Patent ID: 7961247

Claim:
An apparatus for acquiring an image of a predetermined extract of a moving printed product within a printing press for printing of the printed product including the extract such that the extract is printed on sequential sheets during printing, the apparatus comprising: at least one camera directed to an area of observation to capture images thereof, the camera being a black-and-white camera and having a two-dimensional image sensor that supplies intensity signals without color information; an illumination device aimed at the area of observation for pulse-like illumination thereof during a series of occurrences of the predetermined extract of the printed product from the printing press in the area of observation, the illumination device having an area of illumination that completely covers the area of observation of the camera and being configured to selectively emit light within each of a plurality of spectral regions; and a control device for controlling the illumination device to sequentially illuminate the area of observation with a sequence of light pulses of different spectral compositions during passage of each of a corresponding sequence of pages, such that only one of the plurality of spectral regions is emitted for each one of the sequence of pages and such that only one spectral image is acquired during each occurrence of the predetermined extract of the printed product in the area of observation.