Digital camera capable of printing instantly after...

Television – Camera – system and detail – Camera connected to printer

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C348S275000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06724424

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital camera capable of printing instantly after photographing, and more particularly to a digital camera capable of printing instantly after photographing comprising: a display image pickup unit having a semiconductor image pickup device; and a print unit for scanning a print paper on which a photosensitive type microcapsule has been coated by a print head having light emitting devices and forming a latent image and mechanically pressing the print paper on which the latent image has been formed by a print roller and developing the latent image.
2. Description of the Related Art
The present applicant has developed a portable type printer for use with a digital camera and previously applied for patent (Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 9-152719). In this printer, a print paper on which a photosensitive type microcapsule has been coated is scanned by a print head having three kinds of light emitting devices of red, green, and blue and to thereby form a latent image, and then the latent image is developed through mechanically pressing the print paper on which the latent image has-been formed by a print roller. With respect to a tone, a saturation, and a lightness in printing, an intensity and an irradiation time of irradiation light beams in the light emitting devices are controlled.
The print paper is formed in a manner in which a photosensitive type microcapsule, which has a diameter of about 4 microns, is coated uniformly on a base paper and thereon, an image receiving layer including a developing agent is coated and further thereon, a polyester film is laminated. The microcapsule itself has light translucent property and a microcase made up of merely transparent gelatin having an intensity whose degree is a degree that the microcase might be destroyed through mechanically pressing by the print roller. A coupler which is included in the microcapsule is colorless leuco dye and a material which is colored by contacting the image receiving layer containing the developing agent. As for the coupler, correspondently to three primary colors of light, i.e., red (R), green (G), and blue (B), three primary colors of painting, i.e., magenta (M), yellow (Y), and cyan (C) are prepared. As a photo-curing material which is included in the microcapsule together with the coupler, light of color with a complementary color relation to a which is what appears as a result when the coupler contacts the receiving image layer and reacts is selected. That is, a material which cures in dependence on light of a specific wavelength is selected. With regard to the types of print paper, there is a print paper for monochrome on which only one kind of photosensitive type microcapsule has been coated and a print paper for full color of 256-gradations on which three kinds of photosensitive type microcapsules have been coated. Further, each of the foregoing types of print papers includes print papers for high sensitivity and for low sensitivity.
A printer using a print paper on which a photosensitive type microcapsule has been coated, according to one embodiment as shown in
FIG. 4
, comprises: a CPU
37
; a ROM
38
in which a program for allowing various processes to be performed in accordance with a predetermined procedure has been stored; a DRAM
39
in which image data to be printed and related data such as various parameters are stored; and a control unit having an input/output interface
40
and a bus
41
.
The printer also comprises: a print head
44
having light emitting devices for selectively irradiating light beams on the print paper and for forming a latent image; a print roller
45
for applying pressure to the print paper on which the latent image has been formed and for developing it; and a paper feed mechanism
46
for moving the print paper in one direction at a predetermined speed. The printer further comprises: a photosensitive control circuit
47
for controlling a selective light-emission and an irradiation quantity of the light emitting devices in the print head
44
; a head driving unit
48
for moving the print head
44
reciprocatively in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the print paper; a roller driving unit
49
for driving the print roller
45
; and a paper feed driving unit
50
for driving the paper feed mechanism
46
. Furthermore, the printer also comprises: input means
42
for inputting image data from video image equipment such as a digital camera, which is supplied through a flash memory card or as transmission signals; and setting means
43
for setting various parameters of the printer or performing an image edit operation, etc.
A digital camera according to one embodiment, as shown in a block diagram of
FIG. 5
, has: an optical system
51
comprising a photographic lens, a stop, and a shutter; a semiconductor image pickup device
52
such as CCD or MOS transistor; and a solid state image display
53
comprising a semiconductor image display device such as LCD or TFT. The digital camera further has: an optical system driving circuit
54
for driving the optical system
51
; an image pickup device driving circuit
55
for driving the semiconductor image pickup device
52
; and a display driving circuit
56
for driving the solid state image display
53
.
The digital camera also has: a CPU
57
; a ROM
58
in which a program for allowing various processes to be executed in accordance with a predetermined procedure has been stored; a DRAM
59
for temporarily storing digital image signals outputted from the semiconductor image pickup device; a flash memory
60
serving as a built-in memory, which stores the digital image signals of an object to be photographed; and a control unit comprising an input/output interface
61
and a bus
62
. An external interface
64
for connecting to an external communication line or an image input terminal of a TV and an/external memory interface
65
further constitutes the control unit. Connected to the external memory interface
65
is a connector
66
into which a storage medium such as a flash memory card is inserted.
The printer using the print paper on which the .photosensitive type microcapsule as shown in
FIG. 4
has been coated is usually used, while being taken with the digital camera as shown in
FIG. 5
at a photographing spot. Namely, the user such as a photographer takes a photograph by the digital camera, and thereafter copies and stores the digital image signals stored in the built-in memory in the digital camera to the flash memory card as an external memory. He then pulls out the flash memory card in which the digital image signals have been stored from the digital camera and inserts it into the card interface serving as an input unit of the printer. He stores digital still image signals into the built-in memory in the printer and thus completes preparation for printing. Such preparation for printing, however, is quite troublesome for the photographer, etc. In addition, although the printer is obvious, even if the digital camera is compact, its weight and volume might be remarkably large. It is consequently difficult to carry both printer and digital camera as mentioned above at the photographing spot, and also inconvenient to handle them.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a digital camera capable of printing on print paper, on which the photosensitive type microcapsule has been coated, instantly just after photographing, and also to provide a digital camera which is easily carried and handled and inexpensive as well.
To solve the above problems, a digital camera capable of printing instantly after photographing according to the present invention comprises two units of: a print unit having a paper feed mechanism for feeding in one direction a print paper on which a photosensitive type microcapsule has been coated, a print head having light emitting devices for optically scanning on the basis of an image signal and for forming a latent image onto the print paper, a print

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