Printing plate processing apparatus and method of detecting the location of a register mark on a printing plate

1. Field of the Invention The present invention provides a method of detecting the locations of right and left register marks respectively burned onto right- and left-hand side portions of a printing plate based upon image data of images respectively captured within an image processing area with right and left vertical edges respectively extending in the Y-direction, and upper and lower horizontal edges extending in the X-direction. The method includes detecting the center coordinates in the X-direction of the right and left register marks based upon the image data obtained from substantially the entire portion of the image data processing area; detecting the center coordinate in the Y-direction of the right register mark based upon the image data obtained from a right-hand side portion of the image data processing area extending up to at least the center coordinate in the X-direction of the right register mark; and detecting the center coordinate in the Y-direction of the left register mark based upon the image data obtained from a left-hand side portion of the image data processing area extending up to at least the center coordinate in the X-direction of the left register mark.