JPH0338576B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention is based on a long film in which a negative film of large size frames (hereinafter referred to as "full size") and a negative film of small size frames (hereinafter referred to as "half size") are mixed and spliced. , relates to an apparatus for detecting and determining full-size negatives and half-size negatives.

Each frame of negative film is provided with a semicircular notch that indicates the frame position. Notches are usually placed on the printing frames that are judged to require printing, and each frame is stopped at a predetermined position using the notches as a guide, and the density of the frame screen is measured using a scanner or printing is performed.

Depending on the type of camera, negative film can be shot in either full size, with a frame pitch of 38 mm, or half size, with a frame pitch of 19 mm. In a photofinishing laboratory, a large number of negative films are spliced together using splice tape, developed into a single long film, and then printed. Therefore, a long film made by joining full-size negatives and half-size negatives without being able to distinguish them before development contains both full-size and half-size negatives.

In the case of such a long film in which full-size negatives and half-size negatives coexist, it is necessary to know whether the film is full-size or half-size from splice position to splice position, that is, for each negative film.

Conventionally, this discrimination has often been carried out by humans observing the image frames with their naked eyes, but on the other hand, due to the troublesomeness of the discrimination work, the distance between adjacent notches is measured and It is also conceivable to determine whether a full-size negative film or a half-size negative film is produced by determining whether or not is the notch interval of a half-size negative. However, the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 1976-76627 is effective when the printing frames judged to need printing are always adjacent to each other, but as shown in FIG. If there are frames without notch 4, such as aerial frames, extremely underexposed frames, out-of-focus frames, etc., the notch spacing should be the same as or greater than that of full-size negative film, even if it is a half-size negative film. The drawback remains that it may not be recognized as a half-size negative film due to aging.

On the other hand, in recent years, with the development of high-speed printers that require automatic full/half film discrimination, there has been a desire to develop a more accurate full/half negative film discrimination device.

In response to such requests, information that indicates the piece size when notching is recorded (e.g., consisting of symbols, holes, etc.), and this is detected at the time of printing and the piece size is determined based on this. It is also possible. However, in this case, when making a notch, a device for attaching piece size information, for example, at a position close to the leading notch is required, which poses a problem in that the device configuration becomes complicated. Further, a special detection sensor is also required on the printer side to detect this frame size information. Moreover, if you are trying to implement this to an existing device, you will need to add these devices, but there is not enough space around the film carrier to install them, so a film carrier that has the function of detecting frame size information is required. There are problems such as the need to create a new one. Furthermore, data input into the piece size information recording device must be performed by a person, and when attempting to do this during negative examinations that require concentration,
This is a very troublesome operation, and there is also the problem that it is easy to forget or make a mistake in inputting piece size information.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problem, and its purpose is to distinguish between full-size negative film and half-size negative film in a long film with high accuracy in a manner appropriate to the actual frame situation. To provide a detection/determination device for negatives of different sizes, which can easily determine the frame size without recording frame size information etc. on the film when notching.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention mixes negative films each having a frame size in which the notch spacing is approximately 2:1 when consecutive notches are formed on the printing frames in the negative film. In a different size negative detection/determination device that detects and determines a negative film of a large size frame (full size) and a negative film of a small size frame (half size) in a joined long film, in the process of transferring the long film, A means for detecting a notch in a negative film to be judged, and a notch signal detected to start counting pulses corresponding to the film feed amount, and a next notch signal to stop counting pulses to obtain a count value corresponding to the notch interval. the means to seek,
This count value is within a range determined by certain upper and lower limits around a reference count value that corresponds to the average notch interval (reference notch interval) of a half-size negative film that is continuously notched. means for emitting a valid notch signal when the notch interval is in the range of an odd number multiple of the reference count value; means for emitting a full-size discrimination signal for discriminating a valid notch signal as a full-size notch when the count value corresponding to the notch interval is in a range of even multiples of the reference count value; and the valid notch signal and the half-size notch discrimination signal; means for generating an effective half-size notch signal based on an AND signal between the effective notch signal and the full-size notch determination signal; means for generating an effective full-size notch signal based on an AND signal between the effective notch signal and the full-size notch determination signal; and means for counting the effective half-size notch signal. , means for counting the effective full-size notch signal, and after weighting the effective half-size notch count value, comparing this with the effective full-size notch count value, and if the weighted effective half-size notch count value is large; The device is provided with means for determining the size to be half size, and determining the size to be full size if the effective full size notch count value is large. Also, if the spacing between the notches is large,
Since the cumulative error of the film transport system cannot be ignored, the upper limit and
It is effective to change the width of the lower limit.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows a part of a long film in which a negative film 1 having half-size frames and a negative film 2 having full-size frames are jointed together with a splice tape 3. Half-size negative film 1 has a pitch between adjacent frames of 19 mm, and full-size negative film 2 has a pitch of 38 mm between adjacent frames. A notch 4 indicating the position of the screen is formed at a fixed position for each of these pieces. This notch 4 is made by an automatic or manually operated notch.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention applied to a photographic printing apparatus. supply reel 5
The long film 6 pulled out from the notch and splice detector is sent through a guide roller 7, a dancer roller 8, and a guide roller 9 to a notch and splice detector. The splice detection unit 110 uses an infrared ray 10a that emits infrared rays as a light source, and prevents light from being transmitted through the splice tape 3 only when the splice tape 3 comes. The light emitted from the infrared light source 10a passes through the long film 6 and enters the infrared detection section 10b. Notch detection section 11
consists of a light source 11a that emits visible light and a photodetector 11b that detects the light that passes through the notch 4.

These detection units 10 and 11 detect splice tape 3.
After the presence or absence of the notch 4 is detected, the long film 6 is sent to the print gate 14 through a guide roller 12 and a pulse motor 13. In this print gate 14, it is necessary to change the size of the print mask depending on whether it is half size or full size, so switching is performed according to the frame size of the negative film.

This print mask size switching is performed when the passage of the splice tape 3 is detected by a splice detector consisting of an infrared light source 15a and an infrared detector 15b arranged near the print gate 14, and the next splice tape is switched. The same print mask continues to be used until the Further, printing is performed by stopping the negative film based on a notch detection signal from a light source 16a disposed near the print gate 14 and a photodetector 16b.

Long film 6 passing through print gate 14
is further sent by the pulse motor 17. This pulse motor 17 and the pulse motor 13
is stopped if the screen is being printed as described above. The long film that has been printed is moved to a guide roller 18, a dancer roller 19,
It passes through a guide roller 20 and is wound onto a take-up reel 21.

The splice detection section 10 and the print gate 1
The distance from No. 4 is set to be at least 10 frames (approximately 200 mm) of half-size negative film. While the splice tape 3 at the beginning of each negative film passes through this section, the notch spacing is measured.
A determination is made as to whether the negative film is full size or half size, and the determination result is sent to the print gate 14. and,
When the splice tape 3 placed at the beginning of the determined negative film is detected by the splice detectors 15a, 15b provided near the print gate 14, the print mask is switched to a size corresponding to the negative film. The method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 72615/1983 can be used for switching the print mask.

Fig. 4 shows a block diaphragm of a device for detecting the size of negative film, and Fig. 9 shows a time chart when the leading edge of the film shown in Fig. 5 is passed through this device. be. When the splice detector 30 in the splice detector 10 detects that the target negative film has arrived at the splice detector 10, the flip-flops 36, 46 and the counters 38, 44, 45 are reset. When the first notch in one negative film is detected by the notch detector 31 in the notch detecting section 11, the monostable multivibrator 34 is inverted at the rising edge of the notch signal. The flip-flop 36 is set by this inverted signal, and the AND
Through the gate 37, the negative feeding pulse motor 1
Counting of pulses from the pulse generator 32 that drives 3 begins. This pulse number is counter 38
is counted. The number counted by the counter 38 directly corresponds to the feed amount of the negative film.
That is, in this case, 1 count = 1 pulse = 0.157 mm.

Whether full size or half size,
The notch spacing is an integral multiple of the half-size spacing of 19 mm, but in reality it may vary around 19 mm due to various circumstances such as camera differences at the time of shooting. Therefore, it is necessary to set the upper and lower limits around integral multiples of 19 mm to eliminate the influence of variations.

In this embodiment, the negative film is advanced by 0.157 mm with one pulse, so the reference pulse number (reference count value) for advancing by 19 mm is 19 mm/0.157 mm=121 (pulses).

Therefore, if we set a width of 3 mm as the upper and lower limits, we will increase or decrease by 3 mm/0.157 mm = 19 (pulses), so the lower limit will be 121 - 19 = 102 (pulses) and the upper limit will be 121 + 19 = 140 (pulses).

However, when the counter 38 counts 121 pulses at half-size intervals, it is reset through the decoder 47, so that the upper limit becomes 19 pulses. The upper limit value is set by the digital comparator 39a.
First, a lower limit value is set in each digital comparator 39b in advance, and the content of the count number at the counter 38 is compared with the lower limit value. As a result, if the content of the count is within the upper and lower limits, the signal passes through the OR gate 48 and reaches the AND gate 40. At this time, when the next notch is detected by the notch detector 31, the monostable multivibrator 35 inverts at the rising edge of the notch signal.
is inverted, passes through AND gate 40, and is determined as a valid notch.

The full/half determination flip-flop 46 is for determining whether a valid notch is a half-size notch or a full-size notch when a valid notch is detected. Specifically, splice detector 3
It is reset by the splice signal from 0 or the notch signal from the monostable multivibrator 34 and becomes a full-size signal. Then, the counter 38 is half the feed amount of the half size, that is, 121
When ÷2≈60 is counted, the signal state changes from the full-size signal state to the half-size signal state or from the half-size signal state to the full-size signal state through the decoder 41. The notch signal determined to be a valid notch is sent to AND gate 4.
When the full/half judgment flip-flop 46 is in the state of a full-size signal, the AND gate 42 is opened and the full-size counter 44 is counted, and when the state of the flip-flop 46 is in the state of a half-size signal, the AND gate 43 is activated. The opening half size counter 45 counts. In addition,
The shaded area E in FIG. 9 corresponds to the shaded area A in FIG. 5, and when a notch is detected within the range of this shaded area E, it is determined to be a valid notch.

FIG. 5 shows a half-size negative film for explaining the above-mentioned full-size/half-size determination. From splice tape 3, the first notches 4A and 4B are placed at half-size intervals of 19 mm, notches 4B and 4C are placed at full-size intervals of 38 mm, and notch 4D is placed at a position that is not judged to be a valid notch. There is. The shaded area A indicates the upper and lower limit ranges from the center B of the half-size interval with the center of the previous notch as a reference. FS is the period in which the full/half judgment flip-flop 46 is a full-size signal when a valid notch is detected, and HS is a period in which the full-half judgment flip-flop 46 is a half-size signal when a valid notch is detected. Each section is shown in the figure. When a notch 4D which is not determined to be a valid notch is detected, the counter 38 and the full/half determination flip-flop 46 are reset using this as a new reference, and measurement of the notch interval begins. In this case, the diagonal line C is notch 4.
Center D of the half-size interval based on the center of D
This is the upper and lower limit range from . The 4D notch is applied when the film is a negative film taken out of the camera and then reloaded. If the application of such a notch 4D is not considered, the full/half determining flip-flop may be set so as not to be reset by a notch signal other than the reference. In that case, the notch 4C can be correctly determined to be a half-size notch, as shown in FIG.

In this way, the full-size counter 44 counts the notches at an even multiple of the half-size interval, and the half-size counter 45 counts the notches at an odd multiple of the half-size interval.
By knowing the count contents, it is possible to determine whether that one negative film is full size or half size. This determination can be made using both software and hardware.

Full-size negative film is always counted as full-size, but half-size negative film is judged to be full-size if notches are placed every other frame, that is, at full-size intervals. . Therefore, since the count number for full-size intervals includes both half-size and full-size, it is necessary to change the weighting. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, the half-size signal may be passed through a digital multiplier 50 to be weighted by a square, and this output and the full-size signal may be input to a digital comparator 51 for determination. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 8, a constant may be input to the digital multiplier 50 to apply a constant weight to the half-size signal. Note that if notches are regularly applied to every other frame over the entire range of half-size negative film, the half-size notch count value will be "0" and weighting will not be effective, so it will be judged as full-size. However, the fact that notches are regularly added to every other frame means that there are regularly failed frames for every other frame, and in reality, this kind of thing almost never happens. , there is no problem in practice.

Depending on the negative film, there may be a continuous notch interval between consecutive notches where there are no frames, and the notch interval between the next notch becomes very large. In such a case, it is not reset until the next notch is detected, so it is necessary to increase the range of the upper and lower limits. Therefore, it is preferable that the range of the upper and lower limits gradually increases as the distance from the reference notch increases.

As explained above, according to the present invention, when there is a count value corresponding to the notch interval within a range determined by certain upper and lower limits around a reference count value, this is determined to be an effective notch. This is because the notch is incorrectly detected due to perforation breaks in the negative film, noise in the notch detection circuit, etc., or when the frames are not in the correct position, such as when the film is reloaded into the camera. In the case of negative film with parts separated by more than the interval,
Since these notches can be eliminated without being used as effective notches, the accuracy of piece size determination can be improved.

Also, when a valid notch is detected, it is determined whether the valid notch is a full size notch or a half size notch based on the full size determination signal or half size determination signal of the full/half determination circuit, and each size notch that is the result of these determinations is These count values are input to the judge, and the judge weights the number of half-size notches and compares this with the number of full-size notches to judge whether it is full size or half size. Since the,
By detecting the notch and the film feed amount corresponding to the notch interval, it is possible to automatically determine whether the film is a full-size negative film or a half-size negative film without manual intervention. As a result, a negative film that has been notched by an unmanned autonotcher commonly used in photo labs can be used as is. Furthermore, the present invention can be easily implemented in an existing printer by using an existing device and slightly changing the control program without adding a new device. In other words, there is no need to add new equipment such as a means for adding piece size information or a means for detecting this, or to perform troublesome operations such as inputting piece size information when notching. Piece size can be determined.

Also, count each size notch,
These count values are input to the judger, and the judger weights the half-size notch count value, then compares it with the full-size notch count value, and if the half-size notch count value is large, it is determined to be half-size. However, if the full size notch count value is large, it is determined to be full size, so it is possible to eliminate cases where the frame size is detected as full size even though the negative film has half size frame size. It is possible to reliably determine the piece size. That is,
With the above-described weighting structure, even if a half-size negative film has notches at every other frame, the frame size can be determined reliably.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 5, and FIG. 6 are plan views each illustrating a negative film. Third
The figure is a schematic diagram showing a detection/judgment device for different size negatives embodying the present invention. FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram of the device. FIGS. 7 and 8 are circuit diagrams of determination devices that weight half-size signals, respectively.
FIG. 9 is a timing chart when the leading edge of the negative film shown in FIG. 5 is passed through a different size negative detection/determination device. 1...Half size negative film, 2...Full size negative film, 3...Splice tape, 4,4
A, ~4D...notch, 10...splice detection section,
11... Notch detection section, 30... Splice detector,
31...notch detector, 38...counter, 42,
43...AND gate, 44...full size counter, 45...half size counter, 46...full/half judgment flip-flop, 51...digital comparator (determination means).

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A long film in which negative films are mixed and bonded, each having a frame size in which the notch spacing is approximately 2:1 when the notches formed on the printing frames in the negative film are consecutive. In a different size negative detection/determination device that detects and determines a large size frame (full size) negative film and a small size frame (half size) negative film, in the process of transporting the long film, the means for detecting a notch; means for starting counting pulses corresponding to the film advance amount in response to the detected notch signal; and determining a count value corresponding to the notch interval by terminating the counting of pulses in response to the next notch signal; The count value is within a range determined by a certain upper and lower limit value around a reference count value corresponding to the average notch interval (reference notch interval) of a half-size negative film with continuous notches. When a count value corresponding to the notch interval is in a range of an odd number multiple of the reference count value, means for generating a valid notch signal, and generating a half-size discrimination signal for determining the valid notch signal as a half-size notch; means for emitting a full-size discrimination signal for discriminating a valid notch signal as a full-size notch when a count value corresponding to the notch interval is in a range of even multiples of a reference count value; means for generating an effective half-size notch signal based on an AND signal between the valid notch signal and the full-size notch determination signal; means for generating an effective full-size notch signal based on an AND signal between the valid notch signal and the full-size notch determination signal; and means for counting the effective half-size notch signal. means for counting the effective full-size notch signal; and after weighting the effective half-size notch count value, comparing this with the effective full-size notch count value, and if the weighted effective half-size notch count value is larger, the half-size notch count value is counted. 1. An apparatus for detecting and determining different size negatives, comprising means for determining the size of the negative, and determining that the negative is full size when the effective full size notch count value is large. 2. The method for processing negatives of different sizes according to claim 1, characterized in that the effective notch determination range, which is determined by fixed upper and lower limit values around the reference count value, is widened as the notch interval becomes larger. Detection and judgment device.