Systems and processes for persistent marking of flexo plates with isolated microstructures and plates marked therewith

The process of claim 28, wherein the processing marks comprise one or more marks used for alignment, registration, or some other process-workflow-related purpose.

-16. (canceled)

A system for orienting a printing plate on a substrate, the printing plate having at least one isolated micro alignment mark formed by the process of claim 28, the system comprising ring of LEDs visible from a front, printing surface of the printing plate disposed on the substrate, the system configured to receive a printing plate in an orientation in which the isolated micro alignment mark is characteristically illuminated by the ring of LEDs in a characteristic illumination pattern when the printing plate is aligned on the substrate with the isolated micro alignment mark in a desired location centered relative to the LED ring.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having data stored therein representing instructions for imaging a first plurality of printing mask openings defining a screened image for resolving to printing structures on a printing plate and a second plurality of non-printing mask openings defining non-printing indicia, wherein the non-printing indicia includes at least one isolated non-printing dot on the plate corresponding to a presence of a supercell that defines a plurality of exposed pixels corresponding to the second plurality of non-printing mask openings and a plurality of unexposed pixels comprising an absence of openings in the mask disposed within a boundary of the supercell.

(canceled)

(canceled)

The process of claim 28, wherein each supercell comprises a first number of exposed pixel clusters, each exposed pixel cluster comprising a second number of exposed pixels, the exposed pixel clusters spaced apart from one another by a third number of unexposed pixels, and a padding between the supercell boundary and a closest exposed pixel cluster defined by a fourth number of unexposed pixels.

A process for placing non-printing image information on a floor of a flexographic photopolymer printing plate, the method comprising forming a series of isolated non-printing dots corresponding to the non-printing image information, each dot in the series of isolated dots having a non-printing elevation above the plate floor, the series of isolated dots forming one or more patterns that represent one or more alphanumeric signs, digital codes, or alignment marks, the process comprising disposing a mask on top of the photopolymer plate in an uncured state, imaging the mask to form an imaged mask in accordance with an image file comprising machine readable instructions that are based at least in part upon the non-printing image information, curing the photopolymer with actinic radiation through the mask, and removing uncured polymer, wherein each isolated non-printing dot on the plate corresponds to a presence of a supercell comprising a pixel cluster of openings in the mask defined by a plurality of exposed pixels comprising openings in the mask and unexposed pixels comprising an absence of openings in the mask disposed within a supercell boundary.

(canceled)

-38. (canceled)

-51. (canceled)