JPH11321017A - Photo image printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a photo image printer capable of preventing a memory card from being inserted to an erroneous card slot. SOLUTION: A memory card connecting section 10 is moved by moving a selection lever so that one of the card slots 11, 12, 13 is selected to be communicated to an opening section 391. As a result, it is possible to insert one of the memory cards 14, 15, 16 into the opening section 391 to be connected to the memory card connecting section 10. As one opening section 391 for the insertion of the memory cards 14, 15, 16 is provided, a user can easily find the position to insert the memory cards 14, 15, 16 so that it is possible to prevent the user from inserting the memory card into an erroneous card slot.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a photographic image printing apparatus for printing digital image data obtained by a digital still camera or the like as a photograph.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a digital still camera that converts light into digital data by an optical sensor such as a CCD and records photographic image data (hereinafter referred to as photographic data) on a readable and writable storage medium has been reduced in cost and cost. Image quality has been widespread. Some digital still cameras record photographic data on a removable memory card. By inserting the memory card into a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a personal computer) that has a card slot, the photographic data can be easily stored on a personal computer. Can be captured. By connecting a sublimation-type or inkjet printer to a personal computer that has imported the photo data and printing, the photo can be printed at low cost even at a small office or home.

[0003] When printing using a personal computer as described above, printing cannot be performed without both a personal computer and a printer. Also, there is known a photo printing printer that has a card slot into which a memory card can be inserted and can print photo data in the memory card.

A memory card for a digital still camera has a plurality of standards, such as SmartMedia (trademark) and CompactFlash (trademark), and each has a different size and a different shape of a connection portion with a card slot.
Conventionally, a card slot conforms to the PCMCIA standard, and a memory card is inserted into the card slot via an adapter connectable to the PCMCIA standard card slot, or a plurality of card slots corresponding to a plurality of memory cards are inserted. Such a method has been adopted in which a plurality of types of memory cards can be connected.

[0005]

However, when the memory card is connected to the card slot via the adapter as described above, the user must connect the memory card to the adapter and then insert the adapter into the card slot. However, there is a problem that it takes time when connecting and taking out.

Further, when a plurality of card slots are provided in the printer as described above, it is difficult for a user to know which card slot to insert a memory card into, and if a memory card is inserted into an incorrect card slot, There is a problem that a card slot or a memory card may be damaged.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and has as its object to prevent a memory card from being inserted into an incorrect card slot having a plurality of card slots. A photographic image printing device is provided.

[0008]

According to the photographic image printing apparatus of the present invention, an opening through which a memory card storing photographic image data is passed, and a plurality of types of memory cards are provided. A memory card connection unit having a plurality of card slots connectable to each other, and a moving unit capable of moving any one of the plurality of card slots to a position capable of communicating with the opening. Therefore, when the user moves the memory card connecting portion by the moving means, only one of the card slots can communicate with the opening, and the user inserts the memory card into the wrong card slot. Can be prevented.

According to the photographic image printing apparatus of the second aspect of the present invention, the printing unit includes a holding unit that holds the roll paper so as to be able to be fed out, and a paper feeding unit that can move the roll paper in the feeding direction. An inkjet head that can reciprocate in the width direction of the roll paper and can eject ink droplets in a range wider than the width of the roll paper, and absorbs ink ejected to the outside of the roll paper at both ends of the inkjet head movement range It has an ink absorbing means and a cutting means for cutting the roll paper in the width direction. Therefore, the roll paper on which the photo is printed can be cut at an arbitrary position in the moving direction, and a photo having no surrounding margin can be printed at an arbitrary aspect ratio.

[0010]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a photographic image printing apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The photographic image printing apparatus 1 includes a memory card connection unit 10 having a plurality of card slots 11, 12, and 13.
, A touch panel 20, a printing unit 30, and a control unit 40. By inserting and connecting the memory cards 14, 15, 16 having different sizes and shapes to the card slots 11, 12, 13, the control unit 40 can read the photo data in the memory cards.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the photographic image printing apparatus 1. The casing 39 of the printing unit 30 is provided with an opening 391 and a paper outlet 392 that can communicate with any one of the card slots 11, 12, and 13.
Is rotatably connected to the casing 39.
The memory card connector 10 is supported in the casing 39 so as to be able to move up and down together with a selection lever 50 protruding outside the casing 39 as a moving means.

By moving the selection lever 50 downward, the card slot 11 communicates with the opening 391 so that the memory card 14 can be inserted. By moving the selection lever 50 to the center, the card slot 12 opens the opening 391. When the selection lever 50 is moved upward, the card slot 13 communicates with the opening 391 and the memory card 16 can be inserted. Since characters or pictures indicating the type of memory card that can be inserted are displayed in accordance with the position of the selection lever 50, the user inserts an appropriate card slot into the opening 39.
1 can be communicated with.

When the memory cards 14, 15, 16 are inserted into any of the card slots 11, 12, 13, the memory card connection section 10 is locked so that the memory card connection section 10 cannot be moved by the selection lever 50.

The memory cards 14, 15, 16 inserted in the card slots 11, 12, 13 can be taken out by pressing a take-out button 60.

The touch panel 20 is controlled by the user by pressing a touch key as an input unit attached to the surface of a liquid crystal display (LCD) as a display unit.
0 indicates that the pressed position can be detected. As the touch key, for example, a matrix touch key in which a panel provided with a plurality of electrodes in a horizontal direction and a panel provided with a plurality of electrodes in a vertical direction are overlapped can be used. A voltage is applied to one of the horizontal electrode and the vertical electrode, and when the user presses the surface of the touch key, a current flows to the other electrode. By detecting this current, the touch panel 20
The position where the surface is pressed can be detected.

The printing section 30 rotatably holds the roll paper 31 inside a casing 39 by means of a shaft 32 as holding means. The roll paper 31 moves in a direction in which the paper is fed by paper feeding means (not shown). As shown in FIG. 3, the inkjet head 34 can reciprocate in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the roll paper 31, that is, in the width direction of the roll paper 31, and can discharge ink droplets on the roll paper 31. A paper guide 35 is provided at a position facing the inkjet head 34 with the roll paper 31 interposed therebetween. The paper guide 35 is provided with an absorbing pad 36 as ink absorbing means for absorbing the ink ejected to the outside of the roll paper 31 at both ends of the moving range of the inkjet head 34.

The ink jet head 34 includes a control unit 40
By applying a voltage to the pressure generating means in response to a drive signal from the printer, the volume of the ink chamber is expanded and contracted, and the ink in the ink chamber can be ejected from the nozzles as ink droplets onto the roll paper 31. Ink tanks for storing four color inks of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K), and a plurality of ink tanks for each color are arranged perpendicular to the moving direction of the inkjet head 34. It has four rows of nozzles 341. C,
A color image can be printed by a combination of M, Y, and K. When printing black by superimposing C, M, and Y inks, the K ink may be omitted. Further, by using six colors of ink of dark cyan (C), dark magenta (M), light cyan (c), light magenta (m), yellow (Y), and black (K), a smoother gradation is obtained. Can be expressed, and the dots of the ink droplets can be made inconspicuous even in a portion having a high lightness such as a skin color.

A cutter 37 is provided downstream of the ink jet head 34 in the moving direction of the roll paper 31 as cutting means for cutting the roll paper 31 in the width direction. The cutter 37 cuts the roll paper 31 in the width direction according to a command from the control unit 40. As shown in FIG. 4, a blank portion between an ink ejection area 311 where ink droplets are ejected to print one photo on the roll paper 31 and an ink ejection area 312 where the next photo is printed. 3
13 is cut by the cutter 37 and falls, and is stored in the waste paper storage unit 38. The roll paper 31 is cut at the first cutting position and the second cutting position inside the ink ejection regions 311 and 312 in the length direction. In addition, the ink ejection area 3
The widths of 11 and 312 are slightly (for example, 1 mm) larger than the width of the roll paper 31. For this reason, it is possible to eliminate blank spaces on all sides of a printed photo. The roll paper 31 on which the photograph has been printed is discharged from the paper exit 392 to the outside.

The control unit 40 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 4
1 and a storage medium such as a ROM 42 or a flash memory in which a control program is stored. Photographic data stored in a memory card connected to the memory card connection unit 10 is displayed on the touch panel 20 as an image, Is determined, and control for printing a photograph by the printing unit 30 is performed.

Next, a procedure for printing a photograph using the photograph image printing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment will be described.

The user presses the surface of the touch panel 20 to execute the program stored in the ROM 42 of the control unit 40, selects a photo to be printed, and gives an instruction to the printing unit 30. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a procedure for giving a photo print instruction.

For example, when printing a photograph stored in the memory card 15, the user moves the selection lever 50 to the center to select the card slot 12 so as to communicate with the opening 391 (S101). The memory card 15 is inserted into the card slot 12 through the opening 391 (S1
02).

Then, the control unit 40 reads the photograph data stored in the memory card 15 (S103), and displays a photograph image on the LCD of the touch panel 20. A plurality of thumbnails 201 are displayed as reduced images on the LCD by using reduced data of a photograph stored together with the photograph data in the memory card 15, or the control unit 40 creates reduced data from the photograph data and outputs a plurality of thumbnails. The thumbnail 201 can be displayed on the LCD. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, 20 thumbnails 201 are displayed on one screen (S104).

Next, whether or not to perform index printing is selected (S105). On the touch panel 20,
If the position corresponding to the image of the button 202 displayed as “No” is pressed, the process proceeds to step S107 without performing index printing. Hereinafter, pressing a position corresponding to the button image displayed on the touch panel 20 is referred to as “pressing a button”. When the button 203 displayed as "Yes" is pressed, the index print for printing 20 thumbnails 201 on one sheet is executed (S106).

Next, a screen as shown in FIG. 7 is displayed.
The photograph to be printed is selected (S107). When the user presses a portion on the touch panel 20 where the thumb nail 201 of the photo is displayed, it is possible to switch between printing and not printing the photo. Initially, it is set so that all the photos are not printed. When the thumbnail 201 of the photo is pressed, a symbol such as a circle is displayed on the thumbnail 201 to indicate that it is to be printed. ○ Thumbnail 20 with mark
By pressing 1 again, the circle mark disappears and the designation of printing is canceled. The total number of prints is also displayed on the LCD. It is also possible to set to print all the images first, and to display a symbol indicating that the image is not printed, such as an X mark, on the selected image by pressing the thumbnail 201.

If more than 20 images are stored in the memory card and the thumbnails 201 of all the pictures cannot be displayed on one screen of the LCD, the thumbnails 201 of the pictures are displayed.
Is distributed and displayed on multiple sheets of 20 sheets each, and LC
D displays a button 204 for displaying the next sheet and a button 205 for displaying the previous sheet. By pressing the buttons 204 and 205 displayed on the touch panel 20, the displayed sheet can be switched. By specifying that one or more photos are to be printed and pressing the button 206 labeled "Selected",
Proceed to the next step S108.

Next, a size for printing a photograph is selected (S108). In this embodiment, any one of the roll paper 31 having a width of 89 mm, 102 mm, or 127 mm is set in the printing unit 30 and used. A print size is selected by pressing a button indicating a plurality of options displayed on the LCD of the touch panel 20 according to the width of the set roll paper 31.

When a roll paper 31 having a width of 89 mm is set, the width of the roll paper 31 is set to the long side, and printing is performed at a length of 55 mm, so that almost a business card size photograph can be printed. By printing at a length of 127 mm with the width of 31 as the short side, it is possible to print almost standard L size photographs.

When a roll paper 31 having a width of 102 mm is set, the width of the roll paper 31 is set to 152 m
By printing with a length of m, it is possible to print almost standard postcard size or standard size photos in Europe.

When the roll paper 31 having a width of 127 mm is set, the width of the roll paper 31 is set to 89 mm
, A substantially standard L-size photograph can be printed, and a larger-size photograph can be printed by printing the width of the roll paper 31 as a short side.

Regardless of the width of the roll paper 31, the width / width ratio of a photograph having a 4: 3 aspect ratio, a square photograph, or the width of the roll paper 31 according to the number of pixels in the length / width direction of a general digital still camera can be obtained. Can print photos with various aspect ratios, such as so-called panoramic photos that are twice as long.

When the size to be printed is selected, the photograph is printed (S109). Here, the order of the selection of the photo to be printed (S107) and the selection of the photo size (S108) may be reversed.

After one photo is printed, an instruction to print is issued in step S107, and if there are still unprinted photos, step S10 is executed.
Returning to step 9, the next photo is printed, and the process is repeated until all the photos are printed (S110).

When all the photographs have been printed, the memory card 15 is removed automatically or by pressing the removal button 60 (S111).

In this embodiment, the user operates the selection lever 50 to select a card slot communicating with the opening 391. However, the memory card connection unit 10 can be moved under the control of the control unit 40. A simple drive unit,
When the user operates the touch panel 20 to select the type of the memory card, the memory card connection unit 10 can be moved so that an appropriate card slot communicates with the opening 391.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a photographic image printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a photographic image printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an operation of a printing unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a relationship between an ink ejection area and a cut position of roll paper according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process of giving a print instruction according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a screen displayed on the LCD in a process of giving a print instruction according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a screen displayed on the LCD during a process of giving a print instruction according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Photographic image printing apparatus 11, 12, 13 Card slot 14, 15, 16 Memory card 20 Touch panel 30 Printing unit 31 Roll paper 32 Shaft (holding means) 34 Inkjet head 35 Paper guide 36 Absorbing pad (ink absorbing means) 37 Cutter ( Cutting means) 38 waste paper storage unit 39 casing 391 opening 40 control unit 50 selection lever 60 eject button

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An opening through which a memory card storing photographic image data is passed, a plurality of card slots to which a plurality of types of memory cards can be connected, and one of the plurality of card slots A memory card connection unit having a moving unit capable of moving the communication unit to a position that can communicate with the opening, and a display unit that displays an image stored in the memory card.
A touch panel having an input unit provided on the surface of the display unit and capable of detecting a pressed position; a printing unit that prints the photographic image; and a control unit that controls the touch panel and the printing unit. A photographic image printing apparatus characterized by the following. 2. The printing section includes: holding means for holding the roll paper so that the roll paper can be fed; paper feeding means capable of moving the roll paper in the feeding direction; and reciprocating in the width direction of the roll paper. An inkjet head capable of ejecting ink droplets in a range wider than the width of the roll paper, ink absorbing means for absorbing ink ejected to the outside of the roll paper at both ends of a movement range of the inkjet head, and the roll 2. The photographic image printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising cutting means for cutting the paper in the width direction.