Printing press arrangement and method for printing pre-stapled books in such printing press arrangement

Abstract

The invention relates to a printing press arrangement (7), to a pre-stapled book (9) for use in such a printing press arrangement, and to a method for printing such a pre-stapled book by means of such a printing press arrangement. The printing press (13) has a sensor arrangement (21), by means of which the format and position of a defined printing region on at least one page and / or book cover of the book (9) can be determined. A control device (32) of the printing press arrangement (7), which control device is connected to the sensor arrangement (21), actuates the printing device (14) in order to print the positioned printing region in a uniformly distributed manner.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a printing press arrangement system, a prebound book for use in such a printing press arrangement system, and a method for printing such a prebound book by means of such a printing press arrangement system. Background Art

[0002] The printing of bound books is known, and most publications of this type involve books of predetermined dimensions, such as bankbooks. In all cases, a mechanism is provided to keep the book flat. Here and hereinafter, the term "book" encompasses all possible printed products that have multiple pages bound together and preferably also have a soft or hard cover of paper surrounding the book block.

[0003] In US6036381A for printing, a book is opened, placed on a support surface and moved parallel to the binding edge along the feed direction. The surface is kept substantially flat by a groove for the spine and rollers pressed onto the two pages of the book.

[0004] In US Pat. No. 4,776,711 A, two printing units are used in order to compensate for the different heights of each of the pages being turned.

[0005] No. 4,029,193 A discloses that a single spring-loaded section positioned on a book cover compensates for the variable height of two pages.

[0006] According to US Pat. No. 7,547,152 B2, for example, the pages of a book block to be printed are arranged in two interconnected stacks, which are connected by a flexible binding. The printing is carried out on the upper surface of each of the stacks, after which the top page of one stack is turned over onto the other stack. During the resetting process, the pages are turned over, thereby exposing the unprinted pages. Since the height of each stack changes each time a page is repositioned, the printing device includes two height-adjustable stack support tables, each of which is assigned to a corresponding stack in the two stacks. The support tables are arranged so that their height is adjusted in such a way as to maintain the flat alignment of the upper surface of each of the stacks.

[0007] According to US Pat. No. 5,267,799A, a pre-bound book opened at a selected page is clamped. The selected page is separated from the other pages of the book by a page turning mechanism and directed onto a printing roller. The apparatus includes a mechanism for applying pressure to the designated page via the book's frame. When the page is thus held onto the printing roller, data is printed on the designated page.

[0008] US2001 / 022911A discloses a page turning device for a passbook. Upon detecting that the clamped pages for printing are full, the device uses a combination of roller motion and book movement to turn one or more pages of the book. Markings on the book pages can be used to determine whether the device is turning only a single page.

[0009] The above-mentioned equipment is mainly used for printing relatively thin pre-bound books with relatively few and fixed pages. For printing thicker books with large pages or books of different sizes, further adaptation is required.

[0010] US6762356A discloses a device for turning pages of a fixed-size book. Transparent paper or sheets are manually inserted into the pages of the book to enable turning selected pages. The page turning device is designed for use in conjunction with an associated copier or similar device. However, the transparent paper prevents the pages from being exposed for printing purposes.

[0011] US Pat. No. 5,806,991 A discloses a method and a device with which entire pre-bound books can be printed. A page is lifted by a suction device, and a moving print head prints on both sides of the lifted page. Once the page has been printed, the page turning process ends. During the page turning process, the next page is lifted and printing begins on it. This device requires that the print head move in a complex motion, which can make the manufacture and maintenance of such a device difficult. The device must necessarily occupy sufficient vertical space to accommodate the print head and its supporting structure if the print head prints on vertical pages. These limitations can make this device unsuitable for use in smaller points of sale or bookstores. In addition, the print head and roller can act simultaneously on pages that have been inked before the ink has completely dried.

[0012] JP5162485A discloses a device for printing and turning pages of a bound book. In this device, printing occurs when a printing device moves in one direction, and page turning occurs when the printing device moves in another direction. The separation between printing and page turning also slows down the printing process. Furthermore, the described compatibility between the scanning head and the printing head may not be achievable using current standard printing technology.

[0013] This printing method has become particularly important due to the growth of the "Print-on-Demand" (PoD) sector, in which books are produced on demand, exist in digital form, and are printed only after a buyer orders them. This ensures that books are always in stock, while also saving storage costs for agents, suppliers, or publishers. Publishers also avoid the risk of unsold inventory. However, conventional systems suffer from long lead times because pre-made books are not readily available at the point of sale. These points of sale must stock pre-made, i.e., pre-bound, blank books in all possible formats and page sizes for digital products for printing, which in turn leads to high storage costs. Summary of the Invention

[0014] The object of the present invention is to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art and to provide a device, a system, and a method that allow the immediate production of electronically stored printed materials, even for bound editions, in a simple and economical manner and without complex printing or binding equipment. Thus, books or magazines should be immediately available and available for sale in a just-in-time print-on-demand system, even in retail stores or branches of book / magazine chains.

[0015] This object is achieved by a device, a system and a method according to the claims.

[0016] To achieve this object, the device according to the invention is characterized in that the printing press has a sensor assembly with which the format and position of a predetermined printing area on at least one page and / or cover of the book can be determined, and the sensor assembly is connected to a control device which controls the printing unit to print the located printing area. Thus, completely pre-made, unprinted books or magazines in one or only a few different formats can be used for the on-demand production of printed products, since the printed content is assigned to the printing areas predetermined by the book, and it is not necessary to use unprinted books specifically adapted to the pre-formatted printed content.

[0017] The page turning device is preferably arranged in the region of the movement path between opposite end positions of the printing unit, for example between opposite end sides of a print bar, in its two end positions, resulting in a simple and functionally reliable design.

[0018] Another embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the page turning device is arranged outside the region of at least one printing bar or its movement path or outside mutually opposite end positions of the printing unit.

[0019] In order to be able to optimally adapt the printing unit to the respective printing job, a servo drive is preferably provided for changing the relative distance between the support surface for the book and the print head in a direction perpendicular to the support surface and is controllable via a control device.

[0020] Preferably, during a movement of the print head for printing successive printing areas of two pages of the book, the servo drive is controlled in order to change the relative distance.

[0021] Another embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that the printing press has a sensor assembly for determining the number of sheets of the pre-bound book, the sensor assembly being connected to the control device, which controls the printing units in such a way that the printed content is preferably evenly distributed over the printing area of ​​the pre-bound book. This further enhances the advantage: completely pre-made, unprinted books or magazines can be used to produce printed products on demand in one or only a few different formats.

[0022] Preferably, the printing press in the arrangement according to the invention is equipped with an inkjet printing unit that can be moved along at least one guide parallel to the book container, and the page turning device is arranged laterally next to the guide for the printing unit. This allows for a compact and simple design while maintaining high printing quality, high cost-effectiveness, and flexibility.

[0023] Advantageously, this printing press arrangement can also be characterized by at least one paper holder being provided near the active printing position in order to keep the printed surface as flat as possible and thus achieve an optimal printing result. Preferably, vacuum grippers are provided for this purpose. Alternatively or additionally, at least one paper holder can be provided before and / or after the printing unit. If a UV curing device is present, this device can be provided directly near the UV curing device. Another possibility is to position the paper holder using rollers or positioning feet.

[0024] Another embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that the printing device can be moved and adjusted in height in one direction relative to a container for the book parallel to the plane of the page to be printed, and the container for the book can be supported so as to be movable through under the printing device perpendicular to the movement direction of the printing device, preferably parallel to the cut of the book block.

[0025] In order to be able to print the pages and cover of the book and, in the case of thick books, the spine of the book without having to move the entire book or reposition it, the two printing units are advantageously arranged in planes offset by 90° relative to each other or can be moved along guide rails.

[0026] According to an optional embodiment of the present invention, rapid production of the book or magazine can be achieved by: the page turning device is designed to position and hold a page of the book perpendicular to the remaining pages of the book or the cover and spine arranged in a plane. In this case, for each of the two pages of the held paper, at least one printing device is arranged to be movable relative to the paper in at least one direction parallel to the plane of the held paper.

[0027] In order to produce a preview version of the book in a short time, another optional inventive feature can be provided that the control device includes a module, preferably a module based on a random generator, which controls the printing device so that only a part of the pages of the book are printed at predetermined positions in its book block and / or on the book cover.

[0028] The present invention also relates to a just-in-time on-demand printing system comprising a storage unit for storing at least one print file and at least one printing press arrangement system according to one of the preceding paragraphs. According to the invention, this system is characterized in that a control device having an operating device is provided for selecting at least one print file and transmitting it to the printing press arrangement system.

[0029] To achieve the object set out at the outset, the present invention also comprises a pre-bound book for use in a printing press arrangement system according to one of the preceding paragraphs, the book comprising a book cover and a book block having a predeterminable number of pages and having unprinted or partially printed pages and / or book covers. According to the invention, the book is characterized in that at least individual pages of the book block and / or the book cover are provided with alignment marks and / or boundary marks.

[0030] Preferably, the book according to the present invention is characterized in that the book pages and / or the book cover are provided with markings for identifying the corresponding page number and / or the total number of pages.

[0031] A further embodiment is characterized in that the marking is embodied as a watermark, an invisible marking, a marking visible only under blue light or a preprinted text portion or logo.

[0032] Another alternative embodiment provides a book in which at least one printed area is provided on the book cover and / or on the book spine.

[0033] In order to achieve the object set out at the outset, a method for printing prebound books is also provided, comprising providing and positioning a prebound book having a cover and a book block in a printing press arrangement system, performing software-controlled printing including automatic page turning, wherein the pages to be printed are preferably printed sequentially on the front and / or back, and the printing is performed during a relative movement between the book and at least one printing unit. According to the invention, the method is characterized in that the content to be printed is aligned with at least individual pages to be printed, preferably also with the book cover, by means of markings under software control.

[0034] In order to ensure an aesthetically pleasing design while making optimal use of the predetermined material, the number of pages of the pre-bound book is preferably determined automatically, the material to be printed is evenly adapted to the predetermined number of pages under software control by changing the typesetting properties and / or layout, and for each page the material to be printed is adapted to its predetermined printing area.

[0035] In this case, an operating mode is preferred, according to which the book is turned over, removed, inserted and reversed when the printing unit is in the rest position or in the end position.

[0036] In order to produce a preview version of the book in a short time, according to the invention, a variant of the method is characterized in that only the book at predetermined positions in its book block and / or some of the pages on the book cover are printed under software control, preferably based on a random generator.

[0037] Optionally, the method is carried out by printing all even-numbered or odd-numbered pages in a first process step and all pages not yet printed in a second process step, preferably also printing the book block and the book cover in a separate process step.

[0038] Preferably, upon user request, the print file is retrieved from the storage unit and transmitted to the printing press arrangement system. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0039] In order to better understand the present invention, the present invention is described in detail with reference to the following drawings.

[0040] In a strongly simplified diagram:

[0041] Figure 1 A schematic diagram showing an instant on-demand printing system according to the present invention;

[0042] Figure 2 A schematic diagram showing a prebound book according to the present invention in a configuration optimized for printing;

[0043] Figure 3A schematic diagram showing a printing press arrangement system according to the invention with means for adapting to stacks of different heights;

[0044] Figure 4 A detailed view of a printing press arrangement according to the invention, in particular a device for turning pages of a book during the printing process;

[0045] Figure 5 Show Figure 4 a partially cutaway side view of a page turning device;

[0046] Figure 6 A further embodiment of the printing press arrangement system according to the invention is shown, which likewise has a device for adapting to stacks of different heights;

[0047] Figure 7A Another embodiment of a page turning device for a printing press arrangement system according to the present invention is shown;

[0048] Figure 7B The page turning mechanism is shown after grabbing a page of a book;

[0049] Figure 8 Another embodiment of the printing press arrangement system according to the present invention is shown for simultaneously printing the front and back sides of a sheet of paper;

[0050] Figure 9 Another embodiment of the printing press arrangement system according to the present invention is shown for simultaneously printing the front and back sides of a sheet of paper;

[0051] Figure 10 Another embodiment of the printing press arrangement according to the invention is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0052] First, it should be noted that identical components are provided with identical reference numerals or component names in the various embodiments described, and that the disclosure contained throughout the entire description can be transferred to identical components having identical reference numerals or component names. Positional designations selected in the description, such as "upper," "lower," "lateral," etc., also refer to the directly described and illustrated figures, and these positional designations are transferred to the new position in the event of a change in position.

[0053] Figure 1A schematic diagram of a simple instant on-demand printing system according to the present invention for printed materials, particularly books (on-demand publishing), but also bound magazines, etc., is shown. In this system, the books are preferably stored in digital form on a storage medium on a publisher's computer 1, where they have previously been stored, for example by scanning a printed manuscript 2 or uploading it from an electronic system 3 (desktop publishing, DTP), and preferably also converted into a printable file. The printed materials can then be downloaded or viewed as electronic publications (e-books) from this computer via its own reading device (e-reader) 4 directly on a screen 5 or on an electronic data processing system 6 of a buyer or reader.

[0054] Of course, it is also possible to continue producing printed books, wherein the print files present on the host computer 1 are processed in the printing house. This can be done in a conventional manner with a predetermined print run, or, increasingly in recent years, on-demand (on-demand) when a customer actually purchases the printed product. Since pre-made, i.e., pre-bound, blank books for printing must usually be kept in stock in all possible formats and page counts for digital products, or they must be bound in the desired embodiment, the effort is considerable and, especially for small businesses, very high, which in turn leads to high inventory management costs.

[0055] The system for instant on-demand printing according to the present invention is suitable for smaller printing shops, larger bookstores of retailers, or even branches of book / magazine chains due to its novel embodiment of the printing press arrangement system 7 used therein and connected to the main unit 1. This allows for the immediate production of electronically stored printed materials, even in bound versions, in a simple and economical manner, on-site. Pre-bound books are preferably used, which must be provided in a fixed, predetermined format, or at least in only a few formats, with a fixed, predetermined number of pages, or with only a few different numbers of pages. These books may already be provided with book covers, and their book blocks may be bound as desired, particularly glued, stapled, or thread-bound.

[0056] As in Figure 2 As shown in FIG, a pre-bound book 9 for use in the system according to the present invention is located in a printing press arrangement 7 for a printing process (described below) in a configuration in which the sheets 10 currently to be printed lie in a common plane. The sheets of the book block are arranged in two interconnected stacks 11, 12, which are connected by a flexible binding. Printing is performed on the upper surface of each stack 11, 12.

[0057] Figure 3A schematic diagram of a printing press arrangement 7 according to the invention is shown, comprising at least one printing press 13 having at least one printing unit 14, in particular a print head with its printing bar, a suspension and guides, and optionally an associated UV curing device. Preferably, the printing press 13 is equipped with an inkjet printing unit that can be moved along at least one guide parallel to the container for the book 9. The design of the printing press arrangement 7 with respect to the printing unit 14, its guides and / or suspensions, and any drying and / or curing devices can be selected from conventional, known embodiments as required and can be selected without inventive effort by a person skilled in the art of printing technology. Additional devices, for example, for finishing the book cover (e.g., for laminating or applying a UV-curable coating) can also be integrated into the printing press arrangement 7.

[0058] The printing press arrangement also has a control device 32 , preferably actuatable via an operating device 8 , for retrieving and processing print files preferably input from the host computer 1 and for actuating the at least one printing unit 14 , as well as a module for actuating the page turning device.

[0059] The printing press arrangement 7 has a receiving area 15 for pre-bound books 9. In the illustrated embodiment, two height-adjustable stacking supports 16, 17 are provided, each of which is assigned to a respective one of the two stacks 11, 12. During the printing process and subsequent printing of the pages, the printed top page 10 of one stack 11 is turned over and pivoted onto the other stack 12, thereby exposing the unprinted pages. Any height changes of the stacks 11, 12 can be compensated for by the stacking supports in order to ensure that the top page of each stack 11, 12 is aligned evenly.

[0060] In order to be able to optimally adapt the printing unit 14 to the respective print job, a servo drive is preferably provided for changing the relative distance between the support surface for the book 9 and, in particular, the print head in a direction perpendicular to the support surface, and the servo drive can be controlled via the control device 32. Preferably, the servo drive is controlled to change the relative distance during the movement of the print head for printing successive printing areas of two pages of the book.

[0061] The turning of the pages of the book 9 is automatically completed via the page turning device 18. In the exemplary embodiment, the page turning device is Figure 4 and Figure 5. A page turning device 18 (which may also be equipped for any necessary book turning, book removal, and book insertion) grips at least a plurality of pages of the book 9, preferably also the book cover. Turning and / or rotating the book is particularly important when considering trimming margins, so that ink spills from the front of the book onto the flyleaf or from the back of the book onto the appendix pages can also be removed in the same process as the printing of the book block. This avoids the need for separate production of the book cover and interior during conventional book production.

[0062] By moving at least one, for example, wedge-shaped slide 19 in a direction perpendicular to the spine or the notch of the book block, the topmost printed sheet 10 of the stack 12 is lifted from the underlying sheets and turned over to the upper side of the adjacent stack 11. Advantageously, a lifting roller 20 can be provided in order to at least partially release the topmost printed page 10 from the underlying stack 12 of the book block. Alternatively, vacuum grippers, clamp-type grippers (see Figure 7A 、 7B ) or other conventional devices for turning the sheets to be printed. Afterwards, the stack supports 16, 17 are automatically actuated to align the top sheets of the two stacks 11, 12 in a common plane again, preferably by means of movable leveling and / or fixing assemblies with rollers 29, wheels, etc. in different combinations to level the top sheets and, if necessary, fix them in a level position for the printing process of the next page. In addition, Figure 6 Schematically, a nozzle head 30 of the printing unit 14 and a drying device 31 for the applied ink are also shown.

[0063] Preferably, the page turning device 18 is arranged in the region of the movement path between the two mutually opposite end sides of the print bars. However, the page turning device 18 can also be arranged outside the region of at least one print bar or its movement path. Figure 7A The page turning device is shown in another embodiment, here for example in the form of a gripper 24, which grips the individual sheets of the corresponding stack 12 and turns them onto the adjacent stack 11, as in Figure 7B As shown in .

[0064] In order that no page is left blank despite the predetermined number of pages and format of the book to be printed and that the finished printed product has a consistent appearance overall (regardless of the format and number of pages in the printed document), the printing press arrangement system 7 has the features described below. Figure 6As schematically shown in FIG. 1 , at least one sensor assembly 21 is provided. This sensor assembly 21 is aligned with the book 9 and the uppermost sheet 10 to be printed and detects markings 22, 23 provided on the book 9, its cover and / or the sheets of the book block (see Figure 2 ).

[0065] In a prebound book 9 provided with a book cover and a predeterminable number of book blocks and with unprinted or partially printed pages and / or book covers, at least individual pages of the book block and / or book covers are provided with alignment and / or boundary markings 22 .

[0066] Advantageously, markings 23 for the respective page numbers and / or the total number of pages of the book 9 are also applied in the same manner, as is also shown in FIG22 . Thus, the content to be printed can be aligned in a software-controlled manner with the aid of these markings 22 , 23 with at least the individual pages to be printed, preferably also with the book cover.

[0067] According to another embodiment of the present invention (as in Figure 6 ) is characterized in that the printing press arrangement 7 has a sensor assembly 32 for determining the number of sheets of the pre-bound book 9. This sensor assembly 21 is also connected to the control device 32, which controls the printing units 14 in such a way that the content to be printed is distributed in a controlled manner, preferably evenly, over the printing areas of the pre-bound book, via programming implemented in the control device of the printing press arrangement 7. Advantageously, a single sensor assembly 21 can be designed for both functions.

[0068] These markings 22, 23 of book 9 can be embodied as watermarks, invisible markings or markings or pre-printed text portions or logos that are only visible under special lighting (such as blue light). At least one of the printed areas can also be provided on the book cover and / or on the spine.

[0069] The format and position of the specified printing area on at least one page and / or on the cover of the book 9 can be determined from the markings 22, 23 via the control device 32 of the printing press arrangement system 7. Furthermore, the sensor arrangement 21 of the printing press arrangement system 7 is connected to the control device 32, which controls the printing unit taking into account the signals of the sensor arrangement 21 in order to print the located printing area.

[0070] After the printing area has been determined using sensor assembly 21 or several or all of the sensor assemblies, the printed material is adapted to a predefined number of pages under software control by correspondingly programming control unit 32. For each page, the printed material is evenly and evenly distributed to its predefined printing area, automatically and accordingly adapting the typesetting characteristics and / or layout. This includes changing the font size, character spacing, line spacing, and paragraph spacing, as well as the placement of possible images. The algorithms used here are similar to, for example, the open standard ePUB for electronic books or earlier open ebook standards, to ensure dynamic adaptation of the print file to the format of the book 9 to be printed. The software in control unit 32 can also automatically take into account the required cropping allowances for edges and inner pages when printing the book cover.

[0071] The operating device 8 also allows for a manual input or selection of the number of pages and / or format for the book and for changing or completely replacing the assignment of the printings automatically determined by the software of the control device 32. The operating device 8 can also be used to specify, adapt, or change the alignment of the printed areas on the pages via a screen display.

[0072] As explained previously, the method according to the invention comprises, using the described printing press arrangement system 7 together with its sensor 21, providing and positioning a prebound book, software-controlled printing of the book pages including automatic page turning, the pages to be printed preferably being printed sequentially on the front and / or back, and applying the printing during a relative movement between the book 9 and at least one printing device 14.

[0073] Here, a preferred operating mode is one in which the book is turned, removed, inserted, and reversed when the printing unit 14 is in the rest position or in one of the end positions. However, the turning process can also be started when only one of the top pages 10 has been printed or, preferably, the print has solidified, in order to thereby enable faster production of the book.

[0074] Another embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that the printing unit 14 can be moved and adjusted in height in one direction relative to the receiving portion 15 for the book 9 parallel to the plane of the page 10 to be printed, and the receiving portion 15 for the book 9 can be supported to be movable through under the printing unit 14 perpendicular to the movement direction of the printing unit 14, preferably parallel to the cut of the book block.

[0075] In order to be able to print the pages and cover of the book and, in the case of thick books, the spine of the book without having to move the entire book or reposition it, the two printing units 14 are advantageously arranged in planes offset by 90° relative to each other or can be moved along guide rails.

[0076] According to an alternative embodiment of the present invention, rapid production of the book or magazine can be achieved in that the page turning device (preferably in this case using vacuum grippers 25) is designed to lift and position a sheet 26 of the book 9 from the remaining sheets of the book or the stack 11, 12 of covers and spines arranged in one plane. Figure 8 . Preferably, the lifted sheet 26 held by the vacuum grippers 25 is oriented perpendicularly to the plane of the receptacle 15 for the book 9 or perpendicularly to the top of the stack 11, 12. For each of the two pages of the held sheet 26, at least one printing unit 27 is arranged to be movable relative to the held sheet 26 in at least one direction parallel to the plane of the held sheet 26 in order to print both pages of the sheet 26 simultaneously.

[0077] Figure 9 The page turning device 18 of the embodiment is equipped with a gripper 24, which is configured to Figure 7A and Figure 7B This gripper 24 holds the page 26 of the book block to be printed essentially perpendicularly to the top page of the stack 11, 12 of book blocks or the support surface of the stack support 16, 17. For each of the two pages of the held sheet 26, at least one printing unit 27 is held so as to be movable relative to the held sheet 26 in at least one direction parallel to the plane of the held sheet 26 in order to print both pages of the sheet 26 simultaneously.

[0078] exist Figure 10Schematically depicting another embodiment of the printing press arrangement 7 according to the present invention, FIG. Here, too, the page 26 to be printed is held essentially perpendicular to the stack 11, 12 of remaining book blocks or the stack supports 16, 17. For this purpose, a support plate 33 is used, which is connected to a vacuum device 34 to suck the page 26 onto the support plate 33 and thereby securely and completely flatly hold it. Printing is performed on the page of paper 26 opposite the support plate 33 by the printing unit 14 of the printing press arrangement 7. Subsequently, (preferably after the print has dried and / or cured), the page 26 is secured to the support plate 33 with the previously printed page, preferably again by suction using the connected vacuum device 34. Printing then proceeds by the printing unit 14. Depending on the design of the printing press arrangement 7, it is possible to operate with the support plate 33, vacuum device 34, and printing unit 14 used sequentially on two pages of paper 26. Alternatively, a separate support plate 33 with vacuum device 34 and printing unit 14 can be used for both the front and back sides of the paper 26 .

[0079] In order to quickly create a preview of the book, another optional feature of the invention can provide that the control device 32 includes a module, preferably based on a randomizer, which controls the printing unit 14 so that only a portion of the pages of the book 9 are printed at predetermined locations in its block and / or on the cover, i.e., on the correct pages as in the final book. This avoids the extremely expensive initial preparation of the book and allows a very cost-effective initial creation of a book excerpt, allowing the customer to get to know the book using the original view of the front and back covers and the randomly printed pages. The entire book is only printed if there is a purchase intention.

[0080] Optionally, the method is carried out by printing all even-numbered or odd-numbered pages in a first process step and all pages not yet printed in a second process step, preferably also printing the book block and the book cover in a separate process step.

[0081] The various embodiments illustrate possible implementation variants. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the implementation variants specifically shown. On the contrary, different combinations of the various implementation variants are possible and this possibility of variation is within the capabilities of those skilled in the art based on the teaching of the technical means through the specific invention.

[0082] The scope of protection is determined by the claims. However, the description and the drawings are taken into account for the interpretation of the claims. Individual features or combinations of features of the various exemplary embodiments shown and described can themselves represent independent inventive solutions. The objectives underlying the independent inventive solutions can be inferred from the description.

[0083] All indications of numerical ranges in a particular specification are to be understood as including any and all subranges arising therefrom, e.g. the indication 1 to 10 is to be understood as including all subranges starting from a lower limit of 1 and an upper limit of 10, i.e. all subranges starting with a lower limit of 1 or greater and ending with an upper limit of 10 or less, e.g. 1 to 1.7, or 3.2 to 8.1, or 5.5 to 10.

[0084] Finally, it should be pointed out that, for a better understanding of the construction, some elements are shown not to scale and / or enlarged and / or reduced in size.

[0085] Reference Signs List

[0086] 1 host

[0087] 2 Printed manuscript

[0088] 3 Desktop Publishing System

[0089] 4. E-readers

[0090] 5 Screen

[0091] 6 Electronic data processing systems

[0092] 7 Printing press layout system

[0093] 8 Operating device

[0094] 9 books

[0095] 10 pages to be printed

[0096] 11 Stacking of Book Blocks

[0097] 12 Stacking of Book Blocks

[0098] 13 Printing Press

[0099] 14 Printing device

[0100] 15. Accommodation

[0101] 16 stacking support table

[0102] 17 Stacking support table

[0103] 18 Page Turning Device

[0104] 19 Slide

[0105] 20 Lift the roller

[0106] 21 sensor components

[0107] 22 Printing area mark

[0108] 23 Page Number Markers

[0109] 24 Grabber

[0110] 25 Page Vacuum Claw Pliers

[0111] 26 Book 9 Paper

[0112] 27 Printing device

[0113] 28 Printing rod

[0114] 29 Leveling / Fixing Components

[0115] 30 nozzle tip

[0116] 31 Dryer

[0117] 32 Control Devices

[0118] 33 Support-adsorption plate

[0119] 34 Vacuum device

Claims

1. A printing press arrangement system comprising at least one printing press (13) with at least one printing unit (14), a receiving portion (15) for pre-bound books (9), a page turning device (18) for at least a plurality of sheets of the book (9), preferably for book covers, and a control device (32) for processing input print documents and for controlling the at least one printing unit (14), as well as a module for controlling the page turning device (18, 25), characterized in that The printing press (13) has a sensor assembly (21) with which the format and positioning of a specified printing area on at least one page and / or cover of the book (9) can be determined, the sensor assembly (21) being connected to the control device (32) which controls the printing device (14) to print the positioned printing area.

2. The printing press arrangement system according to claim 1, characterized in that The page turning device (18) is arranged in the region of a movement path between opposite end positions of the printing unit (14), for example between opposite end sides of a print bar (28), in its two end positions.

3. The printing press arrangement system according to claim 1, characterized in that The page turning device (18) is arranged outside the area of ​​at least one printing bar (28) or its movement path or outside mutually opposite end positions of the printing unit (14).

4. The printing press arrangement system according to claim 1, wherein: A servo drive is provided for changing the relative distance between the support surface for the book (9) and the printing device (14) in a direction perpendicular to the support surface, and the servo drive can be controlled via a control device (32).

5. The printing press arrangement system according to claim 4, characterized in that During the movement of the printing device (14) for printing successive printing areas (10) of two pages of the book (9), the servo drive is controlled in order to change the relative distance.

6. The printing press arrangement system according to claim 1, characterized in that The sensor assembly (21) is equipped to measure the number of sheets of paper in the pre-bound book (9), and the sensor assembly (21) is connected to the control device (32), which controls the printing device (14) so ​​that the content to be printed is preferably evenly distributed on the printing area of ​​the pre-bound book (9).

7. The printing press arrangement system according to claim 1, characterized in that The printing press (13) is provided with an inkjet printing device (14) which is movable along at least one guide parallel to a receiving portion (15) for the book (9), and the page turning device (18) is arranged laterally next to the guide for the printing device (14).

8. The printing press arrangement system according to claim 7, characterized in that: At least one press holder for the paper is provided near the active printing position, preferably comprising vacuum grippers, and / or at least one press holder can be positioned via rollers or positioning feet before the printing unit (14) and / or after the printing unit (14), optionally after a UV curing unit.

9. The printing press arrangement system according to claim 1, wherein: The printing device (14) can be moved and adjusted in height in one direction relative to a receiving portion (15) for the book (9) parallel to the plane of the page (10) to be printed, and the receiving portion (15) for the book (9) can be supported to be movable through below the printing device (14) perpendicular to the movement direction of the printing device (14), preferably parallel to the cutout of the book block.

10. The printing press arrangement system according to claim 1, wherein: The two printing units (14) are arranged in planes offset by 90° relative to each other or are movable along guide rails.

11. The printing press arrangement system according to claim 1, wherein: The page turning device (18, 24, 25, 33) is designed to hold a page (26) of the book (9) in a position perpendicular to the remaining pages of the book (9) or the cover and spine arranged in a plane, and for two pages of the held paper, at least one printing device (14, 27) can be arranged to be movable relative to the paper in at least one direction parallel to the plane of the held paper (26).

12. The printing press arrangement system according to claim 1, wherein: The control device (32) includes a module, preferably a module based on a randomizer, which controls the printing device (14) so ​​that only a part of the pages of the book (9) are printed at predetermined positions in its book block and / or on the book cover.

13. A just-in-time on-demand printing system comprising a storage unit (1) for storing at least one print file and at least one printing press arrangement system (7) according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that: The instant on-demand printing system is provided with a control device having an operating device (8) for selecting at least one print file and transmitting it to the printing press arrangement system (7).

14. A pre-bound book (9) for use in a printing press arrangement system (7) according to claim 1, comprising a book cover and a predeterminable number of book blocks and having unprinted or partially printed pages and / or book covers, characterized in that: At least some of the book pages and / or the book cover of the book block are provided with alignment marks and / or boundary marks (22).

15. The book according to claim 14, characterized in that The book pages and / or the book cover are provided with markings (23) for identifying the corresponding page number and / or the total number of pages.

16. The book according to claim 15, characterized in that The marking (22, 23) is implemented as a watermark, an invisible marking, a marking visible only under blue light or a pre-printed text portion or logo.

17. The book according to claim 14, wherein At least one printed area is defined on the cover and / or on the spine.

18. A method for printing pre-bound books, preferably in an instant on-demand printing system, comprising providing and positioning a pre-bound book having a cover and a book block in a printing press arrangement system, providing a print file and printing the pages of the book under software control, including automatic page turning, the pages to be printed preferably being printed sequentially on the front and / or back, and applying the printing during a relative movement between the book and at least one printing unit, characterized in that The content to be printed of the printed document is aligned in a software-controlled manner with at least individual pages to be printed, preferably also with the book cover, by means of markings.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that The number of pages of the pre-bound book is determined, and the printed material is evenly adapted to the pre-determinable number of pages by changing the typesetting properties and / or layout in a software-controlled manner, and for each page the printed material is adapted to its pre-determinable printing area.

20. The method according to claim 18, wherein When the printing unit is in the rest position or the end position, the book is turned over, removed, inserted and reversed.

21. The method according to claim 18, wherein Only some of the pages of the book at predetermined positions in its book block and / or on the book cover are printed under software control, preferably based on a randomizer.

22. The method according to claim 18, wherein In a first process step, all even-numbered pages or odd-numbered pages are printed, and in a second process step, all pages not yet printed are printed. Preferably, the book block and the book cover are also printed in a separate process step.

23. The method according to claim 18, wherein In response to a user request, a print file is retrieved from the storage unit and transmitted to the printing press arrangement system.

Images