JPH11133522A - Photographic processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically print an exposure date, an exposure time and a device number on a test print in the case of setting up a photographic processing device. SOLUTION: This device is equipped with a cutter 4 cutting photographic paper 10 to specified size, a test exposure mechanism (an exposure board 3, a light source 11, a mirror unit 12, an enlarging lens unit 20, a shutter 21 and a light shielding mask driving mechanism 45) for performing specified test exposure on the cut piece of the photographic paper, a developing unit 30 developing the piece of the photographic paper which is exposed as the test exposure, and a printer 40 printing the date and the time when the test exposure is performed and the device number on the piece of the photographic paper. In the midst of setting up operation, specified data is printed on the back surface of the piece of the photographic paper being the test print.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a test print for starting inspection of a photographic processing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a photo lab or the like, at the start of continuous automatic printing of a negative film by a photographic processing apparatus and development processing, inspections of red, blue and green as exposure reference colors or yellow and magenta which are complementary colors are performed as a starting inspection. , And cyan light components are adjusted (set up).

[0003] Generally, the developing solution and the like deteriorates with repeated use. However, it is practically impossible to visually judge the deterioration of the developer or the like, and the deterioration of the developer or the like cannot be known unless the test print is actually developed. Therefore, it is necessary to perform setup several times a day at the start of work or in a place with a large amount of processing.

[0004] As a specific setup method, for example, a filter (a setup filter) that generates neutral gray is inserted between the light source and the enlargement lens, the photographic paper is actually exposed, and development processing is performed. The density of each exposure reference color of the test print is measured. Then, the light amounts of the yellow, magenta, and cyan components are adjusted using the measurement data.

[0005] The test print is essentially unnecessary after the setup is completed, but is stored for a certain period of time to analyze the cause of the trouble such as the trouble of the apparatus and the time of the trouble occurrence. For this reason, usually, data such as a setup date, time, and a device number for specifying a device are written by hand on a margin portion or a back surface of the test print by an operator who has performed the setup.

On the other hand, a conventional photographic processing apparatus is provided with a function of printing a serial number or the like on the back of photographic paper so that the order of printing on one film (the order of frames on the film) can be known. It has been known.

[0007]

However, according to the conventional setup method, data such as the date, time, and apparatus number of the test print must be handwritten by a worker using a writing tool on the front margin or the back of the test print. And the efficiency was poor.

Further, since the front surface of the photographic paper is an emulsion surface and the back surface is water-repellent, the date and time, the device number, and the like must be described with oil-based ink or the like. However,
Since oil-based inks dry slowly, if a test print is repeated or the handwritten portion is touched before the ink is completely dried, the ink bleeds and the test print is stained.

Further, there is a case where the operator forgets to input necessary data due to the setup operation, which makes it difficult to manage the test print.

On the other hand, in the case of the conventional photographic processing apparatus having a printing function, although the order of printing can be determined from the number printed on the back side of the test print, it is not possible to determine the date and time of printing or to which apparatus the printing was performed. Is unknown. Therefore, while having a printing function,
The operator has to handwrite predetermined data, and has the same problems as in the above case, such as poor efficiency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art. In a photographic processing apparatus having a function of printing characters and the like on the back side of photographic paper, a date, time, and apparatus The purpose is to automatically print data such as numbers.

[0012]

To solve the above problems, a photographic processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a cutter for cutting a photographic paper into a predetermined size, a test exposure means for performing a predetermined test exposure on the photographic paper, The image forming apparatus includes developing means for developing the exposed photographic paper and printing means for printing data for specifying at least the date and time of the test exposure on the test-exposed portion of the photographic paper.

Since data for specifying the date and time of the test exposure is automatically printed on the photographic paper piece that has been developed, that is, the test print, the problem that the operator forgets to enter the predetermined data is a problem. Does not occur. Further, it is not necessary for the worker to write the date and time using the writing instrument, and the setup process at the start of work can be made more efficient. In addition, printing is completed when the developed photographic paper piece is discharged from the photographic processing device. That is, since the ink used for printing is also dry, even if the test print is touched by hand, ink bleeding occurs. No dirt is generated due to such factors.

In the above configuration, the data may be set using a built-in calendar function and timer function. With such a configuration, it is possible to realize the photographic processing apparatus of the present invention only by changing the software using a calendar function and a timer function conventionally built in the photographic processing apparatus.

The printing may be performed on the back surface of the photographic paper piece. With such a configuration, it is possible to realize the photographic processing apparatus of the present invention only by changing the software using the printer function conventionally provided in the photographic processing apparatus.

Further, a configuration may be adopted in which data for identifying the photo processing device is printed. With such a configuration, when a plurality of photographic processing apparatuses are used in a photo lab, it is possible to easily identify which apparatus performs the test print.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of a photographic processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a photographic processing apparatus of the present embodiment.

The photographic paper 10 wound into a roll is fed from the upper part of the photographic processing apparatus 1 into the dark room 2, cut into a predetermined size by the cutter 4, and the cut photographic paper piece is placed on the ground. It is placed on an exposure table 3 provided at an angle of approximately 45 degrees. The stretching lens unit 20 is provided so that the optical axis L of the stretching lens is orthogonal to the exposure table 3, that is, approximately 45 degrees with respect to the ground in a direction opposite to the exposure table 3. Lens unit 2
A shutter 21 for controlling an exposure time is provided at an end of the exposure table 3 on the side of the exposure table 0. Further, on the lens unit 20 side of the exposure table 3, a light-shielding mask and a driving mechanism (hereinafter, referred to as a light-shielding mask driving mechanism) 45 for covering a non-exposed portion on a photographic paper piece when performing test exposure are provided. Have been.

The light source 11 is provided via a mirror unit 12 so as to be substantially perpendicular to the optical axis L of the stretching lens unit 20. A film transport mechanism (not shown) for transporting the negative film is provided between the light source 11 and the stretching lens unit 20. The light source 11 and the enlargement lens unit 20
, An operation panel 13 and a monitor device 14 are provided.

The exposed photographic paper piece is conveyed to the developing unit 30 by a conveying mechanism 5 such as a belt, and developed, fixed,
After each of the washing and drying processes, it is discharged to the upper part of the apparatus 1. In the middle of the transport mechanism 5, a printer 40 for printing predetermined characters, figures, symbols, and the like on the back of the photographic paper piece.
Is provided. Also, outside the photographic processing device 1,
A densitometer 50 for measuring the density of the developed test print is provided. Also, the photographic processing device 1
Is provided with a control circuit 60 for controlling the above components.

FIG. 2 shows a block configuration of the present embodiment.
The control circuit 60 includes a cutter 4, a transport mechanism 5, a light source 11,
Operation panel 13, monitor device 14, shutter 21, developing unit 30, printer 40, light shielding mask driving mechanism 4
5. In addition to the densitometer 50, a memory 61 and a timer 62 are connected.

Next, the setup in the photographic processing apparatus of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. First, when the power switch of the photo processing device 1 is turned on, the control circuit 60
A confirmation for inquiring whether to execute the setup is performed on the screen of No. 4 (# 1). Here, when selecting the setup operation, the operator operates the operation panel 13 and selects “YES”. If "YES" is selected in # 1, the control circuit 60 instructs the setup of the setup filter for the test print exposure (# 3), and the setup filter is set on the optical path from the light source 11 to the lens unit 20. (# 5). Setup filter settings may be manual or automatic. In general, the frequency of setup is low, and the setting operation of the setup filter is relatively simple. Therefore, in order to simplify the configuration of the photo processing apparatus and reduce the cost,
Manual is enough. The determination as to whether or not the setup filter has been set is based on, for example, turning on / off a limit switch provided in the setup filter unit.

When the setup filter is set (#
Then, the control circuit 60 displays on the screen of the monitor device 14 to input the number n of test exposures while changing the density (# 7), and waits for the number of exposures to be input (# 7). 9). When the number of exposures n is input, the control circuit 60
Calculates the length of the photographic paper for test print (# 11). Here, the range of the test exposure is set to be narrower than the normal case of exposing a film received from a customer for reasons such as saving photographic paper and measuring density. For example, exposure is performed three times on a normal photographic paper sheet. The length of the photographic paper piece for test printing is calculated as follows.

[0024]

## EQU1 ## (Length of photographic paper piece) = (Length of margin) + n
× (one test exposure width) Note that the holding length is a blank area for an operator to hold a test print at the time of density measurement or the like, and refers to an area where nothing is exposed.

After calculating the length of the photographic paper piece for test printing, the control circuit 60 drives the transport mechanism 5 to pull out the photographic paper 10 wound on a roll by a predetermined length, and pull out the cutter 4. It is driven to cut the photographic paper into a predetermined length (# 13). Next, the control circuit 60 drives the transport mechanism 5 to move the cut photographic paper piece onto the exposure table 3 (#
15). When the printing paper piece is placed on the exposure table 3, the control circuit 60 controls a part of the printing paper piece (for the width of one test exposure).
In order to expose only the light, the light-shielding mask driving mechanism 45 is driven to move the light-shielding mask to a predetermined position on the photographic paper piece on the exposure table 3 (# 17). Note that since the movement of the light-shielding mask is performed in a dark room, it is preferable that the light-shielding mask be moved automatically instead of manually.

When the light shielding mask is set, the control circuit 6
0 controls the light source 11 and the shutter 21 to perform test exposure of the photographic paper piece under the first exposure condition set in advance (# 19). When the test exposure is completed, the counter is decremented by one (# 21), and it is determined whether n = 0 (# 21).
23). Here, this is the first test exposure, usually n
Since ≠ 1, the control circuit 60 controls the light-shielding mask driving mechanism 4
5, the light-shielding mask is moved by the test exposure width (# 25). When the movement of the light-shielding mask is completed, the control circuit 60 changes the exposure condition (# 27), returns to # 19, and performs another test exposure of the other area of the printing paper piece under the second exposure condition. By repeating this operation, test exposure is performed n times on the photographic paper piece under different exposure conditions.

If n = 0 is determined in # 23, the control circuit 60 drives the transport mechanism 5 to transport the photographic paper piece to a position facing the printer 40 (# 29). In parallel with this, the control circuit 60 reads out the print data stored in the memory 61, for example, the date and time of the test exposure, the device number for specifying the photographic processing device subjected to the test exposure, and the like (# 31). ) And output it to the printer 40 (# 3)
3). The printer 40 prints the data sent from the control circuit 60 on the back side of the photographic paper piece (# 35).

When the data printing is completed, the control circuit 60
Drives the transport mechanism 5 to transfer the photographic paper piece to the developing unit 30.
(# 37). The developing unit 30 performs a developing process on the received photographic paper piece (# 39), and discharges the completed photographic paper piece, that is, a test print, to the outside of the photographic processing apparatus 1 (# 41). Thus, the exposure of the test print is completed (# 43).

Next, the operator prints the test print with a densitometer 5.
0, and the density and color tone of the test print are measured (# 45). Information such as the density of the measured test print for each exposure reference color is manually or automatically supplied to the control circuit 60.
Is input to The control circuit 60 adjusts the exposure condition of each exposure reference color based on the input information (# 4).
7).

When the adjustment of the exposure condition is completed, the control circuit 6
0 instructs retraction of the setup filter for test print exposure via the monitor device 14 (# 49), and waits for the setup filter to be retracted to the original position from the optical path from the light source 11 to the lens unit 20 (# 49). # 5
3). The determination as to whether or not the setup filter has been retracted is made based on, for example, turning on / off a limit switch provided in the setup filter unit in the same manner as described above. In parallel with this operation, the control circuit 60 controls the light-shielding mask driving mechanism 4
5 to retract the light-shielding mask to its original position (#
53). Thereby, the setup operation at the start of work is completed.

Thereafter, the execution of the normal print mode for exposing the image of each frame on the negative film received from the customer on the photographic paper is started (# 55). Since the developer and the like are significantly deteriorated in a developing facility having a large processing capacity, setup may be performed a plurality of times a day. Therefore, the control circuit 60 determines whether or not a re-setup signal has been input from the operation panel 13 even during the execution of the normal print mode (# 57). When the re-setup signal is input (YES in # 57), the control circuit 60 returns to # 3 and executes the above-described setup routine again. On the other hand, if the re-setup signal is not input, the normal print mode is continued, and a work end signal from the operation panel 13 is waited (# 59). When the work end signal is input,
The normal print mode ends, and the work of the day ends (# 61).

If the work end signal is not input in # 59 (NO in # 59) and if the setup operation is not selected in # 1 (NO in # 1), the process jumps to # 55 to execute the normal print mode. I do.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, during the set-up operation, predetermined data, for example, exposure date, time, and apparatus are specified on the back of the test print using the existing printer function. Is automatically printed, so that the problem that the operator forgets to write predetermined data does not occur fundamentally. Further, unlike the related art, the operator does not need to manually write the print date on the margin or the back side of the test print, so that the setup operation can be performed efficiently.

In the above embodiment, the date, time, device number, etc., at which the test print was performed are automatically printed using the timer function, calendar function, and memory function built in the device. But the operation panel 13
May be used to input the date, time and device number each time. In this case, even if the model does not have a timer function, a calendar function, or the like, the present invention can be easily implemented only by changing the software.

Further, in the above embodiment, the photographic paper is cut into a predetermined size first, and the cut photographic paper pieces are subjected to the test exposure. However, the present invention is not limited to this.
The same effect can be obtained even if a configuration is adopted in which test exposure is first performed on photographic paper and then cut into a predetermined size.

Further, when the number of photo processing apparatuses installed is small and the apparatus can be easily specified, it is not always necessary to print data for specifying the apparatus such as the apparatus number. Further, the data for specifying the device is not particularly limited as long as the device can be specified, such as an arbitrarily set device number, a manufacturer-specific serial number of the device, or a device model number.

In addition to the date, time, device number, etc., "test print" and "DAILY SETUP"
May be configured to be printed.

[0038]

As described above, according to the photographic processing apparatus of the present invention, a cutter for cutting a photographic paper into a predetermined size, a test exposure means for performing a predetermined test exposure on the photographic paper, Developing means for developing the photographic paper, and printing means for printing data for specifying at least the date and time of the test exposure performed on the test-exposed portion of the photographic paper, so that the developed photographic paper piece, That is, the date and time when the test exposure was performed are automatically printed on the test print, and there is no problem that the operator forgets to enter the predetermined data. Further, since it is not necessary for an operator to write a date or the like using a writing instrument, the setup process at the start of work can be made more efficient. Further, since the ink is dry at the time when the developed photographic paper piece is discharged from the photographic processing apparatus, even if the test print is touched by hand, no stain such as bleeding of the ink occurs.

Further, by configuring the data using the built-in calendar function and timer function, the software can be implemented by using the calendar function and timer function conventionally built in the photographic processing apparatus. The photographic processing apparatus of the present invention can be realized only by making changes.

Further, by configuring the printing on the back side of the photographic paper piece, the photographic processing apparatus of the present invention can be realized by simply changing the software using the printer function conventionally provided in the photographic processing apparatus. It can be realized.

Further, by printing data for identifying the photographic processing apparatus, when a plurality of photographic processing apparatuses are used in the developing laboratory, it is easy to determine which apparatus is the test print. Can be identified.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a photographic processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a flowchart of an operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a continuation of the above flowchart.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a continuation of the above flowchart.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Photographic processing apparatus 2: Dark room 3: Exposure table 4: Cutter 5: Transport mechanism 10: Printing paper 11: Light source 12: Mirror unit 13: Operation panel 14: Monitor device 20: Stretching lens unit 21: Shutter 30: Developing unit 40: Printer 45: Light-shielding mask driving mechanism 50: Densitometer

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A cutter for cutting a photographic paper into a predetermined size, a test exposure means for performing a predetermined test exposure on the photographic paper, a developing means for developing the photographic paper subjected to the test exposure,
A photographic processing apparatus comprising: printing means for printing data for specifying at least the date and time when the test exposure was performed on the test-exposed portion of the photographic paper. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the data is set using a built-in calendar function and a timer function. 3. The photographic processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing is performed on a back surface of the photographic paper. 4. The photographic processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said printing means prints data for identifying the apparatus.