Photography – Camera combined with or convertible to diverse art device
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-05
2002-08-06
Gray, David M. (Department: 2851)
Photography
Camera combined with or convertible to diverse art device
C355S040000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06430376
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image output device, and an image processing system, and more particularly to an image processing apparatus by which predetermined image processing is performed on image data, an image output device for outputting an image on the basis of the image data on which the image processing is performed, and an image processing system including the image processing apparatus and the image output device.
Conventionally, a digital laboratory system has been proposed wherein a film image recorded on a photosensitive material such as a photographic film (hereafter, simply called a photographic film) is photo-electrically read, the image data obtained by this reading is subjected to various kinds of image processing, laser light is modulated on the basis of the image data after the image processing, and a sensitive material such as photographic paper is scanned and exposed so as to form a finished print. In this digital laboratory system, the image quality of a recording image can be freely controlled by image processing of the image data, as compared with a conventional photographic processing system in which a film image is recorded on photographic paper by face exposure. When so-called hypertone processing, in which gradation of low frequency components of an image is compressed, is performed; for example, for a film image photographed using flash, a film image in which a backlit scene is photographed, and the like, a recorded image without jumps and crushing in the gradation of a background area can be obtained without softening the entire image.
In a case in a digital laboratory system in which the finishing of a print is not appropriate, the film image of the photographic film is read out once more so as to perform a reprinting in which the printing is performed again. There are methods for reprinting. In one method, image processing conditions are determined once again from the data obtained by reading the film image for the second time, and the image processing conditions are corrected by performing a positive verification before performing printing. In another method, image processing conditions of an initial print (hereafter, referred to as a first print), at the time when an inappropriate print is finished, are stored, and the image processing conditions are read out so that corrections are provided by a positive verification before performing printing.
In performing reprinting, corrections on image processing conditions by an operator are usually performed by converting a correction amount for an inappropriate first print into a density key, a CMY key and the like and performing a key input in accordance with judgement results. For example, judgement is made such that the density key is incremented, or one CMY key is deducted, while observing the first print. At this time, if the image processing conditions at the time of reprinting do not correspond to the image processing conditions at the time of making the first print, a correction amount by a key input becomes inappropriate. Specifically, in a digital laboratory system in which image processing conditions are determined from image data of one roll of photographic film, at a time of reprinting in which a piece film, cut to a predetermined number of frames, is processed as a unit, image processing conditions are sought from image data of the predetermined number of film images recorded on a predetermined piece film, thereby causing a problem of there being a strong possibility of not corresponding to the image processing conditions at the time of making the first print.
In order to solve such a problem, a method in which image processing conditions of the time of making a first print are stored, read out at the time of reprinting are employed has been proposed. However, there is a necessity of performing reading again of the photographic film containing the frame in question, and the work of retrieving and reading out the processing conditions of the image processing at the time of making the first print is complicated (particularly, this is obvious in a case in which a large amount of images are processed at high speed), thereby causing a problem that the workload at the time of reprinting is high.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention was developed in order to solve the aforementioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus, an image output device, and an image processing system wherein even when an image recorded on a recording medium is once recorded on a recording material and then is recorded over again, the workload can be reduced, and appropriate printing can be efficiently performed.
In order to accomplish the object, the invention of the first aspect includes an image processing apparatus, comprising: an image ID adding section which adds an image ID that identifies image data to the image data; an image processing section which determines a processing condition of predetermined image processing, performs the predetermined image processing on the image data and converts the image data to output image data which includes display image data and recording image data; a display section which displays an image on the basis of the display image data; a recording section which records an image onto a recording material on the basis of the recording image data; a memory section which stores the output image data in accordance with the image ID; an image ID recording section which records the image ID that is added by the image ID adding section onto the recording material on which the image is recorded by the recording section; and an image ID input section for inputting the image ID recorded on the recording material on which the image, which is to be recorded again, is recorded.
In the invention of the first aspect, since the image ID adding section adds an image ID for distinguishing image data (for example, the image data obtained by reading an image recorded on a recording medium such as a photosensitive material, the image data obtained by reading an image from a recording medium such as a CD-ROM, or the like) even when image data of a large number of images exist, image data of respective image can be distinguished on the basis of the image ID. The image processing section converts the image data to output image data including display image data and recording image data by deciding a processing condition of a predetermined image processing and performing the image processing with regard to the image data. Since the display section displays the image of the time after the image processing on the basis of the display image data, the image of the time after the image processing by the image processing section can be confirmed by an operator seeing the image displayed. The recording section records an image on a recording material such as a sheet of photographic paper on the basis of the recording image data. The memory section stores the output image data including the display image data and the recording image data while making the output image data correspond to the image ID added by the image ID adding section. The image ID recording section records the image ID added by the image ID adding section on a reverse face or the like of the recording material on which an image is recorded by the recording section, the image ID input section inputs the image ID recorded by the image ID recording section on the recording material on which the image to be recorded again is recorded.
By constituting the image processing apparatus as described above, after an image recorded for example on a photosensitive material is once recorded on a recording material, when the same image is desired to be recorded once more by a reason that the finishing of the first image recorded is not appropriate or the like, since an image ID recorded on the recording material on which the first image (the image to be recorded again) is recorded (hereafter, referred to a first print) is inputte
Fuji Photo Film Co. , Ltd.
Gray David M.
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