Nth printing unit 14 has been described. The reference unit 14 that serves as a reference for the number of cycles may be a printing unit 14 other than the Nth. This reference unit 14 is the nth printing unit (n is a natural number of any one of 1 to N). At this time, in step (a), the operation information of the nth printing unit in the Xth cycle is acquired, and in step (b), the operation information of the m (m ≠ n) th printing unit in the XS cycle is acquired. It means that you may get. At this time, in step (b), it is sufficient to acquire the operation information of one printing unit 14 other than the nth printing unit 14, or the operation information of each of the plurality of printing units 14 other than the nth printing unit 14. May be obtained.

In the embodiment, an example has been described in which a start signal for determining the start timings of steps (a) and (b) is output to the data processing unit 34 at the timing when the splice point of the base material 12 is detected. The output timing of this start signal is not particularly limited, and may be output, for example, at the timing when the switch for resetting the number of cycles is operated. The position of the start signal sensor 52 is not particularly limited, and may be arranged immediately before the sensor 26 of the second printing unit 14-B in addition to immediately before the sensor 26 of the fourth printing unit 14-D.

10 ... printing system, 12 ... base material, 14 ... printing unit, 18 ... information processing device, 20 ... transfer roll, 34 ... data processing unit, 38 ... output unit, 40 ... abnormality determination unit, 42 ... operation information storage unit, 44 ... Print information storage unit, 46 ... Unit area, 50 ... Print information.

Claims (7)

An information processing device used in a printing system that sequentially prints on a substrate that is continuously conveyed by a plurality of printing units.
Equipped with a print information storage unit that holds print information
The print information includes a plurality of operation information relating to a printing operation for the unit area for each printing unit when the base material is divided into a plurality of unit areas in the transport direction, and an order of the unit areas in the transport direction. The operation information of each printing unit corresponding to the same unit area is associated with the ordinal number of the unit area .
The information processing device is an information processing device including a data processing unit that generates the print information by using the time series data for each print unit in which the operation information for each cycle of the print unit is arranged in chronological order . An information processing device used in a printing system that sequentially prints on a substrate that is continuously conveyed by a plurality of printing units.
Equipped with a print information storage unit that holds print information
The print information includes a plurality of operation information relating to a printing operation for the unit area for each printing unit when the base material is divided into a plurality of unit areas in the transport direction, and an order of the unit areas in the transport direction. The operation information of each printing unit corresponding to the same unit area is associated with the ordinal number of the unit area .
Each of the previous SL plurality of printing units having a transfer roll for transferring the ink to the substrate,
A data processing unit that performs processing including steps (a), (b), and (c) is provided.
With respect to each of the plurality of printing units, when the operation of the transfer roll of the printing unit rotating at a predetermined rotation angle is defined as one cycle.
In the step (a), the operation information of the nth printing unit in the transport direction, which is the operation information of the Xth cycle counted from a predetermined timing, is acquired.
In the step (b), the operation information of the m (m ≠ n) th printing unit in the transport direction is the predetermined number of shifts corresponding to the mth printing unit from the Xth cycle. Get the operation information in the cycle shifted only,
In the step (c), the association Ru information processing apparatus and the acquired operation information, as the operation information of each printing unit with respect to the same unit area. The data processing unit stores the operation information of the plurality of printing units in the operation information storage unit for each cycle, with the operation of one rotation of the transfer roll as one cycle, and the processing is based on the stored operation information. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising an abnormality determining unit for determining the presence or absence of an abnormality in printing operation by the printing unit based on the printing information. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising an output unit that outputs the print information in a visible manner. A plurality of printing units that sequentially print on a substrate that is continuously transported,
A printing system comprising the information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5. An information processing method used in a printing system in which a plurality of printing units sequentially print on a substrate that is continuously conveyed.
When the base material is divided into a plurality of unit regions in the transport direction, operation information regarding the printing operation of each printing unit corresponding to the same unit region and an order number indicating the order of the unit regions in the transport direction The print information associated with the above is generated using the time-series data for each print unit in which the operation information for each cycle of the print unit is arranged in chronological order, and the generated print information is stored in the print information storage unit. Information processing method to store.

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