JP2002162698A - Film image reading device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the projection of a film holder and to reduce the size of the film driving device in driving the film image reading apparatus having a mechanism for scanning a film original by a film holding member driving section and a film original table driving section. To reduce the size of the film scanner. SOLUTION: A movable range of a carriage and a film holder is relatively controlled so that the film holder is housed in an exterior of the apparatus, so that the film holder does not protrude outside the apparatus, and the movable range is controlled by controlling the movable range. The movable range in the device was minimized, and the size of the entire device was reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a film image reading apparatus (such as a film scanner) for reading an image original such as a developed photographic film.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a film scanner of this type, a light source irradiates a film from behind and scans the film, and transmits the transmitted light through an imaging lens or the like to a CCD.
(Charge coupled device) and the like to form an image on a photoelectric conversion element to capture an image. At this time, the film is held by various holders and is configured to be at an appropriate position with respect to the light source of the scanner body, the imaging lens, and the like.

For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-294178, a projecting means for projecting a film-shaped transparent original having a plurality of frames held by a carrier member, and an image reading device for reading image data of a projected image of the transparent original by the projecting means. Means, and a carrier table having a carrier moving means for moving the carrier member to cause the image reading means to read the image data, wherein the carrier member is provided on a side facing the carrier insertion port when the carrier member is moved. There is disclosed a mechanism having an opening capable of protruding into the opening.

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-266520, there is provided means for controlling the movement of the carrier member, and a plurality of documents held on a carrier table are read at once or a designated frame is read in accordance with an image reading command. The image data read later is output to the connected image display device.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION However, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open
In the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-294178, the size of the image reading apparatus itself is minimized since the carrier is projected on the surface (rear surface side) opposite to the surface on the carrier insertion port side. In the use of the device, the carrier must be arranged in consideration of the protrusion of the carrier, and the image reading apparatus including the carrier has to secure an extra space.
For example, assuming that the image reading apparatus is placed on a desk, if the rear side is placed close to a wall, the carriage may hit the wall and cannot perform a desired operation, or may generate abnormal noise due to hitting, and consequently various kinds of noise. There has been a problem leading to damage to the parts.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the problems of the conventional image reading apparatus, and has as its object to improve the protrusion of the carrier and to reduce the size of the image reading apparatus during driving.

[0007]

A document is illuminated from behind a transparent document placed on a platen capable of scanning movement.
An image reading apparatus for reading an image on the original by forming an image of the transmitted light on an image pickup means, wherein a transparent original holding member capable of holding a plurality of transparent originals in the original platen is moved in the scanning movement direction. , A document plate drive for driving the platen in the direction of scanning movement, a document position control device for controlling the transparent platen drive and the platen drive The document position control device is characterized in that the scanning range of the document table and the document holding member is relatively controlled.

The control of the scanning range is characterized in that the driving range of the document holding member with respect to the exterior of the apparatus is minimized.

The apparatus includes at least a transparent document holding member driving device, and has an apparatus exterior in which one end of the transparent document holding member is protruded to the outside depending on an image pickup position of the document. The position control device controls the scanning range of the document table and the document holding member such that the amount of protrusion is minimized by eliminating the projection of the transparent document holding member to the outside of the device exterior rear side. Was featured.

As a result, in the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the movable range of the carriage (document table) and the film holder (document holding member) is relatively controlled,
The film holder can be housed inside the exterior of the apparatus, and the projection of the film holder to the outside on the back side of the apparatus is eliminated.

Since the movable range of the film holder with respect to the device is minimized by controlling the movable range, the size of the device itself can be reduced.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The structure of a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 is a system configuration diagram of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part of a film scanner using the system configuration of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is for driving a film holder in a carriage which cannot be shown in FIG. FIGS. 4, 5, and 7 are perspective views showing a configuration example from the upper left, and FIGS. 4, 5, and 7 are plan views showing the positional relationship between the film holder and the exterior when the position of the film holder is controlled using the system of FIG. ,
FIG. 6 is a graph showing the positional relationship between the carriage and the film holder in FIGS.

1 to 7, reference numeral 1 denotes a film holder 2.
, A film holder 2 for holding the film, 3 a light source for illuminating the film, 4 an imaging lens, 5 a line sensor (imaging element), and 6 a position for detecting the position of the carriage 1. A carriage sensor, 7 is a sub-scanning motor for driving the carriage 1 in the sub-scanning direction, 8 is a film holder sensor for detecting the position of the film holder 2, 9 is a film holder motor for driving the film holder, and 10 is a light source. Reference numeral 3 denotes a lighting circuit, 11 denotes an image processing circuit for processing a signal from the line sensor 5, 12 denotes an interface, 13 denotes an external device such as a personal computer, 14 denotes a CPU bus, 15 denotes a system controller, and 16 denotes an optical path. Mirror, 17
Is a guide bar for guiding the carriage 1 in the sub-scanning direction;
18 is a transparent original such as a film, 19 is an image processing circuit 1
1, an image processing board on which circuit components such as a CPU bus 14 and a system controller 15 are mounted, 20 a power supply board for supplying power to the apparatus from an input power supply, 21 power supply to the apparatus from an external power supply A power cable 22, a communication cable for outputting an image signal to another device or inputting a command from another device, is a part of the interface 12, and 23 is an exterior.

Next, a system for converting a film image into an electric signal by using the film scanner constituted as described above and taking it into the external device 13 will be described. First, the film holding / driving mechanism will be described. A film 18, which is a transparent original, is fixedly held by a film holder 2, and the film holder 2 is held by a carriage 1. The carriage 1 is coupled to the sub-scanning motor 7 via a driving mechanism such as a speed reduction mechanism, and can be arbitrarily arranged in a mechanical driving range with a certain resolution determined by the carriage sensor 6 and the sub-scanning motor 7. . For this resolution, the minimum feed pitch is appropriately set according to the film reading resolution.

In FIG. 2, the carriage 1 is used as the feed mechanism.
Rack gear 1a and pinion gear 7a of sub-scanning motor 7
However, other examples using a combination of a feed screw and a feed nut, an example in which a string or the like is wound around a rotor and driven, and the like may be used. The carriage 1 is integrally provided with a sleeve, and a guide bar 1 is provided.
7, the linear guide is precisely guided in the sub-scanning direction.

On the other hand, the film holder 2 is connected to the film holder motor 9 via a drive mechanism 9a such as a speed reduction mechanism. The positional relationship with the carriage 1 has a certain resolution determined by the film holder sensor 8 and the film holder motor 9. Thus, it can be arranged arbitrarily in the mechanical drive range.

In FIG. 3, the film holder 2 is the carriage 1
2 shows an example of a mechanism driven with respect to. In the drawing, the film holder has a key groove 2c for determining the position with respect to the carriage 1, and is coupled with the key 1b of the carriage 1 and guided in the straight direction. The keys and key grooves in the figure are wedge-shaped and also have a function of regulating the position in the vertical direction. When the key and the key groove are formed in a U-shape, it is necessary to provide a spring bias or the like to prevent the key and the key groove from falling off in the vertical direction. The spring may be positively biased for the purpose of play.

At the edge of the film holder 2, a rack gear 2
e is integrally formed, and is connected to the film holder motor 9 via the speed reduction mechanism 9a.

With the above configuration, the film holder 2 is driven to move straight in the sub-scanning direction with respect to the carriage 1. Of course, the same mechanism example as that of the carriage may be used for the drive mechanism of the film holder.

Further, the film 18 is held while being held down by a leaf spring 2b having a mount portion integrally formed with the film holder 2. The film mount is positioned at the butting portion 2f of the film holder 2 and the film holder opening 2
Through d, it is in a transparent state without being interrupted by the film holder itself.

The film 18 is not limited to being held by the mount, and a sleeve-like film can be similarly held by being sandwiched by a leaf spring or the like. However, it is difficult to use the same film holder 2 because the thicknesses of the mounted film and the sleeve film are considerably different, and it is hard to use a dedicated film holder 2 for each.

In this embodiment, the film holder 2 capable of holding four films has been described, but a film holder capable of holding three or less films or five or more films can of course be used.

Next, an image capturing system using the film holding / driving mechanism will be described.

An alternating current is supplied to the power supply board 20 via a power cable 21 in advance, and the necessary power is supplied to the image processing board 19.

The film holder 2 is inserted into the film scanner from the insertion opening 23a at one end of the exterior 23. Then, the film holder sensor 8 confirms the presence or absence of the film holder 2, detects the insertion, and sends a detection signal to the system controller 15. Thereby, the system controller 15 supplies power via a driver (not shown) so that the film holder motor 9 is driven. Then, the film holder 2 is arranged at a predetermined position with respect to the carriage 1.

A user (operator) of the film scanner can issue an instruction from the external device 13 as to which one of a plurality of films on the film holder is to take an image of the film. The number of images to be taken can also be arbitrarily specified. The system controller 15 drives each motor so that a predetermined film is positioned with respect to the optical path based on these commands, and starts reading an image.

When reading of an image is started, the light source 3 is turned on, and the light transmitted through the film 18 is reflected in the 90 ° direction by the mirror 16 and is imaged on the line sensor 5 by the imaging lens 4 on the optical path. Is done. Then, the image signal is converted into an image signal by the line sensor 5, a predetermined process is performed on the image processing board 19, and an image signal for one line is output to the external device 13. Subsequently, the carriage 1 is moved by a distance corresponding to one line by the sub-scanning motor 7, reads the image of the next line, and outputs it to the external device 13.

By repeating the above operation, the film 1
The image signal for the frame is output.

In FIG. 1, the image of the film 18 (not shown) on the film holder 2 is formed on the line sensor 5 in a focused state. The film holder 2 accurately and appropriately holds the plurality of films 18 as described above. Therefore, the images on any of the films 18 are focused on the line sensor 5 to form an image, whereby a good image can always be obtained.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show examples in which the carriage 1 and the film holder 2 are appropriately arranged by being driven in the film scanner constructed as described above. In these figures, the film 18 is not shown for simplicity.

FIG. 4 shows an example in which the rightmost film of the film holder 2 is scanned. 4 and 5, the film holder 2 has a window 2g for shading.
Is provided.

FIG. 3A is a layout at the start of scanning, in which the right end of the film holder opening 2d is located on the optical path (lamp 3). (B) is a layout diagram at the end of scanning, in which the left end of the film holder opening 2d is located on the optical path (lamp 3). That is, the carriage 1
, The film holder 2 is appropriately positioned and fixed, and the carriage 1 is driven (scanned) at a desired resolution to capture a film image. Of course, the reverse is also possible, and the position of the carriage 1 may be fixed and the film holder 2 may be driven (scanned). For example, the scanning resolution of the carriage 1 is made finer, the scanning resolution of the film holder is set coarsely, and when the image is coarsely captured such as a thumbnail or a prescan, the image is captured by the latter method, or at a finer resolution such as a main scan. In this case, a system using the former method may be used.

Next, FIG. 5 shows a state where the carriage 1 and the film holder 2 are arranged in various states. (A) shows a state in which the carriage 1 is at the rightmost end of the movable range and the film holder 2 is at the home position. The home position position is, for example, a reference position when a stepping motor is used as the film holder motor 7. This reference position is confirmed at an initial operation such as when power is turned on, and the number of input pulses to the stepping motor is determined based on the reference position. This is required in a system for controlling the position of the film holder 2. In this embodiment, this home position is the rightmost end of the movable range in which the film holder 2 is driven. On the other hand, the exterior 23 is positioned at the right end so as to have a sufficient margin to avoid interference with the film holder 2, and the length of the exterior 23 is as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG.

On the other hand, FIG. 5B shows a state in which the carriage 1 is not positioned at the rightmost end when the home position of the film holder 2 is detected. In FIG. 5B, the home position of the film holder 2 is detected by positioning the carriage at the leftmost end. At this time, the right end of the exterior has more space with the film holder 2 than in FIG.

In the present embodiment, the position where the shading window 2g is arranged on the optical path (lamp 3) is in a state where the film holder 2 is located on the rightmost side, so that the film holder 2 is not located on the right side of this position. By controlling, the length of the exterior 23 can be shortened. FIG. 5C shows this state. In this figure, the film holder 2 is at the home position, that is, the rightmost end, and the carriage is appropriately positioned so that the shading window 2g is arranged on the optical path at that time.

In order to dispose the shading window 2g on the optical path, the positional relationship between the carriage 1 and the film holder 2 may be other than that shown in FIG. 5C. For example, as shown in FIG. It is also possible to move the film holder 2 from the rightmost end to the left. At this time, the length of the outer casing 23 is reduced by Δ, compared to 1 (ell) in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing the above situation. In FIG. 6, the horizontal axis indicates the position of the carriage 1 and the vertical axis indicates the position of the film holder 2. Assuming that the larger the value is, the further to the right side shown in FIGS. 4 and 5,
By controlling the carriage 1 and the film holder 2 so as not to be located in the shaded area on the upper right in the figure, it is possible to shorten the exterior by an amount corresponding to Δ.

Finally, FIG. 7 shows a characteristic difference in the positional relationship between the film holder and the exterior in comparison between the prior art and this embodiment.

FIG. 7 (a) is a layout view of the prior art, in which the film holder 2 is located in a protruding state. FIG. 7B is an arrangement diagram in which the film holder 2 is located at the rightmost position in the present embodiment. In FIG. 7B, since the projection of the film holder 2 is eliminated, the overall length of the apparatus can be shortened by an amount corresponding to α as compared to FIG.

As described above, in the present embodiment, an example has been shown in which the film holder enters the innermost part of the apparatus when the shading window is disposed on the optical path. However, the present invention is not limited to this. A part of the film holder may be arranged on the optical path for reading (for example, an orange base, a bar code, a perforation, etc.), and at that time, the film holder may be located deepest in the apparatus.

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the size of the film scanner body while arranging the film scanner without being conscious of obstacles near the film scanner body.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a film image reading device.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part of a film scanner using the system configuration of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a configuration example for driving a film holder in a carriage.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a positional relationship between a film holder and an exterior part.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a positional relationship between a film holder and an exterior part.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing a positional relationship between a carriage and a film holder.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a positional relationship between a film holder and an exterior part.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Carriage 2 Film holder 3 Light source 4 Imaging lens 5 Line sensor (image sensor) 6 Carriage sensor 7 Sub-scanning motor 8 Film holder sensor 9 Film holder motor 10 Lighting circuit 11 Image processing circuit 12 Interface 13 External device 14 CPU bus 15 System Controller 16 Mirror 17 Guide bar 18 Transparent original such as film 19 Image processing board 20 Power supply board 21 Power supply cable 22 Communication cable 23 Exterior

Claims (3)

[Claims] An image for reading an image on the original by irradiating the original from behind a transparent original placed on a scannable original table and forming an image of the transmitted light on an image pickup means. A reading apparatus, comprising: a transparent document holding member driving device for driving a transparent document holding member capable of holding a plurality of transparent documents in the document table in the scanning movement direction; and driving the document table in a scanning movement direction. A document table driving device, and a document position control device for controlling the transparent document holding member driving device and the document table driving device. The document position control device scans the document table and the document holding member. A film image reading device wherein a range is relatively controlled. 2. The film image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control of the scanning range is such that the driving range of the document holding member with respect to the exterior of the apparatus is minimized. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus further comprises a housing for accommodating at least a transparent document holding member driving device and having one end of the transparent document holding member protruding to the outside depending on an image pickup position of the document. The document position control device controls the scanning range of the document table and the document holding member such that the amount of protrusion is minimized by eliminating the protrusion of the transparent document holding member to the outside of the device exterior rear side. 2. The film image reading device according to claim 1, wherein: