JPH11321020A - Photo image printing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a photographic image printing apparatus capable of preventing loss of a card adapter. SOLUTION: A user takes out a card adapter 14 corresponding to a compact flash 12 from an adapter storage unit 51, connects the compact flash 12, and inserts the card adapter 14 into the card slot 10 for connection.
Compact flash 1 by operating the touch panel 20
After printing the photographic image stored in the storage unit 52, the card adapter 14 is taken out, the compact flash 12 is removed, and the card adapter 14 is returned to the original adapter storage unit 52.
Return to The card adapter 14 includes an adapter storage unit 51;
When a state that is not in any of the card slots 10 elapses for a predetermined time or more, a warning is issued by sound or image, so that the card adapter 14 can be prevented from being lost.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a photographic image printing apparatus for printing digital image data obtained by a digital still camera or the like as a photograph.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, digital still cameras that convert light into digital data by an optical sensor such as a CCD and record photographic data on a readable / writable storage medium have been reduced in price and have high image quality, and have become popular. . Some digital still cameras record photographic data on a removable memory card. A personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a personal computer) having a memory card slot
By inserting the data into a personal computer, the photograph data can be easily taken into a personal computer. By connecting a printer using a dry process such as a sublimation type or an ink jet type to a personal computer that has captured the photo data and performing printing, a small business or home can print a photo at low cost.

[0003] When printing using a personal computer as described above, printing cannot be performed without both a personal computer and a printer. However, it is necessary to print an image captured by a digital still camera without using a personal computer. There is also known a photo printing printer that has a card slot into which a memory card can be inserted and can print photo data in the memory card.

[0004]

However, a memory card for a digital still camera has a plurality of standards such as a flash ATA card of PCMCIA standard, a smart media (trademark), and a compact flash (trademark). The shape of the connection part with the slot is different. Conventionally, the card slot is PC
The card was adapted to the MCIA standard, and the smart media and the compact flash were inserted into the card slot of the PCMCIA standard via a removable card adapter.

When a photo printer for inserting a memory card through a card adapter as described above is installed in a place where an unspecified number of people can use it, such as a store, the card adapter shared by a plurality of people is used for photo printing. If placed near the printer, the card adapter could be lost or stolen.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a photographic image printing apparatus capable of preventing a memory card adapter from being lost.

[0007]

According to the photographic image printing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, a card adapter capable of attaching and detaching a memory card storing photographic image data, and an adapter connecting section capable of attaching and detaching the card adapter are provided. And an adapter storage unit for accommodating the card adapter, detection means provided in the adapter connection unit and the adapter storage unit for detecting whether or not there is a card adapter, and a state where the card adapter is not in either the adapter connection unit or the adapter storage unit. Warning means for issuing a warning when a predetermined time has elapsed. Therefore, if the card adapter is not connected to the adapter connection unit within a predetermined time after the user removes the card from the adapter storage unit, the card adapter is not returned to the adapter storage unit within the predetermined time after removing the card adapter from the adapter connection unit. In some cases, a warning is issued by voice or image, so that loss of the card adapter can be prevented.

According to the photographic image printing apparatus of the second aspect of the present invention, the printing unit includes a holding unit that holds the roll paper so as to be able to be fed out, and a paper feeding unit that can move the roll paper in the feeding direction. An inkjet head that can reciprocate in the width direction of the roll paper and can eject ink droplets in a range wider than the width of the roll paper, and absorbs ink ejected to the outside of the roll paper at both ends of the inkjet head movement range It has an ink absorbing means and a cutting means for cutting the roll paper in the width direction. Therefore, the roll paper on which the photo is printed can be cut at an arbitrary position in the moving direction, and a photo having no surrounding margin can be printed at an arbitrary aspect ratio.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a photographic image printing apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The photographic image printing apparatus 1 includes a card slot 10 as an adapter connection section, a touch panel 20, a printing section 30, a control section 40, and a speaker 60. A flash ATA card 11 of the PCMCIA standard is connected to the card slot 10, and the control unit 40 can read the photographic image data in the card. Also, by connecting a memory card such as the compact flash 12 or the smart media 13 to the card adapters 14 and 15 and inserting it into the card slot 10, the control unit 40 reads the photo data stored in the compact flash 12 or the smart media 13. It is possible. A detection unit (not shown) is provided in the card slot 10 so that the control unit 40 can detect whether the card adapters 14 and 15 are connected to the card slot.

The card adapters 14 and 15 can be stored in adapter storage units 51 and 52, respectively. Each of the adapter storage units 51 and 52 is provided with a sensor (not shown) as a detection unit, and the control unit 40 can detect whether the card adapters 14 and 15 are present in the adapter storage units 51 and 52.

The loudspeaker 60 can generate sound under the control of the control unit 40.
Can be explained. When the control unit 40 recognizes that the state where the card adapters 14 and 15 are not present in any of the adapter storage units 51 and 52 and the card slot 10 has continued for a predetermined time or more, a warning sound can be generated.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a photographic image printing apparatus 1. An opening 391 and a paper outlet 392 that can communicate with the card slot 10 are provided in a casing 39 of the printing unit 30, and the touch panel 20 is rotatably connected to the casing 39. The control unit 40 and the card slot 10 are built in the casing 39. By pressing the eject button 16, the flash ATA card 11 or the card adapters 14, 15 inserted in the card slot 10 can be taken out.

The touch panel 20 is controlled by the user by pressing a touch key as an input unit attached to the surface of a liquid crystal display (LCD) as a display unit.
0 indicates that the pressed position can be detected. As the touch key, for example, a matrix touch key in which a panel provided with a plurality of electrodes in a horizontal direction and a panel provided with a plurality of electrodes in a vertical direction are overlapped can be used. A voltage is applied to one of the horizontal electrode and the vertical electrode, and when the user presses the surface of the touch key, a current flows to the other electrode. By detecting this current, the touch panel 20
The position where the surface is pressed can be detected.

The printing unit 30 rotatably holds the roll paper 31 inside a casing 39 by a shaft 32 as holding means. The roll paper 31 moves in a direction in which the paper is fed by paper feeding means (not shown). As shown in FIG. 3, the inkjet head 34 can reciprocate in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the roll paper 31, that is, in the width direction of the roll paper 31, and can discharge ink droplets on the roll paper 31. A paper guide 35 is provided at a position facing the inkjet head 34 with the roll paper 31 interposed therebetween. The paper guide 35 is provided with an absorbing pad 36 as ink absorbing means for absorbing the ink ejected to the outside of the roll paper 31 at both ends of the moving range of the inkjet head 34.

The inkjet head 34 includes a control unit 40
By applying a voltage to the pressure generating means in response to a drive signal from the printer, the volume of the ink chamber is expanded and contracted, and the ink in the ink chamber can be ejected from the nozzles as ink droplets onto the roll paper 31. Ink tanks for storing four color inks of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K), and a plurality of ink tanks for each color are arranged perpendicular to the moving direction of the inkjet head 34. It has four rows of nozzles 341. C,
A color image can be printed by a combination of M, Y, and K. When printing black by superimposing C, M, and Y inks, the K ink may be omitted. Further, by using six colors of ink of dark cyan (C), dark magenta (M), light cyan (c), light magenta (m), yellow (Y), and black (K), a smoother gradation is obtained. Can be expressed, and the dots of the ink droplets can be made inconspicuous even in a portion having a high lightness such as a skin color.

A cutter 37 is provided downstream of the ink jet head 34 in the moving direction of the roll paper 31 as cutting means for cutting the roll paper 31 in the width direction. The cutter 37 cuts the roll paper 31 in the width direction according to a command from the control unit 40. As shown in FIG. 4, a blank portion between an ink ejection area 311 where ink droplets are ejected to print one photo on the roll paper 31 and an ink ejection area 312 where the next photo is printed. 3
13 is cut by the cutter 37 and falls, and is stored in the waste paper storage unit 38. The roll paper 31 is cut at the first cutting position and the second cutting position inside the ink ejection regions 311 and 312 in the length direction. In addition, the ink ejection area 3
The widths of 11 and 312 are slightly (for example, 1 mm) larger than the width of the roll paper 31. For this reason, it is possible to eliminate blank spaces on all sides of a printed photo. The roll paper 31 on which the photograph has been printed is discharged from the paper exit 392 to the outside.

The control unit 40 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 4
And a storage medium such as a ROM 42 or a flash memory in which a control program is stored.
The photo data stored in the memory card 0 is displayed on the touch panel 20 as an image, input from the touch panel 20 is determined, control for printing a photo by the printing unit 30, and the like are performed.

Next, a procedure for printing a photograph using the photograph image printing apparatus of the present embodiment will be described.

The user presses the surface of the touch panel 20 to execute the program stored in the ROM 42 of the control unit 40, selects a photo to be printed, and gives an instruction to the printing unit 30. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a procedure for giving a photo print instruction.

When the user wants to print a photographic image stored in the compact flash 12, the adapter storage 51
The compact flash 12 is connected to the card adapter 14 (S101).
The card adapter 14 is inserted into the card slot 10.
(S102).

Then, the control unit 40 reads the photograph data in the compact flash 12 (S103), and displays a photograph image on the LCD of the touch panel 20. A plurality of thumbnails 201 are displayed on the LCD as reduced images using reduced data of a photograph stored together with the photograph data in the compact flash 12, or the control unit 40 creates reduced data from the photograph data and outputs a plurality of thumbnails. The thumbnail 201 can be displayed on the LCD. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, 20 thumbnails 201 are displayed on one screen (S104).

Next, whether or not to perform index printing is selected (S105). On the touch panel 20,
If the position corresponding to the image of the button 202 displayed as “No” is pressed, the process proceeds to step S107 without performing index printing. Hereinafter, pressing a position corresponding to the button image displayed on the touch panel 20 is referred to as “pressing a button”. When the button 203 displayed as "Yes" is pressed, the index print for printing 20 thumbnails 201 on one sheet is executed (S106).

Next, a screen as shown in FIG. 7 is displayed.
The photograph to be printed is selected (S107). When the user presses a portion on the touch panel 20 where the thumb nail 201 of the photo is displayed, it is possible to switch between printing and not printing the photo. Initially, it is set so that all the photos are not printed. When the thumbnail 201 of the photo is pressed, a symbol such as a circle is displayed on the thumbnail 201 to indicate that it is to be printed. ○ Thumbnail 20 with mark
By pressing 1 again, the circle mark disappears and the designation of printing is canceled. The total number of prints is also displayed on the LCD. It is also possible to set to print all the images first, and to display a symbol indicating that the image is not printed, such as an X mark, on the selected image by pressing the thumbnail 201.

If more than 20 images are stored in the compact flash 12 and the thumbnails 201 of all the photos cannot be displayed on one screen of the LCD, the thumbnails 201 of the photos are distributed to a plurality of sheets of 20 each. Button 2 for displaying the next sheet on the LCD
04 and a button 205 for displaying the previous sheet are displayed. Button 20 displayed on touch panel 20
By pressing 4, 205, the displayed sheet can be switched. The user proceeds to the next step by designating one or more photographs to be printed and pressing the button 206 displayed as “selection completed”.

Next, a size for printing a photograph is selected (S108). In this embodiment, any one of the roll paper 31 having a width of 89 mm, 102 mm, or 127 mm is set in the printing unit 30 and used. The print size is selected by pressing any one of a plurality of options buttons displayed on the LCD of the touch panel 20 according to the width of the set roll paper 31.

When the roll paper 31 having a width of 89 mm is set, the width of the roll paper 31 is set to the long side, and by printing with a length of 55 mm, it is possible to print a photograph almost in the size of a business card. By printing at a length of 127 mm with the width of 31 as the short side, it is possible to print almost standard L size photographs.

When a roll paper 31 having a width of 102 mm is set, the width of the roll paper 31 is set to 152 m
By printing with a length of m, it is possible to print almost standard postcard size or standard size photos in Europe.

When the roll paper 31 having a width of 127 mm is set, the width of the roll paper 31 is set to 89 mm
, A substantially standard L-size photograph can be printed, and a larger-size photograph can be printed by printing the width of the roll paper 31 as a short side.

Regardless of the width of the roll paper 31, the width / width ratio of a photograph having a 4: 3 aspect ratio, a square photograph, or the width of the roll paper 31 according to the number of pixels in the vertical / horizontal direction of a general digital still camera. Can print photos with various aspect ratios, such as so-called panoramic photos that are twice as long.

When the size to be printed is selected, the photograph is printed (S109). Here, the order of the selection of the photo to be printed (S107) and the selection of the photo size (S108) may be reversed.

If printing has been instructed in step S107 and there are still unprinted photos, the process returns to step S109 to print the next photo, and is repeated until all the photos have been printed (S110). .

After all the pictures have been printed, the card adapter 14 is removed from the card slot 10 by the user pressing the removal button 16 (S11).
1). In step S112, the control unit 40 confirms whether the adapter storage unit 51 has the card adapter 14, and
When it is recognized that the user has returned the card adapter 14 to the adapter storage unit 51, the photo printing process ends.

If it is determined in step S112 that there is no card adapter 14 in the adapter storage unit 51, then in step S113 the card adapter 1 is removed from the card slot 10.
If the elapsed time from the removal of the card 4 is within the predetermined time, the process returns to step S112. If the predetermined time has elapsed, the process proceeds to step S114, and the control unit 40 returns the card adapter to the LCD of the touch panel 20. After displaying a warning or issuing a voice warning from the speaker 60, the process returns to step S112. Card adapter 1
Since the warning continues until the card adapter 14 is returned to the adapter storage unit 51, the card adapter 14 can be prevented from being lost or stolen.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a photographic image printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a photographic image printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an operation of a printing unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a relationship between an ink ejection area and a cut position of roll paper according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process of giving a print instruction according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a screen displayed on the LCD in a process of giving a print instruction according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a screen displayed on the LCD during a process of giving a print instruction according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 photo image printing device 10 card slot 11 flash ATA card (memory card) 12 compact flash (memory card) 13 smart media (memory card) 14, 15 card adapter 16 eject button 20 touch panel 30 printing unit 31 roll paper 32 axis (holding means) ) 34 Inkjet head 35 Paper guide 36 Absorbing pad (ink absorbing means) 37 Cutter (cutting means) 38 Waste paper storage section 40 Control section 51, 52 Adapter storage section 60 Speaker (warning means)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A card adapter capable of attaching and detaching a memory card storing data of a photographic image, an adapter connection unit capable of attaching and detaching the card adapter, an adapter storage unit accommodating the card adapter, and an image stored in the memory card. A display section that displays
A touch panel having an input unit provided on the surface of the display unit and capable of detecting a pressed position; a printing unit for printing the photographic image; and a memory card stored in the memory card via the card adapter connected to the adapter connection unit. A control unit that reads the data thus obtained and controls the touch panel and the printing unit; a detection unit that is provided in the adapter connection unit and the adapter storage unit and detects whether the adapter is present; A photographic image printing apparatus comprising: a warning unit that issues a warning when a state that is not present in either the adapter connection unit or the adapter storage unit continues for a predetermined time. 2. The printing section includes: holding means for holding the roll paper so that the roll paper can be fed; paper feeding means capable of moving the roll paper in the feeding direction; and reciprocating in the width direction of the roll paper. An inkjet head capable of ejecting ink droplets in a range wider than the width of the roll paper, ink absorbing means for absorbing ink ejected to the outside of the roll paper at both ends of a movement range of the inkjet head, and the roll 2. The photographic image printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising cutting means for cutting the paper in the width direction.