JP2009048437A - Printing quality inspection device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing quality inspection device for detecting misregistration in fluorescent printing by simultaneously detecting fluorescent printing and normal printing. <P>SOLUTION: An ultraviolet lamp 11 excites a fluorescent agent Pa printed on paper sheets P by irradiating a reading side 24 with ultraviolet ray to emit light. A fluorescent detection part 30 and an ultraviolet detection part 20 detect the same detection position of the reading side 24 at the same timing. The fluorescent detection part 30 detects the excited fluorescence passing through an optical filter 22 by a line sensor 23a. An ultraviolet detection part 20 detects the ultraviolet rays reflected from the reading side to pass through an optical filter 32 by a line sensor 33a which has sensitivity to ultraviolet rays (visible light). The paper sheets pass through the reading side, so that detection data is read and stored in a memory. The misalignment of fluorescent printing is inspected from thus stored fluorescent image data and visible light image data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a print quality inspection apparatus for paper sheets such as securities.

  A paper sheet processing apparatus for processing paper sheets such as securities takes out the paper sheets one by one from the bundle of paper sheets input in a batch according to the processing unit, and conveys them one by one. The type discriminating device discriminates the quality (shape, damage, printing, etc.) of the paper sheet, and a normal ticket (hereinafter referred to as a regular ticket), a defective ticket (hereinafter referred to as a non-performing ticket), and a conveyance abnormality ticket. This is a device that is classified into an exclusion ticket such as a two-sheet ticket or the like, and is primarily collected by a collecting device, and when the number of the firstly collected sheets reaches a predetermined number, it is sealed with a paper band or the like.

  In some cases, the paper sheets are subjected to fluorescent printing and normal printing at the same time. A conventional method for inspecting the print quality of this type of fluorescent printing and normal printing will be described below with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing a configuration of a fluorescence inspection apparatus 200 for inspecting conventional fluorescence printing.

  A conventional fluorescence inspection apparatus 200 includes an ultraviolet lamp 110, a fluorescence detection unit 140, a data processing unit 150, and the like. The fluorescence inspection apparatus 200 configured as described above is arranged in the conveyance path 160 of the paper sheet processing apparatus (not shown). The figure shows the state of being arranged in the conveyance path 160 in this way. The conveyance path 160 includes a conveyance belt and conveyance rollers 161a, 161b, 162a, 162b, and the like, and nips and conveys the paper sheet P that is a detection medium in the direction of the arrow A in the figure.

  When the conveyed paper sheet P reaches the reading surface 124, the fluorescent agent Pa is excited by irradiating the fluorescent agent Pa contained in the fluorescent ink used for fluorescent printing with the ultraviolet rays irradiated from the ultraviolet lamp 110. Then, fluorescence that is excitation light is emitted. At this time, the ultraviolet rays that irradiate the spot are also reflected from the reading surface 124 and emitted together with the fluorescence.

  In this way, when the paper sheet P is transported, the fluorescent printing portion of the paper sheet P passes through the reading surface 124, so that the ultraviolet light and the excitation light excited by the ultraviolet light are accompanied by the transport. Sequentially emitted.

  The emitted ultraviolet rays and fluorescence are incident on the optical filter 122 through the lens 121 of the fluorescence detection unit 140. The optical filter 122 blocks incident ultraviolet rays and ultraviolet rays in the fluorescence. As a result, only the fluorescence enters the camera 123.

  The lens 121 is used for setting a reading range on the reading surface 124 and adjusting the focus when an image of the reading surface 124 is captured by the line sensor 123 a in the camera 123.

  The excitation light incident in this way is read by the sensor 123a in the camera for each scan, and the read data is output to the data processing unit 150.

When the paper sheet P passes through the reading surface in this way, all the fluorescence detection data of the paper sheet P is read. Further, the read data is processed by the data processing unit 150, and the printing position and the content of the fluorescent printing are inspected. Therefore, the determination of the fluorescent printing position is performed by verifying the detected fluorescent printing position with respect to the standard fluorescent printing position from the standard paper sheet edge (leading edge or side edge) evaluated in advance. . As a general fluorescence detection method, there is known a method of performing breach emission detection in which ultraviolet rays are irradiated on a medium and the reflected light is detected by a light receiving unit (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2003-288629 A (page 4, FIG. 1)

  However, in the above-described conventional fluorescence detection device, the portion other than the fluorescence printing of the paper sheet does not emit light, so the image obtained from the fluorescence inspection device becomes a blackened image, and a general print pattern other than the fluorescence printing is used. They could not be detected at the same time, and the relative positional relationship between the position of the end face of the paper sheet and the fluorescence printing could not be recognized. As a result, there has been a problem that defective printing in which fluorescent printing is printed out of position with respect to the end face of the paper sheet cannot be detected.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is to provide a print quality inspection apparatus capable of detecting a printing position shift in fluorescent printing.

  In order to achieve the above object, the print quality inspection apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention irradiates the reading surface and radiates from the reading surface when the conveyed paper sheets pass the reading surface. A print quality inspection apparatus that reads light and inspects print quality, the ultraviolet ray irradiating the reading surface with ultraviolet rays, and the paper sheets are normally printed and fluorescently printed. Fluorescence detection means for detecting fluorescence that is excitation light excited by ultraviolet rays applied to the paper sheet when on the reading surface, and ultraviolet detection means for detecting reflected light of the ultraviolet light applied to the paper sheet And reading the same portion of the paper sheet by the fluorescence detection means and the ultraviolet detection means, and storing the fluorescence image data read by the fluorescence detection means and the ultraviolet reflection image data read by the ultraviolet detection means That storage means, characterized by comprising a inspection means for inspecting the printing position shift of the fluorescent printed from the stored the fluorescence image data and the ultraviolet reflection image data into the storage means.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to inspect printing deviation between fluorescent printing and normal printing.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a fluorescence inspection apparatus 100 as a print quality inspection apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the spectral distribution of the ultraviolet lamp 11 and fluorescence and the spectral sensitivity characteristics of the optical filters 22 and 32 shown in FIG. Hereinafter, the fluorescence inspection apparatus 100 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

  The fluorescence inspection apparatus 100 includes an ultraviolet lamp 11, a detection unit 40, a data processing unit 50, and the like.

  The fluorescence inspection apparatus 100 configured as described above is disposed, for example, in the conveyance path 60 of the above-described paper sheet processing apparatus (not shown). The figure shows the state of being arranged in the conveyance path 60 in this way.

  The conveyance path 60 includes conveyance rollers 61a and 61b, 62a and 62b, a conveyance belt wound around the conveyance rollers 61a, 61b, and the like. In the illustrated example, the conveyance belt is wound around the portion in order to obtain a sufficient reading range in the main scanning direction (depth direction orthogonal to the conveyance path 60) of the fluorescence detection unit 30 or the ultraviolet detection unit 20 by the detection unit 40. First, the case where the paper sheet P is conveyed by adjusting the arrangement interval of the conveyance rollers 61a and 61b and 62a and 62b described above is shown.

  The ultraviolet lamp 11 is a lamp that irradiates the reading surface 24 with ultraviolet rays. When the paper sheet P is fluorescently printed, the ultraviolet lamp 11 includes a wavelength that excites the fluorescent agent Pa contained in the printing ink. The emission intensity distribution with respect to the wavelength of the ultraviolet light is shown in FIG.

  The detection unit 40 includes a fluorescence detection unit 30 and an ultraviolet detection unit 20.

  The fluorescence detection unit 30 is configured similarly to the conventional fluorescence detection device 140 shown in FIG. That is, the reflected light from the reading surface 24 is collected by the lens 31. The light collected by the lens 31 passes through the optical filter 32. The optical filter 32 (first optical filter) has a characteristic of transmitting the excitation light emission (fluorescence) wavelength region radiated from the reading surface 24 but blocking other wavelength regions. The emission intensity distribution with respect to the wavelength of the fluorescence at this time is shown in FIG. Moreover, the spectral sensitivity characteristic with respect to the wavelength of the optical filter 32 is shown in FIG.

  As a result, only fluorescence passes through the optical filter 32.

  The light passing through the optical filter 32 in this way is detected by the line sensor 33a of the camera 33 (first reading means) sensitive to this fluorescence wavelength region. The line sensor 33a is composed of a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) sensor or the like arranged in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction (this direction is referred to as a main scanning direction), and is scanned at a predetermined speed to read one line. It is done. The read data is transmitted to the data processing unit 50 and stored in the memory of the data processing unit 50. The camera 33 can be configured using a normal visible camera having sensitivity in the visible region, as shown in FIG.

  The data processing unit 50 is a kind of microcomputer system, and has a memory as a storage unit for an input image and a processor (CPU) for analyzing given image data. In the data processing unit 50 configured as described above, the fluorescence image data in the main scanning direction output from the fluorescence detection unit 30 is stored in the memory for one line. When the paper sheet P is conveyed by the conveyance path 60, the fluorescence image data of the entire range of the paper sheet P is stored.

  The camera 23 of the ultraviolet ray detection unit 20 includes a line sensor 23a having sensitivity in the ultraviolet ray region, and can detect ultraviolet rays.

  An optical filter 22 is used in the ultraviolet detection unit 20 configured as described above. Except for the optical filter (second optical filter) 22 and the camera 23 (second reading means), the configuration is the same as that of the fluorescence detection unit 30. Therefore, the description of the same part as the fluorescence detection unit 30 described above is omitted, and the optical The filter 22 will be described.

  The optical filter 22 is a filter that transmits the ultraviolet rays reflected from the paper sheet P by the ultraviolet rays irradiated from the ultraviolet lamp 10. The optical filter 22 is configured to block a visible region other than the ultraviolet rays. The spectral sensitivity characteristic of the optical filter 22 is shown in FIG.

  In this way, the ultraviolet ray is detected by the ultraviolet ray detector 20. The detected ultraviolet reflection image data is stored in the data processing unit 50. Similarly to the above-described fluorescent image data, the sheet P is conveyed by the conveyance path 60, whereby the ultraviolet reflection image data of the entire range of the sheet P is stored.

  Note that the fluorescence detection unit 30 and the ultraviolet detection unit 20 described above can detect the same portion of the paper sheet P in order to detect the reading surface 24 at the same time. It is possible to detect a printing position deviation from the fluorescence image data relating to the fluorescence printing of the paper sheet P. That is, the CPU of the data processing unit 50 can inspect the printing deviation of the fluorescence image data by inspecting the relative position and amount of the ultraviolet reflection image data and the fluorescence image data as inspection means.

  In many cases, fluorescent printing is further performed on a characteristic part with respect to the printing position of the visible light image. Therefore, in general, the fluorescent printing position deviation is often inspected with reference to the visible light image data, but this is not restrictive. .

  That is, it is possible to detect a general printing pattern other than the fluorescent printing printed on the paper sheet P, using the ultraviolet ray reflection image data detected by the ultraviolet ray detection unit 20.

  Further, it is possible to detect the fluorescence emission amount and the emission pattern of the fluorescence printing printed on the paper sheet P using the fluorescence image data detected by the fluorescence detection unit 30.

  Here, since the ultraviolet detection unit 20 and the fluorescence detection unit 30 are set in advance to detect the same reading surface 24, or because the relative positional relationship between the two is accurately grasped, The relative positional relationship of the fluorescence printing obtained from the fluorescence image data with respect to the position of the printed pattern other than the fluorescence printing obtained from the visible light image data can be inspected.

  As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the printing quality of normal printing and fluorescent printing or the printing quality of normal printing and fluorescent printing with respect to the paper sheet P on which fluorescent printing and normal printing are performed using the fluorescence inspection apparatus 100. It is possible to detect a printing position shift between normal printing and fluorescent printing.

1 is a side sectional view of a fluorescence inspection apparatus 100 as a print quality inspection apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The figure which shows the spectral distribution of the ultraviolet lamp and fluorescence shown in FIG. 1, and the spectral sensitivity characteristic of an optical filter. Conventional fluorescence inspection device.

Explanation of symbols

P Paper sheet Pa Fluorescent agent 11 Ultraviolet lamp 20 Ultraviolet detection unit 21, 31 Lens 22, 32 Optical filter 23, 33 Camera 23a, 33a Line sensor 24 Detection surface 30 Fluorescence detection unit 40 Detection unit 50 Data processing unit 60 Transport path 100 Fluorescence inspection equipment

Claims (3)

A print quality inspection device that inspects the print quality by irradiating the reading surface when transported paper sheets pass through the reading surface and reading light emitted from the reading surface;
An ultraviolet lamp for irradiating the reading surface with ultraviolet rays;
Fluorescence that detects fluorescence, which is excitation light excited by ultraviolet rays applied to the paper sheet, when the paper sheet is normally printed and fluorescently printed, and the paper sheet is on the reading surface. Detection means;
Ultraviolet detection means for detecting reflected light of ultraviolet rays irradiated on the paper sheet;
A storage means for reading the same portion of the paper sheet by the fluorescence detection means and the ultraviolet detection means, storing fluorescence image data read by the fluorescence detection means and ultraviolet reflection image data read by the ultraviolet detection means,
Inspection means for inspecting the printing position deviation of fluorescent printing from the fluorescent image data and the ultraviolet reflection image data stored in the storage means;
A print quality inspection apparatus comprising: The fluorescence detection means includes
A lens that collects light emitted from the paper sheet at a predetermined position on the reading surface;
A first optical filter having a spectral characteristic that transmits a fluorescence emission wavelength region in the light collected by the lens;
First reading means for reading the fluorescence transmitted through the first optical filter;
With
The ultraviolet detection means is
A lens that collects light reflected from the paper sheet at a predetermined position on the reading surface;
A second optical filter having a spectral characteristic that transmits the emission wavelength region of the ultraviolet lamp in the light condensed by the lens;
Second reading means for reading the ultraviolet light transmitted through the second optical filter;
The print quality inspection apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: The second reading means includes
The print quality inspection apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a line sensor having sensitivity in an ultraviolet region.

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