Photocopying – Projection printing and copying cameras – Identifying – composing – or selecting
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-14
2001-09-25
Adams, Russell (Department: 2851)
Photocopying
Projection printing and copying cameras
Identifying, composing, or selecting
C355S027000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06295117
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a printing system.
Conventionally, in some photofinishing shops, commonly called mini-labs, normal prints are produced by an operator's manual operation in accordance with the order of customers, in order to instantaneously deliver the prints to the customers. Recently, there has been well known a printing apparatus in which the original is photo-electrically read out to obtain image data, and a print is made based on the image data, or based on directly inputted image data (for example, image data by a CD-ROM or a communication line).
Incidentally, in the printing apparatus which produces prints based on the image data, the image data can be processed by using various image processing methods. Accordingly, sometimes, the customers request the following processings other than ordinary printing: for example, large-sized print formats which takes a long time period for image enlargement processing; layout print formats requiring rotation of the image or arrangement of the image; or specially processed print formats by which special effects are added to the print by conducting dodging or printing-in, or sharpness conversion processing of the image.
As described above, other than ordinary print format services, there are also special print format services. Generally, in these special print format services, there are many services requiring a long time period, therefore, sometimes these services interfere with the ordinary printing service which is to quickly deliver ordinary prints to customers. On the contrary, some customers feel it more convenient to receive their prints the next day, rather than on that day. In these cases, efficiency of the printing apparatus will be improved by continuous operation during, e.g., the operator's rest time or midnight. This fact would contribute to reduction of its production cost, since it becomes possible to intensively operate the printing apparatus during times of low power consumption and low energy charge.
In digital exposure methods in which a printing apparatus forms an image by exposing each pixel based on image data, it becomes possible to utilize the apparatus even during the operator's rest or non-duties time for continuous operation of the printing apparatus by applying the following steps: obtaining customer's order information which includes the image data and the order information corresponding to the image data; temporarily storing the image data and order information corresponding to the image data in a memory; and producing prints on the basis of the image data and order information corresponding to the image data stored in the memory. In this case, however, since the operator would not manually operate the printing apparatus, the printing apparatus should have automatic controlling functions described as follow: a printing control for obtaining a maximum number of prints without loss of recording mediums; a control for automatically stopping the printing operation; and a control for automatically stopping the temperature conditioner for the printing apparatus.
Further, a printing apparatus and a printing method in which a digital print is formed based on digital image data and the corresponding print order data, which are stored in a memory by a reception processing means, are set forth in Japanese Tokkaihei No. 10-78618. In this prior art, however, there is disclosed no method to effectively conduct the above-described printing operation while the ordinary printing operation is actually conducted. Therefore, improvement of the printing efficiency could not be attained by the prior art cited above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is attained in view of the above-described situations, and the first object of the present invention is to effectively operate the printing apparatus in accordance with the operating conditions of it and printing service conditions; the second object of the present invention is to produce prints with stable voltage and at low cost by operating the printing apparatus during periods of low power consumption and consequent low energy charges, e.g., by operating the printing apparatus during the operator's rest time or midnight; and the third object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus and a printing system, by which prints can be automatically produced on the basis of the image data and the information corresponding to the image data stored in a memory.
To overcome the cited shortcomings, the abovementioned objects of the present invention can be attained by the following systems:
1) A system for producing prints, comprising:
inputting means for inputting image data and information corresponding to the image data;
a selector to select either a first mode or a second mode, in both of which the system produces the prints on the basis of the image data; and
a printer to print images on recording mediums on the basis of the image data and the information.
2) A system for producing prints, comprising:
inputting means for inputting image data and information corresponding to the image data;
a memory to store the image data and the information inputted by the inputting means;
a controller to control the system, by comparing the image data and the information with at least one of factors including an amount of recording mediums required for producing the prints on the basis of the image data, an amount of processing agents required for processing the recording mediums and an amount of water required for processing the recording mediums; and
a printer to print images on the recording mediums on the basis of the image data and the information.
3) A system for producing prints, comprising:
inputting means for inputting image data and information corresponding to the image data;
a memory to store the image data and the information inputted by the inputting means;
a printer to print images on recording mediums on the basis of the image data and the information;
means for outputting a signal when the printer finishes printing the images; and
a controller to control the system based on the signal.
4) A system for producing prints, comprising:
inputting means for inputting image data and information corresponding to the image data;
a memory to store the image data and the information;
a printer to print images on the recording mediums on the basis of the image data and the information; and
layout means for determining a layout of images arranged on the recording medium on the basis of a plurality of the image data and a plurality of the information.
Further, in order to solve the above-described problems and to attain the abovementioned objects, the following printing apparatus are desirable embodiments of the present invention.
(1) A printing apparatus in which, in the first mode, image data and the corresponding information are obtained, and based on the information, the image data corresponding to the information is selected into the image data to be printed in the first mode and into the image data not to be printed in the first mode, and a print is formed based on the image data selected to be printed; and in the second mode, a print is formed based on the image data selected not to be printed in the first mode .
According to the above apparatus, for example, during the daytime, as the first mode, the ordinary printing operation is mainly conducted by the operation of the operator, and a printing service is conducted to deliver the print to the customer at once, and for example, during a rest of the operator or night, as the second mode, a special printing operation based on the image processing requiring a long period of time is automatically operated without any operation of the operator, or the printing service is separately conducted to deliver the print to the customer on that day, or on the next day, that is, the printing apparatus can be separately used, t hereby, the printing apparatus can be effectively operated and the printing operation can be effectively
Haraguchi Tsuyoshi
Koboshi Shigeharu
Ueda Yutaka
Adams Russell
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
Konica Corporation
Nguyen Hung Henry
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