JPH0736120A - Method and device for printing photograph - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To concurrently perform individual processing for plural cartridges of film and to perform printing work with high efficiency by feeding film housed in the cartridge to a circumferential path, providing a scanner part and a printing exposure means halfway through the path and performing concurrent processing so that reading data may be performed independently of printing. CONSTITUTION:A rotary table 2 is rotatably provided in the center of a substrate 1 and four cartridge holders 3 are installed on the orthogonal center lines of the table 2. The scanner parts 10 are installed at the position of the cartridge holder 3 located at a position obtained by advancing a phase by 90 deg. from the cartridge holder 3 corresponding to a cartridge feeding part 6 in a direction shown by an arrow and at a position on the center line passing the center of the table 2 and on the outer side from the table 2. The printing exposure means 30 is installed at a position on an opposite side to the scanner part 10, and the scanner part 10 and the exposure means 30 are made independent of each other so as to freely and concurrently process the plural cartridges.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a photographic printing method and apparatus for printing a film in a cartridge.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional photographic printing apparatus for printing a color image from a film onto a photosensitive material, it is equipped with a scanner unit, a printing exposure unit, and a film conveying device, and the printing conditions such as image density from the film are preliminarily set in the scanner unit. It is known that an image is optically read, the density of light from a light source is adjusted by a light control filter of any of the three primary colors based on the data, the film is irradiated, and an image is printed on a photosensitive material.

The scanner unit is illuminated by a light source different from the printing / exposure means, the image information is read by a sensor that optically detects information such as image density, converted into an electrical signal, and the printing conditions are sent to the printing / exposure means. .

The film from which information such as image density has been read is conveyed by a film conveying device and sent to a printing exposure means, where printing is performed. In this case, as a method for determining the printing conditions, the image density information of each frame of the entire film is read, the image density information of a plurality of frames is averaged to calculate the average density, and the average density is used as a reference for each frame. The method of determining the printing conditions of is adopted.

[0005]

By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional photographic printing apparatus, each film is manually fed into the apparatus, or a plurality of film terminals are spliced to form reels. It has been proposed that the film is wound and the continuous film is automatically fed into the apparatus from a film supply section.

The film fed in this way is
Image information is read by a scanner unit arranged along the path of the conveying device, and printing exposure is performed based on the data. In that case, generally, functional portions such as reading image density and calculating the information, and a printing machine. The processing speed of the former is faster and that of the latter is slower.

Due to such a difference in processing speed, generally, the following 1 is performed until the printing operation is completed for one film.
The image density on the book film is not read and the image forming apparatus stands by, and the printing operation is stopped and stands by while the image density is being read after printing is completed.

However, when such a processing method is adopted, when a plurality of films are continuously processed, the operating time is wasted so much that the processing cannot be carried out efficiently and at high speed. Therefore, a photographic printing apparatus is conceivable in which the scanner unit and the printing exposure means are independently driven, and a loop portion for adjusting the film feeding is provided between them.

If a continuous film is wound on a reel and connected to the photographic printing apparatus as described above, the processing speed is considerably improved and the efficiency can be improved.

However, such devices typically have
Since only one reel supplying the film can be installed, and continuous films wound on a plurality of reels cannot be processed in parallel at the same time, the processing speed of the photo printing apparatus cannot be said to be sufficient. There is room for improvement.

In view of the above-mentioned problems of the conventional photographic printing apparatus, the present invention feeds the cartridge on the circumferential path in order to perform the printing process with high efficiency without separating the film containing the cartridge from the cartridge or splicing. An object of the present invention is to provide a photographic printing method and apparatus in which a plurality of cartridge-containing films can be processed in parallel by a scanner unit and a printing exposure unit which are independently provided on the way of the path.

[0012]

As a means for solving the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a film stored in a cartridge sent on a circumferential path of a predetermined radius on a center line passing through an arbitrary position of the circumferential path. The image information of the film is read out by the scanner unit provided outside the circumferential path, the printing conditions are set based on the data, and the unwound film is rewound into the cartridge, and the cartridge is further moved on the circumferential path. The film is fed again to the printing exposure means provided outside the circumferential path on the center line passing through other positions of the circumferential path, and printing exposure is performed according to the printing conditions set for each frame, and each of the above processes is performed. This is a photographic printing method that is performed in parallel with respect to a plurality of cartridges by an independent scanner section and printing exposure means.

And as an apparatus for carrying out this method,
A rotary table that is rotatable with respect to a substrate for mounting various members is provided, and a plurality of cartridge holders are provided around the rotary table at appropriate intervals, and the cartridge holder is provided when the rotary table is stopped at an arbitrary position. The cartridge feeding unit is provided at a position on the substrate corresponding to one of the above, and the scanner unit is provided at a position on the substrate corresponding to the other cartridge holding units, and the rotary table is rotated at an arbitrary angle to correspond to the scanner unit. A photographic printing apparatus is provided with a printing exposure unit corresponding to the cartridge holding unit at a position on the substrate to which the cartridge holding unit has moved, and the scanner unit and the printing exposure unit are independent of each other, and a plurality of cartridges can be processed in parallel. It was a device.

In this photographic printing apparatus, the scanner section and the printing exposure means may be provided at positions facing each other on the center line of the rotary table.

Alternatively, the center distance between the scanner unit and the printing / exposure unit may be matched with the corresponding center distance between the non-rotating printing apparatuses, and the film transporting unit and the rotary table may be interchangeable.

In any case, it is preferable that the cartridge holding portion is provided with an automatic opening / closing mechanism for the light shielding door of the cartridge and a driving portion for discharging and rewinding the film.

Further, a stocker for storing the cartridge may be provided near the cartridge feeding section so that the cartridge can be automatically supplied.

Further, a bar code detector may be provided on the cover plate of the cartridge holding portion to detect the cartridge number displayed on the cartridge and print the number on the back surface of the photosensitive paper when printing. .

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view of the photographic printing apparatus of the embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II.

As shown in FIG. 1, the photographic printing apparatus is provided with a rotatable table 2 rotatably in the center of a substrate 1 for mounting various parts. On the periphery of the rotary table 2, four cartridge holders 3 are provided on the center line of the rotary table 2 orthogonal to each other. The cartridge holder 3 is driven by the drive unit 4, the details of which will be described later. Reference numeral 5 in FIG. 2 denotes a drive unit for the rotary table 2.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a cartridge feeding section provided on the substrate 1, and feeds a cartridge containing a film to the cartridge holder 3 when one of the cartridge holders 3 on the rotary table 2 is stopped at a corresponding position. Insert or eject the processed cartridge.

On the center line passing through the center of the rotary table 2 and the position of the rotary table 2 where the 90 ° phase advances in the direction of the arrow in FIG. The scanner unit 10 is provided at a position on the outer side.

As shown in FIG. 2, the scanner unit 10 is composed of a scanner unit 10 'and a film feeding unit 10 "provided on the substrate 1. The scanner unit 10' is the same as the conventional one, and is provided by a light source 11. Filter light 1
2. The film F is irradiated through the shutter 13, the mirror tunnel 14, and the scanner opening 15 provided in the substrate 1, and the image light is received by the scanner 18 through the reflection mirror 16 and the lens 17.

The film feeding unit 10 "temporarily feeds the film F by feeding the film F wound on the cartridge X set in the cartridge holder 3 by a feed roller 19 provided on the substrate 1 and comprising a plurality of roller pairs. It is provided so as to be rewound to the cartridge X of the cartridge holder 3 after the film is wound into the winder 20 and the reading of each frame image of the film F by the scanner unit 10 'is completed. Reference numeral 22 is a magnetic head, and 23 is a perforation detector.

A printing and exposing means 30 is provided at a position outside the rotary table 2 on the side opposite to the scanner section 10. The printing / exposure means 30 comprises a printing / exposure unit 30 'and a film feeding unit 30 ".

The printing / exposure unit 30 'has the same mechanism as that of the conventional one, and allows the light from the light source 31 to pass through the heat ray absorption filter 32, the light control filter 33, the mirror tunnel 34, and the printing opening 35 provided in the substrate 1. The film F is irradiated, and the image light is printed and exposed through the lens 36 for each frame of the photosensitive material PC held by the paper mask 37.

The film feeding unit 30 ″ is basically the same as the film feeding unit 10 ″ of the scanner section 10 and includes a feed roller 39 and a winder 40. Reference numeral 41 is a perforation detector, and 42 is a magnetic head.

The scanner unit 10 and the printing / exposure unit 30 described above are independently provided and driven independently.

Further, the center distance between the scanner section 10 and the printing / exposure means 30 is not the exclusive machine for printing the film housed in the cartridge as in this embodiment, but the film in the longitudinal direction as in the conventional case. If the distance between the scanner unit and the printing exposure means of the photo printing apparatus of the type which conveys by the transporting device is matched, the substrate 1 including the rotary table 2 can be removed and the printing method of the conventional type or vice versa can be performed. It can also be used as a device.

3 to 6 show details of the cartridge holder 3, the drive unit 4, and the cartridge feeding unit 6. The cartridge holder 3 is a box-shaped box having a lid plate 302 whose side wall 301 can be opened and closed. The cover plate 302 is the small motor 3
It is assumed that the opening and closing is performed by 03, but any other opening and closing method may be used. Reference numeral 304 is a bar code detector.

The drive unit 4 is provided so as to come into contact with and separate from the cartridge holder 3, and the drive unit casing 400 is provided.
The guide 402 is moved back and forth by an air cylinder 401, for example. The rotational driving force of the motor 403 is transmitted to the rotating shaft 405 via the belt 404, and the driving force of the solenoid 406 is transmitted to the rotating shaft 408 via the link bar 407. The tips of the rotating shafts 405 and 408 are
When the drive unit 4 is joined to the cartridge holder 3, it penetrates through the side wall 301 and protrudes inside the holder, and is fitted into the engagement hole of the cartridge X housed in the holder in advance.

A slide base 601 in the shape of a pillow for receiving the cartridge X is provided in the cartridge feeding unit 6 so as to be movable in a groove 602 provided in the radial direction of the rotary table 2. As shown in the sectional view of FIG.
A rack 605 that engages with a pinion 604 that is rotationally driven by a motor 603 is provided below the first apron stand 601a, and thereby the cartridge X can be fed into the cartridge holder 3 from the feed position.

Although the cartridge X is shown in the shape of a cochlea, it is not limited to this and various cartridges can be adopted. Illustrated cartridge X
Has a core a for winding the film F and a shaft b for opening and closing the light-shielding door c, and engaging holes a ′ and b ′ are provided at the ends of the core a and the shaft b. A barcode d is printed on the outside of the cartridge X in advance.

The printing process by the photographic printing apparatus of the embodiment having the above structure is as follows.

When any one of the cartridge holders 3 is stopped at the position (A) of the cartridge feeding section 6, the driving section 4 is disengaged from the cartridge holder 3, the lid plate 302 fixing the cartridge X is opened, and the cartridge X is opened. The slide base 601 housed inside the holder 3 is sent to the cartridge sending unit 6 by the drive of the motor 603.

If there is a cartridge X which has already been printed, the cartridge X is removed and the next cartridge X is set on the slide base 601. In addition,
Although not shown, a cylinder having a push rod used when a cartridge stocker described later is provided may be provided for automatic ejection.

The next cartridge X is set on the slide base 601, and after waiting until the processing at all other positions is completed, the slide base 601 is sent to the cartridge holder 3 and the cartridge X is stored in the holder. . Next, the cover plate 302 is closed, the cartridge X is fixed, and the drive unit 4 is joined to the cartridge holder 3. In this state, the rotary table 2 is rotated 90 ° and the cartridge X is transferred to the position (B) of the scanner unit 10. Meanwhile, the lid plate 3
After closing 02, the bar code detector 304 reads the cartridge number represented by the bar code d of the cartridge X.

At the position of the scanner section 10, the image density / magnetic data of the film F stored in the cartridge X is detected. Therefore, the film F is first sent out from the cartridge X. Since the tip of the rotary shaft 408 of the drive unit 4 is engaged with the engagement hole b ′ of the shaft b for opening and closing the light-shielding door c of the cartridge X, when the solenoid 406 is driven to rotate the rotary shaft 408, the light-shielding door is opened. c is opened.

Next, the motor 403 is driven and the power thereof is transmitted to the winding core a through the belt 404 and the rotating shaft 405, and the film F is paid out. The unwound film F is fed by the feed roller 19 and wound on the winder 20. Meanwhile, the detection of the image position by the perforation detector 23,
The magnetic data of the film is detected by the magnetic head 22 and the latent image bar code is detected by the bar code detector 21.

The feeding of each frame image detected by the perforation detector 23 is temporarily stopped at the position of the scanner opening 15 and the image density is measured. The measurement of the image density by the scanner unit is general, and the description is omitted.

When the reading of the density of each frame image is completed,
The feed roller 19, the drive motor 403, and the winder 20 are rotated in the reverse direction, and the film is rewound into the cartridge X. Then, the rotary table 2 is rotated by 90 °, and the cartridge X is transferred to the calculation / communication position (C).

At the calculation / communication position, the printing condition for each image based on the measured image density data, magnetic data and bar code data is calculated and determined. This calculation is
The operation may be performed while stopping at the communication position (C), or may be performed while passing through this position. 90 turntable 2
The cartridge X is rotated and transferred to the magnetic data input position (D) by rotating the cartridge X, and the printing conditions are set to the printing exposure means 30.
Send to.

At the printing / magnetic data input position (D), the leading end of the film is ejected from the cartridge X by driving the rotating shaft a, as in the processing in the scanner section 10. The ejected film is conveyed into the film guide by the feed roller 39 and the perforation detector 41.
Thus, the image position is detected and the magnetic head 42 inputs the printing condition data.

The image detected by the perforation detector 41 is positioned in the printing opening 35, printed on the photosensitive material PC, and the cartridge number (bar code) displayed on the surface of the cartridge is the bar number on the cover plate 302. The number is detected by the code detector 304 and the number is printed on the back surface of the photosensitive material PC. The above process is repeated for each frame image on the film. The film discharged at this time is temporarily wound around the winder 40.

When the processing for each frame image is completed, the feed roller 39, the motor 403, and the winder 40 are reversed, the film F is rewound into the cartridge X, and the light-shielding door c is closed.

The rotary table 2 rotates 90 °, and the cartridge X is transferred to the cartridge insertion / ejection position A.

The above processes can be performed in parallel by rotating the rotary table 2 with respect to the four cartridges X housed in the four cartridge holders 3 on the rotary table 2. In that case, since the scanner unit 10 and the printing / exposure unit 30 are independently provided and driven independently, the succeeding cartridge X while the printing process of the film F stored in the preceding cartridge X is being performed. Parallel processing such as calculation / communication for the film F in the inside and further detection of image density / magnetic data for the film F in the cartridge X after that can be performed.

The detection of the image density / magnetic data in the scanner unit 10 is limited to the image density, for example.
A magnetic head 22 may be provided on the substrate 1 corresponding to the calculation / communication position (C) to read magnetic data.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the cartridge X is loaded by the cartridge feeding section 6 manually one by one, but it may be automatically fed by using a stocker. A supply method when using this stocker will be described with reference to FIGS. 3, 7, and 8.

In FIG. 3, the outline of the stocker is shown by a one-dot chain line. FIG. 7 shows a cross section of the stocker. In this embodiment, the stocker 7 is installed right above the cartridge feeding section 6. A plurality of stages of cartridges X are stacked in the stocker 7, and solenoids 7a having locking pins as holding means for holding the cartridges X are provided in two stages on the side. Upper solenoid 7a
When the locking pin of the lowermost solenoid 7a is retracted while holding the upper cartridge X, the cartridge X drops and is supplied to the cartridge feeding unit 6.

A cylinder 8 having an extruding rod 8a is installed beside the cartridge feeding section 6. The pushing rod 8a of the cylinder 8 is provided for automatically ejecting the cartridge X when the cartridge X, which has completed all of the above-mentioned printing apparatus, returns to the feeding section 6. The ejected cartridge X indicated by the solid line is pushed by the pushing rod 8a and ejected to the position indicated by the two-dot chain line.

FIG. 8 shows a modified embodiment. The structure of the cylinder 8 having the stocker 7 and the pushing rod 8a is shown in FIG.
However, the difference is that the installation position of the stocker 7 is shifted to the side of the cartridge feeding unit 6. Therefore, in this case, the cartridge X dropped from the stocker 7 is once placed on the substrate 1 and is pushed by the pushing rod 8 of the cylinder 8 to be moved to the position of the cartridge feeding portion 6 and supplied. When ejecting, push further away and eject.

In the above embodiment, the cartridge holder 3 is fed on the circumferential path by the rotary table 2. However, in addition to this, for example, a circular track is provided on the substrate 1,
The cartridge holder may move on the circular orbit.

Further, with respect to the film feeding method and mechanism, various modifications can be adopted within the scope of the idea of the present invention.

[0055]

As described in detail above, in the photographic printing method and apparatus of the present invention, the film accommodated in the cartridge is sent on the circumferential path, and the data such as the image density is read by the scanner section in the middle thereof, and the process is further advanced. The photosensitive material was printed according to the printing conditions based on the above-mentioned data by the printing exposure means in the middle of the circumferential path, and the reading and printing of the above-mentioned data were carried out independently and processed in parallel. There is an advantage that the printing operations can be performed with extremely high efficiency by performing different processes in parallel.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a photo printing apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the vicinity of a cartridge holder and a cartridge feeding unit.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the above.

5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VV of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the same as above for explaining the operation.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the stocker.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of another example stocker.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 substrate 2 rotary table 3 cartridge holder 4 drive unit 5 drive unit 6 cartridge feeding unit 7 stocker 10 scanner unit 10 'scanner unit 10 "film feeding unit 11 light source 18 scanner 19 feed roller 20 winder 21 bar code detector 22 Magnetic head 23 Perforation detector 30 Printing exposure means 30 'Printing exposure section 30 "Film feeding unit 31 Light source 37 Paper mask 39 Feed roller 40 Winder 41 Perforation detector 42 Magnetic head X Cartridge F film

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A film stored in a cartridge sent on a circumferential path having a predetermined radius is fed to a scanner portion provided outside a circumferential path on a center line passing through an arbitrary position of the circumferential path to transfer the film. The image information is read, the printing conditions are set based on the data, and the film that has been fed is rewound into the cartridge, the cartridge is further fed on the circumferential path, and the circle on the center line passing through other positions on the circumferential path. The film is again fed to the printing exposure means provided outside the circumferential path, and the printing exposure is performed according to the printing conditions set for each frame, and the above-mentioned processes are performed on a plurality of cartridges by independent scanner units and printing exposure means. Photographic printing method consisting of parallel processing. 2. When a rotary table which is rotatable with respect to a substrate for mounting various members is provided, and a plurality of cartridge holding portions are provided around the rotary table at appropriate intervals, and the rotary table is stopped at an arbitrary position. And a scanner unit at a position on the substrate corresponding to one of the above-mentioned cartridge holding units, and a scanner unit at a position on the substrate corresponding to the other cartridge holding units, and the rotary table is rotated by an arbitrary angle. A printing / exposure unit corresponding to the cartridge holding unit is provided at a position on the substrate to which the cartridge holding unit corresponding to the scanner unit has moved, and the scanner unit and the printing / exposure unit are independent of each other so that a plurality of cartridges can be processed in parallel. Photoprinting equipment. 3. The photographic printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the scanner unit and the printing exposure unit are provided at positions facing each other on the center line of the rotary table. 4. The center distance between the scanner section and the printing exposure means is made to match the corresponding center distance between the non-rotating type printing apparatuses, and the film transporting section and the rotary table can be exchanged. The photographic printing apparatus according to claim 2 or 3. 5. The cartridge holding unit is provided with an automatic opening / closing mechanism for a light-shielding door of the cartridge and a drive unit for discharging and rewinding the film.
5. The photographic printing apparatus according to any one of 4 to 4. 6. The photographic printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a stocker for storing the cartridge is provided in the vicinity of the cartridge feeding section so that the cartridge can be automatically supplied. . 7. A bar code detector is provided on the cover plate of the cartridge holding portion, and the cartridge number displayed on the cartridge is detected and the number is printed on the back surface of the photosensitive paper when printing. Claims 2 to 6
Photographic printing apparatus according to any one of 1.