Printing – Processes – Condition responsive
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-16
2003-09-09
Nolan, Jr., Charles H. (Department: 2854)
Printing
Processes
Condition responsive
C101S171000, C101S181000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06615727
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a color management method and apparatus for a printing press, which are suitable for color matching between printing products printed by two printing presses.
Generally, when printing products are ordered, a color proofing print is presented to the customer in advance to confirm the tint of final printing products. More specifically, a color proofing print is output using a color proofing apparatus (flat-bed proofing machine, color printer, DDCP (Direct Digital Color Proofer), or simplified proofing machine) and presented to the customer to confirm whether the tint is appropriate. If the customer agrees to the tint, the ink supply amount of each color in a printing press is adjusted so that actual printing products have the same tint as that of the color proofing print.
However, it is very difficult to print the same tint as that of the color proofing print by adjusting the ink supply amount of each color in the printing press because the color proofing apparatus and printing press have different color reproduction characteristics, resulting in troubles between the customer and the printing company.
Recently, the color reproduction characteristics of the color proofing apparatus and printing press are checked in advance, and color proofing is done by tint according to the tint of printing products printed by the printing press, thereby preventing troubles with the customer. More specifically, a profile representing the color reproduction characteristic of the color proofing apparatus is compared with a profile representing the color reproduction characteristic of the printing press, and the dot area percent of each of a plurality of standard ink colors in outputting a color proofing print, i.e., the ratio (%) (printed area of a color per unit area) of dots of each of four standard ink colors (to be referred to as ink colors hereinafter), including three primary colors of process inks: yellow, magenta (red), and cyan (blue), and India ink (black) is adjusted such that the color proofing print and printing products printed by the printing press have the same tint. This processing of adjusting the tint to obtain the same colors by the apparatus and printing press is called color matching.
However, in some conventional cases as described above, a printing press A to be used for printing becomes unavailable after color proofing due to machine troubles, process management problems, and the like, and an alternative printing press B need be used. In this case, printing must be performed in the same tint as that of the color proofing print, to which the customer agrees, using the printing press B. In printing using the printing press B, the operator is required to adjust the ink supply amount referring to the color proofing print. This operation is very time-consuming and imposes a severe burden on the operator.
Also, in other cases, the tint cannot be adjusted sufficiently in the printing process, and the printing plate must be generated again. In this case, in addition to the request for more time and a heavier load, printing materials are wasted.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a color management method and apparatus for a printing press, which can lighten the burden imposed on the operator in alternative printing after color proofing.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a color management method and apparatus for a printing press, which can shorten the time to adjust the tint in alternative printing after color proofing.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a color management method and apparatus for a printing press, which can avoid waste of printing materials in alternative printing after color proofing.
In order to achieve the above objects, according to the present invention, there is provided a color management method for a printing press, comprising the steps of generating a first profile representing color reproduction characteristics of a first printing press using color data of a number of patches printed by the first printing press and a dot area percent of each of a plurality of ink colors defined for each patch, generating a second profile representing color reproduction characteristics of a second printing press using color data of a number of patches printed by the second printing press and a dot area percent of each of a plurality of ink colors defined for each patch, and obtaining the dot area percent of each ink color to be used to print a printing product by the second printing press on the basis of the first and second profiles.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5687300 (1997-11-01), Cooper
patent: 6137594 (2000-10-01), Decker et al.
“Specification of Colour of Materials according to the CIE 1976 (L*a*b) Space and the CIE 1976 (L*a*b) Space”, JIS Z 8726, Feb. 19, 1980.
“Method of Specification of Colour Differences for Opaque Materials” JIS Z 8730, Feb. 1980.
Inde Akihiro
Komori Yoshinori
Blakely & Sokoloff, Taylor & Zafman
Komori Corporation
Nolan, Jr. Charles H.
LandOfFree
Color management method and apparatus for printing press does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Color management method and apparatus for printing press, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Color management method and apparatus for printing press will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3020977