JP2002006409A - Printer and instant film - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily subject the outer side of a print image using an instant film of a mono-sheet type to lettering associated with the image. SOLUTION: The margin part on the instant film is provided with a heat sensitive color developing layer 23. The printer is internally provided with a thermal head 30 which subjects the heat sensitive color developing layer 32 to printing. A film pack 25 housing the instant films and a spreading roller 28 are disposed in the printer. The delivery of the exposed film and the spreading of a developer are performed in the same manner as with the conventional instant cameras and the downstream side with respect to the transporting direction of the film is provided with a photosensor 29 and the thermal head 30 and is provided with a platen roller 31. The thermal head is driven simultaneously with the progression of the spreading of the developer, by which the printing is efficiently carried out.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer for obtaining a hard copy of an image by exposing an instant film to light, and more particularly, to a printer capable of printing character information outside an image printed on the instant film. It is about.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As described in JP-A-11-249239, a printer using a mono-sheet type instant film as a recording medium for image recording is known. As is well known, a developer pod is provided on the instant film, and after being exposed to an image forming area by an exposure head, the developer pod is discharged from between a pair of developing rollers to form the developer pod. After being crushed, the developing process of the contained developer is performed. A positive image is transferred to the instant film discharged simultaneously with the development of the developing solution after a predetermined time of about several minutes, and this can be obtained as a hard copy. In such a printer, only exposure needs to be performed when recording an image, so that a small-capacity power supply is required, and the printer can be downsized. In this sense, an instant camera in which image recording is performed by forming a subject image by a photographing lens can also be regarded as a type of printer.

[0003]

However, while the instant film is convenient, it is provided with a developing solution pod and a trap portion for catching an excess amount of developing solution on one film. Screen size is reduced. Therefore, for example, when you want to record text information such as comment text and messages in addition to image information,
If the image forming area used for image recording is used, the screen size is further reduced substantially, which is not preferable. For this reason, the margin area outside the image forming area of the instant film has been used as a memo box for handwriting.However, when the number of prints increases due to additional printing, characters are printed one by one. It is troublesome to fill in. Also, depending on the type of writing instrument,
There are drawbacks such as blurring and blurring of the written characters and instability in terms of preservation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and can print on a margin outside an image forming area of an instant film on which an image can be recorded by exposure using a thermal method or an ink jet method. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printer as described above, and particularly to provide an instant film suitable for such a printer.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a printer having image recording means for recording an image by exposure on an image forming area of an instant film. A printing means is provided which is driven in synchronization with the transport of the film and records character information in a margin provided outside the image forming area. In the case where an exposure head that performs scanning recording by moving relative to a photosensitive area of the instant film is provided as an image recording unit, a method of driving a printing unit when a recording medium is ejected after image recording is employed in a printer. This is advantageous in reducing the size and simplifying the control of the printing means.

It is preferable that the printing means prints on the margin of the instant film sent from the developing roller, particularly on the margin of the developer pod which is wider than the margin of the trap. . As the printing means, a thermal printer or an ink jet printer can be suitably used, and a thermosensitive coloring layer or an ink receiving layer is provided in a blank portion of the instant film on which printing is performed correspondingly.

[0007]

1 and 2 show an embodiment of an electronic still camera incorporating a printer according to the present invention.
The electronic still camera 1 is covered with a box-shaped camera body 2, and includes a camera lens 3 and a strobe light emitting unit 4 on the front side thereof, and an optical viewfinder 5 above the camera lens 3. The grip section 6 is provided with an image pickup button 7, a film discharge port 9 from which the instant film 8 is discharged, and a discharge port cover 9 '. In the grip section 6, a battery chamber 32 for accommodating, for example, four AA batteries is connected in series.
(See FIG. 4). On the side surface of the camera body 2, input / output terminals (not shown) for exchanging information by being connected to an external device such as a personal computer, and a connector port to which a detachable memory card 10 is attached are arranged. .

On the back side of the camera body 2, a knob 11
Of the pack loading lid 1 that can be rotated by the hinge 12 by the operation of
3 is provided, from which a film pack containing a plurality of instant films 8 can be loaded.
The pack loading lid 13 has two displays, a color display and a black and white display.
One type of liquid crystal display panel (LCD panel) is provided integrally, and one of them is a color LCD panel 14 which has a function as an electronic viewfinder for displaying a subject image captured through the camera lens 3 in real time. Images stored in the memory can be called up and reproduced and displayed. Another monochrome LCD panel 15
Displays the character information that you want to print on the instant film when the image is printed, or
By using a pen-type stick 16 stored below the pack loading lid 13, a display-integrated liquid crystal input / output panel is provided which allows input of handwritten characters as character information.

The pack loading lid 13 has a color LC
An operation panel 17 on which various buttons used for operating the D panel 14 and the monochrome LCD panel 15 are provided. A mode selection dial 18 is provided on the upper left side of the pack loading lid 13 for use in turning on / off a power switch of the camera and selecting each mode such as imaging and image reproduction.

As shown in FIG. 3, the instant film 8 has image forming areas 19 and 19 'formed by integrally superposing two sheets having a photosensitive surface and an image receiving surface, and a margin formed around the image forming areas. And a developer pod 21 which is formed so as to have a bulge on the photosensitive surface side.
And a trap portion 22 are arranged at both ends of the margin portion 20, respectively. When the instant film is exposed to the image forming area 19 'on the photosensitive surface side and a photochemically latent image is formed, a positive image is transferred to the image forming area 19 on the image receiving surface side after the developing solution is developed. It is supposed to be
On the surface of the margin portion 20 on the side where the developer pod 21 is arranged on the image receiving surface side, a thermosensitive coloring layer 23 that develops black color is provided. The thermosensitive coloring layer 23 is provided for printing character information displayed by the monochrome LCD panel 15, and is printed by a thermal printer described later in detail.

FIG. 4 schematically shows a cross section of a main part when the electronic still camera 1 is viewed from above. An imaging circuit 24 'including a CCD image sensor 24 is provided behind the camera lens 3. An exposure opening is formed on the front side of the film pack 25 loaded in the camera, and a leaf spring 26 for pressing the stored instant film toward the exposure opening is provided. An exposure head 27 is arranged at a position facing the exposure opening, and an image can be recorded on the uppermost instant film facing the exposure opening by moving and scanning the exposure head 27 in the direction of the arrow in the figure. The exposure head 27
For example, as described in JP-A-11-249239,
Red, green, and blue light are scanned and exposed to the instant film in a three-color plane sequential system to perform full-color image recording.

The film pack 25 has a slit opening. The exposed instant film is
A claw mechanism (not shown) similar to the conventional instant camera described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-194832 and the like is sent out of the film pack through the slit opening, and the developing solution is developed by a pair of developing rollers 28. .

As the developing solution is developed by the developing roller 28, the exposed film is conveyed toward the film discharge port 9. The light emitting element and the light receiving element are located downstream of the developing roller 28 in the conveying direction. Photo sensor 29,
A thermal printer including a thermal head 30 and a platen roller 31 is provided in order. The photosensors 29 are disposed on both sides of the transport path of the exposed film to be transported, and emit a detection signal of the film when the leading end of the exposed film passes between the light emitting element and the light receiving element. The thermal head 30 is configured by arranging a plurality of heating elements in a line in the width direction of the instant film (a direction perpendicular to the paper surface), and each of the heating elements forms a dot of character information to be printed. I do. The platen roller 31 presses the heat-sensitive coloring layer 23 on the film to the thermal head 30 while performing constant-speed feeding when printing on the conveyed exposed film.

The printing speed of the thermal head 30 and
Synchronization is established between the film transport speed by the developing roller 28 and the platen roller 31, and film transport and printing can be performed simultaneously, which is efficient.

FIG. 5 shows an electrical configuration of the electronic still camera 1. The CCD image sensor 24 provided behind the camera lens 3 is exposed and focused by the camera lens 3 to form a subject image on the photoelectric surface of the CCD image sensor 24. CCD image sensor 24
On the photocathode, minute micro color filters of red, green, and blue are arranged in a matrix, and an electric signal of a subject image having information of each color is output for each pixel. This electric signal is subjected to signal processing such as white balance adjustment and gamma correction in the image information processing circuit 34, and is converted into a digital signal in the A / D converter 35.

The CPU 36 manages the electrical operation of the entire electronic still camera, including the image information processing circuit 34 and the memory controller 38 for controlling reading and writing of image information in the built-in memory 37. When the imaging button 7 or the operation panel 17 is operated by the photographer, the input operation becomes an instruction signal sent to various parts inside the camera via the CPU 36.

The LCD driver 39 controls output for each dot when displaying images and characters on the color LCD panel 14 and the monochrome LCD panel 15. Also, LC
The D driver 39 also converts the handwritten character information input to the monochrome LCD panel 15 into data for storage in the memory. The input / output terminal 40 is used when exchanging data with an external device 41 such as a personal computer or a mobile phone that is currently widespread.
It has a connector terminal for performing signal conversion and connecting various necessary cables. As a result, the data in the built-in memory 37 or the memory card 10 can be transferred to the external device 41, or vice versa.

The motor 4 as a driving source of the exposure head 27
2. The motor 43, which is the drive source of the developing roller 28 and the platen roller 29, is a stepping motor that can be easily controlled by the drive pulses transmitted from the motors 42 and 45 provided in the motor 42, respectively. It is configured.

The print controller 46 includes a CPU 36
The image information and the character information transferred from the memory or the external device 41 are separately distributed according to the print instruction signal sent from the printer, and the image information is sent to the exposure head driver 47 and the character information is sent to the thermal head driver 48. The exposure head driver 47 divides the image information for each color of red, green, and blue for each line, and
7 to irradiate linear print light. By moving and scanning the exposure head 27 while sequentially performing each line, a single-color exposure for one screen is provided, and this is repeated three times to perform image recording in a three-color plane sequential manner. As described above, the movement scanning of the exposure head 27 is performed by driving the motor 42 connected to the exposure head 27, and the motor 42 moves and scans the exposure head 27 in response to the printing light irradiation for each line. Under the control of the motor driver 44.

On the other hand, the thermal head driver 48 to which the character information is sent starts counting the driving pulses transmitted from the motor driver 45 as soon as the photosensor 29 detects the leading end of the transported instant film. When the count reaches a predetermined number, the thermal head 30
Generates a print start signal. Therefore, printing of character information can always be performed at a fixed position in the thermosensitive coloring layer 23 of the instant film. Further, the thermal head driver 48 raises the thermal head 30 as soon as printing is completed, and sends an evacuation signal to prevent the thermal head 30 from applying a strong contact pressure to the image forming area 19 immediately after the developing solution is developed. .

Next, the operation of the electronic still camera 1 according to the present embodiment will be described. First, when the mode switching dial 18 is pointing to “OFF”, when the dial is turned, an imaging mode, a reproduction mode, and the like can be appropriately selected depending on the position where the dial is set, and the power is turned on. . In the imaging mode, when the color LCD panel 14 is turned on by operating the operation panel 17, the CCD
The subject image formed on the image sensor 24 is continuously displayed on the color LCD panel 14. When the framing is performed and the imaging button 7 is pressed, the subject image displayed on the color LCD panel 14 at that time is stored in the built-in memory 37. When the remaining amount of power supply power is small, the color LCD panel 14 is not turned on,
Framing using the optical finder 5 is effective in saving power supply power.

If the image pickup is repeated several times in this manner, the free space of the built-in memory 37 is exhausted, and the image cannot be picked up. In such a case, the mode switching dial 18 is operated to set the reproduction mode. In this playback mode, the images captured so far are played back by the key input of the operation panel 17 and the color LCD panel 14 is displayed.
You can check with. Here, unnecessary images can be deleted from the displayed images, or the images in the built-in memory 37 can be transferred by inserting the memory card 10 so that the images can be captured again.

In both the imaging mode and the reproduction mode, the pen-shaped stick 1
6 can be used to input handwritten characters. The input character information is stored in the internal memory 37 or the memory card 10.
Can be read out appropriately by key input on the operation panel 17 and displayed on the monochrome LCD panel 15. If a comment or a message created by using an external device 41 such as a personal computer is transferred and stored in the built-in memory 37 or the memory card 10 in advance, it can be called up as needed.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of the procedure when a print instruction is issued. A print instruction is executed by an input operation of a print button provided on the operation panel 17. When the print button is input, the mode setting selected by the mode switching dial 18 is confirmed.

First, the printing procedure in the reproduction mode will be described. An input operation of the print button causes a display requesting that an image be selected on the color LCD panel 15. At this time, one image to be printed is selected while sequentially switching the images stored in the internal memory 37 by operating the operation panel 17. This procedure can be omitted by selecting an image to be printed in advance and inputting a print button. Next, color LCD
A display for selecting whether to print the character information is displayed on the panel 14. When character information is not printed, the exposure head 27 starts to drive, and only prints an image.

On the other hand, when printing of character information is selected,
A pen-type stick 16 is used to write and input characters to be printed on the image to be printed on the monochrome LCD panel 15. The written character can be printed as it is as a handwritten character, or the character can be converted to print and then printed. Instead of handwritten character input, a comment sentence previously stored in the built-in memory 37 or the memory card 10 can be called and selected as character information to be printed.

When the print image and the character information to be printed are determined in this way, it is next selected whether to automatically print tag information such as a photographing condition and a photographing date and time automatically generated in the camera. When the presence or absence of the tag information is selected, a preview display is displayed on the monochrome LCD panel 15 for confirming how the image is actually printed on the instant film. Here, the size of the characters to be printed can be changed, the layout of the comment text to be printed can be changed, and correction can be made to portions where the characters have been cut off.

When the printing of character information is determined as described above, the exposure head 27 starts to be driven, and exposure is given to the uppermost instant film facing the exposure opening. When the exposure in the three-color sequential mode is completed by the exposure head 27, the motor 43 connected to the developing roller 28 and the platen roller 31 starts to drive, and sends out the exposed film by a known claw mechanism and the developing solution by the developing roller 28. Deployment takes place.

When the developer pod is crushed and the film is conveyed by the developing roller 28, the leading end of the film is detected by the photo sensor 29, and the photo sensor 29 sends a detection signal to the CPU 36. Then, a command signal is issued from the CPU 36 to the thermal head driver 48 so as to start counting drive pulses sent to the motor 43 to drive the developing roller 28, and the thermal head 48 enters a print preparation state. Thereafter, when the count number of the drive pulse reaches a predetermined number,
The exposed film reaches the print position of the thermal head, the input character information described above is transferred from the thermal head driver 48, and the thermal head 30 performs printing on the thermosensitive coloring layer 23.

When printing is completed, the thermal head 30
The film is temporarily retracted away from the film so as not to come into contact with the image forming area 19, and the exposed and printed film is subsequently discharged by the developing roller 28. The exposed film passes through the film transport path 33 and is discharged from the film discharge port 9. After a lapse of a predetermined time, a positive image is transferred to the image forming area 19 on the image receiving surface side, and a target hard copy in which tag information and comment text are printed in black can be obtained below the positive image.

Next, the procedure of the printing process in the imaging mode will be described. In the imaging mode, when the print button on the operation panel 17 is operated, the print button blinks, and the print button enters an active state, that is, a print standby state. In this active state, when an image is taken by operating the image taking button 7, the taken image is kept displayed on the color LCD panel 14, and a display asking whether to print this image is made. Here, if the user does not like the captured image, the user can retake the image. When the user selects to print the captured image, a display asking whether to print the character information is output on the color LCD panel 14 next. When character information is not printed, the exposure head 27 starts to drive, and only prints an image. On the other hand, when printing the character information, the subsequent flow is the same as in the reproduction mode, the character information to be printed can be input, and a print image on which the character information is printed can be obtained.

Next, an embodiment of an electronic still camera incorporating an ink jet printer will be described with reference to FIG. 7 instead of the thermal printer in the above embodiment. It should be noted that components having the same configuration and operation as those of the previous embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The ink jet head 49 is composed of a plurality of minute ink nozzles arranged in a line in the width direction of the instant film. As is well known, a piezo element is disposed in the ink flow path of each nozzle in the ink jet head 49, and the ink flow path is contracted by controlling the voltage applied to the piezo element.
The ink ejection amount is adjusted by expanding the ink. The ink ejected from each nozzle is supplied from a replaceable ink cartridge 50 containing black ink.

The voltage applied to the piezo element is controlled as follows:
This is performed by the inkjet head driver 51. When printing is performed on the exposed film, the ink jet head driver 51 controls the print controller 46.
The ink jet head 49 divides the character information transferred from the printer into data for each line of one dot width.
Send to The ink jet head 49 prints character information in synchronization with the transport speed of the exposed film by the ink jet head driver 51 while controlling the ink ejection amount.

In synchronizing with the transport speed of the exposed film, a signal for detecting that the exposed film has been transported is detected by the photo sensor 29 in the same manner as in the embodiment using the thermal printer. After being issued, the inkjet head driver counts the number of transmissions of the drive pulse of the motor 43 for driving the developing roller 28, and recognizes and adjusts the timing of printing start and the printing speed. In the present embodiment using the inkjet method, since the instant film and the inkjet head 48 are kept in non-contact, after printing is completed,
It is not necessary to retract the inkjet head 48 from the instant film.

In this embodiment, an ink jet printer is provided as a printing means, but an instant film used as a recording medium is preferably provided with an ink receiving layer suitable for printing with ink. It is provided at the same position of the instant film provided with the thermosensitive coloring layer 23 in the previous embodiment, that is, in the margin on the developer receiving pod 21 side on the image receiving surface side.

Although the printer of the present invention has been described in accordance with the embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be appropriately changed.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, only the electronic still camera having a built-in optical printer using an exposure head for image printing has been described, but instead of the electronic still camera, a subject image is optically formed on an instant film. May be used in a conventional instant camera that can obtain a hard copy immediately. In this case, it is preferable to provide the instant camera with a connector for mounting a monochrome LCD panel capable of inputting characters and a detachable memory card storing character information as described in the above embodiment.

Further, the printer of the present invention can be applied to a single printer having no imaging function, and a thermal printer or an ink jet printer as a printing means can be detachably mounted to print character information. If this can be used only when necessary, the size and weight of the printer itself need not be considered so much.

Further, in the instant film of the present invention, only black is used for the character information printed by the printing means. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when a thermal printer is used, the character is printed on the instant film. The heat-sensitive coloring layer provided is provided with a heat-sensitive layer that develops cyan, magenta, and yellow, in addition to black, to provide an instant film capable of performing full-color printing, and to perform thermal fixing by applying ultraviolet light to the thermal printer. A mechanism may be provided. Alternatively, when an ink jet printer is used, cyan, magenta, and yellow ink cartridges are used in addition to black ink. In the ink jet head, ink nozzles for ejecting ink are provided in a line shape for each color. Is also good. The printed character information may include not only characters such as kanji and hiragana, but also symbols such as symbols and marks, and the symbols may be newly edited and newly created.

The printer of the present invention prints character information in synchronization with the transport of the instant film immediately after the exposure of the instant film. For example, only the image is printed and the film is discharged. Then, insert the film with the image printed back into the printer,
Only printing may be performed. In this case, the coloring heat-sensitive layer or the ink-receiving layer can of course be the one provided in advance on the instant film, but the coloring heat-sensitive layer or the ink-receiving layer is provided on an adhesive label, By attaching this label to the margin of the printed instant film and inserting it into the printer so that printing can be performed, users using the conventional instant film can use the printer of the present invention. Character information can be printed, and it is still usable.

In the instant film of the present invention, the photosensitive film to which the exposure is given and the image receiving surface to which the positive image is transferred are provided on the opposite sides of the front and back sides. For an instant film in which the surface on which the positive image is formed and the surface on which the positive image is formed are the same, or the instant film in which the photosensitive surface and the image receiving surface are provided upside down from the above embodiment with respect to the bulge of the developer pod. The present invention can be applied equally.

[0042]

As described above, according to the printer and the instant film of the present invention, in addition to the printing of the image, the entry of the character information using the margin of the instant film can be performed in the printer, and the printing means can be used. Since a suitable instant film can be used correspondingly, it is easy to write character information which was complicated in the conventional instant film, and the printed characters do not appear blurred or blurred. It is also advantageous in terms of information preservation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a front side of an electronic still camera incorporating a printer of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a rear side of an electronic still camera incorporating the printer of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a view showing an instant film of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing a cross section of an electronic still camera incorporating a printer of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of an electronic still camera incorporating the printer of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a print processing procedure of an electronic still camera incorporating the printer of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of an electronic still camera incorporating a printer according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 electronic still camera 14 color LCD panel 15 monochrome LCD panel 19, 19 'image forming area 20, 20' margin 23 thermal coloring layer 24 CCD image sensor 27 exposure head 28 developing roller 29 photo sensor 30 thermal head 31 platen roller 39 LCD Drivers 42, 43 Motors 44, 45 Motor driver 46 Print controller 48 Thermal head driver 49 Inkjet head 51 Inkjet head driver

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme coat II (reference) G03D 9/00 B41J 3/04 101Z 2H112 F term (reference) 2C056 EA23 EB13 EB36 EC03 EC07 EC12 EC37 FA04 FA13 FB01 2C061 AP10 AQ04 AS14 JJ02 JJ14 2H104 AA18 AA19 BC04 CC06 2H106 AB01 AB06 AB95 BA72 BA82 BH00 2H109 BA03 BA12 2H112 AA05 AA07 BC01 BC32 BC41 BC42

Claims (5)

[Claims] An image recording means for recording an image on an image forming area of an instant film by driving an exposure head based on an image of a subject optically formed through a lens or digitally converted image information; A printer which is driven in synchronization with the transport of the film and which records character information in a margin outside the image forming area of the instant film. 2. The image recording means according to claim 1, wherein said image recording means is an exposure head which performs image recording by scanning exposure by moving relative to an image forming area of said instant film. 2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the printer is driven in synchronization with the transport of the instant film in the discharge direction. 3. The printing means is provided on a downstream side of a developing roller for crushing a developing solution pod and developing the developing solution while transporting the instant film after image recording, and a margin outside the image forming area is provided. 3. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the printer is a margin on the developer pod side of the instant film. 4. The printer according to claim 2, wherein the printing unit is a thermal printer or an inkjet printer. 5. An instant film used in the printer according to claim 4, wherein a thermosensitive coloring layer or an ink receiving layer is provided in a margin of said instant film on which printing is performed.