Patent ID: 8001896

Claim:
An ink metering device ( 04 ) of a printing couple ( 01 ) having a printing couple cylinder ( 02 ) embodied as a forme cylinder ( 02 ) and an inking unit, said ink metering device ( 04 ) having a first number (m) of physical ink zones (Z P,i ) arranged side by side in the longitudinal direction of the printing couple and each having a first ink zone width, which first number of physical ink zones can each be adjusted individually using a first number of physical ink metering elements (D i ), for the individual, section by section adjustment of a quantity of ink to be applied, to each of a number of print ink zones of a printed page of a print substrate, and further having a control station ( 07 ) which control station has a first number (n) of fixed width operator elements B i assigned to a first number of virtual ink zones (Z V,j ) of the printed page, said operator elements being usable for controlling said metering elements of said physical ink zones (D i ), wherein a segmentation of the physical ink zones (Z P,i ) of the ink metering device ( 04 ), based upon a width (b S ) of the printed page, and with respect to at least one of a number and position of the physical ink zones (Z P,i ) of the ink metering device ( 04 ) across the width (b S ) of a printed page (S) is different from a segmentation of the virtual ink zones (Z V,i ) on the control station ( 07 ), based upon the width of the printed page, with respect to at least one of a number and position of the virtual ink zones (Z V,j ) on the control station ( 07 ) across the width (b S ) of a printed page (S), and wherein at least two of said first number of physical ink metering elements (D i ) are assigned to at least one of the operator elements assigned to said virtual ink zone (B j ), using a computing means, with respect to relevance in the positioning process and following the selection of said operator element assigned to said ink zone (B i ), said first number of said operator elements being a fixed number with a fixed width that is invariant with respect to a variable width of the printed page printed by the printing couple, said inking unit having an inking unit width greater than a maximum width of the print substrate capable of being printed by the printing couple.