Patent ID: 8757060

Claim:
A method of operating a control system of a drum imager having rotatable drum, the method comprising: loading a printing plate from a loading position on a loading area on to the drum of the drum imager, the loading area adjacent to the drum, the printing plate including material that is curable by irradiation with ultraviolet radiation; imaging the loaded printing plate to form an imaged plate; and unloading the printing plate from the imager onto an unloading area separate from the loading area, the unloading area being for holding a single plate the method further comprising automatically irradiating the printing plate under control of the control system, the irradiating using ultraviolet radiation and controlled to occur prior to or after the imaging during one or both of loading of the plate and unloading of the plate, wherein while one plate is positioned at the loading position on the loading area, another plate can be unloaded from the imager or be situated at the unloading area.