Software-based method for operator guidance for printing machines

Abstract

To provide a software-based method for operator guidance in the graphics industry.SOLUTION: The method transmits one or more operating steps to an operator via an operating interface (9b), in particular optically and / or acoustically, by means of at least one computer (6, 8, 9a. The at least one computer (6, 8, 9a) receives data from one or more print jobs, prepares the data of the print jobs for processing by at least one printing material processing machine (9) and thereby calculates manual operating steps depending on properties of the printing material processing machine (9) processing a print job. In the method according to the invention, the operating steps to be performed manually are optically or / and acoustically transmitted to the operator of the printing material processing machine (9) through the operating interface (9b) at a time for performance.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a software-assisted method for operating guidance in the graphic industry, which method transmits one or more operating steps to an operator via an operating interface using at least one computer, wherein the at least one computer receives data from one or more print jobs and prepares the print job data for processing by at least one substrate processing machine, whereby the manual operating steps are calculated depending on the characteristics of the substrate processing machine that processes the print jobs.

[0002] A software-assisted method for operation guidance of this type is known from German Patent Application No. DE 10 2017 205 580. This application describes a method for operating a processing machine system using at least one mobile operating unit, which provides an operator with machine-related, process-related, or material-consumed-related data. The mobile operating unit can notify the operator of data or information related to an operation to be performed in a timely manner so that the operator can visit the operation location, where the notification of the operation is optical, acoustic, or mechanical.

[0003] This method from the prior art has the disadvantage that although the operator is informed in advance when he must perform an operating action, he is not informed exactly in detail when and on which machine in the printing shop he must perform this operating action. Therefore, this method is not suitable for operating guidance in printing shops with many printing presses, folding machines, and many operators, as the lack of accurate time presetting makes corresponding adjustments impossible.

[0004] The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a software-assisted method for operating guidance in the graphic industry, which guides one or more operators of a number of substrate processing machines, even if they are inexperienced, so that they can operate these substrate processing machines in the correct chronological order without any problems through pending manual operating steps.

[0005] This problem is solved by the present invention by claim 1. Advantageous configurations of the present invention are apparent from the dependent claims, the description, and the drawings. The software-assisted method for operating guidance in the graphic industry according to the present invention is realized by software installed on at least one computer. This computer does not have to be located in a printing house; it can be part of an Internet cloud computing system, whereby the software for operating guidance in the graphic industry runs in the Internet cloud. It is important here that the method according to the present invention calculates pending manual operating steps at one or more substrate processing machines and thereby communicates the pending manual operating steps, along with specific times for their execution, to one or more operators of the substrate processing machines in one or more printing houses via an operating interface, such as a display or speaker. Thus, the operators always know exactly when they must execute each manual operating step. In the case of an optical display, this can be achieved, in particular, by a flow chart, such as a timeline. In this case, the operator is not only shown specific pending operational steps, but also the location and, in particular, the time or current duration until a manual operational step is to be performed. This allows the operator to know that, for example, a stack of substrates on a printing press will be printed and emptied in 30 minutes, and to transfer a new stack of substrates from storage to the printing press in a timely manner. This allows for reliable execution planning, especially in large printing shops with many printing presses, folding machines, and other substrate-handling machines, and with many operators, including unskilled personnel.

[0006] In a first aspect of the present invention, at least one computer evaluates data of multiple print jobs from a print job queue, determines manual operation steps across the multiple print jobs, and optically and / or acoustically transmits the manual operation steps of the multiple print jobs to an operator along with precise time information. In this aspect of the present invention, the at least one computer evaluates data of all print jobs in a print job queue, thereby accurately determining the manual operation steps at each point in time across the multiple print jobs. This allows the operator of the substrate processing machine to be informed of when he or she can perform which manual operation steps for the next print job and the print job after that, along with the precise time or duration, even before the next print job is executed. This also makes it easier for the operator to plan manual operation steps and prepare for them. If the processing of a planned print job should be delayed or carried out without delay, the computer recognizes this during the processing of the print job and constantly updates the time points for performing manual operation steps at regular, short, predetermined time intervals. These times are thereby constantly updated, and the operator always receives this updated time together with the corresponding manual operation step, either optically or acoustically, which is also a major advantage over prior art techniques in which the time or duration of the manual operation step is not continually updated.

[0007] Advantageously, the operating interface is envisaged to be a display and / or a speaker. In this way, the operator can be acoustically and / or visually informed about pending manual operating steps. The display can thus display the next pending operating steps over time, and certain particularly important or critical operating steps can also be highlighted in color.

[0008] In a further embodiment of the present invention, at least one computer is supplied with print jobs in a print job queue for multiple substrate processing machines, whereby the at least one computer calculates manual operation steps for the multiple substrate processing machines and optically and / or acoustically transmits the manual operation steps to respective operators of the respective substrate processing machines, along with corresponding time information for performing the operation steps. In particular, in large printing shops, numerous printing presses, folding machines, and other machines are present for the subsequent printing process. Each of these machines needs to be operated, and manual operation steps must be performed at the appropriate time, because otherwise the operation of the respective substrate processing machines will stop. In particular, if a printing press does not process its print job in a timely manner, the folding machine or other subsequent printing machines will not be able to process their scheduled jobs. Using the present invention, it is now possible for the first time to optically or acoustically transmit to the operators the necessary manual operation steps for all substrate processing machines involved in the printing and subsequent processing process, along with corresponding time information for performing them. Thus, all operators of all machines in the printing shop can keep their manual operating steps marked up-to-date and correctly performed according to the transmitted time presets.

[0009] It is further advantageously conceivable that at least one computer is provided with data on the qualifications, skills, and permitted activities of the operators, and that the at least one computer calculates the manual operation steps to be performed based on the provided data for each operator, assigns them accordingly to each operator, and displays them optically and / or acoustically via the respective operating interface. In this advantageous configuration of the invention, it is also possible to calculate and assign the manual operation steps to be performed based on the characteristics assigned to the operators. This avoids assigning complex manual operation steps that an operator with little training and qualifications cannot or can only perform poorly. This allows each operator of the substrate processing machine to be assigned operation steps that are appropriate for his or her qualifications and training, as planned. In particular, this allows for the assignment of manual operation steps that the operator should be able to perform without any problems when using individuals with different qualifications in a printing shop. For this purpose, each operator identifies himself or herself when approaching the substrate processing machine using an electronic identifier, such as an RFID chip, or by facial recognition, so that the operating unit of the substrate processing machine can reliably recognize which operator is in front of it, thereby ensuring that unqualified operators are not assigned manual operating steps that they cannot reliably perform.

[0010] Additionally, it is advantageously envisaged that the at least one computer, when planning multiple print jobs on multiple substrate processing machines, calculates conflicts resulting from simultaneous manual operation steps and avoids them by planning the print jobs across the multiple substrate processing machines. Since the at least one computer knows all pending print jobs in the printing house, conflicts can be reliably avoided, thereby avoiding machine stoppages. For example, if there are too few operating personnel in the printing plant to simultaneously perform manual operation steps, the at least one computer can correct the time distortion of the corresponding manual operation steps by moving the operation steps forward on some machines and moving the operation steps back on some machines. For this purpose, the computer can also make corresponding presettings for changing the machine speeds to enable this time distortion correction.

[0011] Advantageously, it is further envisaged that the at least one computer deletes from the operating interface any manual operation steps that have been confirmed by the operator or that have been recognized as having been performed by a sensor in the substrate processing machine. In this configuration of the invention, the operator can confirm the manually performed operation steps as having been performed, for example, via a corresponding touch-sensitive operating panel on a display that displays the manual operation steps to the operator. Based on this, the at least one computer then deletes the confirmed operation step from the list of manual operation steps to be processed. Alternatively, a performed manual operation step, such as inserting a printing plate, can be recognized by a sensor, such as a printing plate sensor, in the machine, and if the printing plate has been properly inserted, the corresponding manual operation step can be deleted from the list of the operating interface.

[0012] The invention will now be described and explained in detail on the basis of two drawings. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1]1 shows the components required for the implementation of the method according to the invention inside and outside the print shop; [Figure 2] FIG. 10 shows a list with pending manual operation steps on the display of the printing press. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0014] FIG. 1 shows an overview of the components involved in the method according to the invention. The core part here is task management software 1, which runs on a software cloud 6. This software is used to capture data on the print job to be processed from production workflow software 3 and to integrate further required data via data capture 2. The task management software 1 has a task management software backend 4, which stores the print job data from the production workflow software 3 in memory 5. Furthermore, via the backend 4, the task management software 1 communicates with further cloud software in the Internet of Things 7. The communication here takes place via an SQS queue. The cloud of the Internet of Things 7 is also connected to a prepress software server 8 in the print shop via an MQTT interface. For this purpose, the prepress software server 8 is connected to the Internet. The prepress software server 8 is typically located in the respective print shop and has an interface 8a for the Internet of Things. Furthermore, the prepress software server 8 has a printing press interface 8b, via which the prepress software server 8 sends print preparation data to the operating system of the printing press 9 via a Java server 9a. The printing press 9 here has a display 9b for operator assistance, via which the operator can operate the printing press 9. At the same time, the display 9b for operator assistance can be used to display the manual operation steps calculated by the task management software 1 in the cloud 6 in the correct order and at the correct time, so that the operator of the printing press 9 is always provided with updated, up-to-date information about which manual operation steps he or she must perform and when.

[0015] The prepress software server 8 also has a third-party software interface 8c, via which third-party software 10 can be integrated. In FIG. 1, the method according to the invention is illustrated with the example of a printing press 9, but it can also integrate any number of printing presses 9 and other substrate processing machines, such as further processing equipment and folding machines. Because the task management software 1 runs in the cloud 6, it can also be used to calculate manual operation steps for large machine parks in multiple printing shops. The only important thing here is that the task management software 1 is supplied with the necessary data for pending print jobs via the data capture 2 and production workflow 3, so that it can pre-calculate the manual operation steps required for processing the print job and display them, together with the corresponding time points, on the display 9b of each printing press 9 for the operator working there.

[0016] 2 shows the manual steps on the display 9b. It can be seen that there are basically two different types of manual steps. There are currently manual steps 11 reserved for immediate processing by the operator. These steps are labeled "now" and displayed on the display 9b. Other steps are labeled with the appropriate time or period for their execution, for example, "in 24 minutes." These time-stamped steps 12 are then displayed to the operator in time, allowing the operator to execute the steps 12 at the indicated times. Appropriately, the manual steps 11, 12 are displayed here in the chronological order in which they should be executed.

[0017] The task management software 1 here is preferably equipped with artificial intelligence, which allows it to continuously learn from the printing job and from situations that occur on the printing press 9, which can be taken into account in the future when calculating the manual operation steps 11, 12. [Explanation of symbols]

[0018] 1. Task Management Software 2. Data Capture 3. Production Workflow Software 4. Task Management Software Backend 5. Memory 6. Cloud 7. Internet of Things 8 Prepress Software Server 8a Interfaces for the Internet of Things 8b Printer Interface 8c Interface for Third Party Software 9 Printing machine 9a Java-based server 9b Display for operator assistance 10. Third Party Software 11. Immediate Tasks 12 Future tasks with time information

Claims

1. 1. A software-assisted method for operating guidance in the graphic industry, comprising transmitting one or more operating steps to an operator via an operating interface (9b), in particular optically and / or acoustically, by means of at least one computer (6, 8, 9a), said at least one computer (6, 8, 9a) receiving data from one or more print jobs and preparing said print job data for processing by at least one substrate processing machine (9), wherein said computer calculates manual operating steps depending on the characteristics of the substrate processing machine (9) that processes the print jobs, 10. A method according to claim 9, wherein the operating steps to be manually performed by the operating interface (9b) are transmitted optically and / or acoustically to an operator of the printing substrate processing machine (9) at the time of their execution.

2. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one computer (6, 8, 9a) evaluates data of multiple print jobs from a print job queue, determines manual operation steps across the multiple print jobs, and optically and / or acoustically transmits the multiple manual operation steps of the multiple print jobs together with precise time information to an operator.

3. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the operating interface (9b) is a display and / or a speaker.

4. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one computer (6, 8, 9b) is supplied with print jobs in a print job queue for a plurality of substrate processing machines (9), and the at least one computer (6, 8, 9b) calculates manual operation steps for the plurality of substrate processing machines (9) and transmits them optically and / or acoustically to respective operators of the respective substrate processing machines (9) together with corresponding time information for the execution of the operation steps.

5. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one computer (6, 8, 9b) is supplied with data on the qualifications, skills and permitted activities of operators, and the at least one computer (6, 8, 9b) calculates the operating steps to be performed manually depending on the supplied data for each operator, assigns them accordingly to each operator and displays them optically and / or acoustically via the respective operating interface (9b).

6. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one computer (6, 8, 9b) calculates conflicts resulting from simultaneous manual operation steps when planning multiple print jobs on multiple substrate processing machines (9) and avoids them by planning print jobs across the multiple substrate processing machines (9).

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the at least one computer (6) is part of a cloud computing system.

8. 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one computer (6, 8, 9b) deletes from the operating interface (9b) manual operation steps that have been confirmed by an operator or that have been recognized as having been performed by a sensor in the printing substrate processing machine (9).

9. 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one computer (6, 8, 9b) periodically recalculates and updates the time points of pending manual operation steps and transmits the updated time points to the operation interface (9b).

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