Industrial printer control method and system

Abstract

The invention discloses an industrial printer control method and system, and relates to the technical field of program control, and the method comprises the following steps: obtaining the current printing task of each industrial printer sharing the same ink bin; a dynamic time window is created for the current industrial printer, and the length of the dynamic time window is initialized to be a first preset value; when other industrial printers are executing the long-time ink pumping task, preset data are filled in every preset time step length; after the dynamic time window is filled, a compensation instruction is output to the current industrial printer; after the compensation instruction is received, when the current industrial printer receives a printing task, first ink compensation operation is carried out on an ink conveying pipeline of the current printer; the length of the dynamic time window is adjusted in real time according to the following steps that when the current industrial printer receives the short-time ink pumping task every time, the length of the dynamic time window is reduced. The printing effect of the industrial printer can be improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of program control technology, and in particular to an industrial printer control method and system. Background Art

[0002] In the field of industrial printing, especially for printing systems that use large ink tanks for ink supply, multiple printers share the same ink tank through their own ink pipelines to reduce costs and improve ink utilization efficiency.

[0003] However, due to the different printing tasks performed by different printers, the actual amount of ink consumed also varies greatly. For example, industrial printer A is performing a large-volume, high-density color photo printing task, which requires continuous high-flow ink extraction, and negative pressure will be generated inside the ink tank.

[0004] Meanwhile, industrial printer B only performs some simple barcode printing or does not print, and the actual ink usage is very limited. This causes the ink in the ink delivery pipeline of printer B to flow back to the ink tank, which causes bubbles to be mixed into the ink delivery pipeline of industrial printer B. The deposition of bubbles may cause the spraying of the nozzle of industrial printer B to be unstable, which in turn causes intermittent ink interruption during printing, and the printed text or barcode may be defective.

[0005] Therefore, the control method of industrial printers in the prior art still needs to be improved. Summary of the invention

[0006] In order to solve the above technical problems or at least partially solve the above technical problems, the present application provides an industrial printer control method and system, which can improve the printing effect of the industrial printer.

[0007] In a first aspect, the present application provides an industrial printer control method, the industrial printer control method comprising the following steps: Get the current print jobs of each industrial printer that shares the same ink tank; Perform the following steps for each industrial printer that shares the same ink tank: Creating a dynamic time window for the current industrial printer, and initializing the length of the dynamic time window to a first preset value; When other industrial printers are performing long-time ink extraction tasks, a preset data is filled into the dynamic time window at every preset time step; When the dynamic time window is filled, a compensation instruction is output to the current industrial printer; After the current industrial printer receives the compensation instruction, when the current industrial printer receives the printing task, it first performs an ink compensation operation on the ink supply pipeline of the current printer, and then executes the received printing task; The length of the dynamic time window is adjusted in real time according to the following steps: Current industrial printers reduce the length of the dynamic time window each time they receive a short ink extraction task.

[0008] Optionally, the current industrial printer reduces the length of the dynamic time window each time it receives a short-time ink extraction task, including the following steps: Establishing a tag data counting variable, and increasing the value of the tag data counting variable by a preset increment each time the other industrial printer performs an ink compensation operation; According to the value of the labeled data counting variable, the reduction range of the dynamic time window is calculated. The larger the value of the labeled data counting variable is, the larger the reduction range of the dynamic time window is; the smaller the value of the labeled data counting variable is, the smaller the reduction range of the dynamic time window is. The value of the marker data count variable is reset every time the length of the dynamic time window is changed; A sliding time window is established, and at each predetermined time step, execution mark data of corresponding states are written into the sliding time window according to whether other industrial printers perform ink compensation operations; When the current industrial printer receives a short-term ink extraction task each time, and when execution mark data of other industrial printers performing ink compensation operations appears within the sliding time window: The length of the dynamic time window is gradually reduced along the time axis at a slow release speed according to the reduction amplitude of the dynamic time window, so as to avoid multiple industrial printers from performing ink compensation operations intensively.

[0009] Optionally, the slow-release speed is calculated by a preset slow-release speed calculation function, and the preset slow-release speed calculation function is: in, in, Less than , Less than ; in, is the sustained release rate, It is a slow basic sustained-release rate. It is a medium-speed basic sustained-release speed. It is a fast basic sustained release rate. is the first empirical parameter, is the length of the sliding time window, The number of ink compensation operations performed for other industrial printers within the sliding time window, is the maximum tolerable upper limit, The value of the variable that counts the labeled data.

[0010] Optionally, the industrial printer control method further includes the following steps: After the ink compensation operation is completed, the data and length within the dynamic time window corresponding to the current industrial printer are reset.

[0011] In a second aspect, the present application provides an industrial printer control system, comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores at least one instruction, at least one program, a code set or an instruction set, and the at least one instruction, the at least one program, the code set or the instruction set is loaded and executed by the processor to implement an industrial printer control method as described in any one of the first aspects.

[0012] Compared with the prior art, the technical solution provided by this application has the following advantages: One of the beneficial effects is described as follows: When using an industrial printer system in which multiple printers share the same ink tank, the ink usage patterns of different printers vary significantly because they are performing different printing tasks. For example, printer A performs large-flow, long-term continuous inkjet tasks, while printer B only performs small amounts of intermittent printing. Therefore, in the case of a shared ink tank, the continuous ink extraction of A will cause the pressure in the ink tank to drop, thereby causing ink backflow and bubble generation at B.

[0013] The applicant has found that it is not possible to simply configure and execute a fixed ink compensation operation before B performs printing after discovering that A performs continuous ink jetting with a large flow rate.

[0014] This is because, although this method can be used when printer B is in a state of infrequent ink use for a long time and ink reflux occurs, performing such an ink compensation operation can expel bubbles in time and ensure the normal operation of printer B's nozzle.

[0015] However, when printer B frequently starts printing tasks in a short period of time, the compensation operation will draw ink from the ink tank and quickly fill it into the ink supply pipe. However, since the duration of each print is very short, after the printing task is completed, due to the negative pressure of the ink tank caused by printer A, part of the ink in the ink supply pipe of printer B will quickly flow back to the ink tank after the printing is completed. Then, the arrival of the next printing task will trigger a new round of compensation, and the ink will be drawn from the ink tank into the ink supply pipe again. During the high-frequency compensation process caused by the frequent start of printing tasks, the ink flows back and forth quickly between the ink tank and the ink tube, and the repeated suction causes a large number of bubbles to be generated and accumulated in the ink near the ink tank and the ink supply pipe of printer B, which causes printer B to frequently print missing text or barcodes.

[0016] The present invention proposes an adaptive control method based on a dynamic time window, which can effectively solve the above technical problems. The core idea is to create a dynamic time window for each industrial printer and dynamically control the triggering timing and frequency of the compensation operation by adjusting the length of the window in real time.

[0017] Specifically, in the initial state, the method sets a time window for printer B. Only when the continuous ink pumping operation of printer A lasts for a period of time, so that the time window of B is filled, will the system send a compensation instruction to printer B.

[0018] In addition, the method also introduces an adaptive adjustment mechanism for the length of the dynamic time window. When printer B performs short-term ink extraction tasks multiple times and printer B does need ink replenishment, the length of the time window will automatically shorten as the task occurs. The reduction in the window length means that the compensation instruction can be triggered relatively quickly.

[0019] Through the scalable characteristics of the dynamic time window, the method can automatically adjust the execution mode and frequency of the compensation operation according to the actual usage of printer B. In the low-frequency usage scenario where printer B is idle for a long time, the initial window and delayed trigger mechanism can match the situation where printer B does not print for a long time, avoiding unnecessary compensation behavior; while in the high-frequency usage scenario where printer B is frequently started and stopped, the adaptive shortening of the time window can ensure that the necessary compensation operations are performed at an appropriate frequency, and can ensure that while quickly responding to changes, violent repeated suction is avoided.

[0020] Therefore, the present invention cleverly utilizes the simple and effective data structure of the dynamic time window. On the one hand, it determines the timing of compensation according to the actual usage of printer B, thereby reducing the ineffective reciprocating flow of ink between the ink tank and the ink tube; on the other hand, it adjusts the rhythm of compensation in an adaptive manner, thereby maximally suppressing the deposition of bubbles.

[0021] In summary, the industrial printer control method provided in the present application can better suppress the generation and deposition of bubbles and improve the printing effect.

[0022] The second beneficial effect is as follows: Because the compensation behavior of other printers will actually further increase the negative pressure of the ink tank, causing more ink to be drawn from the ink pipeline of the current printer. If the current printer cannot respond in time and does not trigger its own compensation operation, the remaining ink in the ink pipeline will not be able to support a short-term printing task, causing bubbles to be ejected from the nozzle, resulting in defects in the printed text or barcode.

[0023] Therefore, the present application dynamically adjusts the shortening amplitude of the time window by introducing a marker data count variable. That is, when the count variable increases, it means that the impact of the compensation behavior of other printers is greater, so the time window of the current printer should also be shortened by a greater amplitude, so as to implement ink compensation faster, so that the current printer can keep up with the rhythm of the entire industrial printer system.

[0024] However, the applicant found that this approach would cause all printers to perform compensation together. When all printers performed compensation, the pressure in the ink tank would drop suddenly, a greater negative pressure would be generated in the ink tank, and even the ink in the ink pipeline of the printer that was printing would flow back, causing changes in the color concentration of the print, affecting the printing effect.

[0025] Therefore, the present application also combines a slow-release control mechanism based on a sliding time window. When ink compensation operations of other printers appear within a shorter sliding time window, if new compensation operations are added, it means that the ink compensation operations are too concentrated. Therefore, when the present application detects the occurrence of ink compensation operations within the sliding time window, it starts to implement a progressive time window contraction strategy to delay and stagger the compensation operations that may have occurred at the same time as much as possible. This staggering strategy ensures necessary compensation while maximally alleviating the peak impact of negative pressure.

[0026] Therefore, the industrial printer control method provided by the present application can better improve the printing effect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] Figure 1 A flowchart of an industrial printer control method provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] The technical solution in this application will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0029] In the following description, many specific details are set forth to facilitate a full understanding of the present application, but the present application can also be implemented in other ways different from those described herein; obviously, the embodiments in the specification are only part of the embodiments of the present application, not all of the embodiments. It should be noted that the embodiments of the present application and the features in the embodiments can be combined with each other without conflict.

[0030] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an industrial printer control method, comprising the following steps: S101: Acquire the current printing task of each industrial printer that shares the same ink tank.

[0031] Specifically, the print task currently assigned to each printer is obtained through the industrial printer control system terminal, so as to obtain the type of the current print task of each industrial printer. For example, if it is divided only by the number of prints, for example, when the print task is a photo with a print number greater than a first preset number threshold, the print task is determined to be a long-time ink extraction task, and when the print task is a document with a print number less than the first preset number threshold, the print task is determined to be a short-time ink extraction task. However, in actual situations, it is necessary to configure the corresponding print number for each print task to determine whether it is a long-time ink extraction task or a short-time ink extraction task.

[0032] S102: For each industrial printer that shares the same ink tank, execute the following method: A dynamic time window is created for the current industrial printer, and the length of the dynamic time window is initialized to a first preset value.

[0033] Specifically, the first preset value is a manually set value.

[0034] S103: when other industrial printers are executing a long-time ink extraction task, a preset data is filled into the dynamic time window at every preset time step; For example, when the industrial printer control system assigns a long-time ink extraction task to printer A, printer B is the current industrial printer, its dynamic time window is 20, and the preset time step is 1 second. Then, every 1 second, when the long-time ink extraction task of industrial printer A is still ongoing, the preset data "1" value is filled into the dynamic time window, occupying one data bit in the dynamic time window.

[0035] S104: When the dynamic time window is filled, output a compensation instruction to the current industrial printer; After the current industrial printer receives the compensation instruction, when the current industrial printer receives the printing task, it first performs an ink compensation operation on the ink supply pipeline of the current printer, and then executes the received printing task.

[0036] Specifically, after the current printer B receives the compensation instruction, when it receives the next printing task, it first uses a preset ink replenishment extraction pressure to extract ink once to replenish the ink supply pipeline of the printer B, and then executes the printing task.

[0037] S105: The length of the dynamic time window is adjusted in real time according to the following steps: Current industrial printers reduce the length of the dynamic time window each time they receive a short ink extraction task.

[0038] Specifically, the following steps are included: Establishing a tag data counting variable, and increasing the value of the tag data counting variable by a preset increment each time the other industrial printer performs an ink compensation operation; Specifically, in the embodiment of the present application, the initial value of the tag data count variable is 0, and the preset increment is 1.

[0039] The reduction range of the dynamic time window is calculated according to the value of the labeled data counting variable. The larger the value of the labeled data counting variable is, the larger the reduction range of the dynamic time window is; the smaller the value of the labeled data counting variable is, the smaller the reduction range of the dynamic time window is.

[0040] Specifically, in the embodiment of the present application, the reduction range of the dynamic time window is obtained by multiplying the value of the marker data count variable by an artificially preset empirical parameter with a value range between 0 and 1, and rounding it directly.

[0041] The value of the marker data count variable is reset every time the length of the dynamic time window is changed.

[0042] A sliding time window is established, and execution mark data of corresponding states are written into the sliding time window at predetermined time step intervals according to whether other industrial printers perform ink compensation operations.

[0043] In this embodiment of the present application, the length of the sliding time window is 5.

[0044] In the embodiment of the present application, when other printers are performing ink compensation operations, they will return execution identification data to the industrial printer control system terminal.

[0045] In the embodiment of the present application, the predetermined time step is 1. If other printers perform ink compensation operations, "1" is written to the sliding time window, otherwise, "0" is written.

[0046] When the current industrial printer receives a short-term ink extraction task each time, and when execution mark data of other industrial printers performing ink compensation operations appears within the sliding time window: The length of the dynamic time window is gradually reduced along the time axis at a slow release speed according to the reduction amplitude of the dynamic time window, so as to avoid multiple industrial printers from performing ink compensation operations intensively.

[0047] Specifically, the sustained release speed is calculated by a preset sustained release speed calculation function, and the preset sustained release speed calculation function is: in, in, Less than , Less than ; in, is the sustained release rate, It is a slow basic release speed preset by humans. It is a medium-speed basic slow-release speed preset by humans. It is a fast basic sustained-release rate preset by humans. It is the first empirical parameter preset by humans. is the length of the sliding time window, The number of ink compensation operations performed for other industrial printers within the sliding time window, It is the maximum tolerance limit value preset by humans. The value of the variable that counts the labeled data.

[0048] S106: After the ink compensation operation is completed, the data and length in the dynamic time window corresponding to the current industrial printer are reset.

[0049] Compared with the prior art, the technical solution provided by the embodiments of the present application has the following advantages: One of the beneficial effects is described as follows: When using an industrial printer system in which multiple printers share the same ink tank, the ink usage patterns of different printers vary significantly because they are performing different printing tasks. For example, printer A performs large-flow, long-term continuous inkjet tasks, while printer B only performs small amounts of intermittent printing. Therefore, in the case of a shared ink tank, the continuous ink extraction of A will cause the pressure in the ink tank to drop, thereby causing ink backflow and bubble generation at B.

[0050] The applicant has found that it is not possible to simply configure and execute a fixed ink compensation operation before B performs printing after discovering that A performs continuous ink jetting with a large flow rate.

[0051] This is because, although this method performs ink compensation operation when printer B is in a state of infrequent ink use for a long time and ink reflux occurs, it can discharge bubbles in time and ensure the normal operation of printer B's nozzle.

[0052] However, when printer B frequently starts printing tasks in a short period of time, the compensation operation will draw ink from the ink tank and quickly fill it into the ink supply pipe. However, since the duration of each print is very short, after the printing task is completed, due to the negative pressure of the ink tank caused by printer A, part of the ink in the ink supply pipe of printer B will quickly flow back to the ink tank after the printing is completed. Then, the arrival of the next printing task will trigger a new round of compensation, and the ink will be drawn from the ink tank into the ink supply pipe again. During the high-frequency compensation process of frequently starting printing tasks, the ink flows back and forth quickly between the ink tank and the ink tube, and the repeated suction causes a large number of bubbles to be generated and accumulated in the ink near the ink tank and the ink supply pipe of printer B, which causes printer B to frequently print missing text or barcodes.

[0053] The present invention proposes an adaptive control method based on a dynamic time window, which can effectively solve the above technical problems. The core idea is to create a dynamic time window for each industrial printer and dynamically control the triggering timing and frequency of the compensation operation by adjusting the length of the window in real time.

[0054] Specifically, in the initial state, the method sets a time window for printer B. Only when the continuous ink pumping operation of printer A lasts for a period of time, so that the time window of B is filled, will the system send a compensation instruction to printer B.

[0055] In addition, the method also introduces an adaptive adjustment mechanism for the length of the dynamic time window. When printer B performs short-term ink extraction tasks multiple times and printer B does need ink replenishment, the length of the time window will automatically shorten as the task occurs. The reduction in the window length means that the compensation instruction can be triggered relatively quickly.

[0056] Through the scalable characteristics of the dynamic time window, the method can automatically adjust the execution mode and frequency of the compensation operation according to the actual usage of printer B. In the low-frequency usage scenario where printer B is idle for a long time, the initial window and delayed trigger mechanism can match the situation where printer B does not print for a long time, avoiding unnecessary compensation behavior; while in the high-frequency usage scenario where printer B is frequently started and stopped, the adaptive shortening of the time window can ensure that the necessary compensation operations are performed at an appropriate frequency, and can ensure that while quickly responding to changes, violent repeated suction is avoided.

[0057] Therefore, the present invention cleverly utilizes the simple and effective data structure of the dynamic time window. On the one hand, it determines the timing of compensation according to the actual usage of printer B, thereby reducing the ineffective reciprocating flow of ink between the ink tank and the ink tube; on the other hand, it adjusts the rhythm of compensation in an adaptive manner, thereby maximally suppressing the deposition of bubbles.

[0058] In summary, the industrial printer control method provided in the present application can better suppress the generation and deposition of bubbles and improve the printing effect.

[0059] The second beneficial effect is as follows: Because the compensation behavior of other printers will actually further increase the negative pressure of the ink tank, causing more ink to be drawn from the ink pipeline of the current printer. If the current printer cannot respond in time and does not trigger its own compensation operation, the remaining ink in the ink pipeline will not be able to support a short-term printing task, causing bubbles to be ejected from the nozzle, resulting in defects in the printed text or barcode.

[0060] Therefore, the present application dynamically adjusts the shortening amplitude of the time window by introducing a marker data count variable. That is, when the count variable increases, it means that the impact of the compensation behavior of other printers is greater, so the time window of the current printer should also be shortened by a greater amplitude, so as to implement ink compensation faster, so that the current printer can keep up with the rhythm of the entire industrial printer system.

[0061] However, the applicant found that this approach would cause all printers to perform compensation together. When all printers performed compensation, the pressure in the ink tank would drop suddenly, a greater negative pressure would be generated in the ink tank, and even the ink in the ink pipeline of the printer that was printing would flow back, causing changes in the color concentration of the print, affecting the printing effect.

[0062] Therefore, the present application also combines a slow-release control mechanism based on a sliding time window. When ink compensation operations of other printers appear within a shorter sliding time window, if new compensation operations are added, it means that the ink compensation operations are too concentrated. Therefore, when the present application detects the occurrence of ink compensation operations within the sliding time window, it starts to implement a progressive time window contraction strategy to delay and stagger the compensation operations that may have occurred at the same time as much as possible. This staggering strategy ensures necessary compensation while maximally alleviating the peak impact of negative pressure.

[0063] Therefore, the industrial printer control method provided by the present application can better improve the printing effect.

[0064] In a second aspect, the present application provides an industrial printer control system, comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores at least one instruction, at least one program, a code set or an instruction set, and the at least one instruction, the at least one program, the code set or the instruction set are loaded and executed by the processor to implement the industrial printer control method as described in any of the above embodiments.

[0065] It should be noted that, in this article, relational terms such as "first" and "second" are only used to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. In addition, the terms "include", "comprise" or any other variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. In the absence of further restrictions, the elements defined by the sentence "including one..." do not exclude the existence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the elements. Moreover, in the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified, " / " means or, for example, A / B can represent A or B; "and / or" in this article is only a kind of association relationship describing the associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships, for example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. Furthermore, in the description of the embodiments of the present application, “plurality” refers to two or more than two.

[0066] The above description is only a specific implementation of the present application, so that those skilled in the art can understand or implement the present application. Various modifications to these embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein can be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the present application. Therefore, the present application will not be limited to the embodiments described herein, but will conform to the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. An industrial printer control method, characterized in that: The industrial printer control method comprises the following steps: Get the current print jobs of each industrial printer that shares the same ink tank; Perform the following steps for each industrial printer that shares the same ink tank: Creating a dynamic time window for the current industrial printer, and initializing the length of the dynamic time window to a first preset value; When other industrial printers are performing long-time ink extraction tasks, a preset data is filled into the dynamic time window at every preset time step; When the dynamic time window is filled, a compensation instruction is output to the current industrial printer; After the current industrial printer receives the compensation instruction, when the current industrial printer receives the printing task, it first performs an ink compensation operation on the ink supply pipeline of the current printer, and then executes the received printing task; The length of the dynamic time window is adjusted in real time according to the following steps: Current industrial printers reduce the length of the dynamic time window each time they receive a short ink extraction task.

2. The industrial printer control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The current industrial printer reduces the length of the dynamic time window each time it receives a short-time ink extraction task, including the following steps: Establishing a tag data counting variable, and increasing the value of the tag data counting variable by a preset increment each time the other industrial printer performs an ink compensation operation; According to the value of the labeled data counting variable, the reduction range of the dynamic time window is calculated. The larger the value of the labeled data counting variable is, the larger the reduction range of the dynamic time window is; the smaller the value of the labeled data counting variable is, the smaller the reduction range of the dynamic time window is. The value of the marker data count variable is reset every time the length of the dynamic time window is changed; A sliding time window is established, and at each predetermined time step, execution mark data of corresponding states are written into the sliding time window according to whether other industrial printers perform ink compensation operations; When the current industrial printer receives a short-term ink extraction task each time, and when execution mark data of other industrial printers performing ink compensation operations appears within the sliding time window: The length of the dynamic time window is gradually reduced along the time axis at a slow release speed according to the reduction amplitude of the dynamic time window, so as to avoid multiple industrial printers from performing ink compensation operations intensively.

3. The industrial printer control method according to claim 2, characterized in that: The sustained release speed is calculated by a preset sustained release speed calculation function, and the preset sustained release speed calculation function is: in, in, Less than , Less than ; in, is the sustained release rate, It is a slow basic sustained-release rate. It is a medium-speed basic sustained-release rate. It is a fast basic sustained release rate. is the first empirical parameter, is the length of the sliding time window, The number of ink compensation operations performed for other industrial printers within the sliding time window, is the maximum tolerable upper limit, The value of the variable that counts the labeled data.

4. The industrial printer control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The industrial printer control method also includes the following steps: After the ink compensation operation is completed, the data and length within the dynamic time window corresponding to the current industrial printer are reset.

5. Industrial printer control system, characterized in that, It comprises a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores at least one instruction, at least one program, a code set or an instruction set, and the at least one instruction, the at least one program, the code set or the instruction set is loaded and executed by the processor to implement the industrial printer control method as described in any one of claims 1 to 4.

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