JPH09200511A - Digital photograph printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reproduce both the image of entire scenery and the image of main part as a test print, to simplify the setting operation of an original, etc., and to also prevent the original from being damaged. SOLUTION: An image is read out of a film 20, this is stored in a hard disk 75 as a digital image signal and in the case of copy print, the opportunity for the film 20 to be damaged is reduced by reading the image out of the hard disk 75 without dealing with the film 20. At the same time, a test print processing means 80 extracts the image of main part within a narrow range out of an entire image shown by a digital image signal S processed by a second image processor 56 and reduces the entire image and since a printer 60 prints the main part image extracted as the image of narrow range while keeping the almost same magnification as this reduced entire image and a parameter showing the conditions of processing due to the second image processor 56, both the entire image and the main part image can be observed in the small test print.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital photographic printer, and more particularly, prior to recording as a production print,
The present invention relates to a digital photographic printer having a trial print function for confirming the color development condition.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image recorded on an original such as a photographic film (hereinafter referred to as a film) such as a negative film or a reversal film or a printed matter is irradiated with light and the transmitted light or reflected light thereof is used for printing paper or the like. There is known a photographic printer which records a photographic latent image on a photosensitive material by surface-exposing the recording medium.

This photographic printer will be referred to as a manual photographic printer in this specification in order to compare it with a digital photographic printer which will be described later. Adjustment of the irradiation light amount, R / G / B
The photo print is finished by performing correction processing such as color balance adjustment.

By the way, the above-mentioned various adjustments are easily influenced by the experience of a skilled operator, and sometimes the adjustments are erroneous. If the adjustment is erroneous as described above, the photographic print on which the image obtained based on the erroneous adjustment is recorded is discarded as a failed print, and the recording medium such as the photosensitive material or the printing paper is wastefully consumed. It will be. In particular, when an image is enlarged into half-cuts or the like to finish a large-sized photographic print, the size of the recording medium that is wasted by one failed print is a normal size obtained by so-called simultaneous printing. It is very large compared to a certain service size.

Further, a large stretched photographic print may give an impression different from the hue, gradation, density, graininess, etc. of an image reproduced by a photographic print of a normal size such as a service size. It is desirable to print the entire image after correcting the above adjustments after observing the image quality of the image actually reproduced. In this case, if the whole of the large stretched image is printed from the beginning, the recording medium becomes useless, so that FIG.
Of the manuscript P ₀ shown in (A), for example, only a main part (hereinafter, referred to as a main part image) P _{1 in the} image such as a face portion of a person is extracted in a strip shape as shown in FIG. 6B. By printing only that part, the recording medium 100 to be used
The reality is that the size of is kept to a minimum.

This extraction is performed by covering a portion other than the main portion with a mask.

[0007] In this way, a production record for printing the entire image for delivery to the orderer (hereinafter referred to as production baking)
Prior to this, it is called trial printing that only a narrow range of the image is extracted and printed to check the image quality, etc. The blank area (white spots etc.) of the recording medium on which this trial printing is done
By recording the image processing conditions such as the color balance at the time of trial baking, the trial baking image and these conditions will be seen when performing the actual baking later, and the correction amount of the condition to be corrected is determined. By performing the condition setting operation in consideration of the correction amount, the large-scaled photographic print that is the production firing is prevented from becoming a failed print.

[0008]

However, the trial printing and the production printing described above are not always performed continuously for one image. On the contrary, it is general that only trial burning for a plurality of images is continuously performed, and then actual burning is collectively performed for each image.

In such a case, it is necessary to perform the setting operation on the apparatus twice for the trial printing and the actual printing of the original, which requires time and effort, and the original is changed as the number of settings increases. The chance of getting hurt increases.

Further, in the print obtained by the trial printing (hereinafter referred to as the trial printing), there is a demand to see the balance of the main part image in the whole document (hereinafter referred to as the whole view image or the whole image). .

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, in which a panoramic image and a main part image are reproduced together in a test print and the original is scratched by simplifying the setting operation of the original. It is an object of the present invention to provide a digital photographic printer that reduces the chances of getting stuck.

[0012]

A first digital photographic printer of the present invention is an image reading means for reading an image recorded on a document such as a photographic film or a photographic print and converting it into digital image information, and the digital image. Input / output means for inputting / outputting information to / from a storage medium, image processing conditions based on the digital image information, image processing means for performing image processing on the digital image information according to the image processing conditions, and image processing means. A digital photographic printer having a printing means for recording the digital image information obtained as a visible image on an image recording medium, prior to recording the image-processed digital image information as a visible image on the image recording medium, The reduced image obtained by reducing the entire visible image and the main part image obtained by extracting the main part of the visible image at approximately the same size are used as image processing conditions. In addition, a trial print processing unit for performing control for recording as a trial print and a processing condition correction unit for correcting the image processing condition are provided, and the image processing unit performs the production according to the image processing condition corrected by the processing condition correction unit. The image processing is performed again for baking.

Here, as the image reading means, an illumination light source for illuminating an original, a photodetector for photoelectrically detecting reflected light or transmitted light thereof, and an electric signal obtained by photoelectric conversion are amplified as necessary. It consists of an amplifier and an A / D converter for digital conversion.

As the storage medium, a storage medium having a large capacity such as a hard disk and capable of reading and writing at high speed is desirable.

The image processing means is specifically constituted by a memory storing an algorithm, a lookup table, etc., which is a predetermined processing procedure.

The printing means modulates the recording light on the basis of the image information processed by the image processing means, and scans the modulated light onto a recording medium such as a photosensitive material such as photographic paper. And other developing device, washing device, drying device, etc.

The main part of the image is, for example, a part showing the face of a person in the case of portrait, and the central part in the case of landscape photography. Further, the reduced image means a reduced image of substantially the entire print for main firing.

The processing condition correcting means corrects the input amount of the correction, such as a keyboard, a look-up table in the image processing means, etc., based on the input correction amount, and a memory in which parameters and matrices are stored. Composed of.

The trial burning processing means includes means for automatically extracting a main part image for automatically determining the position of a person's face from the image information subjected to the image processing, and means for reducing the entire image. It is composed of a reduced image on the surface of a recording medium to be reproduced, an arrangement of main part images and image processing conditions, an arrangement determining means for determining an arrangement pattern, a frame memory and the like.

The second digital photographic printer of the present invention comprises:
Image reading means for reading an image recorded on a document and converting it into digital image information, input / output means for inputting / outputting digital image information to / from a storage medium, and image processing conditions for performing image processing based on the digital image information And a print means for recording the image-processed digital image information on the image recording medium as a visible image. A photographic printer, which reduces an entire visible image prior to recording an image-designated digital image information on an image recording medium as an area designating unit for designating an area for trial burning in the visible image The reduced image and the designated area image obtained by extracting the area designated by the area designating means are subjected to trial burning together with the image processing conditions. And a processing condition correction unit that corrects the image processing condition, and the image processing unit uses the image for production baking according to the image processing condition corrected by the processing condition correction unit. It is characterized in that processing is performed.

The test print processing means in the second digital photographic printer includes an extracting means for extracting a designated area image designated by the area designating means from image information subjected to image processing, and a reducing means for reducing the entire image. And a frame memory and the like, an array determining unit that determines an array pattern of a reduced image, a designated area image, and an image processing condition on the surface of the recording medium to be reproduced.

A third digital photographic printer of the present invention is
Image reading means for reading an image recorded on a document and converting it into digital image information, input / output means for inputting / outputting digital image information to / from a storage medium, and for performing image processing on the digital image information based on the digital image information Processing condition setting means for setting image processing conditions, image processing means for performing image processing on digital image information according to the image processing conditions, and digital image information subjected to the image processing is recorded as a visible image on an image recording medium. A digital photographic printer including a printing unit for performing a test printing, and an area designating unit for designating an area for trial printing in a visible image, and for recording the image-processed digital image information as a visible image on an image recording medium. Previously, a reduced image obtained by reducing the entire visible image and a main part image obtained by extracting the main part of the visible image at the same size and the area designation. Image processing is provided with a trial-burning processing unit that performs control for performing recording as a test-burning with a designated region image in which a region designated by a step is extracted, together with image processing conditions, and processing condition correction unit that corrects the image processing conditions. The means performs the image processing again for the production printing according to the image processing conditions corrected by the processing condition correcting means.

The trial print processing means in the third digital photographic printer is a main area image based on the specified area image specified by the area specifying means from the image information subjected to the image processing and the distribution of the density histogram from the image information. Extracting means for extracting the entire image, reducing means for reducing the entire image, and arrangement determining means for determining the arrangement pattern of the reduced image, the designated area image, the main image and the image processing condition on the recording medium surface to be reproduced. And a frame memory and the like.

In the second or third digital photographic printer of the present invention, when there are two or more areas designated by the area designating means for trial burning, the arrangement determining means of the trial burning processing means is designated. The plurality of areas are appropriately arranged on the recording medium used for trial burning.

In the first to third digital photographic printers of the present invention, the input / output means associates the digital image information with the image processing conditions and the correction parameters for correcting the image processing conditions by the processing condition correction means. It may be stored in the storage medium.

[0026]

According to the first digital photographic printer of the present invention, the entire visible image is reduced by the trial print processing means before the image-processed digital image information is recorded on the image recording medium as a visible image. The reduced image and the main part image of the main part extracted from the visible image at approximately the same size are controlled so as to be recorded as a test print print together with the image processing conditions, and the image processing conditions are corrected. The image processing means performs the image processing again for production printing according to the image processing conditions corrected by the processing condition correcting means. By this action,
Since the panoramic image and the main part image are reproduced together with the test print, it is possible to meet the demand for seeing the balance of the main part image in the original.

Further, since the image information can be freely input and output from the storage medium by using a digital photographic printer that stores the image of the original as digital image information in the storage medium, it is necessary to set the original each time the image is reproduced. As a result, it is possible to prevent the original from being damaged.

The second digital photographic printer of the present invention comprises:
Prior to recording the image-processed digital image information as a visible image on the image recording medium by the trial burning processing unit, a reduced image obtained by reducing the entire visible image and one or more of the two or more designated by the region designating unit are provided. The designated area image and the image processing condition are controlled so as to be recorded as a test print, and the image processing condition is corrected by the processing condition correcting unit, and the image processing unit corrects the image by the processing condition correcting unit. Image processing is performed again for production baking according to the processing conditions. By this action, the panoramic image and the designated area image are reproduced together with the test print, so that it is possible to meet the demand for seeing the balance of the designated area image in the document.

Further, since the image information can be freely input and output from the storage medium by using a digital photographic printer that stores the image of the document as digital image information in the storage medium, it is necessary to set the document each time the image is reproduced. As a result, it is possible to prevent the original from being damaged.

The third digital photographic printer of the present invention comprises:
Prior to recording the image-processed digital image information as a visible image on the image recording medium by the trial burning processing means, a reduced image obtained by reducing the entire visible image and a main part of the visible image are extracted at approximately the same size. The main part image and the one or more designated area images designated by the area designating means are controlled so as to be recorded as a test print print together with the image processing conditions, and the image processing conditions are corrected. The image processing means is corrected by the means
Image processing is performed again for production printing according to the image processing conditions corrected by the processing condition correction means. By this operation, the panoramic image, the main portion image, and the designated area image are reproduced together with the test print, so that it is possible to meet the demand for seeing the balance between the main portion image and the designated area image in the original. it can.

Further, since the image information can be freely input and output from the storage medium by using a digital photographic printer which stores the image of the original as digital image information in the storage medium, it is necessary to set the original each time the image is reproduced. As a result, it is possible to prevent the original from being damaged.

Further, the input / output means includes digital image information,
A digital photo printer having a structure in which image processing conditions and correction parameters for correcting the image processing conditions by the processing condition correction means are stored in a storage medium in association with each other is always the same processed product even if the product is burned a plurality of times. You can get a baked print. In this case, the image processing conditions may be further corrected.

[0033]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of a digital photographic printer of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 and 2 are views showing a concrete embodiment of the first digital photographic printer of the present invention.

The illustrated digital photographic printer includes a bar code reader 42 for reading the bar code of the photographic film 20, a screen detection sensor 41 for detecting the area of each frame 21 in the film 20 by a density change, and a perforation of the film 20. Sprocket 44 for conveying the film 20, a motor 43 for driving the sprocket 44, a frame number read by the film number read by the bar code reader 42 and each frame read by the screen detection sensor 41.
A film scanner control interface (I / F) 40 for transmitting the area of 21 to the data bus and a signal for controlling the drive of the motor 43 to the motor 43, and a light source 31 for irradiating the photographing frame 21 of the film 20 with light. A light source unit 30 including a light unit 32, a color separation unit 33, and a diffusion box 34, and a shooting frame 21 irradiated with light from the light source unit 30.
CCD 52 for photoelectrically reading the transmission image of the image recorded on the image through the imaging optical system 51, and an A / D converter for converting an image signal corresponding to the transmission image photoelectrically converted by the CCD 52 into a digital image signal S. 53, a first image processing device 5 for correcting a digital image signal S output from the A / D converter 53 and correcting the influence of shading and dark current to output a high quality image signal to the frame memory 55.
4. A second image processing device 56 for performing image processing to set a further image processing condition based on the image-processed digital image signal S temporarily stored in the frame memory 55 to obtain a desired print quality, Modulator driver 57 that outputs a modulation signal based on the digital image signal S that has been image-processed by the second image processing device 56, and a modulator driver
A printer 60 and a printer control I / F 58 that reproduce a visible image based on the signal modulated by 57, a hard disk 75 that stores the digital image signal S stored in the frame memory 55 via a data bus, and a digital if necessary. A CRT monitor 71 and a display I / F for reproducing a visible image based on the image signal S or displaying image processing conditions and the like.
70, a keyboard 73 and a keyboard I / F for inputting image processing conditions, correction values of the image processing conditions, image search information, etc.
72, image search information for identifying an image such as a frame number read by the barcode reader 42 via the data bus, the first image processing device 54, and the second image processing device
The image processing condition input from 56 and the digital image signal S input from the frame memory 55 are stored in the hard disk 75 in association with each other, and one image is associated with the image search information input from the keyboard 73. The digital image signal S is searched and controlled from the hard disk 75, and the CPU 74 that controls each device connected to the other data bus, the communication port 76 that is connected to another digital photo printer system via a communication line, and the printer 60 are reproduced. A keyboard 78 and a keyboard I / which are arranged at an inspection place for inspecting photographic prints and input a reprint instruction when necessary
F77, before the image-processed digital image signal that has been image-processed by the second image processing device 56 is printed as a visible image, the entire visible image is reduced to obtain a reduced image. A trial print processing unit 80 for extracting the main portion with substantially the same size and performing control for recording the main portion image together with the image processing conditions by the second image processing device 56 as a trial print print, and the second image. Processor
Processing condition correction means 59 for correcting the condition of image processing by 56
It is a configuration provided with.

The hard disk 75 has a storage capacity of 2 GB (gigabytes) or more. Usually, the image signal required to obtain the resolution corresponding to a photographic print of about 6 cm (about 20 cm x 25 cm) is calculated to be about 20 MB / 1 image, and this image signal is data compressed so that the image quality does not deteriorate. In that case, the image signal is about 4 MB / 1 image. At an average photo lab, the number of originals that need to be printed for trial printing on a day is about several hundred. Normally, the hard disk capacity required to complete production firing in a day's work is It is about 2GB. When storing image data for one month in preparation for reordering, the required storage capacity is about 50GB.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2 in detail, the trial print processing means 80 is a frame memory for storing the image-processed digital image information which has been subjected to the image processing by the second image processing device 56 as a two-dimensional image. 81, a reduction means 82 for reducing the entire image P ₀ stored in the frame memory 81 to obtain a reduced image P ′ ₀ , and a main part P ₁ of the entire image P ₀ stored in the frame memory 81. The extraction means 83 and the arrangement of the main portion image P ₁ and the reduced image P ′ ₀ are determined together with the image processing condition or the parameter D such as a character corresponding to the image processing condition to determine the arrangement on the photographic printing paper 100 for the test print. And means 84.

The extracting means 83, the reducing means 82, and the arrangement determining means 84 may be executed by the CPU 74 as software.

More specifically, the printer 60 is composed of a printing section, a developing section and a drying section. The printing section has a roll-shaped long photographic paper 100 arranged in a magazine 62 with a reference hole for positioning. A hole punch unit 63 for punching, a sub-scanning drive system 64 for transporting the photographic printing paper 100 in the longitudinal direction (sub-scanning direction) with reference to a positioning reference hole, and a signal modulated by a modulator driver 57 are modulated. An exposure scanner 61 that irradiates the photographic printing paper 100 while scanning light in the main scanning direction, and a back printing unit 65 that prints the image search information input through the printer control I / F 58 on the back surface of the photographic printing paper 100. ing.

In the drying section, a cutter for cutting the exposed photographic printing paper (photographic prints) one by one
66 and a sorter 67 for arranging and arranging the photographic prints cut one by one.

Next, the operation of the digital photo printer of this embodiment will be described.

First, the CPU 74 drives the motor 43 via the film scanner control I / F 40, and the sprocket 44 connected to the motor 43 meshes with the perforation of the film 20 to convey the film 20. While the film 20 is being conveyed, the bar code reader 42 reads the bar code indicating the frame number provided for each frame to be photographed 21, and the read content is C through the film scanner control I / F 40.
Input to PU74. Similarly, the film number described on the check tape attached to the film is read by the screen detection sensor 41 and input to the CPU 74. The barcode 22 can be read by Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 1-155330 and 1-21.
This is done by using a known technique such as 9730.

The reading of the film number by the sensor 41 may be performed by known optical character recognition (OCR), or the film is contained in a cartridge instead of the cartridge, and the film is unique to the cartridge. APS (Advanced Photo
System ； "Photo Industry" Photo Industry Publisher 1994.10 Vol.5
In the case of a new standard photographic film referred to as No. 10 P118, etc.), a method of reading the number etc. recorded in the cartridge can be adopted. Further, instead of the automatic reading, it is possible to manually input from the keyboard 73.

The information read from the above-mentioned bar code and the film number are used as image search information for specifying the frame as a whole.

On the other hand, when the screen detection sensor 41 detects the first frame 21 of the photographed frame 21 from which the bar code 22 is read and the first frame 21 is stopped at the predetermined reading position by the control of the CPU 74, the light source Light is radiated from the unit 30 toward the top 21, and the transmission image of the top 21 irradiated with the light enters the imaging optical system 51.

The transmitted image incident on the imaging optical system 51 is a CCD
A predetermined image is formed on the image receiving surface of 52. The CCD 52 photoelectrically converts the image into a predetermined image signal. The converted image signal is converted into a digital image signal S by the A / D converter 53 and input to the first image processing device 54, and the influence of shading and dark current is removed. The digital image signal S processed in the first image processing device 54
Are temporarily stored in the frame memory 55.

The image signal S once stored in the frame memory 55 is input to the second image processing device 56. The second image processing device 56 sets image processing parameters according to a look-up table or various conversion tables stored in advance based on the input image signal S, and a gradation corresponding to the set parameters. Image processing such as processing, frequency processing, and enlargement processing is performed on the image signal S. The digital image signal S that has undergone this image processing is stored in the hard disk 75 once via the data bus in association with the image processing parameter information and the image search information.

Here, according to the operator's selection, the image signal S is output as it is to the modulator driver 57 and is sent to the printer.
The processing is switched between the case where the image is printed on the photographic printing paper 100 by 60 and the case where the image is output to the trial print processing means 80 and subjected to predetermined trial print processing and then output to the modulator driver 57.

This switching is performed by the operator inputting the desired one from the keyboard. That is, for example, when attempting to print a large-sized print, there are a case where trial baking is performed before the large-sized print is printed and a case where the large-sized print is directly obtained without performing the test baking. Switch.

Here, first, the case where the trial baking is not performed will be described.

The second image processing device 56 outputs the image signal to the modulator driver 57. The modulator driver 57 modulates the light emitted from the exposure scanner 61 of the printer 60 based on the input image signal S.

On the other hand, the printer 60 is driven and controlled by the CPU 74 via the printer control I / F 58. First, the sub-scanning drive system 64 conveys the photographic printing paper 100 extending from the magazine 62 along a predetermined conveying path in the sub-scanning direction. A hole punching unit 63 is provided on the conveying path. The hole punching unit 63 is provided with a synchronization reference near the side edge of the photographic printing paper 100 at intervals of a length corresponding to, for example, the feeding amount for one photographic print. A reference hole is formed. Inside the printer 60, the photographic printing paper 100 is conveyed with the reference hole as a reference for synchronization.

While the photographic printing paper 100 is sub-scanned in this way,
The light modulated based on the image signal from the exposure scanner 61 is main-scanned, and the photographic printing paper 100 is exposed with a visible image based on the image signal by a combination of the main-scanning and the sub-scanning.
The feeding speed in the sub-scanning direction is controlled by the CPU 74 to be a speed necessary for reproducing a visible image in synchronism with the main scanning speed for exposure.

The photographic printing paper 100, the surface of which the visible image is exposed to, is conveyed to the position of the back printing unit 65 along the feeding path, and the back printing unit 65 is an image uniquely associated with the image signal S by the CPU 74. Upon receiving the search information from the CPU 74, the image search information corresponding to the visible image, that is, the film number and the frame number, is printed on the back surface (the back surface of the exposed surface of the visible image) of the conveyed printing paper 100. . The displacement of the arrangement position between the exposure scanner 61 that exposes a visible image and the back printing unit 65 is caused by a soft sequence using the reference holes of the photographic paper 100 punched by the hole punch unit 63 (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-193609). The sequence disclosed in No. 1) shall be absorbed while the position is synchronized. In addition, this image search information is printed on photographic paper.
It may be recorded not only on the back surface of 100 but also on a part of the exposed surface of the visible image. In this case, it is desirable to record in a region outside the exposed range of the visible image, for example, in a white spot at the peripheral edge.

The exposed photographic printing paper 100 is conveyed from the printing section to the developing section along the conveying path, where it is subjected to predetermined developing treatment and water washing treatment and then sent to the drying section. In the drying section, the photographic printing paper 100 that has been washed with water in the development processing section is dried, and the photographic printing paper 100 that has been dried corresponds to the size of one photographic print with the reference hole synchronized by the cutter 66. It is cut into pieces. The photographic printing paper 100 that has been cut into photographic prints is accumulated in the sorter 67 for each film, and is returned to the orderer together with the film pieces that are separated and cut into 6-piece pieces in another process.

Before the photo print is returned to the orderer,
The print quality may be inspected at a predetermined inspection place. In this case, if the print quality is acceptable, it is returned to the orderer together with the film piece as described above and it is a rejected product. In, by the inspector from the keyboard 78 arranged in the inspection place, by inputting the correction amount of the necessary image processing parameters and the image search information printed on the back side of the photographic print,
Upon receiving this instruction, the CPU 74 retrieves the image signal stored in the hard disk 75 and associated with the image retrieval information, temporarily stores the obtained image signal in the frame memory 55, and the processing condition correcting means 59 The parameters of the image processing by the second image processing device 56 are corrected according to the correction amount input from the keyboard 78.

The correction amount when the image processing parameters are corrected in this manner is stored in the hard disk 75 in association with the image search information together with the image signal and the image processing parameters.

The second image processing device 56 performs image processing on the image signal S stored in the frame memory 55 in accordance with the image processing in which the parameters are corrected, and the subsequent processing after the output to the modulator driver 57. Is exactly the same as the above case.

In this way, the orderer who returns the photographic print on which the image of the film has been exposed on the photographic printing paper 100 and the piece of the film 20 tries to reprint the print when he or she orders the reprint of the print later. Describe the image search information (film number, frame number, etc.) printed on the back of the photo print and the desired number of prints on the order form, then hand over the order form to the print shop or call the image. It is not necessary to bring the film to the print shop because it is sufficient to contact the search information and the number of prints and place an additional order.

On the other hand, in the print shop, the image search information and the number of prints are input from the keyboard 73 or 78 according to the received order, and are stored in the hard disk 75 under the control of the CPU 74 which receives the instruction. The image signal associated with the image search information is searched, the image signal obtained by the search is temporarily stored in the frame memory 55, and the second image processing device 56 stores the image signal in the frame memory 55. A custom print can be obtained by performing the same process as above, and the operation of loading the film into the photographic printer at each additional printing is unnecessary as in the past, and the film is prevented from being scratched by loading. be able to.

Next, the processing when the image signal S is output to the trial print processing means 80 by the operator's selection will be described. This case is mainly selected when enlarging an image to obtain a large stretched photographic print, but it is up to the operator to apply it to a case other than such large stretched photographic print.

First, as a premise, when an image is to be enlarged and a photographic print of a large stretch is to be obtained, the second image processing device 56 has previously performed an enlargement process of an image signal by using an interpolation calculation or the like. The image signal S that has been subjected to this enlargement processing is output to the trial print processing means 80.

In the trial burn processing means 80, the input image signal S is first stored in the frame memory 81. The entire image P ₀ represented by the image signal S stored in the frame memory 81 is shown in FIG.

The reducing means 82 outputs the reduced image P ′ ₀ obtained by reducing the entire image P ₀ stored in the frame memory 81 to the arrangement determining means 84.

The entire image P ₀ is enlarged by the second image processing device 56, but this reduced image P ′ ₀ is of the same size as the original image before enlargement or is larger than the original image. The size is further reduced.

In parallel with this process, the extracting means 83 extracts the main part (for example, a narrow area including the face of a person) P ₁ from the whole image P ₀ stored in the frame memory 81. To determine what part is the main part in this extraction, it is preferable to use means for automatically extracting the position of the face of the person in the screen, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-118746 (“Person Face data extraction method and exposure amount determination method ") and other known techniques, and the extraction means 83 automatically extracts. The image P _{1 of the} main portion is output to the arrangement determining means 84 in the same manner as the reduced image P ′ ₀ with the image having the substantially same size, that is, the enlarged size.

The arrangement determining means 84 sends these reduced images P '.
_{In addition to 0} and the image P ₁ of the main part, the parameter D of the image processing performed on this image is input from the CPU 74. The array determining means 84 then outputs these reduced images P ′ ₀ ,
The image P _{1 of the} main part and the parameter D are arranged so as to fit in an elongated strip-shaped area as shown in FIG.
It is output to the modulator driver 57 as an image signal showing this arranged strip-shaped image.

Since the operations of the modulator driver 57 and the printer 60 are the same as those described above, the description thereof will be omitted.

As a result, on the photographic printing paper 100, as shown in FIG. 3 (B), an image P _{1 of} a main portion of a narrow region at the same magnification as the large stretch print is formed in a strip-shaped elongated region for each image. The entire image P ′ ₀ obtained by reducing the large stretched print and the test print image in which the image processing parameters D are vertically arranged in a line are printed.

This trial print print is 100 sheets of photographic paper per unit print as compared with the print of the whole image of a large stretch.
Since the area occupied by the photographic paper 100 is extremely small, the trial printing does not waste the photographic printing paper 100 wastefully, and is very practical for cost reduction. In addition, the operator uses the images P'printed on this trial print.
It is possible to easily determine whether or not the image processing parameter needs to be changed in the production print by looking at ₀ and P _1, and when it is determined that the parameter needs to be changed, the trial print print is performed. It becomes easy to look at the image processing parameter D printed on a part of the image and estimate the correction amount.

When the image processing parameters are changed, the image search information is input from the keyboard, the image signal is read from the hard disk 75 for the production print, and is held on the frame memory 55, as described above. By inputting the correction amount from the keyboard, the processing condition correction means 59 corrects the parameter of the image processing by the second image processing device 56 according to the input correction amount.

The correction amount when the image processing parameters are corrected in this manner is stored in the hard disk 75 together with the image signal and the image processing parameters in association with the image search information.

The second image processing device 56 performs image processing on the image signal S stored in the frame memory 55 in accordance with the image processing in which the parameters are corrected, and the subsequent processing after the output to the modulator driver 57. Is exactly the same as the above case.

As described above, according to the digital photographic printer of this embodiment, the setting operation of the film is performed only when it is first registered in the hard disk 75, and it is not necessary to perform the additional printing after that. It is possible to prevent the original from being damaged due to the repetition of.

Further, in the print obtained by the trial printing, the appropriateness of the image processing for the image portion forming the main portion can be determined in detail, and the image processing for the main portion image in the entire document can be performed. You can also judge the balance.

Since the parameter D is generally composed of a plurality of numerical values and the like, it may be difficult in space to print all of the parameters in the test print, and therefore, in the test print. Does not print the parameters themselves, but prints a single management number or the like associated with those parameters as shown in FIG. 3B, and lists the management numbers and other parameters associated with a plurality of parameters. The table or the like may be printed separately or displayed on the monitor 71 or the like.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a concrete embodiment of the trial print processing means of the second digital photographic printer of the present invention. The basic configuration of the embodiment of the entire second digital photo printer is the same as that of the first digital photo printer shown in FIG.

However, in the first digital photographic printer shown in FIG. 1, the trial print processing means 80 in which the extracting means 83 automatically extracts the main portion P ₁ of the entire image P ₀ stored in the frame memory 81. While the second component is
The digital photo printer of _{No. 1} does not automatically extract such a main part P ₁ .

That is, in the second digital photo printer, the whole image P ₀ stored in the frame memory 55 is CR.
The image is displayed at T71, and the operator can freely specify the region considered to be the main part by the operator's judgment by looking at the displayed whole image P ₀ .

That is, the keyboard 72 is used as the area designating means, and the area to be printed in the test print for printing is designated by inputting from the keyboard 72 in the entire image P ₀ displayed on the CRT 71, and the designated area is designated. Image (designated area image) is recorded as a test print in place of the main portion P ₁ .

Therefore, the trial print processing means 80 'of the present embodiment has a frame memory 81 for storing the image-processed digital image signal subjected to the image processing by the second image processing device 56 as a two-dimensional image, and reducing means 82 by reducing the whole image P ₀ stored in the frame memory 81 to obtain a reduced image P _'0, the designated region image specified by the keyboard 72 of the entire image P ₀ stored in the frame memory 81 'and, the designated region image, the reduced image P' extraction means 83 for extracting determining the placement of ₀ test print of the photographic paper 100 together with the parameter D of the characters or the like associated with the image processing conditions or image processing conditions sequence And a determining means 84.

The entire image P ₀ as shown in FIG. 5 is C
When there are a plurality of designated area images P ₁ and P ₂ displayed on the RT 71 by the operator and designated by the keyboard 72, the extracting means 83 ′ extracts these designated area images P.
₁ and P ₂ are respectively extracted, and the arrangement determining means 84 appropriately arranges these designated area images P ₁ and P ₂ , the reduced image P ′ ₀ and the parameter D.

The term "appropriately arranging" means arranging the respective images on the photographic printing paper 100 so as to occupy the smallest area, and for example, for each frame recorded on the film as shown in FIG. Print a trial print of 100
When printing is performed by arranging in the advancing direction, it is desirable to arrange so that the area occupied by the printing paper in the advancing direction is minimized.

The second image processing device 56 performs image processing on the image signal S stored in the frame memory 55 in accordance with the image processing in which the parameters are corrected, and the subsequent processing after the output to the modulator driver 57. Is exactly the same as the above case.

According to this second digital photographic printer, the printing paper 100 can be used similarly to the first digital photographic printer.
5B, the images P ₁ and P ₂ of the designated area of the narrow stretched area are reduced in the strip-shaped elongated area for each image as shown in FIG. 5B. It is possible to obtain a trial print in which the entire image P ′ ₀ and the image processing parameters D are vertically arranged in a line.

This trial print print is 100 print paper per unit print as compared with the print of the large image of the whole.
Since the area occupied by the photographic paper 100 is extremely small, the trial printing does not waste the photographic printing paper 100 wastefully, and is very practical for cost reduction. In addition, the operator uses the images P'printed on this trial print.
It is possible to easily determine whether or not the image processing parameter needs to be changed in the production printing by looking at ₀ , P ₁ and P _2, and when it is determined that the parameter needs to be changed, It becomes easy to see the image processing parameter D printed on a part of the trial print and estimate the correction amount.

When the image processing parameters are to be changed, the image search information is input from the keyboard, the image signal is read from the hard disk 75 for the production print, and is held on the frame memory 55, as described above. By inputting the correction amount from the keyboard, the processing condition correction means 59 corrects the parameter of the image processing by the second image processing device 56 according to the input correction amount.

The correction amount when the image processing parameters are corrected in this way is stored in the hard disk 75 together with the image signal and the image processing parameters in association with the image search information.

As described above, according to the digital photographic printer of this embodiment, the setting operation of the film is performed only when the hard disk 75 is first registered, and it is not necessary to perform the additional printing after that. It is possible to prevent the original from being damaged due to the repetition of.

Further, in the print obtained by the trial printing, the appropriateness of the image processing for the designated area image can be determined in detail, and the balance of the image processing of the designated area image in the entire document can be determined. You can also do it.

The concrete embodiment of the third digital photographic printer of the present invention can be realized by a combination of the first digital photographic printer and the second digital photographic printer. .

That is, the extracting means automatically extracts the main part image and also extracts the designated area image input from the keyboard for the area other than the main part, and the arrangement determining means extracts the main part image. The image, the designated area image, the reduced image, and the parameters may be appropriately arranged. Even with the digital photo printer having such a form, the same operation and effect as those of the first and second digital photo printers described above can be obtained. be able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a first digital photographic printer of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing details of trial print processing means of the digital photographic printer shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an overall image and a test print printed by an embodiment of a first digital photographic printer.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a second digital photographic printer of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an overall image and a test print printed by an embodiment of a second digital photographic printer.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a conventional test print.

[Explanation of symbols]

 20 Film 21 Shooting Frame 40/58/70/72/77 Interface 41 Screen Detection Sensor 42 Bar Code Reader 43 Motor 44 Sprocket 51 CCD 54/56 Image Processor 55 Frame Memory 57 Modulator Driver 59 Processing Condition Correction Means 60 Printer 73・ 78 keyboard 74 CPU 75 hard disk 76 communication port 80 trial print processing means 100 photographic paper

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image reading unit for reading an image recorded on a document and converting it into digital image information, an input / output unit for inputting / outputting the digital image information to / from a storage medium, and image processing based on the digital image information. Image processing means for setting conditions and performing the image processing on the digital image information according to the image processing conditions; and printing means for recording the digital image information subjected to the image processing as a visible image on an image recording medium. A digital photographic printer including: a reduced image obtained by reducing the entire visible image and a main part of the visible image before recording the image-processed digital image information as a visible image on an image recording medium. A trial baking process for controlling the main part image extracted at approximately the same size with the image processing conditions and performing recording as trial baking And processing condition correction means for correcting the image processing conditions, wherein the image processing means performs image processing again for production printing according to the image processing conditions corrected by the processing condition correction means. A digital photo printer. 2. An image reading unit for reading an image recorded on a document and converting it into digital image information, an input / output unit for inputting / outputting the digital image information to / from a storage medium, and image processing based on the digital image information. Image processing means for setting conditions and performing the image processing on the digital image information according to the image processing conditions; and printing means for recording the digital image information subjected to the image processing as a visible image on an image recording medium. A digital photographic printer comprising: an area designating unit for designating an area for trial printing in the visible image, and prior to recording the image-processed digital image information as a visible image on an image recording medium, The reduced image obtained by reducing the entire visible image and the designated region image obtained by extracting the region designated by the region designating unit are the images. The image corrected by the processing condition correction unit is provided with a test baking processing unit for performing control for recording as a test baking together with the physical condition and a processing condition correction unit for correcting the image processing condition. A digital photo printer characterized by performing image processing for production printing according to processing conditions. 3. An image reading unit for reading an image recorded on a document and converting it into digital image information, an input / output unit for inputting / outputting the digital image information to / from a storage medium, and image processing based on the digital image information. Image processing means for setting conditions and performing the image processing on the digital image information according to the image processing conditions; and printing means for recording the digital image information subjected to the image processing as a visible image on an image recording medium. A digital photographic printer comprising: an area designating unit for designating an area for trial printing in the visible image, and prior to recording the image-processed digital image information as a visible image on an image recording medium, A reduced image obtained by reducing the entire visible image, a main portion image obtained by extracting a main portion of the visible image at the same size, and the area designating means. The specified area image obtained by extracting the specified area is provided with trial burning processing means for performing control for recording as trial burning together with the image processing conditions, and processing condition correction means for correcting the image processing conditions. A digital photographic printer characterized in that the processing means performs image processing again for production printing according to the image processing conditions corrected by the processing condition correction means. 4. When there are two or more areas designated by the area designating means as the trial burning, the trial burning processing means records the designated plurality of areas to be subjected to the trial burning. 4. A digital photographic printer according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that it is properly arranged with respect to the medium. 5. The input / output unit stores the digital image information and the image processing condition and a correction parameter for correcting the image processing condition by the processing condition correction unit in association with each other in the storage medium. The digital photographic printer according to claim 1, wherein the digital photographic printer is provided.