Facsimile and static presentation processing – Static presentation processing – Attribute control
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-26
2004-03-23
Grant, II, Jerome (Department: 2626)
Facsimile and static presentation processing
Static presentation processing
Attribute control
C358S002100, C358S003100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06710896
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an image processing apparatus that reads film images photoelectrically and which performs specified image processing schemes on the obtained image data to produce image data for output. More particularly, the invention relates to an image processing apparatus that has a capability for correcting uneven densities that occur in a frame of the image taken on a film with lens or using a compact camera or another inexpensive and low-performance camera, that is, shutter unevenness due to the shutter speed when shooting, reduction or deterioration of the image marginal luminosity (brightness at the edges of image field) due to the taking lens, and variation in the reduction of the marginal luminosity due to the stop-down value.
Heretofore, the images recorded on photographic films such as negatives and reversals (which are hereunder referred to simply as “films”) have been commonly printed on light-sensitive materials (photographic paper) by means of direct (analog) exposure in which the film image is projected onto the light-sensitive material to achieve its areal exposure.
A new technology has recently been introduced and this is a printer that relies upon digital exposure. Briefly, the image recorded on a film is read photoelectrically, converted to digital signals and subjected to various image processing schemes to produce image data for recording purposes; recording light modulated in accordance with the image data is used to scan and expose a light-sensitive material to record a latent image, which is subsequently m developed to produce a finished print. The printer operating on this principle has been commercialized as a digital photoprinter.
In the digital photoprinter, images can be processed as digital image data to determine exposure conditions for printing, so various operations including the correction of washed-out highlights and flat (dull) shadows due to the taking of pictures with rear light or an electronic flash, sharpening, and the correction of color or density failure can be performed in an effective manner to produce prints of the high quality that has been unattainable by the conventional direct exposure. In addition, the assembling of images and the splitting of a single image into plural images, as well as the composition of characters can be performed by processing the image data and, as a result, prints can be output after various editing and/or processing operations have been performed in accordance with specific uses. Outputting images as prints (photographs) is not the sole capability of the digital photoprinter; the image data can be supplied into a computer or the like and stored in recording media such as a floppy disk; hence, the image data can be put to various non-photographic uses.
Having these features, the digital photoprinter is basically composed of the following units: an image input unit comprising a scanner (image reading apparatus) that reads the image on a film photoelectrically and an image processing apparatus that processes the captured image to produce image data for output (exposure conditions); and an image output unit comprising a printer (image recording apparatus) that records a latent image on a light-sensitive material by scan exposing it in accordance with the image data output from the image input unit and a processor (developing apparatus) that performs development and other necessary processing oh the exposed light-sensitive material to produce a print.
In the scanner, reading light issuing from a light source is allowed to be incident on a film, from which projected light bearing the image recorded on the film is produced and focused by an imaging lens to form a sharp image on an image sensor such as a CCD sensor; the image is then captured by photoelectric conversion and sent to the image processing apparatus as data for the image on the film (as image data signals) after being optionally subjected to various image processing schemes.
In the image processing apparatus, image processing conditions are set on the basis of the image data captured with the scanner and image processing as determined by the thus set conditions is performed on the captured image data and the resulting output image data for image recording (i.e., exposing conditions) are sent to the printer.
In the printer, if it is of a type that relies upon exposure by scanning with an optical beam, the latter is modulated in accordance with the image data from the image processing apparatus and deflected in a main scanning direction as the light-sensitive material is transported in an auxiliary scanning direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction, whereby a latent image is formed as the result of exposure (printing) of the light-sensitive material with the image bearing optical beam. In the processor, development and other processing, as determined by the light-sensitive material are performed in the processor to produce a print (photograph) reproducing the image that was recorded on the film.
In order to obtain high-quality prints, the image of a scene that was taken (i.e., the information about the image) is preferably recorded on a film as much as possible and in a faithful way. In fact, however, if the performance of the taking lens is not very high, it often occurs that the marginal luminosity is deteriorated as compared with the center of the image to thereby cause density unevenness in the image. This problem commonly referred to as “reduction of the marginal luminosity” is particularly noticeable in a “film with lens”, or an integral photographic film and lens combination, since the rigorous cost restraints make it uneconomical to use a lens of very high performance. Further, the compact cameras have also the inevitable reduction of the marginal luminosity, because the lens performance is restricted by the cost restraints. As a result, the finished print has an image with dark edges, and the density unevenness is found in the image, leading to the deterioration in the image quality. There are three types of density unevenness, the first type is the reduction of the marginal luminosity due to the lens performance itself, the second type is the density unevenness associated with camera model (i.e., shutter type) and shutter speed, and the third type is the lens-dependent variation in the reduction of the marginal luminosity associated with stop-down value. Exemplary shutter types used in camera models include a pendulum-type shutter in the film with lens, a lens shutter in the compact camera, and a focal-plane shutter in the single-lens reflex camera.
Of these three types of density unevenness, there have been conventionally proposed, for the first type due to the lens performance itself, a number of methods for correcting deterioration in image quality. However, no effective method has heretofore been known to correct the density unevenness associated with camera model, shutter type and shutter speed as well as the variation in the reduction of the marginal luminosity associated with stop-down value.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been accomplished under these circumstances and has as an object providing an image processing apparatus with which not only the heretofore correctable reduction of the marginal luminosity that is associated with lens performance itself but also the image density unevenness that is associated with shutter type and shutter speed, as well as variation in the reduction of the image marginal luminosity that is associated with stop-down value can be corrected to ensure consistent production of high-quality images that have no density unevenness nor darkness at the edges.
In order to achieve the above object, the inventor has made intensive investigations on the deterioration in the image quality of finished prints, and finally found that the method of correcting deterioration in image quality proposed by the inventor in U.S. Ser. No. 09/276,464 under the title “image processing apparatus” is significantly effective for correcting the reduction o
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
Fuji Photo Film Co., LTD
Grant II Jerome
LandOfFree
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