Process for producing a printed support and related printing system

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a process for manufacturing a printed support (S), which can be cut by any automatic cutter capable of reading an optical code (OC), which does not require updating the resident software of the microprocessor unit that controls the printer (or printers). A printing system of a printable support which implements the process is also disclosed.

Claims

1. A process for producing a printed support with at least one image and a respective optical code, wherein said image can be cut out from said printed support with an automatic cutter capable of reading said optical code, comprising: providing and installing at least one printer, configured to print images and optical codes on said support; providing and installing a microprocessor unit having a resident software, configured to command the printer to print at least one image and a corresponding optical code; providing and installing a remote server configured to generate image files of optical codes; generating, by said resident software, coordinates of bounds to be cut of said at least one image on said support; for each image to be cut out printed on the support, carrying out the following operations: generating a corresponding query string that represents at least coordinates of cuts, with respect to a reference position of an automatic cutter, which the automatic cutter must carry out for cutting out said image, connecting said microprocessor unit in a network to a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) comprising at least one host address of a remote server and said query string, generating a file of an optical code corresponding to said query string, said optical code encoding information on the coordinates of cuts in a format that can be read by said automatic cutter, transmitting said optical code file from said remote server to said microprocessor unit, printing with said printer said optical code on the substrate in a position readable by the automatic cutter and in correspondence with said image to be cut out.

2. The process according to claim 1, wherein said reference position identifies a position of a side sensor of the automatic cutter with respect to an edge of a longitudinal reference mark printed on said printed support.

3. The process according to claim 1, wherein said query string is a string of ASCII characters.

4. The process according to claim 1, wherein said query string also represents information on a material of which said printed support is made.

5. A printing system for producing a printed support with at least one image and a respective optical code, wherein said image can be cut out from said printed support with an automatic cutter capable of reading said optical code, said printing system comprising the following equipment: at least one printer, configured to print images and optical codes on said support; a microprocessor unit having a resident software, configured to command the printer to print at least one image and a corresponding optical code; a remote server configured to generate image files of optical codes; wherein said resident software is configured to generate, when executed, coordinates of bounds to be cut of said at least one image on said support and to perform the following operations for each image to be cut printed on the support: generating a corresponding query string representative of coordinates of cuts, with respect to a reference position of an automatic cutter, which the automatic cutter must carry out for cutting out said image, connecting said microprocessor unit in a network to a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) comprising at least one host address of the remote server and said query string, printing an optical code on the substrate in a position readable by the automatic cutter and in correspondence with said image to be cut; and wherein said remote server is configured to perform the following operations: generating a file of an optical code corresponding to said query string, said optical code encoding information on the coordinates of cuts in a format that can be read by said automatic cutter, transmitting said file of the optical code from said remote server to said microprocessor unit.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a portion of a substrate bearing printed pictures, on which there is an example of an optical code for setting the position of the cutting units of an automatic cutter.

(2) FIG. 2 is an example of a picture of a bar code which can be automatically generated by a server and printed on the support according to the method of this disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(3) The software currently used to run in the microprocessor unit which controls the printing of a printed medium, are generally complex and expensive and are not updated frequently. Sometimes it happens that an updated feature of a cutter, with better performances or with other improvements, cannot be exploited by any software of the microprocessor units that manage printers.

(4) Moreover, there is a tendency to produce printed media with the arrangement of pictures desired by the customer, and this reduces even more the standardization of cutting operations, which instead must be configured for each task to be performed.

(5) In order to avoid having to frequently update the software of the microprocessor unit that controls the printing of a printed support that contains one or more pictures and an optical code, functional for guiding the cutting devices of an automatic cutter, this disclosure provides a method in which the generation of the optical code is deferred to a remote server, preferably cloud-based. The printed support with at least one optical code associated with a picture is then produced by connecting to a remote server the unit running a resident printing software.

(6) A relevant advantage of this procedure consists in the fact that the resident software of the microprocessor unit that controls the printing no longer has to deal with the generation of the optical code, because this operation is deferred to a simple computer program that runs on the server. As a consequence, it is no longer necessary to update the resident software to support all the most recent automatic cutters placed on the market and/or all possible formats in which the user can decide to print and/or all possible printable supports, but it is sufficient to update the simple program that runs on the remote server. The advantage is even more felt in widespread systems comprising multiple printers connected to a single or multiple microprocessor units on which the resident software is installed. Simultaneously updating the software of many microprocessor units to support a new type of automatic cutter or to carry out a particular sequence of cuts would be particularly expensive and it is unlikely that it can be performed with the necessary frequency.

(7) According to the process of this disclosure, once the residing software in the microprocessor unit that controls the printers has identified the coordinates of the borders of a picture to be cut, this resident software generates a corresponding query string representative of the coordinates of cuts that an automatic cutter must carry out to cut out the picture. The coordinates of the cuts are typically defined with respect to a reference position of an automatic cutter, such as for example the position of an edge of a longitudinal reference mark printed on the printed support. The query string is thus the element that must be transmitted to the server and which encodes the information on the cuts to be made.

(8) Conveniently the query string will be an alphanumeric string of ASCII characters, for example of the type: Cut1=100&Cut2=1832&Cut3=3555
to indicate the coordinates of three longitudinal cuts to be made, for example with respect to the right side of the longitudinal reference mark of the printed support. In one aspect, the query string can conveniently have such a structure Cut1=x1&Cut2=x2&Cut3=x3& . . .
in which x1<x2<x3 . . .
are the coordinates of the cuts to be made, indicated in order starting from the reference position of the cutter.

(9) The microprocessor unit running the resident print software will connect to a remote server with a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) including at least one host address of the remote server and the query string (querystring), for example of the type: protocol://host/querystring
where protocol indicates the protocol to be used for accessing the server (for example HTTP, HTTPS etc.).

(10) Optionally, the URL may also contain an indication of a path (path): protocol://host/path?querystring
on the server to identify a specific page for a type of cutter (and/or for a particular customer, and/or also for a particular type of printed support) to be accessed with the querystring query string in order to generate the optical code for that particular type of cutter (and/or for the particular customer/support).

(11) In response to this access, the remote server will generate a corresponding file of an optical code, for example of the type shown in FIG. 2, which corresponds to the sent query string and which encodes information, in a format readable by the automatic cutter, on the coordinates of the cuts to be made.

(12) According to one aspect, the format may vary according to the cutter model and/or the type of support, for example cardboard, paper or fabric.

(13) The optical code is then transmitted to the unit running the resident software, which commands a printer that prints it on the support in correspondence with the picture to be cut out.

(14) Thanks to the process of this disclosure, it is easier to update the rules according to which optical codes are generated without having to update the resident software executed by the microprocessor unit that controls the printer. It is also possible to generate different barcodes for different automatic cutters, even if the automatic cutters that will have to cut the pictures from the support were more recent than the resident software.

(15) Furthermore, if it is required to customize the optical code to contain further information of specific customers, with the procedure of this disclosure this can be easily done by reconfiguring the remote server only, without having to update the resident software.