JP2002122945A - Digital exposure device and photographic processing device having the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To uniformly expose sensitive materials in a wide range while maintaining the pixel density of exposed images with a digital exposure device which prints the images to the sensitive materials by irradiating the sensitive materials with the exit light meeting the digital image data from an exposure element array. SOLUTION: The plural DMD arrays 6a and 6b are fixed to a base material and the device is provided with a refraction plate 7 and actuator 8 which correspond to the exit light rays of the different DMD arrays 6a and 6b and regulate the spacing between the pixels adjacent to each other on photographic paper 10 by optically changing the progression direction of the exit light from the DMD array 6a.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital exposure apparatus that prints an image on a photosensitive material by irradiating light emitted according to digital image data from an exposure element array, and a photographic processing apparatus including the same. The present invention relates to a digital exposure apparatus capable of uniformly exposing a wide range of photosensitive materials by combining the above exposure element arrays, and a photographic processing apparatus having the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, DMD (Digital Micromirror
vice) A digital exposure apparatus that exposes a photosensitive material by irradiating the photosensitive material with light emitted from an exposure element array in which a large number of exposure elements are arranged, such as an array or an LCS (Liquid Crystal Shatter) array. Has been proposed.

For example, while photographic paper as a photosensitive material is being conveyed, light emitted from a long exposure element array in a direction (main scanning direction) perpendicular to the photographic paper conveying direction (sub-scanning direction) is used for each line. FIG. 8 shows a known digital exposure apparatus for scanning and exposing an image. FIG.
Is a side sectional view schematically showing a schematic configuration of the digital exposure apparatus. In the figure, a two-dot chain line indicates a traveling direction of a light beam.

The digital exposure apparatus shown in FIG. 8 is configured to emit R (red) light, G (green) light, and B (blue) light according to digital image data from an exposure head in parallel to expose a printing paper 110. It has become. The digital exposure apparatus,
Light source unit 101, color wheel 102, integrator rod 103, condenser lenses 104 and 105, DM
A D array 106 and a printing lens 108 are provided.

The light source 101 is a lamp that emits white light. While rotating the color wheel 102, the light source unit 1
The white light from 01 is sequentially converted into R light, G light, and B light,
These R light, G light and B light are transmitted to the integrator rod 10.
3 is incident. The light that has entered the integrator rod 103 exits the integrator rod 103 after light amount unevenness has been removed by repeating total internal reflection,
The light enters the condenser lens 104. The light incident on the condenser lens 104 is converted into parallel light, and is irradiated on the reflection surface of the DMD array 106 by the condenser lens 105.

The DMD array 106 has a number of DMD element sections (pixel sections) corresponding to constituent pixels of digital image data.
It is composed of A fine aluminum reflector as a micromirror is spread over each pixel portion, and the image light is reflected by reflecting the light from the light source portion 101 while controlling the tilt angle of each micromirror by an electrostatic field effect. Is emitted. The image light emitted from the DMD array 106 is enlarged by the printing lens 108,
An image is formed on the printing paper 110.

In the above digital exposure apparatus, the R, G, and B image lights are exposed on the photographic paper 110 for each color. The R light, the G light, and the B light are sequentially overprinted to obtain a color image as a whole.

[0008]

When the photographic paper 110 is exposed by the digital exposure apparatus, the pixel density and the exposure area of the exposed image are determined by the arrangement of the pixels in the DMD array 106 and the light emitted from the DMD array 106. Is determined based on the image forming magnification of the printing lens 108 for forming the image. That is, in order to fix the number of pixels in the DMD array 106 and adjust the pixel density and the exposure area of the exposed image, it is necessary to change the imaging magnification of the printing lens 108. When the number of pixels arranged in the DMD array 106 is fixed and the imaging magnification is increased, the pixel density of the exposed image is reduced, while the exposed area is increased. Conversely, the DMD array 10
If the image forming magnification is reduced while fixing the number of pixel unit arrays of 6, the pixel density of the exposed image increases while the exposed area decreases. That is, when the number of pixels arranged in the DMD array 106 is fixed, the pixel density of the exposure image and the exposure area are in a trade-off relationship.

For this reason, it is impossible to increase the exposure area while maintaining the pixel density of the exposure image by adjusting the imaging magnification of the printing lens 108. To realize this, a new method is required. It becomes necessary to adopt an approach.

While maintaining the pixel density of the exposed image,
As a simple method of increasing the exposure area, a method of increasing the number of pixels arranged in the DMD array can be considered. However, since the DMD array is manufactured by one semiconductor process, the number of arrayed pixel portions has a limit value corresponding to the technical level of wiring formation and the yield, so that such a technique is technically not suitable. However, there was a limit in terms of cost as well.

While maintaining the pixel density of the exposed image,
Other techniques for increasing the exposure area include multiple DMs.
D arrays are arranged and fixed on a substrate.
By irradiating one exposure image onto photographic paper by combining the arrays, it is possible to obtain substantially the same result as the above-described method of increasing the number of pixels arranged in the DMD array.

However, when a plurality of DMD arrays are arranged and fixed on a substrate, as shown in FIG.
(See FIG. 8) It is necessary to make the interval between pixels adjacent to each other equal to the pixel interval of the photographic paper 110 using a single DMD array. If the pixel intervals are not equal to each other, FIG.
This is because, as shown in (a), a so-called dot shift occurs at the boundary between the exposure images corresponding to the light emitted from different DMD arrays.

Such a dot shift is caused, for example, by the printing paper 1
Even if the amount of displacement is only about several tens of μm with respect to the pixel interval of several hundreds of μm on the line 10, it is observed as a seam-like or linear unevenness, and the quality of the exposed image is significantly reduced. For this reason, when a plurality of DMD arrays are arranged and fixed on a substrate, it is necessary to manage the intervals between adjacent pixels on the printing paper 110 with an accuracy of about several μm, corresponding to the emitted light of different DMD arrays. Occurs.

However, when a small exposure element array such as a DMD array is mounted on a substrate and fixed, the positional accuracy of the mounting is limited to about several tens of μm. It becomes even larger on photographic paper due to exposure image enlargement means such as a printing lens. Therefore, it was practically impossible to manage the interval between pixels adjacent to each other on the photographic paper 110 with an accuracy of about several μm, corresponding to the light emitted from different DMD arrays.

For the above reasons, the DMD array is usually employed alone, and when it is necessary to increase the exposure area of the photographic paper, the enlargement ratio by the exposure image enlargement means such as a printing lens is increased. In addition, the pixel density of the exposed image has to be reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to combine a plurality of exposure element arrays with high positional accuracy and maintain the pixel density of an exposed image while maintaining a wide range of photosensitivity. An object of the present invention is to provide a digital exposure apparatus capable of uniformly exposing a material and a photographic processing apparatus having the same.

[0017]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a digital exposure apparatus for irradiating a light-sensitive material with outgoing light corresponding to digital image data from an exposure element array. In a digital exposure apparatus for printing an image on the photosensitive material, a plurality of the exposure element arrays are fixed to a base material, and by changing the traveling direction of light emitted from the exposure element arrays optically, It is characterized by comprising an interval adjusting means corresponding to the light emitted from the exposure element array and adjusting the interval between adjacent pixels on the photosensitive material.

In the above arrangement, the interval adjusting means is
If it is a means for optically changing the traveling direction of the light emitted from the exposure element array, the refractive index is changed by a combination of an optical member such as a glass plate or a prism and a displacement means of the optical member, or by applying a voltage. Arbitrary means such as an element can be adopted.

According to the above arrangement, the traveling direction of the image light from the plurality of exposure element arrays fixed to the base material is changed optically by the interval adjusting means, and the image light is irradiated onto the photosensitive material. The position changes. Therefore, the distance adjusting means can adjust the distance between pixels adjacent to each other on the photosensitive material, corresponding to light emitted from different exposure element arrays.

Thus, a plurality of exposure element arrays can be combined with good positional accuracy, and a wider range of photosensitive materials can be uniformly exposed while maintaining the pixel density of an exposure image when a single exposure element array is employed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a digital exposure apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the distance between the exposure element array and the distance adjusting means, and the distance adjusting means and the photosensitive element are different from each other. An exposure image enlarging means for enlarging image light from the exposure element array is provided on at least one of the materials.

In the above arrangement, the image light from the plurality of exposure element arrays is enlarged by the exposure image enlarging means before reaching the photosensitive material. For this reason, an exposure position error and a dot shift amount in the photosensitive material due to an error in a position at which the exposure element array is attached to the base material are further increased.

However, according to the above configuration, even when the image light from the exposure element array is enlarged by the exposure image enlarging means, the light emitted from the exposure element array is different depending on the interval adjusting means. In addition, the distance between adjacent pixels on the photosensitive material can be adjusted.

According to this, in addition to the effect of the first aspect, even when the image light from the exposure element array is enlarged by the exposure image enlargement means, a plurality of exposure element arrays are combined with high positional accuracy, A wide range of photosensitive materials can be exposed evenly.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a digital exposure apparatus according to the first or second aspect, wherein the distance adjusting means comprises a refractor and a displacing means for displacing the refractor. It is characterized by:

In the above arrangement, the displacement means includes both means for manually displacing the refractor and means for automatically displacing the refractor.

According to the above configuration, the traveling direction of the image light from the exposure element array is optically changed by the refraction effect when passing through the refractor. In addition, since the traveling direction of the image light can be controlled by displacing the refractor by the displacing means, it corresponds to the light emitted from different exposure element arrays and is adjacent to each other on the photosensitive material. Pixel intervals can be controlled with high accuracy.

Thus, in addition to the functions and effects of the first and second aspects, by optically changing the traveling direction of the light emitted from the exposure element array, it is possible to cope with the light emitted from the different exposure element array, Further, an interval adjusting means for adjusting the interval between adjacent pixels on the photosensitive material can be realized in a simple form.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a digital exposure apparatus according to the third aspect, wherein the refractor has a plate shape.

According to the above arrangement, no matter where the light emitted from the exposure element array enters the refractor, the traveling direction of the emitted light changes by the same amount. Light that has entered the refractor as parallel light exits from the refractor as parallel light.

Thus, in addition to the effect of the third aspect, the photosensitive material can be exposed without distorting the image exposed by the image light from the exposure element array.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a digital exposure apparatus according to the third or fourth aspect, wherein the refractor is an achromatic prism combining media having different refractive indexes. It is characterized by having.

In the above structure, the achromatic prism is an optical member that eliminates the wavelength dependence of the refraction angle of outgoing light with respect to incident light by combining, for example, two media having different refractive indices.

According to the above configuration, the optical distance when the image light from the exposure element array passes through the refractor is large, and the traveling direction of the image light is largely changed by the refractor. In addition, chromatic aberration caused by the wavelength dependence of the refraction angle is suppressed.

According to this, in addition to the function and effect of the third or fourth aspect, even when the traveling direction of the image light is largely changed by the refractor, the occurrence of color shift of the exposed image due to the chromatic aberration of the image light is prevented. Can be suppressed.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a digital exposure apparatus according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, wherein the distance between the pixels is measured based on a measurement result of the pixel interval. It is characterized by comprising control means for controlling the adjusting means.

According to the above arrangement, the control means controls the interval adjusting means based on the measurement result of the pixel interval while giving feedback so as to set the pixel interval to a desired value. For example, the control unit automatically calculates an error of the mounting position of the exposure element array with respect to the base material from the measurement result, and controls the interval adjustment unit so that a dot shift does not occur in the exposure image of the photosensitive material. Can be optimized.

Thus, any one of claims 1 to 5 can be provided.
In addition to the effects of the item, even when an error in the mounting position of the exposure element array with respect to the base material cannot be directly detected, a plurality of exposure element arrays are combined with good positional accuracy, and an image having no unevenness on the photosensitive material is obtained. Can be exposed. Also, even in a situation where it is difficult to fine-tune the mounting position of the exposure element array with respect to the base material, such as after shipment from a factory, pixels that correspond to light emitted from different exposure element arrays and are adjacent to each other on the photosensitive material Can be easily and accurately adjusted.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a photographic processing apparatus comprising: a digital image data supply unit for supplying the digital image data according to a photographic image; 2. A digital exposure apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a development processing unit configured to perform development processing on the photosensitive material exposed by the digital exposure apparatus.

According to the above arrangement, after the photosensitive material is exposed by the digital exposure device based on the digital image data supplied by the digital image data supply means, the development processing means performs the exposure. The image is visualized.

Thus, any one of claims 1 to 6
A photographic processing apparatus having the effects described in the item is obtained.

[0042]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [Embodiment 1] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 2, the photographic processing apparatus according to this embodiment includes an exposure unit 21 (digital exposure device), a paper magazine 22, a developing unit 23 (developing processing unit), a drying unit 24, PC (Personal Computer) 25 (digital image data supply unit).

The exposure section 21 exposes a photographic paper (photosensitive material), not shown, conveyed from a paper magazine 22 in accordance with image data. The detailed internal configuration of the exposure unit 21 will be described later.

The paper magazine 22 stores photographic paper of a predetermined size in a roll shape. In the drawing, two paper magazines 22 are arranged above the exposure unit 21 in correspondence with, for example, two types of photographic paper. I have. By selectively switching and transporting the photographic paper from each paper magazine 22, an image can be exposed on photographic paper of a different size.

The developing unit 23 performs a developing process by transporting the photographic paper exposed by the exposing unit 21 while spraying a developing solution.

The drying section 24 performs the last processing of printing by drying the photographic paper which has been subjected to the development processing in the developing section 23. The photographic paper after drying is cut off one frame at a time by an unillustrated cutter.

The PC 25 stores digital image data corresponding to a photographic image, performs various data processing on the digital image data, and supplies the digital image data to the exposure unit 21.

As described above, the photographic processing apparatus according to the present embodiment has a configuration in which exposure, development, and drying of photographic paper are continuously performed under centralized management. Therefore, it is possible to print a large number of photographs continuously without putting a burden on the user in operation.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the internal configuration of the exposure section 21 in the above-described photographic processing apparatus. The exposure unit 21 includes a light source unit 1, a color wheel 2, an integrator rod 3,
Condenser lenses 4 and 5, DMD arrays 6a and 6b (exposure element arrays), refraction plate 7 (refractor), actuator 8 (displacement means), printing lens 9 (exposure image enlargement means),
It includes a printing paper 10 (photosensitive material), a DMD control unit 11, and an actuator control unit 12 (control means). In the figure, the two-dot chain line indicates the traveling direction of the light beam.

The light source unit 1 is disposed in a direction inclined by a predetermined angle from a normal direction on the reflection surfaces of the DMD arrays 6a and 6b. A color wheel 2, an integrator rod 3, and condenser lenses 4.5 are arranged on the optical axis connecting the light source unit 1 and the DMD arrays 6a and 6b in this order from the light source unit 1 side. Also, the DMD arrays 6a and 6
The refraction plate 7 and the printing lens 9 are disposed in a direction different from the direction in which the light source unit 1 is disposed with respect to the reflection surface of b, and the DMD arrays 6a and 6b, the refraction plate 7 and the printing lens 9 The photographic paper 10 is arranged on the extension of the optical axis connecting.

The light source unit 1 includes a lamp unit composed of, for example, a halogen lamp, a reflector for reflecting light emitted from the lamp unit in a direction in which the DMD arrays 6a and 6b are arranged, and a lamp unit and a reflector located at predetermined positions. And a socket portion for supplying power to the lamp portion.

The color wheel 2 is provided with a disk-shaped wheel. Three substantially fan-shaped filters corresponding to red, green, and blue are provided in a region radially divided from the center by three. Configuration. The light from the light source unit 1 rotates about the rotation axis 2A so that the light can pass through any of the regions of the filter.

The integrator rod 3 is made of, for example, quartz glass (BK-7) and has a cross section of 2 mm ×
It has a rectangular parallelepiped shape of about 6 mm and a length of about 150 mm. When light is incident from one end of the integrator rod 3, total reflection is repeatedly performed inside, and light from which unevenness in light amount has been removed is emitted from the other end. That is, the light emitted from the light source unit 1 has uneven light intensity due to the influence of the shape of the lamp filament and the shape of the reflector. You.

As a configuration for removing unevenness in the amount of light emitted from the light source unit 1, for example, when a configuration using a diffusion plate is used, light is diffused into a region other than the required range. , The amount of light decreases. On the other hand, as described above, the integrator rod 3 is configured to remove the uneven light amount by repeating total internal reflection, and thus has an advantage that the light amount hardly decreases due to the removal of the uneven light amount. are doing.

The condenser lens 4 changes the light emitted from the integrator rod 3 into parallel light.
The condenser lens 5 converts the incident parallel light into a DMD.
The light is focused toward the display areas on the arrays 6a and 6b.

The DMD arrays 6a and 6b are composed of 1024 vertically and 1 horizontally (main scanning direction) on a 1.5 cm square semiconductor.
An unillustrated pixel portion provided in a matrix of 280 pieces,
DMD array 6a and DMD array 6 having a 16 μm square swingable micromirror corresponding to each pixel portion
b are arranged in parallel in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface. Each of the DMD arrays 6a and 6b is fixed to an unillustrated substrate (substrate), and both have substantially 1024 pixel units vertically and 2560 pixel units horizontally (main scanning direction). Become.

The DMD arrays 6a and 6b are operated in accordance with digital image data supplied from the PC 25 (see FIG. 2).
By adjusting the inclination of the micromirror for each pixel unit and changing the reflection direction of the light emitted from the light source unit 1, the photographic paper 10 is irradiated with image light. That is, the micromirrors corresponding to the pixels to be irradiated with light are inclined in such a direction that the light from the light source unit 1 is reflected in the direction of the printing paper 10. on the other hand,
At the time of non-exposure, the micromirrors corresponding to the pixels not to be irradiated with light are inclined in such a direction that the light from the light source unit 1 is reflected in a direction different from the photographic paper 10 direction. By such control, exposure corresponding to the image data sent from the DMD control unit 11 is performed on the photographic paper 10.

The DMD arrays 6a and 6b each have a rectangular area formed by a part of the vertical width of the reflection area in which the micromirrors are arranged, for example, 192 micromirrors vertically and horizontally, respectively. In this configuration, only 1280 areas (display areas) are used for actual exposure. The image information is scrolled and displayed in the display area, and the exposure is performed by moving the printing paper 10 in synchronization with the scrolling of the display area.

As described above, since the DMD arrays 6a and 6b use only a display area which is a part of each of the reflection areas for actual exposure, even if a defective mirror exists in the reflection area, The display area can be set so as to avoid the area where the defective mirror exists. Therefore, the image actually printed on the photographic printing paper 10 is not affected by the defective mirror, so that a high quality print image can be provided.

In the present embodiment, as described above, a partial area (display area) on the DMD arrays 6a and 6b is used, and image information is scrolled and displayed in this display area. Although the scanning exposure for moving the photographic paper 10 in synchronization with the scroll of the display area is performed, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a configuration in which image information is displayed using all the micromirrors on the DMD arrays 6a and 6b and batch exposure is performed while the photographic paper 10 is stationary can be adopted.

The refraction plate 7 is made of a transparent plate-like flint glass (refractive index 1.6). The disposition position and area of the refraction plate 7 are set such that only the light beam emitted from the DMD array 6a enters the refraction plate 7 and the light beam emitted from the DMD array 6b does not enter the refraction plate 7.

The thickness L of the refraction plate 7 is set by a calculation method described later so as to sufficiently eliminate the dot deviation of the photographic paper 10 due to the error in the fixed position of the DMD arrays 6a and 6b. The refraction plate 7 is tilted (displaced) by a small angle by the actuator 8 so that the light beam emitted from the DMD array 6a approaches or moves away from the light beam emitted from the DMD array 6b.

The actuator 8 is composed of a piezo actuator. According to this configuration, the angle of the refraction plate 7 can be inclined with a compact and simple configuration. As the actuator 8, various stepping motors or the like may be employed other than the piezo actuator.

The printing lens 9 includes the DMD arrays 6a and 6b.
The image light reflected from the photographic paper 10 in the direction of
Thereafter, the image is enlarged and projected on the photographic paper 10. The printing lens 9 is composed of a plurality of lenses. For example, by changing the distance between the lenses, it is possible to change the magnification of the image projected on the photographic paper 10. It becomes possible. The printing lens 9
The light emitted from the DMD arrays 6a and 6b, which is not perfectly parallel light, also forms an image on the photographic paper 10 with photographic quality.

As another configuration different from the above, the printing lens 9 is provided with, for example, a plurality of lenses having different focal lengths, and is selectively placed on an optical axis connecting the DMD arrays 6a and 6b and the printing paper 10. , The size of the image to be printed on the photographic paper 10 can be changed.

[0067] The DMD control section 11 controls the DMD based on the digital image data supplied from the PC 25 (see FIG. 2).
The actuator controller 12 is a control circuit that controls the driving of the MD arrays 6a and 6b. The actuator controller 12 is a control circuit that controls the driving of the actuator 8.

Next, the printing operation on the photographic paper 10 in the photographic processing apparatus having the above configuration will be described.

The light emitted from the light source unit 1 passes through a filter corresponding to any color in the color wheel 2 and enters the integrator rod 3. The light incident on the integrator rod 3 is emitted from the integrator rod 3 after the unevenness in the light amount is removed by repeating total internal reflection, and is incident on the condenser lens 4. The light incident on the condenser lens 4 is converted into parallel light, and is irradiated on the reflection surfaces of the DMD arrays 6a and 6b by the condenser lens 5. The light emitted to the DMD arrays 6a and 6b is reflected in the direction of the photographic paper 10 by the micromirrors inclined according to the image information, and after the traveling direction is changed by the refraction phenomenon when passing through the refraction plate 7, Then, an image is formed on the photographic paper 10 in a state of being enlarged by the printing lens 9.

Next, a procedure for setting the thickness L of the refraction plate 7 will be described.

As described above, in the exposure section 21 (see FIG. 2), the image light from the DMD array 6a approaches the light beam emitted from the DMD array 6b by tilting the refraction plate 7 by the actuator 8 by a small amount. Keep away.
As a result, the photographic paper 10 of the image light from the DMD array 6a
The image forming position at the point of time approaches or goes away from the image forming position of the image light from the DMD array 6b on the printing paper 10.

Here, as shown in FIG.
When the dot shift amount due to an error in the mounting position of the DMD arrays 6a and 6b to the substrate is d, that is, for the pixel interval c of the photographic paper 10 using a single DMD array, It is assumed that the interval between the corresponding pixels on the photographic paper 10 is c + d. In order to eliminate such a dot shift amount d, the required thickness L of the refraction plate 7 is calculated by Expression (1), where m is the tilt control range of the refraction plate 7 and n is the refractive index. Is done.

(Equation 1) L = d · cos (m) / [n · cos (rm)] FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of refraction of a light beam on the refraction plate 7. As shown in the figure, r represents the degree of refraction on the refraction plate 7 when the inclination angle of the refraction plate 7 is m, and r
= Sin ^-1 [n · cos (m)]. Here, y = sin ⁻¹ (x) is an inverse function of y = sin (x).

For example, when the DMD arrays 6a and 6b are attached to the substrate, the error of the fixed position is 50 μm.
m, the magnification of the printing lens 9 is 8 times. In this case, the dot shift amount on the photographic paper 10 due to the error of the fixed position is ± 400 μm at the maximum, which corresponds to a shift amount of 12 dots in 400 dpi conversion. Thus, D
The image light from the MD arrays 6a and 6b is enlarged by the printing lens 9 before reaching the photographic paper 10, so that the
Exposure position errors and dot shift amounts of the photographic paper 10 due to errors in the fixed positions when attaching the D arrays 6a and 6b to the substrate are further increased.

However, according to this embodiment, even when the image light from the exposure element array is enlarged by the printing lens 9, as shown in FIG. , And actuator control unit 12
Accordingly, it is possible to adjust the distance between pixels adjacent to each other on the photographic paper 10 corresponding to the light emitted from the different DMD arrays 6a and 6b.

The equation (1) shows the dot shift amount d to be corrected.
± 400 μm, ± 1 as the tilt control range m of the refraction plate 7
When the refractive index 1.6 of flint glass is substituted for the refractive index n of the refraction plate 7, the required thickness L of the refraction plate 7 is calculated to be 316 μm. That is, the DMD array 6a
In order to correct the dot shift amount d of the printing paper 10 by inclining the angle of the refraction plate 7 at a maximum of ± 1 ° when the mounting error of the 6b to the substrate is 50 μm,
What is necessary is just to set the thickness L of the refraction plate 7 to 316 μm or more.

In the above calculation, the inclination control range m of the refraction plate 7 is set to a small value of ± 1 ° in order to reduce the load on the actuator 8 and
This is to prevent the dot pitch of the image light emitted from each of the DMD arrays 6a and 6b from being disturbed by increasing the inclination angle of the refraction plate 7. In this case, the refraction plate 7
Is controlled in the range of about 0.01 to 0.1 °, the exposure image position of the photographic paper 10 can be adjusted on the order of several μm.

Next, a specific procedure for adjusting the exposure position of the photographic paper 10 by the DMD array 6a in the exposure unit 21 (see FIG. 2) of the photographic processing apparatus according to this embodiment will be described.

As a first step, a reference image serving as a reference for exposure position adjustment is exposed on photographic paper 10. The above-mentioned reference image refers to the photographic paper 1 while alternately irradiating the output light from the adjacent end pixel portions of the DMD arrays 6a and 6b which are arranged adjacently.
It is an exposure image obtained by carrying 0. The reference image exposed on the photographic paper 10 is visualized by the developing process.

In the second step, in the reference image of the photographic paper 10, the interval between the end pixels corresponding to the light emitted from the different DMD arrays 6a and 6b and adjacent to each other on the photographic paper 10, that is, the dot shift amount is determined. Measure. As the measuring means, any means can be adopted, but here, a flat head scanner provided outside the photographic processing apparatus is used.

When the pixel interval of the reference image is measured by the flat head scanner, the printing paper 10
Assuming that the resolution of the exposure image is 400 dpi, for example, it is preferable to read the reference image at a resolution four times or more (1600 dpi or more). This is because, as a permissible reference value of the dot shift amount d, it is generally considered that about 1/4 of the above resolution is used.
This is because feedback processing described later is performed so as to reduce the dot shift amount d with the accuracy of the allowable reference value.

In the reference image on the photographic paper 10, the exposure image by the DMD array 6a and the DMD array 6b
When it is difficult to discriminate between the two exposure images because the exposure image overlaps or is reversed in position,
The output of the MD array 6a and the output of the DMD array 6b may be alternately performed. Thereby, the DMD arrays 6a and 6b
Are intermittent, and the two exposure images can be easily distinguished. Thereafter, the distance between the extension of the exposure image by the DMD array 6a and the extension of the exposure image by the DMD array 6b is measured.

As a third step, the dot shift amount d measured in the above procedure is notified to the actuator control unit 12 by various programs or transfer means. The actuator control unit 12 substitutes the dot shift amount d, the thickness L of the refraction plate 7 and the refractive index n of the refraction plate 7 into Equation (2) to correct the dot shift amount d. Is calculated, and the actuator 8 is driven to tilt the refraction plate 7 based on the value of the tilt angle m '.

(Equation 2) tan ⁻¹ [L · cos (m ′) / ｛dL · sin (m ′)｝] = sin
⁻¹ [cos (m ′) / n] Here, y = tan ⁻¹ (x) is an inverse function of y = tan (x).

The actuator control section 12 may sequentially calculate the equation (2), or store in advance a calculation result of the inclination angle m ′ using the dot shift amount d as a variable as a numerical table. This may be used as appropriate.
When the above numerical table is used, not only the calculation time can be shortened, but also it is easy to avoid the calculation error caused by the calculation of the multiple trigonometric function of Expression (2). If the resolution of the flat head scanner is, for example, 1600 dpi as described in the second step, a dot shift amount of ± 400 μm corresponds to 50 dots in terms of the number of dots read by the flat head scanner. Therefore,
In this case, the number of the numerical value tables needs to be at most 50.

According to the above procedure, the exposure position of the photographic paper 10 by the DMD array 6a is adjusted.
The exposure state shown in (a) is corrected to the exposure state shown in FIG.

In the present embodiment, a plurality of DMs are
Although the case where the D arrays 6a and 6b are provided side by side to adjust the pixel interval in the main scanning direction on the photographic paper 10 has been described,
The adjustment of the pixel interval by the inclination of the refraction plate 7 is not limited to the main scanning direction, but a plurality of DMD arrays 6a and 6b are provided in the sub scanning direction to adjust the pixel interval in the sub scanning direction on the printing paper 10. You can also. The pixel interval in the sub-scanning direction can be corrected not only by the inclination of the refraction plate 7 but also by changing the display area of the DMD arrays 6a and 6b. However, the amount of dot shift is large and can be corrected by changing the display area. If not, it is beneficial to adjust the pixel spacing by tilting the refraction plate 7.

In this embodiment, the DMD array 6a
Only the light beam emitted from the DMD is incident on the refraction plate 7 to adjust the exposure position by the image light from the DMD array 6a, but the present invention is not limited to this. If the relative position relationship between the exposure position and the exposure position by the image light from the DMD array 6b can be adjusted, the refraction plate 7
May be adopted to adjust the exposure position by the image light from the DMD array 6b.
Thus, the exposure positions by the image light from both the DMD array 6a and the DMD array 6b may be adjusted.

In this embodiment, the position of the printing lens 9 is between the refraction plate 7 and the photographic paper 10, but is not limited to this. The DMD arrays 6a and 6b and the refraction plate 7
May be between. However, as in the present embodiment, if the printing lens 9 is disposed at a position between the refraction plate 7 and the photographic paper 10, the DMD array 6a (6b), the refraction plate 7, the actuator 8, the DMD control unit 11, and the actuator The control unit 12 can be easily unitized.

In this embodiment, the DMD arrays 6a and 6b are employed as the exposure element arrays. However, the present invention is not limited to this.
LCD (Liquid Crystal Device) array, CRT (Ca
thode-Ray Tube) array, PLZT (Lead Zirco-titan)
ated doped with lanthanum-device) Array, VF
An arbitrary exposure element array such as a (Vacuum Fluorescence-device) array can be adopted.

In the present embodiment, the refraction plate 7 is made of a flat plate-like flint glass. However, the shape of the refraction plate 7 is not limited to this, and the prism shape shown in FIG. It may be. However, when a prism shape as shown in the figure is employed as the refraction plate 7, the dot pitch of light emitted from each pixel portion of each of the DMD arrays 6a and 6b employs a plate-like refraction plate 7. It is smaller than the case.

On the other hand, if the refraction plate 7 is formed in a flat plate shape as in this embodiment, even if the light emitted from the DMD arrays 6a and 6b enters the refraction plate 7, The traveling direction changes by the same amount. For example, light incident on the refraction plate 7 as parallel light exits from the refraction plate 7 as parallel light. Thereby, each DMD array 6a
The photographic paper 10 can be exposed without distorting the image exposed by the image light 6b.

Embodiment 2 Another embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. For the sake of convenience, the same components as those of the first embodiment will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

In the first embodiment, a flat plate-like flint glass is adopted as the refraction plate 7.
Has been described in which the traveling direction of the light emitted from each of the DMD arrays 6a and 6b (see FIG. 1) is optically changed by the displacement.

In the above embodiment, if the dot shift amount on the photographic paper 10 increases, the traveling direction of the light emitted from the DMD array 6a must be largely changed in order to correct this. That is, in order to largely change the traveling direction, the displacement amount of the refraction plate 7 is increased,
It is necessary to increase the thickness L of the refraction plate 7.

However, the refractive index of a substance generally has wavelength dependence, and the refractive index decreases as the wavelength of light increases. Therefore, when the optical distance of the refraction plate 7 is increased by increasing the thickness L of the refraction plate 7 or the like, the chromatic aberration due to the wavelength dispersion is increased, and a color shift occurs in an exposed image of the photographic paper 10. The problem arises.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, an achromatic prism shown in FIG. 6 is employed as the refraction plate 7 instead of the flint glass. As shown in the figure, the achromatic prism is a prism that eliminates the wavelength dependence of the refraction angle of outgoing light with respect to incident light by combining media having different refractive indexes n ₁ and n ₂ .

When a flat plate-like flint glass is used as the refraction plate 7, as shown in FIG. 7A, the refraction of the light beam varies depending on the color of the incident light, that is, the wavelength. The outgoing direction of the outgoing light when incident is different for each of the RGB colors. On the other hand, when the achromatic prism is used as the refraction plate 7, the wavelength dependency is canceled out in a two-layer medium having different refractive indices n ₁ and n ₂ as shown in FIG. However, it can be seen that the refractive index of the entire achromatic prism is constant regardless of the wavelength of the light beam.

According to the present embodiment, the refraction plate 7
Even when the traveling direction of the light emitted from the DMD array 6a is largely changed, the chromatic aberration due to the wavelength dependency can be suppressed. Thereby, it is possible to avoid the occurrence of color shift in the exposed image due to the difference in the color of the emitted light.

[0100]

As described above, the digital exposure apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention prints an image on the photosensitive material by irradiating the photosensitive material with emission light corresponding to digital image data from the exposure element array. In a digital exposure apparatus, a plurality of the above-mentioned exposure element arrays are fixed to a base material, and the traveling direction of the emission light from the above-mentioned exposure element array is optically changed to correspond to the emission lights of the above-mentioned different exposure element arrays. And an interval adjusting means for adjusting the interval between pixels adjacent to each other on the photosensitive material.

Therefore, the distance adjusting means can adjust the distance between the pixels adjacent to each other on the photosensitive material, corresponding to the light emitted from the different exposure element arrays.

Thus, when a plurality of exposure element arrays are combined with high positional accuracy and a single exposure element array is employed, a wider range of photosensitive material can be uniformly exposed while maintaining the pixel density of an exposed image. To play.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a digital exposure apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the distance between the exposure element array and the distance adjusting means and the distance between the distance adjusting means and the photosensitive material are different. At least one is provided with an exposure image enlarging means for enlarging the image light from the exposure element array.

Therefore, even when the image light from the exposure element array is enlarged by the exposure image enlargement means, it corresponds to the light emitted from the exposure element array, which differs depending on the interval adjusting means, and is formed on the photosensitive material. The distance between adjacent pixels can be adjusted.

Thus, in addition to the function and effect of claim 1, even when the image light from the exposure element array is enlarged by the exposure image enlargement means, a plurality of exposure element arrays are combined with good positional accuracy. This has the effect that a wide range of photosensitive materials can be exposed evenly.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a digital exposure apparatus according to the first or second aspect.
The interval adjusting means includes a refractor and a displacement means for displacing the refractor.

Therefore, the traveling direction of the image light from the exposure element array can be changed optically by the refraction effect when passing through the refractor, and the refractor is displaced by the displacing means. This makes it possible to control the traveling direction of the image light, so that the distance between adjacent pixels on the photosensitive material can be controlled with high accuracy in response to light emitted from different exposure element arrays.

Thus, in addition to the functions and effects of the first and second aspects, by changing the traveling direction of the light emitted from the exposure element array optically, it is possible to respond to the light emitted from the different exposure element array, In addition, there is an effect that the interval adjusting means for adjusting the interval between adjacent pixels on the photosensitive material can be realized in a simple form.

As described above, in the digital exposure apparatus according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in the configuration of the third aspect, the refractor has a plate shape.

Therefore, no matter where the light emitted from the exposure element array enters the refractor, the traveling direction of the emitted light changes by the same amount.

Thus, in addition to the function and effect of the third aspect, there is an effect that the photosensitive material can be exposed without distorting the image exposed by the image light from the exposure element array.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a digital exposure apparatus according to the third or fourth aspect, wherein
The refractor is composed of an achromatic prism combining media having different refractive indexes.

Therefore, even if the optical distance when the image light from the exposure element array passes through the refraction body is large and the traveling direction of the image light is largely changed by the refraction body, the refraction angle can be reduced. Chromatic aberration due to wavelength dependence is suppressed.

Thus, in addition to the effects of the third and fourth aspects, even when the traveling direction of the image light is largely changed by the refractor, the occurrence of color shift of the exposed image due to the chromatic aberration of the image light is prevented. This has the effect of being able to be suppressed.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a digital exposure apparatus according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, wherein the distance adjusting means is controlled based on the measurement result of the pixel interval. It is a configuration provided with control means for performing

Therefore, the control unit controls the interval adjusting unit based on the measurement result of the pixel interval while giving feedback so as to set the pixel interval to a desired value.

Thus, any one of claims 1 to 5 can be provided.
In addition to the functions and effects of the item, even when an error in the mounting position of the exposure element array with respect to the base material cannot be directly detected, a plurality of exposure element arrays are combined with good positional accuracy, and an image having no unevenness on the photosensitive material is obtained. Can be exposed. Further, even in a situation where it is difficult to finely adjust the mounting position of the exposure element array with respect to the base material, such as after shipment from a factory, pixels that correspond to light emitted from different exposure element arrays and are adjacent to each other on the photosensitive material. Is easily and accurately adjusted.

[0118] The photographic processing apparatus according to the invention of claim 7 is a digital image data supply means for supplying the digital image data according to a photographic image as described above. And a developing means for developing a photosensitive material exposed by the digital exposure apparatus.

Therefore, based on the digital image data supplied by the digital image data supply means,
After the photosensitive material is exposed by the digital exposure device, the exposed image is visualized by the developing means.

Thus, any one of claims 1 to 6 can be obtained.
A photographic processing apparatus having the effects described in the item is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an internal configuration of an exposure unit in a photographic processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an external configuration of the photographic processing apparatus.

FIG. 3A is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which a dot misalignment has occurred due to an error in a mounting position of a DMD array on a substrate, and FIG. 3B shows a state in which the dot misalignment has been corrected; FIG.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a refraction state of a light beam on a refraction plate in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a prism-shaped refraction plate.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a refraction plate including an achromatic prism.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are explanatory diagrams showing a state of refraction of light rays in a refraction plate made of a flat plate-like flint glass, and FIG. 7B is shown in a refraction plate made of an achromatic prism.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a conventional digital exposure apparatus.

FIG. 9A is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which a dot shift occurs due to an error in a mounting position of a DMD array on a substrate, and FIG. 9B is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which there is no dot shift. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 6a DMD array (exposure element array) 6b DMD array (exposure element array) 7 Refraction plate (refractor) 8 Actuator (displacement means) 9 Printing lens (exposure image enlargement means) 10 Photo paper (photosensitive material) 12 Actuator control unit ( Control means) 23 developing unit (developing processing unit) 25 PC (digital image data supply unit)

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A digital exposure apparatus for printing an image on a photosensitive material by irradiating the photosensitive material with light emitted according to digital image data from the exposure element array, wherein a plurality of the exposure element arrays are fixed to a base material. An interval for optically changing the traveling direction of light emitted from the exposure element array to correspond to light emitted from the different exposure element arrays, and to adjust the distance between adjacent pixels on the photosensitive material. A digital exposure apparatus comprising adjusting means. 2. An exposure image enlarging means for enlarging image light from said exposure element array is provided in at least one of between said exposure element array and said interval adjusting means and between said interval adjusting means and said photosensitive material. The digital exposure apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The digital exposure apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said distance adjusting means comprises a refractor and a displacement means for displacing the refractor. 4. The digital exposure apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said refractor has a plate shape. 5. The digital exposure apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the refractor is an achromatic prism combining media having different refractive indexes. 6. The digital exposure apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising control means for controlling said distance adjusting means based on the measurement result of said pixel distance. 7. A digital image data supply unit for supplying the digital image data according to a photographic image, a digital exposure device according to claim 1, and exposure performed by the digital exposure device. And a developing section for performing a developing process on the obtained photosensitive material.