Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-28
2003-02-11
Adams, Russell (Department: 2851)
C349S002000, C349S004000, C356S399000, C356S404000, C358S515000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06517055
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a printing device which is installed in, for example, a photograph printer, and which prints an image on a photosensitive material by directing light from a light source on the photosensitive material through a light modulation element such as a liquid crystal display element, and also concerns a photograph processing apparatus equipped with such a printing device.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Conventionally, various printing devices have been proposed in which an image is displayed by a liquid crystal display element (hereinafter, referred to as LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and light from a light source is directed to a photosensitive material through this LCD so as to print the image. In the printing device of this type, for example, a film image is acquired as image data consisting of a plurality of pixels, and pixels on the LCD are modulated in accordance with the image data thus acquired so that the photosensitive material is exposed.
In the above-mentioned conventional printing device, in the case when a color image is printed on a photosensitive material, color exposure is carried out based upon the so-called additive color process. In other words, the system which represents a color image by superposing light rays having blue (B), green (G) and red (R) components is adopted.
The following description will discuss a structural example of the conventional printing device.
FIG. 7
is a perspective view that schematically shows the construction of the printing device which is provided with an LCD and carries out face exposure. Here, the printing device having such a construction is referred to as a printing device of one-head face exposure system.
This printing device of one-head face exposure system is provided with a light source
51
for emitting white light, a BGR filter
52
having filters corresponding to the respective colors of blue, green and red, an LCD
53
and a printing lens
54
. Light, released from the light source
51
, is made incident on the LCD
53
after passing through any of the filters of the respective colors in the BGR filter
52
. The light, made incident on the LCD
53
, is modulated by the LCD
53
that displays image information corresponding to a color at this time, and then directed onto printing paper
55
as a photosensitive material through the printing lens
54
. An image as a whole to be printed is displayed on the LCD
53
, and the image is printed on the printing paper
55
that is placed at rest.
As described above, in the printing device of the one-head face exposure system, color exposure is carried out by using the BGR filter
52
. In other words, for example, when the filter corresponding to blue is being used, image information corresponding blue is displayed on the LCD
53
so that an exposing process of the blue component of the image is carried out on the printing paper
55
, and the same exposing processes of the green and red components are then carried out in this order so as to print the color image.
FIG. 8
is a perspective view that schematically shows the construction of a printing device which is provided with light sources and LCDs that correspond to the respective colors of blue, green and red, and carries out face exposure. Here, the printing device having such a construction is referred to as a printing device of three-head face exposure system.
This printing device of three-head face exposure system is provided with three light sources
51
B,
51
G and
51
R for respectively emitting blue light, green light and red light, three LCDs
53
B,
53
G and
53
R, a composition prism
56
and a printing lens
54
. Light rays, released from the light sources
51
B,
53
G and
53
R, are made incident on the corresponding LCDs
53
B,
53
G and
53
R, and modulated in accordance with image information for the respective colors. The resulting light rays, released from the LCDs
53
B,
53
G and
53
R are composed by the composition prism
56
, and projected onto printing paper
55
through the printing lens
54
. An image as a whole to be printed is displayed on each of the LCDs
53
B,
53
G and
53
R for each of the colors, and the image is printed on the printing paper
55
that is placed at rest.
As described above, in the printing device of the three-head face exposure system, the light sources
51
B,
51
G and
51
R and the LCDs
53
B,
53
G and
53
R are used for directing image light rays of the blue, green and red components to the composition prism
56
simultaneously so that an exposing process is carried out on the printing paper
55
by using color image light rays from the composition prism
56
.
FIG. 9
is a perspective view that schematically shows the construction of a printing device which is provided with light sources and LCS's (Liquid Crystal Shutters) that correspond to the respective colors of blue, green and red, and carries out scanning exposure by directing parallel light rays from the respective LCS's onto printing paper. In this case, LCS refers to a liquid crystal element in which respective pixels are aligned in one row or in several rows. Here, the printing device having such a construction is referred to as a printing device of three-head parallel scanning exposure system.
This printing device of three-head parallel scanning exposure system is provided with three light sources
51
B,
51
G and
51
R for respectively emitting blue light, green light and red light, three LCS's
57
B,
57
G and
57
R, and three rod lens arrays
58
B,
58
G and
58
R. Light rays, released from the light sources
51
B,
51
G and
51
R, are made incident on the corresponding LCS's
57
B,
57
G and
57
R, and modulated in accordance with image information for the respective colors. The resulting light rays, released from the LCS's
57
B,
57
G and
57
R are projected onto printing paper
55
through the respective rod lens arrays
58
B,
58
G and
58
R. Image data corresponding to one row or several rows of an image to be printed is displayed on the LCS's
57
B,
57
G and
57
R for the respective colors, and scanning exposure is carried out by transporting the printing paper
55
in a direction orthogonal to the length direction of the respective LCS's.
As described above, in the printing device of the three-head parallel scanning exposure system, the light sources
51
B,
51
G and
51
R and the LCS's
57
B,
57
G and
57
R are used for directing image light rays of the blue, green and red components onto the printing paper
55
in parallel with each other. Then, the display timing of the LCS's
57
B,
57
G and
57
R is controlled based upon the relationship between the distance between irradiation positions of the respective colors and the transporting speed of the printing paper
55
so that a color exposing process is carried out on each of the respective pixels of the image to be printed.
FIG. 10
is a perspective view that schematically shows the construction of a printing device which is provided with light sources and LCS's (Liquid Crystal Shutters) that correspond to the respective colors of blue, green and red, and carries out scanning exposure by directing light composed by light rays from the respective LCS's onto printing paper. Here, the printing device having such a construction is referred to as a printing device of three-head composition scanning exposure system.
This printing device of three-head composition scanning exposure system is provided with three light sources
51
B,
51
G and
51
R for respectively emitting blue light, green light and red light, three LCS's
57
B,
57
G and
57
R, a composition prism
56
and a rod lens arrays
58
. Light rays, released from the light sources
51
B,
51
G and
51
R, are made incident on the corresponding LCS's
57
B,
57
G and
57
R, and modulated in accordance with image information for the respective colors. The resulting light rays, released from the LCS's
57
B,
57
G and
57
R are composed by the composition prism
56
, and projec
Brown Khaled
Conlin David G.
Dike Bronstein Roberts & Cushman
Hartnell, III George W.
Noritsu Koki Co., Ltd.
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