EP3168045B1 - Method for controlling or regulating a production process in the manufacture of printed products - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a method for controlling or regulating a production process in the production of printed products.

A widespread method for controlling printed products and controlling or regulating the printing process is the application and detection of so-called print marks, via the positioning or design of which corresponding control commands for usually subsequent processing units of the printing press can be transferred. One embodiment of such print marks are, for example, contrast marks which are used, for example, for cutting the printing substrate and for further processing. About the position of these contrast marks the right time for a cut can be transferred to a cutting device, so that it can be set as desired. Furthermore, over the length of the contrast marks in the direction of the substrate encoding of a few further information is possible, on the example, collection and stapling information for further processing can be stored and retrieved. In such contrast marks very little information and control commands can be deposited, so that the scope is limited.

From practice it is already known to print codes on the printed matter for controlling a production process in the production of printed products and to detect and evaluate the codes, in particular 2D codes, on the basis of the production information contained in the codes To carry out control or regulation actions in the production process during the production of the printed products. Such codes may be, for example, 1D codes such as bar codes or 2D codes or 2D stack codes or even act on 2D matrix codes.

The basic structure, for example, of such 2D codes is known from the product catalog "Competence Direct Part Marking, Sick Sensor Intelligence, November 2007, Sick AG". For example, 2D codes have different sections, namely edge sections and inner sections. The edge sections are used in particular for recognizing or finding the 2D code as such. In the inner sections, the actual content of the 2D code is stored. It is already known, within one and the same 2D code, so in the inner portion of the same, to deposit data in different sections of the inner portion redundant.

Even if one-dimensional codes such as bar codes have no redundancy in the classical sense, such as 2D codes, redundancy can nevertheless be achieved to a certain extent by various measures, such as the formation of intermediate or cross sums. In particular, if only a few process steps are controlled or monitored with such a 1D code, sufficient additional information in the sense of redundancy can also be mapped using such codes.

With so-called multi-dimensional 3D or 4D codes, for example when 2D codes are printed with different colors or gray levels, the number of information contained therein and thus also the available redundancy can be significantly increased again.

Due to the numerous possibilities of available codes, the collective term code is used below.

Then, if large portions of a code are unreadable, for example, in about 50% of a code, then typically the entire content of the code is no longer detectable and subsequently evaluable, so that even a redundant deposit of data in a code does not help. This is particularly problematic in production processes that are not always the same. These can be, for example, collecting processes from different numbers of signatures to individually designed books or book blocks. In this case, a non-evaluable code can lead to production interruption and / or waste generation and / or inconsistent monitoring or control and possibly incomplete documentation of the production.

In the present invention is defined as a sheet arcuate, unprinted substrate, whereas a finished printed sheet is called a signature. In the case of printing a substrate web is also called a printed and isolated substrate as a signature, and such a signature can optionally also be folded in particular in the case of a occurring in the web press folding operation. Signatures are accordingly intermediate products which are processed with or without at least one additional additional working step such as, for example, a folding operation to form a final printed product.

The DE 10 2007 050 691 A1 . DE 10 2012 023 391 A1 . DE 10 2009 012 436 A1 and EP 2 090 441 A1 each concern production processes in the production of printed products, in which always identical or identical signatures are ducked.

Proceeding from this, the present invention has the object to provide a novel method in which a variety of production information for the control and / or monitoring or control of a production process can be stored on the substrate and safely retrieved with low error rate.

This object is achieved by a method for controlling or regulating a production process in the production of printed products according to claim 1. The method according to the invention has at least the following steps: printing a code, in particular a matrix code, with production information contained therein for the control or regulation and / or monitoring or checking of the production process on the printing substrate; Printing a code on at least two signatures to be separated from the web-shaped substrate by cross-cutting or on at least two signatures produced from an arcuate substrate, wherein a code contains production information about a plurality of different signatures; Detecting the code by means of a detection device; Evaluation of the production information contained in the code by means of an evaluation unit; in the case of non-decodability of the evaluated code, exploiting the information from at least one preceding and / or at least one subsequent code; Executing the control actions and / or monitoring or control functions based on the determined production information by the printing system.

According to the invention, the invention uses codes in order to print production information required for a production process in the production of printed products on the printing material, these codes subsequently being recorded and evaluated in order to carry out control and regulating actions on the basis of the production information determined therefrom. The code contains production information about or for a plurality of signatures, preferably production information about the respective signature on which the respective code is printed, and production information about another signature of the printing material. By using codes, you can increase the amount of production information that is printed on a substrate and subsequently captured and evaluated in coded form. In this case, it is preferably provided that a code is printed on at least one of the web-like substrate to be separated by cross-cutting signature or on each individually printed signature in the sheet printing process, which not only contains production information on the respective current signature on which the same is printed, but also production information via a different signature of the printing material, namely a subsequent and / or preceding signature which has been separated from the web-shaped printing material or is to be separated or on each individually printed in the sheet-fed printing signature.

If, therefore, a code printed on a signature should not be legible in large parts, the production information stored redundantly in the code of another signature can be used. As a result, the production process in the production of printed products can be carried out more stably with less susceptibility to errors, so that less paper waste is produced or produced. This also allows complete monitoring and / or control and thus, if necessary, complete documentation of the respective print job.

According to an advantageous development of the invention, the respective code contains production information about the respective signature and production information on at least one subsequent signature, preferably on the immediately following signature, and / or on at least one preceding signature, preferably on the immediately preceding signature. With this, the production process on the printing machine can be stably performed with less susceptibility to errors.

According to an advantageous development of the invention, the production information of the code printed on a signature, which relate to a subsequent and / or a preceding signature, redundant production information, which are also contained in the printed on the respective subsequent or previous signature codes. Due to this redundancy, the production process on the printing system can be carried out in a more stable and less error-prone manner.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the production information of the code printed on a signature, which relate to a subsequent and / or a preceding signature, the completion and / or verification of production information contained in the printed on the respective subsequent or previous signature codes. These details also increase the stability of the production process on the printing press with reduced susceptibility to errors.

Fig. 1:

einen schematischen Aufbau einer Druckanlage zur Verdeutlichung des erfindungsgemäßen Verfahrens zur Steuerung bzw. Regelung eines Produktionsprozesses bei der Herstellung von Druckprodukten.

Preferred embodiments of the invention will become apparent from the dependent claims and the description below. Embodiments of the invention will be described, without being limited thereto, with reference to the drawings. Showing:

Fig. 1:

a schematic structure of a printing system to illustrate the method according to the invention for controlling or regulating a production process in the production of printed products.

The invention relates to a method for controlling and / or monitoring or controlling a production process in the production of printed products.

Fig. 1 shows a printed substrate web 1. On the substrate web 1 can be separated by cross cutting using a cutter 7 signatures 2a, 2b, 2c from the illustrated in this embodiment web-like substrate, in the embodiment of Fig. 1 on the individual signatures 2a, 2b, 2c printed pages 3 are printed. Fig. 1 It can be seen that the signatures 2a, 2b, 2c can differ with regard to the number of printed pages 3 printed on them. It is also possible that all signatures are printed with the same number of printed pages 3.

For control or regulation and / or monitoring or control of the production process in the production of printed products, codes 4, preferably 2D codes or matrix codes in the form of a DataMatrix code or QR code, are printed on the printing material web 1, the production information for controlling or regulating the production process. According to Fig. 1 For example, at least one code is printed on each signature 2a, 2b, 2c, wherein in Fig. 1 the code 4a is printed on the signature 2a and the code 4b on the signature 2b. The code printed on the signature 2c is in Fig. 1 not visible. The production information can be all the data for the print job and for the further processing and finishing of the signatures, in particular data for positioning the printed pages 3, the order of the printed pages 3, the collecting sequence and the folding order.

As already stated, the codes 4a, 4b printed on the signatures 2a, 2b, 2c of the printing material web 1 contain production information for the control or regulation of the production process, the codes being measured by means of a detection device 6 mounted on a crosshead 5 and transversely to the web running direction B of the printing substrate 1 can be moved, are detected.

The detected codes are evaluated in an evaluation unit, not shown, in order to obtain production information contained in the codes, wherein subsequently control actions for the production process are executed on the basis of the production information determined in the evaluation unit on the printing system.

With the present invention, it is proposed that at least one signature 2 a, 2 b, 2 c of the printing material 1, which in the in Fig. 1 shown example is cut by cross cutting from the substrate 1, a code 4a, 4b is printed, which contains production information on several different signatures, in particular on the respective, current signature to which the code is printed, as well as additional production information about another signature of the printing substrate 1.

In this case, the respective code 4a, 4b may contain, in addition to the production information of the signature on which it is printed, production information about at least one subsequent signature and / or at least one preceding signature.

Preferably, in the in Fig. 1 Example shown printed on each of the web-shaped substrate 1 by cross-cutting signature 2a, 2b, 2c, a code 4a, 4b, on the one hand contains production information on the current signature on which the same is printed, and further production information on at least two other signatures, namely at least one subsequent and at least one preceding signature.

Particularly preferred is an embodiment of the invention in which the code printed on a signature in addition to the production information of the signature on which the same is printed, also contains production information about the signature immediately following and / or immediately preceding signature.

The production information of the code printed on a signature 2a, 2b, 2c, which relates to a subsequent and / or a preceding signature, is preferably redundant production information, which is also contained in the code printed on the respective subsequent or preceding signature. If, for example, a signature code 4a is printed on the signature 2a, which contains on the one hand production information about the signature 2a and, on the other hand, production information about the immediately preceding signature 2b, those production information of the code 4a which relates to the immediately preceding signature 2b are also in the code 4b printed on the signature 2b.

Furthermore, it is possible for a code 4b to be printed on the signature 2b, which on the one hand contains production information about the signature 2b and, on the other hand, production information about the immediately following signature 2a, in which case the production information of the code 4b, which relates to the directly following signature 2a, Also contained in the code 4a, which is printed on the immediately following signature 2a.

Further, it is possible that the code 4b printed on the signature 2b contains production information about the signature 2b as well as production information about the immediately following signature 2a and the immediately preceding signature 2c. In this case, in turn, those production information of the code 4b, which relate to the immediately following signature 2a, are also contained in the code 4a of the signature 2a. Further, the production information of the code 4b concerning the immediately preceding signature 2c is also included in the code (not visible) printed on this immediately preceding signature 2c.

If, therefore, a code printed on a signature 2a, 2b, 2c can not be detected and evaluated, then the code of another signature, namely a preceding and / or subsequent signature, can be accessed in order to record, evaluate and compare the relevant production information Execution of control actions.

Production information of the signature printed code relating to a subsequent signature may be used to complete and verify production information contained in the code printed on the respective subsequent signature. Production information of the code printed on a signature relating to a preceding signature serves, in particular, for the verification of production information contained in the code printed on the respective preceding signature. So can online during In the production process, it is checked whether production in the production of printed products is proceeding correctly. Should there be deviations between the production information used for verification of codes printed on different signatures, it can be counteracted during the production process by, for example, ejecting affected signatures and / or by reprinting corresponding signatures, in order to avoid waste and to produce error-free printed products.

It is therefore within the meaning of the present invention that are printed on signatures 2a, 2b, 2c of a printing substrate 1 codes 4a, 4b, which preferably each contain at least two types of production information, preferably at least production information on the current signature to which the current Code is printed, and at least continue production information on at least one signature, namely at least one subsequent signature and / or at least one previous signature. Accordingly, should a code be unusable and not readable, redundant production information contained in the codes of preceding and / or subsequent signatures may be accessed. Furthermore, by matching production information, the proper production process can be verified.

Although not preferred, it is also possible that a code printed on a signature does not contain production information about the signature on which it is printed, but only production information about different subsequent and / or preceding signatures.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

substrate

2a

signature

2 B

signature

2c

signature

3

pressure side

4a

code

4b

code

5

traverse

6

detector

7

cutter

Claims (10)

1. A method for controlling or regulating, respectively, a production process in the production of printed products of a web-shaped or sheet-shaped printed material (1) in a printing system, wherein the method has the following steps:

   printing a code (4a, 4b), in particular a matrix code, with production information included therein for the control or regulation, respectively, and/or monitoring or control, respectively, of the production process onto the printing material (1);

   wherein at least one code (4a, 4b), which includes production information about several different signatures, is printed onto at least two signatures (2a, 2b, 2c), which are to be separated from the web-shaped printing material (1) by means of cross-cutting, or onto at least two signatures (2a, 2b, 2c) made of a sheet-shaped printing material;

   capturing the code (4a, 4b) by means of a capturing device (6);

   evaluating the production information included in the code (4a, 4b) by means of an evaluation unit;

   in the event of a non-decodability of the evaluated code (4a, 4b), utilizing the information from at least one preceding and/or at least one following code (4a, 4b);

   performing the control or regulating actions, respectively, and/or monitoring or control functions, respectively, on the basis of the determined production information by the printing system.
2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the respective code (4a, 4b) includes production information about the respective signature and production information about at least one other signature of the printing material.
3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a code (4a, 4b), which includes production information about several different signatures (2a, 2b, 2c) of the printing material (1), is printed onto each signature (2a, 2b, 2c), which is to be separated from the web-shaped printing material (1) by means of cross-cutting, or onto each signature made of a sheet-shaped printing material.
4. The method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the respective code (4a, 4b) includes production information about the respective signature and production information about at least one following signature.
5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that the respective code (4a, 4b) includes production information about the respective signature and production information about the immediately following signature.
6. The method according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the respective code (4a, 4b) includes production information about the respective signature and production information about at least one preceding signature.
7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that the respective code (4a, 4b) includes production information about the respective signature and production information about the immediately preceding signature.
8. The method according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the production information of the code (4, 4b), which is printed onto a signature (2a, 2b, 2c) and which pertains to a following and/or a preceding signature, is redundant production information, which is also included in the code, which is printed onto the respective following and/or preceding signature.
9. The method according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the production information of the code (4a, 4b), which is printed onto a signature (2a, 2b, 2c) and which pertains to a following and/or a preceding signature, serve for the completion and/or verification of production information, which is included in the code, which is printed onto the respective following and/or preceding signature.
10. The method according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that a matrix code, in particular data matrix code or a QR code is used as code (4).

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