JPH11102020A - Microfilm retrieving device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the possibility of the erroneous detection of a frame in a microfilm retrieving device executing retrieval by detecting the existence of the frame from a change in the density of microfilm in a traveling direction. SOLUTION: This device is provided with an encoder outputting a sampling signal for every specified feed rate of the microfilm 26, plural density sensors 108 detecting film density at positions which are on a straight line orthogonal with the traveling direction of the microfilm 26 and also are different in the width direction of the frame in the track width of a traveling shaft, a binarizing part 110 binarizing a density signal that is the output of the density sensor 108 by synchronizing with the sampling signal, a discriminating part 112 discriminating the existence of the frame based on plural binarization signals and outputting a discriminated signal and a retrieving part 114 executing the retrieval of the frame based on the discriminated signal.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a microfilm search apparatus for judging the presence or absence of a frame from a change in density of a microfilm in a running direction.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A search mark (blip) is attached to each frame in order to search for a microfilm, and an apparatus for detecting and searching for the blip is known. On the other hand, it has been considered that a search is performed by detecting the presence or absence of a frame instead of the blip.

[0003]

In the case of detecting a frame in this way, when the frame edges are irregular, when the density difference from the transparent portion of the film is small, or when the film is dusty or scratched, Frames may be erroneously detected.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and provides a microfilm search apparatus capable of reducing the possibility of erroneous detection of a frame when a search is performed by detecting the presence or absence of a frame. The purpose is to do.

[0005]

According to the present invention, an object of the present invention is to provide a microfilm retrieving apparatus for discriminating the presence or absence of a frame from a density change in a running direction of a microfilm. A plurality of density sensors for detecting film densities at different positions on a straight line perpendicular to the running direction of the microfilm and in the width direction within the track axis width of the frame, and a density signal which is an output of these density sensors. A binarizing unit that binarizes the frame in synchronization with the sampling signal, a determining unit that determines the presence or absence of a frame based on the plurality of binarized signals, and outputs a determination signal, and a frame that is determined based on the determination signal. And a search unit that performs a search of the microfilm.

Here, the determination section can determine the presence or absence of a frame on the condition that a plurality of determination results all match, or that a determination result of a predetermined ratio or more, such as a majority decision, determines that a frame exists.

The density sensor is configured such that end faces of a pair of optical fibers are opposed to each other with a microfilm interposed therebetween, light guided from one optical fiber is made incident on the other optical fiber, and the amount of incident light is measured by the optical sensor. it can. In this case, a number of density sensors can be arranged side by side in the width direction of the narrow microfilm.

[0008]

FIG. 1 is a view showing a use state of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the inside of a scanner used here, FIG. 3 is a side view showing an arrangement of main parts of the scanner, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a line sensor driving unit, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a main part, and FIG. 6 is a diagram explaining the arrangement of optical fibers.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a computer main body, which contains a CPU and the like. Reference numeral 12 denotes a display means such as a CRT or a liquid crystal plate, and 14 denotes a keyboard, which are placed on a desk 16. Reference numeral 18 denotes a scanner housed under the desk 16, which incorporates the microfilm search device of the present invention. Reference numeral 20 denotes a printer placed beside the desk 16.

The scanner 18 has a cartridge insertion port 22 at the upper part of the front surface thereof.
4 (see FIGS. 2 and 3), the image of the micro-roll film 26 having a width of 16 mm is read at a low density. The read image is subjected to predetermined image processing by a CPU or the like in the computer main body 10 and then displayed on the display unit 12.

This image reading is performed while the line sensor 96 described below is stopped and only the film 26 is running.
In the meantime, the display means 12 of the CRT displays the read image while changing it continuously in synchronization with the running of the film 26. Therefore, the display on the display means 12 moves in synchronization with the running of the film 26, and an image substantially similar to that projected on the screen can be displayed on the display means 12.

At the time of a manual search, the operator looks at the image on the display means 12 and instructs output for an image that needs to be printed out. Based on this output instruction, the scanner 18 positions the frame at the correct position and reads the entire image with high-density image quality. This high-density image is printed out to the printer 20, stored in a memory such as a magneto-optical disk, or transferred to an external processing device.

At the time of automatic search, the address of the target frame is input from the keyboard 14. In this automatic search, a frame is detected as described above, and a target frame is searched by counting the number of frames. The search for the frame is performed by the search unit 114 using the determination result of the determination unit 112 described later, which indicates the presence or absence of the frame.

Next, the configuration of the scanner 18 will be described. The scanner 18 has a vertically long housing 28, and a supply-side reel drive unit 30 is provided above a front portion of the housing 28, and a take-up reel drive unit 32 is provided below the front portion. The supply-side reel drive unit 30 inserts the cartridge 2 into the cartridge insertion slot 22.
When the cartridge 4 is inserted, the cartridge 24 is automatically moved to engage the reel 24A with the rotating shaft. Further, the leading end of the film 26 is pulled out, sent downward, and guided to the take-up reel 32A of the take-up reel drive unit 32.

Here, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the film 26 passes through the rear side of the gap between the reel drive units 30 and 32, that is, the rear side as viewed from the front of the housing 28. In FIG. 3, 34, 34,
36, 36 are guide rollers for the film 26. Accordingly, a space 38 is formed between the gap and the front panel 28A of the housing 28, and a light source unit 52 described later is accommodated therein.

The take-up reel drive section 32 has a drive belt 40 that runs in contact with the reel 32A as shown in FIG. This drive belt 40 is a guide roller 4
2, 44, a drive roller 46, an encoder 48, and a tension roller 50, and are driven by the drive roller 46 to travel in the film winding direction (the direction of the arrow). The encoder 48 controls a constant feed amount of the film 26 (for example, 0.1 m
m) to output a sampling signal.

Numeral 52 denotes a light source section accommodated in the space 38 between the reel driving sections 30 and 32, and a lamp 54,
It includes a reflecting mirror 56, a condenser lens 58, an appropriate filter, and the like. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 60 denotes a power supply circuit, and 62 denotes a power control circuit such as a motor.

Next, the line sensor driving section 64 will be described.
The line sensor driving section 64 is integrated with the projection lens 66. That is, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the frame (rotating frame) 68 of the line sensor driving unit 64 is integrally formed with a cylindrical portion 70 for holding the projection lens 66.
The projection lens 66 held by the cylindrical portion 70 has a fixed focal point and a magnification of about twice. The cylindrical portion 70 is rotatably held by a frame (fixed frame) 72 fixed to the housing 28 so that the inclination of the image to be read can be corrected. Here, the cylinder 70 rotates about an optical axis 74 perpendicular to the film 26.

The cylindrical portion 70 of the rotating frame 68 and the pulley 76 of the servomotor 76 attached to the fixed frame 72
A belt 78 is wound around A. The rotation frame 68 is rotatable around the optical axis 74 by the rotation of the motor 76.

As shown in FIG. 4, a movable base 80 is attached to the rotating frame 68 on a surface opposite to the cylindrical portion 70. That is, the movable base 80 is provided with a pair of guide rods 82, 82.
Slidably held by the optical axis 74 near the opening of the cylindrical portion 70.
Can be reciprocated in a direction orthogonal to.

A belt 86 wound around pulleys 84, 84 is provided on the rotating frame 68 in parallel with the reciprocating direction of the movable table 80.
And one side of the movable table 80 is fixed to the belt 86. One pulley 84 has a servo motor 8
The rotation of 8 is transmitted via the belt 90. As a result, by rotating the servo motor 88 forward and backward, the movable table 8 is rotated.
0 can be reciprocated on a plane orthogonal to the optical axis 74.

The movable table 80 has guide rods 82, 82
A long window 92 is formed in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the movable table 80, that is, in a direction perpendicular to the reciprocating direction of the movable table 80. This long window 92
Is located on the optical axis 74 in the longitudinal direction. A printed wiring board 94 is fixed to the rear surface of the movable base 80, that is, the surface opposite to the cylindrical portion 70 so as to be orthogonal to the optical axis 74.

A CCD line sensor 96 facing the long window 92 is fixed to the substrate 94 (FIG. 3). The substrate 94 is also provided with a preamplifier for amplifying the output of the line sensor 96. CCD line sensor 9
Of course, the light receiving surface of No. 6 coincides with the image forming surface of the projection image of the projection lens 66.

Next, an apparatus for detecting frames will be described with reference to FIG. The upstream side of the image reading position of the microfilm 26, that is, the position of the optical axis 74 (the supply reel 24A side)
The film 26 is traversed in the width direction and the film 26
A pair of optical fiber holding blocks 100 and 102 facing each other with a slight gap therebetween are provided. Nine optical fibers 104 and 106 arranged in the film width direction are inserted through these blocks 100 and 102.

The optical fibers 104 and 106 are held perpendicular to the film 26, and their end faces face each other with the film 26 interposed therebetween. That is, the end faces of the nine optical fibers 104 face the end faces of the nine optical fibers 106, respectively. As a result, nine combinations in which the end faces face each other with the film 26 interposed therebetween can be obtained.

The nine optical fibers 104 held by the block 100 are bundled and guided to the vicinity of the lamp 54 of the light source section 52. Therefore, light enters the nine optical fibers 104 from the lamp 54 and is guided to one surface (the surface on the block 100 side) of the film 26.

Light emitted from nine optical fibers 104 opposed to each other enters the nine optical fibers 106 held by the block 102 through the film 26. 9
The optical fibers 106 are guided from the block 102 to the optical sensors 108, respectively. The density signals output from the nine optical sensors 108 are separately input to a binarization unit 110, where they are binarized in synchronization with a sampling signal output from the encoder 48.

Each of the nine binarized signals is determined by the determination unit 112.
The determination result of the presence or absence of a frame is obtained based on the output of each optical sensor 108 here. The determination unit 112 determines the presence or absence of a frame according to a shooting method such as simplex, duplex, or duo from these nine determination results.

As shown in FIG. 6A, the end faces of the nine optical fibers 104 and 106 are on a straight line L perpendicular to the running direction of the film 26, and have different positions in the width direction of the film 26. It is in. In this embodiment, since the optical sensor 108 detects the amount of light incident on the optical fiber 106, the end face of the optical fiber 106 is substantially
This is the same as the case where the optical sensor 108 is located at a position opposing to. Therefore, FIG. 6 illustrates that the optical sensor 108 is located at the end face position of the optical fiber 106 on the film 26 side.

These nine optical sensors 108 are positioned in the film width direction so that a plurality of optical sensors 108 always pass through one frame even when the film photographing method is different. FIG. 6A shows the case of the simplex system. At this time, all the optical sensors 108 detect a frame. Therefore, in the determination unit 112, all the binarization units 1
The presence / absence of a frame is determined using the binarized signal output from 10. For example, if a majority or a certain percentage or more of the determination results is black, it is determined that a frame exists.

FIG. 6B shows the case of the duplex system, in which the front and back of a document are simultaneously photographed on the upper and lower channels, and there is an optical sensor 108A which does not detect a frame between both channels. Therefore, in this case, the determination unit 11
2 are three optical sensors 108B, 1B passing through the width of the upper and lower channels except for the outputs of these optical sensors 108A.
The frame of each channel is detected using the output of 08C.

FIG. 7C shows the case of the duo system.
The optical sensor 108D at the center does not detect a frame. For this reason, in the determination unit 112, four optical sensors 108E and 108F included in the two groups divided into the upper and lower groups, respectively.
Detects the frame of each channel. The search unit 116 searches for a target frame by integrating the determination signals output from the determination unit 112.

In the embodiment described above, since the light is guided to each optical fiber 104 by using the light source section 52 for photographing an image, there is an advantage that the light source can be simplified. However, the present invention may use another light source or use a plurality of light sources to guide light to each optical fiber 104.

In this embodiment, the optical fiber 1
04, 106, the narrow film 26
The end faces of these optical fibers 104 and 106 can be arranged close to each other in the width direction. However, the present invention can be used as long as a sufficiently small density sensor can be arranged in proximity. For example, a phototransistor array or a photodiode array in which phototransistors and photodiodes are arranged on a straight line L can be used. Further, it may be a CCD line sensor.

According to the present invention, a density sensor (optical sensor)
Are arranged on a straight line L orthogonal to the film running direction, the presence or absence of a frame can be detected at the same timing in terms of time. For this reason, as in the case where a plurality of density sensors (optical sensors) are displaced in the running direction of the film,
It is not necessary to correct the output timing of each density sensor (optical sensor), and the circuit configuration is simplified.

[0036]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the density change is detected at a plurality of different positions on the straight line perpendicular to the running direction of the film and in the width direction within the width of the running axis of the frame. Since these are binarized in synchronization with the sampling signal and the presence or absence of a frame is determined based on these binarized signals, the detection accuracy of the frame is increased and the possibility of erroneously detecting the frame is reduced. In addition, since the timing at which each density sensor detects the same position in the film feeding direction is the same, a circuit for adjusting the output timing of each density sensor is not required, and the configuration is simplified.

In this case, the end faces of a plurality of pairs of optical fibers are opposed to each other with the film interposed therebetween, light is guided from one optical fiber, and light transmitted through the film is detected by an optical sensor provided on the other optical fiber. Accordingly, it is possible to easily configure a device that detects the density at many positions within the narrow film width at the same timing (claim 2).

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a use state of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the inside of a scanner used here in a see-through manner;

FIG. 3 is a side view showing the arrangement of the main part.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a line sensor driving unit.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a main part.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an arrangement of optical sensors.

[Explanation of symbols]

 26 Microfilm 52 Light source unit 54 Lamp 104,106 Optical fiber 108 Optical sensor constituting density sensor 110 Binarization unit 112 Judgment unit 114 Search unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] A microfilm retrieving apparatus for determining the presence or absence of a frame based on a density change in a running direction of the microfilm; an encoder for outputting a sampling signal for each predetermined feed amount of the microfilm; A plurality of density sensors for detecting film densities at different positions on the orthogonal straight line and in the width direction within the track axis width of the frame, and a density signal which is an output of these density sensors is synchronized with the sampling signal. A binarizing section for converting a value, a determining section for determining the presence or absence of a frame based on the plurality of binarized signals and outputting a determination signal, and a search section for searching for a frame based on the determination signal. A microfilm search device, comprising: 2. A concentration sensor comprising: a pair of optical fibers whose end faces face each other across a microfilm; a light source for guiding light to one optical fiber; and an optical sensor for detecting light incident on the other optical fiber. The microfilm search device according to claim 1, further comprising: