JPH0695209B2 - Plate making method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION "Object of the Invention" (Industrial field of application) The present invention relates to a device for shielding an unnecessary light transmitting portion or a reflecting portion of a plate-making film or printing paper,
Further, the present invention relates to a plate making apparatus that utilizes the size of pixels of an image formed on a plate making film or printing paper.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, in the work of plate making, it is a work of shielding an unnecessary light transmitting portion or a reflecting portion caused by stains of a glue used, a plate mount, and an exposing device, or As a light-shielding method for a plate-making film or photographic paper, which is a work for dividing an image line into colors, a mask sheet use method and a correction liquid application method are known. In the method of using a mask sheet, a peelable red layer or the like is formed on a polyethylene terephthalate film, and the light is shielded by cutting or the like. In the method of using a mask sheet, the sheet is cut so as to fit the size of a plate-making film or photographic printing paper or the like to be shaded, and pin holes for registering both are provided and used for the work. This method of using the master sheet is very simple. Unnecessary light transmission is achieved by cutting out the necessary part of the plate-making film or photographic paper while holding it in the register position with pin holes and peeling off the red layer part. It is possible to shield the part or the reflective part relatively quickly. Furthermore, by using two or three mask sheets when necessary,
It also has an advantage that the light-shielding work to a finer part can be realized. However, most of the light-shielding work is manual work, which increases the man-hours required for using the mask sheet material and the difficulty of cutting and peeling the mask sheet.
Due to the light diffusion due to the thickness of the mask sheet, there is a drawback in that the quality of originals, characters, etc. formed from a plate-making film, photographic printing paper, or the like may deteriorate. Further, it is unsuitable in terms of cost and workability of the mask sheet as a means for shielding unnecessary unnecessary light transmitting portions or reflecting portions such as pinholes.

On the other hand, the correction liquid application method uses a light shielding liquid (correction liquid) in which a light shielding agent such as carbon black is contained in a vehicle. This method is superior to the mask sheet method in that the applied light shielding layer is thin. As this correction liquid coating method, for example, JP-A-56-91236,
57-6850 and 57-108853. These are superior in that they enable the formation of a harder film than conventional correction fluids and facilitate the visual judgment work of the coated part due to the matting effect, but they are applied with a brush or the like. Since it is difficult to perform light-shielding work in small parts due to work, it is a time-consuming manual work, and it has the drawback of requiring effort as light-shielding work.

As a light-shielding method other than the mask sheet use method or the correction liquid application method, a pre-colored adhesive tape is attached to the light-shielding portion (masking paper) or a light-shielding material such as paper that does not transmit or reflect light. There is a method of attaching it to a plate-making film or printing paper. Although all of the light-shielding methods by pasting can achieve the light-shielding itself, they have the drawback of being labor-intensive due to manual work, and only a large part of them can be corrected. Is only applied.

Looking at unnecessary parts such as film for stencil making or printing paper, not only large unnecessary parts but also large unnecessary parts, not only the number is large, but also much labor is required for detection and light shielding. Is the current situation. In other words, there are many areas that should be shielded from light in small areas such as characters and pictures.

That is, almost all means for shielding unnecessary light transmitting portions or reflecting portions of conventional plate-making films or printing papers must be done by workers. Mostly, it is limited to the strengthening of the light-shielding film and a countermeasure that can be applied to only a part, and a means for shielding unnecessary light transmitting portions or reflecting portions is extremely manual work.

In terms of detection of unnecessary light-transmitting parts or reflecting parts of plate-making film or photographic paper, there are printed matter inspection devices and printed circuit board inspection devices. These devices use a sample as a sample for inspection. A sample image input from a real thing or a television camera is held in the device by an electronic (electrical) storage means, and a constituent image of each inspected product is sequentially scanned or a sample serving as a sample is formed by an appropriate method. The purpose of inspection is achieved through comparison and verification.

Examples of these devices include JP-A-60-250957 and JP-A-6-250957.
0-250958, 61-12341, 61-12343, 61-12345 and the like. Although these have the advantage that inspection or information setting for inspection can be performed quickly and stably and the production of printed matter can be rationalized, unnecessary light transmission parts or reflection parts of plate-making film or photographic paper etc. For detection, the size of the detection pixel and the absence of the inspection sample, that is, the inspection sample cannot be used because it is a copyboard. Generally, in an inspection apparatus for printed matter or an inspection apparatus for a printed circuit board, the size of an unnecessary portion to be inspected is considerably larger than the size of an originally correct image pixel (minimum unit forming an image). Has a size. In addition, many parts that are considerably smaller than the pixels of the original correct image have the characteristic that they do not have a bad effect. For example, in the case of a pixel having a size of 100 μm to 1 mm, the unnecessary portion has a size of about 100 μm to 1 mm, or a size close to this.

For this reason, the resolution or resolution of the detection light-receiving elements used in these devices is close to the pixels of the image to be formed, or is sufficient to input and process these pixels into the device. It is set. Therefore, the unnecessary light-transmitting or reflecting portions on the plate-making film or printing paper are much smaller than the pixels of the image being formed,
Sufficient detection cannot be performed with the above-described setting of the resolution or resolution by the device and the software associated therewith, and many of the detection targets may be omitted from the detection.

Therefore, simply using the conventional light-shielding method and a known printed matter inspection device is not functional to detect an unnecessary light-transmitting portion or a reflecting portion in a plate-making film or printing paper, and is not technical. It ’s difficult.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In consideration of the drawbacks of the conventional method, the present invention shortens the working time in the plate making in which unnecessary light transmitting portions or reflecting portions of the plate making film or printing paper are shielded. (EN) Provided is a plate making apparatus which can achieve the same effect and can achieve an effect equal to or higher than that of the conventional method of shading.

“Structure of the Invention” (Means for Solving the Problems) The present inventors have found that when detecting an unnecessary light transmitting portion or a reflecting portion on a plate-making film or printing paper, the pixel of the formed image is detected. Pay attention to the fact that the size and the size of the unnecessary light transmitting portion or the reflecting portion are usually very different from each other, that is, there are many small unnecessary portions and it takes a lot of effort to shield the small unnecessary portions. Taking this into consideration, this part is detected optically or electrically, and the detected part is subjected to light-shielding work by image forming means such as thermal transfer, ink jet, etc., and compared with the conventional mask sheet use method or correction solution coating method. However, they have found a device that is simple, quick and accurate, and that can perform work without requiring an expert.

That is, the present invention relates to an apparatus for exposing a film or photographic paper, which is smaller than a pixel size by the exposure, in a plate making that shields an unnecessary light transmitting portion or a reflective portion of an image-formed plate-making film or photographic paper. A plate making apparatus having a detection device including a light receiving element for detecting an unnecessary light transmitting portion or a reflecting portion, and a device for providing a light shielding layer to an unnecessary light transmitting portion or a reflecting portion according to an instruction from the detecting device, and further a pixel The present invention relates to a plate making apparatus which is an apparatus for detecting an unnecessary light transmitting portion or a reflecting portion smaller than the size of the above by a connecting method.

Examples of the plate-making film or printing paper or the like according to the present invention include negative or positive monochrome or color film, plate mount, etc. in addition to the plate-making film and printing paper.

The main constitution of the apparatus of the present invention is an exposure means, a detection means and a light shielding layer providing means. Of course, not only an integrated apparatus including these three means but also a device including an exposure means and a detection means is provided with a light shielding layer. A combination of devices including applying means may be combined,
Further, devices including the respective means may be combined.

The device as the exposure means is not particularly limited as long as it can be received by the light receiving element in the detection means. For example, an LED array, a tungsten lamp, a fluorescent lamp,
A xenon lamp can be used.

As the light receiving element in the detecting means, various types can be used. For example, a CCD contact image sensor, photomultiplier, photoconductive image pickup tube represented by vidicon, photodiode, phototransistor, solar cell, etc. can be used. Especially CCD image sensor,
For example, Toshiba's CIPS304MS1 is an excellent light receiving element because it can realize a higher speed of passing a plate-making film or printing paper through a preset detection part.
Examples of image pickup tubes include vidicon, plavicon (Philips, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.), Sachicon (NHK, Hitachi), Carnicon (Toshiba), New Vicon (Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.), Silicon vidicon (RCA), etc., CCD As I
Examples are L (interline method) and FT (frame transfer method) CCDs.

The functions of the light receiving element suitable for the present invention include (1) photoelectric conversion in a part or all of the wavelength of 300 to 800 nm, (2) minimum reading size of 0.01 to 0.50 mm (3) variable gradation It has a characteristic (γ correction), and has a lens for enlarging or reducing the light entering portion of a single or a plurality of light receiving elements as necessary. The light receiving element is not limited to the illustrated light receiving element as long as it has a part or all of the functions (1) to (3) and has photoelectric conversion characteristics.

At the time of detection, a lens system that is appropriately enlarged or reduced can be used as needed, and the detection ability can be improved. As a result, the resolving power of the light receiving element, that is, the degree of detection of an unnecessary portion can be variously set depending on the combination with the lens system used.

To detect an unnecessary light-transmitting portion or a reflecting portion of the plate-making film or photographic paper, a light receiving element is used to scan the surface of the plate-making film or photographic paper in pixel units or less. At least the scan 1
It is possible to carry out detection by preliminarily setting the line or more by some means and setting, for example, that an independent pixel in one scanning line is an unnecessary light transmitting or reflecting portion. Therefore, it is possible to identify as an unnecessary portion by investigating and verifying the pixel information of one scan line or one or more scan lines by an appropriate method. That is, in the image line, which is originally a necessary part, the normal pixels do not exist independently, and the independently existing parts are unnecessary parts. Therefore, it can be determined from the information of the front and rear pixels and / or the left and right pixels by scanning. .

Note that the original image lines on the plate-making film or printing paper etc. are continuous, and in printing plates made from the plate-making film or printing paper etc., they are halftone dots, but this is a rough statement. Thus, the pixels on the plate-making film or printing paper correspond to the dots on the printing plate.

In the identification in the detection, it may be possible to investigate and verify by 4-connection or 8-connection of pixels by a simple computer processing. By this connection method, an unnecessary light transmitting portion or a reflecting portion such as a plate-making film or printing paper can be detected. Of course, identification by other methods may be used.

After the detection means detects an unnecessary light transmitting portion or a reflection portion, the light shielding layer can be immediately provided on the plate-making film or printing paper, but the whole structure of the detection device is simplified,
In order to facilitate maintenance and the like, it is desirable that the detecting means and the light shielding layer applying means have appropriate distances, time differences, and deviations. This facilitates the separation and connection of the detection unit and the light shielding unit. That is, in a device that can only select light-shielding at the same time as detection, not only two operations in a narrow range are forced, but also various device configurations and connection methods are difficult. For example, it is possible to provide flexibility such that only the detecting means is connected immediately after the automatic plate-making film developing machine and the light-shielding means is installed at a difficult position.

The functions to be provided as a method of transmitting position information from the detecting means to the light-shielding layer applying means and as a light-shielding method are as follows: (1) electrical storage means for at least one scanning line, and (2) inspection / verification of the storage means. A computer suitable for carrying out the above, (3) means for providing a light-shielding material on a plate-making film or printing paper, etc., if necessary according to the identified positional information, including (1) to (3) It can be a separate structure.

To give an example of storage means for scanning one line or more,
For example, if the resolution in the scanning direction is 4 lines / mm, a storage capacity of at least 8 bits / mm is sufficient, and preferably 4 bytes / mm.
It is a means having a storage capacity equivalent to mm.

In order to detect unnecessary light-transmitting or reflecting portions on the plate-making film or photographic paper, and to provide a light-shielding material, the plate-making film or photographic paper to be detected must pass through from detection to position identification. It must be completed before reaching the light-shielding layer providing means, but if it is before the light-shielding target portion arrives, processing of the type of process such as computer used and processing language used (eg, assembler, etc.) The speed is not limited.

As the light-shielding layer, transfer from a heat-melting type heat-sensitive transfer sheet,
Transfer or application with an ink jet can be used, but the transfer method and material are not necessarily limited as long as they can be hidden by a thin film in an unnecessary portion such as a plate-making film or printing paper.

The light-shielding layer preferably has the necessary resistance in the working environment that the plate-making film or printing paper receives after being transferred or applied to an unnecessary portion such as the plate-making film or printing paper. A suitable light shielding layer can be selected. For example, in a plate-making film which is insensitive to red, transparent red can be used as the light-shielding layer. Also, the transparent red layer is suitable for insensitivity to red color, but it is not suitable for panchromatic film which is sensitive to all color light, and it is necessary to change the material for the light shielding layer. Therefore, various materials can be appropriately selected and used. For example, as a light-shielding material for a plate-making film which is insensitive to red, carnauba wax in which red iron oxide is dispersed can be used, and a simple light-shielding film can be formed by a thermal transfer method.

Other examples of the light-shielding layer include coating with a pen plotter (using ink, crayons, etc.) and transfer of printing ink by a printing method.

Next, an example of the light shielding agent will be described. The heat-sensitive transfer material contains a pigment or dye and a heat-melting skin forming material,
A transfer material capable of thermal transfer at about 30 ° C. is provided on a support. As the pigment or dye, a light-shielding condition is satisfied in an exposure operation which is a post-process using a plate-making film or printing paper. Examples of the heat-meltable film forming material include wax and other heat-meltable film forming materials.

The ink used for transfer or application by an ink jet is a film-forming material such as a dye or pigment, a solvent and a resin.

These light-shielding materials may be rubbed after they are provided on a plate-making film or printing paper to remove stains with water or alcohol, and if necessary, have resistance such as water resistance and alcohol resistance. It is necessary to give it. In addition, by combining a dedicated wipe with a light-shielding material,
It may be intended to implement the invention. For example, water and polyoxyethylene sorbitane cenostearate, water and polyoxyethylene stearyl ether, etc. can be mentioned as dedicated stain wipes.

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to one embodiment, but it is clear from the above description that the present invention is not limited to this embodiment.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for explaining the plate making apparatus of the present invention.

An inspection object such as a plate-making film or printing paper advances to the detection unit 10 by the conveyor belt 1 and the roller (rubber) 2. The detector 10 has LED arrays 11 (for transmission) and 12 (for reflection, that is, for photographic paper) as illumination light sources, and a CCD light-receiving element 13 is arranged at right angles to the conveyance direction. Are sequentially stored in the memory 15 under the control of the CPU 13. The rubber roller 2 operates for the purpose of holding the inspection target, and in this example, an encoder (not shown) is used to confirm the operation. When the amount of information stored in the memory 15 reaches the equivalent of 3 lines in the direction perpendicular to the conveyance, 4 shown in FIG.
The information of the connected pixels is compared by a comparator, and it is determined whether it is a necessary part or an unnecessary part by a predetermined value. When it is determined as an unnecessary portion by this comparison-determination, the corresponding coordinate information is stored in the sub memory 16.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining the detection of unnecessary portions and the provision of information to the light-shielding layer providing means. Further, FIG. 3 (A) schematically shows an image line, which is an originally necessary part, together with position information, and FIG. 3 (B) shows an unnecessary part.

The comparison in the comparator 20 will be explained. Focusing on the position of B-2, when the horizontal direction, that is, A, B, and C are scanning lines, the portion of B-2 is a necessary part (original drawing line). Whether it is an unnecessary part (pinhole, etc.) is compared based on the information of A-1, B-1, B-3 and C-2. That is, there was a light transmitting or reflecting portion in the portion B-2, and there was a light transmitting or reflecting portion in any one or more of A-1, B-1, B-3 and C-2. In the case, that is, in FIG. 3A, the part B-2 is set as a necessary part. If there are two or more adjacent or three or more light transmitting or reflecting portions that are adjacent to each other, it can be set as a necessary portion. Also, the third
As shown in (B) of the figure, adjacent A-1, B-1, B-3 and C
-2, if there is no light transmitting or reflecting portion, it is set as an unnecessary portion. It is also possible to set one or less as an unnecessary portion setting.

Although an example of sequentially scanning in pixel units is shown, when the pixel unit touches the edge of an originally required image line, this image line portion is also a portion smaller than the pixel. In order to prevent this portion from being detected as an unnecessary portion, it is detected correctly by the above-described connection method.

The result of comparison and examination by the comparator 20 is sent to the next light shielding unit 30.

When the inspection object being conveyed reaches the light shielding unit 30 in FIG. 1, the coordinate information in the sub-memory 16 and the coordinate information of the inspection object under the light shielding unit 30 are verified by a logical product (AND) device, When the result is true, the shading is automatically performed at the coordinate position of the corresponding inspection object.

The size of the plate-making film or photographic paper has various shapes and sizes depending on the size of the image used, for example, for street advertisement or for catalogs. However, in the present invention, the plate-making film or printing paper having an unnecessary light-transmitting or reflecting portion which is the object of shading is located in the middle of the working process, and therefore its size is generally smaller than the final finished product. Many. In the present invention, the size that can be inserted into the detecting portion shown in FIG. 1 is set to about 610 mm. Of course, the size may be larger than this.

In addition, a lens (not shown) is used in front of the CCD light receiving element in the detector, but this lens is not essential. For example, in the case of a plate-making film, an image with a diameter of 0.3 to 0.01 mm (pin If either one of the hole) and the continuous image of 0.05 to 30 mm corresponds to at least one chip of the CCD, it is possible to detect the enlargement or reduction of the image without using the lens.

The light-shielding portion 30 shows an example in which a heat-sensitive transfer material is used in FIG. The thermal head 31 and the thermal transfer material 32 are the main components. The thermal head 31 is arranged at a right angle to the conveying direction, and the thermal head is heated by the result of the logical product of the positional information of both the sub memory 16 and the inspection object, the transfer material is thermally melted, and it is detected as unnecessary. A light shielding layer is formed on the part. As the heat-sensitive transfer material 32, for example, 2 parts by weight of oxyethylene / oxypropylene block copolymer is dissolved in 7 parts by weight of solvent (isopropyl alcohol and water) on a polyethylene terephthalate film (4 μm thick), and 1 part by weight of carbon black is added. , An equal amount of glass beads were added, and the transfer material was shaken for 1 hour with a shaker (let devil), applied with a bar coater No. 16, and dried. The transfer temperature is about 53 ℃.

The plate-making film and the like shielded from light by the heat-sensitive transfer material had good adhesiveness and abrasion resistance of the light-shielding layer and was completely shielded from light. Therefore, peeling did not occur even in the post-process even in the same handling as the conventional light-shielding work.

The above-mentioned transfer material is an aqueous type, but may be an organic solvent type such as an alcohol type. For example, 60 parts by weight of carnauba wax, 15 parts by weight of petroleum resin, 15 parts by weight of colloidal silica are added to toluene.
Dissolve in 100 parts by weight, then add 10 parts by weight of carbon black, disperse for 1 hour in red devil, apply with a bar coater, etc., and transfer using a dry thermal transfer material. Been formed. The transfer temperature is approx.
90 ° C.

"Effects of the Invention" In the work of shielding unnecessary light transmitting portions or reflecting portions of a plate-making film or printing paper, etc., by using the plate-making apparatus of the present invention, the following working steps are improved.

(It shows that there are 168 areas of the A3 size plate-making film to be shaded, the shade quality A is good and there is no need for re-correction, and B-there is a part that needs re-correction.) Cleaning of dishes, brushes, water boxes, etc. for preparation is not required, and the light-shielding material is provided as a sheet, so that the work place is not polluted and a plurality of continuous works can be performed. Furthermore, it is possible to perform a uniform light-shielding work without the need for an expert.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing one embodiment of the plate making apparatus of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are conceptual diagrams for explaining detection of an unnecessary light transmitting portion or a reflecting portion. The reference numerals in the figure are 1 …… Conveyor belt, 2 …… Roller, 10 ……
Detector, 11 ... LED array, 12 ... CCD light receiving element, 13-CPU, 1
4 …… Memory, 15 …… Sub memory, 30 …… Shading section, 31…
... thermal head, 32 thermal transfer material, respectively.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (56) Reference JP-A-59-46647 (JP, A) JP-A-53-92127 (JP, A) JP-A-53-29806 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a plate-making process which shields unnecessary light-transmitting or reflecting portions of an image-formed plate-making film or photographic paper, the film or photographic paper is exposed by an exposure device, and the size of pixels is exposed by the exposure. The unnecessary light transmission part or the smaller reflection part is detected by a detection device including a light receiving element on the basis of connectivity, and then a light shielding layer is provided by a device for providing an unnecessary light transmission part or reflection part according to an instruction from the detection device. Forming method.