JP2006180355A - Storage device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively utilize the storage area of a storage medium at the time of storing image data in the storage medium. <P>SOLUTION: A storage processing unit is constituted such that a frame data amount calculation means 27 obtains a storable data amount Dn on the basis of the number N of frames of the image data acquired by the prescan of a film scanner 2 and the storage capacity X of a disk type medium Md, then an image data amount setting means 28 sets the target image data amount (resolution) of the film scanner 2 in order to obtain a data amount suited to the storable data amount X, the image data are obtained by performing main scan, and the image data are transmitted to a disk processor 10 by a storage processing means 26 and stored in the disk type medium Md. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a storage device including a storage processing unit that stores, in a storage medium, image data of a plurality of frames acquired by photoelectrically converting a frame image of a photographic film or image data of a plurality of frames taken by a digital camera.

  As a technique related to the storage device configured as described above, when printing data (image data of the present invention) used in a digital printer is recorded on a removable recording medium (recording medium of the present invention), the print data is There is a photographic processing apparatus that includes a resolution conversion unit that automatically converts to an appropriate resolution according to the resolution of a digital printer (see Patent Document 1). In this photographic processing apparatus, when performing printing of a relatively small size from print data having a predetermined number of pixels, for example, if the number of pixels of the print data exceeds the number of pixels that can be printed by a digital printer, The data amount is reduced in a form that reduces the number (reducing the resolution), and the print data with the reduced number of pixels is recorded on the removable recording medium.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-275082 (paragraph numbers [0025] to [0029], FIG. 12)

  Image data obtained from frame images of photographic film, in addition to orders for printing frame images of photographic film on photographic paper, as digital photo processing systems called minilabs are installed at many DP stores. As a recording medium, the order of recording on a relatively large capacity recording medium such as a CD-R is also increasing. As a specific example, there is a service that, like a photo CD developed by Eastman Kodak in the United States, photoelectrically converts a frame image of a photographic film, and then converts it into image data of a predetermined data amount and saves it on a CD-R or the like .

  When image data is recorded on the recording medium in this way, the recording medium is set in a home personal computer so that the image data can be viewed in the form of an electronic album, and the image data recorded on the storage medium It is also possible to print photos from. Similarly, when printing image data taken with a digital camera on photographic paper or the like at a DP store, the image data is recorded on a relatively large-capacity recording medium such as a CD-R as described above. It is also possible to do.

  Here, when processing is performed when a frame image of a photographic film is converted into image data and printed, and then this image data is recorded on a relatively large capacity recording medium such as a CD-R, E size and L size are considered. When scanning a frame image with a film scanner based on a setting for printing a relatively small size such as, the size of the acquired image data is a bitmap structure with 8-bit gradation, but the data amount is several tens of megabytes. Never exceed. However, when this image data is recorded on a recording medium, if image data from many frame images is to be recorded on the recording medium, depending on the storage capacity of the storage medium, image data from all the frame images I think that I cannot record.

  This inconvenience can be easily solved by compressing the image data. However, when the image data is compressed based on a standard such as JPEG, it is considered that the image data recorded on the recording medium is printed again. In such a case, it is desirable to avoid compression at a high compression rate so as not to cause deterioration in image quality.

  In particular, when the size of a frame image is originally large, such as Brownie film, the amount of image data acquired by scanning increases, so the number of frames that can be recorded decreases when image data is recorded on a storage medium. There was room for improvement easily.

  An object of the present invention is to rationally configure a storage device that can easily store image data in a storage medium.

A feature of the present invention is that a storage device includes a storage processing unit that stores, in a storage medium, image data of a plurality of frames obtained by photoelectrically converting a frame image of a photographic film or image data of a plurality of frames taken by a digital camera. In
Frame data for which the storage processing unit calculates the storable data amount of one frame that can be stored in the storage medium from the storage capacity that can be stored in the storage medium and the number of frames of the image data stored in the storage medium It has a quantity calculation means,
Image data amount setting means for setting the data amount of image data stored in the storage medium based on the storable data amount is provided.

  With this configuration, the storable data amount of one frame that can be stored in the storage medium is calculated from the storage capacity that can be stored in the storage medium by the frame data amount calculation means and the number of frames of image data stored in the storage medium. . Next, the image data amount setting means sets the data amount of one frame of the image data, so that the image data of a plurality of frames can be stored in the storage medium with the set data amount. That is, regardless of whether there is a single storage medium or a plurality of storage media, the amount of data that can be stored per frame when storing image data in the storage medium is obtained. For example, the amount of data that is slightly smaller than the amount of data that can be stored By performing the process of setting the data amount of the image data so that the image data can be obtained, the image data can be stored in the storage medium without wasting the storage capacity of the storage medium. As a result, a storage device that can store image data without difficulty is configured.

  The present invention includes a film scanner that acquires image data by photoelectrically converting a frame image of the photographic film, the film scanner is configured to freely set the resolution of the acquired image data, and the image data amount setting means includes: The resolution of the film scanner may be set.

  With this configuration, when photoelectrically converting a frame image of a photographic film to acquire image data, it is possible to acquire image data having a required data amount by setting the resolution.

The present invention is configured such that the film scanner can acquire prescan image data with a low resolution and a small amount of data, and main scan image data with a plurality of types of data set in advance with a high resolution,
The image data amount setting means sets a processing form so that an operator can select the resolution of the main scan image data after determining the number of frames of the image data to be stored in the storage medium based on the prescan image data. May be.

  With this configuration, processing such as displaying low-resolution pre-scan image data on the display can be performed, and based on this display, the operator can determine whether or not the image can be stored, specify image data to be stored, and set the number of frames. After this, by setting the resolution, it becomes possible to acquire the main scan image data having the required amount of image data.

  In the present invention, the image data amount setting means compares the storable data amount with the image data amount of one frame of the image data stored in the storage medium, and this image data amount is the storable data amount. If it is larger, the processing mode may be set so as to reduce the amount of image data.

  With this configuration, for example, even when image data captured by a digital camera or image data obtained by performing only a main scan with a high resolution using a film scanner is stored in the storage medium, it can be stored in the storage medium without difficulty. It becomes possible to do.

  In the present invention, as the image data amount setting means, a plurality of preset image data amounts are set as the image data amount of one frame, and the processing mode is set so that the operator can select from the plurality of data amounts You may do it.

  With this configuration, when the amount of image data is reduced, the amount of image data per frame can be selected from a plurality of types. For example, the operation can be performed in comparison with an image data amount that is arbitrarily set. For example, it is possible to store with the number of pixels corresponding to the resolution of the print head of the digital printer, and to easily print from the stored image data.

  In the present invention, when the image data amount setting means reduces the image data amount, the processing mode is set so as to reduce the number of pixels, and the storage processing unit has the storable data amount set in advance. If it is determined that the amount of data is smaller than the limit data amount, the processing means may be set so as to output a message for confirming whether or not the storage process can be executed.

  With this configuration, when the processing mode is set so as to reduce the image data amount of the image data by reducing the number of pixels, and the storable data amount calculated by the frame data amount calculation unit becomes smaller than the limit data amount Confirms whether or not the storage process is possible, so that the image data is not set to an excessively small data amount.

  In the present invention, as the image data amount setting means, when the image data is reduced, a processing form may be set so as to perform a compression process for reducing the image data amount while maintaining the number of pixels.

  With this configuration, for example. By compressing image data at an arbitrary compression rate as in the JPEG standard, it is possible to perform storage processing with a required amount of image data without changing the number of pixels.

  In the present invention, the image data amount setting means may set the processing form so that the image data amount of the designated image data is set to a data amount larger than the image data amount of the other image data.

  With this configuration, it is possible to store image data having a plurality of data amounts in a storage medium. For example, by storing image data that may be printed in a large size at a high resolution, it is possible to store high quality data. It is also possible to perform printing.

  The present invention compares the storable data amount with the image data amount of one frame of the image data stored in the storage medium as the image data amount setting means, and this image data amount is more than the storable data amount. If it is small, the processing mode may be set so as to increase the resolution at the time of photoelectric conversion of the frame image of the photographic film to increase the amount of image data.

  With this configuration, when a small number of image data is stored in the storage medium, high-resolution image data can be stored, and the storage capacity of the storage medium is not wasted, and high-quality printing can be performed from the image data. It is also possible to do this.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[Overall Configuration] As shown in FIG. 1, a film scanner 2 for converting a frame image of a photographic film F into a digital signal by photoelectric conversion into a desk-like console unit 1 and taking it as image data, and a display 3 for displaying various information And a processing device 4 composed of a general-purpose computer that performs image processing and processing necessary for printing, a keyboard 5, a mouse 6, and a disk-type medium Md (an example of a storage medium) such as a CD-R or DVD-R. The print processing system (an example of a storage device) includes a disk processing device 10 that stores information and an information transmission system that controls the photo print unit P based on information from the processing device 4. Has been.

  The processing device 4 is provided with an interface for realizing various processes by an operator operating the keyboard 5 and mouse 6 in accordance with information displayed on the display 3, and a disc-type medium such as CD, MO, or FD. A disk drive 7 corresponding to the structure of the disk-type medium Md so as to obtain information from Md (an example of a storage medium) and a semiconductor-type medium so as to obtain information from a semiconductor-type medium Ms (an example of a storage medium) And a semiconductor drive 8 corresponding to the structure of Ms.

  The processing device 4 also stores the image data acquired by the scanner 2 or the image data acquired by the disk drive 7 or the semiconductor drive 8 in the semiconductor memory 23 (RAM) or hard disk HD ( (See FIG. 3), software for performing correction processing with image data displayed on the display 3 when necessary, and processing information such as image data and print size and number of prints. Software that realizes print processing in the photo print section P by being transmitted to the print section P is installed.

  The film scanner 2 has a light source section having a light emitting diode, a halogen lamp, etc. in the lower part, a zoom lens in the middle part, and image information from the zoom lens in the upper part as R (red) and G (green). , B (blue) A line CCD type photoelectric conversion unit that separates and captures the three primary colors is arranged. When scanning the photographic film F with the film scanner 2, the film carrier 2A suitable for the size of the photographic film F is mounted on the upper surface of the light source unit and scanning is performed, so that the photographic film F is scanned in the sub-scanning direction. In synchronism with the operation of transporting in the longitudinal direction, the photoelectric conversion unit performs processing to capture the frame image of the photographic film F in the form of scanning in the main scanning direction, and the captured image data is And transferred to the processing device 4 and stored in the semiconductor memory 23 (RAM) or the hard disk HD.

  The film scanner 2 obtains image data from a frame image of the photographic film F with a low resolution (small number of pixels) and acquires image data from the frame image of the photographic film F with a high resolution (large number of pixels). Image data can be acquired by scanning in one of the two forms of the main scan, and the resolution at the time of the main scan can be arbitrarily set.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the disk processing apparatus 10 includes a printing unit 10P disposed at the top of the main body 10A, a writing unit 10W disposed at an intermediate portion of the main body 10A, and a disk such as a CD-R or DVD-R. A collecting unit 10C for the type media Md (an example of a storage medium) and a picker 11 for supplying and discharging the disc type media Md are provided.

  The print unit 10P includes a tray 12 that can be moved in and out in the horizontal direction, and an ink jet print head (not shown) that prints information on the surface (label surface) of the disk type medium Md placed on the tray 12. ). The writing unit 10W includes a tray 13 that can be moved in and out in the horizontal direction, and a writing head (not shown) that writes information to the disk-type medium Md placed on the tray 13. . The stacking unit 10 </ b> C includes an unprocessed disk stocker 14 and a processed disk stocker 15. The picker 11 is configured to be switchable between a state in which the disc-type medium Md is sandwiched and a state in which it is separated, and can be moved up and down along the lifting unit 16, with the vertical axis of the lifting unit 16 as the center. It is configured to be swingable.

  The disk processing apparatus 10 is configured such that an unprocessed disk-type medium Md set in an unprocessed disk stocker 14 of the stacking unit 10C is sandwiched and lifted by the picker 11 and supplied to the tray 12 of the print unit 10P. The print head prints information indicating stored contents on the surface (label surface) of the mold medium Md. Next, the printed disc type medium Md is sandwiched by the picker 11 and supplied to the tray 13 of the writing unit 10W to store the data. The disc-type medium Md for which printing and storage have been completed is sandwiched again by the picker 11, and the picker 11 is swung around the axial core in the vertical orientation so that the processed disc stocker 15 of the stacking unit 10C is moved downward from above. The processing sequence is set so that the disk-type media Md are accumulated in the form of being fed to the disk.

  Although not shown in the drawings, the photographic print section P performs a phenomenon process in a developing tank after performing exposure of the image data on a silver salt photographic paper, and then performs a process of sending it out in a dry state. It is configured. Incidentally, the photographic print section P is not limited to one using silver salt photographic paper, but may have a structure in which image data is printed on non-silver salt paper by an ink jet print head.

  The film scanner 2, the display 3, the processing device 4, the keyboard 5, the mouse 6 and the disk processing device 10 constitute a storage device of the present invention. The storage processing unit of the present invention is configured by a combination of the processing device 4 and the disk drive 7 or a combination of the processing device 4 and the disk processing device 10.

  That is, the print processing system (an example of a storage device) acquires image data of a plurality of frames from a frame image of the photographic film F in the film scanner 2, acquires image data of a plurality of frames from the disk drive 7, or A plurality of frames of image data are acquired from the semiconductor type medium Ms, and then a plurality of pieces of image data are stored in the disk type medium Md (an example of a storage medium) using the disk drive 7 or the disk processing device 10. In this case, the present embodiment is characterized in that the storage capacity of the disk type medium Md is effectively used.

  In this embodiment, when storing image data, the disk-type medium Md set in the disk processing apparatus 10 is assumed as a storage medium. However, the disk-type medium set in the disk drive 7 as a storage medium. The processing mode may be set so as to use Md or semiconductor type media Ms set in the semiconductor drive 8.

  The processing system of this print processing system can be shown as shown in FIG. In this processing system, the processing device 4 includes an input / output interface 21 for accessing signals to the microprocessor CPU. The film scanner 2, the display 3, the keyboard 5, and the mouse 6 are connected to the input / output interface 21. , A signal system for accessing signals is formed among the disk drive 7, the semiconductor drive 8, the disk processing device 10, and the hard disk HD, and the signals are accessed with the photo print section P via the communication unit 22. A signal system is formed.

  The processing device 4 includes a semiconductor memory 23 (RAM / ROM), an operating system 24, a print execution unit 25, a storage processing unit 26, a frame data amount calculation unit 27, and an image data amount setting unit 28 on a data bus of the microprocessor CPU. Is connected. Incidentally, in order to realize the control in the processing device 4, a control bus and an address bus are required in addition to the data bus. However, in order to avoid complication, the drawing shows a control bus and an address bus. Does not show interfaces.

  The operating system 24 displays necessary information on the display 3, and based on the information displayed on the display 3, a GUI (Graphical User Interface) type using various software installed in the processing device 4. Realize processing.

  The print execution unit 25, the storage processing unit 26, the frame data amount calculation unit 27, and the image data amount setting unit 28 are all assumed to be software developed in the semiconductor memory 23, but some or all of them are assumed. It can also be configured by hardware such as logic.

  The print execution means 25 is made of software, and a pre-judge screen for print processing that lists image data (photographed images converted into digital signals) acquired by the film scanner 2, the disk drive 7, or the semiconductor drive 8. 30 (see FIG. 8) is displayed on the display 3 to realize the setting of whether or not to allow printing, the setting of the print size and the number of prints, and such setting information (order data) and image data as the photo. The data is transferred to the print unit P to implement print processing.

  The storage processing means 26 is composed of software, and a pre-judge screen for storage processing that lists image data (photographed images converted into digital signals) acquired by the film scanner 2, the disk drive 7, or the semiconductor drive 8. 40 (see FIG. 9) is displayed on the display 3, and the image data is stored in the disk type medium Md via the disk drive 7 or the disk processing device 10.

  The frame data amount calculation means 27 is made of software, and can be stored in the disk type medium Md from the storage capacity that can be stored in the disk type medium Md and the number of frames of the image data stored in the disk type medium Md. A process of calculating the storable data amount per frame is performed.

  The image data amount setting means 28 is made of software, and performs a process of setting the data amount of image data stored in the disc type medium Md based on the storable data amount. Specifically, in the case where the film scanner 2 performs the main scan after performing the pre-scan, the amount of image data when the main scan is performed at a preset resolution is estimated. Next, when the image data amount estimated in this way is compared with the storable data amount and the image data amount is larger than the storable data amount, the resolution at the time of photoelectric conversion of the frame image of the photographic film To reduce the amount of image data (by reducing the number of pixels). On the contrary, when the image data amount is smaller than the storable data amount, the resolution at the time of photoelectric conversion of the frame image of the photographic film is increased (by increasing the number of pixels) to increase the image data amount. Process.

  Similarly, when using image data that has already been acquired by performing a main scan with the film scanner 2 or when using image data that has already been stored in a medium, the amount of image data and the storage When the amount of image data is larger than the amount of data that can be stored by comparing with the amount of possible data, processing is performed to reduce the amount of image data by reducing the resolution of the image data. Incidentally, if the amount of image data is smaller than the storable data amount in this process, the image data amount may be increased. However, since the amount of image data is increased by the interpolation process, the number of pixels is Although it increases, it is not very effective for increasing the resolution.

  A process for setting a photographic film F on the film scanner 2, acquiring image data from the photographic film F, printing the plurality of image data, and storing them in the disk-type medium Md in the disk processing apparatus 10. The basic processing can be shown as in the flowchart of FIG. Further, the flow of data when the image data is stored in the disk type medium Md in this way can be shown as shown in FIG.

  In this process, the film scanner 2 performs pre-scanning first to obtain thumbnail image data first, and then performs main scanning to obtain high-resolution image data as an example. A process for performing only the main scan in the film scanner 2 and a process for image data photographed by the digital camera will be described as appropriate.

  The developed photographic film F is set on the film scanner 2 and pre-scanning is performed. By selecting a print process on a menu screen (not shown), a pre-judge screen for the print process as shown in FIG. 30 is displayed on the display 3. The pre-judge screen 30 displays thumbnail image data acquired by the pre-scan (Steps # 01 to # 03).

  The pre-judge screen 30 is arranged in a plurality of image display areas 31 for displaying thumbnail image data at the center of the screen, and a print size display unit 32 and a start button 33 are arranged at the bottom of the screen. A frame number display section 34 is formed at the upper position of the plurality of image display areas 31, and three color correction buttons 35, one density setting button 36, and the number display section 37 are formed at the lower position of the image display area 31. And form. This pre-judge screen 30 functions as an interface for setting order data necessary for print processing by selecting buttons displayed on the screen with a cursor and operating switches of the keyboard 5 and mouse 6. When printing is not performed on the pre-judge screen 30, a number “0” is input to the number display portion 37, and when thumbnail image data such as the next page is newly displayed. The scroll button 38 is operated.

  The three color correction buttons 35 realize color correction corresponding to the three primary colors C (cyan), M (magenta), and Y (yellow), and are set every time the color correction button 35 is operated with the cursor. You can increase or decrease the color density in units. The density setting button 36 can increase / decrease the density of the image data each time an operation selected by the cursor is performed. Further, the number of prints can be input to the number display section 37.

  By operating the start button 33 after the order data is set on the pre-judge screen 30, the print execution unit 25 controls the film scanner 2 to execute the main scan at a resolution suitable for the print size. . Next, the print execution unit 25 transmits the high-resolution image data acquired by the main scan and the order data to the photo print unit P, and the photo print unit P executes print processing according to the order data. To do. As a result of this print processing, processing for printing the designated image data on the photographic paper having the size set by the order data is realized (steps # 04 and # 05).

  Even after execution of the above-described print processing, even when the above-described print processing is not executed (# 02 Step No), when processing for storing image data in a medium is selected on a menu screen (not shown). As shown in FIG. 9, a pre-judge screen 40 for storage processing is displayed on the display 3. The pre-judge screen 40 displays thumbnail image data acquired by the pre-scan (steps # 06 to # 07).

  The pre-judge screen 40 is arranged in a plurality of image display areas 41 for displaying thumbnail image data at the center of the screen, and a total frame number display unit 42 for displaying all the frame numbers acquired by the pre-scan at the bottom of the screen. In addition, a selected frame number display unit 43 for displaying the selected frame number and a start button 44 are arranged. The pre-judge screen 40 functions as an interface for realizing storage processing by selecting buttons displayed on the screen with a cursor and operating switches of the keyboard 5 and mouse 6.

  Further, a frame number display section 45 is formed at the upper position of the plurality of image display areas 41, and a check section 46 for setting whether or not storage is possible is formed below the image display area 41. Note that the scroll button 47 is operated to newly display thumbnail image data such as the next page.

  In the pre-judge screen 40, by checking the check unit 46, image data corresponding to the thumbnail image data is set as a storage target, and the number of image data set as the storage target is the selected frame number display unit 43. Is displayed.

  Thereafter, by operating the start button 44 (# 08 step · Yes), a storage processing routine (# 100 step) is executed, whereby a disk type medium Md (for example, CD-R or DVD-) as a storage medium is executed. The image data is stored in (R), and the processing is completed when the processing of these processing orders is completed (step # 09).

  The storage processing routine (step # 100) is set as a subroutine as shown in the flowchart of FIG. In this storage processing routine, the disk processing apparatus 10 acquires the storage capacity (X) of the disk type medium Md, the number of frames (N) of image data set as a storage target, and the amount of image data (Dg) of one frame. Are acquired (steps # 101 and # 102).

  The image data amount (Dg) of one frame is assumed to be the amount of image data acquired by a main scan at a preset resolution. However, in an apparatus that performs only a main scan without performing a pre-scan, Refers to the amount of image data acquired by scanning. Further, in the present invention, when a main scan is first performed for printing a photograph, it is possible to set the image data stored in the image data previously acquired by the main scan. In this case, the image data amount of the image data is set to the image data amount (Dg) of one frame.

  In particular, in the present invention, processing for storing image data captured by a digital camera in a storage medium can also be performed. When this storage processing is performed, the amount of image data of the image data captured by the digital camera is 1. The frame image data amount (Dg) is set.

  Next, from the storage capacity (X) of the disk type medium Md and the number of frames (N), a storable data amount (Dn) per frame that can be stored in the disk type medium Md is calculated, and the image The data amount (Dg) is compared with the storable data amount (Dn) (steps # 103 and # 104). Of these processes, the frame data amount calculation means 27 executes the process at step # 103.

  If it is determined by this comparison processing that Dg> Dn is satisfied (# 105 step · Yes), an image amount reduction routine (# 200 step) processing (this processing will be described later) is executed. The processing of step # 200 is performed by the image data amount setting means 28.

  If Dg> Dn is not satisfied by the comparison process (Dg ≦ Dn), a message (not shown) indicating that the amount of image data per frame stored in the disk-type medium Md can be increased is displayed on the display 3. To display. When the operator selects a process for increasing the amount of image data based on this message (step # 106, Yes), the process of the image data amount increase routine (step # 300) (this process will be described later) is executed. . If these processes are not performed (step # 106: No), the image data amount (Dg) is set to the target image data amount, and image data corresponding to the set target image data amount is obtained. Processing for storing data in the disk-type medium Md is performed (steps # 107 to # 109).

  In the image data amount reduction routine (# 200 step), as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6, the data amount setting screen 50 shown in FIG. 10 is displayed on the display 3 (step # 201). The data amount setting screen 50 includes an automatic setting button 51, an arbitrary setting button 52, a plurality of check units 53 and pull-down menus 54 related to the arbitrary setting button 52, and a part of the image data amount of the plurality of image data. A selection setting button 55 for differentiating the image data from other image data amounts is formed.

  The data amount setting screen 50 functions as an interface for realizing processing necessary for setting the data amount by selecting buttons with a cursor and operating the switches of the keyboard 5 and the mouse 6.

  In this image data amount reduction routine, the storable data amount (Dn) is compared with a preset limit value (Dx) (step # 202). If Dn <Dx is not satisfied by this comparison (step # 203, No), the media number setting screen 60 shown in FIG. 11 is displayed.

  On this media number setting screen 60, the data amount after reduction is not suitable for storage in the media, and is displayed as a message (a message for confirming whether or not storage processing is possible) recommended to be stored in a plurality of media. In addition, a Yes button 61, a media number input unit 62, and an OK button 63 are formed, and a No button 64 and an OK button 65 are formed.

  After the Yes button 61 is operated on the media number setting screen 60, the number of media (a value of 2 or more) is input to the media number input unit, and the OK button 63 is operated to obtain the number of media. After operating 64, operating the OK button 65 sets "1" as the number of media (step # 204).

  When the automatic setting button 51 is operated on the data amount setting screen 50, the target image data amount is automatically set. That is, when the number of media is “1”, the storable data amount (Dn) is set to the target image data amount per frame, and when the number of media is two or more, the storage amount is stored. A value obtained by dividing the possible data amount (Dn) by the number of media is set as the target data amount (steps # 205 and # 206).

  When the arbitrary setting button 52 is operated, an arbitrary target image data amount is set. That is, the target image shown in the pull-down menu 54 is selected after selecting one corresponding to the target image data amount from the plurality of check units 53 or checking one of the plurality of check units 53 that arbitrarily sets the image data amount. By selecting the data amount, an arbitrary target image data amount is set (steps # 207 and # 208).

  In this process, the image data amount corresponding to each check unit is set so that the data amount is smaller than the storable data amount (Dn) regardless of which of the plurality of check units 53 is selected. .

  When the selection setting button 55 is operated, an image data selection screen 70 shown in FIG. 12 is displayed on the display 3, and a selection of a plurality of image data on this screen can be stored with different data amounts. It becomes. That is, on this image data selection screen 70, a first display unit 71 that displays a list of image data selected on the pre-judge screen 40 for storage processing and a second display on which the selected image data is displayed. A display unit 72 is formed.

  The image data selection screen 70 includes a selection button 73 for selecting image data on the first display unit 71 and a release button 74 for canceling selection of the selected image data and returning it to the first display unit 71. Yes. A check unit 75 for automatically or arbitrarily setting the amount of image data displayed on the first display unit 71 and a setting unit 76 for an arbitrary image data amount are formed below the first display unit 71. Below the display unit 72, a check unit 75 that maintains the amount of image data displayed on the second display unit 72, a check unit 77 that sets an arbitrary amount of image data, and an optional image data amount setting unit 78 Are formed, and an OK button 79 is further formed.

  The image data displayed on the first display unit 71 is a target for reducing the amount of image data, but the image data displayed on the second display unit 72 maintains the data amount or the first display unit. The image data amount is set larger than the image data displayed in 71.

  As a specific operation mode, a selection is made by operating the selection button 73 in a state where a cursor is used to select one to be stored as large image data from a plurality of image data displayed on the first display unit 71. The image data is displayed on the second display unit 72. Further, when canceling the selection of the image data selected in this way, the cancel button 74 is operated in a state where the image data displayed on the second display unit 72 is selected by the cursor.

  After making such a selection, the check units 75 and 77 perform necessary checks, and when an image data amount is arbitrarily set, the value is input to the setting units 76 and 78. After such an operation, it is possible to set two types of target image data amounts by operating the OK button 79 (steps # 209 and # 210).

  After the target image data amount is set in the steps # 206, # 208, and # 210, image data having the set target image data amount is acquired (step # 108), and the processing in the step # 109 is performed. Image data is stored in a disk-type medium Md as a storage medium. When storing in this way, the main scan is executed in a state where the resolution in the film scanner 2 is set based on the target image data amount set as described above, high-resolution image data is acquired, This image data is stored in the disk type medium Md. In this process, it is also possible to set the processing mode so as to perform a correction process such as a necessary color correction on the image data stored in the disk type medium Md. In particular, when the image data used for the printing process is stored in the disk-type medium Md as described above, the image data after the correction process or the trimming process during the printing process may be stored.

  When image data is stored in the disk-type medium Md, if the image data has already been acquired, for example, a process of reducing the amount of image data is performed by thinning out pixels. In particular, in the present invention, as processing for reducing the amount of image data, processing for compressing image data such as TIFF (Tag Image File Format) format or JPEG format (format established by the Joint Photographic Experts Group) may be performed. As described above, the processing mode may be set so that the processing for reducing the number of pixels and the processing for compressing the image data are used in combination.

  In the present invention, when the processing mode in which the film scanner 2 does not perform pre-scanning is adopted, or when the image data is acquired from the semiconductor medium storing the image data photographed by the digital camera, # 108 In the step, a process for reducing the target image data amount by reducing the number of pixels of the already acquired image data is performed, and a process for storing the image data in the disk-type medium Md is performed.

  On the other hand, in the image data amount increase routine (# 300 step), as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7, the data amount setting screen 50 shown in FIG. 10 is displayed on the display 3 (step # 301). This data amount setting screen 50 has the same structure as that displayed in step # 200, and the operation mode is the same as described above.

  In this image data amount increase routine, when the automatic setting button 51 is operated, the target image data amount is automatically set. That is, a value obtained by dividing the storage capacity (X) of the disc type medium Md by the number of frames (N) of the image data is set as the target image data amount per frame (steps # 302 and # 303).

  When the arbitrary setting button 52 is operated, an arbitrary target image data amount is set. That is, the target image shown in the pull-down menu 54 is selected after selecting one corresponding to the target image data amount from the plurality of check units 53 or checking one of the plurality of check units 53 that arbitrarily sets the image data amount. By selecting the data amount, an arbitrary target image data amount is set (steps # 304 and # 305).

  In this process, regardless of which of the plurality of check units 53 is selected, the data amount is larger than the storable data amount (Dn), and the image data amount thus set is multiplied by the number of frames (N). The amount of image data corresponding to each check unit is set so that the value does not exceed the storage capacity (X) of the disk type medium Md.

  When the selection setting button 55 is operated, an image data selection screen 70 shown in FIG. The structure is the same as that displayed in the # 200 step, and the operation mode is also as described above.

  In the image data selection screen 70, after selecting the image data in the same manner as described above, the check units 75 and 77 perform the necessary checks, and when the image data amount is arbitrarily set, the value is set in the setting unit. 76 and 78. After such an operation, it is possible to set two types of target image data amounts by operating the OK button 79 (steps # 306 and # 307).

  After the target image data amount is set in steps # 303, # 305, and # 307, image data corresponding to the set target image data amount is acquired (step # 108), and the processing in step # 109 is performed. Image data is stored in a disk-type medium Md as a storage medium. In this storage process, the main scan is executed with the resolution in the film scanner 2 set based on the target image data amount set as described above, high-resolution image data is acquired, and this image data is It is stored in the disk type medium Md. In particular, in this process, it is possible to set the processing mode so as to perform necessary correction processing such as color correction on the image data stored in the disk type medium Md.

  As described above, in the present invention, when image data is stored in a storage medium, the number of image data frames and the storage capacity of the storage medium are acquired and the amount of image data (when stored in the storage medium ( When the image data amount is required to be reduced, the capacity of the set number of disk-type media Md is effectively used by reducing the image data amount in the form desired by the operator. Image data can be stored. On the contrary, when the amount of image data (image data amount) stored in the storage medium is obtained and the image data can be increased, the resolution at which the film scanner 2 acquires the image data Therefore, high-resolution image data can be acquired.

  In particular, when an arbitrarily set image data amount (number of pixels) is selected, the selected image data amount is made to correspond to the print size corresponding to the resolution of the printer (for example, 4Base, 16Base, etc.). The number of pixels) and the processing when printing a photo from the disk-type medium Md storing image data are facilitated. In addition, it is possible to cope with large-format printing by selectively storing image data having a larger number of pixels than other image data stored in the disk-type medium Md.

[Another embodiment]
The present invention may be configured as follows in addition to the embodiment described above.

(A) The storage device is configured to perform only the process of storing the image data in the storage medium. Specifically, a stand-alone apparatus that receives image data captured by a digital camera and stores the image data on a medium such as a disk-type medium Md such as a CD-R or a DVD-R on the spot is configured. The apparatus configured as described above is installed in the store of a DP store or a store of a convenience store so that a user can perform processing by self-service.

(B) Many of the film scanners provided in the print processing system as in the above embodiment are configured to acquire 12-bit data in each of R, G, and B. When using a film scanner of this structure, The processing mode may be set so that 12-bit data is stored in the storage medium.

(C) A processing mode is set so that a plurality of image data can be stored in a storage medium for one piece of frame data. Specifically, by storing the above-described 4Base and 16Base image data, it is possible to select an appropriate resolution for printing from the image data stored in the storage medium.

(D) As a storage medium, a semiconductor medium such as a flash memory may be set as an image data storage target.

  By connecting the film scanner and the storage processing unit via a communication line such as the Internet, a storage device can be configured to store in a storage medium in a terminal that does not include a film scanner, and conversely, A storage processing device that connects a home terminal and a storage processing unit to store image data from a home in a storage processing terminal by setting image data captured by a digital camera at home. Can be configured.

Overall perspective view of print processing system Perspective view of disk processing device Block diagram of control system Flow chart showing basic processing Flow chart of storage processing routine Flow chart of image data amount reduction routine Flow chart of image data amount increase routine Figure showing the pre-judge screen for print processing Figure showing the pre-judge screen for storage processing Diagram showing data volume setting screen Figure showing the media count setting screen Figure showing the image data selection screen Diagram showing the flow of data during storage processing

Explanation of symbols

2 film scanner 27 frame data amount calculation means 28 image data amount setting means Dn storable data amount F photographic film Md storage medium: disk type medium N number of frames

Claims (9)

A storage device comprising a storage processing unit for storing, in a storage medium, image data of a plurality of frames obtained by photoelectrically converting a frame image of a photographic film or image data of a plurality of frames taken by a digital camera,
Frame data for which the storage processing unit calculates the storable data amount of one frame that can be stored in the storage medium from the storage capacity that can be stored in the storage medium and the number of frames of the image data stored in the storage medium It has a quantity calculation means,
A storage device comprising image data amount setting means for setting a data amount of image data stored in the storage medium based on the storable data amount.   A film scanner that acquires image data by photoelectrically converting a frame image of the photographic film; the film scanner is configured to freely set a resolution of the acquired image data; and the image data amount setting means includes the film scanner The storage device according to claim 1, wherein the storage device is configured to set a resolution. The film scanner is configured to be able to acquire pre-scan image data with a low resolution and a small amount of data and main scan image data having a plurality of types of data set in advance with a high resolution,
The image data amount setting means sets a processing form so that an operator can select the resolution of the main scan image data after determining the number of frames of the image data to be stored in the storage medium based on the prescan image data. The storage device according to claim 2.   The image data amount setting means compares the storable data amount with the image data amount of one frame of the image data stored in the storage medium, and the image data amount is larger than the storable data amount. The storage device according to claim 1, wherein a processing mode is set so as to reduce the amount of image data.   The image data amount setting means sets a plurality of types of preset image data amounts as the image data amount of one frame, and a processing mode is set so that an operator can select from the plurality of data amounts Item 4. The storage device according to Item 1.   When the image data amount setting means reduces the image data amount, the processing mode is set so as to reduce the number of pixels, and the storage processing unit has the storable data amount less than a preset limit data amount. The storage device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a processing mode is set so as to output a message for confirming whether or not the storage process can be executed when it is determined that the storage process is small.   6. The processing mode according to claim 1, wherein when the image data is reduced, the image data amount setting means is configured to perform a compression process for reducing the image data amount while maintaining the number of pixels. The storage device according to item.   The processing mode is set so that the image data amount setting means sets the image data amount of the designated image data to a data amount larger than the image data amount of the other image data. The storage device according to item 1.   The image data amount setting means compares the storable data amount with the image data amount of one frame of the image data stored in the storage medium, and if this image data amount is smaller than the storable data amount 2. The storage device according to claim 1, wherein the processing mode is set so as to increase the resolution at the time of photoelectric conversion of the frame image of the photographic film to increase the amount of image data.

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