# US 2013/0277342 A1 · Printing plate making apparatus and printing plate making method

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- Number: US 2013/0277342 A1
- Document ID: US20130277342A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 13/649,132
- Filed: 2012-10-11
- Published: 2013-10-24
- Earliest claimed: 2008-03-07
- Assignees: FUJIFILM Corporation
- Applicants: Fujifilm Corporation
- Inventors: Ichirou MIYAGAWA; Takeshi KISO
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20130277342A1

## CPC

- B41C 1/05: Heat-generating engraving heads, e.g. laser beam, electron beam
- B23K 26/361: for deburring or mechanical trimming (B23K26/351 takes precedence)
- B41C: PROCESSES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OR REPRODUCTION OF PRINTING SURFACES (photomechanical processes for producing printing surfaces G03F; photoelectrical processes for producing printing surfaces G03G)
- B23K: SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM

## Abstract

A printing plate making apparatus which scans a recording medium by light beam in a predetermined pixel pitch, thereby engraving a surface of the recording medium to make a printing plate, wherein an upper surface of a convex portion of light power of the light beam engraving all or part of an adjacent region which is adjacent to a convex portion which is to be left in a convex shape on a surface of the recording medium is set to an threshold engraving energy or less, and light power of light beam in a vicinity region in vicinity of outer side of a region defined as the adjacent region is brought higher than light power in the adjacent region.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A printing plate making method for engraving a surface of a recording medium to make a printing plate, the method comprising scanning a recording medium with a light beam at a predetermined pixel pitch, wherein
a light power of the light beam engraving all or part of an adjacent region which is adjacent to a convex portion which is to be left in a convex shape on a surface of the recording medium is reduced so as to be equal to or less than the value of a threshold engraving energy, at the upper surface of the convex portion, and
the light power of a light beam for engraving a vicinity region in the vicinity of an outer side of the adjacent region is increased to a value than the light power used in the adjacent region.

### Claim 2

A printing plate making apparatus configured to scan a recording medium with a light beam at a predetermined pixel pitch, thereby engraving a surface of the recording medium to make a printing plate, wherein:
the beam diameter of the light is larger than the pixel pitch; and
when scanning an adjacent region adjacent to a convex region which is a region of a surface of the recording medium that is to be left in a convex shape, the printing plate making apparatus is configured to set the intensity of the light beam so that the exposure energy of the light beam in the convex region is equal to or less than the threshold engraving energy that is a least exposure energy required for engraving the recording medium; and
outside the adjacent region, the printing plate making apparatus is configured to set the intensity of the light beam so that the exposure energy is equal to or higher than the exposure energy in the adjacent region.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The printing plate making apparatus of claim 2, configured to turn off the light beam in the adjacent region and to turn on the light beam outside the adjacent area.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The printing plate making apparatus of claim 2, wherein the adjacent region comprises one pixel or more.

### Claim 5 (depends on 2)

The printing plate making apparatus of claim 2, wherein in a vicinity region in the vicinity and outside the adjacent region, the printing plate making apparatus is configured to set the intensity of the light beam so that the vicinity region is exposed with a higher exposure energy than a region outside the vicinity region.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The printing plate making apparatus of claim 5, wherein, at the vicinity region, the printing plate making apparatus is configured to carry out engraving by pulse exposure in which a pulse width is one pixel or less.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The printing plate making apparatus of claim 6, wherein the pulse width of the pulse exposure is 0.5 pixel or less, and is preferably 0.25 pixel or less.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The printing plate making apparatus of claim 1, wherein the whole periphery of the convex region is the adjacent region.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The printing plate making apparatus of claim 1, wherein a portion of the periphery of the convex region is the adjacent region.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The printing plate making apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an imaging lens configured to focus the light beam engraving the recording medium after the light beam is emitted from a fiber array light source.