JP2609243B2 - Photo printing system - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a photographic printing system in which an LSI card is used to manage the operation status of a printer processor.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a photographic printing system using an IC card has been known to back up channel data (sensitive material maker, sensitivity, emulsion) stored in a printer processor. In this photo printing system, if the channel data is lost due to a mistake in the operation of the printer processor, if an IC card is inserted into the printer processor,
The channel data written in the IC card is read and written to the memory.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

Since the above-described IC card is used as a backup of fixed data, it cannot improve the function of the printer processor or streamline the printing operation. In addition, the IC card has a built-in IC circuit in a plastic card and has a plurality of parallel contacts formed on the surface of the IC card. Therefore, the IC card is easily affected by static electricity. (Thousands of times). Furthermore, there is also an inconvenience in operation that the power must be turned off when the IC card is attached or detached in order to prevent data destruction.

In addition, in the case where printing failures due to color balance loss or the like occur frequently, if the history of the operation status of the apparatus is known, the cause can be easily clarified, and appropriate measures can be taken. However, in the past, since the history of the operation status was not known, the inconvenience of the current situation was corrected, so that accurate measures could not be taken,
It was messing around with unnecessary parts, and when the cause was later elucidated, it was difficult to return it to its original state. In particular, when a plurality of operators handle the operation, this operation becomes even more difficult.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a read / write device of an LSI card that reads and writes data in a non-contact state in a printer processor, and provides a recording area for update data in the LSI card. Set the LSI card in the read / writer, write the operation data indicating the operating state of the printer processor and the exposure control data to the update data recording area of the LSI card, and read out the exposure control data from the LSI card when a print failure occurs,
Based on this data, the cause of the print failure is analyzed,
Operation data is read from an LSI card, and business management processing is performed based on the data.

The operating state includes an exposure control state, an operating state of the apparatus, an adjustment or failure state of the apparatus, a management state of a processing solution in a photographic development processing unit, and the like. In order to record these pieces of history data, an LSI card is loaded into the read / write of the printer processor when the printer processor is operating. Since this LSI card inputs and outputs data in a non-contact manner by a built-in sheet coil, it is not affected by static electricity, and hardly causes poor contact or wear. Furthermore, even if the LSI card is removed while the power is on, the data will not be corrupted.

The history data recorded on the LSI card is read by a personal computer or the like after the printing operation is completed, and is used as data for elucidating the cause of a print defect. It is used for automatic creation of tabulation and the like, and is used as a reference for exposure control of extra prints.

The exposure control state includes a color filter adjustment amount, a shutter operation time (may be an average exposure time for each order), an exposure basic amount, an exposure correction amount, and the like. These are the most important for elucidating the cause of a print defect. Give clues. The operating state of the apparatus includes a work time, an order number (a number assigned to each negative film), a paper type, the number of prints, a print area, and the like. These are used for automatically creating a work daily report and the like. The adjustment conditions of the device include changes in lamp voltage and light amount, changes in the storage time of the scanner, changes in offset values, density and gray balance of print photographs created from control negatives (what is called so-called eyeball negatives), etc. There is. The failure state of the apparatus includes an alarm record, a part replacement record, and the like. The management state of the development processing liquid includes the liquid temperature, the replenishment amount of the processing liquid, and the replacement record of the processing liquid.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

〔Example〕

FIG. 2 schematically shows a color photographic paper printer processor. A magazine 11 is detachably mounted on the upper left of the main body 10, and a color photographic paper is loaded in the magazine 11.
12 are stored. The color photographic paper 12 is intermittently pulled out one frame at a time by a drawer roller 13, enters an exposure chamber 14, and is sent to an exposure position formed between an easel mask 15 and a pressure plate 16.

A negative carrier 18 is arranged facing the exposure position, and a color negative film 19 is set thereon.
A lamp 20 is provided to illuminate the color negative film 19, and light emitted from the lamp 20 is adjusted by a cyan filter 21, a magenta filter 22, and a yellow filter 23. The printing light whose light quality has been adjusted by the color filters 21 to 23 is sufficiently mixed in the diffusion box 24, and then illuminates the color negative film 19 from below. The printing light transmitted through the color negative film 19 passes through the printing lens 25 and the shutter 26 and then reaches the exposure position.

A read / writer 28 is provided on a table 27 to which the negative carrier 18 is attached, and an LSI card 29 is loaded when the printer processor operates. This LSI
The card 29 has an IC chip and a sheet coil board sealed in a plastic card, and data is input / output by the sheet coil board in a serial non-contact manner. Therefore, there are advantages that the card is not affected by static electricity, that no contact failure or wear occurs, and that the card can be inserted and removed while the power is on. The memory capacity includes 64K bits, 256K bits, 1M bits, and the like.

As shown in FIG. 4, the LSI card 29 has an I / D number area 29a, a program area 29b, a fixed data area 29c,
An update data area 29d and the like are provided, into which necessary data is written. The I / D number written in the I / D number area 29a is used for unlocking the printer processor or the like, and only when the registered I / D number is unlocked, the I / D number is unlocked to operate the printer processor. Becomes possible. An initial program for controlling the printer processor is written in the program area 29b. Thereby, when upgrading the version of the initial program, it is only necessary to rewrite the program area of the LSI card 29, thereby simplifying the operation. In the fixed data area 29c, data such as channel data (sensitive material maker, sensitivity, emulsion, and the like), parameters of an exposure calculation formula, instruction information, and the like are written. The update data area 29d contains data indicating the operation state of the apparatus, for example, exposure control data, lamp voltage and light quantity of a light source, adjustment position of a color filter, storage time and offset value of a scanner, liquid temperature of a color developing solution, processing temperature. The speed, date of replacement of photographic processing solution and parts, density value and gray balance of print photo made from control negative, date and content of alarm occurrence, etc. are recorded in order, and when defective print etc. occurs, When creating a daily work report, these pieces of history data are read.

On the right side of the exposure position, a cutter 32 for cutting the exposed color photographic paper 12 into a predetermined length or more when desired, and a pair of rollers 33 are arranged. The roller pair 33 feeds a stock chamber 34 for storing the exposed color printing paper 12. In this stock chamber 34, a pair of rollers 35 and 36 are arranged to form two loops.

On the right side of the stock chamber 34, a photographic development processing section 37 is formed. The photographic development processing section 37 includes a color developing tank 3
8, a bleach-fixing tank 39, and three washing tanks 40 to 42. A series of color photographic papers 12 are transported at a constant speed by a number of transport rollers and sequentially immersed in each processing tank, whereby color development, bleach-fixing, and washing are performed.

The color developing tank 39 is provided with a sensor 43 for detecting the temperature of the color developing solution. The rotation of the transport roller is sent to a speed detector 44, for example, a rotary encoder, and the processing speed of the color photographic paper 12 is detected.

A drying drum 46 and a cutter 47 are disposed on the right side of the photographic development processing unit 37. The photographic developed color photographic paper 12 is dried and then separated by a cutter 47 into individual frames. (Not shown).

FIG. 3 shows a control system. The negative carrier
The plate 18 is composed of a plate 50 and a mask 51, and holds the color negative film 19 between them. In order to measure the three-color density of the color negative film 19, a scanner 52 is provided. The scanner 52 reads an image immediately before printing a photograph, and outputs a three-color signal of each pixel as a time-series signal. A red sensor 53, a green sensor 54, and a blue sensor 55 are provided to measure the transmitted light of the entire screen.

The scanner 52, red sensor 53, green sensor
The output signals from the blue and blue sensors 55 are converted into digital signals by an A / D converter 56 and then sent to a logarithmic converter 57. The data converted to the density signal by the logarithmic converter 57 is sent to the computer 60.

The computer 60 has an I / O port 61, a CPU 62, a memory 63
And performs sequence control of each unit, fetching of density data, calculation of exposure amount, fetching and writing of data from the LSI card 29, and the like.

The computer 60 receives necessary data from the photo developing section 37, for example, data from the liquid temperature sensor 43 and the speed detector 44, in addition to sending an operation command to the photo developing section 37. The densitometer 65 is for measuring the density and gray balance of the print photograph created from the control negative, and the measurement data is sent to the computer 60. The keyboard 66 is provided with a density correction key and a color correction key for manually inputting an exposure correction amount, in addition to various keys for operating the printer processor. The insertion amount of the color filters 21 to 23 into the optical path is adjusted by a filter adjustment unit 67, and the opening and closing of the shutter 26 is controlled by a shutter driving unit 68. The sensor 30 measures the amount of light emitted from the light source 20 and sends the measured value to the computer 60.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the functions of the present invention. The sensors 53 to 55 perform photometry immediately before printing, and write the obtained red, green, and blue screen average transmission densities to the memory 63. The screen average transmission densities of these colors are read out after the photometry is completed, sent to the calculation unit 70, and substituted into the basic exposure amount calculation formula, and the basic exposure amount of each color is calculated. The three color densities of red, green, and blue of each pixel measured by the scanner 52 are sent to the image feature quantity extraction unit 71, and the image feature quantity of each color, such as the maximum density, the minimum density, and the density at a specific position are extracted. Is done. This image feature amount is sent to the calculation unit 72, and is substituted into an exposure correction amount calculation formula to calculate an exposure correction amount.

The exposure basic amount and the exposure correction amount for each color are sent to the calculation unit 73, where they are added for each color. By correcting the addition result with the channel data, the exposure amount of each color is obtained. A color filter adjustment amount and an exposure time are calculated from the obtained exposure amounts of the respective colors, and are sent to the filter adjustment unit 67 and the shutter driving unit 68.

The exposure control data of the basic exposure amount, the exposure correction amount, the color filter adjustment amount, and the exposure time are calculated immediately before printing each frame. These are useful for elucidating the cause of the printing failure. Is written to the LSI card 29.

Various fixed data are written in the LSI card 29, and these are read out by the read / writer 28. For example, the parameters of the arithmetic expression are stored in the storage unit 75 which is a part of the memory 63, and then sent to the arithmetic units 70 and 72, respectively. Channel data (sensitive material maker, sensitivity,
The emulsion or the like is written to the storage unit 76 and then sent to the calculation unit 73. When various types of channel data are written in the storage unit 76, the channel data specified by the keyboard 66 is selected. The instruction data is written into the storage unit 77, read out when a failure occurs or when the operation procedure is confirmed, and displayed on the display 78.

Further, the initial program stored in the LSI card 29 is stored in the storage unit 79 and controls the control unit 80 in sequence. The control unit 80 includes an exposure control unit 81
And controls the photographic development processing unit 37, etc., and reads the operating state of the photographic development processing unit 37, such as data such as the temperature of the color developing solution, the processing speed, and the date of replacement of the photographic processing solution.
Write to the LSI card 29 via 28. The control unit 80 is unlocked by the I / D number of the LSI card 29,
In addition to making each unit operable, data is sent to the operation data generation unit 82 every time printing is performed. The operation data generator 82 generates operation data such as work time, order number, paper type, number of prints, and print area, and writes the data in the LSI card 29. Further, when a failure occurs, the control unit 80 activates the self-diagnosis unit 83 to check the content of the failure, and writes this into the LSI card 29.

The read / writer 28 controls the density and gray balance of a control negative print photograph measured in a density system.
Write to LSI card 29. Also, the charge accumulation time output from the driver 84 of the scanner 52, the offset value, etc.
The lamp voltage output from the driver 85 for driving the light source 20, the light source light amount measured by the sensor 30, and the like are also written in the LSI card 29. To save memory capacity, these are not written for each frame.
It is better to write the date and time and the data after the change.

Next, the operation of the above device will be briefly described. To start printing, read the LSI card 29
Set it on the lighter 28. If the I / D number read from the LSI card 29 matches the registered one, the lock is released and the initial program is written into the storage unit 79. The parameters of the arithmetic expression are stored in the storage unit 75, the channel data is stored in the storage unit 76, and the instruction data is stored in the storage unit 77.

Next, a control negative is printed, and the obtained print photograph is set on a densitometer 65, and its density and gray balance are measured. The lamp voltage of the light source 20 is adjusted in accordance with the obtained density value, and the positions of the color filters 21 to 23 are adjusted in accordance with the gray balance.
The lamp voltage, the reference position of the color filter, and the measured density value and gray balance data are stored in the read / write 28
Is written to the LSI card 29 via the.

When the above print preparation is completed, set the color negative film 19 to the print position, and then
Operate the print key. Since the color filters 21 to 23 are set at the standard positions, the color negative film 19 is illuminated with the printing light adjusted to the standard light quality. The color negative image recorded on the color negative film 19 is measured by the scanner 52 and the sensors 53 to 55. This scanner 52
, The three-color signal of each pixel is output, digitally converted and logarithmically converted, and then stored in the memory 63. The sensors 53 to 55 measure the transmitted light of the entire screen for each color, convert the output signal into a digital signal and a logarithmic signal, and write the converted signal into the memory 63.

The screen average transmission density of each color written in the memory 63 is
The basic exposure amount is sent to the arithmetic unit 70 and substituted into the basic exposure amount arithmetic expression including the parameters read from the storage unit 75, and the basic exposure amount is calculated for each color. Also, the three-color density of each pixel is read out,
Using these, an image feature amount is extracted for each color. This image feature amount is sent to the calculation unit 72 and substituted into an exposure correction amount calculation formula including a parameter from the storage unit 75, and the exposure correction amount is calculated for each color.

The basic exposure amount and the exposure correction amount are sent to the calculation unit 73 and added, and the added value is corrected by the channel data in the storage unit 76. According to the obtained exposure amount, the color filter 21
23 and the exposure time of the shutter 26 are determined.

After the adjustment of the color filters 21 to 23, the light source is caused to emit full light, and the shutter 26 is operated, so that the color photographic paper is
Print a color negative image on 12. The exposed color photographic paper 12 is transported toward the stock chamber 34, and the unexposed color photographic paper 12 is set at the exposure position. When one frame is printed, the control unit 80
Sends data related to printing to the operation data generation unit 82.

When performing the next print, use the color negative film 19
Is set, a new frame is set at the printing position, and then the print key is operated again. Thus,
The sequentially exposed color photographic paper 12 is stored in a loop in a stock chamber 34. Then, when a desired number of frames are printed, the cutter 32 operates to cut off the rear end.
The series of separated color printing papers 12 is supplied to a color developing tank.
38, a bleach-fixing tank 39, and three rinsing tanks 40 to 42, which are sequentially processed for photography. The photographic-processed color photographic paper 12 is dried by the drying drum 46, cut by the cutter 47 one by one, and discharged.

If a failure or the like occurs during the printing operation, the self-diagnosis unit 83 operates to write the diagnosis result to the LSI card 29 via the read / writer 28. At this time, it is convenient to output the diagnosis result by number, use this number to search the fixed data area of the LSI card 29, read out the data written in its native language, and display it in the native language on the display 78. It is. In order to confirm the operation procedure, if the keyboard 66 is operated, the data stored in the storage unit 77 is displayed on the display 78 in the native language. Further, when the temperature of the color developing solution changes, when the developing processing speed changes, when the lamp voltage or light amount of the light source 20 changes, or when the charge accumulation time or offset value of the scanner 52 changes, The time at which the change occurred and the data after the change are written to the LSI card 29.

When the printing operation is completed, by operating the keyboard 66, operation data is output from the operation data generator 82 and written into the LSI card 29. After this writing, LSI
When the card 29 is removed from the read / writer 28, the operation of the printer processor is locked. Also, turn off the power
Then, the data written in each storage unit is erased.

The LSI card 29 is loaded into the personal computer 90 in order to analyze the cause of the defective print, create a daily work report, create work totals for each fixed period, and write data. When analyzing the cause of the defective print, the keyboard 91 is operated to read data from the update data area 29d of the LSI card 29 and print out the data by the printer 92. By examining the printed history data, the cause of the print failure can be analyzed, and an adjustment failure, a management failure, a failure location, or the like can be found and an appropriate countermeasure can be taken.

To create daily work reports and work totals, use LSI card 2
Operation data is read out from the printer 9 and automatically created by the statistical processing program and displayed on the CRT 93 or
Print out with 2.

In a chain store, if the personal computer 90 is connected to the host computer online and data is written to and read from the LSI card 29, centralized management becomes possible. Furthermore,
In addition to the common LSI card, an LSI card dedicated to the operator may be created, fixed data such as parameters may be written to the common LSI card, and history data such as operation data may be written to the dedicated LSI card. Furthermore, if an LSI card for setting up the printer processor is created, the setup work becomes easier.

The personal computer 90 creates a histogram of the exposure correction amount as shown in FIG.
The normal or abnormal state of the photographic development processing unit 37 can be checked. In general, when the exposure correction amount is converted into a correction key, the correction range is from "-1" to "+1", and if the corrected value is 60 to 70% of the whole, the normal It can be determined that the device is operating, and if not, it can be determined that the device is abnormal.

Then, when it is determined that the adjustment is abnormal, it can be predicted that the adjustment of the exposure control unit 81 is inappropriate. When the measurement result of the photo printed from the control negative is fed back to the exposure control unit 81, it can be predicted that the photo development processing unit 37 has an abnormality.

In the case of a printer processor without a built-in scanner 52, the operator directly specifies the exposure correction amount using the correction key, so if the exposure correction amount is determined to be abnormal, it is based on the operator's lack of experience. For this, measures such as education and training can be taken.

If the printed photograph suddenly turns black or white suddenly, the data recorded on the LSI card 29 is read to analyze the cause. First, the lamp voltage and the light emission amount of the light source are checked, and if there is no abnormality, the liquid temperature of the photographic development processing unit 37 is checked. If the liquid temperature is high, the printed photograph becomes black, and if it is low, it becomes white. When the developing processing speed is low, the image becomes black, and when the developing processing speed is high, the image becomes white. If these are normal, a histogram of the above-described exposure correction amount is created, and it is checked whether the histogram is within the normal range. If the exposure correction amount is within the normal range, it can be determined that the operation of the scanner or the correction operation of the operator is normal. In this case, it is checked whether or not the basic exposure amount is within a normal range. If this is found to be normal, the adjustment amount of the color filter and the exposure time of the shutter are checked. If they turn out to be normal,
Check whether the mechanical adjustments of the color filter and the shutter are normal. As described above, by analyzing the data recorded on the LSI card 29, it is possible to find out a maladjustment or a failure location and take an appropriate countermeasure. Furthermore,
By analyzing the data periodically, it is also possible to prevent the occurrence of defective prints.

Although the above embodiment is a printer processor, the present invention can also be applied to a photographic printing apparatus or an automatic developing machine.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, since an LSI card for reading and writing data in a non-contact manner, for example, an LSI card of a serial non-contact input / output method is used, it is affected by static electricity, There is no occurrence of poor contact or wear, and even if the card is inserted or removed with the power on, the data will not be corrupted.

In addition, the LSI card is set in the read / writer, and when the printer processor is operating, the operation data indicating the operating state of the printer processor and the exposure control data are written in the update data recording area of the LSI card. Since the exposure control data is read out and the cause of the print failure is analyzed based on this data, the analysis becomes easy and an appropriate countermeasure can be taken. Furthermore, by reading data regularly,
It is also possible to prevent the occurrence of defective print.

Further, since the operation data is read from the LSI card and the business management processing is performed based on the data, it is not necessary to input work data and the like, and a work daily report and work total can be easily created. In addition, operation data is transferred to LSI
By inputting the information to a personal computer or the like via a card and performing statistical processing, a daily work report or the like can be automatically created.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a main part of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a printer processor embodying the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a control system of the printer processor. FIG. 4 shows a memory map of the LSI card. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which an LSI card is set in a personal computer and data is read. FIG. 6 is a histogram of the exposure correction amount. 12 ... Color photographic paper 19 ... Color negative film 20 ... Light source 21-23 ... Color filter 26 ... Shutter 29 ... LSI card 37 ... Photo development processing unit 38 ... Color development tank 39 ... Bleaching and fixing tank 40-42 Rinse tank 52 Scanner 53-55 Sensor that measures the average transmission density of the screen 65 Densitometer 66 Keyboard 81 Exposure control unit 90 Personal computer.

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Kiichiro Sakamoto 798 Miyadai, Kaisei-cho, Ashigara-gun, Kanagawa Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-59-34551 (JP, A) JP-A-60- 238991 (JP, A) Japanese Utility Model Showa 61-128656 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model Showa 60-152155 (JP, U)

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for reading and writing data without contact
A read / writer for an LSI card is provided in a printer processor, a recording area for update data is provided in the LSI card, the LSI card is set in the read / writer, and operation data representing an operation state of the printer processor and exposure control data are stored in a printer. Write the update data recording area of the LSI card when the processor is running, read the exposure control data from the LSI card when a print failure occurs, analyze the cause of the print failure based on this data, and read the operation data from the LSI card A business printing process based on the data. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the exposure control data includes an exposure basic amount calculated from an average transmission density of a screen, an exposure correction amount representing a correction amount for the exposure basic amount, an exposure time, and a color filter adjustment amount. The photographic printing system according to claim 1, wherein 3. The operation data according to claim 1, wherein the operation data in the case of performing the business management processing includes a work time, an order number, a paper type, and the number of prints.
Photo printing system according to the item. 4. The exposure control data is obtained by converting the amount of exposure correction into the number of steps of a correction key and examining the relationship between the number of steps used and the appearance frequency. The photographic printing system according to claim 1, wherein if the appearance frequency of the range up to "" is 60 to 70% of the whole, it is determined to be normal, and otherwise, it is determined to be abnormal.