Facsimile and static presentation processing – Static presentation processing – Communication
Reexamination Certificate
1997-03-25
2002-04-16
Garcia, Gabriel (Department: 2624)
Facsimile and static presentation processing
Static presentation processing
Communication
C355S085000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06373584
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention generally relates to a system for operating, monitoring and controlling a plurality of elements, such as printing press machinery and associated accessories and auxiliaries. More particularly, the invention relates to a unified system for operating, monitoring, and controlling a plurality of elements, such as printing press machinery and associated auxiliaries and accessories with a central control element which eliminates the redundancy of controls normally associated with each individual printing press machine, accessory or auxiliary, and which produces a desired set of printing conditions characteristic of a finished printed product by automatically relating particular printing job requirements associated with the finished printed product to the appropriate machine language functions of the associated printing press machinery and accessories and/or auxiliaries.
BACKGROUND
The production of final, finished printed products employing conventional offset lithography is oftentimes a complicated task. An offset printing production line generally includes a multitude of printing presses and accessories and/or auxiliaries, all of which must be simultaneously controlled and monitored as a necessary part of obtaining a finished printed product.
Referring to
FIG. 13
, a typical offset printing production line
130
may include one or more of the following systems: sheet cleaner systems
131
; systems
132
for cleaning the impression cylinders and blanket cylinders of printing presses, such as the Automatic Blanket Cleaner (“ABC”) produced and sold by Baldwin Technology Company of Stamford, Connecticut; a plurality of printing press units
133
corresponding to a number of ink colors necessary to produce a final printed product; dryer units
136
to dry the various sheets, including but not limited to infrared and/or ultraviolet systems; various ink and solvent supply and circulator systems
137
; print temperature management systems
138
; and the like.
In prior practice, each of the various systems (hereinafter generally referred to as printing press machinery and accessories and/or auxiliaries) often included separate, individual “control” or “user” stations, each of which had to be individually programmed and controlled by a pressman who was operating the printing line. This, oftentimes, led to undue clutter and confusion in the press operating environment, owing to the extraordinary number of separate control systems. Moreover, each individual control system typically operated with its own unique “machine” language due in part both to the varied number of manufacturers of printing press auxiliaries and accessories, and to the lack of universal machine operating languages. Furthermore, as the pressman's continuous monitoring of the multiple “machine language” control systems was both constant and necessary to achieve a finished printed product having a desired quality level, the quality of the finished product was often dependent both on the skill and experience of the press operator and his familiarity with the printing conditions and/or accessories necessary to produce such finished product.
Another related concern is that the production of the finalized printed product be characterized by a plurality of “printing”, “press” or “job” conditions specific to the printing job sought to be implemented by the pressman. These “press” or “job” specific conditions must then somehow be translated by the press operator to “machine specific” functions of the printing accessories that are provided to carry out those “printing” conditions.
For example, the production of a finished work, such as a printed poster, entails the selection of numerous tasks and/or attributes which can be characterized as “printing” or “job” specific. These attributes might include, for example: the type of ink which will be used and the characteristics thereof (such as the degree of ink tack or the degree of ink coverage); the type of paper which the poster will be printed on and the attributes thereof (such as whether coated or non-coated stock will be used, the weight of the stock, whether the paper is virgin or recycled, and similar attributes); and whether any type of coating will be applied to the poster and, if so, whether the coating will be water based or solvent based, as well as the degree of the coverage of that coating as applied to the product (heavy, medium, or light).
After a press operator has discerned, or otherwise determined, the “printing” or “job” specific conditions associated with a particular printing job, he would then have to “translate” those “job” specific conditions to “machine specific” functions by programming the individual control systems associated with the press, accessories and/or auxiliaries to obtain those print conditions. This would, of course, typically entail the pressman's “interpretation” of the “job specific” or “press language” conditions to translate those conditions to “machine specific” functions appropriate for each press, accessory and/or auxiliary necessary to carry out the printing condition. In short, the pressman would have to manually set each of the press components, accessories and/or auxiliaries, based in part on his given and specific experience or knowledge of the accessories and the printing process in general, to achieve the “job specific” goals.
Thus, for example, a pressman would have to manually program or otherwise set each of the individual presses, accessories and/or auxiliaries to perform associated tasks to the given degree necessary and in an appropriate correlation to achieve individual printing characteristics. For a typical press apparatus or accessory or auxiliary (for example, the “Automatic Blanket Cleaner” mounted to an offset printing unit), the programmer would program the controls in order to, for example, advance the cleaning cloth a certain incremental amount according to a certain frequency of printing and/or operating speed of the press; to release a given amount of cleaning fluid (e.g., number of sprays) and discern a proper mix of cleaning fluid (e.g., ratios of solvent and/or water thereof); all in order to accomplish a particular set of printing job requirements. This is not only tedious and laborious, but requires a tremendous amount of skill and experience on the part of the pressman, who more than likely will have become proficient in his/her “translation” through numerous and various job runs, on the particular presses, accessories and/or auxiliaries with which he is familiar.
As will be evident, there is a great potential for error and material wastage on the part of the pressman who may not yet have achieved a sufficient level of experience to operate a given press system to achieve a desired, finished printed product. Such errors and material wastage would be amplified, of course, when different presses, auxiliaries and/or accessories are encountered by the pressman, and with which he is not yet familiar.
A variety of technological developments are known for controlling printing presses. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,775 (Roch et al.) for “METHOD AND DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING THE SETTING OF THE COMPONENTS OF A PRINTING AND CUTTING MACHINE” is directed to controlling the discrete functions for the exact press, although the reference is silent with respect to controlling the print specific conditions themselves via control of the printing press auxiliaries and/or accessories necessary to achieve a finished printed product. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,639,881 (Zingher) for a “DATA INPUT UNIT AND METHOD FOR PRINTING MACHINES” is directed to control of printing machine parameters themselves without addressing the need to control printing condition parameters necessary to obtain a final printed product. Still further, EPO Patent Application 0,160,167 (Stroupe) for a “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISTRIBUTED ELECTRONIC CONTROL OF A PRINTING PRESS” is directed to controlling the operating conditions or aspects of the press itself without addressing the need to control the printing c
Barney Alan F.
Heitmann Arnold M.
Hubbard Peter J.
Kotecki Jeffrey D.
Baldwin Graphic Products
Garcia Gabriel
Morgan & Finnegan , LLP
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