CORRUGATOR CONTROL INFORMATION ON A BOX LINER

• US 20180253263A1
• Filed: 01/28/2016
• Published: 09/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Hower, Jason, Perdicaro, Frank, Lee, Mun Yew, Crampton, Bryan
• Granted Patent: US 11,442,676 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 15/04 Supporting, feeding, or guiding devices; Mountings for web rolls or spindles
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/01 Ink jet
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 3/01 for special character, e.g. for Chinese characters or barcodes
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 3/28 for printing downwardly on flat surfaces, e.g. of books, drawings, boxes , envelopes, e.g. flat-bed ink-jet printers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1208 resulting in improved quality of the output result, e.g. print layout, colours, workflows, print preview
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/125 Page layout or assigning input pages onto output media, e.g. imposition
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1287 via internet

Abstract

In one example, a printing system includes a print engine and a print engine controller operatively connected to the print engine to print, on a single substrate web, graphics for multiple different layouts of corrugated boxes to be lined with the web and machine readable images representing corrugator control information for making the multiple different layouts.

Claims

1. A printing system, comprising:

a print engine; and

a print engine controller operatively connected to the print engine to print, on a single substrate web;

graphics for multiple different layouts of corrugated boxes to be lined with the web; and

machine readable images representing corrugator control information for making the multiple different layouts of boxes.

2. The printing system of claim 1, where each machine readable image representing corrugator control information includes at least one of:

an identification that uniquely identifies a single box or single group of boxes to a corrugator;

an identification that associates a single box or single group of boxes with a corrugator plan;

an indication of a location of a single box or single group of boxes on the printed web; and

an instruction to cut and/or crease a single box or single group of boxes on the printed web.

3. The printing system of claim 1, where the multiple different layouts of boxes include multiple different size and/or shape boxes.

4. The printing system of claim 1, where the print engine controller is to:

receive graphics image data for each box;

convert the graphics image data to graphics print data; and

transmit the graphics print data to the print engine to print the graphics on the single web of box liner material, based on the graphics print data, together with the machine readable images.

5. The printing system of claim 4, where the print engine controller is to:

receive corrugator control image data for the machine readable images with corrugator control information for making the different layouts of boxes;

convert the control information image data to control print data; and

transmit the control print data to the print engine to print the machine readable images on the single web of box liner material, based on the control print data, together with the graphics.

6. The printing system of claim 5, where the print engine controller is to:

receive the control information image data and the graphics image data together as integrated image data;

convert the integrated image data to integrated print data; and

transmit the integrated print data to the print engine to print the graphics and the machine readable images on the single web of box liner material based on the integrated image data.

7. A non-transitory processor readable medium having image data thereon representing machine readable images with corrugator control information for making boxes with multiple different layouts from a single web of box liner material.

8. The medium of claim 7 having image data thereon representing graphics for each box to be printed on the single web of box liner material.

9. The medium of claim 7, where each machine readable image includes at least one of:

an identification that uniquely identifies a single box or single group of boxes to a corrugator;

an identification that associates a single box or single group of boxes with a corrugator plan;

an indication of a location of the a single box or single group of boxes on the printed web; and

an instruction to cut and/or crease a single box or single group of boxes on the printed web.

10. The medium of claim 9, where:

the graphics includes multiple different graphics each for a single box or a single group of boxes different from any other box or group of boxes on the web; and

the corrugator control information includes multiple single sets of corrugator control information each corresponding to the graphic for a single box different from any other box on the web.

11. A liner for making corrugated boxes, comprising a single substrate web printed with graphics for multiple different layouts of corrugated boxes to be lined with the web and with multiple different machine readable images representing corrugator control information for making the multiple different layouts of boxes.

12. The liner of claim 11, where each machine readable image includes an identification that uniquely identifies a single box or a single group of boxes to a corrugator.

13. The liner of claim 11, where each machine readable image includes an identification that associates a single box or a single group of boxes with a corrugation plan.

14. The liner of claim 11, where each machine readable image includes instructions to cut and crease a single box or single group of boxes on the printed web.

15. The liner of claim 11, where the multiple different layouts include different size and/or shape boxes with the same or different graphics.