WO2015044564A1

WO2015044564A1 - Method for printing, in particular in short runs

Info

Publication number: WO2015044564A1
Application number: PCT/FR2014/052328
Authority: WO
Inventors: Christian VIE
Original assignee: Orsery
Priority date: 2013-09-27
Filing date: 2014-09-19
Publication date: 2015-04-02
Also published as: FR3011358B1; FR3011358A1

Abstract

The invention concerns a method of manufacturing a book (18) in one or a plurality of copies, at the request of an operator on the basis of at least one original digital file accessible via a server (6). The method includes providing a printing machine (10) and acquiring the request, the request comprising in particular the parameters for personalizing the book (12) produced in this way. A method of this type is particularly suitable for printing bound documents, in particular books, singly or in small runs, and in particular for self-publication.

Description

PROC ED E FOR PRINTING, NOTAM M ENT

IN SMALL SERIES.

The present invention relates to the field of printing and binding, including single books or small series.

Many manuscripts are not published because the market for their distribution is too weak or because no publisher wants to take the risk of publishing them. Self-publishing develops in response to this need. However, if the services of a professional are used, it is important to print enough copies to make the unit price reasonable, without being sure to sell enough. Beyond that, the self-publisher encounters the difficulty of distributing and distributing his work. The same problem arises for "long trolls", ie books that are unavailable because they are no longer reissued, because of a non-significant or unidentified request, or because their sales volume has shrunk over time.

To avoid printing too large series, there are nevertheless machines to print the book almost on demand, both for color parts and for black and white text, to connect and cut margins of the document thus bound to size and standardize the slices. However, the cost price of this operation remains high. The purpose of the invention is to propose a method that makes it possible to solve the disadvantages previously described, in particular to be able to print and link a document to the unit or in a small series, while optimizing the costs of this operation.

According to the invention, such a method for producing a book, in one or more copies, at the request of an operator from at least one original digital file, comprises the following steps:

- Supply:

at least one server for archiving at least one original digital file, said file comprising at least one text for the document and, preferably, formatting information for said text;

printing means, which may be distant from said server; o binding means;

cutting means for the slices of the document; and, o interface means with the operator, the operator can use a remote connection of the server;

acquisition of said request, said request comprising parameters for personalization of said document;

generating a print file, preferably by said server, in particular according to:

o the request; and,

o the at least one original file;

printing booklet sheets according to said print file;

- binding of the leaflets between them; and,

- cutting of surplus areas.

Among the customization settings, the query may include - the concatenation of several texts, each text can be contained in a respective original file;

- The application of at least a portion of a back image, that is to say printed on the back of the book, said complete image can be provided to form on the back of several books, each of these books comprising a respective portion of said image;

a request for correction, for example of a shell, the correction being able to be automated or subject to approval;

- dedication or a request for dedication;

- the insertion of an ex-libris specific to the operator; or,

- the choice of a glue color for the inner sheets in the cover.

The file corresponding to the book is advantageously part of a catalog made available by an editor, provider of said catalog. The correction of an error is preferably subject to the prior approval of this publisher, and the catalog is updated by correcting such errors. Such updates can advantageously evolve the catalog and the corresponding books, for example to evolve a scientific book based on new knowledge.

The operator can be:

a customer, buyer of the book, the printing being, for example, self-service;

- a bookseller, at whom a customer comes to buy the book and prints at the request of the client; or, without this being limiting,

- a writer who wishes to self-publish.

The operator, in any case, is relieved of any technical operation normally associated with the editing and printing of a book. The dedication can be that of the operator, printing a book that he wants to offer and dedicating to the person to whom he offers it. A request for dedication can be made to the author of the book by the one who wants to print it; the dedication of the author can be automatic or not; for example, it may be subject to a response from the author of the text, and may be personalized by that author.

The binding and cutting printing means can be grouped into a single book-making machine. Several machines can be provided; each may be available in a bookstore, a place of sale or a place of provision of the work; the request can then include a choice of the machine on which the book must be manufactured, for example in a place easily accessible to the operator, for example the closest to his home or place of work. It can also be expected that the book is manufactured on a remote machine and that the method includes the delivery of the book, for example by post.

Respective interface means may be associated with a machine; they can be an integral part of said machine. The interface means may also include means for remote access, for example through a public network, for example the Internet network.

A method according to the invention may further comprise:

the printing of an automatically generated bibliographic address, including the address of the place where the machine that printed the book is located, and for example, if the machine is in a bookstore, the name and / or logo of said library, as well as the date of printing; or ;

- Automatic printing or on request, on any surplus area of a sheet, or each sheet, together with the corresponding part of said text, a complementary element. A complementary element may be a flipbook ("flipbook" in English), that is to say a book consisting of a meeting of images assembled to give an impression of movement when it is laminated quickly. Such a flipbook is advantageously formed with a surplus area beyond the upper or lower margin and comprising a corresponding back portion. Another element may be a bookmark or graduated ruler, printed on a surplus area beyond the lateral margin, opposite the back of the book. The surplus areas are then cut by the cutting means to bring the book to its dimensions.

Such a method may include a prior step of downloading the digital file by the author, who may also be an operator, on the at least one server. This download can be done through the interface means. Such an arrangement permits self-publishing by the said author of a work, including the production of one or more copies of this work, while other copies may be produced at the request of other operators.

Several embodiments of the invention will be described below, by way of non-limiting examples, with reference to the appended drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a machine and a system for implementing a method according to the invention;

FIGS. 2 to 4 illustrate three modes of implementation of a method according to the invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a step of customizing the back of a series of books in a method according to the invention; and,

- Figure 6 illustrates a use of areas in excess of sheets of the book.

FIG. 1 illustrates a machine 10 for the manufacture of a book 2. In the example illustrated, the machine 10 is designed to print so-called books paperback. In the illustrated example, the books are provided with a flexible cover with a glued square back; binding is done by gluing the inner pages by one of their slices against an inner face of the back of the cover.

The machine 10 comprises in particular:

a storage module 1 of sheets 13 for the inside pages and the cover;

a print module 2;

a binding module 3;

a cutting module 4; and,

a local processing module 5.

According to the invention, the machine 10 is an integral part of a book-making system 12. This system can advantageously comprise several machines of the same type, that is to say, allowing the printing and binding of the books, all connected to a remote server 6 by a link 8. This connection can be done through a public network 9 of the Internet type.

The machine 10 makes it possible to manufacture a book 12 from a digital file contained in the server 6, by following the following steps, coordinated by the processing module 5:

printing the text on leaflets 13 in the printing module 2;

- Binding the sheets together in the binding module 3; then,

cutting into the cutting module 4 a connected volume 14 thus obtained; this cut consists of putting the book to its dimensions by removing by a cutter excess areas while forming the slices of the book.

The book 12 comes out of the cutting module in one or more copies, the cutting module 4 in a finished state, that is to say ready to be, for example, sold or shipped. As illustrated in FIGS. 2 to 4, the system 20 comprises interface means 19 with an operator 21, so that the operator 21 can create a personalized request 22 for the production of the book 12.

In a first embodiment, illustrated in FIG. 2, the operator 21 has his own computer which can be at home or in the company of the operator 21. In the example illustrated, the interface means 19 comprise notably an Internet access and a website allowing access, directly or indirectly, to the server 6 and the formulation of the request 22 by the operator 21. The request is processed by the server 6 which generates a print file 24 which is transmitted to the machine 10 for the production of the book 12.

In a second embodiment, illustrated in FIG. 3, the operator 21 uses a computer 25 directly connected with a machine 10. This computer can be that of a bookstore, a sales place or a place of sale. provision of the work having the machine 10. In the example shown, the interface means 19 include access to the machine through a local network 26 and a graphical interface hosted by the computer 25 22. The machine 10 is provided to transmit the request 22 to the server 6, directly or indirectly, via a public network 9, for example the Internet. The request 22 is then processed by the server 6 which generates a print file 24 which is transmitted to the machine 10 for the production of the book 12.

In a third embodiment, illustrated in FIG. 4, the interface means 19 with the operator 21 are an integral part of the machine 10; they include in particular a keyboard / screen assembly 27 and a graphical interface hosted by the machine 10 and allowing the formulation of the request 22 by the operator. The machine 10 is provided to transmit the request 22 to the server 6, directly or indirectly, via a public network 9, for example the Internet. The request 22 is then processed by the server 6 which generates a print file 24 which is transmitted to the machine 10 for the production of the book 12.

The interface means may also be provided, in particular, for acquiring an own file, for example a picture or a text, specific to the user, for the purpose of personalizing the book 12. The request 22 necessarily comprises a reference to a text accessible via the server 6, or stored on the server 6 and in addition, one or more personalization parameters, which may belong in particular to the following list:

- a number of copies of the book to be printed;

a choice of a machine 10 by which the book must be manufactured, especially if there are several machines in different places;

one or more other texts available via the server 6, or specific to the operator, with a view to concatenating them with the first text in the same book 12;

- a request for dedication, the dedication can be that of the operator, printing a book he wants to offer and dedicate to the person to whom he offers it; a request for dedication can be made to the author of the book by the one who wants to print it; the dedication of the author can be automatic or not; for example, it may be subject to a response from the author of the text, and may be personalized by that author;

- the insertion of an ex-libris specific to the operator; or,

- the choice of a glue color for the inner sheets in the cover. A personalization parameter may also be the provision of a back image to be printed, in whole or in part, on the back 29 of the book 12. In the example of FIG. 5, this back image 30 is only partially printed on the back. back of book 12; the complete image is intended to be reconstituted in its entirety by the juxtaposition of several backs of books, each of these books comprising a respective portion of said image. In the example illustrated in FIG. 5, a first part 31 of the image 30 has already been printed on the back of two previous books 12A, a second part 32 is intended to be printed on the back 29 of the book 12, and, a third part 33 of the image is reserved, stored, for printing on the back of one or more books next. In the illustrated example, the dorsal image is that of a sailboat, adapted if the operator is a lover of sea tales, for example, the book 12 having for title, in French, "Sailboats and Sailors" ( see Figure 6).

As illustrated in FIG. 6, a personalization parameter can make it possible to define the use of the surplus zones 16, 17, 18, that is to say the zones of the connected volume 14 which constitute falls after cutting and setting. dimensions of the book.

Among the surplus areas, an upper zone 16, located beyond the upper edge, or leading edge, of what constitutes the book 12, and a lower zone 18, located beyond the lower edge, or slice tail, which constitutes the book 12, are each connected by a respective portion 29A, 29B of the back 29, 28A, 29B formed in the binding step. These areas can therefore constitute in themselves a booklet. It may therefore be advantageous to print these areas to make them a separate book; a parameter for customizing the request of the operator 21 may be the choice of a text available via the server to be printed in one of the areas 16, 18. Among the surplus areas, the lateral zone 17, located beyond the side edge, or gutter, of what constitutes the book 12, consists of loose sheets, that is to say not connected together. Side area 17 can be used to print business cards or bookmarks.

In the illustrated example, the surplus areas 16, 17, 19 are used, not in response to the request 22 of the operator, but to a complementary and automated request from a holder of the machine 10. In this example , the holder, "the library of the sea", uses the upper and lateral zones to edit advertising documents, without the knowledge of the operator 21. The lower zone, hatched in Figure 6, is discarded because considered too small. The upper zone 16 is used to print a flipbook ("flipbook" in English) with a logo 36 of the holder, and having as subject "the sea", in relation to the identity of the holder. Each sheet of the lateral zone 17 is used to print an advertisement bookmark forming business card and having, in addition to the logo 36, coordinates of "the library of the sea".

The method according to the invention also allows self-publishing a book. Thus, if the operator 21 is an author of a printable work in the form of a book, the method may include a prior step of downloading his work, on the server 6; the method then comprising the manufacture of a number of copies of this book. The machine 10, and particularly its processing module 5, can advantageously be provided for independently processing the book cover sheets, generally of higher grammage and printed in color, and the internal sheets of the book, generally of grammages lower than those of the book. cover and printed in black and white. Of course, the invention is not limited to the examples which have just been described.

Thus, rather than the original document is stored on a server, it can be stored on another computer medium, for example an optical disk, accessible by the server. The server can also be replaced by a USB key, or another storage device, directly connected to the machine. The original document can also be a physical document, loaded by scanning.

In addition to personalizing the back of the cover, it may be possible, especially if you are the author and also for books free of rights, to customize the entire cover, including the first, second, third or back cover. This customization, like that of the back, can be done freely or from models.

In the example illustrated by the dashed lines, in particular in Figure 6, the trimming is provided first along the side edge, and then along the upper and lower edges. More conventionally, the trimming can be done first along the upper and lower edges, the corresponding areas being longer, then along the side edge, the lateral area then being shorter.

A machine according to the invention can, for example, print a book in a single copy, on demand, and / or until, for example, a small series of 250 copies of the same book in a single day. It also allows to print several different books, without human intervention.

Such a printing, distribution and distribution system makes it possible to have many delocalized printing points, thus making it possible to automatically produce the same book in various places and almost instantaneously.

Claims

claims

A method for making a book (12), in one or more copies, upon request (22) of an operator (21) from at least one original digital file, comprises the following steps:

- supply

at least one server (6) for storing therein the at least one original digital file, said file comprising at least one text for the document and, preferably, formatting information for said text;

printing means (1,2), which may be distant from said server;

o binding means (3);

cutting means (4) for forming slices of the document; and,

interface means (19) with said operator, the operator being able to use a remote connection (9) of the server;

acquisition of said request (22), said request comprising at least one personalization parameter;

generating a print file, preferably by said server, in particular according to:

o said request (22); and,

o the at least one original file;

printing the booklet sheets (12) according to said print file;

- binding said sheets together; and,

cutting surplus zones (16, 17, 18) beyond said slices.

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the at least one personalization parameter is chosen from:

- the concatenation of several texts, each text can be contained in a respective original file;

- the personalization of the cover;

- applying at least a portion of a dorsal image (30), that is to say printed on the back of the book (12);

- a request for dedication, the dedication can be automatic or subject to a response from an author of the text, preferably customizable by this author;

the insertion of an ex-libris specific to said operator;

- the insertion of a logo; or,

- the choice of a glue color for the inner sheets in the cover.

3. Method according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the at least one personalization parameter comprises parameters of use of the surplus areas (16-18).

4. Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the printing means (1, 2), binding (3) and cutting (4) are grouped into a single machine (10) manufacturing of the book.

5. Method according to claim 4, characterized in that it comprises the supply of several machines, the request (22) preferably comprising a choice of the machine (10) by which the book (12) is to be manufactured.

6. Method according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the means comprise means for remote access, for example through a public network, for example the Internet.