Control apparatus and method for controlling a printed-product processing system

A computer implemented method for controlling a printed product processing system, which comprises a collecting system having a conveyor and a plurality of feed conveyors for creating product collections from products fed by the feed conveyors, the method comprising:

• detecting and storing in a computerized control device system configuration parameters which define a configuration of the printed product processing system,
• detecting and storing in the computerized control device production configuration parameters which define a production of product collections created from a plurality of products fed, and
• determining in the computerized control device run time data during the production, by a process that comprises
• selecting in the computerized control device one of a plurality of stored production strategies, each of which specifies the control of the printed product processing system and is assigned a strategy assessment, wherein the strategy assessment includes a priority value and at least one of an expected rejection value of faulty collections or an expected production performance value, wherein the priority value is indicative of whether a production strategy is preferred or subordinated relative to other production strategies of the plurality of stored production strategies, each production strategy comprising at least one of instructions or control parameters for controlling the printed product processing system, during the production on the basis of the stored system configuration parameters, the stored production configuration parameters, the strategy assessment associated with the individual stored production strategies, and the run time data determined, and activating the selected stored production strategy for controlling the printed product processing system in response to a change in specific run time data for the dynamic selection of the stored production strategy, the run time data indicating a failure of a system component of the printed product processing system.

A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory tangible computer readable storage medium with stored computer code, which is configured to control one or a plurality of processors of a control device for controlling a printed product processing system which comprises a collecting system having a conveyor and a plurality of feed conveyors for creating product collections from products fed by the feed conveyers, such that the processors are configured to:

• detect and store system configuration parameters which define a configuration of the printed product processing system,
• detect and store production configuration parameters which define a production of product collections created from a plurality of products fed,
• determine run time data during the production,
• select one of a plurality of defined production strategies which in each case determine the control of the printed product processing system and is assigned a strategy assessment, wherein the strategy assessment includes a priority value and at least one of an expected rejection value of faulty collections or an expected production performance value, wherein the priority value is indicative of whether a production strategy is preferred or subordinated relative to other production strategies of the plurality of stored production strategies, and which comprise at least one of stored instructions or control parameters for controlling the printed product processing system, during the production on the basis of the stored system configuration parameters, the stored production configuration parameters, the strategy assessment associated with the individual defined production strategies, and the run time data determined, and activate the selected defined production strategy for controlling the printed product processing system in response to a change in specific run time data for the dynamic selection of the defined production strategy, the run time data indicating a failure of a system component of the printed product processing system.

A computerized control device for controlling a printed product processing system, which comprises a collecting system having a conveyor and a plurality of feed conveyors for creating product collections from products fed by the feed conveyors, the computerized control device comprising:

• a system configurator for detecting and storing system configuration parameters which define a configuration of the printed product processing system,
• a production configurator for detecting and storing production configuration parameters which define a production of product collections created from a plurality of products fed, and
• non-transitory computer storage having stored therein a plurality of stored production strategies which in each case specify the control of the printed product processing system and is assigned a strategy assessment, wherein the strategy assessment includes a priority value and at least one of an expected rejection value of faulty collections or an expected production performance value, wherein the priority value is indicative of whether a production strategy is preferred or subordinated relative to other production strategies of the plurality of stored production strategies, and which comprise at least one of stored instructions or control parameters for controlling the printed product processing system, and
• a strategy selector, which is activated in response to a change in specific run time data for the dynamic selection of one of the stored production strategies, wherein the strategy selector is configured to select and to activate one of the stored production strategies for controlling the printed product processing system during the production on the basis of the stored system configuration parameters, on the basis of the stored production configuration parameters and on the basis of run time data determined during the production, and
• the strategy selector being configured to select one of the stored production strategies in response to the strategy assessment associated with the individual stored production strategies, and run time data comprising run-time-dependent parameters or variables of the printed product processing system which are not known before the commencement of the production.