JPH02131664A - Color picture recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To store picture data for 100 sheets or over by adopting the constitution such that a picture data produced by a host computer is stored in a large capacity optical disk device, a required picture data is designated and read and a color picture is able to be printed out. CONSTITUTION:A picture data from a host computer 2 received by a picture buffer memory of a picture signal processing circuit 12 is sent to a large capacity optical disk device 6 via an optical disk interface 16 and stored in the said large capacity optical disk device 6. When an optical picture data stored in the large capacity optical disk device 6 is read and printed out by a picture recording section 14, a picture number or the like is designated from a keyboard 8 and the picture data having the corresponding picture number and a lookup table data are read from the large capacity optical disk device 6 under the control of an input and output control section 18. The read picture data and the lookup table data are received by a picture signal processing circuit 12 via an optical disk interface 16, prescribed exposure is applied and a color picture outputs is obtained.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a color image recording device, and more particularly, to a color image recording device that prints out a color image based on image data created by a host computer. Therefore, the color image recording device is equipped with a large-capacity optical disk device, an optical disk interface, and an input/output control unit, and a large amount of image data created by a host computer is stored in the large-capacity optical disk device, and the desired image data is stored in the large-capacity optical disk device. The present invention relates to a color image recording device capable of printing specified color images by reading them.

[Background of the Invention] For example, various image processing systems have been proposed that print or display color images based on image data such as figures created on a host computer. It is used.

In such an image processing system, image data for an image printed by a color image recording device such as a color printer usually has a data amount of about 4 megabytes (4 MB). Generally, in conventional image processing systems, a magnetic disk device is used as an external storage device on the host computer side, and it is difficult to store and accumulate all the image data consisting of the above-mentioned large amount of data.

In addition, there may be cases where it is necessary to specify and read out a desired image from a large amount of image data that has been saved and accumulated in the past, print it out on a color image recording device, or modify the image data and save and accumulate it again. be. In this case, it is necessary for the host computer to access the magnetic disk device, read designated image data, and transfer it to the color image recording device, resulting in inconveniences such as increased load on the host computer.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages, and is capable of storing a large amount of image data by providing a color image recording device with a human capacity optical disk device, an optical disk interface, and an input/output control section. It is an object of the present invention to provide a color image recording device which can be stored and accumulated, and which can read out desired image data from a large-capacity optical disk device and print out a color image.

[Means for Achieving the Object] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a color image recording device that prints a color image based on image data from a host computer that creates the image data. The image recording device includes a large-capacity optical disk device, an optical disk interface, and an input/output control unit, stores image data created by the host computer in the large-capacity optical disk device, specifies and reads desired image data, It is characterized by printing a color image.

[Embodiments] Next, preferred embodiments of the color image recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a color image recording apparatus according to this embodiment. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 is a host computer, 4 is a color image recording device, and 6 is a large-capacity optical disk device. The color image recording device 4 is connected to the host computer 2 and large-capacity optical disk device 6 via an interface 10 and an optical disk interface 16, respectively, and is controlled by an input/output control section 18 composed of a microprocessor or the like. It sends and receives image data to and from the landscape optical disc device 6. host computer 2
The image data created by is input to the image signal processing circuit l2 via the interface 10, converted into an image signal in the image signal processing circuit 12, and further driven by the image recording section 14 to print a color image. converted into a signal. Further, the image data input to the image signal processing circuit 12 is sent to the large-capacity optical disk device 6 via the optical disk interface 16 as needed, and is stored and accumulated.

The input/output control unit l8 controls the interface 10 and the optical disk interface 16, and receives image data from the host computer 2, or transmits image data from the image signal processing circuit 12 to the large-capacity optical disk device 6, or controls the large-capacity optical disk. This is for receiving image data from the device 6 to the image signal processing circuit 12. The keyboard 8 is an operation panel for the color image recording device 4, and includes a function for specifying and reading out desired image data from the image data stored in the large-capacity optical disk device 6.

FIG. 2 shows the image recording section 14 in the color image recording device 4.
FIG. In FIG. 2, the image recording section 14 is surrounded by a casing 20, and an exposure section 22, a water application section 24, a thermal development transfer section 26, and a control section 28 for controlling these are provided inside the casing 20.

A magazine 30 for storing a photosensitive material F wound into a roll is further loaded in the casing 20, and the photosensitive material F taken out from the magazine 30 is transferred to the exposure section 22 via a cutter 32.

As shown in FIG. 3, the exposure section 22 includes a drum 34 that rotates at high speed in the direction of arrow A (main scanning direction), and a drum 34 that rotates at high speed in the direction of arrow A (main scanning direction).
The exposure head 38 is arranged close to the exposure head 38 and moves in the direction of arrow B (sub-scanning direction) via a wire 36. in this case,
Three LEDs 40a to 40c are arranged on a support 39 constituting the exposure head 38, offset by a distance d along the circumferential direction of the drum 34. Note that each of the L E D4Q a to 40c emits light of a different wavelength to the photosensitive material F wound around the drum 34.

In the water application section 24, the photosensitive material F transferred from the exposure section 22 is
Dampening water is applied to the exposed surface of the photosensitive material F, and the photosensitive material F is transferred to the thermal development transfer section 26. A tray 42 containing a sheet-like image receiving material $=JP is loaded in the upper part of the thermal development transfer section 26 . The image receiving material P is sheeted by a conveying roller 44,
The image is transferred to the thermal development transfer section 26. In this case, the photosensitive material F and the image receiving material IIP are superimposed on each other in the thermal development transfer section 26, and heat development processing and color image transfer processing are performed on them. On the other hand, a take-out tray 4 is provided on the upper surface of the casing 20.
6 is provided, and the image receiving material IIP on which the color image has been transferred is carried out to this take-out tray 46. Further, a waste box 48 is provided at the bottom of the casing 2o, and the photosensitive material F carried out from the thermal development transfer section 26 is stored in this waste box 48.

An image signal supplied from the outside to the color image recording device 4 is processed by an image signal processing circuit 12 shown in FIG. 4 and irradiated onto the photosensitive material IEIF as an optical signal.

That is, the image signal processing circuit 12 stores an image buffer memory (line buffer memory) that holds, for example, one line of image signals recorded in the main scanning direction of the photosensitive material F wound around the drum 34 (in the eight directions of arrows). ) 50, and the image signal held in the image buffer memory 50 is selected by a predetermined address signal, and the image signal is stored in the lookup table 5.
2 (hereinafter referred to as LUT). The LUT 52 is a table that converts the image signal into a drive signal for the LEDs 40a to 40c, and a driver 54 is connected to its output terminal. This driver 54 is a latch circuit,
It includes a D/A converter and drives each of the LEDs 40a to 40c.

The color image recording apparatus according to this embodiment is basically constructed as described above, and its operation and effects will be explained next.

First, the processing procedure for transferring and forming a color image onto the image-receiving material P will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the photosensitive material F stored in the magazine 30 is placed in the exposure section 2.
2, and when a predetermined amount has been fed out, the rear end portion is cut by a cutter 32. Next, the photosensitive material F transferred to the exposure section 22 is wound around a drum 34, and then the photosensitive material F is wound on a drum 34, and then the photosensitive material
exposed by c.

In this case, the drum 34 is rotating at high speed in the direction of arrow A (main scanning direction), and the exposure head 38 having LED4Qa to 40c is moved by the wire 36 in the direction of arrow B (sub-scanning direction). A two-dimensional color image is recorded.

Next, the photosensitive material F on which the color image has been recorded is transferred to a drum 3.
4 in the opposite direction to the arrow 8 direction, the water is transferred to the water application section 24. The photosensitive material IEIF transferred to the water application section 24 has its exposed surface coated with dampening water, and is sent to the thermal development transfer section 26 .

On the other hand, the image-receiving material P stored in the tray 42 is conveyed into sheets by a conveying roller 44, and is overlapped with the photosensitive material F in the thermal development transfer section 26. In this case, the thermal development transfer section 26
Then, a color image is developed by heating the photosensitive material F, and then this color image is transferred to the image-receiving material P.

The image-receiving material P on which the color image has been transferred is discharged to a take-out tray 46, and the photosensitive material F is discharged into a waste box 48.

Next, the operation of the color image recording apparatus according to the present invention will be explained based on FIGS. 1 and 4.

Image data created in the host computer 2 is received into the image buffer memory 50 via the interface 10. The image data stored in the image buffer memory 50 is sequentially read out and converted into drive signals for the LEDs 40a to 40C using corresponding conversion data from the LUT 52.

The LED drive signal converted from the image data by LUT 52 is applied to driver 54 . The driver 54 includes a latch circuit and a D/A converter, and the L E D
40a to 40C are driven for a predetermined period of time to perform exposure corresponding to image data.

On the other hand, image data received from the host computer 2 by the image buffer memory 50 is sent to the large-capacity optical disk device 6 via the optical disk interface 16, and can be stored and accumulated in the large-capacity optical disk device 6. This control can be executed by making necessary specifications to the input/output control unit 18 via the keyboard 8.

When reading arbitrary image data stored and accumulated in the large-capacity optical disk device 6 and printing it out using the image recording section 14, specify, for example, an image number etc. from the keyboard 8,
Under the control of the input/output control section 18, image data and lookup table data having a corresponding image number can be read out from the large-capacity optical disk device 6. The image data and lookup table data read from the large-capacity optical disk device 6 are received by the image buffer memory 50 and the LUT 52 via the optical disk interface 16, and are sent to the LEDs D40a to 40C in the same manner as described above.
A driving signal is obtained, a predetermined exposure is performed, and a color image output is obtained.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the color image recording device of the present invention includes a large-capacity optical disk device, an optical disk interface, and an input/output control section, and stores image data created by a host computer in the large-capacity optical disk device. The printer is configured so that desired image data can be designated and read out, and a color image can be printed. Therefore, it is possible to store and accumulate image data for more than 100 images, and it is also possible to control the reading of a large-capacity optical disk device from the color image recording device, so that the host computer There is no need to be involved in image data reading from the device and image data transfer between color image recording devices, which greatly reduces the load on the host computer, and also allows the host computer to perform other tasks during that time. has advantages.

In addition, since the look-up table data is recorded in pairs with the image data recorded on the large-capacity optical disk device, it has the advantage that it is possible to always obtain an image output with the same tone and tint for the same image data. .

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.
Of course, various improvements and changes in design are possible without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a color image recording device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of an image recording section of the color image recording device of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram including details of an image signal processing circuit in the color image recording apparatus according to the present invention. 2...Host computer 4...Color image recording device 6...Large capacity optical disk device 8...Keyboard 10...Interface 12...Image signal processing circuit 14...Image recording unit 16... - Optical disk interface 18... Input/output control section 20... Casing 22... Exposure section 24... Water application section 2
6... Heat development transfer section 28... Control section 30.
・・Magazine 32・Casoter 34・・
・Drum 38...Exposure head 4Q a
~4Q c-L E D 42= }Le 50
...Image buffer memory 54...Driver P...Image receiving material 52...LUT F...Photosensitive material FIG. 4 [12 Optical disc gate! 6

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A color image recording device that prints a color image based on image data from a host computer that creates the image data, and the color image recording device includes a large-capacity optical disk device, an optical disk interface, and an input/output control unit. A color image recording device, comprising: accumulating image data created by the host computer in the large-capacity optical disk device, specifying and reading desired image data, and printing a color image. (2) In the apparatus according to claim 1, the image data is paired with key data for searching for desired image data and a look-up table used for converting the image data into a drive signal for color image printing. A color image recording device characterized in that a color image is stored as a color image.