JP2005022849A - Conveyed article detection device and photographic processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To certainly adjust emitting light amount of an infrared ray emitting element for carrying out pulse light emitting action while avoiding complexity of a device constitution of an conveyed article detection device. <P>SOLUTION: The conveyed article detection device is provided with the infrared ray emitting element 31 and a light receiving element 32a for carrying out detection/action against an undeveloped photographic light-sensitive material conveyed on a conveying route. In the conveyed article detection device, a constant current circuit 41 for constant current-driving the infrared light emitting element 31 by a current value corresponding to an input control voltage; the state for permitting that the control voltage corresponding to a set amount of emitting light is inputted to a control voltage input of the constant current circuit 41; a switching means CH; and a pulse signal feed means PG for feeding a pulse signal for switching/operating the switching means CH are provided. The conveyed article detection device is constituted such that existence of the photographic light-sensitive material is detected in synchronizing to the pulse signal. The switching means CH is constituted such that it switches to the state that the control voltage corresponding to a voltage for stopping of light-emitting of the infrared light emitting element 31 or corresponding to a voltage for emitting the light at a lower light amount than the set amount of emitting light is inputted to the control voltage input of the constant current circuit 41. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention includes an infrared light-emitting element and a light-receiving element that detect an undeveloped photographic light-sensitive material conveyed through a conveyance path, and the photograph at a detection target location based on a detection signal of the light-receiving element. The present invention relates to a transported object detection device provided with detection means for detecting the presence or absence of a photosensitive material, and a photographic processing device provided with the same.

Such a transported object detection device is provided in various photographic processing devices, in particular, a photographic processing device that processes undeveloped photographic photosensitive material, at a detection target location on a transport path through which the undeveloped photographic photosensitive material is transported. The presence or absence of the photographic light-sensitive material is detected, and the detected information is used for controlling various related devices.
As a method for detecting the presence or absence of a photographic photosensitive material which is a conveyed object in a photographic processing apparatus, as described in Patent Documents 1 to 3 below, a light emitting element and a light receiving element are provided as a pair and emitted from the light emitting element. The presence or absence of the photographic photosensitive material at the detection target location is detected based on the degree to which the received light reaches the light receiving element.

In such a to-be-conveyed object detection apparatus, it is necessary to adjust so that the presence or absence of a to-be-conveyed object can be detected appropriately based on the detection information of a light receiving element. An adjustment operation is performed as an adjustment parameter.
However, the techniques described in Patent Documents 1 to 3 below assume a developed photographic film as a detection target, and usually detect a photographic light-sensitive material by causing a light emitting element to emit steady light.
On the other hand, when an undeveloped photographic light-sensitive material is to be detected, even if an infrared light emitting element that emits infrared light deviated from a wavelength region where the photographic light-sensitive material has sensitivity is used, a very small amount of photographic light-sensitive material Since the photosensitive material is exposed to light, the presence or absence of the photographic photosensitive material is detected not by causing the infrared light emitting element to emit light constantly but by emitting pulses.

In the state in which the infrared light emitting element emits pulses, further, for adjustment, if the configuration is made such that the amount of emitted light can be changed, for example, the power supply voltage of the power source that supplies the drive current to the light emitting element is made variable. Therefore, a circuit configuration is required which requires a configuration in which switch means for turning on and off the current-carrying path of the drive current of the light-emitting element having a relatively large current is required.
For this reason, conventionally, in the detection of the presence or absence of undeveloped photographic light-sensitive material, the adjustment of the drive current of the infrared light emitting element is not performed, and the light emission amount during light emission is fixed to a constant value and the pulse light emission operation is performed. In order to stabilize the operating state of the transported object detection device, the actual situation is that the dust adhering work to the infrared light emitting element which is the main cause of the adjustment work is frequently performed.

JP-A-6-222466 JP 7-225283 A JP 2000-89377 A

However, with the recent increase in the arrangement density of components in the apparatus housing, it is difficult to perform dust removal work on the infrared light emitting element, and even when an undeveloped photographic photosensitive material is a detection target, the infrared light emitting element There has been a growing demand for precise adjustment of the amount of emitted light.
The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to accurately adjust the amount of light emitted from an infrared light emitting element that performs pulse light emission while avoiding the complexity of the device configuration. In the point.

  A first invention of the present application is provided with an infrared light emitting element and a light receiving element that detect an undeveloped photographic photosensitive material conveyed through a conveyance path, and is detected based on a detection signal of the light receiving element. A constant current circuit configured to drive the infrared light emitting element at a constant current with a current value corresponding to an input control voltage in a transported object detection device provided with a detection unit that detects the presence or absence of the photographic photosensitive material at a target location; A state in which the control voltage corresponding to the set light emission amount is allowed to be input to the control voltage input of the constant current circuit, and the infrared light emitting element corresponds to the stop of light emission or more than the set light emission amount Switching means for switching the control voltage corresponding to light emission with a low light amount to a state of inputting to the control voltage input of the constant current circuit, and a pulse signal for supplying a pulse signal for switching the switching means And supplying means are provided, said detection means is configured to detect the presence or absence of the photographic photosensitive material in synchronism with the pulse signal.

That is, the amount of light emitted from the infrared light emitting element can be adjusted by changing the setting of the control voltage input to the constant current circuit, and the input state of the control voltage is switched by a pulse signal to change the infrared light emitting element. The pulse emission operation is performed.
With this configuration, the constant current circuit is a voltage control type, so it is easy to accept a pulse signal, and the control signal for adjusting the amount of emitted light is set regardless of the pulse operation of the infrared light emitting element. This makes it easy to perform adjustment control of the amount of emitted light.
Moreover, the constant current circuit having the above functions can be easily configured by, for example, a so-called ACC circuit.
In addition, as the mode of the pulse light emission operation, the infrared light emitting element is turned “ON / OFF” by switching between a state of emitting light with a set light emission amount (“ON” state) and a state of completely stopping light emission (“OFF” state). It is most preferable to operate in a pulsed manner from the viewpoint of preventing the photographic photosensitive material from being exposed to light. However, in consideration of the circuit configuration and other reasons, the period corresponding to the “OFF” state is completely set. Instead of stopping light emission, a pulse light emission operation in which a slight amount of light is emitted within a range in which the sensitization of the photographic light-sensitive material does not cause a problem, that is, a pulse light emission operation in which the amount of light emission is greatly changed to high or low may be used.

According to a second aspect of the present application, the presence or absence of the photographic material is determined by changing the control voltage input to the conveyed object detection device of the first aspect and the constant current circuit in the photographic processing device. And an adjustment control means for adjusting to a state of properly detecting.
This makes it possible to accurately detect undeveloped photographic light-sensitive materials by appropriately changing and adjusting the amount of light emitted from the infrared light-emitting element through the control operation of the adjustment control means without being aware of the pulsed light emission operation of the infrared light-emitting element. It can be adjusted to a ready state.

According to the first aspect, the circuit that adjusts the light emission amount of the infrared light emitting element can easily accept the pulse signal for the pulse light emission operation, and the pulse configuration can be avoided while avoiding complication of the apparatus configuration. The amount of light emitted from the infrared light emitting element that emits light can be adjusted accurately.
According to the second aspect of the invention, since the amount of light emitted from the infrared light emitting element can be controlled without being aware of the pulse light emission operation of the infrared light emitting element, the adjustment operation of the conveyed object detection device in the photographic processing apparatus. Can be easily performed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments in the case where a transported object detection device of the present invention is provided in a photo print system will be described below with reference to the drawings.
The photographic print system DP exemplified in the present embodiment is known as a so-called digital minilab machine. As shown in FIG. 4, the developed photographic film, memory card, MO or CD-R. An image input device IR for inputting image data for producing a photographic print from the above, and an exposure / development device EP for exposing the image data input by the image input device IR to the photographic paper 2 as the photographic photosensitive material PS; It is composed of
In the present embodiment, an exposure / development apparatus EP, which is an example of a photographic processing apparatus, is provided with a conveyed object detection device, and a photographic photosensitive material PS (more specifically, photographic paper 2) that is an conveyed object is provided. The case where it is set as a detection target will be described.

[Schematic configuration of image input device IR]
As schematically shown in FIG. 3, the image input device IR includes a film scanner 3 for reading a frame image of a photographic film, an external input / output device 4 including a memory reader, an MO drive, a CD-R drive, and the like. The main control device 5 is configured by a general-purpose small computer system and controls the film scanner 3 and the external input / output device 4 and performs management of the entire photo print system DP. A monitor 5a for displaying a simulated image simulating a finished print image and various control information is connected to a console 5b for manually setting exposure conditions and inputting control information.

[Overall configuration of exposure / development apparatus EP]
The exposure / development apparatus EP includes an image exposure apparatus EX, a development processing apparatus PP for developing the photographic paper 2 exposed by the image exposure apparatus EX, and a photographic paper magazine 6 disposed in the casing. Is provided with a photographic paper transporting system PT for transporting the photographic paper 2 drawn out from the paper to the developing device PP.
As shown in FIG. 4, a sorter 7 for classifying the photographic paper 2 developed and dried by the development processing device PP for each order and a development processing device are provided outside the housing of the exposure / development device EP. A conveyor 10 for conveying the photographic paper 2 discharged from the PP discharge port 8 to the sorter 7 is provided.

[Configuration of image exposure apparatus EX]
The image exposure apparatus EX includes an image exposure unit 13 that forms an exposure image on the photographic paper 2 by scanning the photographic paper 2 with a laser beam, and an exposure control device 14 that controls the image exposure unit 13. It is configured as.

[Configuration of photographic paper transport system PT]
The photographic paper transport system PT is provided with a large number of transport rollers 9 and a transport control device 20 that controls the operation of the transport rollers 9, and transports the photographic paper 2 guided by a photographic paper guide (not shown). .
In the middle of the conveyance path of the photographic paper conveyance system PT, a cutter 11 for cutting the long photographic paper 2 drawn out from the photographic paper magazine 6 into a set print size, and for distributing the photographic paper 2 to a plurality of conveyance rows. In addition to the sorting device 12, a plurality of paper sensors 21 are provided as a transported object detection device MS for detecting the presence or absence of the photographic photosensitive material PS, that is, the photographic paper 2, in the transport path of the photographic paper transport system PT. 3 exemplifies a case where the paper sensor 21 is disposed in the vicinity of the photographic paper outlet of the photographic paper magazine 6, the downstream position of the cutter 11, and the upstream position and the downstream position of the exposure position by the image exposure unit 13. However, the arrangement position and the number of arrangement of the paper sensor 21 are appropriately changed as necessary.

[Configuration of Paper Sensor 21]
Since each paper sensor 21 has the undeveloped photographic paper 2 as a detection target, light in the infrared region is used in order to suppress the exposure of the photographic paper 2 due to presence / absence detection as much as possible.
Specifically, as schematically shown in FIG. 2, an infrared light emitting element 31 and a light receiving element 32 a that detect the photographic paper 2 conveyed along the conveyance path of the photographic paper conveyance system PT are provided. It is configured. In the present embodiment, the infrared light emitting element 31 is composed of an infrared light emitting diode, while the light receiving element 32a is an optical modulation type signal processing integrated circuit 32 (hereinafter simply referred to as “signal processing integrated circuit 32”). It may be abbreviated as “a photodiode that has sufficient sensitivity in the infrared region”.
The photographic paper 2 enters the space between the infrared light emitting element 31 and the light receiving element 32a that are distributed and arranged across the conveyance path of the photographic paper 2 in the photographic paper conveyance system PT. Can detect presence.

The light modulation type signal processing integrated circuit 32 uses a circuit manufactured as a circuit for preventing erroneous detection caused by disturbance light by synchronizing the light emitting side and the light receiving side with a pulse signal. In addition to the photodiode, an amplifier that performs I / V conversion of the output signal of the photodiode, a comparator that detects the presence or absence of light reception based on the output signal of the amplifier, a pulse generation circuit for pulsing the light emitting side, and There is provided a synchronization detection circuit for detecting and outputting whether or not the light receiving element 32a has received light of a set light quantity or more by detecting the output of the comparator synchronously with the output pulse of the pulse generating circuit. Therefore, the signal processing integrated circuit 32 functions as detection means SS that detects the presence or absence of the photographic paper 2 at the detection target location based on the detection signal of the light receiving element 32a.
The signal processing integrated circuit 32 is originally designed to prevent the influence of disturbance light as described above. However, the infrared light emitting element 31 emits pulses to generate photographic paper. This also contributes to the suppression of photosensitivity.

  The amount of light emitted from the infrared light emitting element 31 of the paper sensor 21 is controlled by digital data of a set number of bits (for example, 8 bits) output from the conveyance control device 20. A register 33 for storing and holding data, a D / A converter 34 for converting digital data held in the register 33 into an analog voltage, and a current corresponding to a control voltage value input from the D / A converter 34 A current control circuit 35 that supplies the infrared light emitting element 31 is provided. Accordingly, the digital data stored and held in the register 33 corresponds to the light emission amount of the infrared light emitting element 31 itself.

As shown in FIG. 1, the current control circuit 35 includes a constant current circuit 41 that constitutes a so-called ACC circuit for the infrared light emitting element 31 with an operational amplifier 41a, a transistor 41b, and a resistor R4 as main parts, and a D / A converter 34. Resistors R1, R2, and R3 that divide the output voltage into voltages suitable for input to the non-inverting input of the operational amplifier 41a are provided.
In the constant current circuit 41, the voltage generated at both ends of the resistor R4 due to the current flowing through the infrared light emitting element 31 whose anode is connected to the power supply voltage (Vcc) is the voltage applied to the non-inverting input of the operational amplifier 41a. The transistor 41b is controlled so as to match, and the infrared light emitting element 31 is driven at a constant current with a current value corresponding to the control voltage from the D / A converter 34 input to the non-inverting input of the operational amplifier 41a. That is, the constant current circuit 41 constitutes a voltage-current conversion circuit.

The current control circuit 35 further allows a control voltage corresponding to the set light emission amount from the D / A converter 34 to be input to the control voltage input (non-inverted input) of the constant current circuit 41, and infrared. A transistor 42 is provided which functions as a switching means CH for switching to a state in which a control voltage corresponding to the light emitting element 31 being stopped emitting light is input to the control voltage input of the constant current circuit 41.
A pulse signal for synchronization is input to the base of the transistor 42 from the pulse generation circuit built in the signal processing integrated circuit 32, and the D / A in a state where the transistor 42 is turned off by the pulse signal. The voltage signal output from the converter 34 is divided and input to the control voltage input (non-inverting input) of the operational amplifier 41a as the control voltage. On the other hand, in a state where the transistor 42 is “ON” by the synchronizing pulse signal, the non-inverting input of the operational amplifier 41 a becomes “0” V potential, and the voltage signal output from the D / A converter 34 is transmitted. Stop.
In this manner, a state in which a current corresponding to the output voltage of the D / A converter 34 flows in the infrared light emitting element 31 in a state synchronized with the synchronization pulse signal, and a state in which no current flows (strictly speaking, The infrared light emitting element 31 performs a pulse light emission operation, and a very small current corresponding to the ON voltage of the transistor 42 flows.
Therefore, the signal processing integrated circuit 32 functions as a pulse signal supply unit PG that supplies a pulse signal for switching the switching unit CH.

[Adjustment operation of paper sensor 21]
Next, the adjustment operation of the paper sensor 21 executed under the control of the transport control device 20 will be described based on the flowchart of FIG.
When the operator inputs an instruction to start the adjustment operation of the paper sensor 21 from the console 5b in a state where the photographic paper 2 is not present in the conveyance path of the photographic paper conveyance system PT, the conveyance control device 20 starts the process of FIG. Then, the adjustment operation is sequentially performed on the plurality of paper sensors 21. Since the detection target is common, the adjustment operation for each paper sensor 21 is common, and the process of FIG. 5 basically shows the process for one paper sensor 21. Of course, the adjustment results differ depending on variations in element characteristics due to changes over time and the like.

The conveyance control device 20 stores the number of set bits to be stored and held in the register 33 of the paper sensor 21 as an adjustment parameter for adjusting the detection state so that the paper sensor 21 can appropriately detect the presence or absence of the photographic paper 2 at the detection target portion. It manages digital data (for example, 8 bits).
As described above, the digital data stored and held in the register 33 corresponds to the drive current of the infrared light emitting element 31 and is therefore directly connected to the light emission amount of the infrared light emitting element 31.
In the following, this digital data is referred to as “light quantity setting data”. The larger the value of this “light quantity setting data”, the larger the emitted light quantity of the infrared light emitting element 31, and the “light quantity setting data” is set to the maximum value. It is assumed that the amount of light emitted from the infrared light emitting element 31 is within the maximum rating.

When the processing of FIG. 5 is started, the conveyance control device 20 gradually starts the light amount setting data to be written in the register 33 from a state of “0” (that is, a state where the drive current of the infrared light emitting element 31 is “0”). (Step # 3).
As a result, the output voltage of the D / A converter 34 monotonously increases. During this time, a synchronizing pulse signal is applied to the base of the transistor 42, and the drive current is pulsed to the infrared light emitting element 31. The pulse emission operation is performed.

As described above, the adjustment operation of the paper sensor 21 is executed in a state where the photographic paper 2 does not exist between the infrared light emitting element 31 and the light receiving element 32a. The detection signal output from the signal processing integrated circuit 32 to the conveyance control device 20 shifts from the “light shielding” detection state to the “transmission” detection state.
When the detection output of the signal processing integrated circuit 32 shifts to the “transmission” detection state (step # 1), the transport control device 20 sets the light emission amount of the infrared light emitting element 31 at that time (for example, three times). Is determined as the optimum light amount used to detect the presence or absence of the photographic paper 2 during normal operation (step # 4), and a data value corresponding to the determined optimum light amount is written and held in the register 33 (step # 4). # 5).

On the other hand, when the comparator 38 does not shift to “transmission” detection even when the light quantity setting data reaches the maximum value (steps # 1 and # 2), either the infrared light emitting element 31 side or the light receiving element 32a side is selected. Therefore, the detection output of the signal processing integrated circuit 32 is considered to be not normal, so that the main control device 5 is notified that a detection error has occurred (step # 6). When the main controller 5 receives this detection error signal, it displays that fact on the monitor 5a.
When the above processing operation is executed for all the paper sensors 21 (step # 7), the adjustment process in FIG. 5 is terminated.
From the above, the transport control device 20 functions as the adjustment control means CB that changes the setting of the control voltage input to the constant current circuit 41 and adjusts it to a state in which the presence or absence of the photographic paper 2 is properly detected.

[Photo print production operation]
Next, a photographic print production operation by the photographic print system DP having the above configuration will be schematically described.
When the operator inputs an instruction to make a photographic print for a photographic film frame image, the main controller 5 instructs the film scanner 3 to read the photographic film, and the image data of the photographic film is sent from the film scanner 3. Are sequentially received and recorded in a built-in memory.
On the other hand, when the operator inputs an instruction to create a photographic print for image data recorded on a recording medium such as a memory card, MO, or CD-R, the main controller 5 selects the corresponding drive of the external input / output device 4. The image data is instructed to be read, and the image data is sequentially received from the drive and recorded in the memory.

Based on the image data input as described above, the main control unit 5 calculates a simulated image that would be obtained when a print was produced using the image data by an image processing circuit (not shown). And display it on the monitor 5a.
The operator observes the simulated image on the monitor 5a, and if an appropriate image is not obtained, the operator performs an exposure condition correction input operation from the console 5b.
The image processing circuit of the main controller 5 generates exposure image data for each of red, green, and blue under predetermined calculation conditions in accordance with the input image data and its correction input.

The exposure image data is sent to the exposure control device 14 of the exposure / development apparatus EP, and when it is detected that the front end of the photographic paper 2 has been conveyed to a predetermined exposure start position based on the detection information of the paper sensor 21. The image exposure unit 13 forms a latent image of the print image on the photographic paper 2.
The photographic paper 2 subjected to the exposure processing by the image exposure unit 13 is transported to the development processing device PP by the photographic paper transport system PT, and is developed by sequentially passing through the development processing tanks. 2 is further dried and then discharged from the discharge port 8 onto the conveyor 10 and collected by the sorter 7 for each order.

[Another embodiment]
Hereinafter, other embodiments of the present invention will be listed.
(1) In the above-described embodiment, the exposure / development apparatus EP is illustrated as the photographic processing apparatus, and the conveyed object detection apparatus MS that detects the undeveloped photographic paper 2 as the undeveloped photographic photosensitive material PS is illustrated. However, as the photographic processing apparatus, for example, the present invention can be applied to various photographic processing apparatuses such as a photographic film developing apparatus, and the photographic photosensitive material PS to be detected is also undeveloped photographic film accordingly. The present invention can be applied to the detection of various photographic light-sensitive materials PS.

(2) In the above embodiment, an infrared light emitting diode is exemplified as the infrared light emitting element 31, but various light emitting elements such as a laser diode can be used.
(3) Although the photodiode is illustrated as the light receiving element 32a in the above embodiment, various light receiving elements such as a phototransistor can be used.
(4) In the above embodiment, the case where the light emitted from the infrared light emitting element 31 is directly received by the light receiving element 32a is illustrated. For example, the light emitted from the infrared light emitting element 31 is light. The optical fiber guides the photographic paper transport system PT to the transport path, and guides the light emitted from the optical fiber to the light receiving element 32a using another optical fiber. The infrared light emitting element 31 and the light receiving element 32a are guided from the transport path. You may comprise so that it may arrange | position in the position spaced apart.

(5) In the above embodiment, the case where the presence or absence of the photographic paper 2 is detected by arranging the photographic paper 2 to be detected to pass between the infrared light emitting element 31 and the light receiving element 32a is illustrated. However, the light emitted from the infrared light emitting element 31 and reflected by the photographic paper 2 may be detected by the light receiving element 32a.
(6) In the above embodiment, the transistor 42 as the switching means CH allows the control voltage corresponding to the set light emission amount to be input to the control voltage input of the constant current circuit 41, and the infrared light emitting element. Although the case where the control voltage corresponding to the stop of the light emission of 31 is switched to the state where the control voltage is input to the control voltage input of the constant current circuit is illustrated, the transistor within the range where the photographic paper 2 is not sensitive to light in practice. Even when 42 is set to the “ON” state, a slight voltage is applied to the non-inverting input of the operational amplifier 41a, and the driving is performed in a state corresponding to light emission with a light amount lower than the set light emission amount. good.
(7) In the above embodiment, the bipolar transistor 42 is exemplified as the switching means CH for causing the infrared light emitting element 31 to perform the pulse emission operation. However, the switching means is used in various switching devices such as FETs, relays, and the like. CH can be configured.

Main part circuit block diagram concerning embodiment of this invention 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a non-conveyed object detection device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a photo print system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is an external perspective view of a photographic print system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart concerning embodiment of this invention

Explanation of symbols

CB adjustment control means CH switching means MS conveyed object detection device PG pulse signal supply means PS photographic photosensitive material SS detection means 31 infrared light emitting element 32a light receiving element 41 constant current circuit

Claims (2)

An infrared light emitting element and a light receiving element that detect an undeveloped photographic photosensitive material conveyed through the conveyance path are provided, and the presence or absence of the photographic photosensitive material at a detection target location based on a detection signal of the light receiving element. A transported object detection device provided with a detection means for detecting
A constant current circuit for driving the infrared light emitting element at a constant current with a current value corresponding to an input control voltage;
A state in which the control voltage corresponding to the set light emission amount is allowed to be input to the control voltage input of the constant current circuit, and the infrared light emitting element corresponds to the light emission stop or lower than the set light emission amount Switching means for switching to a state in which the control voltage corresponding to light emission with a light amount is input to a control voltage input of the constant current circuit;
Pulse signal supply means for supplying a pulse signal for switching the switching means is provided,
The transported object detection apparatus configured to detect the presence or absence of the photographic photosensitive material in synchronization with the pulse signal. The conveyed object detection device according to claim 1;
A photographic processing apparatus provided with adjustment control means for adjusting a control voltage to be input to the constant current circuit so as to properly detect the presence or absence of the photographic photosensitive material.

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