JP2002237959A - Color calibration method in printing - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce time and much cost in a print process and avoid troubles, such as the color of a printed matter printed out differing from the desired color or the like. SOLUTION: A color tone measurement device measures a density, a dot area rate of a printed matter and color development of a printed paper sheet by each print job by a printing machine possessed by a printing company and generates color development characteristic data, determined depending on the print paper and ink used by the printing machine and the characteristics or the like of the printing machine itself for storing the data to a database and transmit the data via a broadband communication network, such as the Internet. Then a color calibration output device is installed at a client, an advertisement agency, and a project/design company or the like, which reads the color development characteristic data or the printing machine sent via the broadband communication network, such as the Internet, the color development characteristic data are used to adjust parameters of a color conversion software program, to correct the color tone of the print data and so that each color calibration output device can obtain a color calibration output of the color development similar to that of the printing machine possessed by the printing/book binding company. Then the print data generated by the project/design company are subjected to color conversion, and the resulting data are given to the color calibration output device and the client conducts editing and color tone calibration with the obtained color calibration output.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a color proofing method for printing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional printing process, as shown in FIG. 2, a manuscript or a photograph is first submitted from a client or an advertising agency 30 to a planning / design company 32 using a hand, motorcycle service, car or the like. Then, the planning / design company 32 performs editing 33 such as taking in with a photo scanner and inputting character data to create a composition 36. Then, the completed composition 36 is sent to the client or the advertising agency 30 again using humans, motorcycles, cars, etc., and the composition correction 3
Ask 4 Since it is sent again by hand, motorcycle service, car or the like at the repair instruction 35, it is OK that the planning and design company 32 repairs and requests the client or the advertising agency 30 to proofread. Repeat until appears.

[0003] When an OK for the composition is obtained in this way, the composition is sent again to the plate-making / printing company 37 using a hand, a motorcycle service, a car or the like at 36, and the plate-making / printing company 37
First, color separation and shading are performed at 38, and a plate making film for each color is output, and color proofing output equipment 39 such as a flatbed proofing machine outputs color proofing. Then, the color proofreading output is sent again to the planning / design company 32 and the client or the advertising agency 30 using the hand, the motorcycle service, the car, etc. at 40 and 41, and the color tone is checked. Then, when the correction is made, it returns at 42 and 43, so that the film is output again, and the same is repeated until OK is output.

[0004] If the color proofreading is also OK, then it will be 44
A printing plate is prepared by a printing company, and the prepared printing plate is printed at 45, a color proofreading with OK is printed at 46, and a printing and binding company 47 is printed by hand or car.
And print it on the printing press 48 based on the color proofing sample.
In step 9, bookbinding is performed and the printed matter 50 is delivered to the client.

[0005]

However, this conventional printing process, as can be understood from the above description, can be submitted, submitted,
Each time a proofreading request or correction is made, a manuscript, photograph, composition, color proofing, etc.
Alternatively, the user travels back and forth between the advertising agency 30, the planning and design company 32, and the plate making and printing company 37, which requires time and a great deal of cost.

Further, the client can confirm the printing color only by color proofing output by a color proofing output device 39 such as a flat plate proofing machine of a plate making and printing plate company 37, not by actual printing material. Problems such as a color different from a desired color sometimes occurred.

In view of the above circumstances, the present invention eliminates the need for reciprocation such as requesting correction and repairing by hand, motorcycle service, car, or the like, and allows the client to confirm the color with a proof print close to the actual print color. An object of the present invention is to provide a color proofing method in printing, to reduce time and cost, and to suppress occurrence of troubles such as a print color being different from a client's request.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the present invention, the density of printed matter, the dot area ratio, and the color tone of the printing paper are adjusted for each printing job by a printing machine owned by a printing and bookbinding company. It measures with a measuring device, creates color development characteristic data called a profile determined by the characteristics of the printing paper, ink used by the printing press, and the printing press itself, stores the data in a database, and transmits the data through a wide area communication network such as the Internet. The DDCP (Dir) is provided to clients, advertising agencies, and planning and design companies.
(Electronic Color Proof), reads out the color forming characteristic data of the printing machine sent via the wide area communication network such as the Internet, and adjusts the parameters of the color conversion software with the color forming characteristic data for printing. The color tone of the application data is corrected so that the color proofing output machine can obtain the color proofing output of the same color development as the printing machine owned by the printing and bookbinding company. And planning
The design company converts the created print data into colors and inputs the data to the color proofing output device, and checks the color tone and the like with the obtained output. On the other hand, the print data is sent to the client or the advertising agency via a wide area communication network such as the Internet, and the color proofing output device installed at the client or the advertising agency outputs the color proofing output to the client or the advertising agency for editing and color tone. Was made to be calibrated.

[0009] Thus, firstly, each time a proofreading request or correction as described above is made, a composition or color proofing is transmitted to a client or an advertising agency, a planning / design company, a plate making / printing company, etc. , it is not necessary to reciprocate with cars, it is possible to significantly reduce time and money.

The color conversion software receives color development characteristic data from a printing press of a printing and bookbinding company via the Internet and adjusts the parameters so that color proofing can be performed from the color proofing output device with the same color development as the printing press actually printing. Since the output can be output, the client can see the proof print close to the actual print color, and it is possible to prevent the occurrence of troubles such as the printed color being different from the desired color.

Therefore, according to the present invention, as described in claim 1, print data is created from a document or a photograph from a client, and editing and proofing are performed while performing color proofing using the print data. In the color proofing method for printing, the color development characteristic data in the printing press is created based on the measurement results of the color tone measuring device that measures the density of the printed matter, the dot area ratio, and the color development of the printing paper surface by the printing press used for printing, and In addition to prompting the client side color proofing output machine to perform color proofing and color proofing output on the client side color proofing output machine while performing color conversion while correcting the color tone of the printing data with the characteristic data, the client side is urged to judge whether or not the color proofing output is acceptable. It is characterized in that the color tone of the print data is corrected with the data, the color proof is output by the client-side color proof output device, and editing and proof are performed.

By performing color proofing in such a manner, unlike the conventional color proofing output by a color proofing output machine such as a flatbed proofing machine, the color proofing based on the color development characteristic data of the printing press actually used. Since the output is obtained from the color proofing output device on the client side and the printing is also performed using this color developing characteristic data, the client can see the color proofing output having the same color developing characteristics as the actual printing, and the color different from the client's desire Can be avoided.

[0013] According to a second aspect of the present invention, the color developing characteristic data and the print data are sent to a client through a wide area communication network such as the Internet.

By doing so, it is not necessary to carry the composition and composition data by hand, motorcycle service, car, etc. as in the prior art, and it is possible to save time and money.

[0015] The printing data creation section may be arranged so that:
As described in the above, the color proofing output device is installed in a printing data creation department, and color conversion is performed while correcting the color tone of the printing data with the color development characteristic data, and the color proofing output device performs color proofing and outputs the color. It is characterized in that editing and proofreading are performed while correcting print data by proof output.

In this way, not only the client but also the print data creation department can obtain a color proof output from the color proof output device based on the color development characteristic data of the printing press actually used. The print data can be created at the time of creating the print data, and the print data of the color desired by the client can be created in a shorter time than when the color proof output can be shown after the plate making.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be illustratively described in detail below with reference to the drawings. However, the dimensions, materials, shapes, relative arrangements, and the like of the components described in this embodiment are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention to them unless otherwise specified. This is just an example.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a color proofing system in printing showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a client or an advertising agency that orders printing, 2 is a planning and design company, 3 is a plate making and printing company, 4 is a printing and bookbinding company, and these planning and design companies 2 and plate making and printing companies. The printing company 3 and the printing and bookbinding company 4 may be one division of a printing company. Reference numeral 5 denotes a client for ordering printing or a viewer provided at the advertising agency 1 for inputting printing data such as copy-to-print data and plate making data to display a typeset state. 6 is color conversion software for performing color conversion on the basis of the color development characteristic data of the printing press to perform printing so that the printing data has a similar color development state when printed by the printing press.
Reference numeral 7 denotes a DDCP (D) which can output a proofreading similar to printing from digital printing data such as block copy data and plate making data.
direct Digital Color Proo
The color proofing output device 8 constituted by f) is a color proofing output.

Reference numeral 9 in the planning / design company 2 is an editing system for reading a photograph with a scanner or the like based on the received manuscript / photograph and inputting and editing character data and the like to perform layout and assembling processing. Is the client,
Or, including software of the viewer 5 in the advertising agency 1, 10 is color conversion software, 11 is a color proofing output machine constituted by DDCP, and 12 is a color proofing output.
Reference numerals 1 and 12 are the same as the color conversion software 6 and the color proofreading output device 7 and the color proofreading output 8 constituted by the DDCP in the client or the advertising agency 1, respectively. Plate making and printing company 3
Reference numeral 13 denotes a plate making system for making a printing plate from the plate data 20. A plate is created by outputting a film of each color from the plate data as in the related art, or a CTP (Computer).
The printing plate is created by using a device that directly outputs the printing plate from digital data such as a To Plate.

Reference numeral 14 in the printing / binding company 4 designates a printing machine,
Reference numeral 15 denotes a color tone management device which measures a color chart or a chart for profile creation printed on a printed material in order to prevent a color tone from being changed due to a change in an ink supply amount or the like when the printing machine is printing. Check density and color tone,
This device manages the color tone of the printing press by feeding it back to the printing press. A profile is color development characteristic data that describes the correspondence between halftone dot area ratios and colors in order to match color reproducibility between different devices such as editing machines, printing machines, and color proofing machines. Measures color charts and charts for profile creation, calculates color coordinate values (CIE-L * a * b *) defined by the International Commission on Illumination, etc., and produces colors on the printing paper for C, M, Y, and K data Create a search for the relationship. This profile also relates to the printing characteristics of the printing press itself, the printing paper used for printing, the printing ink, etc., so the printing press profile relates to these printing presses, printing paper, and printing ink. Created. Reference numeral 16 denotes a database for storing color developing characteristic data such as the profile. The color tone management device 15 measures and stores a profile for each job. Reference numeral 17 denotes a bookbinding machine.

Reference numeral 18 denotes a wide area communication network such as the Internet, a WAN (wide area communication information network), an intranet, and 19 denotes a manuscript or manuscript submitted by a client or an advertising agency 1 or the like. , Motorcycle service, car, etc. are used. Reference numeral 20 denotes the transfer of the composition data to a plate-making / printing company, which can be carried out by using a conventional method such as a human hand, a motorcycle service, a car, or the like, or sent via a wide area communication network 18 such as the Internet. good. 21 is the loading of printing plates, 22 is the Internet or WA
N (global communication information network), composition data transmitted via a wide area communication network 18 such as an intranet, 23
Is profile (coloring characteristic) data transmitted from the profile database 16 via the wide area communication network 18; 24 is a completed printed matter; 25 is a request for correcting color proofing output; Since the composition data 22 and the profile (coloring characteristic) data 23 are digital data, when the wide area communication network 18 is used, the data may be sent as an attached file of a mail, or the data may be obtained from a homepage. Also WA
N (wide area communication information network), intranet, etc.
The data is transmitted as it is.

In the present invention, first, a DDCP is provided to a client, an advertising agency 1, and a planning / design company 2.
(Direct Digital Color Pro
of), the color proofreading output machines 7 and 11 are installed.
On the other hand, the printing and bookbinding company 4 converts the printed matter for each print job of the printing press 14 owned by the printing and bookbinding company 4 into a color tone management device 15.
Is stored in the profile database 16 such as a profile determined by the printing paper and ink used. And the profile data 16
Is sent to the client or the advertising agency 1 and the planning / design company 2 via the wide area communication network 18 such as the Internet, and the color proofreading output machines 7 and 11 composed of the DDCP installed therein are used for printing / printing. The parameters of the color conversion software 6 and 10 can be adjusted so as to produce the same color as that of the printing machine 14 of the bookbinding company.

Now, when the client places an order for printing, the client or the advertising agency 1 submits the manuscript / photograph 19 to the planning / design company 2 in the same manner as in the prior art, such as hand, motorcycle service, car, etc. Done using And in the planning and design company 2, photo capture with a scanner,
Character data and the like are input, laid out and typeset by the editing system 9, create composition data, and post-script (PostScript) data and PDF (Pota).
ble Document Format) data. Note that Post Script and PDF
Is a trademark of Adobe.

On the other hand, the planning and design company 2 reads out the profile data 23 of the printing press 14 sent from the printing and bookbinding company 4 via the wide area communication network 18 such as the Internet, and gives the profile data 23 to the color conversion software 10.
The parameters of the color conversion software 10 are adjusted so that the color proofing output device 11 installed in the planning / design company 2 can output with the color development of the printing machine used for printing. Then, the created composition data is color-converted by color conversion software 10 and then input to a color proofing output device 11 to output a color proofing output 12 to determine whether the created composition data is the color intended by the client. The state is checked, and if it is not the intended color or typesetting state, the color proofing output is corrected and repeated, and if it is good, it is sent as composition data 22 to the client or the advertising agency 1 via the wide area communication network 18 such as the Internet.

On the other hand, the client or the advertising agency 1
Is the profile data 2 of the printing press 14 sent from the printing and bookbinding company 4 via the wide area communication network 18 such as the Internet, like the planning and design company 2.
3 is read out and given to the color conversion software 6,
The color conversion parameters are adjusted so that the color is the same as that of the printing machine 14 of the printing and bookbinding company 4. The composition data 22 sent from the planning / design company 2 is first displayed on the viewer 5 to check whether the layout is as intended, and the color conversion software 6 is used to generate the color of the printing press 14 used for printing. Color conversion and color proof output 8 by color proof output machine 7
I do.

As described above, the color proof output 8 obtained as described above has the parameters of the software 6 for performing color conversion of the composition data 22 as described above, and the printing used when the color proof output device 11 outputs the composition data 22 for printing. Since the color is set to be generated by the printer 14, the color is output in a color close to the print color. For this reason, the client can check the print color at the same time as the layout at the stage of the composition, and can specify the layout and color correction according to the layout. If there is a correction, it is sent to the color proofing correction data 25 by e-mail. Send to the wide area communication network 18 such as the Internet or
Send to the planning and design company 2 with X.

The planning and design company 2 corrects the specified data in response to the correction data 25 such as mail or the correction sent by facsimile, and transmits the copy data 22 again to a wide area communication such as the Internet. Network 1
8 and sent to the client or the advertising agency 1, and the above-described steps are repeated until no further correction is made. If it takes time to correct the color proofing by the planning and design company 2, the profile data 23 of the printing press 14 sent from the printing and bookbinding company 4 is read out again, and the color proofreading output machine 7 Adjust the color of the printing press used. This is because the profile of the printing press may change due to changes in the ink used, etc. As described above, this profile is created for each print job, so the color proofing output 8 is executed with the latest profile data. It is to be done.

In this way, the client is OK with the composition
Is displayed, the copy data 20 is sent to the plate making / printing company 3 directly using a hand, a motorcycle, a car, or the like, or via a wide area communication network 18 such as the Internet. Then, the plate making and printing plate company 3 converts the block copy data into the plate making system 1
In step 3, shading or the like is performed to output a film for each color, and then a printing plate is continuously created, or a printing plate is created directly from the underlay data by CTP, and is sent to the printing and bookbinding company 4 as the printing plate 21. Therefore, the printing and bookbinding company 4 performs printing with the printing press 14, and
The bookbinding machine 17 performs bookbinding and delivers the printed matter 24 to the client or the advertising agency 1.

By doing so, it is not necessary to carry the composition and color proof output by hand, motorcycle service, car, etc. as in the conventional case, and the client does not need to carry the composition but after the plate making as in the conventional case. At the same time as the completion, the color proofing output of almost the same color as that at the time of printing can be viewed, and the color proofing can be performed in a short time, at no cost, and with the coloration desired by the client. The printing plate is C
In the case of TP output, it is not possible to correct the printing plate after it is output, so if the output is made with the stencil data calibrated by the color proofing output machine composed of DDCP, no correction will be made after the printing plate is output. , CTP can be used effectively.

[0030]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, unlike the conventional color proofing output by a color proofing output machine such as a flatbed proofing machine, the coloring characteristics of a printing press actually used are different. The color proofing output based on the data is obtained from the client-side color proofing output device, and printing is also performed using the color forming characteristic data, so that the client can see the color proofing output having the same color forming characteristics as the actual printing, and The trouble of printing in a different color than desired can be avoided.

According to the second aspect of the present invention,
By sending color development characteristic data and print data to clients over a wide area communication network such as the Internet,
It is not necessary to carry the composition and composition data by hand, motorcycle service, car, and the like as in the related art, so that time and cost can be saved.

According to the third aspect of the present invention,
By installing a color proofing output machine in the printing data creation department, not only the client but also the printing data creation department can obtain color proofing output from the color proofing output machine based on the color development characteristic data of the printing machine actually used. Thus, the color desired by the client can be created at the time of creating the print data, and the print data of the color desired by the client can be created in a shorter time than when the color proof output can be shown after the plate making.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram for explaining a method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining a color proofing method in conventional printing.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Client or advertising agency 2 Planning and design company 3 Plate making and printing company 4 Printing and bookbinding company 5 Viewer 6 Color conversion software 7 Color proofing output machine 8 Color proofing output 9 Editing system 10 Color conversion software 11 Color proofing output machine 12 Color calibration output 13 Plate making system 14 Printing machine 15 Color tone management device 16 Profile database 17 Bookbinding machine 18 Wide area communication network such as Internet

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 1/46 Z (72) Inventor Noribun Tasaka 5007 Itozakicho, Mihara City, Hiroshima Prefecture Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. Machinery Division F term (reference) 2C087 AA15 AB05 BA01 BA08 BB09 BD36 CA02 2C250 EA18 EA23 EB32 EB36 EB40 EB43 5B057 CA01 CA08 CA12 CA16 CB01 CB08 CB12 CB16 CC01 CE17 CH08 CH20 5C077 LL11 LL17 PP18 LL11 LL17 LL17 LL11 5C079 HA01 LA02 LB01 NA03 NA11 NA25 PA07

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A print proofing method in which printing data is created from a document or a photograph from a client, and editing and proofing are performed while performing color proofing using the printing data. The color tone characteristic data in the printing press is created based on the measurement results of the color tone measuring device that measures the density of the printed matter, the dot area ratio, and the color development of the printing paper surface by the printing machine, and the color while correcting the printing data with the color tone characteristic data. In addition to prompting the client to perform the color proofing output on the client side color proofing output machine, the client urges the client side to determine whether the color proofing output is acceptable, corrects the color tone of the printing data with the color development characteristic data of the printing machine, and Color proof output with color proof output machine,
A color proofing method for printing, characterized by editing and proofreading. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the color development characteristic data and the printing data are
2. The color proofing method for printing according to claim 1, wherein the color proof is sent to the client side over a wide area communication network such as the Internet. 3. The color proofing output device is installed in a printing data creation department, and color conversion is performed while correcting the color tone of the printing data with the color development characteristic data, and the color proofing output device performs color proofing output. 2. The color proofing method for printing according to claim 1, wherein editing and proofreading are performed while correcting print data in the output.