JPH07117396B2 - Picture area ratio measuring device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] In order to preset an appropriate ink supply amount for each ink key of an offset printing machine, the present invention relates to an ink key key zone (hereinafter referred to as an ink key key zone) corresponding to a name ink key of an offset printing plate. ,
The present invention relates to a pattern area ratio measuring device for measuring the pattern area ratio for each key zone).

[Conventional technology]

Recently, in offset printing, the amount of ink supply is adjusted according to the design before printing to reduce the amount of wasted paper at the beginning of printing.
An "ink preset system" has been actively introduced to reduce the time required to shift to regular printing operation. This is a thin plate printing plate (PS
Image area (low reflectance area) and non-image area (high reflectance area)
Are optically distinguished, and the pattern area ratio (area of the image area / total area of the plate) is measured in advance for each key zone corresponding to the ink key of the ink fountain of the printing machine, and the measured pattern area ratio Based on the above, the opening degree of each ink key is determined before printing, and the ink amount is adjusted according to the pattern before printing. This system has been in practical use for some time, and is being established as a general printing technique.

As an example of a conventional device, there is a device described in U.S. Pat.No. 3,958,509.In this device, a printing plate is placed on an inclined pedestal, and an image signal is obtained by photographing this with a TV camera located above. Then, the image signal is electrically processed to obtain the area ratio for each key zone.

Further, in the device described in JP-A-56-24508, a printing plate is adsorbed and fixed on a vertical self-standing vacuum stage, and the PS plate is scanned by a scanning device equipped with two rod-shaped light sources and many photodiodes. The area ratio of each key zone is calculated based on the signal obtained by scanning.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In each of the conventional area ratio measuring devices, the operator manually removes the measured printing plate from the measuring table every time the measurement of one printing plate is completed, and the printing plate to be measured next is the same. In addition, it is necessary to manually place it at a predetermined position on the measuring table. Then, after that, the measurement is started by pressing the measurement button. That is, in the past, accurate measurement could not be performed unless the printing plate was placed at a predetermined position on the measuring table. By the way, in the case of normal color printing, the printing plate requires four colors of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black. Furthermore, when printing is performed on a rotary press, a printing plate for printing the front and back sides of paper at the same time is required. Since 8 printing plates are required,
It is necessary to measure the area ratio of eight printing plates as one job in advance. Here, when the operator manually places the printing plates on the measuring table one by one and removes them from the measuring table,
Since the printing plate is thin, it is easy for the printing plate to have dents that are called "peco" and are broken by a nail. Further, until the measurement of eight plates is completed, that is, until one job is completed, the worker cannot perform other work, and the work efficiency is poor. further,
The process from baking to gumming is automatically carried out in one line, but the conventional measurement of the area ratio was processed as one process independent from the line. Therefore, the work efficiency was poor.

This invention has been made to deal with the above-mentioned circumstances,
An object of the present invention is to provide a pattern area ratio measuring device capable of accurately obtaining a pattern area ratio for each key zone without manually placing a printing plate on a predetermined position of a measuring unit.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a pattern area ratio measuring device capable of automatically performing from the feeding of printing plates before processing to the stacking after processing.

[Means for solving problems]

A first pattern area ratio measuring device according to the present invention comprises a measuring device main body for measuring a reflected light amount of a printing plate to obtain a pattern area ratio for each key zone, and a plate supply section connected to the front surface thereof. The supply unit has a conveyor belt that carries the printing plate into the main body, and a width-shifting mechanism that positions the printing plate placed on the conveyor belt in a direction orthogonal to the carrying-in direction before carrying it in.

In addition to the above configuration, the second pattern area ratio measuring device according to the present invention further comprises an auto feeder means for feeding the printing plate toward the width-shifting means, and a stocker means for receiving the printing plate from the measuring means. , Are provided.

[Work]

According to the pattern area ratio measuring device according to the present invention, since the printing plate placed on the conveyor belt of the plate supply unit is positioned by moving the printing plate in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction before carrying it in, it is always in the conveying direction. The printing plate can be carried into the main body in a state where the positions in the direction orthogonal to the direction are correctly aligned, and the pattern area ratio for each key zone can always be accurately obtained.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of a pattern area ratio measuring device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the outline of one embodiment. A plate supply unit 106 including a pair of feed belts 104 for supplying the printing plate 102 into the main body is connected to the front surface of the main body 100 that incorporates a measuring unit described later. The printing plate 102 may be manually placed on the feed belt 104 of the plate supply unit 106 by the operator, and the plate supply unit 106 may be used for printing plate process lines such as baking exposure, development, fixing, burning, gumming, and the like. Immediately after the connection, the printing plate 102 discharged from the line may be automatically placed on the plate supply unit 106, and the work up to the area ratio measurement may be performed in one line. Feeding belt 10
4 is an endless type, and is stretched between a driving roller 108 and a driven roller 110. The drive roller 108 is rotationally driven by a motor (not shown) via a chain 112. Body 100
The printing plate 102 conveyed by the feed belt 104
A carry-in port 124 is provided for carrying the above into the measuring section in the main body.

Two plate detection units 114 and 116 are provided immediately in front of the left side surface of the plate supply unit 106 in the transport direction of the printing plate 102. Plate detector 114,1
The 16 intervals are set below the length of the shortest printing plate. On the right side in the transport direction, two width-shifting parts 118 and 120 are provided corresponding to these. The width-shifting units 118 and 120 are movable in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction, that is, in a direction toward and away from the plate detection units 114 and 116. Also, in front of the driven roller 110, there is a sensor 1 that optically detects the tip of the plate.
22 are provided. The heights of the plate detection units 114 and 116 and the sensor 122 are equal to or lower than the height of the printing plate 102 being conveyed.

As shown in FIG. 2, the plate detection unit 114 (or 116) includes two sensors 130a and 130b which optically detect the left side portion of the printing plate 102, which is lower than the plate conveyance height. The sensor 130a is attached to the left side surface 128 of the plate supply unit 106, and the sensor 130b is provided slightly inside thereof. As shown in FIG. 2, the width-shifting part 118 (or 120) has a main body 136 which reciprocates in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction along the guide 134 by the rotation of the screw 132, and the plate 136 is provided on the main body 136. Two sensors 138a and 138b for optically detecting the right side of the printing plate 102, which is lower than the conveying height of the printing plate 102, and a pressing bar 140 for pushing the right side of the printing plate 102 to the left above the conveying height of the plate are provided. To be

In such a configuration, when the printing plate 102 is placed on the conveyor belt 104, the motor (not shown) starts to rotate and the drive roller 108 is rotationally driven to start the transportation of the printing plate 102.
The tip of the printing plate 102 blocks the upper part of the sensor 122,
When the leading edge of the plate is detected, the rotation of the drive roller 108 is stopped and the conveyance is temporarily stopped.

Then, the width aligning units 118 and 120 start moving to the left (direction approaching the plate). When both the inner sensors 130b and 138b detect the plate, the moving directions of the width-shifting units 118 and 120 are decelerated and the speed becomes low. Further, when the width aligning units 118 and 120 move, the pressing bar 140 pushes the printing plate 102 to the left side, the printing plate 102 contacts the left side surface 128 of the plate supply unit 106, and the orientation of the printing plate 102 is parallel to the transport direction. Are aligned with. Here, when the printing plate 102 comes into contact with the side surface 128, the outer sensors 130a and 138a both detect the plate, and the movement of the width aligning units 118 and 120 is completed.

After that, the rotation of the driving roller 108 is restarted, the printing plate 102 is conveyed by the feed belt 104, and passes through the carry-in port 124 to the main body.
Delivered within 100. Then, the area ratio is measured and the plate is discharged. The operation up to this point is shown in FIG.

According to such a configuration, even if the printing plate 102 is tilted and placed on the plate supply unit 106, it is width-shifted in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction before being carried into the main body 100. The printing plate 102 can be carried into the main body 100 in a state where the positions in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction are always aligned correctly, and the pattern area ratio for each key zone can always be accurately obtained.

Next, details of the main body 100 will be described. FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are a front view and a vertical side view with a part thereof cut away.
The main body 100 has a frame 1 composed of a steel plate capable of supporting each device portion as a main part of the body, and a carry-in for carrying the printing plate 102 into the frame 1 between the left and right side surfaces 2a and 2b of the frame 1. Two front and rear feed rollers 4a, 4b forming a path are installed via bearings 5a, 5b (see FIG. 5). The printing plate 102 sent from the feeding belt 118 shown in FIG.
It is transported between a and 8a. The rollers 4a and 8a correspond to the feed roller 116 in FIG. Each of the feed rollers 4a, 4b is composed of a rubber roller or the like, and is rotationally driven by a servo motor 6 installed at the left center of the frame 1 via an interlocking portion 7 such as a timing belt.

On the side surfaces 2a, 2b, a pressing roller 8a composed of two rubber rollers or the like, which opposes the above-described two feed rollers 4a, 4b and which also holds the printing plate 102 together with the feed rollers 4a, 4b and acts as a feed roller. A movable frame 9 supporting 8b is installed slidably in the vertical direction. Driving device 10 for driving the movable frame 9
Is installed near the movable frame 9. The drive device 10 has a general structure, and is constituted by, for example, a fluid pressure cylinder, a combination of a motor and a rack and pinion, a combination of a motor and a ball screw shaft, and the like.

Between the rollers 4a (8a) and 4b (8b), a plurality of stoppers 19 arranged in a line in a direction intersecting the loading direction of the printing plate 102.
Are supported by a supporting means (not shown). Stopper 19
The rod-shaped limb 19a can be raised and lowered by the drive cylinder 19b, and can be projected and retracted between the feed rollers 4a and 4b.

When the stopper 19 is projected, the printing plate 102 guided between the rollers 4a and 8a while being guided on the guide surface 33a is entirely covered by the stopper 19.
The printing plate 102 is accurately positioned at a predetermined position in the transport direction with respect to the measuring head 11 described later. Note that the positioning in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction has already been performed by the width aligning units 118 and 120 before loading. At the end of the measurement, the printing plate 102 is detached from the feed roller 4b and the pressing roller 8b, slides down on the rear guide surface 33d by gravity, and can be discharged to the outside.

Furthermore, a bracket 14 is provided between both side surfaces 2a, 2b,
The guide roller 26 is attached to the rail 12 provided on the bracket 14.
The measuring head 11 can be slid forward and backward along the X-axis direction (direction orthogonal to the printing plate loading direction) via the. Both ends of the timing belt 15 are connected to the measurement head 11 on both left and right sides of the measurement head 11 in FIG. 6, and the timing belt 15 is endless with the measurement head 11 interposed therebetween. The timing belt 15 is wound around a timing pulley 17 attached to the drive shaft of the servo motor 16 and a timing pulley 18 attached to the left side surface 2a of the frame 1. As described above, the timing belt 15 and the timing pulleys 17 and 18 constitute a scanning unit that reciprocates the measuring head 11 in the X-axis direction.

Behind the pair of pressing rollers 8b and 4b, as shown in FIG. 5, contact rails 20a to 20d are stretched in parallel with the bracket 14 between both side surfaces 2a and 2b of the frame 1. Contact rail 20a
~ 20d is 1 for each side of the support 21 with a square cross section
Books are supported one by one. The contact rails 20a to 20d are electrically contacted with contact brushes 22a to 22d provided on the rear portion of the measuring head 11. The contact rails 20a to 20d and the contact brushes 22a to 22d have four poles by making one pole of the communication line and one pole of the electrode wire common among a total of five poles of the communication system 3 poles and the power supply system 2 poles. Consists of

As shown in FIG. 6, the bracket 14 is provided on the right side edge thereof with a slit 13 by punching a metal plate at a predetermined pitch width dimension W, and a grid-like scale member 27 is provided. . The scale member 27 has portions on both sides where the slit 13 is not cut. A portion where the slit 13 is not cut is a measuring head stop range R for stopping the movement of the measuring head 11. The middle portion of the scale member 27, that is, the portion having the slit 13 is the scanning range of the measuring head 11, and the width S thereof is set to the maximum width of the various printing plates 102 or more. Therefore, it is possible to obtain the reflected light data of the S × L band-shaped portion (block) by one scan of the measuring head 11. for that reason,
The printing plate 102 is intermittently fed by the distance L.

A photo interrupter 28, which is a transmitter composed of a light emitting diode (not shown) and a light receiving element (not shown), is installed in the rear part of the measuring head 11 so as to sandwich the scale member 27 from above and below.

At the front edge of the measuring head 11, the photoelectric converter 29 and the width W
A box 31 containing a light source 30 for irradiating the printing plate 102 with a beam (for example, a laser beam) having a rectangular cross section with a length dimension L is provided slidably in the vertical direction. Box 31 is
It is vertically moved by a drive mechanism (not shown) composed of a rack and pinion, a motor, and the like, and this drive mechanism can be interlocked with the vertical movement of the movable frame 9. Here, the width dimension W of the light beam is determined by the slit of the scale member 27.
It is equal to the pitch width dimension W of 13. Here, since the color of the printing plate 102 is green or blue as the light source 3, a He-Ne laser is often used, and as the photoelectric converter 29, a photomultiplier is used because the amount of reflected light is very small. Often.

A pulse generated when the slit 13 from the photo interrupter 28 is detected and a measurement data signal indicating the amount of reflected light from the photoelectric converter 29 are input to the measurement head unit measurement controller 23 installed at the rear of the measurement head 11. The measurement head unit measurement control device 23 processes the measurement data and files the data so that the pattern area ratio for each key zone is calculated.

Further, in FIG. 5, a main measurement control device 24 and a power supply device 25 are installed below the servo motor 16. The main measurement control device 24 and the measurement head unit measurement control device 23 are electrically connected via the contact rails 20a to 20d and the contact brushes 22a to 22d. Measuring head measurement control device 23
And the main measurement control device 24 constitute an arithmetic processing unit.

A block circuit diagram of the arithmetic processing unit is shown in FIG. The arithmetic processing unit has two independent CPUs 35 and 43, and performs measurement control by a measurement control program. The measurement head unit measurement control device 23 includes a ROM 37, a RAMN 38, a communication interface I / O connected to the measurement head CPU 35 via a bus line 36.
It comprises a device 39 and an I / O device 41 for an A / D converter 40. The measuring head 11 further includes a stabilizing power supply 42 that supplies electric power to each device part of the measurement control device 23, the photo interrupter 28, the light source 30, and the photoelectric converter 29.

The A / D converter 40 of the measuring head controller 23 includes the photoelectric converter 2
When the output of 9 is supplied and the measuring head 11 moves in the Y-axis direction, the measuring head CPU 35 measures the reflected light amount of the light beam emitted from the light source 30 by the printing plate 102 and stores the reflected light amount data in the RAM 38. Store.

The main measurement controller 24 is connected to the main CPU 43 via the bus line 44. The ROM 45, the RAM 46, the input / output device 47, the communication interface I / O device 48, and the I / O device for the operating device controller 49.
Equipped with 50. The input / output device 47 is a man / machine interface such as a CRT display device and a keyboard. Contact brush 2 to I / O39 of measurement control unit 23
2a to 22d are connected, and the contact rails 20a to 20d are connected to the I / O 48 of the main measurement control device 24. As a result, the measurement head CPUT35 of the measurement head unit measurement controller 23 and the main measurement controller 24
The main CPU 43 can communicate with each other via the communication interface I / O devices 39 and 48, and the stabilized power supply 42 can be supplied with power from the power supply device 25. An IC regulator for AC, a switching power supply, or the like is used as the stabilized power supply 42. When the measuring head 11 moves, even if the contact resistance between the contact rails 20a to 20d and the contact brushes 22a to 22d changes and the primary side voltage of the stabilizing power supply 42 fluctuates, the stabilizing power supply 42 does not change its secondary side. It is possible to supply electric power with a stable side voltage to each unit.

Next, the operation of the area ratio main body 100 will be described with reference to FIG. First, the printing plate 102 to be measured is carried into the main body, and when the leading end of the printing plate 102 comes into contact with the stopper 19 that has been raised in advance, the carrying-in is stopped. As a result, the Y-axis (the loading direction of the printing plate 102) reference alignment between the printing plate 102 and the measuring device is performed. The reference alignment in the X-axis direction is performed by the width-shifting units 118 and 120 shown in FIG. 1 before loading.

Before and after loading the printing plate 102 into the main body of the device, the printing plate 102
And various parameters that differ depending on the size of the printer and the type of printing machine that prints using the printing plate 102 are manually input to the main measurement control device 24 using the input / output device 47. This parameter is, for example, the width and length of the printing plate 102, and calculates the sampling number Nmax of the reflected light amount data in the X-axis direction and the feeding number Imax of the printing plate 102 in the Y-axis direction, or the key zone of the printing press. Used to calculate the picture area ratio for each.

After these operations are completed, the input / output device 47 of the main measurement control device 24 is manually operated to start the measurement control program.

This measurement control program, as shown in FIG. 7, causes the two CPUs 43 and 35 to share the functions so that two separate programs are separately executed, and information necessary when mutual communication is required. Is transmitted and received by communication to perform measurement control. In the figure, steps S101 to S113 on the left side show steps of the measurement control program of the main CPU 43, and steps S202 to S211 on the right side show steps of the measurement control program of the measuring head CPU 35.

When the measurement control program is started, first, step S1
At 01, an initial value is set in the measurement counter I that counts the number of times the printing plate 102 is fed, and calibration is performed based on the measurement data of the calibration mark. Therefore, the feed roller
The servo motors 6 and 16 are controlled so that the measuring head 11 is located right above the calibration mark on the printing plate 102 by lowering 8a and 8b and the stopper 19. Here, the printing plate is always carried in so that the calibration mark is located at the beginning. The calibration marks are 0% (halftone dots) and 100% that are printed in advance in the margins other than the effective picture area of the printing plate.
It consists of a printing unit that displays black (solid). In measuring the pattern area ratio, it is possible to measure the reflected light from both of these parts, find the reference white level signal and black level signal, and then find the area ratio from the ratio of these and the actual reflected light level. it can.

Next, in step S102, the measurement command is transmitted to the measurement head CPU 35. In step S103, the rollers 4 and 8 feed the printing plate 102 to a predetermined position so that the measuring head 11 can scan the pattern portion at the leading end of the printing plate 102 in the feeding direction, so that the first measurement value can be sampled. . Then, the measuring head 11 is moved in the X-axis direction to start the measurement.

The measuring head CPU 35, which had the measurement command from the main CPU 43 in steps S201 and S202, receives the command and receives the command in step S
At 203, the initial value 1 is set to the measurement counter N that counts the number of times of sampling in the X-axis direction, and then step S204-
The measurement control is repeated in S209, whereby the measurement head unit measurement control device 23 repeats sampling of measurement values.

That is, when the measuring head 11 moves in the X-axis direction, the photo interrupter 28 moves while sandwiching the scale member 27 and generates a pulse at each pitch of the slits 13. Every time this pulse is received in steps S204 and S205, the measurement head CPU 35 holds and samples the amount of light received by the photoelectric converter 29 (step S206), and at a predetermined position of the data file set in the RAM 38. Write (step S207). This operation is repeated whenever the measuring head 11 is within the scanning range S (step S208). Upon this repetition, the measurement counter N is incremented by 1 for each sampling (step S209). When the measuring head 11 reaches the right end of the scanning range S (FIG. 6), the measuring counter N
The maximum value Nmax is determined so that is equal to Nmax. The pitch width of the slits 13 of the scale member 27 and the width of the light beam emitted from the light source 30 to the printing plate 102 have the same dimension W.
Therefore, when the measurement counter N reaches Nmax, the measurement head CPU 35 finishes sampling the amount of reflected light in the width direction of the printing plate 102 at the count I = 1 of the measurement counter I. At this point all these measurements are in RAM3
It is housed in 8.

When the measurement head CPUT35 finishes the first measurement of the measurement counter I, in steps S210 and S211, the measurement head CPUT35 transmits the first measurement end of the measurement counter I to the main CPU43, and outputs these measurement data to the data file of the RAM38. Transfer to step S201
Return to and wait for the command from the main CPU 43.

On the other hand, the main CPU 43 starts the movement of the measuring head 11 in the X-axis direction, and then executes the measuring head CP in steps S104 to S106.
The U35 finishes the measurement and waits for the measuring head 11 to reach the stop range R provided outside the scanning range S.

When the measuring head 11 reaches the stop range R, the main CPU 43 determines the measuring head 11 in step S107 of the measurement control program.
And the printing plate 102 is sent in the Y-axis direction by the length dimension L of the light beam. Mainly in steps S108 to S109
CPU43 is the measurement counter I obtained from the measurement head CPU35.
All measurement data files for the second time are received, and step S110
At each sampling point (W × L
The rectangular area) is calculated.

In step S112, 1 is added to the counter value of the measurement counter I. Steps S102 to S112 are repeated until the measurement over the entire length of the printing plate 102 is completed (until I = Imax). When the measurement is completed over the entire width and the entire length of the printing plate 102, the main CPU 43, in step S113,
The pattern area ratio for each sampling point calculated in step S110 using the manually input parameters relating to the printing machine is totaled, and further, it is totaled for each key zone of the printing machine, and for each key zone. Calculate the pattern area ratio. The ink amount can be adjusted in advance by setting the obtained pattern area on the printing machine and determining the key opening of the ink key of the ink fountain.

As described above, according to this embodiment, just by placing the printing plate 102 on the plate supply unit 106, the alignment in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction is pushed by moving in the direction orthogonal to the transport belt 104. Since it is carried out by the contact bars 118 and 120, and the alignment in the carrying direction is carried out by the stopper 19 which is inserted into the main body 100 and is sometimes raised, it is always carried into the measuring range of the measuring head 11 accurately and the area for each key zone. Since the rate is accurately calculated, it is expected that the work efficiency will be improved and the accuracy variation due to the plate placement will be reduced. If the plate supply table 106 is directly connected to the plate making line, the process of measuring the area ratio can be processed as one line.
Work efficiency is further improved.

Further, this area ratio meter measures the pattern area ratio by scanning the measuring head 11 in the X-axis direction and intermittently feeding the printing plate 102 in the Y-axis direction by the rollers 4 and 8, and thus has a simple structure. Therefore, unlike the device using the optical deflector, the durability of the movable portion is improved. Therefore, it is possible to provide a device having a long mean time to failure (MTBF) and a short mean time to repair (MTTR), that is, a very good operating rate. Further, since the measurement head 11 is scanned for measurement, the light source 30 and the printing plate 102 can be arranged close to each other, unlike a device using an optical deflector, and the height dimension of the device can be reduced. In addition, the printing plate 102
Is intermittently fed in the Y-axis direction by the rollers 4 and 8, and therefore the depth does not require the entire length of the printing plate 102. Therefore, the entire device can be designed small.

As the light source, a linear light source such as a fluorescent lamp is not used, and since the light source 30 that emits a light beam having a short cross section is used, the printing plate 102 can be uniformly illuminated, and highly accurate measurement can be performed. It is possible.

Further, every time the measurement head 11 passes through the slit 13 of the scale member 27, a pulse generated from the photo interrupter 28 regardless of the moving speed of the measurement head 11 is used as a sampling trigger to input a measurement value to the measurement head CPU 35. Since the servo motor 17 that drives the measurement head 11 needs to be controlled only for the start of the forward movement and the start and stop of the backward movement, it is necessary to synchronize the sampling timing with the movement of the measurement head 11. There is no, so it's easy. Further, the stop position of the measuring head 11 may be anywhere where the slit 13 of the scale member 27 does not exist, that is, within the stop range R of the measuring head 11, and the stopping accuracy of the measuring head 11 is not required to be high, Control can be simplified.
Further, since the measuring head 11 starts moving from this stop range R, the photo interrupter 28 can pass through the slit 13 at the end of the scale member 27, so that the measuring device and the printing plate 10 can pass through.
The phase with 2 does not go out of order.

The number and the pitch of the slits 13 of the scale member 27 are fixed unless exchanged, and there is nothing that comes in contact with the slits 13. Therefore, the number of samplings when the measuring head 11 scans the printing plate 102 of the same width once. Can always be the same. Therefore, by monitoring the number of times of sampling and detecting that the number of times is different from the predetermined number, it is possible to detect erroneous sampling such as a missed detection of sampling or excessive sampling, and to ensure proper sampling.

In addition to the main measurement control device 24, the measurement head 11 is provided with the measurement head part measurement control device 23, and the functions are shared by both control devices 23 and 24, so wiring from the main measurement control device 24 is minimized. The structure of the contact rail 20 and the contact brush 22 can be made simple and highly reliable, and the control program can be simplified.

The measurement data is stored in the measurement head unit measurement control device 23 while the measurement head 11 is moving, and until the measurement head 11 reaches the measurement head stop range R and stops, the main measurement control device 24
This measurement data is transmitted from the measurement head unit measurement control device 23 to the main measurement control device 24 by data communication as a data file when the measurement head 11 is stopped. Occurrence can be reduced.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but can be variously modified. Although the timing belt 15 and the timing pulleys 17 and 18 are used as the moving mechanism of the measuring head 11, instead of these, a ball screw, a feed screw mechanism using a ball nut may be installed to make the measuring head 11 movable. . As means for generating a pulse in response to the movement of the measuring head 11, instead of the scale member 27, a linear encoder and various transmitters for generating a pulse each time the measuring head 11 moves by the light beam width dimension W of the light source 30. And may be used.
That is, the measuring head 11 is movable in the X-axis direction, and at the time of this movement, the measuring head 11 is moved by the width dimension W of the light beam.
Every time the is moved, it is only necessary to be able to input a pulse serving as a trigger for sampling to the measuring head unit measuring device 23, and it is not limited to those generated optically, but magnetically, electrically such as capacitance,
A pulse may be generated magnetically.

Further, in the embodiment, the arithmetic processing unit is the main measurement control unit 24.
The measurement head unit measurement control device 23 is composed of two devices. However, these devices may be integrated into a single CPU so that each device can be controlled.

In addition, the main measurement control device 24 and the measurement head unit measurement control device 23
Communication with the contact rail 20 and the contact brush 22 is performed by wire communication, but this may be wireless communication by combining a light source such as a light emitting diode or a laser and a light receiving element, or online communication. Instead of passing
All the data measured by the measurement head unit measurement control device 23 may be stored in a recording medium such as a floppy disk or a RAMT cartridge, and the main measurement control device 24 may read this.

Although the width-shifting portion is configured to shift the width of the plate from one side and position the side surface on one side of the plate supply table, the width-shifting portions may be provided on both sides to shift the width from both sides and position at the center.

Further, not only the method of scanning the measuring head but also the method of scanning the light beam may be used.

FIG. 9 is a schematic side view showing a modified embodiment of the pattern area ratio measuring device in which the automatic feeder 60 is arranged in front of the plate supply unit 106 and the stocker 80 is arranged after the measuring device main body 100. FIG. 10 is a schematic plan view thereof.

The auto feeder 60 is of a vertical loading type including a feeder main body 62 and an opening lid 61. A plurality of printing plates 102 are arranged so as to stand on the lid 64 in the opened / closed state, and one by one is automatically fed to the plate supply unit 106.

The stocker 80 is a fixed plate fixed to the support base 82.
84 and a movable plate 86 which can be opened and closed.
The printing plates 102 ejected from the measuring apparatus main body 100 are sequentially stacked on the movable plate 86 in the open state.

The auto feeder 60 is provided with a mechanism for inputting data relating to the printing plate and cooperates with the measuring device main body 100 and the like. This input mechanism has two typical methods, one of which is the key input method. In this case, the feeder body 62
An input terminal is arranged on the upper shoulder of the device, and data is manually input by an operator via this terminal. Another method is bar code input, and in this method, a black tape previously attached to a printing plate (usually the back side) is optically read. Therefore, in this case, the automatic reader 60 must be provided with an optical reader. The bar code input method is preferable to the key input method in order to eliminate the troublesomeness and mistakes of the operator's input.

A part of the input data is used for the measurement conditions and the like of the main body 100 of the measurement device. Another part is the printing plate 102
It can be used when the apparatus is stopped at the time of double feeding, or at the time of so-called interrupt processing. As described above, another part is combined with the data measured by the measuring device main body 100 and used as information for the key opening of the ink key.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the present invention, there is provided a pattern area ratio measuring device capable of accurately obtaining a pattern area ratio for each key zone without aligning a printing plate and placing it on a predetermined position of a measuring unit. It

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the external appearance of an embodiment of the pattern area ratio measuring device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the details of the width-shifting portion, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the overall operation of the embodiment. 4 to 6 are diagrams showing the structure of the measuring unit main body, FIG. 7 is a block circuit diagram of the arithmetic processing unit of the measuring unit main body, and FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the measuring operation of the measuring unit main body. FIG. 9 is a schematic side view showing a modified embodiment of the pattern area ratio measuring device provided with an automatic feeder and a stocker, and FIG. 10 is a schematic plan view thereof. 60 …… Auto feeder, 80 …… Stocker, 100 …… Measuring unit main body, 102 …… Print plate, 104 …… Conveyor belt, 106 ……
Plate supply unit, 108 ... drive roller, 110 ... driven roller, 11
4, 116 …… Plate detection unit, 118, 120 …… Width adjustment unit, 122 ……
Sensor, 124 …… Inlet.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Masayoshi Yoshida 1-5-1, Taito, Taito-ku, Tokyo Within Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Makoto Hayashi 4, 5676 Hibarigaoka, Zama City, Kanagawa Prefecture Toshiba Machine Co., Ltd. Inside the Sagami Plant (56) References JP-A-58-223707 (JP, A)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A measuring means for measuring a reflected light amount of a printing plate to obtain a pattern area ratio for each ink key zone, a plate supplying path means for carrying a printing plate into the measuring means, and the measuring means by the plate supplying means. A width-adjusting means for positioning the printing plate carried in to a predetermined position in a direction orthogonal to the carrying direction before carrying it in; and a leading edge for detecting a leading edge of the printing plate in the carrying direction. When the leading edge detecting means detects the leading edge of the printing plate, the width-shifting means starts moving, and moves the printing plate in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction to move the printing plate to the predetermined position. A pattern area ratio measuring device characterized by performing positioning. 2. A measuring means for measuring the amount of reflected light of the printing plate to obtain a pattern area ratio for each ink key zone, a plate supplying path means for carrying the printing plate into the measuring means, and the measurement by the plate supplying path means. The printing plate carried into the means, before the carrying-in, is provided with a width adjusting means for positioning the printing plate at a predetermined position in the direction orthogonal to the carrying direction, and further for detecting the leading end of the printing plate in the carrying direction. And a pair of side edge detecting means for detecting both side edges of the printing plate in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction when the printing plate is positioned at the predetermined position. When the means detects the leading edge of the printing plate, the width-shifting means starts moving and moves the printing plate in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction to position the printing plate at the predetermined position and detect the side edge. means When the both sides of the printing plate are detected by the printing plate, the width adjusting means stops the movement, and the pattern area ratio measuring device.