A raw material recommendation method and system in a printing process

Abstract

The application discloses a raw material recommendation method and system in a printing process, and the method comprises the following steps: determining product development size and product printing p number; determining product piece number and material loss rate according to the on-machine size and the product development size; determining material piece number according to the product piece number and the product printing p number; determining product residual p number according to the product printing p number, the product piece number and the material piece number; and determining the recommendation sequence of the raw material according to the material loss rate, the material piece number and the product residual p number according to a preset raw material recommendation strategy, so as to recommend the raw material for the product to be printed. The method can comprehensively consider the loss rate, the material piece number and the residual p number of the raw material, and can reduce waste to the maximum extent. Meanwhile, when a customer order is received, the loss of different raw materials can be determined according to the product printing p number in the order at the first time, so that the cost generated by different raw material combination schemes can be quickly estimated, the customer can be quoted, and the order transaction success rate is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of printing technology, specifically to a method and system for recommending raw materials during the printing process. Background Technology

[0002] In the face of fierce market competition, resource conservation has become a crucial factor restricting the rapid development of printing companies. Waste exists in printing consumables such as ink, paper, washing water, and alcohol, with paper waste being the most significant. Furthermore, when receiving customer orders, printing companies need to quickly determine the raw materials required to complete the order and optimize the usage of those materials to minimize waste.

[0003] In existing technologies, especially when dealing with printed books and periodicals, the page count (p) for these products is typically large and irregular (it's usually determined by the content, making it impossible to guarantee an even number or a multiple of 4). Therefore, arranging the printed materials on the printing plates is a complex process, particularly when multiple materials of different specifications are involved. Considering factors such as material wastage rate, the number of sheets used, and the remaining pages after printing, selecting the most suitable material and determining the optimal layout for the printed products requires a series of tedious calculations. Customers often require a simple quote from the printing company when placing a printing order. Printing company staff often struggle to calculate the optimal solution for this order quickly enough to assess material usage and price, resulting in slow response times and inefficient order processing.

[0004] Therefore, those skilled in the art urgently need to find a new technical solution to address the aforementioned problems. Summary of the Invention

[0005] To overcome the problems existing in related technologies, this invention discloses a method and system for recommending raw materials in the printing process.

[0006] According to a first aspect of the disclosed embodiments of the present invention, a method for recommending raw materials in a printing process is provided, applied to a raw material recommendation system in a printing process, the method comprising:

[0007] Determine the unfolded dimensions of the product to be printed and the number of pages to be printed;

[0008] The number of product units that can be arranged on each raw material and the unfolded size of the product to be printed are determined based on the machine size of each raw material and the material loss rate when printing with the raw material.

[0009] The number of product sheets (p) on which the printed products can be arranged on each type of raw material is determined based on the product assembly number;

[0010] The number of sheets required for printing each type of raw material is determined based on the product sheet number and the product printing number. The number of sheets is the number of complete raw materials consumed by the product during the printing process.

[0011] The remaining number of product pages to be printed is determined based on the product printing p-number, the product sheet splicing p-number, and the material sheet number.

[0012] Based on the material loss rate, the number of sheets, and the remaining p of the product, the recommended order of raw materials is determined according to a preset raw material recommendation strategy to recommend raw materials for the product to be printed.

[0013] Optionally, determining the number of product units that can be arranged on each raw material and the material loss rate when printing using the raw material, based on the machine dimensions of each raw material and the unfolded dimensions of the product to be printed, includes:

[0014] Obtain the spacing, edge distance, seam allowance, and end size of each raw material;

[0015] The first mounting dimension of the raw material in the x-axis direction and the second mounting dimension in the y-axis direction of the printing press coordinate system are determined based on the mounting dimensions of each raw material.

[0016] Based on the first mounting size, second mounting size, spacing size, gripper size, plate tail size, and the unfolded size of each raw material, determine the first number of product units that can be arranged in the x-axis direction and the second number of product units that can be arranged in the y-axis direction for each raw material.

[0017] The number of product units on each raw material that can accommodate the printed product is obtained by multiplying the first product unit number and the second product unit number for each raw material.

[0018] The material loss rate for printing using each raw material is determined based on the material specifications, number of material cuts, and number of product components.

[0019] Optionally, determining the first number of product units that can be arranged in the x-axis direction and the second number of product units that can be arranged in the y-axis direction for each raw material based on the first mounting size, second mounting size, spacing size, gripper size, plate tail size, and the unfolded size of each raw material includes:

[0020] If the first upper machine size is smaller than the second upper machine size, the number of the first product to be assembled is determined by (first upper machine size + spacing size - gripper size - tail size) / (first product unfolded size + spacing size);

[0021] The number of units to be assembled for the second product is determined by (second machine dimensions + spacing dimensions - 2 * edge distance dimensions) / (second product unfolded dimensions + spacing dimensions);

[0022] If the first upper machine size is larger than the second upper machine size, the number of the first product units is determined by (first upper machine size + spacing size - 2 * edge distance size) / (first product unfolded size + spacing size);

[0023] The second product assembly number is determined by (second upper machine size + spacing size - gripper size - plate tail size) / (second product unfolded size + spacing size), wherein the first product unfolded size is the unfolded size of the product to be printed in the x-axis direction of the printing machine coordinate system, and the second product unfolded size is the unfolded size of the product to be printed in the y-axis direction of the printing machine coordinate system.

[0024] Optionally, determining the material loss rate for printing using each raw material based on its specifications, number of sheet cuts, and number of product units includes:

[0025] Based on the material specifications of each raw material, determine the first material specification in the x-axis direction and the second material specification in the y-axis direction of the printing press coordinate system;

[0026] The material loss rate for printing using each raw material is determined by 1 - (first material specification × second material specification) / 1000000 / material number / product assembly number.

[0027] Optionally, determining the number of product sheets (p) on which the products to be printed can be arranged on each type of raw material based on the product sheet number includes:

[0028] The number of product pieces (p) is obtained by multiplying the product number by 2.

[0029] Optionally, determining the number of sheets required for printing with each raw material based on the product sheet count and the product printing count includes:

[0030] If the printing is done on one side using the raw materials, the number of product sheets printed (p) is equal to the number of product sheets combined (p), where the number of product sheets printed (p) is the number of products that can be printed on each type of raw material;

[0031] If the raw materials are used for printing, double-sided printing is used, and the number of printed sheets is equal to the number of sheets joined together × 2.

[0032] The number of sheets is determined by dividing the number of printed pages by the number of printed sheets.

[0033] Optionally, determining the remaining p count of the product to be printed based on the product printing p count, the product sheet splicing p count, and the material sheet count includes:

[0034] The number of product parts p that can be printed this time is obtained by multiplying the number of sheet materials by the number of product sheets p.

[0035] If the number of printed pages of the product is greater than or equal to the number of printed sheets of the product, then the actual number of assembled pages of the product is equal to the number of product components.

[0036] If the number of printed pages is less than the number of printed sheets but greater than or equal to the number of sheets assembled, then the actual number of assembled pages is equal to the number of sheets assembled.

[0037] If the number of printed pages of the product is less than the number of pages of the product sheet, then the actual number of pages of the product sheet is equal to the number of printed pages of the product.

[0038] The remaining number of pixels is determined by subtracting the actual number of pixels from the number of pixels printed on the product.

[0039] Optionally, the method further includes:

[0040] The remaining p number is input into the raw material recommendation system during the printing process as the new product printing p number for the product to be printed. The step of recommending raw materials for the product to be printed is repeated until the remaining p number is 0.

[0041] Optionally, the step of determining the recommended order of raw materials according to a preset raw material recommendation strategy based on the material loss rate, the number of sheets, and the remaining p of the product, in order to recommend raw materials for the product to be printed, includes:

[0042] Each raw material is arranged in ascending order of material loss rate to form a recommendation list. A preset number of raw materials at the top of the recommendation list are set as the first recommendation tier, and a preset number of raw materials below the first recommendation tier are set as the second recommendation tier.

[0043] Raw materials with product sheet p number of 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64 or 128 and remaining p number of 0 are placed in the first recommended tier;

[0044] In the first recommended tier, all raw materials with a material loss rate of less than 0.15 are identified, and the raw materials with a material loss rate of less than 0.15 are arranged in ascending order of the number of product printing plates, wherein the number of product printing plates is equal to the actual number of product panels divided by the number of product sheets.

[0045] If multiple raw materials have the same number of printing plates, the raw materials with a remaining p number of 0 will be prioritized.

[0046] If multiple raw materials have a remaining p count of 0, the raw materials with the larger product sheet usage will be prioritized. If the product sheet count is greater than 1, the product sheet usage will be equal to 1. If the product sheet count is less than or equal to 1, the product sheet usage will be equal to the actual p count of the product divided by the product sheet printing p count.

[0047] According to a second aspect of the embodiments disclosed in this invention, a raw material recommendation system for the printing process is provided, the system comprising:

[0048] The information receiving module determines the unfolded size of the product to be printed and the number of pages to be printed.

[0049] The loss rate determination module is connected to the information receiving module. Based on the machine size of each raw material and the unfolded size of the product to be printed, it determines the number of product units that can be arranged on each raw material and the material loss rate when printing with the raw material.

[0050] The sheet / p number determination module is connected to the loss rate determination module, and determines the number of product sheets / p that can be arranged on each raw material according to the product splice number;

[0051] The sheet count determination module is connected to the sheet p count determination module. It determines the number of sheets required for printing with each raw material based on the product sheet p count and the product printing p count. The sheet count is the number of complete raw materials consumed by the product during the printing process.

[0052] The remaining p-number determination module is connected to the sheet count determination module, and determines the remaining p-number of the product to be printed based on the product printing p-number, the product sheet splicing p-number, and the sheet count.

[0053] The raw material recommendation module, connected to the remaining p-count determination module, determines the recommendation order of raw materials according to the material loss rate, the number of sheets, and the remaining p-count of the product, in order to recommend raw materials for the product to be printed.

[0054] In summary, this invention discloses a method and system for recommending raw materials during the printing process. The method includes: determining the unfolded size of the product to be printed and the number of pages to be printed; determining the number of product units that can be arranged on each raw material and the material loss rate when printing with each raw material based on the machine size of each raw material and the unfolded size of the product to be printed; determining the number of product sheets that can be arranged on each raw material based on the number of product units; determining the number of sheets required for printing with each raw material based on the number of product sheets and the number of pages to be printed; determining the remaining number of pages of the product to be printed based on the number of pages to be printed, the number of product sheets, and the number of sheets; and determining the recommendation order of raw materials according to a preset raw material recommendation strategy based on the material loss rate, the number of sheets, and the remaining number of pages, so as to recommend raw materials for the product to be printed. It can comprehensively consider factors such as raw material loss rate, number of sheets, and remaining pages to minimize waste. At the same time, upon receiving a customer order, it can determine the loss of different raw materials based on the number of pages to be printed in the order, thereby quickly estimating the cost of different raw material combinations and providing customers with quotations, thus improving the order transaction success rate.

[0055] In addition, storing only a few crosshair models corresponding to preset temperature values ​​can also reduce the use of hardware memory resources.

[0056] Other features and advantages disclosed in this invention will be described in detail in the following detailed description section. Attached Figure Description

[0057] The accompanying drawings are provided to further illustrate the present disclosure and form part of the specification. They are used together with the following detailed description to explain the present disclosure, but do not constitute a limitation thereof. In the drawings:

[0058] Figure 1 This is a flowchart illustrating a method for recommending raw materials during a printing process, according to an exemplary embodiment.

[0059] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of a raw material recommendation system interface in the printing process;

[0060] Figure 3 It is based on Figure 1 A flowchart illustrating a method for determining loss rate is shown.

[0061] Figure 4 It is based on Figure 1 A schematic diagram showing the damaged portion of a raw material during the printing process;

[0062] Figure 5 It is based on Figure 1A flowchart illustrating a method for determining the number of sheets is shown.

[0063] Figure 6 It is based on Figure 1 The flowchart shown is a method for determining the remaining p number;

[0064] Figure 7 It is based on Figure 1 A flowchart illustrating a method for determining a recommended order is shown.

[0065] Figure 8 This is a structural block diagram illustrating a raw material recommendation system in a printing process according to an exemplary embodiment. Detailed Implementation

[0066] The specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are for illustration and explanation only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

[0067] Figure 1 This is a flowchart illustrating a method for recommending raw materials during a printing process according to an exemplary embodiment, such as... Figure 1 As shown, a raw material recommendation system applied in a printing process includes the following methods:

[0068] In step 101, the unfolded size of the product to be printed and the number of pages to be printed are determined.

[0069] For example, before introducing the raw material recommendation method in the printing process disclosed in this invention, the target application scenarios involved in the various embodiments of this disclosure are first introduced. These target application scenarios include a terminal capable of installing and running an instant messaging application, and sending and receiving messages through that application. The terminal can be, for example, a personal computer, workstation, laptop, smartphone, tablet, smart TV, smartwatch, PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), etc. The raw material recommendation system is installed on the terminal. When a printing company receives a customer's printing order, it inputs key information from the order (such as the type of product to be printed, the unfolded size of the product, and the number of pages printed) into the system. The system then calculates the material wastage rate, number of sheets, and remaining pages for each raw material used in printing the order through steps 101 to 106. The system then sorts the raw materials according to certain rules and displays the calculated material wastage rate, number of sheets, and remaining pages, allowing the printing company to select the appropriate raw materials to complete the order. Figure 2The image shows a schematic of the raw material recommendation system interface during the printing process. Users input basic information about the products to be printed. Additionally, users typically need to specify the type of raw material to be used in the order (e.g., standard size S). The system displays information such as material wastage rate, remaining pages, machine dimensions, and sheet count for each raw material. Furthermore, after a user selects a raw material, the "Imposition Diagram" section displays the arrangement of the products to be printed on each raw material. Figure 2 As shown, when the user selects "Large A" raw material for printing, the number of products to be printed can be 8 on each raw material. The layout diagram will show a schematic diagram of 16 pages (number of products * 2) of products to be printed on each raw material. At the same time, the diagram also shows the spacing, margins, gripper edge, and end of the print when printing with this raw material.

[0070] For example, the raw material recommendation method in the disclosed embodiments of the present invention is mainly for printed products such as books and periodicals. The unfolded size of the printed product, taking books and periodicals as an example, refers to the size of the book or periodical when unfolded. The unfolded size usually includes 2 pages of the printed product and needs to take into account the spacing, etc.

[0071] In step 102, the number of product units that can be arranged on each raw material and the material loss rate when printing with each raw material are determined based on the machine size of each raw material and the unfolded size of the product to be printed.

[0072] For example, each raw material includes basic information such as material specifications, cutting size, cutting name, number of cuttings, and machine size. Among them, the machine size refers to the size that a piece of raw material can be effectively used when printing on a printing press. It can be understood that the machine size of the raw material is usually smaller than the material specifications.

[0073] Specifically, Figure 3 It is based on Figure 1 The diagram shows a flowchart of a method for determining the loss rate, as follows: Figure 3 As shown, step 102 includes:

[0074] In step 1021, the spacing dimension, edge dimension, bite dimension, and end dimension of each raw material are obtained.

[0075] For example, such as Figure 3 The diagram shown illustrates the damage during the printing process of raw materials. The blue area is divided into multiple blocks, each representing 1 page of product to be printed. Specifically, from... Figure 3 As can be seen, each block has a white gap between it and its adjacent blocks (where, for easier viewing, ...). Figure 3(A white gap is highlighted in black in the image). This white gap represents the margin, the space between each page of printed material and its adjacent pages during the printing process. The red area in the image represents the gripper margin, the width of the paper gripper on the printing press when the raw material is placed into the press. Therefore, the gripper margin must be taken into account when calculating the arrangement of the printed materials. Figure 3 The light green area represents the margin. The margin size can be set by the user before printing. Usually, the margin size is greater than or equal to 2mm. Figure 3 The pink area in the middle represents the end of the page. The size of the end of the page is also set by the user. Under normal circumstances, the size of the end of the page is greater than or equal to 2mm. Figure 3 The red area in the diagram represents the bleed value. Bleed is usually caused by paper cutting errors or excess printing during the printing process, and it typically ranges from 1.5mm to 3mm. In the embodiments disclosed in this invention, the bleed value is included in the end-of-print size and the margin size. The end-of-print size is located on the opposite side of the gripper edge, while the other two sides of the raw material are the margins.

[0076] When calculating the layout of the products to be printed on the raw materials, the spacing, margin, gripper edge, and end plate dimensions need to be taken into account.

[0077] In step 1022, the first mounting dimension of each raw material in the x-axis direction of the printing press coordinate system and the second mounting dimension in the y-axis direction of the printing press coordinate system are determined based on the mounting dimensions of each raw material.

[0078] For example, the paper's dimensions for printing include both length and width. For instance, a raw paper with dimensions of 560mm × 780mm can have 560mm as either its length or width. Choosing different sides of the raw paper as its length will result in different arrangements of the printed product on the paper. For ease of description, the embodiments of this invention introduce the concept of a printing press coordinate system. A point in the printing area of ​​the printing press is used as the origin, and x-axis and y-axis are set respectively. Thus, after each sheet of raw paper is placed in the printing press, the two sides of the raw paper can be distinguished using the printing press coordinate system. That is, the dimensions of each sheet of raw paper are divided into a first dimensions along the x-axis and a second dimensions along the y-axis.

[0079] It should be noted that in the embodiments disclosed in this invention, the two adjacent sides of each raw material are used as the first machine size for calculation, which is equivalent to each raw material being put into the printer twice in two directions, and the number of products and material loss rate are calculated according to steps 1023-1025 respectively.

[0080] In step 1023, based on the first mounting size, second mounting size, spacing size, gripper size, plate tail size, and unfolded size of each raw material, the first number of product units that can be arranged in the x-axis direction and the second number of product units that can be arranged in the y-axis direction for each raw material are determined.

[0081] For example, before determining the number of product units that can be arranged on each type of raw material, it is necessary to first calculate the first number of product units that can be arranged in the x-axis direction and the second number of product units that can be arranged in the y-axis direction. It should be noted that, in the embodiments disclosed in this invention, the number of product units that can be arranged on the raw material is calculated based on the unfolded dimensions of the product to be printed.

[0082] If the first upper-mount size is smaller than the second upper-mount size, the number of the first product to be printed is determined by (first upper-mount size + spacing size - gripper size - plate tail size) / (first product unfolded size + spacing size); the number of the second product to be printed is determined by (second upper-mount size + spacing size - 2 * margin size) / (second product unfolded size + spacing size), where the first product unfolded size is the unfolded size of the product to be printed in the x-axis direction of the printing machine coordinate system, and the second product unfolded size is the unfolded size of the product to be printed in the y-axis direction of the printing machine coordinate system.

[0083] For example, the size relationship between the first and second mounting dimensions determines which side is the "long side" during the raw material printing process. When the first mounting dimension is smaller than the second mounting dimension, the gripper size and the end-of-print size need to be considered when arranging the first unfolded dimension of the product, i.e., the first product assembly count = (first mounting dimension + spacing dimension - gripper size - end-of-print size) / (first product unfolded dimension + spacing dimension). Similarly, the margin dimension needs to be considered when arranging the second unfolded dimension of the product, i.e., the second product assembly count = (second mounting dimension + spacing dimension - 2 * margin dimension) / (second product unfolded dimension + spacing dimension).

[0084] Understandably, since there is a spacing between each product to be printed and the adjacent products to be printed, when calculating the machine dimensions of the raw material (the first and second machine dimensions use the same principle), it is necessary to first add a spacing dimension to the machine dimensions, and then divide the sum of the machine dimensions (first or second machine dimensions) and the spacing dimension by the sum of the unfolded dimensions of the product (first or second product unfolded dimensions) and the spacing dimension. The integer value obtained (rounded down) is the number of products to be printed that can be arranged on one side of the raw material.

[0085] If the first upper-mount size is larger than the second upper-mount size, the number of units in the first product assembly is determined by (first upper-mount size + spacing size - 2 * edge size) / (first product unfolded size + spacing size); the number of units in the second product assembly is determined by (second upper-mount size + spacing size - gripper size - plate tail size) / (second product unfolded size + spacing size).

[0086] For example, when the first upper-mount size is larger than the second upper-mount size, the product's first unfolded size needs to be arranged considering the margin size, i.e., the number of first product units = (first upper-mount size + spacing size - 2 * margin size) / (first product unfolded size + spacing size). The product's second unfolded size needs to be arranged considering the gripper size and the tail size, i.e., the number of second product units = (second upper-mount size + spacing size - gripper size - tail size) / (second product unfolded size + spacing size).

[0087] In step 1024, the number of product units that can be arranged on each raw material is obtained by multiplying the first product unit number and the second product unit number of each raw material.

[0088] For example, after determining the number of the first product assembly and the number of the second product assembly, their product is the number of product assemblies on each sheet of raw material that can accommodate the products to be printed.

[0089] In step 1025, the material loss rate when printing with each raw material is determined based on the material specifications, number of blanks, and number of parts for each product.

[0090] Specifically, the first material specification and the second material specification in the x-axis direction and y-axis direction of the printing press coordinate system are determined according to the material specifications of each raw material; the material loss rate when printing with each raw material is determined by 1-(first material specification × second material specification) / 1000000 / material opening number / product assembly number.

[0091] For example, the paper size, also known as the sheet size, is used to describe the size of the raw paper used in the printing process. The sheet size refers to the number of printing plates or paper pieces that can be cut from a full sheet of paper. A full sheet of paper is called a full sheet; a full sheet with two printing plates, folded in half, or cut in the middle is called a 2-sheet or 3-sheet. A 3-sheet cut in the middle or folded in half becomes a 4-sheet, and further cuts or folds result in 8-sheet, 16-sheet, 32-sheet, etc. In the embodiments disclosed in this invention, the material wastage rate of each sheet of raw material needs to be determined based on the specifications of the raw material, the paper size, and the number of products to be printed. It is understood that the material wastage rate is an important indicator to consider when recommending raw materials based on printing orders.

[0092] Additionally, in some embodiments, it is also necessary to calculate the imposition size of the raw materials, which is the size of the printing area on the raw materials after the products to be printed are arranged on them. Similarly, the imposition size includes the first imposition size along the x-axis and the second imposition size along the y-axis. The first imposition size is calculated as [(first unfolded size + spacing size) * number of first products in imposition] - spacing size; the second imposition size is calculated as [(second unfolded size + spacing size) * number of second products in imposition] - spacing size.

[0093] In step 103, the number of product sheets p that can be arranged on each raw material to be printed is determined according to the product sheet number.

[0094] The number of sheets (p) of the product is obtained by multiplying the product's number of pieces by 2.

[0095] For example, the product stack count is calculated based on the unfolded size of the product, which is the number of printed products that can be arranged on each sheet of raw material (the unfolded printed products include two p). Therefore, twice the product stack count is the number of p of printed products that can be arranged on each sheet of raw material, i.e., the product sheet stack p count.

[0096] In step 104, the number of sheets required for printing with each raw material is determined based on the product sheet number and the product printing sheet number.

[0097] The number of sheets refers to the number of sheets of complete raw materials consumed during the printing process of the product to be printed.

[0098] Specifically, Figure 5 It is based on Figure 1 The diagram shows a flowchart of a method for determining the number of sheets, as follows: Figure 5 As shown, step 104 includes:

[0099] In step 1041, if the printing is done on one side using the raw material, the number of sheets printed is equal to the number of sheets joined together.

[0100] The product print count (p) refers to the number of times the product can be printed on each type of raw material.

[0101] In step 1042, if the printing is double-sided using the raw material, the number of sheets printed is equal to the number of sheets combined × 2.

[0102] For example, the printing modes of raw materials during printing include double-sided printing and single-sided printing. It can be understood that when using single-sided printing, the number of products that can be printed on each sheet of raw material is equal to the number of products that can be arranged on that sheet; that is, the number of printed products per sheet = the number of products arranged on a single sheet. Similarly, when using double-sided printing, the number of products that can be printed on each sheet of raw material is equal to the product of the number of products that can be arranged on that sheet multiplied by 2; that is, the number of printed products per sheet = the number of products arranged on a single sheet * 2.

[0103] In step 1043, the number of sheets is determined based on the integer value obtained by dividing the number of prints per sheet by the number of sheets printed per product.

[0104] For example, since the number of sheets calculated through the above steps represents the total number of sheets of raw material consumed during the printing process, the integer value obtained by dividing the product printing count (p) by the product sheet printing count (p) and rounding down is the number of sheets. For instance, if the value is 3.2, then the number of sheets is 3. It is understandable that after calculating the number of sheets, some content in the product to be printed will not be printed. Therefore, it is necessary to calculate the remaining product sheet count (p) through step 105 below.

[0105] In step 105, the remaining number of pages of the product to be printed is determined based on the number of pages printed, the number of pages of product sheets, and the number of sheets of material.

[0106] Specifically, Figure 6 It is based on Figure 1 A flowchart of a method for determining the remaining p number is shown, as follows: Figure 6 As shown, step 105 includes:

[0107] In step 1051, the number of product parts p that can be printed this time is obtained by multiplying the number of sheets of material by the number of product sheets p.

[0108] For example, after calculating the number of sheets (e.g., 4 sheets) through the above steps, the product of the number of product sheets printed (p) and the number of sheets represents the number of products to be printed that can be printed by 4 sheets of raw materials, which is defined as the number of product components (p) in the disclosed embodiments of the present invention.

[0109] It should be noted that the number of product components (p) represents the number of components that can be printed in this printing process, but it does not necessarily represent the number of components that are actually printed in this printing process. Therefore, it is necessary to calculate the actual number of components (p) of the product through the following steps 1052-1054.

[0110] In step 1052, if the number of printed p for the product is greater than or equal to the number of printed p for the product, then the actual number of p for the product is equal to the number of p for the product components.

[0111] For example, when the number of pages printed on a product is greater than or equal to the number of pages printed on a single sheet, the number of pages that can be printed in this printing process is the actual number of pages printed in this printing process. In this case, the actual number of pages printed on the product can be equal to the number of pages printed on the product components.

[0112] In step 1053, if the number of printed pages for a product is less than the number of pages printed on a single sheet but greater than or equal to the number of pages joined together on a single sheet, then the actual number of pages joined together on a single sheet is equal to the number of pages joined together on a single sheet.

[0113] For example, when the number of pages printed on a product is less than the number of pages printed on a single sheet but greater than or equal to the number of pages that can be combined into a single sheet, it means that the number of pages that can be printed on a single sheet of raw material is already more than the total number of pages of the product to be printed. In this case, it is no longer applicable to use the product of the number of sheets printed and the number of pages printed on a single sheet as the actual number of pages combined into a single sheet. Instead, the number of pages that can be combined into a single sheet is directly used as the actual number of pages combined into a single sheet.

[0114] In step 1054, if the number of printed pages for the product is less than the number of pages for the product assembly, then the actual number of pages for the product assembly is equal to the number of printed pages for the product.

[0115] For example, when the number of pages printed is smaller than the number of pages printed on a single sheet, the actual number of pages printed can be directly equal to the number of pages printed on the single sheet.

[0116] In step 1055, the remaining p number is determined based on the difference between the printed p number of the product and the actual p number of the product.

[0117] In addition, the method further includes: inputting the remaining p number as the new product printing p number of the product to be printed into the raw material recommendation system in the printing process, and repeatedly performing the step of recommending raw materials for the product to be printed until the remaining p number is 0.

[0118] For example, the remaining p number represents the number of p items in the product to be printed that have not yet been printed. In the disclosed embodiment of the present invention, the remaining p number is re-input into the raw material recommendation system as the product printing p number. Based on the remaining p number, the material loss ratio, number of sheets, and new remaining p number when using each raw material for printing are recalculated. The raw materials are then arranged and recommended to the printing company.

[0119] It is understandable that the number of pages printed in step 101 is different from the remaining number of pages in step 105. Therefore, when recommending raw materials again based on the remaining number of pages, the loss rate, sheet count, and other data for each material will be different. For example, if the number of pages printed for the product to be printed is 36, the actual number of pages is 32, and the remaining number of pages is 4, after the raw material recommendation system sorts and recommends each raw material based on factors such as the loss rate, and the printing company selects the material named "Large Double-Open A" for printing, when the user triggers the Large Double-Open A, the remaining number of pages 4 is entered into the raw material recommendation system as the new number of pages printed for the product, and the material loss rate, sheet count, etc. of each raw material are recalculated and recommended again to the printing company.

[0120] In step 106, based on the material loss rate, the number of sheets, and the remaining p of the product, the recommended order of raw materials is determined according to a preset raw material recommendation strategy to recommend raw materials for the product to be printed.

[0121] Specifically, Figure 7 It is based on Figure 1 The diagram shows a flowchart of a recommended order determination method, such as... Figure 7 As shown, step 106 includes:

[0122] In step 1061, each raw material is arranged in ascending order of material loss rate to form a recommendation list, and a preset number of raw materials at the top of the recommendation list are set as the first recommendation tier, and a preset number of raw materials below the first recommendation tier are set as the second recommendation tier.

[0123] For example, material loss rate is a crucial factor to consider when recommending raw materials. Therefore, the first consideration when recommending raw materials is the material loss rate, and the raw materials are sorted according to their loss rate from smallest to largest. Additionally, serial numbers can be assigned to the sorted raw materials to determine the first and second recommendation tiers. For instance, raw materials numbered 1-10 are set as the first recommendation tier, meaning the 10 raw materials with the lowest material loss rate are placed in the first recommendation tier, and raw materials numbered 11-20 are set as the second recommendation tier. Furthermore, third, fourth, and so on recommendation tiers can be set, with the number of raw materials in each tier being a preset quantity. The preset quantity for each recommendation tier can be a different value. For example, the first recommendation tier contains raw materials numbered 1-10, the second recommendation tier contains raw materials numbered 11-18, the third recommendation tier contains raw materials numbered 18-24, and the fourth recommendation tier contains raw materials numbered 25-30.

[0124] In step 1062, raw materials with product sheet p number of 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64 or 128 and remaining p number of 0 are placed in the first recommended tier.

[0125] For example, if the remaining p number of a raw material is 0, it can also indicate that the raw material has a high utilization rate when printing. Therefore, raw materials with a remaining p number of 0 and a product sheet p number of 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64 or 128 in other recommended tiers can also be placed in the first recommended tier and recommended according to the material loss ratio.

[0126] In step 1063, in the first recommended echelon, all raw materials with a material loss rate of less than 0.15 are identified, and the raw materials with a material loss rate of less than 0.15 are arranged in ascending order of the number of product printing plates, wherein the number of product printing plates is equal to the actual number of product pages divided by the number of product sheets.

[0127] For example, when the material loss ratio of raw materials is less than 0.15, it can be considered that the material loss rate of raw materials is already very small (the loss rate of different raw materials is not much different when the material loss rate is less than 0.15). At this time, all raw materials with a material loss rate of less than 0.15 can be sorted according to the number of printing plates of the product.

[0128] In step 1064, if multiple raw materials have the same number of printing plates, the raw materials with the remaining p number of 0 will be prioritized.

[0129] In step 1065, if multiple raw materials have a remaining p number of 0, the raw materials with larger product sheet usage are prioritized. If the number of sheets of a product is greater than 1, then the product sheet usage is equal to 1. If the number of sheets of a product is less than or equal to 1, then the product sheet usage is equal to the actual p number of the product assembly divided by the number of p numbers of the product printing.

[0130] For example, if the material loss rate is less than 0.15 and the number of printing plates for the products is the same, the remaining p count can be used as a reference to prioritize the raw materials with a remaining p count of 0. In addition, if the remaining p count of all raw materials is 0, the product sheet usage can be used as a reference factor to prioritize the raw materials with a large product sheet usage.

[0131] Furthermore, users can also refer to the self-reversible printing mode and the double-sided printing mode in the printing process. The self-reversible printing mode and the double-sided printing mode can be selected by the user on the raw material recommendation system.

[0132] Figure 8 This is a structural block diagram illustrating a raw material recommendation system in a printing process according to an exemplary embodiment, such as... Figure 8 As shown, the system 800 includes:

[0133] The information receiving module 810 determines the unfolded size of the product to be printed and the number of pages to be printed.

[0134] The loss rate determination module 820 is connected to the information receiving module 810. It determines the number of product units that can be arranged on each raw material and the material loss rate when printing with each raw material, based on the machine size of each raw material and the unfolded size of the product to be printed.

[0135] Sheet number determination module 830 is connected to the loss rate determination module 820, and determines the number of sheets that can be arranged on each raw material to be printed based on the product number.

[0136] The sheet quantity determination module 840 is connected to the sheet splicing p number determination module 830. It determines the number of sheets required for printing with each raw material based on the product sheet splicing p number and the product printing p number. The sheet quantity is the number of complete raw material sheets consumed by the product to be printed during the printing process.

[0137] The remaining p count determination module 850 is connected to the sheet count determination module 840, and determines the remaining p count of the product to be printed based on the product printing p count, the product sheet assembly p count, and the sheet count.

[0138] The raw material recommendation module 860 is connected to the remaining p number determination module 850. Based on the material loss rate, the number of sheets, and the remaining p number of the product, it determines the recommendation order of raw materials according to a preset raw material recommendation strategy, so as to recommend raw materials for the product to be printed.

[0139] In summary, this invention discloses a method and system for recommending raw materials during the printing process. The method includes: determining the unfolded size of the product to be printed and the number of pages to be printed; determining the number of product units that can be arranged on each raw material and the material loss rate when printing with each raw material based on the machine size of each raw material and the unfolded size of the product to be printed; determining the number of product sheets that can be arranged on each raw material based on the number of product units; determining the number of sheets required for printing with each raw material based on the number of product sheets and the number of pages to be printed; determining the remaining number of pages of the product to be printed based on the number of pages to be printed, the number of product sheets, and the number of sheets; and determining the recommendation order of raw materials according to a preset raw material recommendation strategy based on the material loss rate, the number of sheets, and the remaining number of pages, so as to recommend raw materials for the product to be printed. It can comprehensively consider factors such as raw material loss rate, number of sheets, and remaining pages to minimize waste. At the same time, upon receiving a customer order, it can determine the loss of different raw materials based on the number of pages to be printed in the order, thereby quickly estimating the cost of different raw material combinations and providing customers with quotations, thus improving the order transaction success rate.

[0140] The preferred embodiments of this disclosure have been described in detail above with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, this disclosure is not limited to the specific details of the above embodiments. Within the scope of the technical concept of this disclosure, various simple modifications can be made to the technical solutions of this disclosure, and these simple modifications all fall within the protection scope of this disclosure.

[0141] It should also be noted that the various specific technical features described in the above specific embodiments can be combined in any suitable manner without contradiction. In order to avoid unnecessary repetition, this disclosure will not describe the various possible combinations separately.

[0142] Furthermore, various different embodiments of this disclosure can be combined in any way, as long as they do not violate the spirit of this disclosure, they should also be regarded as the content disclosed in this disclosure.

Claims

1. A method for recommending raw materials in a printing process, characterized in that, A raw material recommendation system applied in a printing process, the method comprising: Determine the unfolded dimensions of the product to be printed and the number of pages to be printed; The number of product units that can be arranged on each raw material and the unfolded size of the product to be printed are determined based on the machine size of each raw material and the material loss rate when printing with the raw material. The number of product sheets (p) on which the printed products can be arranged on each type of raw material is determined based on the product assembly number; The number of sheets required for printing each type of raw material is determined based on the product sheet number and the product printing number. The number of sheets is the number of complete raw materials consumed by the product during the printing process. The remaining number of product pages to be printed is determined based on the product printing p-number, the product sheet splicing p-number, and the material sheet number. Based on the material loss rate, number of sheets, and remaining product p, the recommended order of raw materials is determined according to a preset raw material recommendation strategy to recommend raw materials for the product to be printed. Specifically, the step of determining the recommended order of raw materials according to a preset raw material recommendation strategy based on the material loss rate, the number of sheets, and the remaining product count, in order to recommend raw materials for the product to be printed, includes: Each raw material is arranged in ascending order of material loss rate to form a recommendation list. A preset number of raw materials at the top of the recommendation list are set as the first recommendation tier, and a preset number of raw materials below the first recommendation tier are set as the second recommendation tier. Raw materials with product sheet p number of 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64 or 128 and remaining p number of 0 are placed in the first recommended tier; In the first recommended tier, all raw materials with a material loss rate of less than 0.15 are identified, and the raw materials with a material loss rate of less than 0.15 are arranged in ascending order of the number of product printing plates, wherein the number of product printing plates is equal to the actual number of product panels divided by the number of product sheets. If multiple raw materials have the same number of printing plates, then the raw materials with a remaining p number of 0 will be prioritized. If multiple raw materials have a remaining p count of 0, the raw materials with the larger product sheet usage will be prioritized. If the product sheet count is greater than 1, the product sheet usage will be equal to 1. If the product sheet count is less than or equal to 1, the product sheet usage will be equal to the actual p count of the product divided by the product sheet printing p count.

2. The method for recommending raw materials in the printing process according to claim 1, characterized in that, The process of determining the number of product units that can be arranged on each raw material and the material loss rate when printing using the raw materials, based on the machine dimensions of each raw material and the unfolded dimensions of the product to be printed, includes: Obtain the spacing, edge distance, seam allowance, and end size of each raw material; The first mounting dimension of the raw material in the x-axis direction and the second mounting dimension in the y-axis direction of the printing press coordinate system are determined based on the mounting dimensions of each raw material. Based on the first mounting size, second mounting size, spacing size, gripper size, plate tail size, and the unfolded size of each raw material, determine the first number of product units that can be arranged in the x-axis direction and the second number of product units that can be arranged in the y-axis direction for each raw material. The number of product units on each raw material that can accommodate the printed product is obtained by multiplying the first product unit number and the second product unit number for each raw material. The material loss rate for printing using each raw material is determined based on the material specifications, number of material cuts, and number of product components.

3. The method for recommending raw materials in the printing process according to claim 2, characterized in that, The determination of the first number of product units that can be arranged in the x-axis direction and the second number of product units that can be arranged in the y-axis direction for each raw material, based on the first mounting size, second mounting size, spacing size, gripper size, plate tail size, and the unfolded size of each raw material, includes: If the first upper machine size is smaller than the second upper machine size, the number of the first product to be assembled is determined by (first upper machine size + spacing size - gripper size - tail size) / (first product unfolded size + spacing size); The number of units to be assembled for the second product is determined by (second machine dimensions + spacing dimensions - 2 * edge distance dimensions) / (second product unfolded dimensions + spacing dimensions); If the first upper machine size is larger than the second upper machine size, the number of the first product units is determined by (first upper machine size + spacing size - 2 * edge distance size) / (first product unfolded size + spacing size); The second product assembly number is determined by (second upper machine size + spacing size - gripper size - plate tail size) / (second product unfolded size + spacing size), wherein the first product unfolded size is the unfolded size of the product to be printed in the x-axis direction of the printing machine coordinate system, and the second product unfolded size is the unfolded size of the product to be printed in the y-axis direction of the printing machine coordinate system.

4. The method for recommending raw materials in the printing process according to claim 2, characterized in that, The determination of the material loss rate for printing using each raw material based on its specifications, number of blanks, and product assembly number includes: Based on the material specifications of each raw material, determine the first material specification in the x-axis direction and the second material specification in the y-axis direction of the printing press coordinate system; The material loss rate for printing using each raw material is determined by 1 - (first material specification × second material specification) / 1000000 / material number / product assembly number.

5. The method for recommending raw materials in the printing process according to claim 2, characterized in that, The step of determining the number of product sheets (p) on each raw material that can accommodate the product to be printed based on the product sheet number includes: The number of product pieces (p) is obtained by multiplying the product number by 2.

6. The method for recommending raw materials in the printing process according to claim 2, characterized in that, The step of determining the number of sheets required for printing with each raw material based on the product sheet count and the product printing count includes: If the printing is done on one side using the raw materials, the number of product sheets printed (p) is equal to the number of product sheets combined (p), where the number of product sheets printed (p) is the number of products that can be printed on each type of raw material; If the raw materials are used for printing, double-sided printing is used, and the number of printed sheets is equal to the number of sheets joined together × 2. The number of sheets is determined by dividing the number of printed pages by the number of printed sheets.

7. The method for recommending raw materials in the printing process according to claim 6, characterized in that, The step of determining the remaining number of pages of the product to be printed based on the product printing p count, the product sheet splicing p count, and the material sheet count includes: The number of product parts p that can be printed this time is obtained by multiplying the number of sheet materials by the number of product sheets p. If the number of printed pages of the product is greater than or equal to the number of printed sheets of the product, then the actual number of assembled pages of the product is equal to the number of product components. If the number of printed pages is less than the number of printed sheets but greater than or equal to the number of sheets assembled, then the actual number of assembled pages is equal to the number of sheets assembled. If the number of printed pages of the product is less than the number of pages of the product sheet, then the actual number of pages of the product sheet is equal to the number of printed pages of the product. The remaining number of pixels is determined by subtracting the actual number of pixels from the number of pixels printed on the product.

8. The method for recommending raw materials in the printing process according to claim 7, characterized in that, The method further includes: The remaining p number is input into the raw material recommendation system during the printing process as the new product printing p number for the product to be printed. The step of recommending raw materials for the product to be printed is repeated until the remaining p number is 0.

9. A raw material recommendation system for the printing process, characterized in that, The system includes: The information receiving module determines the unfolded size of the product to be printed and the number of pages to be printed. The loss rate determination module is connected to the information receiving module. Based on the machine size of each raw material and the unfolded size of the product to be printed, it determines the number of product units that can be arranged on each raw material and the material loss rate when printing with the raw material. The sheet / p number determination module is connected to the loss rate determination module, and determines the number of product sheets / p that can be arranged on each raw material according to the product splice number; The sheet count determination module is connected to the sheet p count determination module. It determines the number of sheets required for printing with each raw material based on the product sheet p count and the product printing p count. The sheet count is the number of complete raw materials consumed by the product during the printing process. The remaining p-number determination module is connected to the sheet count determination module, and determines the remaining p-number of the product to be printed based on the product printing p-number, the product sheet splicing p-number, and the sheet count. The raw material recommendation module, connected to the remaining p number determination module, determines the recommendation order of raw materials according to the material loss rate, the number of sheets, and the remaining p number of the product, in order to recommend raw materials for the product to be printed. Specifically, the raw material recommendation module is also used for: Each raw material is arranged in ascending order of material loss rate to form a recommendation list. A preset number of raw materials at the top of the recommendation list are set as the first recommendation tier, and a preset number of raw materials below the first recommendation tier are set as the second recommendation tier. Raw materials with product sheet p number of 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64 or 128 and remaining p number of 0 are placed in the first recommended tier; In the first recommended tier, all raw materials with a material loss rate of less than 0.15 are identified, and the raw materials with a material loss rate of less than 0.15 are arranged in ascending order of the number of product printing plates, wherein the number of product printing plates is equal to the actual number of product panels divided by the number of product sheets. If multiple raw materials have the same number of printing plates, then the raw materials with a remaining p number of 0 will be prioritized. If multiple raw materials have a remaining p count of 0, the raw materials with the larger product sheet usage will be prioritized. If the product sheet count is greater than 1, the product sheet usage will be equal to 1. If the product sheet count is less than or equal to 1, the product sheet usage will be equal to the actual p count of the product divided by the product sheet printing p count.

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