JP2000162407A - Microlens sheet and video printer using same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a small-sized video printer excellent in portability and a microlens sheet for realizing the video printer. SOLUTION: A video recorder 21 has a viewfinder 23, a direct-viewing liquid crystal panel 24, a static image switch 26 for taking in a static image for print, and a print switch 27 for indicating print. A camera adapter 28 has a mount 29 capable of being easily attached to and detached from the direct-viewing liquid crystal panel 24, and a film pull-out port 30. The camera adapter 28 is provided with a microlens sheet and a diffusing sheet. When the camera adapter 28 is mounted to the direct-viewing liquid crystal panel 24 by the mount 29, the microlens sheet is closely contacted with a polarizing plate outside the direct-viewing liquid crystal panel 24. A silver salt film is built in behind the diffusing sheet to print out an image displayed on the direct-viewing liquid crystal panel 24.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a microlens sheet for exposing a still image projected on a flat display device such as a liquid crystal used for a camera-integrated video recorder to a silver halide film and a video using the same. It relates to a printer device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Camera-integrated video tape recorders using, for example, magnetic tapes as recording media have been used in many applications such as travel, sports, entertainment, recording of children's growth, and observation of animals and plants. On the spot, these recorded images were reproduced and viewed on a viewfinder or a direct-view LCD of a video tape recorder, or were viewed on a television after returning home.

[0003] In addition, there is a demand to print a necessary one of the recorded images. However, a conventional video printing apparatus (hereinafter, referred to as a "video printer") consumes a large amount of power, and the apparatus itself is also used. Because of their large size, they were commonly used at home.

Next, an example of a conventional video printer will be described. First, the first one has a configuration block shown in FIG. 9, and a video printer of a thermal sublimation type, a thermal transfer type, an ink jet type or the like belongs to this. The video signal to be printed is converted into a predetermined data string by a signal processing circuit 61 and sent to a printer head control unit 62. An image is formed on print paper 64 supplied by the printer head mechanism 63 based on data and control signals input from the printer head controller 62. However, since the apparatus itself is large and the power consumption is large, the power capacity of the power supply 65 must be increased, and a predetermined time is required until printing is completed.

[0005] In the second type, as shown in FIG. 10, an image displayed on an image display device such as a CRT or a liquid crystal is transferred to a silver halide film. The video signal to be printed is controlled by the signal processing circuit 66 so that a still image is displayed on the cathode ray tube 67. For example, when a color image is to be printed by a monochromatic CRT 67, the image signal is separated into red, green, and blue components and stored in a storage device. Next, the stored color image information is read out and sequentially displayed on the cathode-ray tube 67. In synchronization with this, the corresponding color filters 68 are inserted into the optical path, and are respectively connected to the silver halide film 70 via the lens 69 for a predetermined time. Image and expose. However, there is a problem that a large optical system is required for projection, and a high voltage or the like for the CRT 67 is required, so that the power supply 71 is complicated and expensive.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a small and portable video printing apparatus capable of easily printing an image recorded on an image pickup apparatus using, for example, a tape or disk-shaped recording medium. And an optical system suitable for realizing the video printing apparatus.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and has a first convex lens group formed on one surface of a light-transmitting sheet, and the first convex lens group formed on the other surface. A micro lens sheet is formed by forming a second convex lens group facing the convex lens group.

Further, the second convex lens group constitutes a microlens sheet having a smaller lens diameter and a shorter focal length than the first convex lens group.

Further, between adjacent lenses of the second convex lens group, light is shielded by a light shielding member, or a concave lens is provided to constitute a microlens sheet.

Further, a camera adapter having light-shielding properties, comprising the microlens sheet described above, a silver halide film, and a diffusion sheet provided between the microlens sheet and the silver halide film, is provided. The camera adapter is mounted on a flat display device that displays a still image, and a video printing device that transfers a still image displayed on the display device to the silver halide film is configured to solve the above problem. .

According to the microlens sheet of the present invention, it is possible to print a display device in close contact with a silver halide film. Therefore, a video printing apparatus with excellent portability, which can easily print in a short time by attaching a camera adapter having the microlens sheet, the diffusion sheet, and the silver halide film to a display device such as a video recorder, is configured. .

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention intends to constitute a video printer using a display device such as a liquid crystal provided in a video recorder integrated with a camera, for example. A camera adapter having a diffusion sheet and a silver halide film is attached, and the still image displayed on the display device is printed by exposing the silver halide film through a microlens sheet adhered to the image surface of the display device, It is a video printer using a silver halide film as a print medium. Further, the microlens sheet of the present invention is characterized in that an image adhered to one surface thereof can be effectively condensed and exposed to a silver halide film adhered to the other surface.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a microlens sheet according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows the principle of using the microlens sheet in a video printer. FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a problem when printing is performed by directly attaching a silver halide film to a liquid crystal display device. FIG. 4 shows a microlens according to the present invention for solving this problem. It is a schematic diagram in the case of printing the image of a liquid crystal display device on a silver halide film using a sheet. FIG. 5 shows another configuration example of the microlens sheet. FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a video printer using a microlens sheet according to the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the camera adapter shown in FIG. FIG. 8 is a circuit block diagram of a video printer according to the present invention.

First, the structure of the microlens sheet will be described. FIGS. 1A to 1C are cross-sectional views of an embodiment of a microlens sheet according to the present invention.
The micro lens sheet 1a has a plurality of columnar convex lenses 2 provided on one surface in close contact with each other, and has a smaller diameter than the convex lenses 2 at a position corresponding to the convex lenses 2 on the other surface.
In addition, a convex lens 3 having a short focal length and a concave lens 4 between adjacent convex lenses 3 are provided.

In the microlens sheet 1b shown in FIG. 1B, a plurality of columnar convex lenses 2 are provided on one surface in close contact with each other, and the other surface is provided with a convex lens 2 at a position corresponding to the convex lens 2. The configuration is such that a convex lens 3 having a small diameter and a short focal length is provided, and a flat portion 5 is provided between the adjacent convex lenses 3.

Further, a plurality of columnar convex lenses 2 are provided on one surface of the microlens sheet 1c shown in FIG. 1C in close contact with each other, and the convex lenses 2 are provided on the other surface at positions corresponding to the convex lenses 2. A convex lens 3 having a small diameter and a short focal length is provided with a flat part 5 between the adjacent convex lenses 3, and the flat part 5 is configured to be shielded from light by a light shielding member 6.

The micro lens sheets 1a to 1c
A configuration in which a concave lens is provided between adjacent convex lenses 2 may be adopted.

FIG. 2 shows the above-mentioned microlens sheet 1a.
A liquid crystal display device 7 for displaying an image to be printed on the surface of the microlens sheet 1a on which the convex lenses 2 are formed,
The diffusion sheet 8 is in close contact with the surface on which the convex lens 3 is formed. Further, a silver halide film 9 for displaying an image displayed on the liquid crystal display device 7 is mounted in close contact with the diffusion sheet 8, and the image is exposed on the silver halide film 9 by the microlens sheet 1a to obtain a print.

The microlens sheets 1b and 1c may be used instead of the microlens sheet 1a. Further, instead of the liquid crystal display device 7, another display device having a flat display surface, such as a plasma display, may be used.

The surface of the convex lens 2 of the microlens sheet 1a is brought into close contact with the liquid crystal display device 7 side. At this time, the pitch of the convex lens 2 with respect to the pixel pitch of the liquid crystal display device 7 is about 0.5 to 1.5 times. It is preferable that they have the same pitch, and more preferably they have the same pitch.

The diffusion sheet 8 passes through the convex lens 2 and the convex lens 3 of the microlens sheet 1a and serves as a spacer between the convex lens 3 and the silver halide film 9 in order to properly converge on the silver halide film 9 again. It is. Usually, the thickness is set to about 0.1 mm to 0.3 mm. Further, the diffusion sheet 8 has a role of appropriately diffusing light in order to smoothly connect a stripe-shaped image converged on the silver halide film 9 corresponding to each convex lens 2. When it is not necessary to diffuse, a transparent sheet having the same thickness can be used.

Next, a video printer using the above-described optical system will be described. First, the disadvantages when the optical system according to the present invention is not used will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, the silver halide film 9 is directly provided on the display surface of the liquid crystal display device 7.
This is a case where printing is to be performed in close contact. The pixel 12 of the liquid crystal 11 of the liquid crystal display device 7 is sealed between the glass 13 and the glass 14, and a polarizing plate 15 and a polarizing plate 16 are provided outside the glass 13 and the glass 14, respectively. Therefore, the projected pixels 17 of the pixels 12 on the silver halide film 9 adhered to the polarizing plate 16 are diffused, and it is difficult to obtain a print with high resolution.

In order to solve the above-mentioned difficulties, a microlens sheet 1a according to the present invention is used as shown in FIG. As can be seen from the figure, of the light from the pixel 12, the light emitted at a wide angle, that is, the light L 2 and the light L 3 are converted into the silver halide film 9 by the action of the convex lens 2, the convex lens 3 and the concave lens 4.
Does not converge on. On the other hand, light emitted at a predetermined angle, that is, light L1 is converged to form an image forming pixel 18 on the silver halide film 9. Therefore, an image formed on the silver halide film 9 can ensure high resolution.

Instead of the microlens sheet 1a, a microlens sheet 1b can be used. The microlens sheet 1b is obtained by flattening the concave lens 4 of the microlens sheet 1a and can be produced at low cost, and is suitable for a low-cost video printer. Further, when the light L2 and light L3 described above reach the silver halide film 9 through various routes, the contrast of the printed image may be reduced. However, by disposing the light shielding member 6 on the flat portion 5,
It is possible to improve. The countermeasure against this is the microlens sheet 1c.

The microlens sheets 1a to 1c described above
1c had a columnar lens configuration. First, the liquid crystal display device originally preferentially widens the left and right viewing angles with respect to the up and down directions. That is, the light is viewed well from the lateral direction, and the diffusion angle in the vertical direction is smaller than the diffusion of light in the horizontal direction. In addition, since the upper and lower sizes of the liquid crystal pixels are generally made larger than the left and right sizes (for example, the upper and lower sizes are sometimes 2.5 to 3 times the left and right sizes). The effect of the diffusion of the particles is reduced. Furthermore, the human eye is attached to the left and right, so that the resolution in the left and right direction is severe, but the reason is that the up and down direction is gentle.

However, if it is necessary to ensure the resolution in the vertical direction, a spherical lens (the outer edge is hexagonal) may be used instead of the columnar lens as shown in FIG.
At this time, it is natural that the lens on the surface facing the silver halide film 9 is also spherical. Naturally, the configuration of the microlens sheets 1a to 1c can be applied to other configurations.

Next, an embodiment of a video printer using the above-described microlens sheet will be described. This embodiment is a video printer that uses a liquid crystal display device of a portable video recorder for generating a still image for printing, and is a device that is compact, has low power consumption, has a short printing time, and is suitable for carrying.

FIG. 6 shows an example of this. The video recorder 21 has a main body 22 in which an image pickup section and a recording / reproducing mechanism are integrated, and a video camera 21 further includes a viewfinder 23 having a liquid crystal display device as an upper part. A liquid crystal panel for direct viewing 24 for displaying a recorded / reproduced image is attached to a side surface of the main body 22. The eyepiece of the viewfinder 23 is provided with an eye cap 25 for positioning with the eye. Further, a still image switch 26 for taking in a still image for printing, a print switch 2 for instructing printing,
There are seven. It should be noted that other components such as various switches for instructing the operation of the video recorder 21 and the battery are not directly related to the present invention and are not shown.

Further, there is a camera adapter 28 having a mounting portion 29 and a film outlet 30 which can be easily attached to and detached from the direct-viewing liquid crystal panel 24. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the camera adapter 28 taken along the arrow AA in FIG. 6. The microlens sheet 1 a and the diffusion sheet 8 are provided in the case 31 in the vicinity of the mounting portion 29. Mounting part 29
When the microlens sheet 1a is attached to the direct-view liquid crystal panel 24, the microlens sheet 1a is in close contact with the polarizing plate (reference numeral 16 in FIG. 4) outside the direct-view liquid crystal panel 24. Further, a plurality of silver salt films 9 are built in and are closely attached to the diffusion sheet 8 by springs 32. The printed silver halide film 9 is taken out from the film outlet 30. Thereafter, the next silver halide film 9 is brought into close contact with the diffusion sheet 8 by the spring 32.

Next, the system configuration and operation of the video recorder 21 having the print function described above will be described.

First, as shown in FIG. 8, the system includes a CPU 41 for controlling the entire system, a camera circuit 42 of a video recorder, a video recorder circuit 43, a memory 44 for recording an image to be printed, and an image stored in the memory 44 for the CPU 41. Switch 2 for instructing to record
6, a print switch 27 for instructing the CPU 41 to start a print operation, a direct-view liquid crystal panel 24 for displaying an image being shot or a reproduced image, a direct-view liquid crystal panel signal processing circuit 45 for driving the direct-view liquid crystal panel 24, A backlight 46 for illuminating the direct-view liquid crystal panel 24, an inverter circuit 47 for driving the backlight 46, a finder liquid crystal panel 48, a finder liquid crystal panel signal processing circuit 49 for driving the finder liquid crystal panel 48, and a finder liquid crystal panel 48 , And an inverter circuit 51 for driving the backlight 50.

Next, the operation will be described. First, a signal at the time of shooting with a camera or recording and reproduction of a video recorder is passed through a video recorder circuit 43 as a display signal to a liquid crystal panel signal processing circuit 45 for direct viewing, The signal is supplied to a finder liquid crystal panel signal processing circuit 49. By pressing the still image switch 26 with the image to be printed, the CPU 41 detects this and controls the video recorder circuit 43, and the image at that time is taken into the memory 44. After that, the image recorded in the memory 44 is read out and is applied to the direct-view liquid crystal panel 24 and the finder liquid crystal panel 48 as a still image signal. At this time, the inverter circuit 47 that drives the backlight 46 of the direct-view liquid crystal panel 24 is in a stopped state, while the inverter circuit 51 that drives the backlight 50 of the finder liquid crystal panel 48 is in a lighting operation state. You can check the image you want to print.

When the print switch 27 is depressed in this state, the CPU 41 detects this and presses the inverter switch 47 for a time corresponding to the sensitivity of the silver halide film 9 mounted.
Is operated to expose the still image displayed on the direct-view liquid crystal panel 24 onto the silver halide film 9. After the above operation is completed, the photographed silver halide film 9 is taken out of the camera adapter 28. It is also possible to construct a camera adapter using a normal 35 mm film instead of the instant type film. In this case, the film is wound up to complete the printing operation of this still image.

In the above-described example, in order to create a still image, a signal is stored in the memory 44 and then supplied to the direct-view liquid crystal panel signal processing circuit 45 to display the still image. The video recorder is provided with a still image reproducing function, and for an image to be printed, the video recorder is set to a still image reproducing state, and the inverter circuit 47 is operated for a predetermined exposure time to print the image on the silver halide film 9. Is also possible.

The video recorder is not limited to the one using the above-described magnetic tape, but may be configured using any recording medium such as a magnetic disk and an optical disk.

[0036]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a video printer which is compact, lightweight, consumes low power, and is excellent in portability. Accordingly, a single camera-integrated video recorder can perform from recording / reproduction to printing of a recorded image, and can be used for a variety of purposes.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a microlens sheet according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a principle configuration diagram when a microlens sheet according to the present invention is used for video printing.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a case where a liquid crystal display device is printed in close contact with a silver halide film.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram when an image of a liquid crystal display device is printed on a silver halide film using the microlens sheet according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is another configuration example of the microlens sheet.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a video printer according to the present invention.

7 is a cross-sectional view of the camera adapter shown in FIG. 6 taken along arrow AA.

FIG. 8 is a circuit block diagram of a video printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a conventional example of a video printer.

FIG. 10 is a conventional example of a video printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

1a, 1b, 1c: micro lens sheet, 2, 3, 1
9 convex lens, 4 concave lens, 5 flat portion, 6 light shielding member, 7 liquid crystal display device, 8 diffusion sheet, 9 silver halide film, 11 liquid crystal, 12 pixels, 13, 14 glass,
15, 16 polarizing plate, 17 projected image, 18 formed image, 21 video recorder, 22 body, 23 viewfinder, 24 liquid crystal panel for direct viewing, 25 eye cap, 26 still image switch, 27 print switch, 28 camera adapter, 29 mounting part, 30 film outlet, 31 case, 32 spring, 41
.. CPU, 42 camera circuit, 43 video recorder circuit, 44 memory, 45 direct-view liquid crystal panel signal processing circuit, 46, 50 backlight, 47, 51 inverter circuit, 48 finder liquid crystal panel 49 ... Liquid crystal panel signal processing circuit for finder, 61, 66. Signal processing circuit, 62. Printer head controller, 63. Printer head mechanism, 64. Print paper, 65, 71.
67 ... CRT, 68 ... Color filter, 69 ... Lens, 70 ... Silver film

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A light-transmitting sheet, wherein a first convex lens group is formed on one surface, and a second convex lens group facing the first convex lens group is formed on the other surface. Micro lens sheet. 2. The microlens sheet according to claim 1, wherein the second convex lens group has a smaller lens diameter and a shorter focal length than the first convex lens group. 3. A light-shielding member that shields light between adjacent lenses of the second convex lens group.
The microlens sheet according to claim 1. 4. The microlens sheet according to claim 1, wherein a concave lens is provided between adjacent lenses of the second convex lens group. 5. A camera adapter having light-shielding properties, comprising: the microlens sheet according to claim 1, a silver salt film, and a diffusion sheet provided between the microlens sheet and the silver salt film. And a camera printing apparatus, wherein the camera adapter is mounted on a flat display device for displaying a still image, and the still image displayed on the display device is copied onto the silver halide film.