JPH05502570A - Digital scanner scene balance calibration - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] Digital scanner scene balance calibration technology field TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates generally to digital color image printing apparatus, and more particularly to a digital color image printing apparatus. Briefly, scene balance to calibrate the operation of high-resolution digital optoelectronic scanners. It relates to a device using the device.

Background technology The dynamic range of the mapping input/output device used in photo printing equipment is The range is considerably narrower than that of the photographic capture medium (photographic film), and all The element is not played. Regenerated so that it can be seen with the naked eye equipment that inputs the film image into a photoprocessor (optical electronic scanners), the main content of the image preferably falls within the linear region of the imaging device's sensitivity characteristics. must be calibrated to match. Traditional analog burn-in equipment requires calibration The only drawback is that it is caused by the limited dynamic range of the components. Rather, the sensitive range of the film scanner is the output conversion function of the imaging medium (photographic paper). They may not match or may partially overlap. As a result calibration is difficult, time consuming, and requires error handling.

On the other hand, digital image processing equipment uses an input device (digital photoelectronic scanner) and an output device. The equipment (for example, high-resolution thermal printing equipment) receives digital data signals via a DAC circuit. A spatial array of pixels concatenated with the signals is used so that no fundamental deviation occurs. It has become. However, very high resolution film scanners (e.g. 20 It has an imaging pixel array of 28 x 3072, and its sensitivity is 1 pixel. When using a scanner that resolves 16 bits per color, one image The amount of data being replayed per page becomes too large to accommodate a frame of practical size. The amount of data must be reduced to be stored in the musdoor. In other words, digital Some of the scene information of the visualized image must be discarded. In this way, Canner calibration is an important aspect of image quality system performance.

Improving new digital images that scan the image twice This can be prevented with a capture memory device. This means that the first scan is The second scan is performed to collect data to calibrate the high-resolution image. It is used to capture and memorize.

For this purpose, the scanner prescans the main color photographic image in low resolution mode. controlled to perform a low spatial resolution digital image. (During a low-resolution scan, the number of pixels scanned is small, so the low-resolution The brightness of the pixels is encoded into more precise data). This low resolution digital The image then determines how the sensitivity characteristics of the scanner's imaging vixel array to the scene balancer to determine how to capture and encode its spatial content. Therefore, it is analyzed. In the [J aspect of the present invention], the "scene balance device" depends on the sheet content and sensitive characteristics (e.g. exposure, light source, etc.) of the reproduced image. means adjusting the color balance of an image based on Digitized color of an elephant – This analysis output, which indicates the balance status, is then used to adjust the scanner’s sensitivity parameters. Or used to calibrate. This allows the next high-resolution image to be scanned. During scanning, a substantial portion of the image is exposed to the sensitive lens of the scanner's imaging pixel array. It fits in the straight line part of ji. "Color balance" adjustment refers to the average red, green, and blue Adjust the image level so that the image has proper hue and neutral color reproduction characteristics It is defined as.

The high-resolution dental images are processed with a scene balance device, and the image data is , has a reduced encoding resolution, corresponding to the resolution of the accompanying frame door. It is mano-sized to a digital resolution of 7. How much information was captured about the image? is lost due to a reduction in encoding resolution, or the scanner is within the color balance of the image. It is calibrated to maximize sensitivity to ie, the information needed to reproduce a high quality image) is captured and stored.

According to a second embodiment of the invention, a low resolution scan for calibration and subsequent data capture is performed. high spatial resolution and high resolution scanning without having to scan the image twice. Scan only once at high digital resolution. High spatial resolution images then high digital converted to a low spatial resolution image, which is used to calibrate the scene balance mapping function. Processed in order to In other words, the processed data is a digitized image frames with reduced digital resolution (e.g. - per color pixel) 8 bits) used to calibrate hemasoving.

Brief description of the drawing FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the process of printing color photographic film, and shows the process according to the present invention. A balance-based digital image capture and storage mechanism is used here. ing.

FIG. 2 illustrates the scene balance-based calibration and high-resolution capture of the first embodiment of the present invention. Flowchart of image processing showing the acquisition mechanism.

Figure 3 shows the steps of another calibration mechanism that takes only one (high resolution) scan. FIG.

detailed description We now describe in detail a scene balance based digital image capture and storage device according to the present invention. Before proceeding, it is important to note that the present invention differs from conventional digital image processing circuits and components. are structurally novel combinations of, and regarding their specific detailed arrangement, It must be noted that there is no Structure of these conventional circuits and components Regarding the control and arrangement, certain parts directly related to the present invention have been described above. It has been illustrated by a lock diagram. Therefore, this precludes disclosure of the present invention. It is not obvious, but would be obvious to a person skilled in the art reading this specification. . The block diagram in the drawings of the present invention depicts the overall mechanical structure of an exemplary system. It does not represent the exact location of the system, but rather represents the major components of the system in their proper and functional arrangement. It is believed that the present invention will be better understood.

Figure 1 shows a photographic color film processing method (for example, a printing method) to which the present invention can be applied. FIG. For the purposes of this specification, such a system is ``Multi-resolution data'', which is assigned to the assignee of the application, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein. A pending feature by S. Kr1sly entitled ``How to Burn Digital Images?'' It may be said that this is a method related to patent applications. However, the above S, 1fst The pending application filed by It should be noted that this is not intended to limit the invention. The present invention is It can also be incorporated into digital image processing and reproduction systems.

According to the image data processing device of the above-mentioned pending application by S. Kr1sty, Each high-resolution captured image is formatted and associated with each image data file. and is memorized. This image data file is a low resolution or ld basic solution. Image bitmap file of image resolution and corresponding to increasing image resolution respectively. including multiple high-resolution afterimages. These remaining high-resolution images and the basic resolution image are By repeatedly combining the images, the resolution of the images gradually increases until the basic resolution image It becomes clearer than [7].

As an example, a high resolution (3072 X2048) Spatial data value indicating image scan is 51.2 x 7B8 pixels The basic resolution image of the data values in the spatial image array (or matrix) of Stored as an image data file with a bitmap file and stored on the disk. It is tied to the remaining statue files stored in the memory. Baking works Within the station, the base resolution image is further subsampled to Even the image value of the sub-array of image resolution (e.g. 128 x 192 pixels) will also be guided. This result converts the digital image file into a formant and stores it. used by workers during the process of

In the digital image processing method shown in Figure 1, 24 images of 38 x 24 c + m 351II color film with 36 exposures] 0 color mapping is commercially available. High-resolution optoelectronic color scanners such as the Eikonix model 1435 scanner, which is available at - scanned by film scanner 12; The high resolution film scanner 12 is The image forming sensor pixel array (e.g. 3072 x 2048 pixel matrix) outputs digitally encoded data about the response of the

Each frame of film 10 is imaged onto this bilicell array by an input imaging lens. projected on. Data that is digitally encoded or “digitized” The image is coded to a specified resolution (e.g. 16 bits per color per pixel). be converted into Due to this resolution, for color hemlock, this range is the exposure tolerance of the film. The amount of data per image is smaller than the ratio of negative density to density. In order to store it in a moderately sized frame and access it at a moderate speed, This amount of data must be reduced.

This necessarily means that some of the scene information in the digitized image is discarded. It means that. For this reason, the digitized image is transferred to a pair of low-resolution digital Sheets for mapping to codes (e.g., 8 bits per pixel color) During the process of finishing the lint, it is necessary to achieve the desired basic image appearance and shape. Digital image data output can be For this reason, high-resolution image data output by an image scanner is The content brightness range is smaller than the dynamic range of the digital image database. Sai. The code conversion device converts the white reflectance with a maximum brightness of 100% into the database. To convert to coded brightness that does not exceed the upper limit of the dynamic range of operates, adapts to changes in digitized image data, and maintains 100% maximum whiteness. It is possible to replace reflective highlights that exceed the light reflectance.

As pointed out earlier, when an image is digitized on film, the basics of the image content falls within the linear portion of the sensitive range of the scanner's imaging pixel array. Preferably, the film scanner is calibrated to For this purpose, the book In the first embodiment of the invention, as illustrated in the image processing flowchart of FIG. A calibration and high-resolution capture process is used. Here, the image is It was scanned twice, once at a lower resolution and once at a higher resolution for data capture. It will be done.

More specifically, as shown in step 101, the image scanner 12 to pre-scan target image 10 in low resolution mode. controlled. If the scanner has multiple resolution scanning capabilities, it is relatively low high spatial resolution, e.g. 7~24X1. Scan the image with 0~36 pixels controlled to do so. Depending on the size of the low-resolution image, the low-resolution image Reduces the calculated density when applied to a scene balancer (thereby allowing appropriate and quick In order to achieve effective processing), it is necessary to perform further spatial compression of the captured images.

According to the multi-mode operation of the high-resolution scanner described above, while performing low-resolution scanning, 1 The image is captured with 28x1g2 pixels. Processing device] Further images within 4 128 x 192 pixels of the captured image by performing spatial integration of the data. is a scene balance device that maps high-resolution image data to a frame store. to be applied to very small subarrays (e.g. 16 binots per color). (24x36 pixels encoded with 24x36 pixels).

This low resolution (24X36) digital image is then converted into a scene bar in step 102. sensitivity characteristics of the scanner's imaging vixel array. gender determines how images are captured and how their spatial contents are encoded.

The scene balance device (the image processing results are stored in a pair of table indexes (LUTs) ) is assigned to each color of red, green, and blue; ) is assigned to three, one for each color. , which represents the color balance content of the digitized image.

Using these values, the sensitivity of the scanner is calibrated in step 103 and the sensitivity of the scanner is calibrated. During subsequent high-resolution scanning of the image, the basic content of the image is It will fall within the linear part of Neu's sensitive range. Output by scene balance device The force value is a reference voltage vernier adjustment for the scanner's imaging array. One off each color for each color value. The set code sets the table for each scene according to the preferred mote of the present invention. This adds to the human power of indexing, which allows the basic content of the statue to be mapped to the scanner's image form. Effectively changes the mapping function in the linear part of the sensitive range of the adult pixel array. to change or relocate.

The use of a scanner thus calibrated (e.g., an imaging array linear sensitive range) A scene balance index table (maximized) allows the scanner to Control is performed in step 104 to perform interresolution. Scene balance LUTs The pull table has been converted according to the low resolution prescan output, so the high resolution Digital images require basic image information (i.e. high quality prints). mapped into the frame door so that the It will be done.

FIG. 3 shows the steps of another calibration operation. Here, a single (high-resolution ) only scans are performed. According to this example, at a low resolution for calibration , rather than scanning twice, once at high resolution for data capture. The image is scanned only once with high spatial resolution and high digital resolution.

The high spatial resolution image is converted to a high digital low spatial resolution image, which is processed to calibrate the balance mapping function. i.e. processed The data is all digitized into a frame with reduced digital resolution. To calibrate the mapping to pixels (e.g. 8 bits per pixel per color) used for.

More specifically, referring to step 200 in FIG. As in the calibrated second high-resolution scan of the example,] 16 bits per color per pixel. High spatial resolution (e.g. 2048 x 3072) images digitized in The image is scanned to obtain the Step 201: Place the statue on the framed door. Calculated density when applying high resolution image to scene balance device for pinging In order to reduce the A spatially low transformation ( 1/10 is removed and filtered).

Such a low resolution (24x36 pixel subarray) digital image is , similarly to the first embodiment, in step 202, the scene length analyzer performs the separation. will be analyzed. Again, this scene balancer has three brightness values, one for each color. outputs, which represent the color balance content of the digitized image.

Using these brightness values, the scene balance mapping function is executed in step 203. This function is applied to the high-resolution images that have been calibrated (changed) and obtained. The basic content of the image is the sensitive range a of the scanner's imaging pixel array. It is mapped according to the line part. One off each for each color brightness Set code to move each scene to convert this mapping function effectively. Added to the input of the balanced index table.

The scene balance is changed based on the analysis of the low-resolution transformed image in step 203. The high-resolution digital image is then framed in step 204 by the index table. It is mapped by Sudoor. This provides basic information (requires high-quality printing) ) are captured and memorized.

As mentioned above, low-resolution pre-scanning done by high-resolution digital scanners By conditioning the image, the present invention allows the fundamental content of the image to be scanned during high-resolution scanning. Ensure that it falls within the linear portion of the sensitive range of the scanner's imaging array.

The high-resolution digital images are then converted into image data into an accompanying frame door. Pine pins in digital images with reduced encoding resolution, corresponding to image resolution Processed by a scene balancer in order to For reducing encoding resolution Therefore, even though some of the captured scene is lost, the scanner still The basic information (playback in high quality) is calibrated for "balance". must be captured and memorized.

As mentioned above, although embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, the invention is not limited thereto. It is not specified, and various modifications and improvements can be made within the scope of those skilled in the art. Needless to say. The present invention extends beyond what has been shown and described herein. It is not limited to the above, but includes all modifications and improvements that are obvious to a person skilled in the art. be.

(processing equipment) abstract Deftal image capture storage is a high-resolution digital film that scans the image twice. Control the scanner. The two scans are performed first to collect data to calibrate the scanner. The second scan is for capturing and storing high-resolution images. scanner prescans the color photographic image frame in low M1 degree mode, which allows for low-altitude Obtain inter-resolution digital images. This low-resolution digital image shows the scene Sensitivity characteristics of the scanner's imaging pixel array as analyzed by a balance device determines how the image is captured and its contents encoded. digitized This analysis output, which shows the color balance content of the image, reflects the scanner's sensitive range. used to adjust the basic content of the image during subsequent high-resolution scanning. or within the linear part of the sensitive range of the scanner's imaging pixel array. Ru. The high-resolution digital image is then processed by a scene balancer to Reduced encoding of image data, depending on the resolution of the frame door map to a digital image with resolution.

international search report LIS4-4?727[](109-06-9+1JS-A-40965:! 20-t)6-7111

Claims (18)

[Claims] 1. A color photographic image captured on a color mapping recording medium is scanned by an optoelectronic scanning device. be scanned and stored as a digital image for storage in a digital image database. This method consists of the following steps: (a) by said optoelectronic scanning device to obtain a first digitally encoded image; scanning the color photographic image; (b) processing said first digitally encoded image in accordance with an image conditioning device; The electronic scanning device produces an output representing an encoded version of the content of the color photographic image ( c) based on the output produced in step (b), by the optoelectronic scanning device; The color photographic image is then scanned again. 2. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: (d) the optoelectronic scanning device comprising: a second digital encoding resulting from scanning the color photographic image in step (c); processing the image and processing the second digitally encoded image according to an image conditioning device; to obtain a digital image with balanced photographic content. It is characterized by the following steps. 3. Claim 1, wherein the image adjustment device is a scene balance device. Control method described in . 4. The control method according to claim 1, In step (a), the photoelectronic scanning device scans the color photographic image to obtain a first spatial resolution. obtaining a first digitally encoded image having a resolution and a first encoding resolution; In step (c), the output generated in step (b) causes the optoelectronic scanning device to rescan the color photographic image to obtain a second digitally encoded image; 2 digitally encoded images have a second spatial resolution higher than the first spatial resolution and a first spatial resolution. and a second encoding resolution lower than the encoding resolution of the second encoding resolution. 5. A color photographic image captured on a color mapping recording medium is scanned by an optoelectronic scanning device. color balance adjustment for storage in a digital image database. A control method that is processed as a digital image. This method consists of the following steps. Consists of (a) scanning a color photographic image by said optoelectronic device and performing a first digital encoding process; acquire images, (b) processing said first digitally encoded image in accordance with an image conditioning device and photoelectronically encoding the image; The scanning device produces an output representing the encoded content of the color photographic image. , (c) rescanning the color photographic image by an optoelectronic scanning device to obtain a second digital code. acquire a strong image, (d) said second digital signal calibrated by the output produced in step (b); The digital image database is processed by processing the digitally encoded image according to the image adjustment device. obtain a color-balanced digital image for storage on the 6. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein step (a) includes transmitting a color photographic image to an optoelectronic device. thus scanning to obtain a first digitally encoded image having a first spatial resolution; , in step (c), the color photographic image is rescanned by the optoelectronic scanning device. , a second digitally encoded image having a second spatial resolution higher than the first spatial resolution; It is characterized by obtaining ji. 7. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein in step (a) the color photographic image is produced by an optoelectronic device. a first digital code having the first spatial resolution and a first encoding resolution; obtaining a coded image and in step (c) transmitting said color photographic image with said optoelectronic device; rescanning at a second spatial resolution and a second encoding resolution lower than the first encoding resolution; and obtaining a second digitally encoded image. 8. 5. The image adjustment device is a scene balance device. Control method described in . 9. A color photographic image captured on a color photographic image recording medium is scanned by an optoelectronic device. corrected and output data for storage in a digital image database. A digital image processing device that processes a digital image using an image adjustment device. A control method used in conjunction with The control method is scanned again and digitized for storage in the image database. The method consists of the following steps: (a) the optoelectronic device performs a first scan of a color photographic image, thereby creating a first space; (b) acquiring a first digital image having a resolution and a first encoding resolution; processing the first digital image according to an image conditioning device; (c) the optoelectronic device produces an output representative of the color balance content of the image; A second scan of the color photographic image is performed, and the resulting digital image is scanned. Process according to the image adjustment device to be calibrated by the output produced in step (b) and a second spatial resolution higher than the first spatial resolution and a second encoding resolution lower than the first encoding resolution. A second digital image is obtained having an encoded resolution. 10. Claim: wherein the image adjustment device is a scene balance device. 9. The control method according to 9. 11. on a color photographic image recording medium to produce a digitally encoded image. The color photographic images captured in the digital image to derive a corrected digital image for storage a digital image processing device that processes a coded image using an image adjustment device; This control method is also used in rescanned for processing into a digital image with Consists of the steps below. (a) said optoelectronic device scans a color photographic image, and the image resolution of said scanning device is a first digitally encoded image having a first spatial resolution lower than the spatial resolution; generated at a resolution of (b) processing said first digitally encoded image in accordance with an image conditioning device and photoelectronically encoding the image; (c) producing an output representing the content of a color photographic image encoded by the device; a second spatial resolution corresponding to the resolution of the image resolution tolerance of the scanning device; said image by said optoelectronic device to obtain a second digitally encoded image; rescan the color photographic image, (d) said second digital code modified according to the output produced in step (b); processing a encoded image according to the image adjustment device, the encoded image is smaller than the first encoded resolution; captures a color-balanced digital image with a second encoding resolution gain 12. Claim: wherein the image adjustment device is a scene balance device. 12. The control method according to 11. 13. A color photographic image captured on a color mapping recording medium is scanned by an optoelectronic scanning device. to be scanned and stored as digital images in a digital image database. A control method that adjusts the color balance for . (a) scanning a color photographic image by said optoelectronic device and performing a first digital encoding; produce an image, (b) processing said first digitally encoded image in accordance with an image conditioning device; (c) the electronic device produces an output representing an encoded content of the color photographic image; Processing the first digitally encoded image according to an image conditioning device, the first digitally encoded image being content-conditioned; Acquire a digital image. 14. 14. The method of claim 13, in step (b), the first digital A second reduced spatial resolution is applied to the encoded image according to the image conditioning device. the photoelectronic scanning device encodes the color photographic image; producing an output indicative of the encoded first digital code; The digital image is processed according to the image adjustment device, and the content is adjusted by the digital image. It is characterized by acquiring a clear image. 15. Claim: wherein the image adjustment device is a scene balance device. 15. The control method according to 14. 16. A color photographic image captured on a color photographic image recording medium is scanned by an electro-optical scanning device. Digital data as scanned and color-adjusted digital images A control method stored in the base, this method consists of the following steps: (a) scanning the color photographic image with an optoelectronic device to obtain a first high spatial resolution digital image; acquire a le-encoded image, (b) processing the first digitally encoded image according to a scene balance device; an output indicating the encoded color content of the color photographic image by the optoelectronic scanning device; generate force, (c) said first digital encoding calibrated by the output produced in step (b); The images are processed according to the scene balance device and are stored in the digital image database. to obtain a color-content balanced digital image for storage on a Ru. 17. 17. The method of claim 16, wherein in step (a) the color photographic image is said first digitally encoded image scanned by an optoelectronic device and having high spatial resolution; and step (b) converts the high spatial resolution image into a low spatial resolution image. the converted low spatial resolution image in the scene bar. the optoelectronic scanning device detects the color content of the color photographic image. It is characterized by producing an output indicating what has been encoded. 18. 18. The method according to claim 17, wherein step (c) comprises: the first digitally encoded image calibrated by the output of the scene variable; mapping to a digital image database according to the do.