CA2003006A1 - Method and apparatus for automatic printing from microfilm of short image areas - Google Patents

Abstract

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATIC PRINTING
FROM MICROFILM OF SHORT IMAGE AREAS
Abstract of the Disclosure Apparatus and method are disclosed for automatic printing of an enlarged reproduction of an image frame stored on a microfilm without reproduction of images found on adjacent image frames and without the need to reposition the image frame adjacent frame marks found on a display screen. The method and apparatus of the invention provide for automatic calculatin of the distance between the top of the image frame and the upper frame marks on the apparatus' display screen and the distance between the leading edges of the image frame to be reproduced and an adjacent image frame. In response to these calculations, an enlarged reproduction is produced that excludes information from adjacent image frames even though the image reproduced is of relatively short length compared to the copy sheet it is printed upon.

Description

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METHOD J~ND /~PPARATUS FOR ~UTOM~TIC PRINTING
FROM MICROFILM OF SHORT IM~GE ~REAS
Back~round of the Inventlon 1 Field of the Inventlon SThia lnventlon relate~ to method ~nd ppsrstu~ for maklng enlargcmont~ from d crofllm 2 Deacrlptlon of the Prlor Art In U S Patent 4,750,021, pparatus for prlntlng enlargement- from mlcrofllm 1J de~crlbed Thls appsrstu~ comprl~e~ a mlcrofllm reJder-prlnter Thls reader-pr~nter pparstu~ lncludea meana for qulckly retrle~lng a de~lred lmage fr-me stored on ~ay a 16mm mlcrofllm and n optlcal y~tem for lmsglng the mlcrofllm lmsge onto a creen durlng 8 vlewlng mode ~n electrophotogrsphlc teprodùctlon englne 1~ alao provlded for reproduclng enlargements of the mlcrofllm lmsge onto copy ~heet~ uch ~ plsln paper ~n advantsgeous feature of thls ppsrJtua 1~ - -thst there 1- the capablllty for n operator to control reproductlon to J elected portlon of the lmage that ppesr~ on the vlewlng creen Thu~, lf an lmage of pro~ected lmage fr-me 1- of relJtlvely hort length lt 1- qulte llkely thJt t leaat J
portlon of econd lmage frJme ~ l-o ppear on 2S the rcrcen The oper-tor c~n elect n lmage length to be prlnted by u~ln~ lndlcl- a~ocl-t-d ~lth the creen Jnd ~ult-ble button- to h~ve the reproductlon proce~ controlled o that only the l~age l-ngth c~ment -lect-d for reproductlon 1~ reproduced nd thereby prccludc the reproductlon of lnformatlon on d~-cent l~ ge fr-m ~ ~ltern-tlv-ly, the oper-tor can elect n utomatlc operatlon ode ~hereln -reproductlon of only the lm ge frame 1- oade Ho~ever, ln order to ccompllah thl- the lmage fr-me need~ to be po-ltloned vlth lt- topmo~t edge ln rcgl~ter ~lth frame regl~tratlon ~ark~ located t the ;2003006 top of the dlsplay screen. While ~utom~tic me~ns may be provided to loc~te the lm~ge in this position this m~y be an inconvenience for the oper~tor who prefers, from a comfort polnt of view, to vlew the lm~ge so thst it is properly posltloned for his or her best vlewlng.
U.S. Pstent No. 4,623,935 descrlbes an spparstus and method for electronlcslly ~csnnlng sn lmsge frsme on 8 mlcrofilm for trsnsmisslon of the ~lgnals used ln reproduclng the lmsge for copying ssme. The sppsrstus sc~n~ the lmsge frame and detects the blsck borders surrounding s~me. The appsrAtus then electronicslly deletes the trsnsmlsslon of ~lgnals reproduclng the black borders to provlde coples wlthout blsck borders. In thls ~pp~rstus there is a need for clrcuitry to perform electronic scsnning of an lmage ~nd its borders for distinguishing imsge lnformstlon from border information.
It is therefore sn ob~ect of the lnventlon to provlde sn appsrstus ~nd method for producing enlsrgements of lmsges stored on mlcrofllm wlthout hsvlng lmsges from more thsn one imsge frsme sppesr on an enlsrgement and wlthout the need for ~d~ustment of the lmsge frame from a po~ltlon ~elected by the oper~tor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The sbove and other obJect~ are achieved in ~ method snd ~pparstus for prlntlng ~hereln a control mesns provlde~ ~lgnsls related to 1. the dlst~nce between one edge of the lm~ge frsme to be printed and a reference on ~a9 8 vlewlng screen and 2. the dlstsnce between an edge of sn ad~acent lm~ge frsme and the reference (or ~lternQtlvely the frsme pitch length) and uses these signals to lnhiblt lmage formstlon of lnform~tlon on ad~scent lmsge frsme~.

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200~

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is an illustratlon of a microfilm viewing ~creen of rea~er-pr~nter hpparatus uRed ~n the lnventlon;
FIG. 2 is a ~chematic of the mirror arrangement for prD~ecting an im~ge of 8 mlcrofilm ---upon the display screen o~ FIG. l;
FI~. 3 ~5 a ~chematic elevstlonal view of various porttons o~ re~der-printer app~ratus used ln the invention;
FIG. 4 ls ~ ~chematic of ~ microfilm ~trip tran~ported in ~he a~paratus of FIG. 1 and lllustrstes certain ~truct~re in the spparatu~ for cooperatlon with the ~trip;
FIG. 5 ls a schematic of a control ~ystem for controlling the apparatus of FIG. 1 snd FIG. 6 18 ~ flDw ~hart of a computer program for controlling the apparatus of FIG. 3.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Because resder-printer mlcrofllm ~ppsratu~
are well known, the p.resent description will be directed in particular to elements forming psrt of or cooperatlng more directly ~ith the pre~ent lnvention. Element~ of reader-printer spparstus not ~peclflcally shown or de~crlbed hereln ~re select~ble from tho~e kno~n ln the pr~or art.
With refercnce to ~IG. 1, the dl~play ~creen 15 of sn exemplary microfilm reader-prlnter 10 (FIG.

3) i~ ~hown lllu~tratlng pro~ected lmage~ of ad~Acent lmage fremes present on the mlcrofilm. As an example, pro~ected l~ages A and B on the ~creen may be tho~e of chec~s. The ~reen lnclude3 Ysrious lndlclum etched or palnted thereon lncludlng conventlonsl upper frs~e reglstrhtion m~rks 20a and 20c, re~pectlvel~, and lowes frsme regi~trstlon marks 20b and 20d, re~pectivel~. A~ the lmage~ of elther 2 ~ 3~ ~6 check A or B on the screen are smaller than the dlstance between upper snd lower reglstratlon marks 20a snd 20b, ~ conventional reproductlon of the area between marks 20a and 20b will result in both checks being imaged on the ssme copy sheet. A~ noted above, the ob~ect oF the invention is to reproduce, say, the image of check A on a copy ~heet without the need for the operstor to ad~ust the posltion of the image of check A from that shown. Al~o, assoclated with screen 15 ~re image length selection marks 16 which Allow an operator to manuelly designate portlons of the image frame to be reproduced, in thls regard also note bstchut et al, U.S. Patent 4,739,368, the entire contents of which ~re lncorporated hereln by thls reference.
Wlth reference now to FIG. 2, the dlsplay ~creen 15 of the mlcrofllm reader-prlnter apparatus 10 ls shown ln comblnatlon wlth a lamp 11 whlch in combination wlth a mirror lla serve~ as a llght source for pro~ecting images from mlcrofilm 14 via mirrors 57, 58 and lens and prism assembly 13, 65 onto screen 15. Mirror 58 is movable so that in a print mode a different mirror 59 is moved lnto position by conventional means to pro~ect the image on the microfilm image frame now ln the print or pro~ectlon gate 8 onto a one-dimenslonal; i.e., linear, Image resdlng device 20 (~uch ~8 ~ charge coupled devlce image scanner). aesding devlce 20 moves ln the dlrectlons lndlcsted by the srrows Pl to scsn the lmages prevlou~ly dlsplayed on the screen 15 ~nd to generate electrlcsl slgnsls repre~entlng same. The lmage readlng device 20 18 supported on rail~ 21 and drlven by a drlver D, ~uch QS a motor (or other mechanical arrangement), mechsnically coupled thereto.

200~006 With reference now to FIG. 3, the reader-printer apparatus 10 addltionally includes an electrophotogrsphic printer engine 22. Thi~ englne includes a corona chsrger 23 that is electricslly 5 coupled to a hlghly neg~tive electrlcal power supply to form a corona dl~charge of, say, negative ions ~`
that flow towards the surface of drum 25 8S lt ls rotated. A grid electrode may be electrically biased by a grld power supply to control the voltage level 10 of charge deposited on the drum. During the expo~ure process, the image previouAly seen on the ~creen 15 is scanned ln increments by CCD ~ensor array 20 and processed electronically line-by-line by image processing electronlcs 24. This image processlng i8 15 of the conventional type well known ln the electrophotogrPphic microfilm and facsimile arts.
The image data is proce~sed so as to contaln bits of logic data l's and O's representing a spGt of light to be imaged or not to be lm~ged on the drum.
20 Preferably, thl~ data is imaged upon the drum by a l~ser or LED printhead 27. The latter compriQes a linear array of several thousand LED's. The document page ls ~canned in lncrements upon the rotating drum to form a lQtent electrostatlc lmsge of the document 25 page. The latent lmage is developed as the drum rotate~ past a development ~tatlon 28 wherein negstively charged electrostatlc toner ls selectlvely attracted to areas of the drum which have been expo~ed to imaging rsdiatlon to form a developed 30 vlsible lmage. The developed lmage on the drum is then transferred to a copy sheet 29 of, say, plaln paper by advancing the copy ~heet 30 that a leadlng edge thereof is moved by rollers 66 into engagement with the drum in synchronism with the edge of the 35 developed image of the document page. The copy sheets msy be stored as discrete sheets of standard size ln B ca-Bette loc~ted below the drum 25. These slze~
ste thus lndependent of the lmage frame belng reproduced on such sheets. AQ segments of the copy sheet sre continuouQly moved lnto engsgement with the 5 drum, an ims8e tranQfer corona chsrger 30 spplieg po~ltlve chsrge to the backslde of the sheet. As e~ch sheet segment le~ve~ contsct with the drum the negstlvely chsrged toner remalns sttracted to the sheet snd the imsge i~ thus trs:n~ferred to the 10 sheet. The Qheet la then pssQed between B p~lr of fu~ing roller~ 31 to flx the ~toner to the sheet. The drum 18 then rotated past B cleanlng ~tstion 32 wherein resldual toner not`tran~ferred to the sheet is removed. An eraQe lamp 33 is illuminated to er~e 15 charge from the drum prlor to forming the next copy.
Wl*h reference now to FIG. 5, a control panel 44 i~ ~hown formlng a part of the apparstu~ lO
snd includes variouQ control buttons to control exposure etc. ~ slot is provided ln the control 20 panel for receiving B mag~zine 60 having Q ~upply of microimsgeQ formed on B strip of microfilm. The apparatw lncludes controls for automatlcally threading the ~trlp lnto a film drlve ~hen the magszlne 1~ inserted into the ~lot. A keybosrd 42 is 25 al80 provided and lncludes varlou~ control buttons nd alphanumerlc dl~play 42a. Input~ from the varlou~ control button~ are applled through lnput ~ignsl loglc buffer 50 of the re-der-prlnter's logic and control unlt (LCU) 39. The ~nput ~lgnJl~ to 30 ~i8nal buffer 50 conslst of loglc level digltsl ~lgnal~ ~hlch may be ~tored ln a temporary dats ~torage memory 55 in the microproce~sor bs~ed LCU.
Output dats for controlling the appsrstus are provided by the LCU with output d~ta ~torsge lstches 35 52 and output drivers 53. The driver~ ln turn directly control operation of the spparstus' - . . : ,, component~ ~uch a~ motor(~), clutches, ~olenoids, power ~wltches, lamps, chargers and varlous dlsplays. The LCU'~ proce~slng function~ can be programmed by changlng in~truction~ ~tored ln the computer'~ control program memory 54. The LCU al~o includes a central processing unlt 51 and timing and cycle control unit means 56.
Wlth reference now to FIG. 4, it may be noted that each of the image frames 14a-14f, 14p of microfilm strip 14 has ad~acent thereto an indiclum (9a, 9b), ~uch a~ a black mark, located near the leading edge of the frame. It wlll be noted that lmage frame 14a has an indicium 9a that i~ larger than the other frames ~hown. Thi~ larger indlcium may be u~ed to designate thi~ frame a~ a chapter head of its re~pective chapter of image document pages.
Withln the group of page~ 14a-14f are a related ~et of documents that have been de~ignated as ~uch during the production of the microfllm. An edge of each lndicium 1~ located ln alignment with the leading edge of lt~ respective image frame. The image frame leadlng edge i~ orlented on the strlp 14 ln a dlrectlon perpendicular to the dlrectlon of advancement of the ~trip. AB i~ conventional in ~ppar~tu~ of thl~ type, a motor M 1~ provlded to rotste ~ drlve roller 5 to advance Q de~ired ima8e frame lnto a print gate 8 wherein lt i~ po~ltioned for viewing on the ~creen 15 or for printing a~
de~crlbed above. ~ noted above, the mlcrofilm 18 preferably ~tored wlthln a conventlonal magazlne havlng an approprlate ~upply ~pool. ~ take-up ~pool may be provlded a~ part of the appar~tu~ and the fllm 1~ payed out from ~upply to take-up by advancing the fllm in the dlrectlon of the arrow A (Flg. 4). The motor M 1~ operated by the ~CU and precl~e loc~tlon of the lmage frame ln the fllm 8ate 1~ accompll~hed ... .. ~

-B-by the use of an indicia sensor 7, which may be a photoelectric device, that ls adspted to provide a pulse to the LCU for each lndlclum ~ensed. Thls sensor 7 will be located seversl lmage frames 5 upstream of the print gate 8. An encoder 6 1B
lncorporated ln one of the drlve rollers for ~-provlding pulses to the the LCU for each smsll lncrement of advancement of the fllm strip. Since a chapter head indiclum 9a ls larger thsn lndicla for 10 other pages of that chapter, the duration of a pulse for which the chapter head lndicium is sen~ed by the photosensor 7 is larger and denote~ to the ~CU th~t a chapter head page image frame ls on the film. Also, lt wlll be understood that in the prior art apparatus 15 a~ the mlcrofllm strip is advsnced, information has been provided to the LCU and i~ stored ln table form ln the temporary memory 55 as to the type of image frames thst are present between the sensor 7 and the print gate 8 and the distanceq or pitches between 20 ad~acent lmage frames. These algnals are provlded by slgnal~ from encoder 6 and lndicla sen~or 7 and are u~ed by the ~CU to calculate when a selected image frame ls preclsely located ln the prlnt gate 8.
In mlcrofllm reader-printer apparatus of the 25 type de~cribed, lt 1~ known to allow an operator to lnput a flrst numerlcal code that wlll allow the loglc controlllng the reater to accurately posltion an lmage of a microfllm frame on the reader screen ln a deslred posltlon. Thu~, the operator can by 30 lnputting thl~ code place the top frame llne of an lmage frame elther ad~acent the upper regl~tratlon mar~s 20a or selectlvely at desired location~ ~paced therefrom. Thls 1~ an operator convenlence feature whlch allows each operator to positlon lmage~ at a 35 comfortable posltlon for vlewlng. Thls 19 done by the operator lnputting a numerical code through ..
. ~.

keyboard 42 whlch code number i8 related to the vertlcal distance of the ~mage's top frame line from the registration marks 20a. This numerical code i8 also related to the number of encoder pulse~ needed to move the microfilm i~Qge frsme from R positlon where it would be located in the print gate 80 that its image ls pro~ected with the top image frame line vertically allgned with registration marks 20a to-the position shown ln FIG. l ~herein thi~ top imsge frame line is 8t e vertical distance xl from the registration marks.
Description will now be provided with reference to the flowchar* shown in FIG. 6.
Programming of minicomputers or microprocessors is a conventional skill well understood ln the srt. The dlsclosure provided herein 18 wrltten to enable a programmer having ordlnsr~ skill ln the art to produce an ~ppropriate program for the computer. The psrticular detsils of any such program would, of course, depend upon the archltecture of the selected computer.
Assume that the operator has lnputted a second numerlcal code via keyboard 42 to plsce the apparstus 10 in an automstic lmage length selection mode. Upon depresslon of print button 49 and wlth lmage fr~me 14f ln the prlnt gste, the program for the automatic lmage length selection mode 18 called up. In thl~ mode, ~lgnals ~te provlded to lnput ~ignal buffer 50 ss to ~hlch one of several ~vsllable len~ magnific~tlons lr belng used. The mesns for provldlng these ~lgnsl~ ~y take the form of switches or a rheostat c~librated to provide presssigned ~ignal infor~tlon when one of a group of lenses i~
~hifted lnto the optical path of the reader-prlnter.
Alternatively, the oper~*or may lnput via a keyboard entry ~ code to choo~e t~e desired lens and the .

,~. ..
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,, Z00::~006 lnform~tlon concernlng lens m~gnlfic~tlon of the lens concurrentl~ ln use i~ stored ln the LCU' 8 memory to eliminste the need for the operator to repeatedly ldentify asme. When thi~ aignal i~ "resd" by the LCU
39, the CPU store~ in tempor~ry memory 55 a vslue M
which i~ the lens magniflcation for the len~ now in the optlcal path.
While the lmage frame 14f was previou~ly moved toward the prlnt gate, the encoder wheel 6 provided 8 pulse to input ~lgnal logic buffer 50 for each incremental advancement of the frame. The~e pul~e~ were counted by the LCU beginning with when the frame'~ indlclum wa~ sensed and termln~ting when the lndlcium of the next lmsge frame was ~ensed.
1~ Thla effectlvely determine~ the pitch length of the lmage frame. A~ume that image frame 14f ~hown ~n FIG. 4 i~ a relatlvely ~hort lmage frame and that its lmage A proJected on ~creen 15 ln FIG. 1 doe~ not flll the ~creen 15 between the marklng~ 20a and 20b.
20 Thls wlll cause a portion of the adJacent image frsme to alao be vi-Qible a~ im~ge B on ~creen 15 and thi~
portlon of the ad~acent lmage frame wlll be prevented automatlcally from being reproduced by the appar~tu~
and method of the lnventlon vlthout the need for the 25 top lmage frame llne of lmage A to be located vertlcally allgned ~lth the regl~tratlon msrk~ 20a.
The CPU under instructlons from the control program ~to~ed ln memory 54 fetche~ the flrst numerlcQl code (frsme po~ltlon number) entered by the 30 opergtor and ~tored ln temporary memory 55. As noted ~bove, thi~ code was lnput by the operator to po~ltlon the top image frame llne of each lmsge ~t a convenlent vertlcal placement for vlewlng. The di~tance, xl, i~ c~lculated employing thi~ number 35 and the pro~ectlon len~ magnlflcatlon. Thls distance B8 noted above repreQent~ the vertical di~tance on , . . . . ~.. ..
- ~ . .
- ; , 200~006 the screen between the top of the lmage frame llne and the reglstration marks 20a. Thls distance ls calculated ln terms of unlts of screen lnticl~ as provided on the left side of the screen and stored as 8 signal representing same in temporsry memory S5.
As may be noted in FIG. 1, the screen 15 includes a series of uniformly sp~ced (b~0.4 lnches or 1 cm) spart etched ruler-like flduclal marks formed to one ~ide of the pro~ected image frame. Ad~acent each or slternate marks i8 a number selected from 22 to 44 ~only 22-27 and 44 sre illustr~ted in the drawing).
The mark closest to the top frame line of imsge 19 i~
designated 85 number 22 and that furthest from thls frame llne is number 44. These marks are ln numerlcsl order and thus represent progresslve vertlcal dlstances from the registration msrks 20a.
Next, the control program lnstructs the CPU to calculste the vertical distance x2 between the top of the next sd~acent image frame B and the upper frame registrfltion marks 20a on the display screen snd to store same in units of screen indicla. The print mode 1~ then lnltlated snd opersted as descrlbed sbove. Thst i8, the mirror 57, is moved by means not ~hown so that mirror 59 now pro~ect~ the lmsge of mlcrofilm 14 onto lmsge reading device 20.
The CPU, however, through ~lgnal~ provided vla output drlver~ 53 to one lnput 73 of loglc AND gate 71 lnltlslly lnhlblts the trsnsmlsslon of dsts slgnal~
to the prlnthesd 27 ~ensed by lmsge readlng devlce 20 ~nd proce~ed by the image processlng electronlc~ snd trQnsmlttet over 8 ~econd lnput 74 to AND gste 71.
Thls perlod of lnhlbltlon 1~ rel~ted to the period of tlme it tskes motor drlver D to sdvance the lmage readlng devlce 20 to sdvance from a posltlon whereln 3~ lt 1~ sdapted to ~ense sny lmages slong 8 llne colncldent wlth the reglstrstlon msrks 20a to ; ., ~, , . - -., , . , ~ : :

posltion whereln lt ~s ~dapted to ~en3e an lm~ge st the top image frsme line of lmsge A. Theresfter, the $nhlblt slgnal ls removed fr~m llne 73 and the stre~m of processed dat~ ~ignal5 for lmage lnformatlon scsnned l~ne-by-line ln lmage A 18 transferred to prlnthead 27 for printing ~s descrlbed above.
When the lmsge readlng devlce 20 reaches the posltlon colncident ~ith resdlng of the top frame llne of lmage B as determined by the ~lgnals ~tored ln memory 55 representlng length X2 the CPU sgsln lnstructs drlver 53 to provlde sn lnhlblt slgnsl over llne 73 to block the ~YD ~ate's 71 sblllty to tr~nsmlt dsta to prlnthead 27. The electrostatlc lmsge thus recorded on the drum 25 ls theresfter developed by development ~t~tlon 28 snd trsnsferred to a copy qheet 29 snd represents only the information found ~n lmage A.
A ~peciflc worklng example lllu~tratlng the above wlll now be provlded. Assume the dlsplsy screen 15 ha~ a dl~tsnce of 11.2 lnches between upper snd lower reglstratlDn ~rks 20a ~nd 20b, respectlvely. Also ss~ume thst ln trsn~portlng the mlcrofllm 14 there i~ a dl~tance of 0.0033 lnches between encoder pul~es snd a len~ magnlflcstlon, M, of 40X. It 1~ noted thst for thl~ sppsrstus 765 encoder pul~e~ sre al~ays counted to move the top lmsge frsme llne o~ an l~sge frsme from the readlng ~tstlon 7 to 8 polnt where thl~ top lmsge frame llne 18 proJected st the center of dl~plsy ~creen 15. In order to move the tD~ lmage ~rsme llne from the center of dl~plsy ~creen 1~ to the top regl~trstlon mark 20a the number of encoder pul~e~ of corre~pondlng movement o;f the mlcrofllm 14 1~
calculsted s~ 5.6~ (14.2 cm), l.e., one-half the 35 dl~pl~y ~creen helght, dlvlded by .0033 and further dlvlded by M. Thu~, the lDcatlon of the top reglstrstion mark is calculsted a8 equal to , .

-` 2(:~0.~006 765 + 5.6/.0033/M or 765 + (1697/M). The present location of the top image frame line of the imsge frame to be reproduced is known from the operator's previous entry of the frsme position number (FPN) to locate the imsge frame at a convenient posltion for viewing. Assume the current FPN is 788. Also assume that the image length selectlon lndicia 16 on display ~~
screen 15 sre spaced at 0.4" ~1 cm) apsrt. The distance Xl in units of screen indici~ as shown in Fig. 1 can be calculated in accordance wlth the following formula:
Xl = [765 + 1697 - FPN] (.0033) (M) M + 21 150.4 Note that 21 is added as the screen indicia stsrts with 22, but due to tolerances this is lowered to 21 to ensure that 811 of the image area of lmage frame A
is reproduced. With the above formuls Xl for thls example ls calculflted to be Xl ~ 27. As may be noted fro~ Fig. 1, the top image frame line ~ of image fr~me A ls locsted adJacent screen lndicia unit 27.
The distance X2 in terms of screen indicia may be calculated by sdding Xl, as calculsted above, with u~e of the dlstance in encoder pulses between the top frame llne, AT, of lmsge frame A
~nd the top frame llne, BT, of lmage frame B as sensed on mlcrofllm 14. Assume the dlstance between top lmage fr~me llnes of lmages A ~nd B ls 23 encoder pulses then:
X2~Xl +(Distance in encoder pulses AT~ BT)(.0033)(M) or X2 ~ 27 ~ (23~(.0033)(40) = 35 35.4 X2 ls prefersbly reduced by 8 small ~mount (1 or 2 ùnits) to ensure thst no part of the ad~acent lmage -: , , .

:; , .

Z00~006 frame ls prlnted.
Whlle the lnvention ha~ been de~crlbed with apparatus th~t electronlcally print~ the lnformation, the lnvention may al~o be u~ed to advantage wlth an optical reproduction apparstus, an example of one of whlch 1~ deRcrlbed ln U.S. 4,750,021.
The dlstance X2 as broadly deflned hereln relates to the length of the lmage frame A even though X2 may be alternatively counted dlrectly by relatlng the number of encoder pul~es between the regl~tratlon marks 20a and the top frame llne 8T f lmage frame B.
The preferred embodiment of the inventlon hs~ been de~crlbed wlth reference to lndlcls marks 9a, 9b located sllgned wlth the top lmage -frame line of each mlcrofilm lmage frame. It 1~ known, however, that certaln mlcrofilm recordlng equlpment record~
lndlcla markq that are spaced or off~et ~ome flxed dl~tance from thia top lmage frame llne. Mean~ can be provlded for automstlcally detectlng thl~ flxed dl~tance or otherwlse allowlng the operator to lnput thl~ lnformatlon ao that the teachlng~ of the lnventlon can al~o be utillzed ln produclng prlnts from mlcrofllm wlth the lndlcl~ mark~ off~et from the top lmage frame llne wlth accountlng for such off~et ln the algorlthm a~ taught for u~e ln my lnventlon.
There ha~ thu~ been de~crlbed a method and cpparatua for recordlng whereln an lmage po~ltloned for comfortable vlewlng by ~n operator i8 recorded automatlcslly wlthout the need for reposltlonlng of the lmage frame or for the operator to further ldentlfy the locatlon of the lmage frame. There lff al~o obvlated the need for the apparatu~ to lnclude complex dl~crlmlnatlng clrcultry capable of determlnlng what 18 lmage area verau~ what 1~ Image border area.

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` 2003006 Although the sbove detQlled de~criptlon hss been made with partlcular reference to B preferred embodiment, it wlll be under~tood thst varlstlon~ snd modlflcstlons csn be effected wlthln the ~pirlt and ~cope of the pre~ent lnventlon.
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Claims (14)

1. In an apparatus for printing enlargements of image frames stored on a storage medium in miniature form the apparatus including display means for displaying an enlargement of the desired image frame to be reproduced, means for automatically locating the image frame for display on said display means, operator enterable selection means for cooperating with said automatic locating means for controlling said locating means so that said image frame is initially displayed automatically at a position convenient for viewing by said operator in accordance with his/her selection, reproducing means for forming an enlargement of one image frame upon a copy sheet of a size not substantially dependent upon the length of the image frame to be printed, the improvement which comprises:
control means for determining a first parameter related to the distance between a first reference associated with said image frame and a second reference associated with said apparatus and independent of said first reference and for determining a second parameter related to the length of said image frame and in response generating signals to control said reproducing means to reproduce said image frame on said copy sheet without reproducing an adjacent image frame on said same copy sheet and without the need for the operator to adjust the displayed image frame from that position selected for convenient viewing.

2. The apparatus of Claim 1 and wherein the display means includes an indicium for establishing a reference position for locating an image on the display means and wherein said second reference is related to the location of said indicium.

3. The apparatus of Claim 2 and wherein the first reference is an indicium located on said storage medium adjacent the image frame and said control means includes sensing means for sensing an indicium associated with each image frame.

4. The apparatus of Claim 3 and wherein the sensing means is located relative to each image frame to sense the indicia external to the image frames.

5. The printer apparatus of Claims 1,2,3, or 4, and wherein the reproducing means includes a photoconductive surface; means for moving the surface relative to stations preforming operations on the surface; charge providing means for producing a uniform electrostatic charge upon the surface as the surface is being moved relative thereto; illumination means for exposing onto the surface light that has been modulated by incremental segments of information on the image frame selected for reproduction to form an electrostatic image of the information; means for developing the electrostatic image; and means for transferring the developed image to the copy sheet.

6. The apparatus of Claim 5 and including means for electronically scanning the image information on said image frame to be reproduced and for generating electrical signals related to the image information scanned and said reproducing means reproducing said image information in response to said electrical signals.

7. The apparatus of Claim 1 and wherein the storage medium is microfilm and the apparatus further comprises projection means for projecting an image of an image frame located at a projection gate.

8. The apparatus of Claim 7 and wherein the projection means includes means for optically projecting the image of an image frame located at a projection gate onto a viewing screen of said display means.

9. The apparatus of Claims 1,7 or 8, and including means for electronically scanning the image information on said image frame to be reproduced and for generating electrical signals related to the image information scanned and said reproducing means reproduces said image information in response to said electrical signals.

10. In a method for printing enlargements of image frames stored on a storage medium in miniature form, the method including the steps of displaying an enlargement of the desired image frame to be reproduced on a display screen, automatically locating the image frame for display on said display screen at a position convenient for viewing by said operator in accordance with his/her selection, reproducing an enlargement of one image frame upon a copy sheet of a size not substantially dependent upon the length of the image frame to be printed, the improvement which comprises:
determining in response to movement of said storage medium relative to a sensor a first parameter related to the distance between a first reference associated with said image frame and a second reference associated with said apparatus and independent of said first reference and determining a second parameter related to the length of said image frame and in response generating signals to control said reproducing means to reproduce said image frame on said copy sheet without reproducing an adjacent image frame on said same copy sheet and without the need for the operator to adjust the displayed image frame from that selected for convenient viewing.

11. The method of Claim 10 and wherein the display includes an indicium for establishing a reference position for locating an image on the display means and wherein said second reference is related to the location of said indicium.

12. The method of Claim 11 and wherein the first reference is an indicium located on said storage medium adjacent the image frame.

13. The method of Claim 10 and wherein the storage medium is microfilm and an image of an image frame located at a projection gate is projected onto said display means.

14. The method of Claims 11, 12 or 13 and including the steps of electronically scanning the image information on said image frame to be reproduced and generating electrical signals related to the image information scanned and reproducing said image information in response to said electrical signals.