JP2006060317A - Photograph printing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a photograph printing apparatus which can form various photograph album booklets according to client's various kinds of desires. <P>SOLUTION: The photograph printing apparatus forms an image in a sheet-like recording medium obtained by cutting a page sheet 51 and a cover sheet for constituting a photograph album booklet in a length according to the print size of rolled recording medium. The photograph printing apparatus includes: a binding margin setting unit which provides a binding margin 53 having a width S1 determined based on the information for constituting the photograph album booklet and disposition at the page sheet 51 and a cover sheet; and a sheet data editing unit for editing the page sheet data of the page sheet 51 and the cover sheet data of the cover sheet with the binding margin 53. The image is formed on the sheet-like recording medium obtained by cutting the roll-like recording medium in the length according to the print size of the page sheet 51 and the cover sheet by using the print data based on each sheet data, and outputted. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention outputs the print data of each page sheet and cover sheet constituting a photo album booklet by forming an image on a sheet-like recording medium obtained by cutting a roll-like recording medium into a length corresponding to each print size. The present invention relates to a photographic printing apparatus.

  Conventionally, as a process after taking a photograph, it is almost the case that a photographed photograph film is brought to a photographic print shop (hereinafter referred to as a DP shop) to order printing on photographic paper. In recent years, with the rapid spread of digital cameras and household inkjet printers, photographers often print digital image data after shooting with an inkjet printer or the like at home as processing after taking a photograph. However, although significant progress has been made in the image quality and printing speed of home inkjet printers, printing digital image data on photographic paper at DP stores can reduce image quality, fading resistance, and photographer effort. It is advantageous. In addition, recently, it has become more convenient, for example, it has become possible to place print orders by sending digital image data that has already been taken over the Internet, etc., and the use of DP stores etc. has increased as post-shooting processing with a digital camera. . Of course, DP stores continue to be used for processing after taking photographs using conventional photographic film.

  By the way, photographic paper printed at these DP stores, except for so-called index prints, is generally a processing form that prints about one shot of each shot, and when this print is finished The customer is receiving it as it is. Or, a small-size album that can store one or two sheets of photographic paper of a size called L version or E version provided by a service from a DP store may be stored. However, this album is convenient for temporarily storing printed photographic paper and confirming its contents, but it requires time and effort to accommodate the photographic paper in the album. Even when presenting to other people, it was poor. In addition, when it is desired to create a plurality of albums having the same contents, such as group trip photos, it is not preferable because it requires more work. The index print is intended to display a list so that frame number allocation can be easily specified at the time of reordering, for example. Therefore, it does not function as a photo album in terms of image quality and layout.

  In view of such a problem, a photographic printing apparatus capable of creating a photographic print that can be easily brought into an album state by binding the end of a printing object such as photographic paper on which image information is printed. A rationally configured technique is proposed in, for example, Patent Document 1. In the technique described in this, printing is performed in a form that creates a margin on the photographic paper, a hole is formed in this portion, and the respective prints are overlapped to be bound like an album using the hole. I have to.

  Also, in Patent Document 2, if you want to save photos taken with a conventional digital camera or the like as an album, paste the cut photos on one mount one by one, collect a plurality of the mounts, and booklet A technique for responding to a request for easily creating an album or the like at home from what has been created and bound using a cover or the like is disclosed. This is a sheet that is used to create a booklet (album), with one side edge of the sheet going to the other edge and facing the other edge. The print surface is divided, the connecting portion is folded back to the opposite side of the print surface, and the sheet is folded to form a bellows-like page.

JP 2002-49106 (Fig. 4-5, page 2) JP2003-341252 (Figs. 3-4 and 8-12, page 2-3)

  However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, the prints that are completed are photographic papers that are individually divided and cannot be enjoyed in various layouts as in a so-called photo album. And since it is the structure bound with a binding tool, the binding tool as a separate member is also required. In the technique described in Patent Document 2, since square paper is divided and folded, only the number of photographic images that can be accommodated in the square paper can be made into an album. Therefore, using any known technique, only a photo album with a certain style can be created, and a variety of photo albums according to various needs of customers cannot be created.

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a photo printing apparatus capable of creating various photo album booklets according to various needs of customers.

  In order to achieve the above object, the photo printing apparatus according to the present invention has a feature configuration in which a page sheet and a cover sheet constituting a photo album booklet are cut into a length corresponding to each print size of a roll-shaped recording medium. A binding margin setting for forming and outputting an image on a sheet-like recording medium and having a binding margin having a width and an arrangement determined based on information constituting the photo album booklet on the page sheet and the cover sheet And a sheet data editing unit that edits the page sheet data of the page sheet and the cover sheet data of the cover sheet, each having a binding margin, and according to the print size of the page sheet and the cover sheet Print data based on each sheet data is used for the sheet-like recording medium obtained by cutting the roll-shaped recording medium to a predetermined length. Lies in outputting the image formed.

  According to this characteristic configuration, the page sheet and the cover sheet constituting the photo album booklet are imaged and output on a sheet-like recording medium obtained by cutting the roll-like recording medium into a length corresponding to each print size. And you can create a photo album booklet that looks great. Further, since the position and width of the binding margin provided in the photo album booklet can be changed, it is possible to output a photo print for flexibly creating a photo album booklet according to the customer's request. For example, the binding position can be flexibly changed in accordance with the characteristics of the captured image and photo album to be accommodated, such as left and right opening and up and down opening. In addition, when there are many page sheets, the width of the binding margin is widened to keep the strength, and when there are few page sheets, the binding margin is narrowed to improve the aesthetic appearance. It can be reflected in detail. In addition, since the long roll-shaped recording medium is cut so as to have a length corresponding to the print size of the cover sheet that is changed by changing the binding margin width and binding position, the customer's effort is reduced without taking time and effort. Photo album booklets with different specifications can be created upon request.

  Further, the photo album booklet is configured to have an image forming surface on both the front and back sides or the spread by folding the page sheet, and the binding margin setting unit includes at least a binding position of the photo album booklet. It is preferable that the binding margin is set based on information constituting the photo album booklet including the width of the binding margin of the photo album and the folding direction of the page sheet. Further, when the folding direction of the page sheet is a mountain fold as viewed from the image forming surface, the binding margin is provided at both ends in a direction orthogonal to the mountain folded portion of the page sheet, and the folding direction of the page sheet is determined as the image forming direction. In the case of valley folding when viewed from the surface, it is preferable to provide the binding margin continuously with the valley folding portion of the page sheet as the axis of symmetry.

As described above, if the binding position is flexibly changed, it is possible to respond carefully to the customer's request according to the characteristics of the captured images and photo albums to be accommodated such as left and right opening and up and down opening. It is preferable that the binding margin can be set based on this.
In addition, when a photo album booklet is formed by folding the page sheet and pasting the non-printed surfaces with double-sided tape or adhesive, depending on whether the page sheet is a mountain fold or a valley fold as viewed from the print surface The part that touches the back cover side of the photo print booklet is different. For example, when making a mountain fold, the end portion of the page sheet is in contact with the spine side, so that the end portion side is bound, and the binding margin is also provided on the end portion side. In the case of valley folding, the center part of the page sheet is in contact with the spine side, and the binding margin is also provided in the center part. Therefore, by making it possible to set the binding margin based on the folding direction of the page sheet, a photo album booklet can be created according to a wide range of customer requests.

[System Overview]
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external view of a photographic printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. This photographic printing apparatus is also referred to as a digital minilab, and includes a print station 1B as a photographic printer that performs exposure processing and development processing on photographic paper P, a developed photographic film 2a, a memory card 2b for a digital camera, and the like. And an operation station 1A that processes a captured image captured from the image input medium and generates / transfers print data used in the print station 1B.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the print station 1B. As shown in FIG. 2, the print station 1 </ b> B pulls out the roll-shaped photographic paper P (roll-shaped recording medium) stored in the two photographic paper magazines 11 and cuts it to the print size designated by the sheet cutter 12. In the case of normal photographic prints, the back print unit 13 supplies print processing information such as color correction information and frame numbers to the back side of the photographic paper P for the photographic paper P (sheet-like recording medium) cut in this way. The print exposure unit 14 exposes the photographed image on the surface of the photographic paper P. When applied to the photo album booklet of the present invention, the page number of the page sheet or the like may be printed on the back surface of the photographic paper P. Further, not only photographed image data but also print data based on illustrations and characters are exposed on the surface of the photographic paper P. Next, the exposed photographic paper P is sent to a processing tank unit 15 having a plurality of development processing tanks for development processing. After the development processing, the photographic paper P is dried and then sent to the sorter 17 from the lateral feed conveyor 16 at the top of the apparatus. As shown in FIG. 1, the photographic paper P, that is, the photographic prints P, is collected on the plurality of trays of the sorter 17 in a state of being sorted in units of orders.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a photographic paper transport mechanism 18 is laid in the print station 1B in order to transport the photographic paper P at a transport speed in accordance with the above-described various processing for the photographic paper P. The photographic paper transport mechanism 18 is composed of a plurality of nipping and transporting roller pairs including a chucker type photographic paper transport unit 18a disposed before and after the print exposure unit 14 in the photographic paper transport direction.

  The print exposure unit 14 applies R (red), G (green), and B (blue) to the printing paper P conveyed in the sub-scanning direction based on print data from the operation station 1A along the main scanning direction. A line exposure head for irradiating laser beams of the three primary colors (1) is provided. The processing tank unit 15 includes a color developing tank 15a for storing a color developing processing liquid, a bleach-fixing tank 15b for storing a bleach-fixing processing liquid, and a stabilizing tank 15c for storing a stable processing liquid.

  As shown in FIG. 1, photographed image data (hereinafter simply abbreviated as image data) is acquired at a resolution exceeding 2000 dpi from the photographed image frame of the photographic film 2a at the upper position of the desk-like console of the operation station 1A. A film scanner 20 is arranged. A media reader 21 that acquires image data from various semiconductor memories or CD-Rs used as a photographed image storage medium 2b mounted on a digital camera or the like is a general-purpose personal computer that functions as the controller 3 of this photographic printing apparatus. Built in. The general-purpose personal computer is also connected with a monitor 23 for displaying various information, and a keyboard 24 and a mouse 25 as operation input devices used as an operation input unit used for various settings and adjustments.

  The controller 3 of this photographic printing apparatus uses a CPU as a core member and constructs a functional unit for performing various operations of the photographic printing apparatus by hardware and / or software. As shown in FIG. 3, there are the following functional units particularly related to the present invention.

  The image input unit 31 takes in the image data read by the film scanner 20 or the media reader 21 and performs preprocessing necessary for the next processing. The next processing is the above-described exposure processing, editing processing described later, or the like. Pre-processing includes creation of a database for performing editing processing using read image data, generation of thumbnail image data (low-resolution image data) for displaying a list of image data, and the like. For example, when the photographed image storage medium is the film 2a, the scan data for the pre-scan mode and the main scan mode are sent to the memory 30 separately. That is, the scan data obtained in the pre-scan mode is used as thumbnail image data, and the scan data obtained in the main scan mode is used for photo printing. The same operation is performed even when the captured image recording medium is the memory card 2b. That is, when thumbnail image data is included in the captured image data, the thumbnail image data is used for the purpose of displaying a list on the monitor 23, and is sent to the memory 30 separately from the main data (high resolution data) of the captured image. However, if thumbnail image data is not included, a reduced image is created from this data and sent to the memory 30 as thumbnail image data.

  The GUI unit 33 generates control commands from the creation of graphic operation screens including various windows and various operation buttons displayed on the monitor 23, and user operation input (such as with the keyboard 24 and the mouse 25) through such graphic operation screens. A graphic user interface to be generated (hereinafter abbreviated as GUI).

  The print management unit 32 is transferred from the image input unit 31 to the memory 30 in order to generate desired print data based on a control command sent from the GUI unit 33 or an operation command input directly from the keyboard 24 or the like. It has a function of performing image processing on image data itself and data editing of various applications using these image data. Here, the various applications include, for example, calendar sheet creation, postcard sheet creation, album page sheet creation, and the like. The print management unit 32 performs various image processing on the image data developed in the print information management unit 60 and the memory 30 for managing the print size and the number of prints, and edits data of various applications using these image data. The image processing unit 70 is provided. Photo album editing means 80 for editing page sheets and cover sheets constituting the photo album booklet is provided in the image processing unit 70.

  The video control unit 35 displays image data being edited, data of various applications, a simulated image as an expected finished print image after these are printed, and graphic data sent from the GUI unit 33. A video signal to be displayed on the monitor 23 is generated.

  The print data generation unit 36 generates print data suitable for the print exposure unit 14 installed in the print station 1B based on processed data that has been subjected to image processing and editing by various applications. The print data created here is image-formed at the print station 1B and output as a photographic print P. A formatter unit 37 is also provided for formatting raw image data, processed image data that has been subjected to image processing, application data, and the like into a format for writing to a CD-R in response to customer requests.

[Photo album booklet]
Next, the creation of a photo album booklet using the photo print P will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 4, a cover sheet 50 and each page sheet 51 are printed as a photographic print P on which a photographed image and character information are formed. The cover sheet 50 has a front cover, a back cover, and a back cover. The cover sheet 50 is folded at the boundary between the front cover and the back cover and the boundary between the back cover and the back cover so that the print surface is outside. Form a cover. The page sheet 51 forms a page of a photo album having a print surface on both sides in a mountain fold as viewed from the print surface, that is, the center portion is folded so that the print surface is on the outside. Since the photographic print P is a stiff photographic paper, it is advisable to affix the back surfaces of the non-printed surfaces to each other with a double-sided adhesive tape or an adhesive so that they do not spread when folded. In this way, the necessary number of folded page sheets 51 are stacked, and the cover sheet 50 is attached so as to surround them. A binding margin 53 may be provided in the page sheet 51 or the cover sheet 50 in advance, and after the cover sheet 50 is attached, the vicinity of the back of the photo album booklet may be bound with staples or the like.

  Also, a photo album booklet can be formed as shown in FIG. As in FIG. 4, a cover sheet 50 and each page sheet 51 are printed as a photographic print P on which a photographed image and character information are formed. Then, as described above, the cover sheet 50 is folded at the boundary between the front cover and the back cover and the boundary between the back cover and the back cover so that the print surface is on the outside, and the cover of the photo album booklet is Form. Unlike the sheet described with reference to FIG. 4, the page sheet 51 is folded in a valley when viewed from the print surface, that is, an album having a print surface in a double spread so that the print surface is inside. The page is formed. Then, the page sheets 51 folded in this way are stacked by the number of sheets, and the non-printing surfaces of the adjacent page sheets 51 are fixed with a double-sided tape or an adhesive. Further, the page sheets 51 that are folded and overlapped are surrounded by a cover sheet 50, and the surfaces of the front cover and the back cover that face the non-printing surface and the non-printing surface of the page sheet are covered with a double-sided tape or an adhesive. Paste them together to form a photo album booklet. When the photo album booklet is formed in this way, the page sheets 51 and the cover sheet 50 are integrated only by pasting, but, similar to the case described with reference to FIG. The vicinity of the back may be bound with staples or the like.

[Edit sheet]
As described above, the image processing unit 70 shown in FIG. 3 includes the photo album editing means 80 for editing the page sheet data of the page sheet 51 and the cover sheet data of the cover sheet 50 described above. . As shown in FIG. 6, the photo album editing means 80 includes an image selection unit 81, a sheet data editing unit 82, a spine width adjustment unit 83, a binding margin setting unit 84, a template selection unit 85, a template storage unit 86, and the like. The functions are combined by the image data bus 87 to edit the page sheet 51 and the cover sheet 50 of the photo album booklet. This editing is performed while checking the editing status on the monitor 23 using the keyboard 24 and the mouse 25 as the operation input devices of the operation station 1A shown in FIG. As described above, each of these functional units including the image data bus 87 is constructed by hardware and / or software.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of an editing screen on which the photo album editing unit 80 shown in FIG. 6 functions, and shows a so-called window displayed on the monitor 23 via the video control unit 35. In the image selection window W81, thumbnail images (low-resolution image data) of image data read by the film scanner 20 or the media reader 21 and stored in the memory 30 by the image input unit 31 are displayed. By selecting the image data displayed in the image selection window W81, an image to be printed on the page sheet 51 or the cover sheet 50 is determined. In this image selection process, the image selection unit 81 mainly functions. The template selection window W85 is a screen for selecting various templates stored in the template storage unit 86 such as the background of the page sheet 51 and the cover sheet 50 and a photo frame. In the template selection process, the template selection unit 85 mainly functions. The image data and template data selected in both windows are combined and displayed on the editing window W82. Various edits such as editing of image data and character data are performed on the edit window W82. Here, editing image data includes changing the image size, correcting the color tone, and the like. In the processing on the editing window 82, the sheet data editing unit 82 mainly functions. Further, in cooperation with the sheet data editing unit 82, the back cover width adjusting unit 83 and the binding margin setting unit 84 function.

  FIG. 8 shows an example of processing for editing the page sheet 51 in cooperation with the sheet data editing unit 82 and the binding margin setting unit 84. FIG. 8A shows an example of editing a page sheet when folded in a mountain fold as described with reference to FIG. 4, and FIG. 8B shows a page sheet folded in a valley as described with reference to FIG. This is an editing example. As shown in FIG. 8, a binding margin 53 is provided on the page sheet 51 in accordance with the folding direction of the page sheet 51. That is, when the page sheet 51 is folded in a mountain fold, both end portions in the direction orthogonal to the fold line 54 of the mountain fold portion of the page sheet 51 are on the back cover side of the cover sheet 50, and as shown in FIG. A binding margin 53 is provided at both ends of the page sheet 51. When the page sheet 51 is folded into a valley fold, the center portion of the page sheet 51 is on the back cover side of the cover sheet 50, and therefore, the folding line 54 of the valley fold portion of the page sheet 51 is shown in FIG. The binding margin 53 is continuously provided with the axis of symmetry as the axis of symmetry. As described above, the page sheet 51 includes the print area 56 and the binding margin 53.

  When the binding margin 53 is provided in this way, when the page sheet 51 of the photo album booklet is actually printed, the photographic paper P (sheet-like recording medium) cut into the print size by the sheet cutter 12 is used for the binding margin. It is the length including the part corresponding to 53. Accordingly, the print station 1B includes the roll-shaped photographic paper P (roll-shaped recording medium) stored in the photographic paper magazine 11 including the amount corresponding to the binding margin 53 set by the binding margin setting unit 84 in the paper feed direction. The sheet is drawn out (forward direction in the sub-scanning direction) and cut into a print size by the sheet cutter 12. Since the binding margin 53 is provided in the longitudinal direction of the roll-shaped printing paper P as in the present embodiment, even when the size of the binding margin 53 (binding margin width S1) is changed for each photo album booklet. By changing the drawing amount from the photographic paper magazine 11, the binding margin 53 can be set satisfactorily.

  In the sheet data editing unit 82, a comment or the like can be input as character data. At this time, for example, a text area 55 into which character data is input is automatically edited according to the folding direction of the page sheet 51. For example, when the page sheet 51 is edited as a double-page spread as shown in FIG. 8B, even if the character data is edited across the pages, it can be viewed well as a photo album booklet. Therefore, editing in such a form is allowed. However, when the page sheet 51 is configured as front and back pages, it is not preferable that the text area 55 spans pages. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8A, the text data is collected on one of the pages sandwiching the broken line 54, or the text area 55 is edited across other continuous page sheets 51. .

  The cover sheet 50 also has a print area 56 and a binding margin 53 in the same manner as the page sheet 51. Accordingly, when the cover sheet 50 is printed, the roll-shaped printing paper P is cut including the length corresponding to the binding margin 53 set in the same manner as the page sheet. As with the page sheet 51, the binding margin 53 is provided in the longitudinal direction of the roll-shaped printing paper P (roll-shaped recording medium), so that the roll-shaped printing paper P stored in the printing paper magazine 11 is replaced with the binding margin 53. The sheet-shaped photographic paper P (sheet-shaped recording medium) can be satisfactorily obtained by drawing out according to the included print size and cutting with the sheet cutter 12.

  By the way, the thickness of the photo album booklet varies depending on the number of page sheets 51 to be stored. Accordingly, the width of the back cover of the cover sheet 50 is controlled by the function of the photo album editing means 80, particularly the spine cover width adjusting unit 83, so that it automatically varies depending on the number of page sheets 51. FIG. 9 shows the function of the spine cover width adjusting unit 83. Similar to the page sheet 51, a binding margin 53 is provided at the boundary between the front cover and the back cover and between the back cover and the back cover. When the number of page sheets 51 is increased with respect to FIG. 9A, the width of the spine 58 is automatically controlled so as to increase from S2 to S3 as shown in FIG. 9B. As shown in FIG. 9, the title of the photo album booklet and the like can be input to the cover page 50 as text data and illustrations as well as the page sheet 51. In particular, the character data and illustrations of the spine portion are automatically enlarged or reduced in accordance with the width of the spine 58. Of course, when image data is pasted on the spine 58, the image data is automatically adjusted according to the width of the spine.

[Photo album information settings]
As described above, when the editing of the page sheet 51 and the cover sheet 50 is completed, the page sheet data and the cover sheet data are sent to the print station 1B through the print data generation unit 36 (see FIG. 3) and printed. .
By the way, the size of the binding margin 53 as described above can be set according to a numerical value stored in the controller 3 as an initial value. However, in order to enable more accurate setting according to a customer's request. In addition, it is configured so that individual setting is possible. Specifically, various types of information are set using a keyboard 24 and a mouse 25 as operation input devices of the operation station 1A (see FIG. 1).

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of inputting information constituting a photo album booklet. As shown in FIG. 10, the album information input window W90 includes an input frame, a setting frame, and operation buttons for inputting the paper type, the binding position of the photo album booklet, the binding margin, the folding direction of the page sheet 51, and the like.

  In the paper type setting frame, the photographic paper A or the photographic paper B can be selected by a pull-down menu by an operation button. As in the present embodiment (see FIG. 2), there are a plurality of photographic paper magazines 11 for storing photographic paper P as a roll-shaped recording medium, and this is a setting frame when different types of photographic paper P can be selected. . The different types of photographic paper P may differ in paper quality, paper width, and paper thickness, but here, different paper thickness information is acquired depending on the type of photographic paper P. If the paper thickness is different, the total thickness is greatly affected particularly when the number of page sheets 51 is increased. Therefore, the type of photographic paper is selected from the selections shown in the pull-down menu, and the paper thickness information is acquired from the attribute data of the selected photographic paper P.

  The binding position designates how to open the photo album booklet, and the left binding, the right binding, and the upper binding can be selected by an operation button. As described above, since the page data for two pages is printed on one page sheet 51, the arrangement of the surfaces differs depending on whether the left binding or the right binding. Further, in the case of top binding, it is necessary to edit the page sheet 51 and the cover sheet 50 described with reference to FIGS. Therefore, the editing screen is controlled based on the binding position information input here.

  The binding margin sets how much the inner side from the back of the photo album booklet is bound by staples or the like. In this embodiment, it can be set at a pitch of 0.1 mm. As shown in FIG. 10, an operation button may be input by operating the mouse 25, or a numerical value may be directly input to the input frame using the keyboard 24. The binding margin 53 described based on FIGS. 8 and 9 is set in the page sheet 51 and the cover sheet 50 by the binding margin set here.

  The folding direction of the sheet is a selection of whether the page sheet 51 is a mountain fold or a valley fold. Select from the pull-down menu that appears by operating the operation button. Here, the position of the binding margin 53 provided on the page sheet 51 is determined according to the selected folding direction, as shown in FIG.

  Further, when the detail button in the album information input window W90 is selected, a detailed information input window W91 appears, and more detailed settings can be made. On this input screen, it is possible to set an assembling margin such as a bonding thickness of the page sheet 51 and a play (clearance) between the page sheet 51 and the cover sheet 50 when the photo album booklet is assembled. The laminated thickness of the page sheets 51 is a thickness generated when the non-printed surfaces of the page sheets 51 are bonded to each other with an adhesive means (double-sided tape, adhesive, or the like). Errors caused by differences in the bonding means used can be absorbed by this setting. This can be set at a pitch of 1/1000 mm. Moreover, the space | interval at the time of bundling the page sheet | seat 51 and attaching the cover sheet | seat 50 can be set with 1/100 mm pitch. If the width of the spine cover is set only from the thickness of the photographic paper P (thickness of the sheet-like recording medium) and the thickness of the pasting, the so-called “throat” portion of the photo album booklet when the cover is opened is sufficiently folded. It may not always be possible, and the cover may always be a little open. Therefore, such a phenomenon can be alleviated by providing a little play in the calculated spine cover width.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a photo printing apparatus capable of creating various photo album booklets according to various needs of customers.

1 is an external view of a photographic printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Schematic diagram showing the configuration of the print station of FIG. Block diagram showing the functions of the controller of the photo printing apparatus of FIG. Explanatory drawing showing an example of creation form of photo album booklet Explanatory drawing showing another example of creation form of photo album booklet Block diagram showing the details of the photo album editing means of FIG. The figure which shows an example of the edit screen which functions the photo album edit means of FIG. Explanatory drawing showing an example of editing a page sheet Explanatory drawing showing an example of editing a cover sheet The figure which shows an example which inputs the information which constitutes the photo album booklet

Explanation of symbols

51 page sheet 53 binding margin S1 binding margin width

Claims (3)

A photo printing apparatus for forming and outputting a page sheet and a cover sheet constituting a photo album booklet on a sheet-like recording medium obtained by cutting a roll-like recording medium into a length corresponding to each print size,
A binding margin setting unit for providing a binding margin having a width and an arrangement determined based on information constituting the photo album booklet in the page sheet and the cover sheet;
A sheet data editing unit that edits the page sheet data of the page sheet and the cover sheet data of the cover sheet having the binding margin;
Photo print for forming and outputting an image using print data based on each sheet data on the sheet-like recording medium obtained by cutting the roll-like recording medium to a length corresponding to the print size of the page sheet and the cover sheet apparatus. The photo album booklet is configured to have an image forming surface on both front and back sides or spread by folding the page sheet,
The binding margin setting unit is based on information constituting the photo album booklet including at least a binding position of the photo album booklet, a binding margin width of the photo album, and a folding direction of the page sheet. The photo printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a binding margin is set. When the folding direction of the page sheet is a mountain fold as viewed from the image forming surface, the binding margin is provided at both ends in a direction orthogonal to the mountain folded portion of the page sheet,
3. The photographic printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when the page sheet is folded in a valley when viewed from the image forming surface, the binding margin is continuously provided with a valley folded portion of the page sheet as an axis of symmetry.

Images