JP3020100B2 - Color image forming system - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a color image forming system, and in particular, scans a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a light-sensitive material) with a light beam. The present invention relates to a color image forming system having a scanning exposure apparatus for obtaining a color image.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Conventionally, as a scanning type color image forming apparatus, a thermal transfer system and an ink jet system have been known, but these devices have insufficient resolution, gradation capacity (subtle tone) and texture reproduction. There was no high quality image.

In order to obtain a high quality image which satisfies the above requirements, a method of exposing a silver halide photographic material with a scanning exposure apparatus is the best.

The principle of obtaining a color image by a so-called scanning type exposure device that scans a light-sensitive material surface with a light beam will be described.

The color image data separated into the three colors B, G, and R are converted into light intensities in different wavelength bands, and the light is scanned on the photosensitive material using the light. The term “scanning” used herein refers to the movement of light or the movement of a photosensitive material, and refers to the movement of light relative to the photosensitive material. As the photosensitive material, a material having a spectral sensitivity distribution corresponding to the intensity distribution of the three types of light used is used. The photosensitive material receives an optical signal whose intensity has been modulated based on the B, G, and R color image data corresponding to each of the three spectral sensitivities, and generates an appropriate color in accordance with the optical signal to produce a color image. Images can be obtained.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the above-described method, when image data is converted in accordance with the characteristics of an input image, the characteristics of a photosensitive material to be output, and variations in a processing step of the photosensitive material, a computer is conventionally used. This has been done, or conversion has been performed using a ROM (Read Only Memory) look-up table. However, the method using a computer has the problems that the system is expensive and large, and that direct output from a medium such as a magnetic tape is impossible offline. Also, in the method using a ROM lookup table, when a new table is required, it is troublesome to create a new table. In particular, fluctuations in processing steps can frequently occur. Very difficult by the way.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and provides a color image forming system capable of easily performing conversion of image data, having a small and inexpensive system, easily performing off-line output, and obtaining a high-quality image. The purpose is to:

[Means for Solving the Problems] An object of the present invention is to provide a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material in a color image forming system in which a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material is exposed in three colors of blue, green and red by a scanning exposure apparatus. Rewritable storage means for storing an image data conversion look-up table provided for each color of blue, green, and red for correcting an unpredictable change in gradation in the development processing step, and making a computer externally connectable. ,
A color image forming system comprising an interface for providing an external signal for rewriting the look-up table output from the computer to the storage means, or a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material by a scanning type exposure apparatus. In a color image forming system for exposing with three colors, green and red, an image provided for each color of blue, green and red for correcting an unpredictable fluctuation of gradation in a developing process of a silver halide photographic material. Rewritable storage means for storing a look-up table for data conversion, an interface which allows a computer to be connected from the outside, and an external signal output from the computer for rewriting the look-up table to the storage means, and silver halide. Color development processing for developing photographic photosensitive materials It is accomplished by a color image forming system characterized by comprising a device.

Hereinafter, the configuration of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

 FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a scanning type exposure apparatus.

The light sources 1B, 1G, and 1R are for writing blue data, green data, and red data of an output image, respectively.

The light beams emitted from the light sources 1B, 1G, 1R are subjected to beam intensity modulation in the light modulators 2B, 2G, 2R in accordance with the digital color image signal, blue data, green data, and red data which are separated into three colors. It is.

The blue data, the green data, and the red data are data-converted in storage units 3B, 3G, and 3R that store lookup tables (referred to as LUTs) for image data conversion.

The blue data, green data, and red data that have been subjected to data conversion are D / A-converted by D / A converters 4B, 4G, and 4R, respectively, and sent to optical modulators 2B, 2G, and 2R.

The light beam of each color modulated by the optical modulators 2B, 2G, and 2R has its optical axis changed by the reflection by the mirrors 6B, 6G, and 6R, respectively. The optical axis is adjusted to the side, and synthesis with the reflected beam from the mirror 6G is performed by the dichroic mirror 8, and further synthesis with the reflected beam from the mirror 6B is performed by the dichroic mirror 9. The light beam synthesized by these mirrors is adjusted in optical axis by a mirror 10, further condensed through a lens 11, and
The light is irradiated on the color photosensitive material 13 wound around. Drum 12
The lens 11 is moved (sub-scanning) in the direction of arrow X while rotating at a constant speed (main scanning) in the direction of arrow θ, whereby image printing is performed on the color photosensitive material 13.

Rewriting is possible in the storage means 3B, 3G, 3R in the present invention
RAM (random access memory) can be used.

When the LUT of the storage means 3B, 3G, 3R is rewritten due to a change in the input image characteristics or the characteristics of the photosensitive material to be output, or a change in the processing step of the photosensitive material, the connection is made via the interface 15. For example, this can be easily performed by a small personal computer 14, and the response can be made quickly.

Further, instead of a personal computer, a small-sized, inexpensive, easily-handled microcomputer, for example, can also be used.

The light source used in the present invention is, for example, blue light, green light, yellow light, red light, infrared light, etc., and the light sources 1B, 1G, 1R.
The combination of these three colors is arbitrary, but from the viewpoint of handling such as optical axis alignment, a combination of three colors of blue light, green light, and red light is particularly preferable.

As a light source used in the present invention, a combination of a white light source such as a glow lamp, a xenon lamp, a mercury lamp, and a tungsten lamp and a filter, a light emitting diode,
Gas lasers, solid-state lasers, semiconductor lasers, and the like are preferable, and laser light having a narrow output light intensity distribution is particularly preferable.

Further, a combination of various lasers and a wavelength conversion element may be used, and a combination of an infrared semiconductor laser and an SHG element is preferable from the viewpoint of compactness.

As a specific example, an Ar ⁺ gas laser (48
8.0 nm), He-Cd gas laser (441.6 nm), He-Ne gas laser (442 nm), etc. as green light, He-Ne gas laser (543.5 nm), Ar ⁺ gas laser (514.5 nm), Kr ⁺ gas laser (520.8nm), yellow light such as a combination of a YAG laser or infrared semiconductor laser and an SHG element is He-N
He-Ne gas laser (63) is used for red light, such as e-gas laser (594.1 nm, 611.9 nm), light emitting diode (peak wavelength 570 nm), combination of infrared semiconductor laser and SHG element.
2.8 nm), Kr ⁺ gas laser (657.1 nm), semiconductor laser (678 nm) (750 nm) (780 nm), and other semiconductor lasers (810 nm) (830 nm) (850 nm) (1030n)
m) (1300nm), light emitting diode (peak wavelength 890nm)
(Peak wavelength 940 nm).

Alternatively, a plurality of oscillations may be obtained from one He-Ne gas laser and used separately by a dichroic mirror or the like.
For example, three oscillation lines (442 nm, 543.5 nm, 632.8 nm) are obtained from one He-Ne gas laser.

In the present invention, it is preferable to use a He-Ne gas laser as the green light source because it is stable, inexpensive, compact, and has a long life. It is preferable to use a He-Ne gas laser for the yellow light source and the blue light source for the same reason.

In the present invention, it is preferable to insert a light source stabilizing device such as an optical feedback, an optical feed forward, or a combination thereof before entering the optical modulators 2B, 2G, and 2R because a high image quality output can be performed.

Also, instead of flying a light beam through space, Japanese Patent Application No. 61-61
It is preferable to use an optical fiber as described in JP-A-180438 and JP-A-61-180856, because the maintainability is improved. It is more preferable to solidify each component using an optical waveguide because the number of components is reduced, mass production is possible, and the cost is reduced.

The optical modulators 2B, 2G, and 2R are an electro-optic modulator, an acousto-optic modulator (AOM), and a waveguide modulator (JP-A-62-94823), respectively.
There is a loop type optical modulator (JP-A-62-94821).

In the case where a semiconductor laser or a light emitting diode is used as the light source in the present invention, it is preferable that the light modulation is not performed and the light modulation is performed directly by current modulation because the number of components is reduced.

As the optical scanning method of the present invention, in the attached drawings, rotation of the drum is performed as main scanning, and movement of the lens 11 is performed as sub-scanning, but other methods may be used. For example, there are the following.

(Main) (Sub) a) Drum rotation Galvanometer b) Drum rotation Drum movement c) Galvanometer Galvanometer (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 55-4071) d) Galvanometer Roll material transfer e) Polygon galvanometer f) Conveying polygon roll photosensitive material (Japanese Patent Publication No. 56-14963) Instead of a galvanometer, a resolution scanner having the same function may be used.

When current modulation is performed directly using a semiconductor laser or a light emitting diode, the light source itself may be moved together with the movement of the lens 11 shown in the attached drawing.

Further, a semiconductor laser array or a light emitting diode array may be used as a light source. In this case, only one scan is required, and the array may be scanned or the photosensitive material may be scanned. In this case, the scanning of the photosensitive material may be performed by any method such as rotation of the drum and conveyance of the roll photosensitive material.

When performing large-scale and high-speed image formation in these,
Those using a roll sensitive material such as d) and f) are preferable.

In the case of a sheet photosensitive material, a), b), c) and e) are preferable, and c) and e) are more preferable for high speed, and e) is particularly preferable.

Also, instead of the galvanometer and the polygon, an optical scanning device (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-75622) for generating a surface acoustic wave in an optical waveguide, a laminate of an optical waveguide layer with an adjacent layer, It is preferable to use a solid-state scanner such as an optical scanning device (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-83727) comprising a driving circuit and a driving circuit.

In the present invention, light beam shaping may be performed using a light beam shaping device such as a combination of a collimator and an aperture.

In the present invention, any digital color image signal shown in FIG. 1 can be used. For example, there is a digital color image signal read from a printed matter, a printing original plate, a photograph (color print, color negative, color reversal, etc.).

In the present invention, it is preferable to provide a supplier of the photosensitive material for output and a receiver, since the handling of the photosensitive material becomes easy. For example, in the case of sheet photosensitive material, the drum supplier in a portable dark box or cassette supplier of dark box capable of storing several tens of sheets, the cassette receiver, and the roll photosensitive material,
A cassette supplier for a dark box, a cassette receiver, or the like is preferable.

In the present invention, if the silver halide photographic material has a spectral sensitivity corresponding to the spectral distribution of the light intensity of the light source, silver halide color negative paper, silver halide color positive paper, silver halide color negative film,
Any material such as a silver halide color positive film may be used. These silver halide color light-sensitive materials are not particularly limited, whether they are wet-processed or dry-processed.

As an emulsion used for the light-sensitive material, the color has little dust,
Substantially silver chloride emulsions are particularly preferred in that high image quality and rapid development processing are possible. The term "substantially silver chloride emulsion" as used herein refers to an emulsion which may contain silver bromide to such an extent that the above effect is not different from that of pure silver chloride emulsion.

Specifically, a silver halide emulsion having a silver chloride content of 90 to 100 mol%, preferably 95 to 100 mol% is shown. A color photographic light-sensitive material using the emulsion is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 62-333728.
(JP-A-63-264742) and JP-A-62-186439 (63).
No. -146333) and 62-21504 (63-188129).

Since the present invention is an apparatus for outputting to a photographic color light-sensitive material, an apparatus having a color development processing apparatus is preferable. Needless to say, this processing apparatus is suitable for the photosensitive material used.

In the present invention, the input method of the digital color image signal shown in FIG.
It may be performed from a medium such as a magnetic tape, a magnetic disk, a laser disk, and a magneto-optical disk.

In the present invention, the signal input unit may have an image reading device. Image reading devices include scanners that read original images by optical scanning, CCD arrays, and two-dimensional C
Anything can be read, such as a CD, but a CCD is preferred because of its compactness and high speed.

In the present invention, the writing speed, the size of the writing pixel (aperture), and the size of the output image are not limited.

There are various forms as preferred embodiments of the present invention.

For example, having an image reading device and a color developing device,
It has a color copier, an image reader, and a color development processor that reads various original images and outputs them to silver halide color light-sensitive materials, reads silver halide color negative films or positive films, and reads silver halide color negative paper or positive It has a color printer device that outputs to paper, an image reading device and a color development processing device, and a copying (baking) device that reads and outputs it to the same photosensitive material as the silver halide color photosensitive material, and an image reading device and a color development processing device. A preferred embodiment is a color proof system (reading system) for reading a manuscript, a print manuscript, a print separation, and the like, and outputting the read manuscript to a silver halide color photosensitive material.

Also, as a general-purpose output device for obtaining an image by connecting to another signal output device through a signal input terminal, for example, a computer hard copy device that receives an output signal from a computer as an input signal, and an image reading device as an input signal Preferred embodiments are a color printer device receiving the above signal, a color printer device receiving an input signal directly from a medium such as a magnetic tape, a magnetic disk, a laser disk, a magneto-optical disk, and a video printer receiving a video signal as an input signal.

It is preferable that these apparatuses have a color development processing apparatus.

 Hereinafter, examples of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the present invention and is a block diagram of an apparatus for recording digital image data on a silver halide color photosensitive material mounted on a drum. 1B
Is He-Cd gas laser (441.6nm blue light), 1G is He-Ne
Gas laser (543.5 nm green light) and 1R used He-Ne gas laser (632.8 nm red light).

The light beams emitted from the laser light sources 1B, 1G, and 1R are incident on the optical modulators 2B, 2G, and 2R via the light source stabilizers 5B, 5G, and 5R. Are supplied from the D / A converters 4B, 4G, and 4R to perform beam intensity modulation. The digital color image signal is subjected to data conversion in storage means 3B, 3G, 3R for storing an LUT for image data conversion, and is sent to D / A converters 4B, 4G, 4R.

The light beam of each color modulated by the optical modulators 2B, 2G, 2R has its optical axis changed by reflection by mirrors 6B, 6G, 6R, respectively, and the light beam reflected by mirror 6R passes through mirror 7 to dichroic mirror 8 The optical axis is adjusted to the side, and synthesis with the reflected beam from the mirror 6G is performed by the dichroic mirror 8, and synthesis with the reflected beam from the mirror 6B is performed by the dichroic mirror 9. The light beam synthesized by these mirrors is applied to a light beam shaping device 16 such as a combination of an aperture and a collimator.
Then, the optical axis is adjusted by a mirror 10, further condensed through a lens 11, and irradiated onto a silver halide color photosensitive material 13 wound around a drum 12. While the drum 12 rotates at a constant speed (main scanning) in the direction of the arrow θ, the lens 11 is moved (sub-scanning) in the direction of the arrow X, whereby an image is printed on the silver halide color photosensitive material 13.

Image exposure using a silver halide color negative paper (emulsion is an AgBrCl emulsion) with a spectral sensitivity corresponding to the spectral distribution of the light intensity of the light source using the apparatus shown in Fig. 2 and appropriate color development processing The color image obtained by
The image quality was high without noise indicating the instability of the light source.

In addition, a similar test was performed using silver halide color negative paper of an AgCl emulsion, and a high-quality color image with good reproducibility color was obtained, in particular, with less color smear.
Development processing time has also been reduced.

In addition, fluctuations in the processing steps occurred, and the image quality of the obtained image deteriorated.When the LUT of the storage means 3B, 3G, 3R was rewritten by the personal computer 14, a high-quality color image was obtained again. became.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, the color image forming system of the present invention includes rewritable storage means for storing an LUT for image data conversion and a small personal computer for rewriting the LUT. Because it can be connected from the outside, it can be adjusted according to the characteristics of the input image, the characteristics of the photosensitive material to be output, and the fluctuations in the processing of photosensitive material.
LUT rewriting can be performed easily and speedily, and the system can be small and inexpensive. In addition, direct output from a medium such as a magnetic tape can be easily performed offline. Further, the color image forming system of the present invention can obtain a stable high quality color image.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a scanning type exposure apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. 1B, 1G, 1R …… Laser light source, 2B, 2G, 2R …… Optical modulator, 3B, 3G, 3R …… Storage means, 4B, 4G, 4R …… D / A converter, 5B, 5G, 5R… … Light source stabilizer, 6B, 6G, 6R, 7,10 …… Mirror, 8,9 …… Dichroic mirror, 11 …… Lens, 12 …… Drum, 13 …… Silver halide color photosensitive material, 14 …… Personal computer, 15 ... Interface, 16 ... Light beam forming device

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-63-40477 (JP, A) JP-A-62-47273 (JP, A) JP-A-58-5079 (JP, A) JP-A-61-47 118064 (JP, A) JP-A-60-167571 (JP, A) JP-A-62-47269 (JP, A) JP-A-62-98387 (JP, U) JP-A-61-206362 (JP, U)

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] In a color image forming system for exposing a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material to three colors of blue, green and red by a scanning type exposure apparatus, it is impossible to predict the gradation in the development process of the silver halide photographic light-sensitive material. Rewritable storage means for storing an image data conversion lookup table provided for each color of blue, green, and red for correcting variation, and a computer which can be connected from the outside, and the lookup output from the computer. An interface for supplying an external signal for rewriting a table to the storage means. 2. In a color image forming system in which a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material is exposed in three colors of blue, green and red by a scanning type exposure apparatus, it is impossible to predict the gradation in the development process of the silver halide photographic light-sensitive material. Rewritable storage means for storing an image data conversion lookup table provided for each color of blue, green, and red for correcting variation, and a computer which can be connected from the outside, and the lookup output from the computer. A color image forming system comprising: an interface for providing an external signal for rewriting a table to said storage means; and a color developing device for developing a silver halide photographic material.