Optical: systems and elements – Single channel simultaneously to or from plural channels – By surface composed of lenticular elements
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-29
2001-06-19
Epps, Georgia (Department: 2873)
Optical: systems and elements
Single channel simultaneously to or from plural channels
By surface composed of lenticular elements
C355S022000, C355S077000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06249384
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates generally to the field of manufacturing lenticular images and more particularly to detecting and measuring the relative skew of a writing laser beam to lenticular material which is used for producing the lenticular images. More specifically, the invention relates to the detection of the skew between the writing laser beam and the lenticules as the material is transported in a scanning laser printer.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Lenticular images include an array of cylindrical lenses (or lenticules) in a lenticular material and a sequence of spatially multiplexed images that are viewed through the lenticular material so that different ones of the multiplexed images are viewed at different angles by the viewer. One image effect produced by the lenticular image is a depth or stereoscopic image where the lenticules are oriented vertically and one eye views one image of a stereo pair or sequence from one angle and the other eye views another image from the stereo pair. Another image effect is a motion image where different images in a motion image sequence are viewed by both eyes, while changing the angle at which the image is viewed. In this image effect the lenticules are oriented in the horizontal direction and the lenticular material is rotated about the long axis of the lenticules. Other effects that combine these two effects, or form collages of unrelated images that can be viewed from different viewing angles can be provided.
It has been proposed to create stereoscopic images by providing a lenticular material having a color photographic emulsion thereon. The stereoscopic images are exposed onto the lenticular material by a laser scanner and the material is processed to produce the lenticular image product. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,006 issued Dec. 9, 1997 to Taguchi et al.
The image that is exposed on the lenticular material must be very precisely positioned under each lenticule. If the separate image lines produced by the writing laser beam of the laser scanner and the lenticules on the material are not aligned parallel, the resulting skew misalignment will degrade the image quality. There is a need therefore for an improved manufacturing process for making lenticular image products from lenticular material of the type having a lenticular lens array coated with photographic emulsion.
The following patents disclose various arrangements for aligning a lenticular overlay with a lenticular print which do not address the problem of aligning a writing laser beam with the lenticules of a photosensitive lenticular material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,729,332, issued Mar. 17, 1998, inventors Fogel et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,633,719, issued May 27, 1997, inventors Oehlbeck et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,190, issued Dec. 16, 1997, inventors Young et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,553, issued Jun. 13, 1995, inventor Morton.
It is known to scan a non actinic laser beam across a lenticular array in a direction perpendicular to the axes of the lenticules, and to sense the deflection of the beam by the lenticules to produce an output clock for modulating a writing laser beam. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,681,676, issued Oct. 28, 1997 to Telfer et al.
It is one object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus for detecting and/or measuring lenticular skew relative to the writing laser beam for the purpose of printing accurate images on the material. It is another object of the invention to provide a method and apparatus for minimizing skew during manufacture of a lenticular image product.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above. Briefly summarized, according to one aspect of the present invention, a lenticular image product is formed from a lenticular material having an array of cylindrical lenses and a photographic emulsion coated thereon, by scanning the lenticular material with an intensity modulated first beam of light in a direction parallel to the long axes of the cylindrical lenses to form a latent lenticular image in the photographic emulsion. A second beam of light having a wavelength outside of the range of sensitivity of the photographic emulsion is focused into a line whose width is smaller than the pitch of the cylindrical lenses onto the lenticular material. The line of the second beam of light is directed parallel and adjacent to or overlapping the first beam of light in the direction of the long axis of the cylindrical lenses of the lenticular material. The lenticular material is moved through the beam to provide a page scan motion across the short axes of the lenticules of the material and to modulate the angle of reflection or refraction of the second beam of light caused by the lenticules. The position of the angularly modulated second beam of light is sensed along a line parallel to the longitudinal axis of a lenticule and the sensed position is used to control the rotational position of a pivoting cylinder mirror assembly or the rotational position of a platen supporting the lenticular material. As a result, the skew between the writing laser beam and the longitudinal axis of the cylindrical lens is minimized and the parallel alignment of the writing laser beam to the lenticule is maintained.
These and other aspects, objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood and appreciated from a review of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and appended claims, and by reference to the accompanying drawings.
ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECT OF THE INVENTION
The invention provides an accurate method and apparatus for either mapping lenticular skew or detecting skew which can be compensated in a laser printer, thereby enabling efficient production of high quality lenticular image products using lenticular material having photographic emulsion coated thereon. The invention is cost effective and automated.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5424553 (1995-06-01), Morton
patent: 5633719 (1997-05-01), Oehlbeck et al.
patent: 5681676 (1997-10-01), Telfer et al.
patent: 5697006 (1997-12-01), Taguchi et al.
patent: 5699190 (1997-12-01), Young et al.
patent: 5729332 (1998-03-01), Fogel et al.
patent: 6087054 (2000-07-01), Cobb et al.
patent: 6154247 (2000-11-01), Marino et al.
Cobb Joshua M.
Hawver Jeffrey R.
Zolla Robert J.
Eastman Kodak Company
Epps Georgia
Noval William F.
Spector David N.
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