JPH0434432A - Image forming device for photographic print - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To add an illustration image accurately at a specific position on the photographic print by editing an input image from an image input part and an illustration image read out of an image memory by an image processing part and displaying them previously. CONSTITUTION:The illustration image 1c to be added to the photographic print 1 is inputted from the illustration image input part 24 and stored in the image memory 22. The visualized photographic print 1 from the image input part 23 or image information from a negative film is inputted and the input image 1a from the image input part 23 and the illustration image 1c from the image memory are edited by the image processing part 21. At this time, the layout of the illustration image 1c can be confirmed while displayed (25) previously. Consequently, an error can easily be proofread and the illustration image can be added accurately at the specific position on the photographic print.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for photographic prints that freely forms illustration images such as characters and figures on photographic prints.

[Prior Art] There are photographic prints in which illustration images such as characters and figures are formed on the main image portion of photographic paper.As a method for forming illustration images on these photographic prints, for example, the main image is transferred from a negative film onto the photographic paper. In addition to printing, there is also a method of printing an illustration image using an illustration image original film.

The illustration image mixed into the main image of the photo print is freely specified by the orderer, for example, with the layout such as the print position and print size, and the printing of explanatory text and figures for the photo.

In order to mix an illustration image into the main image of such a photographic print by printing, it is necessary to prepare an illustration image original film on which the illustration image is formed in advance.
This illustration image original film is usually created by computer typesetting or the like.

[The problem that the invention attempts to solve! ! ! ] In this way, in the case where illustration image manuscript film is created in advance using computer phototypesetting, etc., since a photographic process is used, special equipment is required for creation, making it difficult to form various illustration images. And it's also time consuming.

Further, there are problems in that preparing an illustration image original film in advance is itself time consuming and expensive.

Furthermore, the final layout in the photo printing method cannot be known until the photo is printed, which delays confirmation of errors.

Therefore, instead of the photographic printing method, it is conceivable to print the main image in advance on the emulsion layer of photographic paper, develop it, and then print directly onto the main image of the photographic print using a printer. In this case, for example, using a computer,
Since the illustration image can be input and edited and the layout of the illustration image can be checked in advance on the display, errors can be easily corrected.

By the way, as a method for printing directly on the main image of a photographic print, for example, there is an electrophotographic printer, but this printer has difficulty transferring toner to thick paper such as photographic paper.

Also, impact printers create dents in the photographic paper.
Since the emulsion layer on which the main image is formed is deformed, it has an undesirable effect on the surrounding image areas as well.

Furthermore, inkjet printers are undesirable because they cause printing to smear on the print surface and soften due to moisture content, resulting in destruction of the main image.

This invention was made in view of the above points, and when adding an illustration image to a photographic print, the layout of the illustration image can be confirmed in advance, and the confirmed illustration image can be directly formed on the photographic print, and it also saves time and effort. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus for photographic prints that can be created without using such photographic processes and can be added clearly and with good print quality.

[Means for Solving Problem i1] In order to solve the above problem, an image forming apparatus for photographic prints of the present invention includes an image input section for inputting image information from a visualized photographic print or a negative film, and an image forming apparatus for forming a photographic print. An illustration image input section for inputting an illustration image to be added, an image memory for storing the illustration image, and image processing for editing while displaying the input image from the image input section and the illustration image read from the image memory. The present invention is characterized in that it has a thermal transfer image forming section that transfers the illustration image to a visualized photographic print based on this editing.

[Operation] In the present invention, an illustration image to be added to a photographic print is input from an illustration image input section, and this illustration image is stored in an image memory. In addition, image information is input from the visualized photographic print or negative film from the image input section, and the image processing section edits the input image from the image input section and the illustration image read from the image memory, and at this time displays the image in advance. Since the layout of the illustration image can be checked while checking the layout of the illustration image, errors can be easily corrected and the illustration image can be added accurately to a predetermined position on the photo print.

Furthermore, since the illustration image edited in the image processing section is transferred to the visualized photographic print in the thermal transfer image forming section, markings can be added clearly and with good print quality without damaging the main image on the photographic paper. can.

[Embodiments] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an image forming apparatus for photo prints, Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a thermal transfer image forming section of the image forming apparatus for photo prints, Fig. 3 is a process flowchart of the image forming apparatus for photo prints, and Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an image forming apparatus for photo prints. 5 is a diagram showing a photographic print, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ of FIG. 4.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 21 is an image processing section, and an image memory 22, an image input section 23, an illustration image input section 24, and an image display section 25 are connected to this image processing section 21.

The image processing unit 21 may be any shell-like computer with image processing capability.0 Image memory 2
The memory device 2 may be any memory device that can directly transfer information to a computer, such as an optical disk, CD-ROM, floppy disk, or IC card. Also, of the information stored in the image memory 22, the information other than the information used for reversing is stored in the illustration image input section 24.
You may enter the information each time using a keyboard, mouse, scanner, etc.

The image input section 23 may be any device that can input graphic images, such as a scanner video camera. The illustration image input unit 24 includes, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a scanner, etc., and the image display unit 25 includes a display.

The image memory 22 can store in advance illustration image information such as images and characters to be added to the photo print 1 input from the image input section 23 and the illustration image input section 24.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the photographic print 1 is produced by printing a main image from a negative film using a printing device on an emulsion layer 11b that has been laminated in advance on a support 11a of photographic paper 11.
This was developed and created. The photo print 1 is created using a normal photo printing device, and although the print size is not specified, for example, A4 size, postcard size, service version, etc. are used.

This photo print 1 includes a main image portion 1a and a non-image portion 1a.
b is formed, and when adding an illustration image IC to this part, the image input unit 23 reads the image from a previously created photographic print or negative film, and this image information is input to the image processing unit 21. The image processing section 21 uses information from the image memory 22 and information from the illustration image input section 24 to display the layout of the illustration image IC, such as the print position and print size, on the image display section 25. Since the layout of the illustration image can be confirmed in advance on the image display section 25, errors can be easily corrected.

The illustration image information created or edited by the image processing section 21 is sent to the thermal transfer system 27 under the control of the print controller 26, and the main image portion 1a of the photographic print 1 is
Then, the illustration image IC is thermally transferred onto the non-image portion 1b.

As shown in FIG. 5, the photographic print 1 produced in this manner has an emulsion layer 11b carrying a main image on a support 11a of photographic paper 11, and a predetermined position of the emulsion layer 11b. , a thermal transfer image layer 12 forming an illustration image IC
It is configured to have.

Regarding the character information, the image processing section 21 or the thermal transfer system 27 may have character font information in advance, and this information may be called and used during thermal transfer.

The thermal transfer system 27 is configured as shown in FIG. 2, and includes, for example, a thermal transfer head 60 and a thermal transfer ribbon 61. A thermal transfer head 60 thermally transfers a thermal transfer ribbon 61 onto a photographic print 1 conveyed by a feeding roller 62 to form an illustration image IC on a main image portion 1a and a non-image portion 1b of the photographic print 1. Thermal transfer ribbon 61 is conveyed from ribbon supply section 63 to ribbon winding section 64 .

There are two types of thermal transfer in this thermal transfer system 27, a melting type and a sublimation type, but the melting type is preferable from the viewpoint of clear printing.A thermal head is generally used in the thermal transfer system 27, but
From the viewpoint of printing quality, a head having a dot density of 8 dots/mm or more is preferable.

There are two types of thermal transfer printing methods: a parallel method and a serial method, and the parallel method is preferable from the viewpoint of printing speed. However, the serial method has the advantage of easily increasing the dot density of printing, and is not limited to the parallel method.

In this way, the main image is printed and developed on the photographic paper 11 in advance, and the illustration image IC is separately formed by thermal transfer on the main image portion 1a and the non-image portion 1b of the photographic paper 11, so that the photographic print is made. When an illustration image IC is added to a photographic paper 11, it is not necessary to prepare the information to be added as a film, and the information can be added clearly and with good print quality without damaging the image on the photographic paper 11.

This thermal transfer printing may be performed in a laboratory immediately after the photo print is created, or may be performed at a photo store in response to a user's request.

Further, when performing thermal transfer printing in a laboratory, for example, a thermal transfer printer may be directly connected to an automatic photo processing machine, and thermal transfer printing may be performed simultaneously with the automatic development process.

Furthermore, in the case of creating a postcard, for example, the orderer writes information (text, illustrations, blank space) that they would like to add to the photo print onto a layout card at a photo shop.

Then, send the negative film and layout card to be used to the laboratory. Depending on the layout card, a plurality of cropped photo prints may be made in the normal photo printing process. Necessary text information, illustration information, etc. written separately on a layout card are input into the computer using input means such as a keyboard, mouse, scanner, video camera, etc.

The developed photographic print is placed in a thermal transfer printer, information is sent from the computer to the thermal transfer printer, and the necessary information is printed on the photographic print.

In this way, the completed photographic prints are sorted and sent to a photo shop and handed to the orderer.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the image forming apparatus for photographic prints of the present invention includes an image input section that inputs image information from a visualized photographic print or a negative film, and an input section that inputs an illustration image to be added to the photographic print. An illustration image input section,
It has an image memory that stores this illustration image, and a sleep processing section that edits while displaying the input image from the image input section and the illustration image read out from the image memory. The input image and the illustration image read out from the image memory can be edited, and the layout of the illustration image can be checked while being displayed in advance, making it easy to proofread errors and accurately place the illustration in the specified position on the photo print. Images can be added.

In addition, since it has a thermal transfer image forming section that transfers the illustration image to the visualized photographic print based on editing, the illustration image edited in the image processing section can be transferred to the visualized photographic print, and the main part of the photographic paper It is possible to add an illustration image clearly and with good print quality without damaging the image.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an image forming apparatus for photographic prints, Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a thermal transfer image forming section of the image forming apparatus for photographic prints, Figure 3 is a process flowchart of the image forming apparatus for photographic prints, and 's4 Figure 5 is a diagram showing a photographic print, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line V-V in FIG. 4. In the figure, 1 is a photographic print, 1a is the main image part, 1b is a non-image part, 1c is an illustration image, 11 is photographic paper, ll
a is a support, llb is an emulsion layer, 12 is a thermal transfer image layer, 2
1 is an image processing section, 22 is an image memory, 23 is an image input section, 24 is an illustration image input section, 25 is an image display section, 26
27 is a print controller, and 27 is a thermal transfer system. Figure Figure Procedure Amendment Statement Description of the Case Patent Application No. 14101 of 1990, Name of the Invention Relationship to the Case of Person Correcting an Image Forming Device for Photographic Prints Patent Applicant Address Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 1-26-2 Name (1
27) Konica Corporation

Claims (1)

[Claims] an image input section for inputting image information from a visualized photographic print or negative film; an illustration image input section for inputting an illustration image to be added to the photographic print; an image memory for storing this illustration image; and an image input section for inputting image information from the image input section. and an image processing section that edits the input image and the illustration image read from the image memory while displaying it, and a thermal transfer image forming section that transfers the illustration image to a visualized photographic print based on the editing. An image forming device for photo printing.