JP3031540B2 - Scanner film holder, image input device and method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to, for example 35mm color negative film support was mounted in the scanner, preliminary image reading scanner film holder to perform image input
In particular, the present invention relates to a film device for a scanner , and an image input device suitable for setting a good color balance.
Force apparatus and method .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a color film image is read by a scanner, preliminary image reading is performed, and information on a brightest point, a darkest point, and a luminance histogram are analyzed based on the data. Color balance was controlled. Further, the scanner has a portion on which a film base is mounted, and the film base is mounted on this portion to read the luminance and use the data as data for determining a color balance.

[0003]

When the color balance is determined based on the data obtained by reading the preliminary image as described above, the data includes dust and dirt on the particles of the image formed on the film. When there is a singular point such as a pinhole or electrical noise, there is a problem that the obtained color balance is affected and the image quality is deteriorated. In addition, if only the film base is mounted on the scanner to obtain the color balance with high accuracy, there is a problem that it takes a long time to read the final image including other preliminary image reading.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, the preliminary image reading, and an object thereof to be able to obtain a stable color balance in a short time.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a scanner film holder for supporting a film original 301 on which an image is recorded, mounting the original on a scanner, and reading a preliminary image. An opening 303 having an image area of substantially one frame and a base of the film original 301 formed at an outer peripheral portion of the opening.
Light through the base of the film original 301
Color balance information by reading the amount of light
And an extension 304 as a notch .

In the film holder for a scanner according to the second aspect, the extension portion 304 is provided in the reading direction of the film original 301.

The film holder for a scanner according to the third aspect is characterized in that the extension portion 304 is provided in a direction perpendicular to the reading direction of the film original 301. The image input method according to the image input apparatus and claim 7 according to claim 4, light is irradiated to the film original, receives light transmitted through the base film original <br/>, the base film original A reading condition for reading an image of a film document is set according to a result of receiving the transmitted light. Reading condition is a condition of color balance, the condition of color balance can be at least one of irradiation time of light charge accumulation time during receiving, or to film original when reading the image of the film original.

In the film holder for a scanner having the above structure, an extension portion 304 is provided on the outer periphery of an opening 303 having an area of an image of substantially one frame of a film original 301,
Since the color balance is set by transmitting light to the portion corresponding to the base of the film original 301 facing the extension portion 304, the instability due to the influence of the singular point on the film is suppressed, and the color balance is stabilized in a short time. Can be obtained. In the image input apparatus and image input method having the aforementioned configuration, in response to the result of receiving the light transmitted through the base of the film original, reading condition is set to read an image of the film original. Therefore, it is possible to stably read the image of the film original in a short time.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 5 show the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of a scanner device to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 3 shows its appearance. In FIG. 2, the carriage includes an upper carriage 5a and a lower carriage 5b that sandwich the transparent original 2, and the carriage 5a,
5b is slidably guided by two upper guide bars 11a and two lower guide bars 11b. Further, the optical axis 9 extending from the light source 1 to the first mirror 3 is disposed at an angle of about 4.8 degrees downward with respect to the apparatus main body bottom face 10, and two guide bars 11b supporting the lower carriage 5b. Is wider than the width of the first mirror 3 so that the first mirror 3
Are arranged so as to sandwich them.

In the above configuration, light generated from the light source 1 is reflected by the first mirror 3 and the second mirror 4 and is guided onto the document 2. The light transmitted through the original 2 is the third light.
The direction is changed by the mirror 6 of
An image is formed on the CD 7 and information of one line on the document 2 is read. After the reading is completed, the scanning section including the carriages 5a and 5b moves by one line, and changes the position of the document 2 to read the next one line of information. By repeating this, reading for one document is performed.

FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of the scanner device.
The front panel 22 provided on the front of the housing 21 has a document 2
Is inserted in the direction shown by the arrow A in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a driving mechanism of the carriage 5 shown in FIG. An ordinary step motor 101 is fixed to a flange of a housing 102 that houses the entire scanner device. Light sources, various mirrors, imaging lenses,
Electrical and optical elements such as detector arrays are not shown for clarity. The motor 101 has a small gear 111
, And the gear meshes with a large idler gear 112 fixed to the shaft 121. Gear 11
1, 112 may be replaced with a friction drive mechanism or a belt / pulley mechanism. The idler gear 112 has a shaft 121
, And the shaft is rotatably supported on the housing by two bearings. The shaft 121 also carries two pinions 125, 126 that mesh with longitudinally movable racks 131, 132, respectively.
The two racks are rigidly connected to the transport carriage 201.

The transport carriage 201 includes rods 141, 1
It is guided so as to reciprocate by a guide mechanism comprising 42 and a bearing. Therefore, the guide mechanism will be briefly described. In particular, a pair of upper rods 141 extend substantially parallel to and above a pair of lower rods 142. The end of the upper rod 141 far away from the front panel 151 is connected to the rack 13 supported by the pinions 125 and 126.
1, 132, which allows the end of the rod 141 adjacent the front panel 151 to move vertically by a small amount. The lower rod 142 is supported by a spring (not shown) at an end adjacent to the front panel 151, and the end adjacent to the front panel can move vertically by a small amount.

Each upper rod 141 is pressed downward by a corresponding spring (only one is shown at 143 in FIG. 4), pressing the carriage downward, thereby causing the rack 13
1, 132 is pressed down to correspond to the pinion,
Fully engage the rack and pinion without significant play that would cause backlash.

The pinions 125, 126 act as pivot axes for rotating the rack. The pivot provided by this pivot shaft and focusing cam 301 ensures that the digitizing film piece is always maintained at a constant height regardless of the change in thickness of the frame on which another film piece is mounted. I do. The forward travel of the carriage assembly 201 is controlled by the front panel 151 with respect to its forward movement.
There is no direct restriction on the retraction of the carriage,
The backward movement of the ejector 211 is caused by a pair of pins 16 of the housing that can be engaged with the ejector 211 of the carriage.
1, 162.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an electric circuit configuration of the scanner shown in FIG. The LEDs of three colors having different emission wavelengths for color separation provided in the LED block 51 are turned on by the LED drive circuit 52 one by one. The light emitted from the LED is transmitted through the film original 54 mounted on the carriage 53, and the amount of transmitted light is indicated by a line CC.
It is detected at D55 and converted into an electric signal. This electric signal is A / D converted by the A / D converter 56 and is taken into the memory 57. When reading of one line of three colors is completed, the carriage 53 is moved by a stepping motor 59 which is driven to rotate by a stepping motor drive circuit 58, and detects the next one line of three colors. By repeating this, the entire film original 54 is read and transferred to the host computer using the SCSI interface 60.

The CCD 55 is controlled by the CPU 62 via the CCD drive circuit 61, and the LED drive circuit 52 and the stepping motor drive circuit 58 are also connected to the I / O 6
It is controlled by the CPU 62 via 3 and 64. Further, the memory 57 and the SCSI interface 60 are also controlled by the CPU 62.

Next, the structure of the film holder, which is a feature of the present invention, will be described with reference to FIG. The 35 mm color negative film original 301 is normally held as a film strip of up to six frames (five frames in FIG. 1). Film manuscript 3
The film holder 302 supporting the first shell 301 is composed of an upper shell 302a and a lower shell 302b that are rotatably connected on one side, and each of the shells 302a and 302b has a 24 mm × 36 mm An opening 303 is provided. The opening 303 substantially matches the shape of one frame of the film original 301. A substantially triangular extension 30 is provided on one side of the opening 303 in the scanning direction.
4 is open.

A plurality of holes 305 are formed in both sides of the opening 303 of the upper shell 302a in the scanning direction, and the lower shell 302b has pins 30 at positions matching the holes 305.
6 are provided so as to protrude. And the shell 302
When the pins 302a and 302b are closed, the pins 306 enter the holes 305, and the distance between the pins 306 on both sides is adjusted to the width of the filmstrip, so that the image position of one frame of the film original 301 is moved to the position of the opening 303. It can be easily matched. In addition, cutouts 307 are provided at respective positions on the open sides of the shells 302a and 302b so as to be aligned with each other, thereby facilitating attachment and detachment to and from the carrier.

As shown in FIG. 6, the position of the extension 304 may be a direction perpendicular to the scanning direction of the opening 304, and may be formed in a rectangular shape.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In step S401, the power of the scanner device is turned on, and in step S402
, The carriage 5 is moved to the white balance adjustment position. Next, in step S403, the accumulation time and the lighting time of each color LED of the light source 1 are set. In step S404, it is determined whether the white balance is appropriate based on the integrated value of the light amount of each color. The accumulation time and the lighting time of the LED are adjusted until the white balance becomes appropriate.

Next, in step S405, the film original 301 is mounted on the film holder 302, and the position of one frame of the film original 301 and the position of the opening 303 are matched. Then, the film holder 302 is attached to the front panel 2
2 until it stops from the opening 22a. Next, in step S406, the film original 301 is moved so that the light from the light source 1 passes through the film base between the frames of the film or the perforated portion.
Read on CD7 to obtain color balance information.

In step S407, the image of the film original 301 is pre-scanned, and the darkest point and the brightest point of each color are detected. Next, in step S408, the accumulation time and the lighting time of the three-color LED are set from the data of the color balance, the darkest point, and the brightest point obtained in each of the steps S406 and S407, and the main scan is performed in step S409. Then, the image data is transferred to the host computer.

The first three of the six frames of the film original can be scanned in an appropriate direction, but the remaining three frames cannot be moved in the apparatus. Therefore, the scanning direction of the strip is reversed in the holder.

According to the present embodiment, when the color balance is set from reading a preliminary image, the strip in the boundary area 308 between frames shown in FIG. 1 or the area 309 between perforations shown in FIG. 6 is illuminated. Therefore, instability due to the influence of the singular point is suppressed, and a stable color balance can be obtained in a short time.

[0027]

As described above, according to the film holder for a scanner of the present invention, light is transmitted to the base of the film original at the outer peripheral portion of the opening having an area of substantially one frame image of the film original. Since the cutout portion is provided, when setting a preliminary color balance, instability due to the influence of the singular point can be suppressed, and a stable color balance can be obtained in a short time. According to the image input device and image input method of the present invention, the light transmitted through the base film original in response to a result of the received light. Thus setting the reading condition reading an image of the film original, short Images can be read stably over time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration of an embodiment of a film holder for a scanner according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side sectional view showing a configuration of an example of a scanner device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a driving mechanism of the carriage of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an electric circuit configuration of the scanner device shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a configuration of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 301 film original 302 film holder 303 opening 304 extension (window)

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G03B 27/32 G03B 27/46 H04N 1/04 H04N 5/253

Claims (9)

(57) [Claims] 1. A scanner film holder for supporting a film original on which an image is recorded and mounting the original on a scanner, and reading the preliminary image, wherein an opening having an area of an image of substantially one frame of the film original is provided. Portion, formed on the outer peripheral portion of the opening , the film original
Light is transmitted through the base, and the base of the film original is transmitted through.
Color balance information by reading the amount of light
A film holder for a scanner, comprising: 2. A film holder for a scanner according to claim 1, wherein said notch is provided in a reading direction of said film original. 3. The film holder for a scanner according to claim 1, wherein said notch is provided in a direction perpendicular to a reading direction of said film document. 4. The area of an image of substantially one frame of a film original
And an opening having an outer peripheral portion of the opening,
Transmit light to the base of the film original,
By reading the amount of light transmitted through the base of the
Notch for obtaining balance information.
The scanner film holder obtained is configured to be mountable , generating means for generating light for irradiating the mounted film original, and the light generated by the generating means, the base of the film original further comprising irradiating means for irradiating a light receiving means for receiving light transmitted through the base of the film original, in response to an output of said light receiving means, and setting means for setting a reading condition Nikki reading an image of the film original An image input device characterized by the above-mentioned. 5. The image input apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the reading condition is a condition of a color balance. 6. The color balance condition is at least one of a charge storage time of the light receiving unit and a light irradiation time of the film.
An image input device according to claim 1. 7. The area of an image of substantially one frame of a film original
And an opening having an outer peripheral portion of the opening,
Transmit light to the base of the film original,
By reading the amount of light transmitted through the base of the
Notch for obtaining balance information
Original supported by the scanner film holder
Image input method to read and input images recorded in
A law, the film original irradiates light to and receive light transmitted through the base of the film original, the film in response to the result of receiving the light transmitted through the base of the original, the image of the film original An image input method comprising setting a reading condition for reading an image. 8. The image input method according to claim 7, wherein the reading condition is a condition of a color balance. 9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the condition of the color balance is at least one of a charge accumulation time at the time of light reception when reading an image on the film, and a light irradiation time to the film. Image input method described.