Data processing: generic control systems or specific application – Generic control system – apparatus or process – Sequential or selective
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-11
2003-11-18
Patel, Ramesh (Department: 2121)
Data processing: generic control systems or specific application
Generic control system, apparatus or process
Sequential or selective
C700S007000, C700S009000, C700S011000, C700S100000, C100S004000, C100S043000, C355S401000, C358S001100, C358S001500, C358S001600, C358S001150
Reexamination Certificate
active
06650946
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus and method for planning and controlling production sequences, in particular printing processes in a printing system. The apparatus has a sequence control apparatus, which contains at least one data input unit, a data output unit, a data processing system and a memory unit, which are connected so as to communicate with one another and with the printing system. The apparatus also has at least one planning board, which has display elements for displaying individual or a number of printing processes.
In addition, the invention relates to a method of planning and controlling the production sequences, in particular printing processes in a printing system, by using the sequence control apparatus. Sequence data of a printing process is input via the data input unit to a data processing system. The sequence data is stored in a memory unit and transmitted to the printing system by a data output unit. The printing processes are coordinated and synchronized on a planning board that has display elements for displaying individual or a number of printing processes.
Apparatus and methods of this type are known. They are used for planning printing sequences, in particular for coordinating and scheduling individual print jobs in all the current or planned print jobs, forwarding the planning data to automated printing systems and implementing and possibly changing sequence data belonging to the printing processes.
Published, Non-Prosecuted German Patent Application DE 43 29 886 A1 describes an apparatus and a method for controlling the sequence of printing processes. In the apparatus, there is an updatable memory unit and a data processing system, in which the mutual exclusion of colliding decisions is checked and indicated, the sequences being controlled at networked data input units.
In this case, the networked sequence control apparatus is optimized in such a way that data relating to a job and/or machine can be displayed both at a higher-order level and at a lower-order level. Necessary data changes at any desired point in the printing system are transmitted to the remaining networked units. Printing processes to be run in the future can be planned on devices for displaying process parameters, irrespective of the printing process currently being carried out. In addition, sequence data can be transmitted to the machines in the printing system. By networking the individual units involved in carrying out the print job, the operating personnel can gain an overview of the state of the printing sequences without other units in the printing process being affected negatively.
The redundancy of the data transmission between machines and other units of the production sequence, on the one hand, and machines and data processing system, on the other hand, increases the flexibility within the sequences, in particular printing production, considerably. At monitors and workstations, screen interfaces can be called up in a standardized manner, which makes it possible to display branches in sections of the printing sequences. Consequently, as early as when preparing a new print job to be carried out, it is already possible to prepare scheduling and coordination.
In the memory unit, a list of contents with the respectively applicable system conditions is set up, so that when data transmissions from the memory unit are made, a standardized data organization is ensured. Process parameters from printing machines, folding machines, cutting and further processing machines, and from the pre-press area, can be displayed on monitors.
In addition, a method for sequence control in printing production processes is disclosed. In the method data relating to the machine-specific execution of a process is output on screen interfaces, branches to other process sections relevant to a process are called up, data originally output on the screen interface are changed and changed data are transmitted to the memory unit and data processing system. It is further possible for process parameters independent of the current printing process to be called up irrespective of future production processes.
At the planning stage of the printing process, such a system has proven to be incomprehensible, since the complex sequences of a number of print jobs exceed the display capacity of monitors and displays belonging to the data processing system and the machines. In addition, the planning of future print jobs cannot be displayed in the system, as a result of continuous management of the data of the current and the future jobs. Such a system is incomprehensible and is therefore time-consuming and expensive.
For the complex planning of printing sequences in a printing system, planning boards are therefore used, on which cards or job boards associated with individual jobs are disposed and fixed manually. The position and the identification of the cards or job boards are used to determine the scheduling and coordination of jobs in the overall sequence of the printing process in a printing system and to input the scheduling and coordination into a data processing system for controlling the printing system, as already disclosed by Published, Non-Prosecuted German Patent Application DE 43 29 886 A1. These essentially manual operations during planning, in particularly scheduling and coordination of printing sequences, the setting up of the printing machines and the input of the data from the planning board into the data processing system are likewise time-consuming and therefore costly, and the possibility of transmission errors is high.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an apparatus and a method for planning and controlling production sequences which overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art devices and methods of this general type, which permit flexible scheduling and coordination of the print jobs and improved utilization of the printing system, as well as an improved sequence organization.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, an apparatus for planning and controlling production sequences. The apparatus is formed of a sequence control apparatus that is to be connected to a printing system for controlling printing processes formed of sequence data. The sequence control apparatus includes a data input unit, a data output unit, a data processing system, and a memory unit. The data input unit, the data output unit, the data processing system and the memory unit are connected to each other so as to communicate with one another and the printing system. A planning board is connected to and communicates with the sequence control apparatus. Display elements are provided for displaying the printing processes on the planning board. The sequence data of a printing process is assigned to one of the display elements and the display element, individually or with others of the display elements, can be positioned on the planning board.
The solution according to the invention is provided by an apparatus in which the sequence data of at least one printing process is assigned to the display element. The display element, which, individually or with further display elements, can be positioned on the planning board and is connected so as to communicate with the sequence control apparatus. The advantage of the apparatus is that display elements that are disposed on the planning board and which are assigned to the print jobs to be processed are connected to the sequence control apparatus. By disposing the display elements on the planning board, the sequence of the production or printing process can be determined. New print jobs to be scheduled and coordinated can be preplanned and precalculated. It is possible to determine directly, taking into account the current processes, how much time is needed and when and how the print jobs can be integrated into the printing process. The communication between the planning area and the production area is ensured by the ap
Greenberg Laurence A.
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
Locher Ralph E.
Patel Ramesh
Stemer Werner H.
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