METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IMAGING A SEAMLESS PRINT MEDIUM

A plate imaging apparatus and method for imaging a seamless printing member preferably loaded onto a rotating plate cylinder. The plate imaging apparatus moves a writing head in fixed increments in an axial direction relative to the plate cylinder. With the writing head fixed at a first axial position, the imaging apparatus causes a circumferential swath to be imaged onto the seamless printing member commencing from a first starting point. With the plate cylinder still rotating, the imaging apparatus then steps the writing head to the next axial position, thereby defining a second starting point once the writing head is ready to resume imaging that is offset from the first starting point. The imaging apparatus then causes a second circumferential swath to be imaged onto the seamless printing member commencing from the second starting point.