JPH11146154A - Picture reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent images of a stuck matter from being read and printed together with the image of a pothographic print by reading light transparent parts of a film carrier before starting the read of a frame picture recorded on a photographic film and determining the presence of the stuck matter at the time of a detecting density higher than a previously set reference density in the obtained picture. SOLUTION: A film carrier 38 is provided with slits 302a and 302b orthogonal in the carrying direction of the photographic film 22. Before a frame picture arrives onto the reading position of CCD 116, namely slits 302a and 302b, a line CCD 116 starts reading. When there are stuck matters 302a and 302b, they are overlapped and read to make partially high density to produce picture data with partial density difference. Thereby, the densities of respective picture elements in one line of the CCD 116 are compared with each other to judge the presence of stuck matter when there is a part of a different density. Then, the reading of frame picture is stopped immediately.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus, and more particularly, to an image reading apparatus which can prevent foreign substances such as dust and dirt from being read together with an image during image reading.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, light has been applied to a light transmitting portion while a photographic film on which an image has been recorded is conveyed by a film carrier provided with a slit-shaped light transmitting portion in a direction intersecting the conveying direction of the photographic film. Then, the light transmitted through the light transmitting portion and the photographic film is read by an image reading device having a reading sensor such as a CCD, and after performing image processing such as various corrections on the image data obtained by the reading, 2. Description of the Related Art An image processing system that records an image on a recording material using a laser beam modulated based on image data that has been subjected to image processing and displays the image on a display is known.

[0003]

In such an image reading apparatus using a reading sensor such as a CCD, if there is dust or dirt attached to the light transmitting portion of the carrier, it blocks the light from the light source. There is a shadow of the kimono. Since the shadow of the attached matter is always read together with the image, each image is read as a line parallel to the transport direction of the photographic film. Therefore, when a photographic print is created based on image data obtained by reading a negative film,
The image of the attached matter appears as a black line on the photographic print, and when the photographic print is created based on the image data obtained by reading the reversal film, the image of the attached matter appears as a white line on the photographic print. There is a problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and it is possible to prevent an image from being read and printed together with an image of a photographic print when an adhering substance is present on a light transmitting portion of the carrier. It is an object to provide a reading device.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to the first aspect is to transport a photographic film on which a plurality of frame images are recorded and to slit the photographic film in a direction intersecting the transport direction of the photographic film. Film transporting means provided with a light transmitting portion, a light source for irradiating light toward the light transmitting portion of the film transporting means, and a light transmitting portion provided on an optical path of the light source and transmitting through the light transmitting portion and the photographic film. Reading means for reading an image by receiving the light, and reading of the light transmitting portion by the reading means before starting reading of a frame image recorded on a photographic film. And a means for judging that there is an extraneous matter when a concentration higher than the reference density is detected.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a film transport means for transporting a photographic film on which a plurality of frame images are recorded and having a slit-shaped light transmitting portion provided in a direction intersecting the transport direction of the photographic film. And a light source for irradiating light toward a light transmitting portion of the film transporting means, and reading means provided on an optical path of the light source and reading an image by receiving light transmitted through the light transmitting portion and the photographic film. And an adhering substance determining unit that determines that there is an adhering substance when a portion having a density different from a predetermined density is continuously detected at the same position in image data of an area between the frame image and the frame image, Is included.

According to the first aspect of the invention, when reading an image of a photographic film on which a plurality of frame images are recorded, the light transmitting section is read by the reading means before reading the frame image, and the light transmitting state of the light transmitting section is changed. Obtained as image data, the attached matter determining means determines the presence or absence of attached matter based on the obtained image data.

That is, the light transmitting portion before the photographic film such as a negative film or a reversal film is conveyed onto the light transmitting portion by the reading means, and the frame image conveyed on the light transmitting portion are not recorded. Image data obtained by reading the film base portion in the photographic film front end region has little difference in density. However, if there is an adhering substance in the light transmitting portion, the light from the light source is blocked by the adhering substance, so that the image of the adhering substance is also read. The image of the attached substance is overlapped with the image data with a small density difference, and is read as partially high-density image data in the image data with a small density difference. Can be used to determine the presence or absence of deposits.

In other words, the adhering matter judging means determines, from the image data obtained by reading the light transmitting portion by the reading means before starting to read the frame image, a portion having a density higher than a reference density predetermined as a judgment reference. It detects whether there is. The reference density is a low density, such as the average density of the light transmitting portion, that does not affect the frame image even when printed together with the frame image. Is detected, it is determined that there is an attached matter, and a signal is output.

Therefore, according to the signal output from the attached matter judging means, the conveyance of the photographic film by the film carrying means is stopped, the reading operation by the reading means is stopped, or the presence of the attached matter is displayed on the display screen. It is possible to prompt a worker to stop the apparatus by performing a process such as issuing an alarm, and immediately stop reading the frame image.

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, based on the image data obtained by reading the light transmitting section before reading the frame image, the adhering substance determining means determines whether the adhering substance adheres to the light transmitting section. Since it is determined whether or not there is an attached matter, the reading of the photographic film can be immediately stopped when there is an attached matter, so that the image of the attached matter can be prevented from being read together with the image. Therefore, when a photographic print is created based on the obtained image data, the image of the attached matter can be prevented from being printed together with the image.

The reading of the light transmitting portion before reading the frame image is performed by reading the light transmitted through only the light transmitting portion in a state where the photographic film is not set in the reading device and receiving the light for a predetermined time. The film is set in the reading device and transport is started, and for a few seconds from when the leading edge of the photographic film reaches the reading position of the reading device to when the leading edge of the first frame image reaches the reading position of the reading device, There is a case where light transmitted through the light transmitting portion and the film base is received by reading the light transmitting portion. In the former case, since only the light transmitting portion is read, the presence or absence of extraneous matter can be checked with high accuracy, so it is effective for periodic inspection. In the latter case, the film at the leading end of one photographic film Since the light transmitting portion is read together with the base, it is possible to automatically check the presence or absence of the adhering matter on the light transmitting portion every time the photographic film is read.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the inter-frame image area between the frame images is read by the reading means, and the inter-frame image area read by the reading means by the adhering matter determining means is read. The attached matter determination means determines the presence or absence of the attached matter based on the image data. That is, since no image is recorded in the area between frame images, the image data in the area between frame images is obtained by receiving light transmitted through the light transmitting portion and the film base, and the obtained image data is The density difference is small. However, if there is an adhering substance on the light transmitting part, the adhering substance blocks the light from the light source, and the density of the image data obtained when the light transmitted through the light transmitting part and the film base is received. The image of the attached matter is read as image data having different densities. for that reason,
If there is an adhering matter in the area between the frame images, the image data obtained by reading the area between the frame images includes image data having a partially different density in the image data having a substantially constant density. By examining the presence / absence of image data having different densities, the presence / absence of attached matter can be known.

The adhering matter judging means detects an adhering matter in the light transmitting portion when portions having different densities are successively detected at the same position using a predetermined density as a reference density from the image data in the inter-frame image area. Judge. This reference density is as low as the average density of image data obtained when light transmitted through the light transmitting portion and the film base is received, such as the average density of the image data, which is not affected by the frame image even when printed together with the frame image. If the density is higher or lower than the reference density and is detected at the same position continuously for a predetermined number of times, the deposit determining means determines that there is a deposit and outputs a signal.

In response to a signal output from the adhering matter judging means, the conveyance of the photographic film by the film conveying means is stopped, the reading operation by the reading means is stopped, the presence of adhering matter is displayed on the display screen, the alarm is issued. And prompting the worker to stop the apparatus by performing a process such as issuing a command, and immediately stop reading the frame image.

In this way, according to the second aspect of the present invention, each time reading of one frame of image is completed, the attached matter determining means can determine whether or not there is an attached matter on the light transmitting portion. In addition to being able to continuously check whether or not an adhering substance has adhered to the light transmitting portion during reading, the image reading operation can be stopped immediately when the adhering substance has adhered. It can be prevented from being read together with the image. Therefore, when a photographic print is created based on the obtained image data, it is possible to prevent the image of the attached matter from being printed on the photographic print in a black line or a white line.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. First, a digital laboratory system according to the present embodiment will be described. In all the drawings, the same or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals. (Schematic Configuration of Entire System) FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a digital laboratory system 10 according to the present embodiment.
FIG. 2 shows the appearance of the digital laboratory system 10. As shown in FIG. 1, the lab system 10 includes a line CCD scanner 14, an image processing unit 16, a laser printer unit 18, and a processor unit 20, and the line CCD scanner 14 and the image processing unit 16 The laser printer unit 18 and the processor unit 20 are integrated as an input unit 26 shown in FIG. 2 and an output unit 28 shown in FIG.

The line CCD scanner 14 is for reading a frame image recorded on a photographic film such as a negative film or a reversal film.
5 size photographic film, 110 size photographic film, and photographic film with a transparent magnetic layer (24
0 size photographic film: so-called APS film), 12
Frame images of photographic film of size 0 and size 220 (Brownie size) can be read. The line CCD scanner 14 reads the frame image to be read by the line CCD 14 and outputs image data.

In the present embodiment, a digital lab system 1 in which a 135-size photographic film is applied.
Description will be made assuming 0.

The image processing section 16 stores image data (scanned image data) output from the line CCD scanner 14.
Is input, image data obtained by photographing with a digital camera, image data obtained by reading an original (for example, a reflective original, etc.) with a scanner, image data generated by a computer, etc. File image data) from outside (for example,
It is also configured to be able to input through a storage medium such as a memory card or input from another information processing device via a communication line.

The image processing section 16 performs image processing such as various corrections on the input image data and outputs the image data to the laser printer section 18 as recording image data. Also,
The image processing unit 16 can also output image data subjected to image processing to an external device as an image file (for example, output to a storage medium such as a memory card, or transmit to another information device via a communication line). It is possible.

The laser printer unit 18 has R, G, and B laser light sources, and irradiates a photographic paper with laser light modulated in accordance with recording image data input from the image processing unit 16 to perform scanning exposure. To record an image on photographic paper. Further, the processor unit 20 performs each process of color development, bleach-fix, washing, and drying on the photographic paper on which the image is recorded by the scanning exposure by the laser printer unit 18. Thus, an image is formed on the printing paper.

(Configuration of Line CCD Scanner) Next, the configuration of the line CCD scanner 14 will be described. FIG. 3 shows a schematic configuration of an optical system of the line CCD scanner 14. This optical system includes a light source 30 composed of a halogen lamp, a metal halide lamp, or the like, which irradiates the photographic film 22 with light, and a line CCD 116, which receives light transmitted through the photographic film 22. Dimming filters 114C, 114M, 114Y provided along the optical axis of the emitted light in the order of C (cyan), M (magenta), and Y (yellow) between the light source 30 and the photographic film 22;
The photographic film 2 uses the light adjusted for each component color light by the dimming filters 114C, 114M, and 114Y as diffused light.
2 is provided.
A lens unit 40 that forms an image of light transmitted through the photographic film 22 is provided between the photographic film 22 and the line CCD 116.

The photographic film 22 is a film carrier 3
8 (see FIG. 5, not shown in FIG. 3), the frame image is conveyed so that the screen is perpendicular to the optical axis. As will be described later, the film carrier 38 has a rectangular slit 30 having a longitudinal direction in a direction perpendicular to the photographic film transport direction.
2a and 302b (see FIG. 6), and the slits 302a and 302b block light reaching outside the image recording range. Although only a single lens is shown as the lens unit 40 in FIG. 3, the lens unit 40 is actually a zoom lens composed of a plurality of lenses.

The line CCDs 116 are arranged in a line in the width direction of the photographic film 22 on which a plurality of CCD cells are conveyed, and three sensing lines provided with an electronic shutter mechanism are provided in parallel with each other at intervals. Each of the R, G, and B color separation filters is mounted on the light incident side of each sensing unit (a so-called three-line color CCD). The light receiving surface of each sensing unit of the line CCD 116 is arranged so as to coincide with the image forming point position of the lens unit 40.

In the vicinity of each sensing section, a transfer section is provided corresponding to each sensing section, and electric charges accumulated in each CCD cell of each sensing section are sequentially transferred via the corresponding transfer section. Will be transferred. Although not shown, a shutter is provided between the line CCD 116 and the lens unit 40.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic configuration of an electric system of the line CCD scanner 14. Line CCD scanner 1
4 includes a microprocessor 46 for controlling the entire line CCD scanner 14. The microprocessor 46 has a RAM 64 (for example, SRA
M), ROM 66 (for example, RO whose storage contents can be rewritten)
M), and the motor driver 48 is connected. Further, the motor driver 48 includes a filter driving motor 5 capable of independently sliding the dimming filters 114C, 114M, and 114Y.
4 are connected.

The microprocessor 46 turns on and off the light source 30 in conjunction with turning on and off a power switch (not shown). The microprocessor 46 includes a line CCD 1
When the frame image is read (photometric) by the filter driving motor 54, the dimming filter 114C,
114M and 114Y are independently slid, and the amount of light incident on the line CCD 116 is adjusted for each component color light.

Further, the motor driver 48 moves the zoom drive motor 70 for changing the zoom magnification of the lens unit 40 by moving the positions of the plurality of lenses of the lens unit 40 relatively, and the entire lens unit 40. Is connected to a lens drive motor 106 for moving the image forming point position of the lens unit 40 along the optical axis. The microprocessor 46 controls the zoom drive motor 7 according to the size of the frame image and whether or not to perform trimming.
By 0, the zoom magnification of the lens unit 40 is changed to a desired magnification.

On the other hand, a timing generator 74 is connected to the line CCD 116. The timing generator 74 generates various timing signals (clock signals) for operating the line CCD 116, an A / D converter 82 described later, and the like. The signal output terminal of the line CCD 116 is connected to an A / D converter 82 via an amplifier 76. The signal output from the line CCD 116 is amplified by the amplifier 76 and converted to digital data by the A / D converter 82. Is done.

The output terminal of the A / D converter 82 is connected to an interface (I / F) circuit 90 via a correlated double sampling circuit (CDS) 88. The CDS 88 samples the feedthrough data indicating the level of the feedthrough signal and the pixel data indicating the level of the pixel signal, and subtracts the feedthrough data from the pixel data for each pixel. Then, the calculation result (pixel data that accurately corresponds to the amount of charge stored in each CCD cell) is converted into scan image data via the I / F circuit 90 as an image processing unit 1.
6 sequentially.

Note that R, G,
Since the photometric signals of B are output in parallel, the amplifier 76, A
Three signal processing systems including a / D converter 82 and a CDS 88 are also provided, and the I / F circuit 90 outputs R, G, and B image data as scan image data in parallel.

The motor driver 48 is connected to a shutter drive motor 92 for opening and closing the shutter.
The dark output of the line CCD 116 is corrected by the image processing unit 16 at the subsequent stage, but the dark output level is set by the microprocessor 4 when the frame image is not read.
6 can be obtained by closing the shutter.

(Configuration of Image Processing Unit) Next, the image processing unit 16
Will be described with reference to FIG. Image processing unit 1
Reference numeral 6 is provided with a line scanner correction unit 122 corresponding to the line CCD scanner 14. The line scanner correction unit 122 includes a dark correction circuit 124, a defective pixel correction unit 128, and a light correction circuit 13 corresponding to R, G, and B image data output in parallel from the line CCD scanner 14.
There are provided three signal processing systems composed of 0s.

The dark correction circuit 124 includes a line CCD 116
In the state where the light incident side is shielded from light by the shutter, data input from the line CCD scanner 14 (data representing the dark output level of each cell of the sensing unit of the line CCD 116) is stored for each cell, and CCD
From the scanned image data input from the scanner 14,
The correction is performed by reducing the dark output level of the cell corresponding to each pixel.

Further, the photoelectric conversion characteristics of the line CCD 116 vary from cell to cell. Defective pixel correction unit 12
In the bright correction circuit 130 at the subsequent stage of 8, the line CCD 116 reads the adjustment frame image with the line CCD 116 in a state where the frame image for adjustment with a constant density is set on the line CCD scanner 14. The gain is determined for each cell based on the image data of the adjustment frame image input from 14 (the density variation of each pixel represented by the frame image data is caused by the variation of the photoelectric conversion characteristics of each cell). Every line CCD scanner 14
The image data of the frame image to be read which is input from is corrected for each pixel according to the gain determined for each cell.

On the other hand, if the density of a specific pixel is significantly different from the density of other pixels in the image data of the frame image for adjustment, the cell corresponding to the specific pixel in the line CCD 116 has some abnormalities. The specific pixel can be determined as a defective pixel. The defective pixel correction unit 128 stores the address of the defective pixel based on the image data of the adjustment frame image, and stores the defective pixel data in the image data of the frame image to be read input from the line CCD scanner 14. Generates new data by interpolating from the data of surrounding pixels.

Since three lines (CCD cell rows) are arranged in the line CCD 116 at predetermined intervals along the transport direction of the photographic film 22, the line CCD scanner 14 outputs R, G, B. There is a time difference in the timing at which the output of the image data of each component color is started.
The line scanner correction unit 122 delays the output timing of the image data with a different delay time for each component color light so that the R, G, and B image data of the same pixel is simultaneously output on the frame image.

The output terminal of the line scanner correction unit 122 is connected to the input terminal of the selector 132,
Are output to the selector 132. The input terminal of the selector 132 is also connected to the data output terminal of the input / output controller 134. From the input / output controller 134, externally input file image data is input to the selector 132. Selector 1
The output terminals of the 32 are connected to the input / output controller 134 and the data input terminals of the image processor units 136A and 136B, respectively. The selector 132 can selectively output the input image data to each of the input / output controller 134 and the image processors 136A and 136B.

The image processor section 136A includes a memory controller 138, an image processor 140, and three frame memories 142A, 142B, 142C. Frame memories 142A, 142B, 142C
Has a capacity capable of storing image data of a frame image for one frame, and the image data input from the selector 132 is stored in three frame memories 142A, 142B,
142C, the memory controller 138 stores the data of each pixel of the input image data as
The address at which the image data is stored in the frame memories 142A, 142B, 142C is controlled so that the image data is stored in a predetermined order in the storage areas of the frame memories 142A, 142B, 142C.

The image processor 140 takes in the image data stored in the frame memory 142, performs gradation conversion, color conversion, hypertone processing for compressing the gradation of an ultra-low frequency luminance component of the image, and sharpness while suppressing graininess. Various image processing such as hyper sharpness processing for emphasizing is performed. Note that the processing conditions of the above image processing are automatically calculated by an auto setup engine 144 (described later), and the image processing is performed according to the calculated processing conditions. The image processor 140 is connected to the input / output controller 134, and the image data subjected to the image processing is temporarily stored in the frame memory 142 and then output to the input / output controller 134 at a predetermined timing. Note that the image processor unit 136B has the same configuration as the above-described image processor unit 136A, and a description thereof will be omitted.

In the first embodiment of the present invention, before the reading of the frame image is started, the slit 302a
It is determined whether there is any attached matter on 302b (see FIG. 6). That is, the frame image is stored in the line CCD 11
By starting the reading by the line CCD 116 before reaching the reading position of No. 6, it is determined from the image obtained (advance reading) whether or not there is any deposit. That is, the light received by the line CCD 116 during the preceding reading is light transmitted only through the slits 302a and 302b, so that the obtained image data has a small density difference. For this reason, if an adhering substance adheres to the slits 302a and 302b, the image of the adhering substance is read in a superimposed manner and partially has a high density, and the obtained image data that partially becomes image data having a density difference is The auto setup engine 14 which is input from the selector 132 to the input / output controller 134 and further connected to the input / output controller 134
4 is output. Auto setup engine 144
Are a CPU 146, a RAM 148 (for example, DRAM),
ROM 150 (for example, RO whose storage content is rewritable)
M), an input / output port 152,
And are connected to each other via a.

This auto setup engine 144
Is compared with the density of each pixel in one line of the line CCD 116, and if there is a portion having a different density, it is determined that an adhering substance is attached, and NG processing is immediately performed. The NG process may be any process that stops image reading. For example, a microcontroller that outputs a signal to the transport control unit 172 to stop the transport of the photographic film 22 or controls the entire line CCD scanner 14. A signal is output to the processor 46 (see FIG. 3) to stop reading the frame image, a display indicating that there is an attached matter on the display means, an alarm is sounded, and the like.

Further, in the second embodiment of the present invention, during the reading operation of the frame image by the line CCD 116, the area between the frame images is also read and the slit 30 is read.
It is continuously determined whether there is any attached matter on 2a and 302b. That is, at the time of reading a frame image, the line CCD 116 reads both the frame image and the area between the frame images (inter-frame image area) to read two types of image data (that is, the image data in the frame image area). And the image data of the area between the frame images are obtained, and it is determined whether or not the adhered substance is attached using the image data of the area between the frame images.

Since no image is recorded in the area between frame images, reading this area yields image data with a small density difference. However, if an adhering substance is attached to the light transmitting portion, the image of the adhering substance is always read at the same pixel position, so that only specific pixels always have higher densities than others, and image data having a partial density difference Becomes

The image data in the area between frame images is stored in the selector 1
32, the data is input to the input / output controller 134, and further output to the auto setup engine 144 connected to the input / output controller 134. In the second embodiment, the auto set-up engine 144 includes the line CCD 11
6, the operation of comparing the densities of the pixels in one line and, if there is a portion having a different density, storing the position is repeated. When the same position is stored continuously for a predetermined number of times or more, it is determined that an attached matter is attached, and the NG process is immediately performed.

In the first and second embodiments, when the attachment is not recognized, the reading of the frame image is continued. In the first and second embodiments, a prescan for reading a frame image at a relatively low resolution and a fine scan for reading a frame image at a relatively high resolution based on image data (prescan image data) obtained by the prescan. The image data is read as image data by two readings including scanning.

That is, the auto setup engine 1
44 calculates image processing conditions for fine scan based on the pre-scan image data obtained by the pre-scan, and outputs the calculated processing conditions to the image processor 140 of the image processor unit 136. In the calculation of the processing conditions of this image processing, it was determined whether or not there was an image of a plurality of frames in which a similar scene was photographed based on the exposure amount at the time of photographing, the photographing light source type and other characteristic amounts, and a similar scene was photographed. If there are a plurality of frame images, the image processing conditions for the fine scan image data of these frame images are determined to be the same or similar.

The optimum processing conditions for image processing vary depending on whether the image data after image processing is used for recording an image on photographic paper in the laser printer unit 18 or output to the outside. Since the image processing unit 16 is provided with two image processor units 136A and 136B, for example, when the image data is used for recording an image on photographic paper and is output to the outside, the auto setup engine 144 is used. Calculates the optimal processing conditions for each application, and calculates the image processor units 136A and 136A.
Output to B. Thereby, the image processor unit 13
6A and 136B, the same fine scan image data is subjected to image processing under different processing conditions.

Further, the auto setup engine 144
Calculates an image recording parameter that defines a gray balance and the like when recording an image on photographic paper by the laser printer unit 18 based on the pre-scan image data of the frame image input from the input / output controller 134, The image data for recording is output to the printer unit 18 simultaneously. Also, the auto setup engine 144
Processing conditions for image processing are calculated for file image data input from outside in the same manner as described above.

The input / output controller 134 is an I / F circuit 1
It is connected to the laser printer section 18 via 56.
When the image data after image processing is used for recording an image on photographic paper, the image data processed by the image processor 136 is transferred from the input / output controller 134 via the I / F circuit 156 to the recording image. The data is output to the laser printer unit 18 as data. The auto setup engine 144 is connected to a personal computer 158. When the image data after the image processing is output to the outside as an image file, the image data processed by the image processor unit 136 is sent from the input / output controller 134 to the auto setup engine 144.
Is output to the personal computer 158 via the.

The personal computer 158 has a CPU
160, memory 162, display 164 and keyboard 166 (see also FIG. 2), hard disk 168, C
It includes a D-ROM driver 170, a transport control unit 172, an expansion slot 174, and an image compression / decompression unit 176.
These are connected to each other via a bus 178. The transport controller 172 is connected to the film carrier 38 and controls the transport of the photographic film 22 by the film carrier 38. In addition, the film carrier 38
When the APS film is set in the APS film, information (for example, image recording size) read from the magnetic layer of the APS film by the film carrier 38 is input.

A driver (not shown) for reading / writing data from / to a storage medium such as a memory card.
A communication control device for communicating with another information processing device is connected to the personal computer 158 via the expansion slot 174. When image data for output to the outside is input from the input / output controller 134, the image data is output to the outside (the driver, the communication control device, or the like) as an image file via the expansion slot 174. When file image data is input from outside via the expansion slot 174, the input file image data
4 to the input / output controller 134. In this case, the input / output controller 134 outputs the input file image data to the selector 132.

The image processing section 16 outputs prescanned image data and the like to the personal computer 158,
A frame image read by the line CCD scanner 14 is displayed on the display 164, an image obtained by recording on a photographic paper is estimated and displayed on the display 164, and the operator can correct the image via the keyboard 166. When instructed, this can be reflected in the processing conditions of image processing.

(Structure of Film Carrier) Next, the structure of the film carrier 38 will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 6 shows a state in which the film carrier 38 is set on the line CCD scanner 14 (see FIGS. 1 and 2).
Illustration of M, 114Y, light diffusion box 36, and the like is omitted.

The film carrier 38 is provided in the vicinity of the photographic film 22 introduction portion and detects a leading end position of the photographic film 22 and a first conveying roller pair 312 for forming a conveying path of the photographic film 22.
And a second transmission roller pair 322, and a light transmitting unit that transmits a part of the light emitted from the light source 30 to the photographic film 22 being conveyed by the first conveyance roller pair 312 and the second conveyance roller pair 322. 302a, 302b;
It has.

The first transport roller pair 312 and the second transport roller pair 322 each include two rollers that are synchronously rotated by motors 284 and 286, and rotate while the photographic film 22 is held between the two rollers. Then, the photographic film 22 is transported in one direction. The first transport roller pair 312 and the second transport roller pair 322 are connected to the transport controller 172 via drivers 288 and 290, respectively.
(See also FIG. 5), and the transfer start and stop are controlled by the transfer control unit 172.

At substantially the center between the first pair of conveying rollers 312 and the second pair of conveying rollers 322, the photographic film 2
2, a light source 30 for irradiating light to the photographic film 22,
And a line CCD 116 for receiving light transmitted therethrough. The slits 302a and 302b are symmetrically placed on the light irradiation position of the photographic film 22 with the photographic film 22 therebetween.
Is arranged. These slits 302a, 302b
In the light emitted from the light source 30, light reaching the outside of the object to be read by the line CCD sensor 116 is shielded to prevent occurrence of flare and saturation of the accumulated charge in the line CCD 116 due to light leakage. (Operation) A first embodiment of the present invention in which the auto-setup engine 144 of the image processing unit 16 performs the attached matter determination processing before starting to read the frame image recorded on the photographic film 22 will be described with reference to FIG. explain.

In step 400, the film carrier 3
Whether or not the leading end of the photographic film 22 has reached the film introducing portion 8 is detected by a leading end detection sensor 330 provided near the first conveying roller pair 312.

When the leading end of the photographic film 22 is detected,
Proceeding to the next step 402, the first transport roller pair 312
The second transport roller pair 322 is driven to start the transport of the photographic film 22, and the process proceeds to step 404 to start the pre-reading of the image by the line CCD 116.

In the next step 406, it is determined whether or not there is a partially high-density area in the image data obtained in the preceding reading of the image. That is, when it is determined that there is a partially high-density pixel among the pixels in one line,
When it is determined that there is an attached matter, the process proceeds to step 408, in which the conveyance of the photographic film 22 is stopped or the line CCD 116 is stopped.
NG processing such as stopping the reading of the image by the above, displaying the presence of the adhering matter on the display means, and sounding an alarm.

If it is determined that the high-density pixels do not exist in the image data obtained in the preceding reading of the image, the process proceeds to step 410 to determine whether the frame image has reached the image reading position of the line CCD 116. In other words, it is determined whether or not the leading edge of the frame image has reached the image reading position. Here, the auto setup engine 1
When the level of the signal output to 44 becomes lower than a predetermined level, the leading edge of the frame image
It is determined that the image reading position 6 has been reached.

If it is determined in step 410 that the leading edge of the frame image has not reached the image reading position, the flow returns to step 406 to determine again whether or not there is a partially high-density pixel. This operation is repeated until the leading edge of the frame image reaches. Line CCD
When the leading edge of the frame image reaches the image reading position 116, the process proceeds to step 412 to start pre-scanning. In step 412, the pre-scan image data obtained by the pre-scan together with the position data indicating the position of each frame together with the R
AM 148.

In the next step 414, photographic film 2
It is determined whether the pre-scan has been completed for all the frame images recorded in Step 2. End of pre-scan,
After a rear end of the photographic film 22 is detected by a sensor (not shown) provided before the reading position of the line CCD 116, a predetermined time (a time until all pre-scanning of the last frame image by the line CCD 116 is completed) has elapsed. It is determined whether the pre-scan has been completed for all the frame images recorded on the photographic film 22 when the time has elapsed.

If it is determined in step 414 that the prescan for all the film images recorded on the photographic film 22 has been completed, the flow shifts to step 416 to transfer the photographic film 22 by the pair of conveying rollers 312 and 322. After stopping the transfer, the process proceeds to step 418, and if it is determined that the transfer is not completed, the process proceeds to step 41.
2, the processing described above, that is, photographic film 2
The pre-scan for the frame image recorded in Step 2 is repeatedly executed.

In step 418, the processing conditions for image processing for fine scan are calculated based on the pre-scan image data stored in the RAM 148. When all calculations are completed, in step 420, the conveying roller pairs 312 and 322 are driven again, and the process proceeds to step 422 to start fine scan based on the processing conditions calculated in step 418.

In the next step 424, photographic film 2
Then, it is determined whether or not the fine scan for all the frame images recorded in Step 2 has been completed. The end of the fine scan is determined by detecting whether or not a predetermined time (time until the end of the pre-scan of the last frame) has elapsed after detecting the trailing edge of the photographic film 22. It is determined that the fine scan for all the recorded frame images has been completed. If it is determined in step 414 that the fine scan has not been completed, the process proceeds to step 422 to repeatedly execute the above-described processing, that is, the fine scan for the frame image recorded on the photographic film 22. If it is determined that the pre-scan has been completed for all the film images recorded on the photographic film 22, the processing in this flowchart ends. In addition,
In the first embodiment, since only the slits 302a and 302b are read before the image reading is started, it is preferable because it is possible to determine the attachment of the attached matter regardless of the type of the film such as a negative or a reversal.

Next, a description will be given of a second embodiment of the present invention, in which the auto-setup engine 144 of the image processing section 16 performs the attached matter determination processing while reading the frame image, with reference to FIG. Note that this flowchart corresponds to line CC
Only the adhering matter determination processing of judging the presence or absence of adhering matter using image data of the inter-image area among the image data obtained by scanning the area including the inter-image area by D116 is shown.

In the second embodiment, the line CCD 116
The density of each pixel in one line when the negative film is scanned is compared, and when a pixel having a density higher than the other pixel density is detected, the position is stored. When a pixel having a high density is detected, it is determined that an adhering substance is present. The number of detections at this time is counted by the count value n.

First, in step 500, the flag and the count value n are initialized. Next, in step 502, when reading of an image is started by the line CCD 116, in step 504, the line C
Whether the CD 116 has read the area between the frame images
The determination is made by detecting the trailing edge of the frame image. If it is determined that the area is not the area between the images, the flowchart ends, and if it is determined that the area is the area between the images, the process proceeds to step 506.

In step 506, the line CCD 116
It is determined whether or not there is a partially high-density area in the image data read by. That is, it is detected whether or not there is a partially high-density pixel among the pixels constituting one line of the line CCD 116 after scanning one line. Line CC
If there is no partially high-density pixel among the pixels constituting one line of D116, the flag is reset and step 5
The process proceeds from step 08 to step 504, and the reading position determination process and the partially high-density pixel detection process are repeatedly executed. If there is a pixel having a high density partially in the pixels constituting one line of the line CCD 116, step 510 is executed.
Then, it is determined whether or not the flag is reset, in other words, whether or not a high-density pixel is detected for the first time.

If it is determined in step 510 that the flag has been reset, the flow advances to step 512 to store the pixel position in the RAM 148, and then to step 51.
At step 4, a flag is set. Thereafter, the process returns to step 504 to repeat the above processing.

If it is determined in step 510 that the flag has been set, the flow shifts to step 516 to determine whether the previously stored position is the same as the currently detected position. If the previously stored position and the position detected this time are not the same, after resetting the count value n in step 518, the process proceeds to step 512, where the pixel position is replaced with the newly stored position and stored. At step 514, a flag is set. Thereafter, the process returns to step 504 to repeat the above processing.

If the previously stored position is the same as the currently detected position, the process proceeds to step 520, where the count value n is incremented. In the next step, it is determined whether or not the count value n is a predetermined value A, thereby determining whether or not the high density pixels are continuous. If the count value n has not reached the predetermined value A, the process proceeds to step 504 and the above processing is repeated. Here, the predetermined value A is set to a value smaller than the number of scans when the entire inter-image area is scanned.

When the count value n has reached the predetermined value A, it is determined that there is an adhering matter, and the process proceeds to step 524. For example, the conveyance of the photographic film 22 is stopped, or the reading of the image by the line CCD 116 is stopped. NG processing, such as causing the display means to display the presence of an attached substance, sounding an alarm, etc., and ends the processing in this flowchart.

The predetermined value A may be, for example, determined to be a value slightly smaller than the number of scans when all the inter-image areas are scanned. In the second embodiment, the negative film has been described. However, the second embodiment can be applied to a reversal film.

Here, a first embodiment in which it is determined whether there is any deposit on the slit before reading the image, and a second embodiment in which it is determined whether there is any deposit on the slit during reading of the image. Although the embodiment has been described separately, the configuration of the first embodiment and the configuration of the second embodiment are combined to determine the presence or absence of the adhering matter both before reading the image and during reading of the image. Is also good.

[0078]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the adhering matter judging means can detect the light based on the image data obtained by reading only the light transmitting portion before reading the frame image. Since it is determined whether or not there is any attached matter on the transmission part, if there is any attached matter, it can be detected immediately and the reading operation of the frame image can be stopped. Can be prevented from being read. Therefore, when a photographic print is created based on the obtained image data, an effect of preventing the image of the attached matter from being printed on the photographic print in a black line or a white line is achieved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the presence or absence of an attached matter is determined each time the reading of one frame image is completed. You can check. Therefore, even if dust adheres during reading of the image, the dust can be detected at that time, and the effect of preventing the image of the attached matter from being read together with the frame image at a high rate can be achieved. Furthermore, by adjusting the upper limit value A of the count number, it is possible to set the size to be detected as an attached matter, so that only the attached matter that affects the printed image when printed is selectively detected as the attached matter. The effect of being able to achieve is also achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a digital laboratory system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external view of a digital laboratory system.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of an optical system of the line CCD scanner.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of an electric system of the line CCD scanner.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image processing unit.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of a film carrier.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an attached matter determination process according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an attached matter determination process according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 digital lab system 14 line CCD scanner (line scanner) 22 photographic film 30 light source 38 film carrier 116 line CCD 144 auto setup engine 302a, 302b slit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A film transport means for transporting a photographic film on which a plurality of frame images are recorded, and a slit-shaped light transmitting portion provided in a direction intersecting with the transport direction of the photographic film; A light source for irradiating light toward the light transmitting portion; reading means provided on an optical path of the light source for reading an image by receiving light transmitted through the light transmitting portion and the photographic film; Before starting to read the frame image, the reading unit reads the light transmitting unit,
An adhering substance determining means for judging that an adhering substance is present when a density higher than a predetermined reference density is detected in the obtained image data. 2. A film conveying means for conveying a photographic film on which a plurality of frame images are recorded, and a slit-shaped light transmitting portion provided in a direction intersecting with the conveying direction of the photographic film; A light source for irradiating light toward the light transmitting portion; reading means provided on an optical path of the light source, for reading an image by receiving light transmitted through the light transmitting portion and the photographic film; and a frame image and a frame image And an adhering substance judging means for judging that an adhering object is present when a portion having a density different from a predetermined density is continuously detected at the same position in the image data of the area between the two.