According to the invention there is an apparatus for printing onto cylindrical structures comprising: a plurality of inker devices each comprising a print cylinder and one or more servomotors for adjustably controlling the position or orientation of a print cylinder; a blanket device comprising a plurality of print blankets, in which the blanket device is configured to bring each print blanket into contact with the print cylinders to transfer ink from the print cylinders to the print blanket, and to bring each print blanket into contact with a cylindrical structure to achieve printing thereon; a transporter for transporting the cylindrical structures into and out of contact with the print blankets; and an automatic print correction system comprising a print inspection device for detecting a misregistration of ink transferred from one or more of the print cylinders onto a print blanket, and a controller for controlling the servomotors of the print cylinders to correct the misregistration in response to data received from the print inspection device.

Apparatus for the detection of print marks with a sensor arrangement which has at least one contrast sensor, which for generation of a cyclical sensor signal is disposed above the area of printed material containing the print mark which is passed below the contrast sensor, said apparatus also having a signal conditioning unit. The signal conditioning unit has at least one filter unit with a first filter for determination of the first derivation of the sensor signal, and on the basis of an evaluation of at least the first derivation of the sensor signal the filter unit generates at least one output value which is representative of print marks.

A method for detection of print marks by evaluation of a cyclical sensor signal (S) from at least one contrast sensor, which senses an area of printed material containing a print mark that passes below the contrast sensor. The method includes forming a first derivation (S) of the cyclical sensor signal (S); determining a first edge region in a region where the first derivation (S) falls below a lower threshold value; determining a second edge region in a region where the first derivation (S) exceeds an upper threshold value; determining characteristic values for the first edge region and the second edge region; associating a print mark detection between the first edge region and the second edge region based on the determined characteristic values; and generating at least one output value which is representative of the print marks.

There is described a process of measuring print-to-print register of a multicolour print (A-D) provided in an effective printed area (EPA) of the surface of printed material, which multicolour print (A-D) is formed on the printed material by means of one or more printing presses and includes at least a first pattern (A) and a second pattern (B) distinguishable from the first pattern (A), the effective printed area (EPA) being provided with a matrix arrangement of individual imprints (P) which are each provided with the multicolour print (A-D) and are repeated over the surface of the effective printed area (EPA) along a pattern of rows and columns. Measurement of an actual print-to-print register between the first and second patterns (A, B), as reflected on the printed material, is derived from processing and finding a correspondence between (i) at least one sample image (SI.sub.A, SI.sub.B) of the printed material covering at least a portion of the first and second patterns (A, B), and (ii) at least one corresponding reference image (RI.sub.A, RI.sub.B) generated using prepress design data of the first and second patterns (A, B). Furthermore, the process is repeated for multiple ones of the individual imprints (P) so as to derive a set of multiple measurements of the actual print-to-print register between the first and second patterns (A, B) at various imprint locations over the effective printed area (EPA), which set of multiple measurements is mapped into a corresponding print-to-print register map (M.sub.B-A, M.sub.C-A, M.sub.D-A, . . . ) that is representative of print-to-print register deviations at the various imprint locations. Also described is a measuring device for carrying out this process and a process of measuring and correcting print-to-print register of a multicolour print.

Provided is a method of correcting printing misalignment in a printing apparatus that performs registration by using a printing misalignment inspection mark. This method is capable of improving registration accuracy and is capable of correcting the printing misalignment with higher accuracy. An image processor has printing misalignment value measurement means that measures a misalignment value with respect to a set position of the printing misalignment inspection mark that has been printed on an object. A printing misalignment inspection mark A is a hollow circle that is white inside, and the printing misalignment value measurement means measures the misalignment value with respect to the set position by using a white portion W of the printing misalignment inspection mark A.

A printed object management apparatus (10) is provided with: a line sensor (11); a spectrophotometer (12); an area camera (13); a print quality-inspecting unit (10A) for inspecting the quality of the overall pattern of a printed object (9) on the basis of data input from the line sensor (11); a print density controlling unit (10B) for controlling, on the basis of data input from the spectrophotometer (12), the amount of ink supplied so that the ink density equals the reference density; and an inter-color registering unit (10C) for detecting register marks printed on the printed object (9) on the basis of data input from the area camera (13) and aligning the patterns between the various colors. The apparatus is configured so as to support the line sensor (11), the spectrophotometer (12) and the area camera (13) on a single scanning head (10b).

The invention pertains to a device for producing collections of sheet-like printed products from a supplied material strand, in which a switch feeds the product stream to a receiving cylinder via one of at least two collecting cylinders, as well as to a folding apparatus with such a collecting device.

An inspection system has a plurality of detection regions. The plurality of these detection regions of the inspection system are arranged to jointly inspect a printed sheet which has a plurality of printed regions. A first detection region is arranged to inspect a first printed region of the printed sheet and a second detection region is arranged to inspect a second printed region of the same printed sheet. A first measurement technology sensitivity is set for the first detection region and a second measurement technology sensitivity is set for the second detection region in the inspection system. The first measurement technology sensitivity and the second measurement technology sensitivity are set to be different from one another. The first measurement technology sensitivity and the second measurement technology sensitivity are set in each case either manually, by the use of an operating element, or automatically by the use of a program.

A can inspection device includes a rotation device rotating cans, an imaging device taking images of rotating cans, and an image processor processing taken images. The imaging device includes a first camera taking an image of an entire can and a second camera taking an image of an opening-side end portion of the can. The image processor includes an image inspection means for inspecting whether printing is performed properly as compared with a master image by using the image taken by the first camera, a density measurement means for measuring densities in designated positions for respective colors by using the image taken by the first camera, and a printing misalignment value measurement means for measuring misalignment values with respect to set positions of printing misalignment inspection marks printed on the opening-side end portion of the can for respective colors by using the image taken by the second camera.

A method for printing on an article can include positioning an article and a fiducial within a field of view of an image sensor. The method can also include generating an image of the article and the fiducial, using the fiducial to determine a print location on the article, and printing a graphic on the article at the print location. A method for printing on an article additionally or alternatively can include transforming a graphic using a shape model to produce a transformed graphic and printing the transformed graphic on the article. A method for printing on an article additionally or alternatively can include retrieving a shape model corresponding to a reference article, obtaining a configuration file corresponding to the article, transforming a graphic based on the shape model and the configuration file to produce a transformed graphic, and printing the transformed graphic on the article.