Method for printing a decoration, and apparatus therefor
The disclosure relates to a method for printing a decoration to be printed onto a plurality of print surfaces by digital printing equipment. The method includes: providing a digital template and reference measurement data of a decoration to be printed, said data being hyperspectral and spatially resolved, printing the decoration to be printed onto a print surface using the digital template, measuring measured variables of the decoration printed on the print surface ( 20 ), thereby obtaining print measurement data that are hyperspectral and spatially resolved, comparing the print measurement data with the reference measurement data and determining a measure of deviation of the print measurement data ( 6 ) from the reference measurement data, modifying the digital template if the measure of the deviation meets a predetermined criterion, and repeating the above steps.
1 . A method for printing a decoration to be printed onto a plurality of print surfaces by digital printing equipment, the method comprising:
a. providing a digital template and reference measurement data of a decoration to be printed, said data being hyperspectral and spatially resolved,
b. printing the decoration to be printed onto a print surface using the digital template,
c. measuring measured variables of the decoration printed on the print surface, thereby obtaining print measurement data that are hyperspectral and spatially resolved,
d. comparing the print measurement data with the reference measurement data and determining a measure of deviation of the print measurement data from the reference measurement data during production of the plurality of print surfaces,
e. modifying the digital template if the measure of the deviation meets a predetermined criterion during production of the plurality of print surfaces, and
f. repeating steps b. to f.
2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein a time lag between two consecutive embodiments of step b. does not depend on whether the digital template has been modified.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein an interval at which the decoration is printed onto the print surfaces is not modified based on whether the digital template has been modified such that a correction or modification of the digital template can be carried out inline without interrupting production processes.
4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the reference measurement data in step a) comprises:
a1. Providing the digital template of the decoration to be printed,
a2. Printing the decoration to be printed onto a reference surface using the digital template, and
a3. Measuring the measured variables of the decoration printed onto the reference surface, so that the reference measurement data are obtained.
5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined criterion is met when a deviation of one or multiple print measurement data from corresponding reference measurement data is greater than a predetermined limit value for the corresponding measurement variable.
6 . The method according to claim 5 , wherein the predetermined limit value is dependent on color and/or location.
7 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the limit value is location dependent.
8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the modification of the digital template in step e) comprises:
e1. Checking whether the measure of deviation meets a correction criterion and
e2.a Modifying the digital template or
e2.b Emitting an optical and/or acoustic and/or electronic warning signal and terminating the method.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the correction criterion indicates whether the deviation detected by the measure of deviation can be corrected by modifying the digital template.
10 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein during steps c. to e. the decoration to be printed is printed onto at least one further print surface.
11 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the modifications of the digital template and/or the determined measures of deviation are saved.
12 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the print measurement data relate to same points and/or a same area of the decoration as the reference measurement data.
13 . The method according to claim 12 , wherein the print measurement data and the reference measurement data relate to an entire decoration.
14 . A device for carrying out a method according to claim 1 .
15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the digital template corresponds to control parameters with which printing equipment is controlled.
16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the reference measurement data used in the comparison step d, are actual measurement data of the decoration printed on the print surfaces and is not data taken from a digitally available sample stored in an electronic memory.
17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the measurement data comprises points distributed equidistantly across the decoration.
18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the digital template corresponds to a part of the decoration.
19 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising creating an electronic certificate for the decoration printed on the print surface when a desired quality has been achieved.