A printing system capable of double-width printing and a double-width printing control method

Abstract

The present invention discloses a printing system capable of double-width printing, comprising: a conveying guide belt for simultaneously conveying two printing media; a printing unit located on the conveying guide belt for printing on the two passing printing media; the printing unit includes: a system controller for identifying and sorting the operations to be printed on the two printing media, a sub-queue A and a sub-queue B; during printing, the system controller forms a page buffer according to the printing image parameters and the printing media parameters, and places the job image data in the two job sub-queues at designated positions in the page buffer for printing. The present invention is equipped with a double-width fabric feeding control unit and a double-width fabric receiving control unit, which can complete the double-width printing function and still support the single-width printing function, thus meeting the requirements that the production capacity does not decrease and the energy is not wasted when the wide-width digital printing equipment produces narrow-width jobs, and achieving the purpose of flexible operation of the equipment and improving the shipping efficiency of narrow-width orders.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of digital printing, and more specifically, to a printing system capable of double-width printing, and also to a double-width printing control method. Background Art

[0002] Existing single-pass digital printing equipment generally includes a fabric feeding unit, a platform unit, a printing unit, and a drying oven unit. In the fabric feeding unit, a set of medium tension detection and control system is configured. After the printing medium is pressed onto the guide belt by the platform unit, it is supplied to the printing unit for printing. In the printing unit, a single operation is printed at the same time. After printing, the drying oven unit dries the printing medium and outputs it.

[0003] In the prior art, the system controller of the printing unit generally has modules such as job queue management and job printing status monitoring. After printing starts, the system controller applies for page memory according to the first job in the queue, reads the image data, and sends the data to the numerical control unit. After the numerical control unit collects the platform movement signal, it performs printing, and then feeds back the printing status to the system controller. The system controller collects and analyzes the status, and finally presents the printing information of the job on the interface, which mainly includes the name of the job being printed, the current printing status, and the printed length. According to this step, the job is repeated to complete the printing of all jobs. Generally, the printing process of the printing unit for processing user jobs is as shown in Figure 1 shown.

[0004] In existing single-pass digital printing equipment, the common equipment width is about 1700 mm, or even wider, so that it can adapt to the printing processing of most fabrics. However, in the production process, there are often printing orders with a narrow width, such as an order width of about 500 mm. Generally, users can directly produce on the current equipment, but in the production process, only a small part of the printing nozzles work, and most of the printing nozzles are in an idle state, directly affecting the production capacity of the equipment and causing many waste problems.

[0005] Therefore, a new solution needs to be proposed to solve this problem. Summary of the Invention

[0006] An object of the present invention is to overcome the above-mentioned deficiencies of the prior art, and provide a printing system capable of double-width printing and a double-width printing control method, which can realize simultaneous printing of two printing media at the same time when processing a narrow-width printing medium job.

[0007] To achieve the above object, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

[0008] A printing system capable of double-width printing, comprising:

[0009] A conveying guide belt for simultaneously conveying two printing media;

[0010] A printing unit located on the conveying guide belt for printing on the two passing printing media;

[0011] The printing unit includes: a system controller for identifying and sorting the operations to be printed on the two printing media, forming two operation sub-queues, namely sub-queue A and sub-queue B; the to-be-printed image A in sub-queue A is arranged in a longitudinal continuous circular pattern, and the to-be-printed image B in sub-queue B is arranged in a longitudinal continuous circular pattern;

[0012] During printing, the system controller applies for page memory according to the printing image parameters and printing media parameters to form a page buffer, places the operation image data in the two operation sub-queues at the specified positions in the page buffer, and performs printing.

[0013] Furthermore, the present invention further includes:

[0014] A double-width unwinding unit having two sets of independent unwinding sub-units for respectively unwinding the two printing media;

[0015] A guide belt pressure roller located before the printing unit for pressing the printing media against the conveying guide belt;

[0016] A double-width winding unit having two sets of independent winding sub-units for respectively winding the two printing media.

[0017] Furthermore, each of the two sets of unwinding sub-units has a tension detection and control unit for respectively keeping the two printing media flat during conveying.

[0018] Furthermore, the present invention further includes a numerical control unit. During printing, the numerical control unit is used to control the running speed and running distance of the conveying guide belt to be mutually adapted to the printing speed of the printing unit.

[0019] Furthermore, the two printing media are respectively printing medium A and printing medium B, and pattern A and pattern B are respectively printed on the two printing media.

[0020] Furthermore, the width of printing medium A is Wa, the width of printing medium B is Wb, the distance between the two printing media is S, the reserved width on the left side to be printed on printing medium A is Ka, and the reserved width on the left side to be printed on printing medium B is Kb.

[0021] Furthermore, the longitudinal height of the page buffer is determined by the operation height of sub-queue A and is an integer multiple of image A; the transverse width of the page buffer is Wa + S + Wb.

[0022] Further, when the image data in the page buffer is filled, in the horizontal position, the image A in sub-queue A starts to be arranged from the position of Ka, and the image B in sub-queue B starts to be arranged from the position of Wa + S + Kb;

[0023] The image B is arranged in a vertically continuous form in a circular pattern within the vertical height range of the page buffer, and the vertical end position of the page buffer is recorded as the printing end position of the image B in queue B.

[0024] Further, when the page buffer is filled next time, in the vertical position, the image B in queue B starts to be filled from the end position of the previous printing.

[0025] The present invention also provides a double-width printing control method, which uses the printing system as described above to print patterns, and can simultaneously perform printing on two printing media. The specific steps of the present invention in the double-width case are as follows:

[0026] 1) Configure a double-width unwinding unit and a double-width winding unit, and simultaneously convey two printing media;

[0027] 2) Configure a printing unit, input two images to be printed on two media, and perform identification and sorting through the system controller;

[0028] 3) After starting printing, the system controller applies for page memory for the double-width operation, forms a page buffer, and distributes the data in the page buffer;

[0029] 4) Analyze the printing status and present the interface for the double-width printing operation.

[0030] In summary, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0031] By adopting a double-width unwinding unit and a double-width winding unit, cooperating with a conveying guide belt and a printing unit, it is possible to simultaneously convey two printing media, and the two printing media are independent of each other; when printing narrow-width printing media, it is possible to simultaneously print patterns on two printing media, without wasting the production efficiency of a wide-width digital printing device and reducing the idle time of the printing unit; at the same time, this printing system is also applicable to single-width printing media printing, which can improve the flexibility and mobility of the device and increase the overall production efficiency of the device.

[0032] Through the control of the system controller of the printing unit, when performing double-width printing, it is possible to process the parameters of two printing media and the parameters of the images to be printed, and through identification and sorting, two job sub-queues can be formed, enabling the printing unit to simultaneously print two images and achieve double-width printing. Brief Description of the Drawings

[0033] Figure 1 It is a control logic diagram of a printing system in the prior art;

[0034] Figure 2 It is a schematic structural diagram of a printing system capable of double-width printing in this embodiment;

[0035] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of a job sub-column in this embodiment;

[0036] Figure 4 It is a flowchart of the system controller's processing of image data in this embodiment;

[0037] Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of a page buffer in this embodiment;

[0038] Figure 6 It is a program design flowchart of page height calculation in this embodiment;

[0039] Reference numerals: conveying guide belt 10; double-width unwinding unit 20; unwinding sub-unit 21; double-width winding unit 30; guide belt pressing roller 40; printing unit 50; printing medium 60. Detailed implementation manners

[0040] Next, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, rather than all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0041] This embodiment discloses a printing system capable of double-width printing. Referring to Figure 2 as shown, it includes: a conveying guide belt 10, a double-width unwinding unit 20, a double-width winding unit 30, a guide belt pressing roller 40, and a printing unit 50, which can simultaneously convey two printing media 60 and can simultaneously print two different patterns on the two printing media 60. When producing narrow-width printing media, this printing system can achieve simultaneous printing of two printing media, thereby improving the operation efficiency of the equipment. The sum of the widths of the two printing media should not exceed the preset width parameter.

[0042] In the printing system of this embodiment, the conveying guide belt is a ring-shaped circulating belt structure, and its surface can be attached to the two printing media to simultaneously convey the two printing media.

[0043] The double-width unwinding unit 20 functions to unwind two kinds of printing media. It has two sets of independent unwinding sub-units 21, which are used to respectively unwind the two printing media. The printing medium 60 is generally a rolled fabric with printing. Each of the two unwinding sub-units 21 is equipped with a tension detection and control unit, which can control the tension of the two printing media and perform deviation correction processing, and keep the two printing media flat for transportation.

[0044] The double-width winding unit 30 has two sets of independent winding sub-units 31, which are used to respectively wind the two printing media 60. The two winding sub-units 31 are adapted to the two unwinding sub-units 21, and can respectively wind and unwind the two printing media, and can adapt to the transportation of the printing media.

[0045] The guide belt pressure roller 40 is located before the printing unit 50, between the double-width unwinding unit 20 and the printing unit 50. Before printing, the two printing media 60 pass through the guide belt pressure roller 40 first, which can press the two printing media 60 against the conveying guide belt 10 to keep the printing media flat.

[0046] The printing unit 50 is a digital printer located on the conveying guide belt 10, and is used to print the two printing media 60 passing by.

[0047] In the printing system of this embodiment, it also includes a numerical control unit. During printing, the numerical control unit can control the entire system according to parameters such as printing image parameters and printing medium parameters, control the running speed and running distance of the conveying guide belt, and adapt to the printing speed of the printing unit.

[0048] In this embodiment, the printing unit includes a system controller, which can identify and sort the operations to be printed on the two printing media, and form two operation sub-queues.

[0049] Before printing starts, the system controller identifies and arranges the two patterns to be printed on printing medium A and printing medium B according to user input and layout, and forms sub-queue A and sub-queue B. Among them, the printing medium corresponding to sub-queue A is printing medium A, and the operation pattern is pattern A; the printing medium corresponding to sub-queue B is printing medium B, and the operation pattern is pattern B.

[0050] Refer to Figure 3As shown in the figure, the two job sub-queues are sub-queue A and sub-queue B respectively. The images to be printed in sub-queue A, namely image A, are arranged in a longitudinal continuous circular pattern, and the images to be printed in sub-queue B, namely image B, are arranged in a longitudinal continuous circular pattern. The jobs to be printed in sub-queue A are JA-01, JA-02, JA-03, JA-04... and the jobs to be printed in sub-queue B are JB-01, JB-02, JB-03, JB-04.... Then, the system controller marks the user's double-sided printing parameters. Specifically, the width of printing medium A is Wa, the width of printing medium B is Wb, the distance between the two printing media is S, the reserved width on the left side for printing on printing medium A is Ka, and the reserved width on the left side for printing on printing medium B is Kb.

[0051] Referring to Figure 4 As shown in the figure, at the start of printing, the system controller activates two image data reading threads. In this embodiment, they are denoted as thread A and thread B, which respectively read the image data in sub-queue A and sub-queue B. The system controller applies for page memory according to the printing image parameters and printing medium parameters to form a page buffer, places the job image data read from thread A and thread B at the specified positions in the page buffer, and then sends it to the numerical control unit for printing.

[0052] The system controller applies for memory according to the job height in job sub-queue A. When filling the memory, the jobs in sub-queue B are filled with data in a longitudinal continuous form. Referring to Figure 4 As shown in the figure, the longitudinal height of the page buffer is determined by the job height in sub-queue A. The height of the page buffer is always an integer multiple of the height of image A; within the longitudinal height of the page buffer, the height of image B may not be an integer multiple of its image height. The system controller takes the longitudinal height of the page buffer as the minimum unit and sends the page data to the numerical control unit. The numerical control unit controls the operation of the printing system, conveys the printing medium, and operates in cooperation with the printing unit to achieve double-sided printing and printing.

[0053] Referring to Figure 5 As shown in the figure, during the data filling process of the page buffer, the horizontal width of the page buffer is Wa + S + Wb, and the horizontal width and height of the page buffer can be adjusted according to the printing system. In this embodiment, the height of the page buffer is an integer multiple of the height of image A. The system controller places the job image data in sub-queue A in the area marked as A, that is, starting from the Ka position horizontally, and places the job image data in sub-queue B in the area marked as B, that is, starting from the Wa + S + Kb position horizontally. The longitudinal end position of the page buffer is recorded as the printing end position of image B in queue B. After the data filling of the page buffer is completed, a data transmission can be carried out.

[0054] When the next page buffer is being filled, Image B in Queue B is filled starting from the end position of the previous print; in the vertical position, the end position of the previous print in Queue B can be continuous with the start position of the next layer of Queue B printing, enabling continuous printing of the image in Region B.

[0055] During the printing process, the system controller collects the printing information fed back by the numerical control unit, performs data parsing, and forms status information packets corresponding to Sub-Queue A and Sub-Queue B. Subsequently, the interface unit of the system controller displays the statuses of Sub-Queue A and Sub-Queue B respectively.

[0056] The numerical control unit returns the printing information in page height units. The system controller parses the job printing information in Sub-Queue A based on the job parameter information in Sub-Queue A. The system controller parses the job printing information in Sub-Queue B based on the job parameter information in Sub-Queue B and combines it with the page height information returned by the numerical control, and feeds back the end position of the previous print in Queue B.

[0057] Refer to Figure 6 As shown, the total length completed by Sub-Queue A is SumA, and the total length completed by Sub-Queue B is SumB; in the figure, a is a variable representing the job in Sub-Queue A, and b is a variable representing the job in Sub-Queue B.

[0058] Specifically, the calculation process when the page height is one-fold the height of the job in Sub-Queue A is as follows:

[0059] 1) The numerical control unit returns the number of printed pages Pa, then it can be known that the number of printed pages of this job in Sub-Queue A is Pa;

[0060] 2) The height of one page in the job parameters of Sub-Queue A is Ha, with the unit of millimeters, then the currently printed length of Sub-Queue A is La = Pa · Ha;

[0061] 3) The total length in the job parameters of Sub-Queue B is Lb. When Pa · Ha is greater than or equal to Lb, mark this job in B as completed, and at the same time record the value of Pa · Ha - Lb into the printed length of the next job in B, and this position is the end position of Queue B printing.

[0062] This embodiment also discloses a double-width printing control method. By using the printing system in the above embodiment, it can achieve simultaneous printing on two printing media.

[0063] The above are only the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and the protection scope of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. All technical solutions falling within the concept of the present invention belong to the protection scope of the present invention. It should be noted that for those of ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the principle of the present invention, several improvements and refinements should also be regarded as within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A printing system capable of double-width printing, characterized in that: include: Conveyor guide belt, used to convey two printing media at the same time; A printing unit, located on the conveyor belt, is used to print two printing media passing through; The printing unit comprises: a system controller, the system controller is used to identify and sort jobs to be printed on two printing media to form two job sub-queues, namely sub-queue A and sub-queue B; the images A to be printed in sub-queue A are arranged in a circular manner in a longitudinally continuous manner, and the images B to be printed in sub-queue B are arranged in a circular manner in a longitudinally continuous manner; When printing, the system controller applies for page memory according to the printing image parameters and printing medium parameters to form a page buffer, and places the job image data in the two job sub-queues at the designated position of the page buffer for printing; The two printing media are printing medium A and printing medium B, and the two printing media are printed with pattern A and pattern B respectively; The width of printing medium A is Wa, the width of printing medium B is Wb, the distance between the two printing media is S, the reserved width to be printed on the left side of printing medium A is Ka, and the reserved width to be printed on the left side of printing medium B is Kb; The vertical height of the page buffer is determined by the job height of the subqueue A, which is an integer multiple of the image A; the horizontal width of the page buffer is Wa+S+Wb; When the image data of the page buffer is filled, in the horizontal position, the image A in the subqueue A is arranged starting from the position Ka, and the image B in the subqueue B is arranged starting from the position Wa+S+Kb; Image B is arranged in a continuous vertical loop within the vertical height range of the page buffer, and the vertical end position of the page buffer is recorded as the print end position of image B in queue B; The next time the page buffer is filled, in the vertical position, image B in queue B is filled starting from the end position of the previous print.

2. The printing system capable of double-width printing according to claim 1, characterized in that: Also includes: The double-width unwinding unit has two sets of independent unwinding sub-units, which are used to realize the unwinding of two printing media respectively; The belt conveyor pressing roller is located in front of the printing unit and is used to press the printing medium onto the conveyor belt; The double-width winding unit has two independent winding sub-units for winding two printing media respectively.

3. The printing system capable of double-width printing according to claim 2, characterized in that: The two sets of unwinding sub-units are respectively provided with tension detection and control units, which are used to respectively keep the two printing media conveyed flatly.

4. The printing system capable of double-width printing according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes a numerical control unit. When printing, the numerical control unit is used to control the running speed and running distance of the conveying guide belt to match the printing speed of the printing unit.

5. A double-width printing control method, characterized in that: Printing is performed using a printing system capable of double-width printing as described in any one of claims 1 to 4.

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