Printing press

• US 20040182262A1
• Filed: 03/21/2003
• Published: 09/23/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Baldwin Americas Corporation (Forsyth Baldwin LLC)
• Original Assignee: Quad/Tech Incorporated
• Inventors: Seymour, John C.
• Granted Patent: US 7,032,508 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 101/211
• CPC Class Codes: B41F 33/0045 for automatically regulating the ink supply
• CPC Class Codes: B41P 2233/30 Measuring or controlling the consumption of ink
• CPC Class Codes: B41P 2233/51 for colour quality control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/6052 Matching two or more picture signal generators or two or more picture reproducers

Abstract

An apparatus and method is described wherein a printing press is profiled during production press runs and wherein ink color is controlled.

Claims

1. A method for the collection of a profile of a printing press, said method comprising:

printing a colorbar onto a web with a printing press during a production press run, the colorbar including individual color patches; and

measuring the color of a plurality of the color patches to provide a profile of the printing press.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein measuring the color of a plurality of the color patches is performed by a video-based system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the color patch is measured directly on press.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the colorbar comprises a full gamut colorbar.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each patch has a reflectance value, the method further comprising dissimilarly arranging adjacent patches according to the reflectance values.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the colorbar comprises landmark color patches.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the profile comprises press data.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the press data comprises at least one of time, date, paper type, ink formulation, ink temperatures, ink viscosity, customer, and press identifier.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising positioning the colorbar across a substantial portion of the web.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the printing press comprises a gravure printing press.

11. The method of claim 1, and wherein the profile comprises an average of a plurality of profiles.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the printing press comprises a web offset printing press.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising adjusting an ink and water balance in the press.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining an overall print quality value using the profile.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising tracking an engraving head accuracy using the profile.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising an ink dump to correct errors detected from the patches.

17. A method for profiling a gravure press comprising:

adjusting ink color on a production press run on a printing press until ink color is acceptable;

measuring the ink color printed on the web during the production press run; and

storing the measured ink colors in a profile.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

adjusting the ink color on a selective subsequent production press run on the printing press until ink color is acceptable;

measuring the ink color printed on the web during the selective subsequent production press run; and

storing the measured ink colors in a subsequent profile.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the selective subsequent production press run comprises all subsequent production press runs.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the profile further comprises information regarding printing conditions during each respective production press run.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the information regarding printing conditions comprises at least one of time, date, paper type, ink formulation, ink temperatures, ink viscosity, customer, and press identifier.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the ink color is measured using a full gamut colorbar printed on the web and a video-based measuring system.

23. The method of claim 17, and further comprising using the data in the store profiles to diagnose printing problems on the printing press.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the printing problems comprises malfunctioning of the doctor blade.

25. The method of claim 17, wherein the printing press comprises a gravure printing press.

26. The method of claim 17, wherein the printing press comprises a web offset printing press.

27. A method for the collection of a profile of a printing press, said method comprising:

printing a colorbar onto a web with a printing press during a production press run, the colorbar including individual color patches;

measuring the color of a plurality of the color patches to provide a profile of the printing press; and

storing the profile in conjunction with data pertaining to the printing conditions during the production press run.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the data pertaining to the printing conditions comprises at least one of time, date, paper type, ink formulation, ink temperatures, ink viscosity, customer, and press identifier.

29. The method of claim 27, and further comprising:

printing a colorbar onto the web during a selective subsequent production press run;

measuring the color of a plurality of the color patches to provide the profile of the printing press; and

storing the profile in conjunction with the data pertaining to the printing conditions during the selective subsequent production press run.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the subsequent selective production press runs comprise all subsequent production press runs.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein the printing press comprises a gravure printing press.

32. The method of claim 27, wherein the printing press comprises a web offset printing press.

33. A press printing method comprising:

acquiring the profiles of a single printing press under varying printing conditions during production press runs;

storing the profiles for subsequent retrieval;

selecting one of the stored profiles; and

using the information in the selected stored profile to produce a proof of a printed product on a proofer which would more closely resembles the printed product had it been produced on the press.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the varying printing condition comprises at least one of time, date, paper type, ink formulation, ink temperatures, ink viscosity, customer, and press identifier.

35. The method of claim 33, further comprising selecting a stored profile that most closely matches the printing conditions of the current production press run.

36. The method of claim 33, further comprising selecting a stored profile that has printing conditions similar to the printing conditions of the current production press run.

37. The method of claim 33, wherein the selected profile comprises an average of at least two stored profiles.

38. The method of claim 33, wherein the printing press comprises a gravure printing press.

39. The method of claim 33, wherein the printing press comprises a web offset printing press.

40. A press printing method comprising:

acquiring the profiles of a single press under varying printing conditions during production press runs;

storing the profiles for subsequent retrieval;

selecting one of the stored profiles; and

using the information in the selected stored profile in a current production press run to produce a printed product having an actual ink color that more closely matches a desired ink color.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the varying printing condition comprises at least one of time, date, paper type, ink formulation, ink temperatures, ink viscosity, customer, and press identifier.

42. The method of claim 40, further comprising selecting a stored profile that most closely matches the printing conditions of the printed product to be proofed.

43. The method of claim 40, wherein the printing press comprises a gravure printing press.

44. The method of claim 40, wherein the printing press comprises a web offset printing press.

45. A method of gravure printing comprising:

printing a colorbar onto a web during a production press run, the colorbar including individual color patches;

measuring the color of a plurality of the color patches to provide a profile of the gravure press; and

using the information in the profile for quality control purposes relating to the gravure press.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the colorbar comprises a full gamut colorbar.

47. The method of claim 45, wherein the quality control purposes comprise monitoring of ink color.

48. A method of printing comprising:

printing a full gamut colorbar onto a web with a printing press during a production press run, the colorbar including individual color patches;

measuring the color of a plurality of the color patches; and

using the measured color patches for diagnostic purposes in the printing press.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein the colorbar comprises landmark color patches.

50. The method of claim 48, wherein the printing press comprises a gravure printing press.

51. The method of claim 50, wherein the gravure press further comprises a printing cylinder, and wherein an engraving head engraves the cylinder, the method further comprising evaluating an engraving head calibration quality with the landmark color patches.

52. The method of claim 50, further comprising evaluating a doctor blade functionality with the landmark color patches.

53. The method of claim 50, and further comprising adjusting the proportion of concentrated ink used in the ink fountain of the press based upon the measured color patches.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein the proportion of an extender is also adjusted.

55. The method of claim 53, wherein the adjustments are performed without operator intervention.

56. The method of claim 48, wherein the printing press comprises a web offset printing press.

57. A method of controlling ink color in a gravure printing press comprising:

printing a colorbar onto a web using a gravure press, the colorbar including individual color patches;

measuring the ink color of a plurality of the color patches; and

using the measured ink color to make adjustments to the proportion of concentrated ink in an ink fountain of the gravure press.

58. The method of claim 57, wherein the proportion of an extender is also adjusted.

59. The method of claim 57, wherein the adjustments are performed without operator intervention.

60. The method of claim 57, wherein the colorbar comprises a full gamut colorbar.

61. The method of claim 57, wherein the colorbar comprises landmark color patches.

62. The method of claim 57, wherein the ink color is measured using a video-based monitoring system.

63. A gravure printing method comprising:

printing a colorbar onto a web with a gravure press, said colorbar including landmark color patches;

measuring the ink color of a plurality of the color patches; and

determining during makeready any diagnostic problems with the gravure press based upon the measured ink color of the color patches.

64. The method of claim 63, wherein the diagnostic problem comprises at least one of an engraving head miscalibration, a doctor blade malfunction and an ink color defect.

65. A gravure printing method comprising:

printing a colorbar onto a web with a gravure press, said colorbar including a plurality of color patches;

measuring the ink color of at least a portion of the plurality of color patches when the gravure press is in a production run; and

comparing the measured ink color of each measured color patch to a target value.

66. The method of claim 65, and further comprising calculating the under-saturation condition statistic for each ink color.

67. The method of claim 65, and further comprising calculating the over-saturation condition statistic for each ink color.

68. A method of collecting a profile of a printing press, said method comprising:

producing a print work in a printing press during a production run, the print work including at least one ink combination;

measuring a color value from the at least one ink combination in the print work; and

generating a profile based the measured color value.

69. The method of claim 68, further comprising storing the measured color value in the profile.

70. The method of claim 68, further comprising estimating an estimated color value based on the measured color value.

71. The method of claim 70, further comprising storing the estimated color value in the profile.

72. The method of claim 68, further comprising:

developing a measurement area from prepress data; and

identifying the measurement area from the print work.

73. The method of claim 68, further comprising:

determining a number of ink combinations printed on the print work;

terminating the generation of profile when the number of ink combinations is insufficient.

74. The method of claim 68, and wherein the printing press comprises a gravure printing press.

75. The method of claim 68, and wherein the printing press comprises a web offset printing press.

76. The method of claim 68, and wherein the color value comprises at least one of a reflectance value, an optical density value, a colorimetric value, an ink film thickness, a pigmentation concentration, and a tone value.

77. The method of claim 68, and further comprising providing diagnostic information on the printing press based on the measured color value.

78. A method of controlling a printing press, said method comprising:

producing a print work in a printing press during a production run, the print work including at least one ink combination;

measuring a color value from the at least one ink combination in the print work; and

adjusting an inking process based on the measured color value.

79. The method of claim 78, and wherein the printing press comprises a gravure printing press.

80. The method of claim 79, and wherein adjusting the inking process comprises adjusting an ink viscosity.

81. The method of claim 79, and wherein adjusting the inking process comprises adjusting an ink pigmentation level.

82. The method of claim 78, and wherein the printing press comprises a web offset printing press.

83. The method of claim 82, and wherein adjusting the inking process comprises adjusting an ink film thickness.

84. The method of claim 82, and wherein adjusting the inking process comprises adjusting a dampening system.

85. The method of claim 78, and further comprising generating a profile based the measured color value.

86. The method of claim 78, further comprising storing the measured color value in a profile.

87. The method of claim 78, further comprising estimating an estimated color value based on the measured color value.

88. The method of claim 87, further comprising storing the estimated color value in a profile.

89. The method of claim 78, further comprising:

developing a measurement area from prepress data; and

identifying the measurement area from the print work.

90. The method of claim 78, further comprising:

determining a number of ink combinations printed on the print work;

terminating the generation of profile when the number of ink combinations is insufficient.

91. The method of claim 78, and wherein the color value comprises at least one of a reflectance value, an optical density value, a colorimetric value, an ink film thickness, a pigmentation concentration, and a tone value.

92. The method of claim 78, and further comprising providing diagnostic information on the printing press based on the measured color value.