Patent ID: 8690461
Filing Date: 2014-04-08
Classification: B41F,B41P

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for controlling a printing operation of a printing press comprising: a plurality of motors; a plurality of sensors, each sensor associated with a respective motor, each of the sensors providing a signal representing a parameter to be controlled; a plurality of controllers, each controller associated with a respective motor, each of the controllers having a first input port coupled to the associated sensor, an output port coupled to the associated motor, a bus interface and a second input port for selectively setting the controller as one of a master device and a slave device; and a bus connected to each of the controllers via respective bus interfaces of the controllers; each controller including a user interface, the user interface connected to the second input port, the user interface of each controller configured to selectively set a corresponding one of the plurality of controllers as one of a master device and a slave device; any one of the controllers being selectively set as a master controller and the remaining controllers are set as slave controllers, the master controller generates a control signal based on a signal from the first input port and outputs the control signal to the associated motor via the output port and to the slave controllers via the bus; and each of the slave controllers outputs a signal on the respective output port to the respective associated motors based on the received control signal.