Label printing system and label printing method

Abstract

The present application discloses a label printing system and a label printing method, the label printing system comprising: a recorder for recording the slitting order of the slitting film when the slitting machine slits the packaging film raw material to obtain the slitting film; a PLC controller connected to the recorder for generating slitting information of the slitting film at least according to the slitting order of the slitting film; a host computer connected to the PLC controller for filling the slitting information into the label template corresponding to the slitting film after receiving the slitting information of the slitting film sent by the PLC controller to generate a label corresponding to the slitting film, and controlling the connected printer to print the generated label. The label printing system provided by the present application can reduce the cost of label printing.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of label printing, and in particular to a label printing system and a label printing method. Background Art

[0002] Liquid packaging film raw materials are made of low-density polyethylene resin, linear low-density polyethylene resin or their blends as the main raw materials, and are made into films through blow molding, printing and slitting. During the production process, the liquid packaging film raw materials are successively formed into rolls through blow molding, color printing, slitting and other processes, and are delivered after bagging and boxing.

[0003] When product quality is abnormal, labels are usually attached to packaging boxes in order to trace production time, personnel and other information. Currently, in order to print labels, the common practice is to collect production information of each workshop and process and then print it. This practice has high requirements on equipment in each production link, high cost and low efficiency. Summary of the invention

[0004] The present application provides a label printing system and a label printing method, which can reduce the cost of label printing and improve the efficiency of product information tracing.

[0005] A first aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a label printing system, the system comprising: a recorder for recording a slitting order of a slitting film when a slitting machine slits a packaging film raw material to obtain a slitting film; a PLC controller connected to the recorder, for generating slitting information of the slitting film based at least on the slitting order of the slitting film; a host computer connected to the PLC controller, for filling the slitting information of the slitting film into a label template corresponding to the slitting film after receiving the slitting information of the slitting film sent by the PLC controller to generate a label corresponding to the slitting film, and controlling a connected printer to print the generated label.

[0006] A second aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a label printing method, the method comprising: when a slitting machine slits a packaging film raw material to obtain a slitting film, a recorder records the slitting order of the slitting film; a PLC controller generates slitting information of the slitting film at least according to the slitting order of the slitting film, and sends the slitting information of the slitting film to a host computer; after receiving the slitting information of the slitting film, the host computer fills the slitting information into a label template corresponding to the slitting film to generate a label corresponding to the slitting film, and then controls the connected printer to print the generated label.

[0007] The beneficial effects of the present application are as follows: the label printing method of the present application records the slitting sequence of the slitting film through a recorder, and then the PLC controller generates slitting information according to the slitting sequence, and finally the upper computer fills the slitting information into the corresponding label template to generate the corresponding label, and controls the printer to print the label, and at the same time uses the loading button and the human-computer interaction interface to integrate the information of the slitting machine, product information and upstream incoming materials to generate an "information number". Through the "information number" and the production record sheet of each workshop, the detailed production information of each roll of material can be easily queried. The whole process does not require any modification or upgrade of the existing slitting machine. According to the existing production process, organizational method and work flow, the label printing problem can be solved at the lowest cost and the efficiency of production information traceability can be improved. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work. Among them:

[0009] Figure 1 It is a structural schematic diagram of the slitting machine of the present application;

[0010] Figure 2 It is a structural schematic diagram of an implementation method of a label printing system of the present application;

[0011] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the label of this application;

[0012] Figure 4 It is a flowchart of an implementation method of the label printing method of the present application;

[0013] Figure 5 It is a structural schematic diagram of an implementation method of a computer-readable storage medium of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present application, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0015] Before introducing the solution of this application, let me introduce some background knowledge of this application:

[0016] The production process of packaging film includes four steps: blow molding, color printing, slitting and packaging. The blow molding workshop produces large rolls of white material, which are then transformed into colored rolls in the color printing workshop and then transferred to the slitting workshop. After being slit by a slitting machine, each roll can be slit into 8 to 10 small rolls. The small rolls obtained by slitting are then delivered to the packaging workshop for boxing and delivery.

[0017] At the same time Figure 1 As shown, during the slitting process, the slitting machine slits the packaging film raw material of the large roll into multiple small rolls, each of which is a slitting film. At the same time, each slitting machine has a corresponding loading line.

[0018] During the slitting process, the operator first places the packaging film raw material on the slitting machine, and then starts the slitting machine for slitting. After a slit film is obtained by slitting, the slit film will be transferred (it can be transferred manually or by using equipment such as a robot) to the corresponding loading line of the slitting machine, and then the loading line will transfer the slit film to the conveyor. Through the conveyor, the slit film reaches the next process.

[0019] See also Figure 2 , Figure 2 It is a structural diagram of an implementation method of a label printing system of the present application. The label printing system 1000 includes a recorder 1100, a PLC controller 1200, a host computer 1300 and a weighing sensor 1400.

[0020] The recorder 1100 is used to record the slitting sequence of the slitting films when the slitting machine slits the packaging film raw material to obtain slitting films.

[0021] The recorder 1100 corresponds to the slitting machine, and each slitting machine has a corresponding recorder 1100, and the two are pre-bound.

[0022] The slitting order indicates the position of the slitting film in the slitting films slit by the corresponding slitting machine. For example, the slitting order of the slitting film is the slitting film in the packaging film raw material slit by the slitting machine, or the slitting film is the slitting film in the packaging film raw material slit by the slitting machine.

[0023] In this embodiment, the slit film is the number of slit films in the number of packaging film raw materials slit by the slitting machine.

[0024] Usually during the production process, each workshop has corresponding production records, and there will be identification cards when materials flow. Therefore, each roll of packaging film raw material will also have a production identification card, which records the basic information of the packaging film raw material such as length, weight, production batch number, etc.

[0025] Therefore, when the slitting information is used to trace the packaging film raw material to which the slitting film belongs, the detailed operation information of the packaging film raw material in the blow molding and color printing processes before slitting can be traced through the production identification card corresponding to the packaging film raw material.

[0026] The PLC controller 1200 is connected to the recorder 1100, and is used to generate slitting information of the slitting film at least according to the slitting sequence of the slitting film. Specifically, the PLC controller 1200 generates the slitting information according to the slitting sequence according to a preset rule. The slitting information can be a string of digital symbols. For example, the slitting information is 0508, which indicates that the corresponding slitting film is the 8th slitting film in the 5th packaging film raw material slitting by the slitting machine.

[0027] In one application scenario, the PLC controller 1200 generates slitting information based on the slitting sequence, slitting time and the equipment identification of the corresponding slitting machine. At this time, the slitting information can be used to query on which day and on which slitting machine the slitting film was slit, and which slitting film in the packaging film raw material was slit by the slitting machine on that day.

[0028] For example, the generated slitting information is FQ01-190314-05-08, which means that the slit film is the 8th slit film in the 5th packaging film raw material slit by the 1# slitting machine on March 14, 2019.

[0029] At this time, the detailed operation process of the packaging film raw materials can be traced by combining the slitting information and the production records of the slitting workshop, color printing workshop, and blow molding workshop.

[0030] In other application scenarios, the PLC controller 1200 can also generate slitting information based on the slitting order of the slitting film, batch information and the equipment identification of the corresponding slitting machine. At this time, the slitting information can be used to query which batch of packaging film raw materials the slitting film is from and on which slitting machine it is slitting on, and which slitting film it is in the packaging film raw material.

[0031] The host computer 1300 is connected to the PLC controller 1200, and is used to fill the slitting information of the slitting film into the label template corresponding to the slitting film after receiving the slitting information of the slitting film sent by the PLC controller 1200 to generate a label corresponding to the slitting film, and control the connected printer to print the generated label.

[0032] Specifically, combined Figure 3A label template is stored on the host computer 1300, and the label template includes an unchangeable part 10, an changeable part 20 and an automatic filling part 30, wherein the unchangeable part 10 refers to the fixed information in the label template, and this part of information cannot be changed when making the label template; the changeable part 20 refers to the part of the label template manually input by the user. When making the label template, the user can enter relevant information in the changeable part 20 according to the actual situation; the automatic filling part 30 refers to the part filled in by the host computer 1300 according to the data information sent by the PLC controller 1200. When the host computer 1300 of this application fills the cutting information into the label template, it fills the cutting information into the automatic filling part 30.

[0033] At the same time, multiple label templates are saved in the host computer 1300, and different label templates are distinguished by different template identifiers (such as template numbers). The label template corresponding to the slitting film can be selected by the operator directly on the host computer 1300 before printing the label, or it can be selected by the operator on the human-computer interaction interface connected to the PLC controller 1200. At this time, the operator selects the corresponding label template for the slitting film on the human-computer interaction interface, and then each time the PLC controller 1200 sends slitting information, it will send the template identifier (such as template number) of the label template selected by the user along with the slitting information to the host computer 1300, and then the host computer 1300 first searches for the corresponding label template in the saved label templates according to the template identifier, and then fills the slitting information into the corresponding label template.

[0034] Generally speaking, the label templates corresponding to the multiple slit films obtained by cutting the same packaging film raw material are the same. Therefore, before the operation, the operator selects the corresponding template on the human-computer interaction interface. In the subsequent slitting process of the packaging film raw material, the operator does not need to repeat the selection. However, in some cases, the label templates corresponding to the multiple slit films obtained by cutting the same packaging film raw material can also be different. At this time, the operator will select the corresponding template on the human-computer interaction interface for each slit film. In short, as long as the slitting information of the slitting film corresponds to the label template, this application does not restrict when the user enters and on what device.

[0035] In order to be able to trace the relevant operators when tracing product information later, the operators will not only select the label template but also enter the work number on the human-computer interaction interface. The upper computer 1300 will then fill in the cutting information and the work number into the label template (for example Figure 3 "Information Number" and "Job Number" parts in the

[0036] Combination Figure 1 and Figure 2In this embodiment, the recorder 1100 includes a roll changing button 1101 and a loading button 1102, and the roll changing button 1101 and the loading button 1102 are both connected to the PLC controller 1200, wherein the trigger information of the roll changing button 1101 represents the serial number information of the packaging film raw material cut by the corresponding slitting machine, and the loading button 1102 represents the position information of the slit film obtained by the corresponding slitting machine in the corresponding packaging film raw material.

[0037] Specifically, the PLC controller 1200 is provided with a first counter corresponding to the roll-changing button 1101 and a second counter corresponding to the loading button 1102. Each time the roll-changing button 1101 is triggered, the value of the first counter is increased by one, and the value of the second counter is cleared, and each time the loading button 1102 is triggered, the value of the second counter is increased by one. In an application scenario, the value of the first counter indicates that the packaging film raw material being cut is the number of packaging film raw materials cut by the corresponding slitting machine on the same day, and the value of the second counter indicates that the corresponding slit film is the number of slit films in the packaging film raw materials.

[0038] During the operation, after the slit film is obtained, the operator presses the loading button 1102 once, and then the second counter corresponding to the loading button 1102 in the PLC controller 1200 is increased by one, and the corresponding loading line advances the distance of a slit film, so that the user can transfer the slit film just obtained to the loading line.

[0039] When all the packaging film raw materials are cut and placed on the loading line, the operator places another packaging film raw material to be cut on the slitting machine, and then presses the roll change button 1101. At this time, the value of the second counter is reset to zero and the value of the first counter is increased by one.

[0040] That is to say, the slitting sequence of the slitting films can be obtained by combining the trigger information of the roll changing button 1101 and the material loading button 1102 .

[0041] In other embodiments, the recorder 1100 may also be other components. For example, the recorder 1100 is a camera, which photographs the material placed on the slitting machine and the material on the loading line corresponding to the slitting machine, and obtains the slitting order of the slitting film through image analysis.

[0042] In this embodiment, in order to enrich the information on the label, the conveyor will also transport the slit film to the weighing sensor 1400 during the process of conveying the slit film. The weighing sensor 1400 is connected to the PLC controller 1200 to obtain the weight of the slit film and send the weight to the host computer 1300, so that the host computer 1300 can fill in the weight of the label template while filling in the slitting information into the label template (for example, Figure 3 Weight section in the .

[0043] The PLC controller 1200 may send the cutting information and the weight to the host computer 1300 together, or may send them to the host computer 1300 one after another, which is not limited here.

[0044] In addition, before filling the segmentation information into the label template, the host computer 1300 also obtains the current time point on the host computer 1300, and then fills the current time point and the segmentation information into the label template, for example Figure 4 The "Date of Production" section of the

[0045] From the above content, it can be seen that the label printing method of the present application records the slitting sequence of the slitting film through the recorder 1100, and then the PLC controller 1200 generates slitting information according to the slitting sequence, and finally the host computer 1300 fills the slitting information into the corresponding label template to generate the corresponding label, and controls the printer to print the label. The whole process does not require any modification or upgrade of the existing slitting machine, and the PLC controller 1200 and host computer 1300 used are themselves common equipment on the production line, so the cost of label printing can be reduced.

[0046] In order to better understand the label printing system 1000 of the present application, the working process of the label printing system 1000 is introduced below:

[0047] Before starting work, the operator selects a label template and enters a work number on the human-machine interaction interface connected to the PLC controller 1200.

[0048] After the slit film is obtained by slitting, the operator presses the loading button 1102 once, and the corresponding loading line moves forward by the distance of the slit film. Thereafter, the user transfers the slit film just obtained by slitting to the loading line.

[0049] When all the packaging film raw materials are cut and placed on the loading line, the operator places another packaging film raw material to be cut on the slitting machine and then presses the roll change button 1101.

[0050] Then, when the conveyor transports the slit film, the conveyor transports the slit film to the weighing sensor 1400 to obtain the weight of the slit film.

[0051] Then, when the slitting film arrives at the packing station or before it arrives at the packing station, the PLC controller 1200 generates slitting information based on the trigger information of the roll change button 1101 and the loading button 1102, the equipment identification of the corresponding cutting machine, and the corresponding slitting time, and then sends the slitting information, weight, template identification and operator's work number of the same slitting film to the host computer 1300.

[0052] The host computer 1300 searches for the label template according to the template identifier, and then fills the cutting information, work number, and weight into the label template. Before filling in, the host computer 1300 also obtains the current time point, and fills in the current time point into the label template when filling in.

[0053] After the host computer 1300 fills all kinds of information into the label template, a complete label is produced, and then the host computer 1300 controls the printer connected thereto to print, and then the printed label can be affixed to the packaging box corresponding to the slitting film.

[0054] When problems occur with the product later, the cutting information on the label can be used to trace the packaging film raw materials and the corresponding operators. At the same time, combined with the production records of each workshop, the detailed operation conditions of each process can be traced.

[0055] See also Figure 4 , Figure 4 1 is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method for label printing of the present application, the method comprising:

[0056] S110: When the slitting machine slits the packaging film raw material to obtain slit films, the recorder records the slitting sequence of the slitting films.

[0057] S120: The PLC controller generates slitting information of the slitting film at least according to the slitting sequence of the slitting film, and sends the slitting information of the slitting film to the host computer.

[0058] S130: After receiving the slitting information of the slitting film, the host computer fills the slitting information into the label template corresponding to the slitting film to generate a label corresponding to the slitting film, and then controls the connected printer to print the generated label.

[0059] Among them, the method steps executed by the recorder, PLC controller and host computer in this embodiment correspond to the method steps executed by the recorder 1100, PLC controller 1200 and host computer 1300 in the above-mentioned embodiment. For details, please refer to the above-mentioned embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0060] See also Figure 5 , Figure 5 The computer-readable storage medium 200 stores a computer program 210, which can be executed by a processor to implement the steps in any of the above methods.

[0061] Among them, the computer-readable storage medium 200 can specifically be a device that can store the computer program 210, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, or it can also be a server that stores the computer program 210. The server can send the stored computer program 210 to other devices for execution, or it can also execute the stored computer program 210 by itself.

[0062] The above description is only an implementation method of the present application, and does not limit the patent scope of the present application. Any equivalent structure or equivalent process transformation made using the contents of the present application specification and drawings, or directly or indirectly used in other related technical fields, are also included in the patent protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A label printing system, characterized in that: The system comprises: A recorder, used for recording the slitting sequence of the slitting film when the slitting machine slits the packaging film raw material to obtain the slitting film; A PLC controller connected to the recorder, for generating slitting information of the slitting film at least according to the slitting sequence and slitting time of the slitting film and the corresponding equipment identification of the slitting machine; A host computer connected to the PLC controller, for, after receiving the slitting information of the slitting film sent by the PLC controller, filling the slitting information into a label template corresponding to the slitting film to generate a label corresponding to the slitting film, and controlling a connected printer to print the generated label; Wherein, the recorder includes a roll-changing button and a loading button, and both the roll-changing button and the loading button are connected to the PLC controller, wherein the triggering information of the roll-changing button indicates the serial number information of the packaging film raw material slit by the corresponding slitting machine, and the loading button indicates the position information of the slit film obtained by the corresponding slitting machine in the packaging film raw material; wherein, the PLC controller also includes a first counter corresponding to the roll-changing button and a second counter corresponding to the loading button, each time the roll-changing button is triggered, the value of the first counter is increased by one, and the value of the second counter is cleared, and each time the loading button is triggered, the value of the second counter is increased by one.

2. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that The system further comprises: A weighing sensor is used to obtain the weight of the slitting film. The weighing sensor is connected to the PLC controller to send the weight to the host computer through the PLC controller, so that the host computer fills the slitting information into the label template and also fills the weight into the label template.

3. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that The PLC controller is provided with a human-machine interaction interface, so that the operator can input the work number and select the corresponding label template on the human-machine interaction interface. Among them, when the PLC controller sends the cutting information to the host computer, it also sends the work number and the template identification of the label template to the host computer, so that the host computer searches for the label template selected by the user in the pre-saved label templates according to the template identification, and then fills the work number and the cutting information into the label template together.

4. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that Before filling the slitting information into the label template corresponding to the slitting film, the host computer also acquires the current time point, and then fills the slitting information and the current time point into the label template together.

5. A label printing method, characterized in that: The method comprises: When the slitting machine slits the packaging film raw material to obtain the slit film, the recorder records the slitting order of the slitting film; The PLC controller generates the slitting information of the slitting film according to at least the slitting sequence and slitting time of the slitting film and the corresponding device identification of the slitting machine, and sends the slitting information of the slitting film to the host computer; After receiving the slitting information of the slitting film, the host computer fills the slitting information into the label template corresponding to the slitting film to generate a label corresponding to the slitting film, and then controls the connected printer to print the generated label; Wherein, the recorder includes a roll-changing button and a loading button, and both the roll-changing button and the loading button are connected to the PLC controller, wherein the triggering information of the roll-changing button indicates the serial number information of the packaging film raw material slit by the corresponding slitting machine, and the loading button indicates the position information of the slit film obtained by the corresponding slitting machine in the packaging film raw material; wherein, the PLC controller also includes a first counter corresponding to the roll-changing button and a second counter corresponding to the loading button, each time the roll-changing button is triggered, the value of the first counter is increased by one, and the value of the second counter is cleared, and each time the loading button is triggered, the value of the second counter is increased by one.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that Before the host computer generates the label, the method further includes: The weighing sensor obtains the weight of the slit film and sends the weight to the PLC controller; After receiving the weight, the PLC controller sends the weight to the host computer; After receiving the weight, the host computer fills the slitting information and the weight into the label template corresponding to the slitting film.

7. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The step of the PLC controller sending the slitting information of the slitting film to the host computer comprises: The PLC controller sends the work number input by the operator on the human-computer interaction interface, the template identification of the selected label template, and the slitting information of the slitting film to the host computer; The step of the host computer filling the slitting information into the label template corresponding to the slitting film comprises: The host computer searches for the label template selected by the user in the pre-saved label templates according to the template identifier, and then fills the work number and the cutting information into the label template accordingly.

8. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The step of generating the slitting information of the slitting film by the PLC controller at least according to the slitting sequence of the slitting film comprises: The PLC controller generates the slitting information specifically according to the slitting sequence and slitting time of the slitting film and the corresponding equipment identification of the slitting machine.

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