JP2007003588A - Image division printing device and method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily arrange formed photographic prints by dividing and printing an image. <P>SOLUTION: A division part 12 divides the image S1 into small images Smi of L-format size, for example. The small images Smi are printed on an L-format photosensitive material, and information to specify the positions of the respective small images Smi in the image S1 is printed on the back surface of the photosensitive material by a printer, thereby forming a plurality of photographic prints Pi. By arranging the plurality of photographic prints Pi, the image of a large size is constituted. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image division printing apparatus and method for dividing an image and printing it on a photosensitive material to create a plurality of photographic prints, and a program for causing a computer to execute the image division printing method.

  Conventionally, by bringing photographic film taken with a silver salt camera or media recorded with an image captured by a digital camera to a photo shop such as a lab, the image is printed on the photosensitive material using a print creation device in the photo shop. There is a service for creating photo prints. In such a service, a user can create a standard size photo print such as L version, 2L version, etc., but there is also a service for enlarging and printing a favorite image.

However, large-sized prints are expensive and printing devices that can print are limited. For this reason, various methods have been proposed for printing an image having a size larger than the recording paper to be used by dividing it into a plurality of recording papers (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).
JP 2000-238364 A JP 2001-309161 A

  As described above, by arranging the photographic prints created by dividing the large-size image into the size of the recording paper in a predetermined order, one image before the division can be configured to be a large size. However, since photographic prints are obtained by dividing an original image, it takes time to construct a large-sized image unless the order of arrangement is known. In particular, when the number of divisions is large, it is very troublesome to construct a large-sized image if the order of arrangement is not known.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to easily arrange photographic prints created by dividing and printing an image.

An image division printing apparatus according to the present invention includes a dividing unit that divides an original image larger than a photosensitive material of a predetermined size into a plurality of small images of the predetermined size;
Printing means for printing the plurality of small images on the photosensitive material, and printing information specifying the position of each small image in the original image on the back surface of the photosensitive material to create a plurality of photographic prints. It is characterized by that.

  The image division printing apparatus according to the present invention may further include image processing means for performing image processing for changing image quality on the original image.

  In the image division printing apparatus according to the present invention, it is preferable that the predetermined size is an L size.

An image division printing method according to the present invention divides an original image larger than a photosensitive material of a predetermined size into a plurality of small images of the predetermined size,
The plurality of small images are printed on the photosensitive material, and information for specifying the position of each small image in the original image is printed on the back surface of the photosensitive material to create a plurality of photographic prints. Is.

  The image division printing method according to the present invention may be provided as a program for causing a computer to execute the method.

  According to the present invention, an original image larger than a photosensitive material of a predetermined size is divided into a plurality of small images of a predetermined size, a plurality of small images are printed on the photosensitive material, and each small image in the original image is further printed on the back surface of the photosensitive material. Information specifying the position of the image is printed, and a photo print is created. Therefore, by looking at the back side of the photographic print, it can be easily understood which part of the original image the photographic print corresponds to, and as a result, it is easy to arrange a large size image by arranging the photographic prints. .

  In addition, if image processing is performed on the original image, the degree of image processing does not differ for each small image. Therefore, when composing a large image, the image quality for each portion of the large image is reduced. It is possible to prevent the occurrence of a problem that they are different.

  In addition, when the predetermined size is a general-purpose L plate, handling of a plurality of photographic prints is facilitated, and the printing cost can be reduced.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of an image division printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the image division printing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes an image processing unit 11, a division unit 12, and a printer 13.

The image processing unit 11 performs image processing for improving image quality such as gradation processing, density conversion processing, color correction processing, and sharpness processing on the color image S0 to be processed, thereby processing the processed image. S1 is generated. In the present embodiment, the image S0 has a sufficient number of pixels (for example, 5 million pixels) so that the image quality does not deteriorate even when printed on a large size photosensitive material. Note that the image processing unit 11 obtains a processed image S1 by performing processing for imparting a desired effect to the image, such as processing for changing the image S0 to monochrome or processing for changing to sepia. May be.

  The dividing unit 12 divides the image S1 into a plurality of small images Smi (i = 1 to 16) so that the image S1 can be printed on an L-size photosensitive material (127 × 89 mm). Further, when the aspect ratio of the image S1 is different from that of the L plate photosensitive material, the dividing unit 12 adjusts the shape of the image S1 so that the aspect ratio of the image S1 is the same as that of the L plate photosensitive material. The image is divided into a plurality of small images Smi. In the present embodiment, the image S1 is divided into 4 × 4 = 16 small images Smi.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a division mode. As shown in FIG. 2, the image S1 is divided into 16 small images Smi, and each small image Smi is given position information for specifying a position on the image S1. Specifically, a two-dimensional coordinate value having the origin (0, 0) as an image at the upper left corner of the image S1 is given as position information.

  The printer 13 creates a photographic print Pi (i = 1 to 16) by printing each small image Smi on an L-size photosensitive material. In the present embodiment, since the image S1 is divided into 16 parts, 16 photo prints Pi are created. Further, the position information given to the small image Smi obtained from each photo print Pi is printed on the back surface of each photo print Pi. A photographic print Porg of the image S1 is also created together with the photographic print Pi of the small image.

The created photo prints Pi and Porg are delivered to the user. The user arranges the photo prints Pi while viewing the position information and the photo prints Porg printed on the back side of the photo prints Pi, and composes an image that is 16 times larger than the L version (about 508 × 356 mm). Can do. Note that by fastening by fasteners 20 near the center of each side of the photographic print Pi as shown in FIG. 3, may be connecting all photographic print Pi. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, all the photographic prints Pi may be connected by fastening the corners of the photographic prints Pi with, for example, a circular fastener 21. Further, as shown in FIG. 5, all the photo prints Pi can be connected by inserting the photo prints Pi into the transparent bag 22 having a portion for inserting 4 × 4 = 16 photo prints Pi. Good.
As described above, according to the present embodiment, the image S1 is divided into a plurality of small images Smi, and each small image Smi is printed on the L-type photosensitive material, and the position information is printed on the back surface of the photo print. Since Pi is created, it can be easily understood which part of the image S1 corresponds to the photographic print Pi by looking at the back side of the photographic print Pi. It becomes easy to constitute.

  In addition, if image processing is performed on the original image S0, the degree of image processing does not differ for each small image Smi. Therefore, when a large image is formed, a portion of the large image is displayed. It is possible to prevent a problem that the image quality is different every time.

  Further, by printing a small image Smi on a general-purpose L-type photosensitive material, handling of a plurality of photographic prints Pi is facilitated, and the printing cost can be reduced.

  In the above embodiment, the original image S1 is divided into 16 parts. However, by increasing the number of divisions, it is possible to construct a larger-size image. For example, if the number of divisions is 25, an image of about 635 × 445 mm size can be configured, and if the number of divisions is 36, an image of about 762 × 534 mm size can be configured.

  In the above embodiment, the two-dimensional coordinate value of the small image Smi is used as the position information and is printed on the back surface of the photo print Pi. However, the position information may be used as a serial number.

  Although the apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention has been described above, a program that causes a computer to function as means corresponding to the image processing unit 11, the dividing unit 12, and the printer 13 is also an embodiment of the present invention. It is one of. A computer-readable recording medium that records such a program is also one embodiment of the present invention.

1 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of an image division printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Diagram for explaining the mode of division The figure which shows the state which connected the plural photograph print with the fastener (the 1)   The figure which shows the state which connected the plural photograph print with the fastener (the 1)   The figure which shows the state which connected the plural photograph print with the fastener (the 1)

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image division | segmentation printing apparatus 11 Image processing part 12 Division | segmentation part 13 Printer 20 Fastening

Claims (5)

A dividing unit that divides an original image larger than a photosensitive material of a predetermined size into a plurality of small images of the predetermined size;
Printing means for printing the plurality of small images on the photosensitive material, and printing information specifying the position of each small image in the original image on the back surface of the photosensitive material to create a plurality of photographic prints. An image division printing apparatus characterized by that.   2. The image division printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising image processing means for performing image processing for changing image quality on the original image.   The image division printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined size is an L size. Dividing an original image larger than a photosensitive material of a predetermined size into a plurality of small images of the predetermined size;
The plurality of small images are printed on the photosensitive material, and information for specifying the position of each small image in the original image is printed on the back surface of the photosensitive material to create a plurality of photographic prints. Image division printing method. A procedure for dividing an original image larger than a photosensitive material of a predetermined size into a plurality of small images of the predetermined size;
Printing the plurality of small images on the photosensitive material, and printing information identifying the position of each small image in the original image on the back surface of the photosensitive material to create a plurality of photographic prints. A program for causing a computer to execute the image division printing method characterized by the above.

Images