Patent EP-2444867-A1 (EP)
Inventor: ZANICHELLI PAOLO
IPC: B65B61/26
Filed: 2010-10-20
Abstract: A Packaging System comprising: 
• a Packaging Line designed to produce Packaged Consumer Products; 
• a Marking System designed to mark individual or packs of Packaged Consumer Products with graphical information; and 
• a Line Controller designed to control the Packaging Line and the Marking System; 
wherein the Marking System includes: 
• a Marking Equipment comprising: 
- one or more Marking Devices provided along the Packaging Line and designed to apply graphical information onto individual or packs of Packaged Consumer Products in response to received Marking Command(s); and 
- one or more Marking Device Controllers designed to control the Marking Device(s) in response to received Marking Instruction(s); and 
 
• a Marking Server comprising one or more Repositories designed to store one or more Mark Layout Templates, wherein a Mark Layout Template is an hardware-independent description of associated graphical information to be applied onto individual or packs of Packaged Consumer Products, and contains production-independent data, and place holders valorised to mark individual or packs of Packaged Consumer Products with production-dependent data; 
wherein the Marking Server is designed to: 
• receive Production Batch Data representing a Production Batch assigned to the Packaging Line for production, and associated Template Identifier(s) of Mark Layout Template(s) requisite to mark individual or packs of Packaged Consumer Products produced during the Production Batch; wherein Production Batch Data includes a Production Batch Identifier; and 
• provide a Marking Device Controller with stored Mark Layout Template(s) and Production Batch Data requisite to mark individual or packs of Packaged Consumer Products produced during a Production Batch assigned to the Packaging Line; 
wherein the Line Controller is designed to: 
• receive Production Batch Data representing a Production Batch assigned to the Packaging Line for production; and 
• generate Marking Instruction(s) for associated Marking Device Controller(s), wherein a Marking Instruction for a Marking Device Controller includes the Production Batch Identifier of the Production Batch assigned to the Packaging Line for production, and Marking Device Identifier(s) of the Marking Device(s) to be involved to mark individual or packs of Packaged Consumer Products produced during a Production Batch; 
wherein a Marking Device Controller is designed to: 
• receive Marking Instruction(s) from the Line Controller; 
• fetch out from a Repository in the Marking Server stored Mark Layout Template(s) and Production Batch Data requisite to mark individual or packs of Packaged Consumer Products produced during a Production Batch assigned to the Packaging Line for production; and 
• generate Marking Command(s) for Marking Device(s) controlled by the Marking Device Controller based on fetched Mark Layout Template(s) and Production Batch Data, wherein a Marking Command for a Marking Device is designed to cause, when executed, the Marking Device to mark individual or packs of Packaged Consumer Products with graphical information including production-independent data contained in a fetched Mark Layout Template and production-dependent data contained in fetched Batch Data, wherein the production-independent data and the production-dependent data are applied onto the individual or packs of Packaged Consumer Products according to the fetched Mark Layout Template.