JPH1052948A - Color image forming system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize a color image forming system, in which the conversion of image data is performed easily, the size of which is small and which is cheap in cost, the off-line output form which is also easy and with which high picture quality images are obtained, by the structure wherein a computer for re-writing lookup tables for converting image data is built in the system. SOLUTION: In a color image forming system, in which light is applied onto a silver halide photographic material with a scanning type exposure device, re-written memorizing means for memorizing a lookup table for converting image data and a computer for re-writing the lookup table are built. As the memorizing means 3B, 3G and 3R, re-writable RAMs can be employed. When the LUTs of the memorizing means 3B, 3G and 3R are re-written due to the occurrence of changes in input image characteristics and the characteristics of photosensitive material to output or in the processing process of the photosensitive material, the re-writing can be easily performed, for example, with a small-sized personal computer 14 and quick countermeasures can be worked out.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a color image forming system, and more particularly, to a silver halide photographic material (hereinafter referred to as a silver halide photographic material).
The present invention relates to a color image forming system having a scanning type exposure device that obtains a color image by scanning a light beam on a surface (sometimes referred to as a photosensitive material).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a thermal transfer system and an ink jet system have been known as a scanning type color image forming apparatus. However, these apparatuses have insufficient resolution, gradation capacity (subtle tones) and reproduction of texture. There was no high quality image.

In order to obtain a high quality image which satisfies the above requirements, a method of exposing a silver halide photographic material with a scanning exposure apparatus is best.

The principle of obtaining a color image by a so-called scanning type exposure device that scans a light-sensitive material surface with a light beam will be described.

The color image data separated into the three colors of B, G, and R are converted into light intensities of different wavelength bands, and the light is scanned on the photosensitive material using these lights. The term “scanning” used herein refers to the movement of light or the movement of a photosensitive material, and refers to the movement of light relative to the photosensitive material. As the photosensitive material, a material having a spectral sensitivity distribution corresponding to the intensity distribution of the three types of light used is used. The photosensitive material receives an optical signal whose intensity is modulated based on color image data of B, G, and R corresponding to three kinds of spectral sensitivities, and generates an appropriate color according to the optical signal, thereby forming a color. Images can be obtained.

[0006]

In the above method,
Conventionally, when converting image data in accordance with the characteristics of the input image, the characteristics of the photosensitive material to be output, and variations in the processing steps of the photosensitive material, this is conventionally performed using a computer, or a ROM (read only memory) lookup is performed. Conversion was performed using a table. However, the method using a computer has the problems that the system is expensive and large, and that direct output from a medium such as a magnetic tape is impossible offline. Also, in the method using a ROM lookup table, when a new table is required, it is troublesome to create the new table. In particular, fluctuations in processing steps and the like can occur in a complicated manner. Very difficult by the way.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a color image forming system which can easily convert image data, has a small and inexpensive system, can be easily output off-line, and can obtain a high-quality image. The purpose is to provide.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a color image forming system for exposing a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material by a scanning type exposure apparatus, in which a look-up table for converting image data is stored. The present invention is achieved by a color image forming system including a storage unit and a computer connected to the storage unit and rewriting the look-up table stored in the storage unit.

[0009]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG.
The configuration of the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are block diagrams of a scanning exposure apparatus.

The light sources 1B, 1G, and 1R are for writing blue data, green data, and red data of an output image, respectively.

The light beams emitted from the light sources 1B, 1G, 1R are respectively transmitted by the light modulators 2B, 2G, 2R to 3
Beam intensity modulation is performed according to the color-separated digital color image signal, blue data, green data, and red data.

The blue data, green data, and red data are respectively stored in a look-up table (LU) for image data conversion.
T) is converted in the storage means 3B, 3G, 3R.

The converted blue data, green data, and red data are respectively converted into D / A converters 4B, 4G, 4R.
Are subjected to D / A conversion and sent to the optical modulators 2B, 2G, 2R.

The light beams of the respective colors modulated by the optical modulators 2B, 2G, 2R are mirrors 6B, 6G, 6R, respectively.
The optical axis is changed by the reflection by the mirror 6R, the optical beam reflected by the mirror 6R is adjusted to the dichroic mirror 8 side via the mirror 7, and the dichroic mirror 8 combines the light beam with the reflected beam from the mirror 6G. Combination with the reflected beam from 6B is performed by the dichroic mirror 9. The optical beam synthesized by these mirrors is adjusted in optical axis by a mirror 10 and further condensed through a lens 11 to irradiate a color photosensitive material 13 wound around a drum 12. While the drum 12 rotates at a constant speed (main scanning) in the direction of the arrow θ, the lens 11 is moved (sub-scanning) in the direction of the arrow x, whereby an image is printed on the color photosensitive material 13.

Storage means 3B, 3G, 3R in the present invention
Can use a rewritable RAM (random access memory).

If the LUT of the storage means 3B, 3G, 3R is rewritten due to a change in the input image characteristics or the characteristics of the photosensitive material to be output or a change in the processing step of the photosensitive material, the interface 15 is used. This can be easily performed by the connected small personal computer 14, for example, and the response can be made quickly.

In FIG. 1 (reference example), the personal computer 14 outside the system is connected, but according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, the personal computer 14 is incorporated in the system and the storage means 3B,
This is a configuration for directly connecting to 3G and 3R.

Instead of a personal computer, a small-sized, inexpensive and easily-handled microcomputer, for example, can also be used.

The light source used in the present invention is, for example, blue light, green light, yellow light, red light, infrared light, etc. The combination of the three light sources 1B, 1G, 1R is arbitrary, From the viewpoint of handling, etc., a combination of three colors of blue light, green light, and red light is particularly preferable.

The light source used in the present invention is preferably a combination of a white light source such as a glow lamp, a xenon lamp, a mercury lamp, a tungsten lamp and a filter, a light emitting diode, a gas laser, a solid-state laser, a semiconductor laser and the like. Laser light having a narrow intensity distribution is preferred.

Further, a combination of various lasers and a wavelength conversion element may be used, and a combination of an infrared semiconductor laser and an SHG element is preferable in terms of compactness.

As specific examples, an Ar ⁺ gas laser (488.0 nm), a He—Cd gas laser (442 nm), and a He—Ne gas laser (422 n) are used as blue light.
m), such as a He-Ne gas laser (54
3.5 nm), Ar ⁺ gas laser (514.5 n)
m), Kr ⁺ gas laser (520.8 nm), YAG
As a yellow light such as a laser or a combination of an infrared semiconductor laser and an SHG element, a He-Ne gas laser (59
He-Ne gas laser one (632.8 nm), Kr ⁺ gas laser (647) as red light such as 4.1 nm, 611.9 nm), light emitting diode (peak wavelength 570 nm), combination of infrared semiconductor laser and SHG element, etc. .1
nm), semiconductor laser (678 nm) (750 nm)
(780 nm) such as semiconductor lasers (810 nm) (830 nm) (850 nm) (103
0 nm) (1300 nm), light emitting diode (peak wavelength 890 nm) (peak wavelength 940 nm), and the like.

Further, a plurality of oscillations may be obtained from one He-Ne gas laser, and the oscillations may be separated by a dichroic mirror or the like. For example, from one He-Ne gas laser to three oscillation lines (442 nm, 543.5 nm, 6
32.8 nm).

In the present invention, the green light source is stable,
He is inexpensive, compact and has a long service life.
It is preferable to use a -Ne gas laser. It is preferable to use a He-Ne gas laser for the yellow light source and the blue light source for the same reason.

In the present invention, the optical modulators 2B, 2G, 2R
It is preferable to insert a light source stabilizing device such as an optical feedback, an optical feed forward, or a combination thereof before entering, since high image quality output can be performed.

Also, instead of flying a light beam through space,
Japanese Patent Application No. 61-180438, 61-180856
It is preferable to use an optical fiber as shown in FIG. It is more preferable to solidify each component using an optical waveguide because the number of components is reduced, mass production is possible, and the cost is reduced.

The optical modulators 2B, 2G, and 2R are an electro-optic modulator, an acousto-optic modulator (AOM) waveguide modulator (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-94823), and a loop-type optical modulator (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-9482). No. 94821).

In the case where a semiconductor laser or a light emitting diode is used as a light source in the present invention, it is preferable to perform light modulation by direct current modulation without using an optical modulator because the number of components is reduced.

As the optical scanning method of the present invention, in the attached drawings, rotation of the drum is performed as main scanning and movement of the lens 11 is performed as sub-scanning, but other methods may be used. For example, there are the following.

A) Drum rotation Galvanometer b) Drum rotation Drum movement C) Galvanometer Galvanometer (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 55-4071) d) Galvanometer Roll material transfer e) Polygon Galvanometer f ) Conveying Polygon Roll Sensitive Material (Japanese Patent Publication No. 56-14963) Instead of a galvanometer, a resolution scanner having a similar function may be used. When direct current modulation is performed using a semiconductor laser or light-emitting diode, use the lens 1 shown in the attached figure.
The light source itself may be moved together with the movement of 1.

Further, a semiconductor laser array or a light emitting diode array may be used as a light source. In this case, only one scan is required, and the array may be scanned or the photosensitive material may be scanned. In this case, scanning of the photosensitive material includes rotation of the drum,
Anything can be used, such as transport of a roll-sensitive material.

When a large amount and high-speed image formation is performed, it is preferable to use a roll photosensitive material such as d) and f).

In the case of a sheet photosensitive material, a), b),
c) and e) are preferable, and c) and e) are more preferable for high speed, and e) is particularly preferable.

Further, instead of the galvanometer and the polygon, an optical scanning device for generating a surface acoustic wave in an optical waveguide (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-75622), a laminate of an optical waveguide layer with an adjacent layer, It is preferable to use a solid-state scanner such as an optical scanning device including an energy applying means and a driving circuit (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-83727) because of its small size.

In the present invention, light beam shaping may be performed using a light beam shaping device such as a combination of a collimator and an aperture.

In the tree invention, any digital color image signal shown in FIG. 1 may be used. For example, there is a digital color image signal read from a printed material, a printing original plate, a photograph (color print, color negative, color reversal, etc.).

In the present invention, it is preferable to provide a supplier of the photosensitive material for output and a receiver, since the handling of the photosensitive material becomes easy. For example, in the case of a sheet photosensitive material, a drum in a portable dark box or a cassette supplier of a dark box capable of storing several tens of sheets, a cassette receiver, and in the case of a roll photosensitive material, a cassette supplier of a dark box, a cassette receiver, and the like are preferable.

In the present invention, if the silver halide photographic material has a spectral sensitivity corresponding to the spectral distribution of the light intensity of the light source, a silver halide color negative paper, a silver halide color positive paper, a silver halide color negative film, Any material such as a silver halide color positive film may be used. These silver halide color light-sensitive materials are not particularly limited as long as they are wet-processed or dry-processed.

The emulsion used for the light-sensitive material has a low color smear, high image quality and rapid development.
Silver chloride emulsions are particularly preferred.

Since the present invention is an apparatus for outputting to a photographic color photosensitive material, an apparatus having a color developing processing apparatus is preferable. Needless to say, this processing apparatus is suitable for the photosensitive material used.

In the present invention, the input method of the digital color image signal shown in FIG. 2 may be an output signal from a computer or a medium such as a magnetic tape, a magnetic disk, a laser disk, or a magneto-optical disk.

In the present invention, the signal input section may have an image reading device. The image reading device may be any device such as a scanner that reads an original image by optical scanning or a device that reads a CCD array or a two-dimensional CCD. However, a device using a CCD is preferable because of its compactness and high speed.

In the present invention, the writing speed, the size of the writing pixel (aperture), and the size of the output image are not limited.

There are various embodiments of the present invention.

For example, a color copying machine and an image reading device having an image reading device and a color developing device, reading various original images, and outputting the read images to a silver halide color photosensitive material,
It has a color development processing unit, reads a silver halide color negative film or a positive film, and outputs it to a silver halide color negative paper or a boji paper. It has an image reading device and a color development processing unit. A color proofing system that has a duplication (printing) device that outputs to the same photosensitive material as the material, an image reading device and a color development processing device, reads a print manuscript, a decomposed print, etc., and outputs it to a silver halide color photosensitive material. (Checking system) is a preferable feeling of execution.

Examples of a general-purpose output device for obtaining an image by connecting to another signal output device via a signal input terminal include, for example, a hard copy device of a computer which receives an output signal from a computer as an input signal, and an image as an input signal. A color printer device that receives signals from a reader, an input signal is a magnetic tape, a magnetic disk,
Preferred embodiments include a color printer device directly receiving from a medium such as a laser disk and a magneto-optical disk, and a video printer receiving a video signal as an input signal.

It is preferable that these apparatuses have a color development processing apparatus.

[0049]

FIG. 3 shows a reference example, and FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the present invention. The block configuration of an apparatus for recording digital image data on a silver halide color photosensitive material mounted on a drum. FIG. 1B is a He-Cd gas laser (441.6 nm blue light), 1G is a He-Ne gas laser (543.5 nm green light), and 1R is He-N
An e gas laser (632.8 nm red light) was used.

The light beams emitted from the laser light sources 1B, 1G, 1R are incident on the optical modulators 2B, 2G, 2R via the light source stabilizers 5B, 5G, 5R, and these optical modulators 2B, 2G, 2R. The modulation signal for each name color is D
/ A converters 4B, 4G, 4R
Modulation is performed. The digital color image signal is stored in storage means 3B, 3G, which stores an LUT for image data conversion.
3R, the data is converted, and the D / A converters 4B, 4
G, 4R.

The light beams of each color modulated by the optical modulators 2B, 2G, 2R are respectively reflected by mirrors 6B, 6G, 6R.
The optical axis is changed by the reflection by the mirror 6R, the optical beam reflected by the mirror 6R is adjusted to the dichroic mirror 8 side via the mirror 7, and the dichroic mirror 8 combines the light beam with the reflected beam from the mirror 6G. Combination with the reflected beam from 6B is performed by the dichroic mirror 9. The light beam synthesized by these mirrors is beam-formed by a light beam forming device 16 such as a combination of an aperture and a collimator, the optical axis is adjusted by a mirror 10, further condensed through a lens 11, and condensed on a drum 12. The wound silver halide color photosensitive material 13 is irradiated. While the drum 12 rotates at a constant speed (main scanning) in the direction of the arrow θ, the lens 11 is moved (sub-scanning) in the direction of the arrow x, whereby an image is printed on the silver halide color photosensitive material 13.

An image is exposed using a silver halide color negative paper (emulsion is an AgBrCl emulsion) having a spectral sensitivity corresponding to the spectral distribution of the light intensity of the light source using the apparatus shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, respectively. The color image obtained by performing the color development processing was of high quality without noise indicating the instability of the light source.

A similar test was conducted using silver halide color negative paper of an AgCl emulsion.
In particular, a high-quality color image with less color smear and good color reproducibility was obtained, and the development processing time was shortened.

Further, since fluctuations occurred in the processing steps and the image quality of the obtained image deteriorated, when the LUT of the storage means 3B, 3G, 3R was rewritten by the personal computer 14, a high-quality color image was obtained again. Can now be obtained.

[0055]

As described in detail above, the color image forming system of the present invention incorporates rewritable storage means for storing an LUT for image data conversion and a small personal computer for rewriting this LUT. Therefore, L is adjusted according to the characteristics of the input image, the characteristics of the photosensitive material to be output, and variations in the processing steps of the photosensitive material.
The UT can be easily and quickly rewritten, and the system can be made small and inexpensive. In addition, direct output from a medium such as a magnetic tape can be easily performed offline. Further, the color image forming system of the present invention can obtain a stable high quality color image.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a scanning exposure apparatus outside the present invention,
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a scanning type exposure apparatus showing one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a reference block diagram outside the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1B, 1G, 1R laser light source, 2B, 2G, 2
R: optical modulator, 3B, 3G, 3R: storage means, 4B, 4G, 4R: D / A converter, 5B, 5
G, 5R: light source stabilizer, 6B, 6G, 6R,
7, 10 ... mirror, 8, 9 ... dichroic mirror, 11 ... lens, 12 ... drum, 13 ...
・ Silver halide color photosensitive material, 14 ・ ・ ・ Personal computer, 15 ・ ・ ・ Interface, 16 ・
..Light beam forming equipment

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A color image forming system for exposing a silver halide photographic material by a scanning type exposure apparatus,
A rewritable storage means for storing a look-up table for image data conversion, and a computer connected to the storage means for rewriting the look-up table stored in the storage means. Image forming system.