Radiation imagery chemistry: process – composition – or product th – Post imaging processing – Using web or gel
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-18
2003-07-15
Le, Hoa Van (Department: 1752)
Radiation imagery chemistry: process, composition, or product th
Post imaging processing
Using web or gel
C430S466000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06593070
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image formation process and an image information preparation process of silver halide photographic light sensitive materials.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Silver halide photographic light-sensitive materials (hereinafter, also denoted simply as photographic materials) are used as a recording material which is simple and low in cost but nonetheless capable of providing high quality images. These materials have greatly contributed to the advancement of industry and culture, and are indispensable material.
Silver halide color photographic material such as color negative film, after exposure, is subjected to color development to form yellow (Y), magenta (M) and cyan (C) dye images along with formation of silver images, which is subsequently subjected to bleaching to bleach the silver images to silver halide. The thus formed silver halide becomes a soluble silver complex and is removed from the photographic material. The photographic material is further subjected to a stabilization treatment to wash out any residual fixing agent and to cleanse the photographic material.
In the universally employed processing for color negative film (e.g., Process C-41 or CNK-4), as described above, the photographic material is subjected to many processing steps, often resulting in problems such that the processing time becomes relatively lengthy and the processing apparatus becomes larger. There also arise problems such that water is needed to make processing solutions and its dissolution work is hard, handling the relatively high pH solution is hazardous, it is troublesome to control exhausted processing solutions after processing, and disposal of processing effluents is not preferable for environment protection.
The foregoing problems have rarely arisen in large volume labs. Recently, on-site processing, so-called mini-lab has increased to enhance convenience of color film processing, for which a compact and rapid-accessible photographic processing system is desired, which can be handled even by a non-specialist or a part-time worker and is simple, safe and friendly to the environment. Further thereto, to achieve further enhancement of convenience of color films, it is also desired to introduce a photographic processing system into a place such as convenience stores, where a photographic processing apparatus has not been provided and therefore, development of a compact and rapid-accessible photographic processing system which functions in a simple and safe manner without discharging effluent and is friendly to the environment is desired to replace conventional processing systems.
Various attempts have been made in response to such a desire. For example, JP-A Nos. 9-325463 and 10-62938 (hereinafter, the term, JP-A refers to unexamined and published Japanese Patent Application) disclose a technique, in which a photographic material is superposed onto a processing element in the presence of water and the material is then heated to form images. Such a technique enables easy processing of a photographic material, but the photographic material used therein is a specific one which occludes a color developing agent and conventional color films are not applicable thereto.
JP-A Nos. 11-184055 and 11-65054 disclose a technique, in which a developer solution containing a color developing agent is coated or sprayed onto a photographic material to form dye images. Although this imaging process has the advantage that conventional color negative films are processable, handling the high pH solution containing the color developing agent in a relatively high concentration results in problems of safety and storage of the processing solution, so that the foregoing desire was not satisfied.
Nowadays, in the so-called digitization age, it is common that image information is optically read out from photographed and processed film to form images, using an image sensor such as film scanner, converted to electric signals and digitized, thereby, the image information can be stocked as signals and subjected to computer processing to obtain dye images using a photo-copy or a hard copy. In such an imaging process is generally performed an image input by using a digital camera provided with a solid-state image sensor as well as conventional silver salt photographic films (such as color negative film). However, high quality images cannot be obtained by low-priced digital cameras which are relatively low in pixel density and narrow in dynamic range and which is very much expensive relative to a conventional lens-fitted film. On the other hand, the process of reading image information after subjecting a photographic material to a simple processing inherently has the foregoing problems involved in photographic processing and is also not a satisfactory one.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing, it is a first object of the present invention to provide an image forming process, which is high in safety and friendly to the environment.
It is a second object of the invention to provide an image forming process, which is easy in operation or control, rapid-accessible and superior in storage stability of an aqueous medium used in image formation.
It is a third object of the invention to provide an image forming process, which is easy to operate or control, rapid-accessible, thereby forming images at a high sensitivity and a low fogging level and with superior lasting quality.
It is a fourth object of the invention to provide an image forming process and image information preparing process, which are capable of taking dye image information as digital information at a low cost out of a universally employed color negative film.
The foregoing objects of the invention can be achieved by the following constitution:
1. An image formation process comprising:
(a) imagewise exposing a silver halide photographic material comprising on a support at least a silver halide emulsion layer to light, and
(b) placing the exposed photographic material over a processing element, together with an aqueous medium being present between the photographic material and the processing element to perform development, thereby forming an image in the photographic material,
wherein the aqueous medium contains at least a color developing agent or a precursor thereof, and the aqueous medium having a viscosity of 10.1 to 15000 cp at 25° C.
The present invention is further achieved by the following preferred embodiments:
2. The image formation process described in 1, wherein the aqueous medium has a pH of 4.0 to 11.0 at 25° C.;
3. The image formation process described in 2, wherein the aqueous medium has a pH of 4.0 to 9.0 at 25° C.;
4. The image formation process described in 1, wherein aqueous medium contains a base precursor;
5. The image formation process described in 1, wherein the color developing agent and the precursor thereof are respectively a compound represented by the following formula (1) and a compound capable of releasing or forming the compound represented by the formula (1) in the presence of alkali:
wherein R
1
and R
2
are each an alkyl group, an aryl group or a heterocyclic group, provided that R
1
and R
2
may combine with each other to form a ring; R
3
is an alkyl group, an aryl group or a heterocyclic group, provided that plural R
3
s may combine with each other to form a ring; and n is an integer of 0 to 4;
6. The image formation process described in 1, wherein the aqueous medium contains at least one selected from the group consisting of compounds represented by the following formulas (2) through (7):
wherein R
1
, R
2
and R
3
are each a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, an alkyl group, an aryl group, an alkylcarbonamido group, an arylcarbonamido group, an alkylsulfonamido group, an arylsulfonamido group, an alkoxy group, an aryloxy group, an alkylthio group, an arylthio group, an alkylcarbamoyl group, an arylcarbamoyl group, a carbamoyl group, an alkylsulfamoyl group, an arylsufamoyl group, a sulfamoyl group, cyano group, an alkylsulfonyl group, an arylsulfonyl group, an alko
Hoshino Hiroyuki
Ii Hiromoto
Kokeguchi Noriyuki
Mizukami Hiromichi
Suda Yoshihiko
Konica Corporation
Le Hoa Van
Muserlian Lucas and Mercanti
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