JP2874358B2 - Image recording device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus for printing out an image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an exposure apparatus of an image recording apparatus is shown in FIG.
The following was devised.

The exposure apparatus includes a light source 3, a lens 4, and a liquid crystal panel 6. Light from the light source 3, the lens 4 and the optical
Irradiation is performed on the photoconductor 7 via a liquid crystal panel 6 serving as a shutter . At this time, the image on the liquid crystal panel 6 is projected on the photoconductor 7, and a latent image is formed on the photoconductor 7.

FIG. 4 shows a signal flow from a scanner of an image recording apparatus having a conventional scanner to a liquid crystal panel. Analog data from the scanner 100 is A
The data is converted into digital data by the / D converter 101, the data is corrected by the look-up table 102, and the data is stored in the frame memory 1
Write to 03. After that, the liquid crystal driver 104 displays the value of the frame memory on the liquid crystal panel 6. As described above, the image on the liquid crystal panel 6 is used for exposing the photoconductor 7.

[0005]

However, the above-described image recording apparatus has the following problems. When exposing an image, there is a difference between the amount of light from the light source and the amount of light on the liquid crystal panel immediately below the light source and the amount of light away from the center of the liquid crystal panel. For this reason, even when exposure is performed with the same value, the exposure amount differs between the center of the liquid crystal and the periphery thereof.

[0006] The present invention has been made to solve the problems described above, during exposure, even if a difference in light intensity of the center of the optical shutter and its surroundings occurs, the light so as to correct it It is an object of the present invention to provide an image recording apparatus capable of exposing a photosensitive recording medium without being affected by a light amount distribution of a light beam from a light source by correcting a shutter opening / closing time.

[0007]

In order to achieve this object, an image recording apparatus according to the present invention comprises a light-sensitive pressure-sensitive color developing red, green and blue.
A light source having a wavelength necessary for exposing the recording medium,
A lens for condensing the light beam, and
Cells consisting of red, green and blue data
Each cell is opened and closed based on the image data, and the transmission of each cell
An optical shutter that irradiates light to the photosensitive recording medium.
And an image recording device comprising:
Color correction lookup table for color correction of data of each color
Depending on the position of the cell of the optical shutter,
The amount of light transmitted through the light-sensitive recording medium is
To make it constant over the entire exposure surface of the shutter.
A light amount correction look-up table, and each of the image data
The color data is stored in the color correction lookup table and the light amount correction
Calculation means for performing a correction calculation based on the backup table.
The optical shutter based on the corrected data.
Drive control means for controlling the opening / closing time of each cell.
You.

[0008]

According to the image recording apparatus of the present invention having the above-described structure,
The calculation means is a color correction lookup table and a light amount correction lookup table.
Correction calculation for each color data of image data based on the table
I do. That is, density conversion of each color data, that is,
The density of each color is determined. Reproduce that density faithfully
Therefore, depending on the position of the cell of the optical shutter,
The amount of light transmitted through the light-sensitive recording medium is
The correction is made to be constant over the entire exposure surface of the shutter. This
Drive control means based on the data corrected as
Controls the opening and closing time of each cell of the optical shutter. Opening and closing time
Is controlled to control the color density of the photosensitive pressure-sensitive recording medium.
Is controlled, and an image faithful to the image data is reproduced.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

The digital copier 1 of this embodiment shown in FIG. 1 includes a scanner 100, an image processing device 40, and an image output device using a liquid crystal shutter.
Photosensitive paper consisting of microcapsule paper) and developer paper 8
A pressure-sensitive recording medium is used. Microcapsules are applied to the surface of the support of the microcapsule paper 7 used in the present embodiment, and the microcapsules contain a dye precursor or the like that reacts with a developer described later. ing. On the surface of the support of the color-developing paper 8, a color-developing agent is applied and a color is formed by reacting with a dye precursor, and details thereof are described in US Pat. No. 4,399,209.
Here, it is omitted.

An original is read by the scanner 100 by the CCD 30, the halogen lamp 31, and the color filter 200, and is sent to the image processing device 40. FIG. 2 shows a state of the processing in the image processing device 40. Here, the color is corrected and sent to the LCD 6. The image processing device 40 includes an A / D converter 101 for digitizing analog data from the scanner, a lookup table 102 for color correction,
Look-up table 105 for light quantity correction, frame memory 103 for one screen, liquid crystal driver 10 4 for displaying the contents of frame memory 103 on liquid crystal panel 6 (hereinafter referred to as LCD), and scanner 100 which position The position detector 107 detects whether data has been input.
The liquid crystal panel 6 corresponds to the optical shutter of the present invention,
The driver 104 corresponds to the drive control unit of the present invention.

A halogen lamp 3 is used as an exposure light source, and a reflector 2 is disposed above the halogen lamp 3. A condenser lens 4 is arranged below the halogen lamp 3, and an infrared cut filter 5 is arranged below the condenser lens 4. Below the infrared cut filter 5,
Color filters 22R, 22 insertable alternately in the optical path
G, 22B filter unit 22 and LCD
6 are provided. The unexposed microcapsule paper 7 is wound around the cartridge shaft 15 inside the light-shielding cartridge 18. A feed roller 19 is provided on the right side of the cartridge 18. The microcapsule paper 7 is exposed in a stationary state under the LCD 6 to form a latent image. The microcapsule paper 7 passes between the pressure rollers 11a and 11b and is wound on a winding shaft 16.

A half-moon roller 9 is provided above the color developing paper 8, and a paper feed roller 10 and a paper feed guide 17 are provided on the left side. A heat fixing device 12 is provided below the color developing paper 8, and a heater 13 is provided inside the heat fixing device 12 and a transport belt 14 is provided below the heat fixing device 12.

Next, the operation of the digital copier 1 will be described.

First, when a print start key (not shown) is pressed, processing is performed for red. That is, the halogen lamp 31 of the scanner 100 is turned on, and analog data from the CCD 30 is obtained via the red filter 200. This is digitized ( converted into image data) by the A / D converter 101 and density converted by the look-up table 102 for color correction. On the other hand, the position detector 107 detects which position of the input image is captured by the scanner, and obtains the distance from the center of the liquid crystal at the position displayed on the LCD 6. Based on this distance, a light amount correction value is obtained from a lookup table 105 for light amount correction. An arithmetic unit (arithmetic means) 106 multiplies the values obtained from these two lookup tables 102 and 105 to obtain a correction value, and writes this value to the frame memory 103. By causing the scanner 100 to sequentially scan along the input image, the correction values of all the input images are stored in the frame memory 10.
Write to 3. Thereafter, the value of the frame memory is displayed on the LCD 6 by the liquid crystal driver 104, and the halogen lamp 3 is turned on. The light of the halogen lamp 3 is reflected by the reflector 2
The light is radiated to the LCD 6 via the condenser lens 4, the infrared cut filter 5, and the red filter 22R. The stationary microcapsule paper 7 is exposed to light selected on the LCD 6. As a result, a latent image for red is formed on the microcapsule paper 7. When the red exposure is completed, the red filter 22R is replaced with the green filter 22G, and the red filter 200 of the CCD 30 is also switched to the green filter. Further, the scanner 100 returns to the origin. Similarly, for green and blue, the filter 200 and the filter 22 are switched, and the scanner 1
By scanning at 00 and exposing the microcapsule paper 7 via the LCD 6, latent images for green and blue are formed on the microcapsule paper 7.

Thus, a color latent image is formed on the microcapsule paper 7. Next, the microcapsule paper 7 is fed in the direction of the pressure rollers 11 a and 11 b by the driving force of the take-up roller 16 and the feed roller 19. On the other hand, the color-developed paper 8 is fed one by one by a half-moon roller 9, and is fed to a pressure roller 11 a or b by a paper feed roller 10 through a paper feed guide 17. Pressing rollers 11 a and 11 b press the microcapsule paper 7 with the exposed surface of the microcapsule paper 7 and the developer application surface of the developed paper 8 facing each other, and the image is transferred to the developed paper 8. Colored paper 8
Is further transported by the transport belt 14 while the heater 13
The color development is promoted by the heat fixing device 12 having an image and is output as an image.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described in detail above, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

For example, in the present embodiment, the correction value is obtained by simply multiplying the reference values of the two lookup tables, but a more complicated calculation may be performed.

[0019]

As apparent from the above description,
The image recording apparatus according to the present invention uses the color correction lookup table
Based on the original color of the image represented by the image data
Color correction is performed as shown in FIG.
When light from the light source passes through the optical shutter,
Light so that the light intensity over the entire light surface (light transmission surface) is constant
Since the opening and closing time of each cell of the shirt is controlled,
Data can be faithfully reproduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a digital copier which is an embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of image processing of a digital copier.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a conventional exposure apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an electrical configuration of conventional image processing.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Digital copier 3 Halogen lamp 6 LCD 7 Microcapsule paper 8 Developing paper 22 Filter unit 30 Color CCD 31 Halogen lamp 40 Image processing device 100 Scanner 101 A / D converter 102 Lookup table 103 Frame memory 104 Liquid crystal driver 105 Lookup table 106 Arithmetic unit 107 Position detector 200 Filter

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A light source having a wavelength necessary for exposing a photosensitive pressure- sensitive recording medium that emits red, green and blue light, a lens for condensing light beams of the light source, and a plurality of cells to be irradiated with light transmitted through the lens.
To the image data composed of red, green and blue data
Each cell is opened and closed based on the light and the transmitted light of each cell is exposed to the light.
An image recording apparatus comprising: an optical shutter configured to irradiate a recording medium ; a color compensator for color-correcting data of each color of the image data.
A positive look-up table and the positions of the cells of the optical shutter
The light from the light source is transmitted through the photosensitive recording medium.
The light quantity at the time of exposure is constant over the entire exposure surface of the optical shutter.
And a light amount correction lookup table for correcting the color data of the image data.
Correction calculation based on the table and the light amount correction lookup table
An arithmetic means for each cell of the optical shutter on the basis of the correction calculation data
And a drive control means for controlling the opening and closing time of the image recording apparatus.