JPH01105929A - Color density adjusting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain optimum images by controlling a color density adjusting member, decreasing a change in color density around a standard color density value and increasing said change as a value is away from the standard color density value. CONSTITUTION:A console panel 150 includes the color density adjusting and operating part 502 specifying the density of each color. Said part 502 is constituted that it can change color density stepwise and discontinuously. This means that a change in color density can be smaller around the standard color density value and it can be larger as a value is away from the standard one. The console panel 150 is moreover equipped with a standard value setting and operating part, and the standard value can be set manually. With optimum images, the standard value setting and operating part can set the central value of color density according to the lot fluctuation of photosensitive materials and environmental characteristics. Then, when the color density adjusting and operating part 502 resets color density, it can be changed stepwise to its lower and upper limits from the central value.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a color density adjustment device in a color image forming apparatus.

<Prior art and its problems> Photosensitive materials for recording color images include those that utilize microcapsules containing photosensitive compositions, such as vinyl compounds, photopolymerization initiators, and colorant precursors. Photosensitive materials using synthetic polymer resin wall capsules containing
9836, etc.).

In this photosensitive material, microcapsules are imagewise cured by exposure to light, then pressure is applied to rupture the uncured microcapsules, and a color image is formed from the released colorant precursor. It has the characteristic of being able to obtain high quality images through simple processing.

However, this light-sensitive material has a drawback in that it has significantly lower photosensitivity than light-sensitive materials using silver halide, such as photographic emulsions.

Therefore, by improving these drawbacks and achieving high photosensitivity,
A new photosensitive material that makes it possible to obtain high-quality images through simple dry processing has been disclosed (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-2
75742), this photosensitive material has at least a photosensitive silver halide, a reducing agent, a polymerizable compound, and a color image-forming substance coated on a support, and among these, at least the polymerizable compound and a color image-forming substance are coated on a support. The substances are encapsulated in the same microcapsule.

Image recording (which records images using such photosensitive materials)
The apparatus for forming the film is shown in detail in JP-A-62-147461.

That is, in this image recording apparatus, first, imagewise exposure is performed to form a latent image on the photosensitive material. Next, this photosensitive material is subjected to a development process by heating, and the polymerizable compound in the area where the latent image is present is polymerized to produce a high molecular compound, thereby hardening the microcapsules.

Finally, this photosensitive material and an image-receiving material having an image-receiving layer to which a color image-forming substance can be transferred are stacked and pressed together to rupture at least a portion of the microcapsules in areas where no latent image exists, thereby forming a color image. A forming substance is transferred to the image receiving material to form a visible image.

In such image forming apparatuses, changes in color density of formed images are usually observed due to changes over time in the exposure light source used and differences in lots of photosensitive materials.

Therefore, in order to deal with such problems, a color density control (adjustment) device is installed in the image forming apparatus that controls the filter unit of the imaging optical system using the output from the operation panel to change the color density in steps. It has been proposed (Japanese Patent Application No. 61-161222, etc.).

In a color density adjustment device that changes the color density discontinuously in a stepwise manner as described above, the color density adjustment operation section 502 of the operation panel normally controls the setting of the standard color density, as shown in FIG. The configuration is such that the color densities of cyan (C) and red (R), which are complementary colors, change at equal intervals from a standard value, for example, by 0.1. For this reason, fine adjustment based on the standard color density is not possible.

In order to make this fine adjustment possible, it is conceivable to increase the number of steps of the color density aperture to make the color density changes more continuous, but this is disadvantageous in terms of cost and has poor operability.

In addition, it has been proposed to provide a color set capability in order to always form an optimal image in response to variations in the loft of the photosensitive material and changes in the environment during exposure (Japanese Patent Application No. 62-648).
No. 45, etc.), if the density change between steps of the color density filter is large, it is necessary to set the color density filter at a position slightly deviated from the actual optimum condition, and fine adjustment is impossible.

For this reason, a method for optimally and easily adjusting color density is desired.

<Object of the Invention> An object of the present invention is to provide a color density adjustment device that can easily set a desired color density with a small number of steps.

<Brief explanation of the invention> Such objects are achieved by the invention described below.

That is, the present invention is a color density adjustment device for an image forming apparatus that forms a color image, which includes a color density adjustment member in the imaging optical system, and controls the color density adjustment member to adjust the color density to the standard color density. The color density is characterized in that the color density is configured to be able to discontinuously change the color density so that the range of color density change is small near the standard color density value, and the range of color density change becomes larger as it moves away from the standard color density value. It is an adjustment device.

Note that the image forming apparatus in the present invention may be of any type as long as it can form a color image.

For example, a silver halide photosensitive material, a photosensitive resin material, or a photosensitive pressure sensitive material may be used, or an electrophotographic method may be used.

<Specific structure of the invention> Hereinafter, a specific configuration of the present invention will be explained in detail.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of an image forming apparatus equipped with a color density adjustment device 1 of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes:
A document supporting glass plate 2 is attached to the upper surface of the housing 10, and a standard exposure plate W is disposed on the lower surface of the glass plate 2 near the home position of the light source 18. Further, below the glass plate 2, a well-known imaging lens moving type imaging optical system 200 is arranged. That is, the imaging optical system 2
00, the illumination lamp 208, mirror 210, and imaging lens/filter unit assembly 216 that integrally scan the entire surface of the glass plate 2 downward, and the illumination lamp 208 and the like move in the same direction by the distance of the scanning distance. mirror 212.214, and fixed mirror 218.220.2
Consists of 22.

Inside the housing 10, a portion including the imaging optical system 200 is separated from other portions by a partition wall 224. An aperture 228 is provided in a portion through which the optical axis 226 of the imaging optical system 200 reflected by the fixed mirror 222 passes, and a shutter device 240 and a shutter control device 241 are arranged in the aperture 228.

As shown in FIG. 2, the filter unit 300 of the assembly 216 includes a plurality of cyan filters 302% magenta filter 304, a yellow filter 306, and an ND filter 308 having different transmittances, each supported by a solenoid 310.

The solenoid 310 is a linear solenoid that linearly moves a predetermined filter to insert and remove it onto the optical axis 226, or a linear solenoid that moves a predetermined filter around an arc having a center outside the optical axis 226 and inserts and removes the predetermined filter onto and from the optical axis 226. When the solenoid 310 is driven, a predetermined one of the filters 302, 304, and 306 is aligned with the optical axis 2.
26.

The color density adjustment device 1 of the present invention has an operation panel 150 for color density adjustment disposed on the top surface of the housing 10, and is connected to the imaging lens/filter unit assembly 216.

As shown in FIG. 3, the operation panel 150 includes a color density adjustment operation section 502 for specifying the density of each color.

This color density adjustment operation unit 502 can change the color density discontinuously in a stepwise manner, and the range of color density change is small near the standard color density value (standard value), and the range of color density change becomes smaller as it moves away from the standard value. It is configured such that the color density can be specified so that the value increases. Figure 4 shows an example in which the color density of cyan (C) and red (R), which are complementary colors, is increased or decreased in steps of 0.05° 0.1, 0.1, 0.2 symmetrically from the standard value. is shown. Note that this color density adjustment operation section 5.02 is provided for each of the three colors.

As shown in FIG. 3, the color density adjustment device 1 having such a configuration connects the output of the color density adjustment operation section 502 for each color of the operation panel 150 to the amplifier 400 and the A/D converter 402.
The output side of the control circuit 404 is connected to the solenoid 3 via the solenoid drive circuit 406.
It is configured by connecting to 10. Here, the control circuit 404
A solenoid control signal is formed based on the density signal of each color input manually from the operation panel 150 and output to the solenoid drive circuit 406.

The operation panel 150 is further provided with a standard value setting operation section (not shown), and the standard value can be manually set.

Then, the center value of the color density can be set for an optimum image according to the loft variation of the photosensitive material and the environmental characteristics using this standard value setting operation section (not shown). After this, if the color density is set again using the color density adjustment operation section 502, the color density can be changed in steps upward and downward from this central value. That is, the center value that allows the color density to be changed with a step width can also be manually set, and if the control circuit 404 is configured to be driven in this way, it will be more preferable in terms of operation.

In the above embodiment, as shown in Fig. 2, each filter is inserted and removed one by one into the optical path, but the filters are inserted into the lens and the insertion amount of each color filter is changed. A variable amount type configuration may also be used.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the filter unit is disposed integrally with the imaging lens, but the filter unit is disposed integrally with the imaging lens in front of the illumination lamp so that the document is illuminated with light of a desired color density. It may be configured as follows.

A photosensitive material cartridge 14 that accommodates a photosensitive material roll 12 around which a photosensitive material S is wound is removably attached to the side of the housing 10 . At the outlet 16 of the photosensitive material S of the photosensitive material cartridge 14, a pair of photosensitive material take-out rolls 22,22 housed in the magazine connection dark box 2o are arranged, whereby the photosensitive material S wound on the photosensitive material roll 12 is removed.
is pulled out by a certain length at a predetermined time.

When the leading edge of the photosensitive material S advances when the cartridge 14 is set, the photosensitive material drawing rolls 22, 22 move away from each other as shown by imaginary lines, and the photosensitive material S
Facilitate progress. The front of the magazine connection dark box 20 (
A cutter unit 23 for cutting the photosensitive material S and a guide plate 24 are disposed at the front (hereinafter, the front refers to the downstream side in the direction of travel of the photosensitive material, etc.).

In front of the guide plate 24, there is an exposed photosensitive support roll 26 and two photosensitive material nip rolls 28 and 30 pressed against the support roll 26.
is placed. The photosensitive material S guided by the guide plate 24 is brought into close contact with the exposed photosensitive material support roll 26 by the photosensitive material nip rolls 28 and 30.
The document is imagewise exposed by the imaging optics 200 at a position 32 between 8.30 and 8.30.

In front of the exposed sensitive material support roll 26, a heat developing device 40 is arranged which heats and develops the exposed sensitive material S. The heat developing device 40 is supported by a heating roll 44 heated to about 150° C. and four belt support rolls 46, 47, 48, and 49 in a heat-insulating developing housing 42. It has an endless belt 50 wound around the outer periphery of a circular arc of degrees, and a nip roll 52 pressed against a belt support roll 49.

The heat developing device 40 further includes an exposed light-sensitive material support roll 26.
A guide device 54 that guides the photosensitive material S fed from the heating roll 44 onto the heating roll 44 and separates the photosensitive material S from the heating roll 44 after heat development; and a developing photosensitive material fed by the belt support roll 49 and the nip roll 52 a vertical guide device 58 for guiding S to the outlet 56;
A sensitive material leading edge detection sensor 6o is provided.

Directly below the outlet 56, a pair of pressure rolls 62, 64,
A photosensitive material receiving paper stacking device consisting of a nip roll 66 pressed against a pressure roll 64, and a guide member 68 that guides the photosensitive material S fed by the pressure roll 64 and the nip roll 66 to the contact portion of the pressure roll 62.64. 70
is placed.

An image-receiving paper supply device 72 is disposed on the side of the photosensitive image-receiving paper stacking device 7o. The receiving paper supply device 72 includes a receiving paper supply cassette door 4 that protrudes from the housing 1o and is detachably attached, and a receiving paper C in a cassette 74.
and a guide plate 7 that guides the image receiving paper C fed out by the feeding roll 76 to the contact portion between the pressure roll 64 and the nip roll 66.
It consists of 8. Here, the width of the image-receiving paper C is, for example, about 6 mm smaller than the width of the photosensitive material S, and the image-receiving paper C is stacked in the photosensitive material stacking device 70 so that the image-receiving paper C is in the center of the photosensitive material S in the width direction. Ru.

A pair of pressure nip rolls 80.82 and a pressure nip roll 80.8 are provided below the photosensitive image receiving paper stacking device 70.
A transfer device 88 is provided, which includes backup rolls 84 and 86 for equalizing the pressure of the two in the axial direction. Pressure nip roll 80.82 is approximately 500kg
The photosensitive material S and the image receiving paper C are pressed together by a pressure of /cm2.

A photoreceptor paper peeling device 90 is provided below the transfer device 88 . The sensitive material receiving paper peeling device 90 includes a guide member 92
, a pair of transport rolls 94 and 96, and this transport roll 94
．． A peeling claw 1 has a pointed end oriented toward 96 and is supported by a support plate (not shown) via a support shaft 100 in a detour manner.
02 and a feed roll 98.

A sensitive material disposal section 104 is provided on one side of the peeling device 90, and a post-heating device 106 is provided on the other side.

The photosensitive material disposal unit 104 includes a guide member 108, a pair of feed rolls 110, 112, and a waste box 114, and the photosensitive material S sent from the peeling device 90 and guided by the guide member 108 is sent by the feed rolls 110, 112. Throw it into the waste box 114.

The post-heating device 106 includes a guide member 120, a pair of rolls 122, 124, at least one of which includes a heating source such as a halogen lamp, and a pair of feed rolls 126, 128.
and a guide member 120 sent from the peeling device 90.
The image receiving paper C guided by the rollers 122 and 124
is configured to pass through and heat the image to improve image density.

In front of the post-heating device 706, a take-out tray 130 for receiving the image-receiving paper C is attached so as to protrude from the housing 10.

The image forming apparatus according to the present invention is further installed with a system control device (not shown).

The system control device includes an operation panel 150, a shutter control device 241, a drive system (not shown) for the imaging optical system 200,
It is connected to the cutter unit 23, the sensitive material leading edge detection sensor 60, and the sensitive material receiving paper stacking device 70 to control the entire device.

In the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1, a photographic material in which a photosensitive material S as a photosensitive element and an image receiving paper C as an image receiving element are provided on separate supports is used. The photosensitive element and the image receiving element may be formed on the same support. Furthermore, although an example is taken in which both are peeled off after transfer, a type that does not require peeling may also be used.

In general, photosensitive materials that can be used in the image forming apparatus of the present invention include, for example, silver halide photosensitive materials,
Photosensitive resin materials, photosensitive pressure sensitive materials, and the like can be used.

In addition, as an example of a photosensitive pressure sensitive material, the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 57
The material disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 179836 is one in which a polymerizable compound is imagewise cured by imagewise exposure, and then pressure is applied to obtain a visible image. This photosensitive material has a synthetic polymer resin wall capsule containing a vinyl compound, a photopolymerization initiator, and a colored precursor supported on a support.

Another example is a type in which a visible image is obtained by applying pressure after preliminary thermal development or wet development of a latent image generated by imagewise exposure.

Examples of such materials include Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-27884.
Examples include materials disclosed in Publication No. 9 or Japanese Patent Application No. 61-5'3881. Said Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 61-278849
The material disclosed in the publication is a material that is thermally developed and then transferred to an image-receiving material having an image-receiving layer to obtain an image on the image-receiving material. , a reducing agent, a polymerizable compound, and a color image-forming substance are coated thereon, and at least the polymerizable compound and the color image-forming substance are encapsulated in the same microcapsule.

Furthermore, the material disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application No. 61-53881 is for obtaining an image on a photosensitive material without using an image-receiving material. In other words, the image-receiving layer is provided on the photosensitive material itself, and contains silver halide, a reducing agent, a polymerizable compound, and two types of substances that cause a color reaction when in contact with one of the substances that cause a color reaction. and a photosensitive layer on a support in which a polymerizable compound is contained in microcapsules, and among the substances that cause a color reaction, another substance contains the polymerizable compound.

<Specific Effects of the Invention> The effects of the image forming apparatus equipped with the color density adjusting cover 1 of the present invention will be described.

In the operation stage, the so-called copy preparation stage, the system control device is configured such that the leading end of the photosensitive material S is cut by the cutter unit 2.
3 or in the magazine connection dark box 20. Subsequently, when a copy start button (not shown) is pressed, the photosensitive material take-out roll 22 is operated and the photosensitive material S is fed until its leading end reaches position 32.

After that, the illumination lamp 208 is turned on, and the imaging optical system 208
performs a predetermined operation, the shutter device 240, which had been closed until now, is opened, and the photosensitive material S is exposed to the operation panel 15.
Imagewise exposure is performed at the color density specified by the color density adjustment operation section 502 of 0.

At this time, the center value of the color density aperture value of each color in the color density adjustment operation section 502 may be manually set, or the reflected light from the standard exposure plate W may be detected, or the center value of the color density aperture value for each color may be manually set. It may be configured such that automatic setting can be performed by exposing the standard exposure plate W and detecting the density thereof.

On the other hand, when the photosensitive material S is fed by a distance equal to the length of the document in the moving direction, the cutter unit 23 is activated to cut the photosensitive material S.

The cut and exposed photosensitive material S is sent to a heat developing device 40, pressed against a heating roll 44 by an endless belt 50, heated at about 150° C., and subjected to development processing. The passage of the leading edge of the developed photosensitive material S through the outlet 56 is detected by the sensitive material leading edge detection sensor 60 .

Further, in the receiving paper supply device 72, the receiving paper C is fed out by pressing the copy start button or in synchronization with the exposure start timing, and the leading end of the receiving paper C is nipped by the pressure roll 64 and the nip roll 66. The receiving paper C is then stopped.

In the photosensitive image receiving paper stacking device 70, the small and medium image receiving paper C is located at the center of the wider photosensitive material S in the width direction, and the leading edge of the photosensitive material S is aligned with the leading edge of the image receiving paper C. ,
Alternatively, they are superimposed so as to be several millimeters ahead of each other, and sent to the transfer device 88 where they are pressed with a pressure of about 500 kg/cm2 and transferred onto the image receiving paper C.

The photosensitive material S after transfer is removed by a peeling claw 10 in a peeling device 90.
2, the photosensitive material is peeled off from the image receiving paper C and sent to the photosensitive material disposal section 104. On the other hand, the image-receiving paper C is sent to a post-heating device 106 where it is heated to improve the image density, and then sent to the feed roll 106.
6.128 to the take-out tray 130.

Although the above example uses a photosensitive pressure-sensitive heat-developable photosensitive material as the photosensitive material, the color density adjusting device of the present invention is applicable to adjusting the color density of various photosensitive materials.

<Effects of the Invention> According to the present invention, it becomes possible for a user to easily reproduce a desired color density at any time, and image formation caused by aging of the illumination lamp used, loft difference of photosensitive materials, etc. changes in color density can be eliminated.

In this case, according to the present invention, the color density can be slightly changed near the standard value, and the color density can be changed greatly at distant positions, so that the user can obtain an optimal image.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of an image forming apparatus equipped with a color density adjustment device of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view showing the filter unit in the present invention. FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining the color density adjusting device of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the color density adjustment operation section of the color density adjustment device and apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a color density adjustment operation section of a conventional color density adjustment device. Explanation of symbols S...Photosensitive material, C...Receiving paper, 1...Color density adjustment device, 10...Housing, 12...Sensitive material roll, 40...Heat developing device, 70. ...Sensitive material image receiving paper overlapping device, 88...Transfer device, 9o...Sensitive material image receiving paper peeling device, 106...Post-heating device, 150...Operation panel, 216...Imaging lens・Assembly of filter unit, 300...Filter unit, 310...Solenoid, 502...Color density adjustment operation section FIG, 2 Work OQ

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) A color density adjustment device in an image forming apparatus that forms a color image, which has a color density adjustment member in the imaging optical system, controls this color density adjustment member, and adjusts the color density near the standard color density value. A color density adjustment device characterized in that the color density adjustment device is configured to be able to change the color density discontinuously so that the range of density change is small and the range of color density change becomes larger as the distance from the standard color density value increases. (2) The color density adjusting device according to claim 1, wherein the image forming device uses a silver halide photosensitive material. (3) The color density adjusting device according to claim 1, wherein the image forming device uses a photosensitive resin material. (4) The color density adjusting device according to claim 1, wherein the image forming device uses a photosensitive and pressure sensitive material. (5) The color density adjusting device according to claim 1, wherein the image forming device is a color electrophotographic image forming device.