JPH11314406A - Image recorder, manufacture and adjusting method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To form a sharp image having no streak by correcting emission of a light emitting section after focus is adjusted for a plurality of exposing heads arranged with a plurality of light emitting sections, and then parallelism or positional shift in the arranging direction of light emitting section is adjusted between the exposing heads. SOLUTION: In an assembling unit 1 for exposing unit arranged with a plurality of exposing heads, focus of an image to be picked up is adjusted at the light emitting section of exposing head and parallelism of the exposing head is adjusted such that the light emitting sections are arranged linearly on an image pickup screen. Furthermore, positional shift in the arranging direction of light emitting section is adjusted between the exposing heads by shifting the head in the arranging direction of the light emitting section. Thereafter, an exposing unit K is mounted on a measuring table 102 and light emitted from the light emitting section according to a test pattern is picked up by a CCD 140 to produce an image on a CRT 171 where focus and parallelism are checked. Finally, inter-pixel correction is performed and emission level is adjusted for each light emitting section.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a photosensitive material, for example, a halogenated photographic material, which is exposed by an exposure means for performing scanning exposure, for example, an exposure head in which a plurality of light-emitting portions are arranged in a line or a plurality of lines in a dotted line. TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus that forms an image by using the same, an adjustment method of the image recording apparatus, and an adjustment method of the image recording apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An image recording apparatus includes a plurality of exposure heads as exposure means for performing scanning exposure, in which a plurality of light emitting units are arranged in a line or a plurality of lines in a dotted line, and an exposure head holding member for holding the exposure heads. And an exposure unit having a plurality of exposure heads, exposing a halogenated photographic light-sensitive material (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as a light-sensitive material) to form an image, and developing the color image to form a color image. There is something to record.

[0003]

As described above, when a color image is recorded using a plurality of exposure heads in which a plurality of light-emitting portions are arranged in a line or a plurality of lines in a dotted line, a plurality of light-emitting portions are interposed between the plurality of light-emitting portions. However, since the amount of emitted light may not be constant due to manufacturing problems, it is necessary to adjust the amount of emitted light of each light emitting unit in advance.

As described above, when adjusting the amount of light emitted from each light emitting unit, the focus position of the exposure head is shifted,
If the exposure heads are not parallel, or if there is a deviation in the light emitting part arrangement direction between the exposure heads, a sharp image can be obtained even if the light emission amount of each light emitting part is adjusted. In some cases, it may not be possible to completely adjust streak unevenness or the like due to exposure. In addition, if the parallel adjustment and the alignment adjustment are performed after the emission light amount correction is performed, the focus position is shifted, and the adjusted emission light amount may have to be adjusted again.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances. First, the position of an exposure unit for performing scanning exposure is adjusted, and then the amount of light emitted from the exposure unit is adjusted.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an image recording apparatus, a method of manufacturing an image recording apparatus, and a method of adjusting the image recording apparatus, which can obtain a sharp image and an image without stripe unevenness due to exposure.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems and achieve the object, the present invention has the following constitution.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for producing a halogenated photographic light-sensitive material by using a plurality of exposure heads in which a plurality of light emitting portions are arranged in a line or a plurality of lines in a dotted line. An image recording apparatus that forms an image by exposing, and performs at least one of adjustment of a focus position of the exposure head, adjustment of parallelism between the exposure heads, and adjustment of a shift in a light emitting unit arrangement direction between the exposure heads. An image recording apparatus wherein the light emission amount of the light emitting section of the exposure head is corrected thereafter. ].

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head is adjusted first, not on a pixel-by-pixel basis. In order to prevent the occurrence of parts that cannot be exposed on the photosensitive material due to the separation,
Thereafter, by adjusting the amount of light emitted from each light emitting unit, a sharp image can be obtained, and an image free from stripe unevenness due to exposure can be obtained.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image recording apparatus according to the first aspect, the focus position is adjusted after at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads is performed. ].

According to the second aspect of the invention, the focus position is adjusted after at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads is performed, so that the position adjustment of the exposure head can be performed with higher accuracy. It can be carried out.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus comprising the steps of: performing at least one of parallelism adjustment and deviation adjustment between exposure heads, adjusting a focus position, and then correcting a light emission amount. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1. ].

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head can be adjusted with higher accuracy, and a sharp image can be obtained by correcting the amount of emitted light. An image free from streak unevenness can be obtained.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus comprising the steps of: "adjusting the focus position after performing at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads; 4. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a light amount is adjusted during the recording. ].

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head can be adjusted with higher accuracy, the light emission amount is corrected thereafter, and the light amount between a plurality of exposure heads is adjusted. By adjusting the color balance, a sharp image can be obtained, and an image free from stripe unevenness due to exposure can be obtained.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus comprising the steps of: performing at least one of parallelism adjustment and shift adjustment between exposure heads, adjusting a focus position, and then adjusting a light emission start position. An image recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3. ].

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head is adjusted with high accuracy, and thereafter, with respect to the parallelism of the exposure head, how many lines are shifted between the respective exposure heads is checked. Information is given to the device, and for deviations in the arrangement direction, it is checked how many pixels are exposed by each exposure head (how many pixels are shifted to output an image), information is given to the device, and the light emission start position is adjusted. By performing the above, exposure can be performed without deviation as long as each exposure head is parallel.

The invention according to claim 6 is characterized in that "at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads is performed, then the focus position is adjusted, and then the emission start time is adjusted. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1. ].

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head is adjusted with high accuracy, and then the emission start time is adjusted, so that the plurality of exposure heads are transported by the plurality of transport means. In this case, it is possible to prevent the displacement from occurring even if the transport speed is different in the transport unit.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus comprising the steps of: assembling a plurality of exposure heads in which a plurality of light emitting portions are arranged in a line or a plurality of lines in a dotted line, adjusting a focus position of the exposure head, and adjusting a parallelism between the exposure heads. And adjusting at least one of deviation adjustments between the exposure heads in the direction in which the light emitting units are arranged, and thereafter correcting the amount of light emitted from the light emitting units of the exposure head. ].

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head is adjusted first, not on a pixel-by-pixel basis. In order to prevent the occurrence of parts that cannot be exposed on the photosensitive material due to the separation,
Thereafter, by adjusting the amount of light emitted from each light emitting unit, a sharp image can be obtained, and an image free from stripe unevenness due to exposure can be obtained.

The invention according to claim 8 is a method of manufacturing an image recording apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the focus position is adjusted after at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads is performed. . ].

According to the invention, the focus position is adjusted after at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads is performed, so that the position adjustment of the exposure head can be performed with higher accuracy. It can be carried out.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus, wherein at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads is performed, then the focus position is adjusted, and then the emitted light amount is corrected. An image recording apparatus manufacturing method according to claim 7 or 8. ].

According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head can be adjusted with higher accuracy, and a sharp image can be obtained by correcting the amount of emitted light. An image free from streak unevenness can be obtained.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus comprising the steps of: "after performing at least one of parallelism adjustment and shift adjustment between exposure heads,
The method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the focus position is adjusted, the light emission amount is corrected, and the light amount between a plurality of exposure heads is adjusted. ].

According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head can be adjusted with higher accuracy, the amount of emitted light is corrected thereafter, and the amount of light between a plurality of exposure heads is adjusted. By adjusting the color balance, a sharp image can be obtained, and an image free from stripe unevenness due to exposure can be obtained.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus comprising the steps of: "after performing at least one of parallelism adjustment and shift adjustment between exposure heads,
The method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the focus position is adjusted, and then the light emission start position is adjusted. ].

According to the eleventh aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head is adjusted with high accuracy, and thereafter, regarding the parallelism of the exposure head, how many lines are shifted between the respective exposure heads is checked. Information is given to the device, and for deviations in the arrangement direction, it is checked how many pixels are exposed by each exposure head (how many pixels are shifted to output an image), information is given to the device, and the light emission start position is adjusted. By performing the above, exposure can be performed without deviation as long as each exposure head is parallel.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, it is preferable that "after at least one of parallelism adjustment and shift adjustment between exposure heads is performed,
The method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the focus position is adjusted, and then the light emission start time is adjusted. ].

According to the twelfth aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head is adjusted with high accuracy, and then the emission start time is adjusted, so that the plurality of exposure heads are transported by the plurality of transport means. In this case, it is possible to prevent the displacement from occurring even if the transport speed is different in the transport unit.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, a test pattern is exposed on a halogenated photographic light-sensitive material by the exposure head, and the halogenated photographic light-sensitive material is developed based on an image obtained by developing the halogenated photographic light-sensitive material. 13. The light emitting unit according to claim 7, wherein the light emission amount of the light emitting unit is corrected.
The method for manufacturing an image recording device according to any one of the above. ].

According to the thirteenth aspect of the present invention, the test pattern is exposed to the halogenated photographic light-sensitive material by the exposure head, and the exposure head is controlled based on the image obtained by developing the halogenated photographic light-sensitive material. By correcting the amount of light emitted from the light-emitting portion, the amount of light emitted can be corrected in accordance with the halogenated photographic light-sensitive material, and a sharp image can be obtained, and an image without stripe unevenness due to exposure can be obtained.

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for adjusting a focus position of an exposure head and adjusting a parallelism between exposure heads by assembling a plurality of exposure heads in which a plurality of light emitting portions are arranged in a line or a plurality of lines in a dotted line. And at least one of the adjustments of the displacement of the light emitting portion arrangement direction between the exposure heads is performed,
And adjusting the amount of light emitted from the light emitting section of the exposure head. ].

According to the fourteenth aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head is adjusted first, not in units of pixels. In order to prevent the occurrence of unexposed parts on the photosensitive material due to separation, by adjusting the light emission amount of each light emitting unit after that,
A sharp image can be obtained, and an image without stripe unevenness due to exposure can be obtained.

According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image recording apparatus according to the fourteenth aspect, wherein the focus position is adjusted after at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads is performed. Method. ].

According to the fifteenth aspect, by adjusting the focus position after performing at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads, the exposure head position adjustment can be performed with higher accuracy. It can be carried out.

According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method as described above, wherein after at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads is performed,
16. The adjustment method for an image recording apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the focus position is adjusted, and then the light emission amount correction is performed. ].

According to the sixteenth aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head can be adjusted with higher accuracy, and a sharp image can be obtained by correcting the amount of emitted light. An image free from streak unevenness can be obtained.

According to a seventeenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method as described above, wherein after at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads is performed,
17. The adjustment method for an image recording apparatus according to claim 14, wherein a focus position adjustment is performed, a light emission amount correction is performed thereafter, and a light amount adjustment between a plurality of exposure heads is performed. ].

According to the seventeenth aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head can be adjusted with higher accuracy, the light emission amount is corrected thereafter, and the light amount between a plurality of exposure heads is adjusted. By adjusting the color balance, a sharp image can be obtained, and an image free from stripe unevenness due to exposure can be obtained.

According to the eighteenth aspect of the present invention, it is preferable that "after performing at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads,
The method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the focus position is adjusted, and then the light emission start position is adjusted. ].

According to the eighteenth aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head is adjusted with high accuracy, and thereafter, with respect to the parallelism of the exposure head, how many lines are shifted between the respective exposure heads is checked. Information is given to the device, and for deviations in the arrangement direction, it is checked how many pixels are exposed by each exposure head (how many pixels are shifted to output an image), information is given to the device, and the light emission start position is adjusted. By performing the above, exposure can be performed without deviation as long as each exposure head is parallel.

According to a nineteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus comprising the steps of: "after performing at least one of parallelism adjustment and shift adjustment between exposure heads,
17. The adjustment method for an image recording apparatus according to claim 14, wherein a focus position is adjusted, and thereafter, a light emission start time is adjusted. ].

According to the nineteenth aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head is adjusted with high accuracy, and then the emission start time is adjusted, so that the exposure head is transported by a plurality of transport means. In this case, it is possible to prevent the displacement from occurring even if the transport speed is different in the transport unit.

According to a twentieth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus comprising the steps of: exposing a test pattern to a halogenated photographic light-sensitive material by the exposure head; The light emission amount of the light emitting unit is corrected.
9. The method for adjusting an image recording apparatus according to any one of 9 above. ].

According to the twentieth aspect of the present invention, a test pattern is exposed on a halogenated photographic light-sensitive material by an exposure head, and based on an image obtained by subjecting the halogenated photographic light-sensitive material to a development processing, an exposure head is used. By correcting the amount of light emitted from the light-emitting portion, the amount of light emitted can be corrected in accordance with the halogenated photographic light-sensitive material, and a sharp image can be obtained, and an image without stripe unevenness due to exposure can be obtained.

[0047]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an image recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described.
Although an example of a specific example of a method of manufacturing an image recording device and a method of adjusting the image recording device will be described as embodiments, the present invention is not limited to these. In addition, in the embodiments, certain expressions for terms and the like are provided, but they show preferred examples of the present invention, and do not limit the meaning and technical scope of the terms of the present invention.

The details of an exposure head group (recording head group / array head) as exposure means for performing scanning exposure in the image recording apparatus 1010 will be described.

However, the means for performing the scanning exposure is not limited to these, and for example, a laser exposure means may be used. In the following description, the adjustment of the parallelism of the exposure unit (for example, the exposure head) means that the exposure unit has the parallelism that should be maintained. For example, positioning the exposure means in parallel during the manufacture of the apparatus, and during maintenance, etc.
If the parallelism of the exposure means is shifted to the parallelism that should be originally maintained when the parallelism of the exposure means is shifted, and if the parallelism of the exposure means is maintaining the parallelism that should be originally maintained , Maintaining that state. Adjusting the position of the exposure unit (for example, an exposure head) refers to bringing the exposure unit to a position that should be originally maintained. For example, positioning the exposure unit at a position where the exposure unit should be originally attached at the time of manufacturing the apparatus, correcting the position of the exposure unit when the position of the exposure unit is shifted at the time of maintenance, etc., and at the time of maintenance, etc. If the exposure means is maintained at the position where it should be mounted, this means maintaining that state.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of the image recording apparatus 1010. A photographic paper Pa is transported in the direction of an arrow by a transport roller 1011 constituting a transport unit. The transfer means may be constituted by a rotating drum.

A red light source exposure head 1130a having an LED array, a green light source exposure head 1130b having a vacuum fluorescent tube array, and a blue light source exposure head 1130C constituting an exposure head group 1013 are composed of an exposure head controller 114.
Exposure is controlled in accordance with image data according to 0, and a predetermined position of the printing paper Pa is exposed for each color. Note that each exposure head uses a recording element constituting a plurality of light emitting units arranged in an array of one or more rows, and the red light source exposure head 1130a has a recording element density of 300.
A combination of a dpi LED array and a selfoc lens array as an image forming optical system is also used as a green light source exposure head 1130b and a blue light source exposure head 1130c.
Employs a vacuum fluorescent tube exposure head in which a 300 dpi vacuum fluorescent tube array is combined with a selfoc lens array as an image forming optical system, and a filter for color separation is combined with each other. The combination of vacuum fluorescent tube array and Selfoc lens array
Generally, VFPH (Vacuum Flourecen)
t Print Head). here,
The printing paper Pa has been described as a roll, but may be cut paper. Further, the image forming optical system of the recording element is not limited to the selfoc lens array, but may be a roof mirror lens array or the like.

In this embodiment, the LED array and the vacuum fluorescent tube array are appropriately combined so as to complement the color emission characteristics of the recording head, so that the exposure of each color is efficiently performed, and the exposure of the color silver halide photosensitive material is performed. It can be done at high speed. Further, since a recording element having a recording element density of 300 dpi is used as each recording array, it is possible to realize high image quality and to reduce the size of the apparatus. In particular, an LED array is used for red exposure, and a vacuum fluorescent tube array is used in combination with an appropriate filter for green exposure and blue exposure, so that the LЕD array emits light even for photographic paper Pa with low red sensitivity. Since the characteristics are complemented, high-speed exposure recording becomes possible, and the apparatus becomes inexpensive. Further, in the case of green and blue exposure, a vacuum fluorescent tube array capable of ensuring the resolution can be used without using an LED array which is inevitably degraded in resolution.

Next, the recording operation of the image recording apparatus 1010 will be described with reference to FIG.

A red light source exposure head 1130a having an LED array 1133a, a green light source exposure head 1130b having a vacuum fluorescent tube array 1133b, and a blue light source exposure head 1130c having a vacuum fluorescent tube array 1133c.
Are provided in the conveying direction of the printing paper Pa. When these exposure heads are subjected to exposure control according to the image data by the exposure head control unit 1140, the irradiation light is imaged on the printing paper Pa by the SELFOC lens arrays 1131a, 1131b and 1131c, and each color component is recorded in green. You. Note that a yellow filter 1132b and a blue filter 1132c for color separation are inserted into the green light source exposure head 110b and the blue light source exposure head 1130c, respectively. An ND filter or the like for adjusting the amount of light may be added to each exposure head as needed.

The reason why the yellow filter 1032b is used for the color separation of green is that the yellow filter has higher transmittance of green light than the green filter. Generally, a filter for color separation of blue, green, and red is approximately 400 nm to 70 nm.
A blue filter which mainly transmits a wavelength shorter than about 500 nm in a visible light region of 0 nm, about 500 n
A green filter mainly transmitting light between m and 600 nm, and a red filter mainly transmitting light having a wavelength longer than about 600 nm are used.

The above-mentioned yellow filter is generally called a yellow filter or a Y filter and is commercially available. For example, an LEE filter HT015 (Y filter) manufactured by Lee Filters of the United Kingdom has a wavelength of 550 nm. 5
It has a transmittance of 0% or more and can be preferably used.
That is, a filter having a transmittance of 50% or more at a wavelength of 550 to 700 nm and a transmittance of 5% or less at a wavelength of 400 to 480 nm is preferable. Similarly, for the blue filter, L @ E filter 181 manufactured by Lee Filters U.K.
The (B filter) has a transmittance of 30% or more at a wavelength of 430 nm and can be preferably used. in this way,
Since a commercially available filter can be used, the cost of the apparatus can be reduced. The green filter sandwiched between the blue and red wavelength regions is inevitably a band-pass type, has a small peak transmittance to suppress both blue and red light leakage, and efficiently emits green light from the vacuum fluorescent tube array 1133b. Can not be taken out. On the other hand, since the yellow filter transmits light having a wavelength longer than about 500 nm, green light from the vacuum fluorescent tube array 1133b can be efficiently extracted.

However, although the yellow filter also transmits red light at the same time, the photographic paper Pa has an extremely low red sensitivity, so that red color is not generated. Therefore, since the vacuum fluorescent tube array 113b is used for recording the printing paper Pa, the yellow filter 113b can be used. As a result, it is possible to increase the green exposure efficiency, and it is possible to perform high-speed and high-quality exposure. became.

[Recording Operation] The operation of performing color recording for one line on the printing paper Pa will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, the exposure head controller 1140 transfers one line of red image data, border color image data, and blue image data to each exposure head. Transport roller 101
Numeral 1 conveys the printing paper Pa at a constant speed. When the point a on the printing paper Pa shown in FIG. 2 reaches the image forming point of the red light source exposure head 1130a, the red light source 1140 is controlled by the exposure head control unit 1140. The exposure head 1130a performs exposure according to the image data, and records red image data on the printing paper Pa in green.

Then, as the printing paper Pa is sequentially conveyed, the timing at which the point a reaches the imaging point (2) of the green light source exposure head 1130b and the imaging point (3) of the blue light source exposure head 1130c, respectively. Exposure control similar to the above is performed in accordance with, and color recording is performed on point a. By repeating such an operation, a color image can be two-dimensionally recorded in a predetermined area on the printing paper Pa.

The timing is determined in advance based on the interval between the respective color exposure heads and the transport speed of the printing paper Pa, and this timing is stored in the apparatus in advance.
If the interval between the exposure heads or the transport speed changes, the timing is changed accordingly.

Each exposure head has a distance H1 from the surface of the selfoc lens of the exposure head facing the printing paper Pa shown in FIG. 2 to the surface of the printing paper Pa of 2 mm or more, as shown in FIG. The distance H2 from the closest surface of the exposure head to the printing paper Pa to the surface of the printing paper Pa is 10 mm.
This makes it possible to perform exposure with sufficient illuminance while facilitating stable passage of the printing paper Pa.

[Exposure Head Control Unit] Here, the exposure head control unit 1140 will be described in detail.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a drive control circuit for explaining the image data writing operation of the exposure head for one color. In this figure, the exposure head control unit 1140
When image data representing a gradation with a 12-bit digital value for each color is input, image data is output from the correction processing unit 1060 based on the correction data for correcting the light emission characteristics of the recording elements constituting the light emitting unit. , And converts it into serial digital image data of one line pixel for each recording element, and controls a set pulse signal for transferring image bit data to the latch circuit 1082 and a light emission time. And outputs it to the exposure head 1130 for one color. Here, the image bit data is specific bit data of the image data.

The exposure head 1130 first receives MSB (most significant bit) data as image bit data for one line from the exposure head control unit 1140.
81, the set pulse signal is transferred to the latch circuit 1
082, and in synchronization with the set pulse signal, MS
B data is collectively latched by the latch circuit 1082 for one line. Then, by inputting an enable signal having a width corresponding to the gradation to the driver circuit, drive control is performed for each printing element of the printing elements arranged in an array of one or more columns in a section of the time width of the enable signal, Light emission is performed in accordance with the latched image data.

That is, the driver circuit 1083 selectively sends a drive signal to the printing element array 1084 in correspondence with the pixel whose latched data is “l”,
Light emission is performed for the time width of the enable signal. The irradiation light forms an image on the printing paper Pa via the Selfoc lens array 1085 to form a latent image. Such processing is performed from MSB to L
By sequentially performing all the bits up to the SB (least significant bit), the recording of one line is completed. The order of the bits is LS
The processing may be started from B or in another order, and is not limited. Although one color has been described above, the same control is performed for all three colors.

The method of generating the enable signal according to the bit position will be described later in detail.

[Operation of Exposure Head Control Unit] FIG. 4 is a detailed block circuit diagram of the exposure head control unit 1140. The operation of the exposure head control unit 1140 will be described below.

First, the multiplier 1087 corrects the image data by multiplying the correction data of the light emission characteristics obtained by the correction processing section 1060 by the image data, and outputs the result to the interface 1088. The CPU 1089 drives the counter 1090 by setting a count initial value for counting pixels for one line to the counter 1090 via the interface 1088, and controls the input switching demultiplexer 1091. Upon receiving this, the counter 1090 starts counting and outputs the count value to the demultiplexer 1091. Based on the count value, the counter 1090 expands the image data into a density value composed of 12 bits for each surface element of the image data. The image data is written into the line memory 1092 as image data for Xl lines of 12 bits.

Line memory 1 for image data of the first line
When the writing to 092 is completed, the line memory 109
2 to the multiplexer 1093, the image bit data of the first line is sequentially output from the MSB to the LSB and transferred to the exposure head 110. On the other hand, the image data of the second line is written to the line memory 1094 by switching the output path by the demultiplexer 1091.
Thus, the image data of the current line is
During the transfer to 0, the image data of the next line is expanded and the process of writing to the other line memory is repeatedly performed. It can output continuously without performing.

The counter 1095 counts the transfer time of the image bit data to the multiplexer 1093 under the control of the CPU 1089 and outputs a count-up signal to the set pulse signal generation circuit 1096. Data is exposure head 1l
A set pulse signal is generated at the timing of completion of the transfer to 30 and output to the exposure head 1130, and a set pulse signal is also output to the enable signal generation circuit 1097.

On the other hand, the counter 1098 has a CPU 1089
When the enable time corresponding to the density value previously assigned to each of the 12 bits is counted and output to the enable signal generation circuit 1097 under the control of the above, the enable signal generation circuit 1097 outputs the 12-bit MSB (most significant bit). ), An enable signal having an enable time corresponding to that bit is generated in response to the generation of the set pulse signal, and is output to the exposure head 1130.
Also output to U1089. Then, the CPU 1089 receives this and controls the counter 1095 to generate the next set pulse signal.

By repeating such a series of operations, the set pulse signal, the enable signal, and the image bit data are sequentially output from the MS # to the LSB every l line, and output to the exposure head 1130.

FIG. 5 is a timing chart of output signals output from the exposure head controller 1140 to the exposure head 1130b. Of the image data composed of 12 bits for each pixel, the MSB for one line is first output and transferred to the exposure head 1130b, and then a set pulse signal and an enable signal are output. Here, the latch data corresponding to all the enable signals from the MSB to the LSB for one recording element, that is, the bit value is “1”.
And the case where light emission is caused is the maximum exposure time,
Will give the maximum concentration. The interval time between enable signals is set to 48 μsec. Similar control is performed for the other exposure heads 1130a and 1130c.

At this time, the time width of the enable signal for each color is certified for each bit as shown in FIG.

[Adjustment of Light Emission Amount] Next, adjustment of light emission amount will be described.

When a light source in which a large number of recording elements are arranged in an array is used, the amount of light emission varies for each pixel, and when recording is performed on a recording medium that reproduces continuous tones such as a silver halide photosensitive material, the light emission is required. The density becomes uneven according to the amount, and the image quality is greatly deteriorated. Therefore, it is necessary to control the light emission amount for each pixel and to suppress the fluctuation of the light emission amount. In this embodiment, the correction of the image data for suppressing the fluctuation of the light emission amount is referred to as inter-pixel correction.

Here, instead of calculating the correction data based on the light quantity measurement by the sequential light reception of the exposure head 1130 shown in the above-described embodiment, the characteristic correction for each recording element of the exposure head is corrected based on the following correction method. Calculate the data,
It is also possible to correct the image data.

[Correction method] 1) As shown in FIG. 19, the density value on the printing paper Pa is about 0.55
In each of the density steps such that the density of the recording element becomes 1.3, all the recording elements emit light with the same image data value in the arrangement direction of the recording elements.
Exposure and development processing are performed on a to obtain a band-shaped print image for correction.

2) The correction print image obtained by the above operation is converted to a density measuring device (Konica Micro Densitometer PDM).
Using -5TYPEBR (manufactured by Konica Corporation), the density is measured in the recording element array direction of the exposure head 110 to obtain density data.

At the time of density measurement, a filter is attached for each color to be measured. When measuring the density of the red-sensitive layer, a filter corresponding to each photosensitive layer such as a red filter, a green-sensitive layer for the green-sensitive layer, a blue filter for the blue-sensitive layer, and the like.

Next, in order to accurately obtain the density data of each recording element, the scanning direction of the density measuring device and the arrangement direction of the recording elements are adjusted so that the measurement is not performed obliquely.

Next, the measuring apparatus and the photosensitive material to be measured are focused, and the measuring conditions are further adjusted. This time, Figure 19
As shown in the figure, the measurement was performed with an aperture of 1 mm × 5 μm.

Further, the output voltage of the density measuring device was adjusted with reference to the unexposed portion (white background) in order to adjust the density resolution during measurement.

3) FIG. 7 shows an example of the density data obtained as described above. This data has a shape in which the density data shows a peak with respect to the position of each recording element.
Based on this, the density peak position (i) is detected for all the recording elements (n).

Numerical data located before and after the peak position (i) obtained above (eight data before and after this is used) are integrated together with peak density data, and the integrated density (Di) is calculated for each peak position. calculate.

For each density step, the integrated density D (0.55) i to D (1.3) i is calculated for each pixel in the same manner as described above.

The obtained integrated density D of each pixel
(0.55) i to D (1.3) i and a common logarithm of the image data value are used to perform a linear approximation by a least squares method operation to calculate a regressed linear equation for each pixel. From the obtained equation, the common logarithmic image data value (LSi) at the integrated density of 1.0 for each pixel is calculated, and further, the average value of each common logarithmic image data value (LSi) obtained in the same manner is calculated. , And this is set as a reference data value (LS0).

From this result, the correction data (Ci) is calculated as follows.

Ci = 10 (LSi-LSo) In the correction method described above, the arrangement position of the recording elements of the exposure head is determined by detecting the peak of the density data as described above. Depending on the accuracy, it may not appear as a clear peak in the concentration data. In this case, as shown in FIG. 20, for example, the position of the printing element can be estimated by the following method, and the integrated density can be calculated. As a method of estimating the peak position in this case, a high-density portion is created every several recording elements, the peak is detected by comparing with a certain reference density, and the interval is divided at equal intervals by the number of recording elements, and the peak is determined. There is a method of setting the position.

Specifically, it can be carried out in the following procedure.

1) Exposure is performed in the same manner as described above except that the amount of exposure is larger than the other recording elements every 50 recording elements from the first recording element, and a correction image 1 is obtained.

2) The peak position of the high density portion on the density data is detected by comparing with the reference density.

3) The interval between the high density peaks is divided into equal intervals by the number 50 of printing elements existing therebetween, the peak position of each printing element is obtained, and the integrated density is obtained in the same manner as described above.

4) For the recording element exposed at a high exposure amount and several recording elements around the recording element, an accurate integrated density cannot be obtained due to the influence of the high density pixels. The same operation as described above is performed for every 50 recording elements from the third recording element (FIG. 20A).

5) Of the integrated densities obtained from the correction images 1 and 2, a portion which is not affected by the high-density pixels is extracted and used as the integrated density of each recording element.
The correction data (Ci) is obtained.

Instead of forming a high density portion every several printing elements as described above, the density is increased only at the pixels at both ends of the printing element of the exposure head as shown in FIG. The peak position is divided into equal intervals by the number of elements to obtain a peak position even when an apparent peak does not appear.
The correction value can be obtained from one correction plane image without using any kind of correction image, which is more convenient and less troublesome. Even if the correction values of the recording elements at both ends are not accurate, the image obtained is inconspicuous as unevenness, so that the obtained image is also good.

Further, even if it is not at both ends, if it is several pixels around both ends, it can be considered that they are substantially both ends, and the same effect can be obtained.

The same effect can be obtained by detecting the valley position with a smaller exposure amount, instead of detecting the peak position with a larger exposure amount than the above 1) other recording elements. It is preferable to use the above-described correction method in combination with a method of partially detecting the peak position of each recording element, in combination with the method of detecting the peak position of each recording element, since efficient and accurate correction can be performed.

In addition, one recording element is set for simultaneous light emitting elements,
A plurality of correction images can be output while the light emitting elements are shifted by placing a recording element, four recording elements, or the like, so that the peak separability can be improved.

It is necessary to make the interval to the nearest recording element that can be driven simultaneously when an image is actually formed equal to the interval to the nearest recording element that can be driven simultaneously when forming a correction amount calculation image. This is preferable from the viewpoint that the correction amount is obtained under conditions close to the actual image forming conditions.

The density of a solid image on which density measurement is performed in order to obtain the correction amount may be a density at which the variation in density can be measured, and is preferably the density of the linear portion of the characteristic curve of the photosensitive material used. Speaking of the color paper in the above-described embodiment, if the density is around 0.5 to 1.5, the gradation is hardly controlled, and the density difference with respect to the fluctuation of the light amount is increased, so that the correction accuracy is improved.

Further, the correction image output using the correction data obtained in this way is further measured, and the correction data is obtained, so that an image output with less light quantity unevenness can be preferably used.

Here, the deconvolution after calculating the integrated density of each pixel or after calculating the correction data of each pixel is preferably used in that a better result can be obtained.

In the above-described Examples A and B and the correction method 1, the photographic paper (a vapor for a silver halide photographic material) was used for the correction image and the evaluation image. However, similar effects can be obtained by using the photosensitive material and the recording head described in the other embodiments of the present specification. In addition, using a photosensitive material capable of forming a visible image as described below, and performing adjustment using a light source corresponding to these,

By applying the same, the same effect was obtained.

Specific examples include transparent and translucent photographic paper,
When a negative film, a reversal film, a reversal paper, or a photosensitive material (instant photosensitive material) having a self-processing liquid is used, each of the recording heads 1130a and 1130 is used.
b, 1130c and light amount balance (R, G, B
Is adjusted according to the sensitivity of each photosensitive material, and the same effect is obtained by performing the same correction.

[Synchronization Control of Exposure Head] Next, the synchronization control of each exposure head (recording element array) will be described with reference to FIG.

A description will be given.

The red light source exposure head 1230R is driven by the operation clock CL # -R, and the green light source exposure head 123
0G is driven by an operation clock CLK-C, and the blue light source exposure head 1230B is driven by an operation clock CL # -B.

The red light source exposure head control unit 1241R, the green light source exposure head control unit 1241G, and the blue light source exposure head control unit 1241B respectively operate with an operation clock CLK.
-R, a clock CL # -G, and a clock CL # -B are generated, and each exposure head is controlled based on each clock as described above, and a gradation image is recorded according to the corresponding image data.

Each exposure head controller 1241R, 1241
The above operations of G and 1241B are performed each time one line of an image is recorded.
The timing is determined by the timing signal SB by the R and C timing signals SG and B.

The synchronization control is performed.

FIG. 9 shows a green light source exposure head controller 1241.
When the G timing signal SG is received from the synchronization control unit 1242, the transfer of the image bit data (MSB) for one line to the green light source exposure head 1230G is started, and the series of one line is performed. After performing the recording operation for the recording operation time tg based on the operation clock CLK-G,
The apparatus enters a standby state until receiving the next timing signal SG. The same operation is performed for red and blue. Further, the control shown in FIG. 9 is configured to emit light for an enable time corresponding to the density value assigned to each bit.

T0 is a recording cycle of one line. In this case, 2.82 msec is set in the case where the photographic paper PaP conveyed at a constant speed of 30 mm / sec is exposed at a pixel density of 300 dpi. I have.

The synchronization control unit 1242 is in the cycle of t0,
Each timing signal SR, S-
C and SB are assigned to the respective exposure head controllers 1241R and 1241.
G, 1241B, and performs three-color synchronous control for each line.

Here, the light sources are attached to the unit 1239 so as to be arranged side by side at intervals as shown in FIG. 10 with respect to the transport direction of the photographic paper PaP transported at a constant speed. That is, the green light source exposure head 1230G and the blue light source exposure head 1230B with respect to the red light source exposure head 1230R.
Have head gaps of d1 + (1/4) pixels and d2 pixels, respectively. Here, d1 and d2 are integers, and the blue light source exposure head 1230B has a recording pixel pitch in the transport direction (for example, about 85 μm in the case of 300 dpi).
It is shown that the green light source exposure head 1230G is shifted by 1/4 pixel from the integer multiple, although the head gap is an integral multiple of the integer.

[Flow of Image Data Processing] Next, the flow of processing from the input of image data to the exposure head control unit 1339 until the exposure of the photographic paper Pa will be described.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an outline of the exposure head control unit 1339.

On the color printing paper Pa. The resolution is 3224 pixels at 300 dpi in the main scanning direction.
When recording an image having 4960 pixels at 00 dpi,
Image data of 3,224 × 4,960 pixels is assigned to each dye by I /
It is input to F304. However, the number of pixels in the main scanning direction can be adjusted by changing the number of overlapping recording elements of the exposure head at the connection part of the exposure head.

From 1 / F 304, in addition to image data, correction values such as sharpness conversion, pixel-to-pixel correction, signal distribution, and gradation correction, which will be described later, and the exposure head gap, the pixel difference in the line direction of the exposure head, the exposure head Is input to the CPU 1340. The sharpness conversion value is sent from the CPU 1340 to the spatial filter 1310 for each of R, G, and B colors as needed, so that the image data is subjected to sharpness conversion by the spatial filter 1310, and the image data is DRAM 1305R, DRAM 1305C, DRA for each of red, green and blue by G and B data distribution circuit 1311
It is stored in M1305B.

Next, one line of data in the red image data stored in the DRAM 1305R according to the transport position (the transport amount of the color photographic paper Pa) is added to the red address.
DRAM 130 by ssSelector1306R
5R taken out from the corresponding address and the gradation correction circuit 1
Send to 131. Regarding the image data for green and the image data for blue, Address and BusS for green are used.
еlector1306G, Address a for blue
From the first address of the image data for one line for each color by the second bus selector 1306B,
Image data 1380G and 1380B for 60 pixels and 1
The pixel difference in the line direction of the exposure head is advanced from the head address of the image data for the line (image data 1380).
G, 1380B, excluding image data corresponding to pixels at the connection portion of the exposure head) image data 1381G, 138
1B and image data 1380G, 1380B
Indicates the image data 13 to the gradation correction circuits 1141 and 1151.
81G and 1381B are gradation correction circuits 1142 and 1152
Sent to An R, G, B exposure head 1301
R, 1301G, 1302G, 1301B, 1302B
By performing the same processing for the positional deviation in the transport direction, the image of each color is recorded without deviation.

Note that these flows correspond to CPUs 1340R, 1340G, and 1340C provided for each color.
It is controlled by the PU 1340B. The image data for one line for each color is converted into gradation correction circuits 1131, 1141, 1142, 1151, 1152 as necessary.
, The gradation correction according to the gradation correction value sent from the CPU 1340 is performed between the inter-pixel correction circuit 1161 and the inter-pixel correction / signal distribution control circuits 1171, 1172, and 118.
By controlling 1,1182, inter-pixel correction is performed in accordance with the gradation correction value and inter-pixel correction value sent from the CPU 1340, and signal distribution to a plurality of exposure heads is performed for each color.

After that, the image signal supply means Drive
The image signal on which the inter-pixel correction has been performed by the
Image signals that have been subjected to pixel-to-pixel correction and signal distribution are supplied to the inverters 1192, 1193, 1194, and 1195. CPUs 1340R, 1340G, and 1340B that control the position shifts in the initial and final portions in the transport direction (when there is no image signal on the address) in accordance with the transferred image data signal for each color. From O
Supplement by supplying data for each line,
The printing paper Pa is exposed by the exposure head for each color.

If the inter-pixel correction data is a value that corrects the variation in the light emission amount of each element by multiplying the image data, the correction circuit is multiplied by a later-described inclination coefficient. The cost can be reduced without being divided into those for inter-pixel correction and those for signal distribution.

When calculating the inter-pixel correction value, it is preferable to turn off the power to the arrays other than the array to be calculated. However, two arrays for the same color exposure are arranged in parallel in the main scanning direction. If you stagger them,
By determining the inter-pixel correction value while one sub-exposure is applied, it is possible to determine the correction value in consideration of the influence of the residual liquid.

As described above, by setting the correction value of the image data based on the light amount detection result of each recording element, the driving condition of the recording element with respect to the original image data is eventually changed. become. That is, even if the light emission time (exposure time) for image data is fixed, for example, when a decrease in light amount is detected, the light emission time is determined after correcting the original image data to image data for which the light emission time is set longer. As a result, the light emission time is extended as much as to compensate for the decrease in light amount, and the

The initial exposure energy is secured.

Here, the characteristic of the light emission time for the image data may be changed to cope with the change in the light amount. Further, the change of the driving condition for compensating for the change in the light amount is not limited to the change of the light emission time (exposure time). May be obtained.

[Creation Method of Slope Coefficient] Next, a method of forming a slope coefficient will be described with reference to FIG. Displacement of the element in the exposure head length direction, that is, the first exposure head 1320
Of the recording element 1001 of the second exposure head 1321 and the recording element 12001 of the second exposure head 1321 can be prevented from deteriorating sharpness due to a displacement in the exposure head length direction. Degradation of sharpness due to misregistration of the recording element is caused by the case where the resolution is 300 dpi.
The magnitude of the displacement of the recording element is -0.025 to +0.0
Up to 25 mm is experimentally acceptable for human vision.

The size of the overlapping portion of the connecting portion is 3
More than 100 pixels at a resolution of 00 dpi, ie, about 8
mm or more, it is possible to prevent the discontinuity of the extreme density, and more than 200 pixels, that is, about 16 mm or more, more preferably, more than 600 pixels, that is, 50 mm or more, and furthermore, an image that does not feel the tone reproduction difference Recording is possible, and the positional deviation of the recording element is acceptable to human eyes up to 0.05 mm.

If the position of each exposure head and the light emission amount of each exposure head are not precisely adjusted, a white streak or a black streak occurs in a recorded image after exposure.

[Calculation method of output signal of each recording element] Next, correction between pixels when recording image data of 256 gradations, and output signal S of each recording element after signal distribution.
A method for obtaining x will be described in the following S-1 to S-10.

(S-1) First, the focus position is adjusted after at least one of the adjustment of the parallelism between the exposure heads and the adjustment of the displacement of the light emitting units between the exposure heads is performed. By adjusting the focus position after adjusting at least one of the parallelism adjustment between the exposure heads and the shift adjustment of the light emitting unit arrangement direction between the exposure heads, the focus position adjustment of the exposure head can be easily and reliably performed. it can.

The position adjustment of the exposure head will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a light emission driving unit and a display unit of the exposure unit assembling apparatus, FIG. 14 is a diagram showing focus adjustment and parallel adjustment, FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a focus position adjustment unit, and FIG. FIG.

The exposure unit assembling apparatus 1 has a focus position adjusting means A (shown in FIG. 15) for adjusting the focus position of the exposure head, and a parallel position adjusting means B (shown in FIG. 16) for adjusting the parallel position of the exposure head. A light emission driving unit C that emits light from the light emitting unit of the exposure head; an imaging unit D that captures light emission from the light emitting unit of the exposure head at a plurality of locations; and a plurality of captured images captured at a plurality of locations can be displayed side by side on a screen. Display means E
And The focus position of the exposure head can be adjusted by the focus position adjusting means A so that the captured image of the light emitting unit is in focus, and the positions of the light emitting units on the plurality of displayed shooting screens are linearly arranged. The parallel position of the exposure head can be adjusted by the parallel position adjusting means B.

As shown in FIG. 13, when the light emitted from the light-emitting portion of the exposure unit K, for example, the R exposure head is imaged by the CCD 140, the exposure unit K is placed on the upper surface plate 104 of the measuring table 102. In this state, the glass plate covering the light emitting portion of the R exposure head comes into contact with the optical fiber plate 141 of the CCD 140, and the optical fiber plate 141 can be brought into close contact with the glass plate. This glass plate and CCD
The imaging position of the light emitting part of the exposure head is located on the contact surface of 140, and the light emission of the light emitting part of the exposure head can be received with high accuracy by the CCD 140 constituting the imaging means, improving the imaging accuracy. I do.

(S-2) As shown in FIG. 13, the light-emission driving means C for causing the light-emitting portion of the exposure head to emit light includes a driving power source 1
61, and a light emitting circuit 162, which makes the light emitting section of each exposure head emit light. The image pickup means D for picking up the light emitted from the light emitting portion of the exposure head at a plurality of locations is constituted by a CCD 140, and an image signal from the CCD 140 is supplied to an image processing circuit
The image processing is performed at 0, and a captured image of light emission of the light emitting unit is displayed on the screen of the CRT 171 constituting the display unit E.

(S-3) The display means E is displayed as shown in FIG. That is, as shown in FIG. 14A, a left CCD and a left CCD are disposed with respect to the exposure head, and photographed images obtained from the left CCD and the left CCD are shown in FIGS. It is displayed as shown in FIG.

In the display shown in FIG. 14C, the light amount is represented by a density characteristic curve, and the width L1 of the density characteristic curve becomes the minimum width L, that is, the image captured by the light emitting unit is focused. The focus position of the exposure head is adjusted by the focus position adjusting means A as described above.

(S-4) In the display of FIG. 14 (b), the left and right CCDs are divided into left and right corresponding to the left and right CCDs, and the imaged screen is displayed. When the display is shifted by the width K, the parallel position of the exposure head is adjusted by the parallel position adjusting means B so that the positions of the light emitting units on the photographing screen are arranged in a straight line.

A reference line or grid may be displayed on the screen, and the parallel position of the exposure head may be adjusted by the parallel position adjusting means B so that the photographed image is parallel to the line or grid. The parallel position of the exposure head can be adjusted based on the lines or grids so that the captured images are easily parallel.

(S-5) FIG. 15 shows the structure of the focus position adjusting means, and FIG. 15A shows a spacer 20 having a different thickness between the exposure head 200 and the exposure head holding member 201.
The focus position can be adjusted by interposing 2. By using different spacers, the focus position can be reliably adjusted with a simple structure.

FIG. 15B shows a configuration in which the focus position can be adjusted by changing the distance between the exposure head 200 and the exposure head holding member 201 by a screw mechanism 203. The focus position can be reliably adjusted with a simple structure that is changed by the screw mechanism 203.

FIG. 15C shows a configuration in which the focus position can be adjusted by interposing a wedge 204 between the exposure head 200 and the exposure head holding member 201. With the wedge 204 interposed, the focus position can be reliably adjusted with a simple structure.

(S-6) FIG. 16 shows the structure of the parallel position adjusting means.
0, and the other end of the exposure head 20
The parallel position of the exposure head 200 is adjusted such that a plurality of captured images captured at a plurality of locations are moved in a parallel manner by moving 0 in parallel.

(S-7) After the parallel position is finally adjusted,
Check the focus again. At this time, if the focus has fluctuated, adjustment is made to the optimum focus.

As described above, in the exposure unit assembling apparatus 1, the focus position of the exposure head 200 can be adjusted by the focus position adjusting means A so that the photographed image of the light emitting unit is in focus. The exposure head 20 is adjusted by the parallel position adjusting means B such that
By adjusting the parallel position of 0, the parallelism position of the exposure head can be easily adjusted in a short time, the accuracy of the parallelism of the exposure head is improved, and the exposure head is held by the exposure head holding member. Can be.

Further, by shifting the exposure head 200 in the light emitting unit arrangement direction, it is possible to adjust the displacement between the exposure heads in the light emitting unit arrangement direction.

The test head is exposed by the exposure head adjusted in (S-1) to (S-7), and the test pattern is developed and printed to check the focus, parallelism and the like. If it is a predetermined focus, parallelism, etc.,
The process proceeds to the next step, and if the predetermined focus, parallelism, and the like cannot be obtained, readjustment is performed.

After that, the above-described pixel-to-pixel correction is performed to adjust the light emission level of the recording elements constituting each light emitting section.

As the test pattern for confirming the exposure, as the image for confirming the focus, an image in which pixels are separated every one pixel or every two pixels as shown in FIG. 21 is preferably used.

Regarding the G and R exposure heads, an image for each pixel is preferable because human visual characteristics are good. However, for the B exposure head, it is difficult to discriminate by human vision, so that it is more than two pixels apart. Images are preferred.

(S-8) Relationship between the exposure signal (Sin) as the output signal of each recording element as shown in FIG. 17 and the density (reproduction density D) of the printing paper Pa as the photosensitive material.
A curve is determined for each recording element of each exposure head.

(S-9) The maximum value Dmax of the reproduction density D is defined, the reproduction density D is divided into 256 levels (8 bits), and the exposure signal Sin corresponding to each level (here, the exposure time corresponds to the exposure time). Sin obtained by (S-7)
It is obtained from FIG. 17 which is a −D curve.

(S-10) A Din-D curve is created so that an arbitrary reproduction density D is obtained for the image data Din, and the value of Sin is obtained from the Sin-D curve in FIG. By creating this for Din 0 to 255, a gradation conversion table is created. Note that the Din-D curve may be linear with respect to the input signal Din as shown in FIG. 18A, or Din may be adjusted according to the characteristics of a silver halide photosensitive material as a recording medium. Considering that it corresponds to a logarithm, it can be changed as shown in FIG.

(S-11) The output signal Sx of each recording element after inter-pixel correction and signal distribution is obtained by the following equation.

Din: 8 bits → Sin: 12 bits
Sx = Sin × Slope coefficient × Pixel correction data Sx has a resolution of 4096 levels from 0 to 4095.

This gradation conversion table is set so that two Din-D curves are the same when there are two or more exposure heads for one color.

Before recording, a gradation correction value is set for one exposure head so that the image data-reproduction density characteristics of the two exposure heads match, and the reproduction density for the image data is determined by the inter-pixel correction value. It is also possible to set.

As the final adjustment of the image output device, the recording start position of each exposure head is adjusted. As shown in FIG. 22, a standard image whose recording timing is changed line by line with respect to the reference is output.

This standard image is formed as shown in FIG. 22 in accordance with standard image forming data stored in an external storage medium such as a floppy disk, a magneto-optical disk, a memory card, or a hard disk in the apparatus, or a memory such as a RAM or a ROM. It is formed on an image recording medium. In FIG. 22A, the set amount of the exposure timing of the R color exposure head is set to -6 to +6 based on the exposure timing of a reference exposure head, for example, a specific exposure head such as a G color exposure head.
The state where exposure recording is performed while shifting in the main scanning direction while changing the stage, and the state where exposure recording is similarly performed while changing the set amount of the B color exposure head based on the G color exposure head are shown side by side.

In this case, in the illustrated example, the R color exposure head has an adjustment amount of -1 and the B color exposure head has an adjustment amount of +3. The positions match. Also, in FIG. 22 (2),
Exposure timings of the G color exposure head and the B color exposure head are simultaneously recorded while being shifted in the main scanning direction while changing the set amount in 13 steps from -6 to +6 based on the exposure timing of the R color exposure head as a reference. Is shown.

In the illustrated example, the G color exposure head has an adjustment amount of −2, and the B color exposure head has an adjustment amount of +3 so that the exposure recording positions of the reference R color exposure head in the sub-scanning direction match. I have. Here, the length position in the main scanning direction of each color may be any type, as shown in the figure, in which adjacent colors may all overlap, some may overlap, or may not overlap at all in the vicinity. The same applies to a standard surface image for the main scanning direction described later.

The set amount of the exposure timing is changed by the numerical value of the closest one based on the visual observation of the standard image obtained as described above or the measurement data by the scanner or the like. For example, if the initial values are R = 100, G = 200,
Assuming that B = З00, in the case of FIG. 22 (l), if R is adjusted to −1 and B is adjusted to +3 as described above, the exposure recording positions match, so that R = 100−l = 99 G =
200 (constant reference) B = 300 + 3 = 303, and in the case of FIG. 22B, similarly, R = 100 (constant reference)
G = 200-2 = 198B = 300-3 = 297. In this way, after changing the set values of the exposure heads of the colors other than the reference color, a standard image may be formed again and it may be confirmed that the image is closest to ± 0. In the case of adjusting the color misregistration in the main scanning direction, the adjustment is performed in the same manner.

[Adjustment of Light Emission Start Time] Adjustment of light emission start time means that when a plurality of exposure heads are transported by a plurality of transport means, the transport speed of each transport means is different. May occur. In order to prevent this, it means that writing timing by exposure corresponding to each transport unit is set.

FIG. 2 using a transport roller as the transport means
The adjustment of the light emission start time will be described based on the third image recording apparatus.

As shown in FIG. 23, the main part 1 of the image recording apparatus arranges the photosensitive materials P1 and P2 in the width direction from the rolls of the photosensitive materials accommodated in a plurality of separate magazines 11 and 12, respectively. A sending unit 3 that can send out, a cutting unit 4 that cuts the plurality of photosensitive materials P1 and P2, and a conveyance that can send the plurality of photosensitive materials P1 and P2 sent out by the sending unit 3 in the width direction to an exposure area. An exposure unit 7 for exposing the photosensitive material conveyed to the exposure area based on the exposure image data to record a latent image. The sending section 3 can send the photosensitive materials P1, P2 independently of each other for each of the rolls of the photosensitive materials P1, P2 stored in the plurality of magazines 11, 12. is there. As a result, the timing of the start of the transmission is set to the photosensitive material P
The length of the plurality of photosensitive materials P1, P2 conveyed side by side in the width direction can be made different by making them different for each of l and P2. Then, a magazine driving unit (not shown) for driving the magazine 11 to send out the photosensitive material from the magazine 11, a first sending drive roller 31, and a first sending driven roller 3
2 and the photosensitive material P sent from the magazine 11
1 and a second delivery roller pair which comprises a second delivery drive roller 33 and a second delivery driven roller 34, and which transports the photosensitive material P1 transported by the first delivery roller pair. The photosensitive material Pl is sent out from a roll of photosensitive material contained in the magazine 11.

A magazine drive unit (not shown) for driving the magazine 12 to feed the photosensitive material from the magazine 12, a first delivery drive roller 36 and a first delivery driven roller 37, and the photosensitive material P 2 delivered from the magazine 12. And a second delivery roller pair that includes a second delivery drive roller 38 and a second delivery driven roller 39, and that transports the photosensitive material Pl transported by the first delivery roller pair. The photosensitive material P2 is sent out from a roll of photosensitive material contained in the magazine 12.

The first delivery drive rollers 31, 36 and the second delivery drive rollers 33, 38 are each driven to rotate by the drive force of a drive motor. Further, the first delivery driven rollers 35 and 37 and the second delivery driven rollers 34 and 39 are respectively driven by the delivery drive rollers that are pressed.

The delivery section 3 can move the second delivery driven rollers 34 and 39 up and down, whereby the second delivery driven rollers 34 and 39 are pressed against the second delivery drive rollers 33 and 38. And the second delivery drive rollers 33 and 38
And the state in which the photosensitive material can be nipped and conveyed, and the second delivery driven rollers 34 and 39 are
8 may be in a state of being separated.

The cutting section 4 cuts the plurality of sent photosensitive materials P1 and P2 at a predetermined cutting position between the holding position of the first delivery roller pair and the holding position of the second delivery roller pair.
The cutting section 4 has a movable blade 41 and a fixed blade 42 having a length in the width direction covering the entire area in the width direction of the plurality of photosensitive materials Pl and P2.

The transport section 6 has first to fifth transport roller pairs from the sending section 3 side, and each transport roller pair can pinch and transport the photosensitive materials Pl and P2 in the width direction. A single transport drive roller 61-65 in the width direction and a single transport driven roller 66-70 in the width direction.

The exposure section 7 has an exposure head 71 for blue light, an exposure head 72 for green light, and an exposure head 73 for red light. Then, the blue light exposure head 71 is connected to the transport unit 6 including the transport drive roller 62 and the transport driven roller 67.
The nipping position of the transport roller pair 63 and the transport drive roller 63
A predetermined position is defined as an exposure area between a position between the third conveying roller pair of the conveying unit 6 and the conveying driven roller 68. Further, the exposure head 72 for green light has a nipping position of a third pair of transport rollers of the transport section 6 including the transport drive roller 63 and the transport driven roller 68, and a transporting roller including the transport drive roller 64 and the transport driven roller 68. A predetermined position between the fourth conveying roller pair of the section 6 and the nipping position is defined as an exposure area. Further, the exposure head 73 for red light has a nipping position of the fourth transport roller pair of the transport unit 6 including the transport drive roller 64 and the transport driven roller 69, and a transport including the transport drive roller 65 and the transport driven roller 70. A predetermined position between the fifth conveying roller pair of the section 6 and the nipping position is defined as an exposure area.

The main part 1 includes a transport drive roller 61
A predetermined position in the conveyance direction between a position where the first conveyance roller pair of the conveyance unit 6 including the conveyance driven roller 66 and the second conveyance roller pair of the conveyance unit 6 including the conveyance drive 67 are held. It has a detection sensor 51 for detecting whether or not the photosensitive material P1 has reached the detection position, and a detection sensor 52 for detecting whether or not the photosensitive material P2 has reached.

Then, the transport section 6 can move the transport driven roller 66 of the first transport roller pair up and down, so that one of the transport sections 6 composed of the transport drive roller 61 and the transport driven roller 66 can be moved. The second conveying roller pair can be in a state in which the photosensitive material Pl, P2 can be nipped and conveyed, and in a separated state.

When a plurality of photosensitive materials Pl and P2 are conveyed to the exposure area side by side in the width direction, as shown below,
The main part 1 operates. First, in a state where the first pair of conveying rollers of the conveying unit 6 is separated, the sending unit 3 is operated by the plurality of magazines 1.
The photosensitive materials Pl, P from the rolls contained in
2 are transmitted side by side in the width direction. And the detection sensor 51
When detecting that the photosensitive material P1 delivered by the delivery unit 3 has reached the detection position, the magazine drive unit that drives the magazine 11 of the delivery unit 3, the first delivery drive roller 31, and the second delivery drive roller 33 are connected. By stopping, the photosensitive material P1
Stop sending. Further, the detection sensor 52
When it is detected that the photosensitive material P2 delivered by the delivery unit 3 has reached the detection position, the magazine drive unit that drives the magazine 12 of the delivery unit 3, the first delivery drive roller 36, and the second delivery drive roller 38 are stopped. Thus, the feeding of the photosensitive material P2 is stopped.

When the feeding of the photosensitive materials P1 and P2 is stopped, the leading positions of the plurality of photosensitive materials P1 and P2 are more accurately aligned. The transport unit 6
The transport driven roller 66 is moved downward, and the first transport roller pair of the transport section 6 including the transport drive roller 61 and the transport driven roller 66 sandwiches the photosensitive materials P1 and P2. After that, the cutting section 4 makes the plurality of photosensitive materials P1, P2
Disconnect. Thereafter, the second delivery driven rollers 34 and 39 of the delivery section 3 are moved upward, and the second delivery roller pair is separated. Thereafter, the transport roller pair of the transport section 6 sandwiches and transports the plurality of photosensitive materials P1 and P2. As a result, from the state in which the leading positions of the plurality of photosensitive materials P1 and P2 are more accurately aligned, the single transport roller 61 in the width direction
65 and the conveyance driven rollers 66 to 70, the plurality of photosensitive materials P1, P2 are provided in a state where there is no tension from the delivery unit 3 or the magazines 11, 12 provided with another roller for each of the plurality of photosensitive materials P1, P2. Since P2 is transported side by side, it is easier to transport the photosensitive materials P1 and P2 while maintaining the leading positions thereof more accurately aligned. Therefore, not only in the transport section 6 but also in the nip transport system in the subsequent development processing section 8, it is possible to prevent the photographic material that has advanced further from skewing.

The image control unit 2 is provided with a plurality of photosensitive materials P
1, the exposure image data is generated from the output image data of the output image recorded on P2 on the assumption that the tips of the plurality of photosensitive materials P1, P2 in the exposure area are accurately aligned. The image data is sent to the exposure unit 7, and the exposure unit 7 records a latent image by exposing a plurality of photosensitive materials P1 and P2 based on the exposure image data. Therefore, when the photosensitive material is skewed, a misaligned image is recorded. However, since the photosensitive material can be prevented from being skewed, a plurality of photosensitive materials P1, P
2 can record a good latent image.

Further, since the detection positions of the detection sensors 51 and 52 are between the nipping position of the first conveying roller pair of the conveying unit 6 and the nipping position of the second conveying roller pair, With a simple configuration and control in which the second conveying roller pair can take a state in which the photosensitive material can be nipped and conveyed and a state in which the photosensitive material is separated, the leading positions of the plurality of photosensitive materials P1 and P2 are more accurately aligned. It can be transported while maintaining the state.

In the image recording apparatus shown in FIG.
Assuming that the blue light exposure head 71, the green light exposure head 72, and the red light exposure head 73 all have the same light emission start time, the speed of each of the transport rollers 62, 63, 64, 65 is 30.0 mm / sec, 30.3 mm / sec,
If the recording speed is different from 30.5 mm / sec or 29.8 mm / sec, misalignment may occur when exposure recording is performed as it is. For example, in order to expose and write at 300 dpi, at a transport speed of 30 mm / sec, 2.8 ms
When the writing speed of ec / 1 line is realized, as shown in FIG. 24, the blue light exposure head 71, the green light exposure head 72, and the red light exposure head 73 all have the same timing (light emission start time). The output images from the blue light exposure head 71, the green light exposure head 72, and the red light exposure head 73 become longer or shorter depending on the transport speed at the time of exposure.

Even if the recording positions of the blue light exposure head 71, the green light exposure head 72, and the red light exposure head 73 are not aligned at the rear end even if the output head is aligned, the transport rollers 62, 63 , 64, 65, the emission start time is changed for the blue light exposure head 71, the green light exposure head 72, and the red light exposure head 73, as shown in FIG.

That is, when the sheet is conveyed by the conveying roller 62, 2.8 msec.
3) × 2.8 = 2.772 msec, and (30 / 30.5) × 2.8 = 2.754 msec with the transport roller 64
c, (30 / 29.8) × 2.8 =
Change to 2.819 msec.

The adjustment method is calculated by outputting an image for every 20 lines for each exposure head (the blue light exposure head 71 in the above example) to be exposed first, and measuring the recording distance.

As shown in FIG. 26, the light emission start time is changed by calculating the speed ratio of the ratios 63, 64 and 65 based on the ratio 62. Of course, when the paper is short, rat as shown in FIG.
There is no output of io64 and io65 (the exposure head 71 for blue light).
May be output only by the transport rollers 62 and 63)
Therefore, the ratio 64 and 65 are the exposure head 7 for green light for convenience.
The output results of the second and red light exposure heads 73 are used. However, there is no difference in calculating the ratio from the output result.

[Exposure Unit] The actual manufacturing flow is as follows. First, an exposure unit with an exposure head is assembled. At this time, the parallelism of the exposure head and the displacement adjustment are adjusted by a CCD as shown in FIGS. I do. The adjustment of the parallelism and the deviation of the exposure head is not a pixel unit but a rough adjustment. That is, the adjustment is not performed exactly, but a deviation of, for example, about 0.3 pixels is allowed. Adjustment is performed to prevent the occurrence of a portion that cannot be exposed on the photosensitive material due to deviation of the problem. After that, the focus position is adjusted, and no exposure is performed up to this point.

After the adjustments shown in FIGS. 13 to 16, the following adjustments are made in the image recording apparatus. Pixel Light Amount Adjustment Light amount adjustment between exposure heads (adjustment of color balance at the time of exposure) Adjustment of recording start position Adjustment of parallelism between exposure heads, shift adjustment, and light emission start position adjustment will be described with reference to FIG.

Regarding the parallelism between the exposure heads, it is confirmed how many lines are shifted between the exposure heads, and the information is given to the apparatus. That is, as shown in FIG. 27A, for example, if an exposure head is arranged in a direction orthogonal to a conveying direction of a photosensitive material, and the arrangement direction of the recording elements of the exposure head is a main scanning direction, a plurality of exposure heads, The parallelism between the exposure heads is adjusted so that the heads R and G are parallel with no shift in the main scanning direction. The plurality of exposure heads preferably have no difference between the end lL and the end lR.
In the case of 0 dpi, since one pixel is 84.6 μm, ± 40 μm
m is preferable.

Regarding the displacement in the arrangement direction, it is checked from which pixel the exposure head starts writing (how many pixels the image is shifted and output), and information is given to the image recording apparatus. That is, as shown in FIG. 27 (b), when the arrangement direction of the recording elements of the exposure heads is the main scanning direction, the deviation of the light emitting unit arrangement direction between the exposure heads is adjusted mainly by the recording elements of the plurality of exposure heads. Since there is a case where there is a shift in the sub-scanning direction orthogonal to the scanning direction, the shift l in the arrangement direction is adjusted, and it is preferable that the shift l in the arrangement direction is small.

With this adjustment, it is possible to perform exposure recording without displacement as long as each exposure head is parallel.

The light emission start position adjustment is a setting for actually outputting an image as shown in FIG. 27C, and a plurality of exposure heads R1, R2, G1, G2, B1, and B2 are arranged. In this case, the exposure head R1 is the tenth pixel, the exposure head R2 is the twelfth pixel, the exposure head G2 is the 80th pixel, and the exposure head B2 is the 85th pixel. Means

When the exposure heads G2 and G1 are arranged in a staggered manner as shown in FIG. 27D, when the shift amount is 80 pixels, the image data of the first pixel of the exposure head G1 is Since the data is the same as the 500th pixel of the exposure head G2, the image data is (500-8
0) = 420th pixel.

Adjustment of the position where the staggered tilting of the two VFPH heads starts to be applied. However, since this adjustment is applied by tilting (not on / off as in FIG. 12 (d) in the embodiment), a shift of several pixels is visually recognized. It is acceptable because there is no problem.

Adjustment of Light Emission Start Time Adjustment of light emission start time means that, when a plurality of exposure heads are conveyed by a plurality of conveyance means, the conveyance speeds of the respective conveyance means are different, and a position shift occurs when exposure recording is performed as it is. May be done. In order to prevent this, it means that the exposure writing timing is set according to each transporting means.

The light amount correction of the pixels, the adjustment of the recording start position, the adjustment of the start position of the staggered inclination of the two VFPH heads, and the adjustment of the light emission start time may be performed in any order. The light amount adjustment is performed after the pixel light amount correction, and after the pixel light amount adjustment, the light amount adjustment between the exposure heads is performed.

Generally, according to the manufacturing method of the exposure head, the distance from the reference hole of the exposure head to the position of the pixel that actually emits light has a mechanical tolerance of 50 μm to 1 mm. On the other hand, for example, when an image such as a black character in which an edge portion of an image contains many high spatial frequency components is formed by exposing several color light sources on a color photosensitive material, the light source The exposure position must be exactly matched. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the mechanical tolerance by some means.

Therefore, when a plurality of exposure heads are used as described above, inspection assembly for adjusting the relative position between the exposure heads, the focus position, and the like is performed in advance and fixed in one exposure unit. Then, the exposure head is attached to the exposure unit at the reference position. Thus, by exposing the exposure head to a unit, the exposure head can be mounted and replaced without a complicated adjustment operation. further,
If the exposure head is fixed to the exposure unit with an adhesive or the like, the exposure head and the exposure unit are completely integrated, that is, the relative position of each exposure head is fixed, and the It is preferable because the relative position can be prevented from being shifted.

Further, by providing a mechanism for correcting the warpage of the exposure head in the exposure unit, the yield of the exposure head is improved, which is more preferable.

Also, by measuring the interval and position of the exposure head at the time of inspection and assembly, the plane image shift amount and the LU set when setting up the exposure unit for this output forgery.
The parameters required for the setup of the exposure unit, such as LUT data for T conversion processing and inter-element correction data, are obtained in advance, stored in a machine-readable flexible recording medium such as a floppy disk, and delivered together with the exposure unit. I do.
Then, when setting up the exposure unit in the output wake-up, by mechanically reading a machine-readable flexible storage medium such as a floppy disk corresponding to the exposure unit by the machine reading device of the present apparatus,
The parameters required for setting up the exposure unit, such as the amount of plane image shift, LUT data for LUT conversion processing, and inter-element correction data, which are set when setting up the exposure unit in this output mode, are set. As a result, the efficiency of the setup can be greatly increased.

When a photosensitive material sensitive to visible to infrared wavelengths described in the other embodiments of the present specification is used, a light source having a wavelength corresponding to each of the yellow, magenta, and cyan color forming layers is used. The same effect was obtained by performing the adjustment using and the same correction. Further, the photosensitive material of the image for correction and the photosensitive material actually used for image formation may be different, but it is preferable to use the same photosensitive material from the viewpoint that the correction can be performed including the characteristics of the photosensitive material. .

[0197]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head is adjusted not on a pixel-by-pixel basis, that is, the position of the exposure head is not adjusted exactly.
A shift of about 3 pixels is allowed, and in order to prevent a portion that cannot be exposed on the photosensitive material due to the shift, a sharp image is formed by adjusting the light emission amount of each light emitting unit thereafter. Thus, it is possible to obtain an image without stripe unevenness due to exposure.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, by adjusting the focus position after performing at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads, the position adjustment of the exposure head can be performed with higher accuracy. it can.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head can be adjusted with higher precision, and a sharp image can be obtained by correcting the amount of emitted light thereafter. Images can be obtained.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head can be adjusted with higher accuracy, the amount of emitted light is corrected thereafter, and the amount of light between a plurality of exposure heads is adjusted to adjust the color balance at the time of exposure. Can be adjusted,
A sharp image can be obtained, and an image without stripe unevenness due to exposure can be obtained.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head is adjusted with high accuracy, and then, regarding the parallelism of the exposure head, how many lines are shifted between the respective exposure heads is confirmed, and the information is read. For deviations in the array direction, check the number of pixels from each exposure head to start exposure (how many pixels to shift the image to output), give information to the device, and adjust the light emission start position As long as the respective exposure heads are parallel, exposure without displacement can be performed.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head is adjusted with high precision, and then the light emission start time is adjusted. Even if the transport speed differs depending on the transport unit, it is possible to prevent the displacement from occurring.

According to the seventh aspect of the invention, the position of the exposure head is adjusted first, not in units of pixels, that is, the position is not exactly adjusted, but a shift of, for example, about 0.3 pixels is allowed. In order to prevent the occurrence of parts that cannot be exposed on the photosensitive material, a sharp image can be obtained by adjusting the amount of light emitted from each light emitting part, and an image free from stripe unevenness due to exposure can be obtained. Obtainable.

According to the present invention, the focus position is adjusted after performing at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads, so that the exposure head position adjustment can be performed with higher accuracy. it can.

According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head can be adjusted with higher accuracy, and a sharp image can be obtained by correcting the amount of emitted light. Images can be obtained.

According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head can be adjusted with higher accuracy, the amount of emitted light is corrected thereafter, and the amount of light is adjusted between a plurality of exposure heads to adjust the color balance at the time of exposure. Can be adjusted, a sharp image can be obtained, and an image without stripe unevenness due to exposure can be obtained.

According to the eleventh aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head is adjusted with high accuracy, and then, regarding the parallelism of the exposure heads, how many lines are shifted between the respective exposure heads is confirmed, and the information is read. For deviations in the array direction, check the number of pixels from each exposure head to start exposure (how many pixels to shift the image to output), give information to the device, and adjust the light emission start position As long as the respective exposure heads are parallel, exposure without displacement can be performed.

According to the twelfth aspect of the invention, the position of the exposure head is adjusted with high precision, and then the emission start time is adjusted. Even if the transport speed differs depending on the transport unit, it is possible to prevent the displacement from occurring.

According to the thirteenth aspect of the present invention, the test pattern is exposed to the halogenated photographic light-sensitive material by the exposure head, and the light-emitting portion of the exposure head is exposed based on the image obtained by developing the halogenated photographic light-sensitive material. By correcting the amount of emitted light, the amount of emitted light can be corrected in accordance with the halogenated photographic light-sensitive material, and a sharp image can be obtained.
Moreover, it is possible to obtain an image without stripe unevenness due to exposure. In the invention described in claim 8, the focus position is adjusted after at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads is performed, so that the position adjustment of the exposure head can be performed with higher accuracy.

According to the fourteenth aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head is adjusted first, not in units of pixels, that is, the position is not exactly adjusted, but a shift of, for example, about 0.3 pixels is allowed. In order to prevent the occurrence of parts that cannot be exposed on the photosensitive material, a sharp image can be obtained by adjusting the amount of light emitted from each light emitting part, and an image free from stripe unevenness due to exposure can be obtained. Obtainable.

According to the fifteenth aspect, by adjusting the focus position after performing at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads, the position adjustment of the exposure head can be performed with higher accuracy. it can.

According to the sixteenth aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head can be adjusted with higher accuracy, and a sharp image can be obtained by correcting the amount of emitted light. Images can be obtained.

According to the seventeenth aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head can be adjusted with higher accuracy, the light emission amount is corrected thereafter, and the light amount between a plurality of exposure heads is adjusted to adjust the color balance at the time of exposure. Can be adjusted, a sharp image can be obtained, and an image without stripe unevenness due to exposure can be obtained.

According to the eighteenth aspect of the present invention, the position of the exposure head is adjusted with high accuracy, and then, regarding the parallelism of the exposure head, how many lines are shifted between the respective exposure heads is checked, and the information is read. For deviations in the array direction, check the number of pixels from each exposure head to start exposure (how many pixels to shift the image to output), give information to the device, and adjust the light emission start position As long as the respective exposure heads are parallel, exposure without displacement can be performed.

According to the nineteenth aspect of the invention, the position of the exposure head is adjusted with high precision, and then the emission start time is adjusted. Even if the transport speed differs depending on the transport unit, it is possible to prevent the displacement from occurring.

According to the twentieth aspect, a test pattern is exposed on a halogenated photographic light-sensitive material by an exposure head, and a light-emitting portion of the exposure head is exposed based on an image obtained by developing the halogenated photographic light-sensitive material. By correcting the amount of emitted light, the amount of emitted light can be corrected in accordance with the halogenated photographic light-sensitive material, and a sharp image can be obtained.
Moreover, it is possible to obtain an image without stripe unevenness due to exposure.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a schematic configuration of an image recording apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a recording operation of the image recording apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a drive control circuit for explaining an image data writing operation of an exposure head for one color.

FIG. 4 is a detailed block circuit diagram of an exposure head control unit.

FIG. 5 is a timing chart of an output signal output from the exposure head control unit to the exposure head.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing that the time width of the enable signal for each color is certified for each bit.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of obtained density data.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating synchronous control of each exposure head.

FIG. 9 is a timing chart illustrating an operation of a green light source exposure head control unit.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing that the light sources of the respective exposure heads are attached to the unit so as to be arranged side by side in the transport direction of the photographic paper transported at a constant speed.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an outline of an exposure head control unit.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a method of creating a slope coefficient.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a light emission driving unit and a display unit of the exposure unit assembling apparatus.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing focus position adjustment and parallel adjustment.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a focus position adjusting unit.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a parallel position adjusting unit.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing obtaining a value of Sin from a Sin-D curve.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing that image data Din can be changed by considering it as a logarithm of an exposure amount.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing the arrangement direction of recording elements and the density of printing paper.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating an arrangement direction of recording elements and a corrected image of photographic paper.

FIG. 21 is a view showing a test pattern for confirming exposure.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an output standard image of exposure timing adjustment.

FIG. 23 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of an image recording apparatus.

FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating adjustment of a light emission start time.

FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating adjustment of a light emission start time.

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating adjustment of a light emission start time.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 Exposure unit assembling apparatus A Focus position adjustment means B Parallel position adjustment means C Light emission drive means D Imaging means E Display means

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] May 26, 1999

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] FIG. 27

[Correction method] Added

[Correction contents]

FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating adjustment of a light emission start position.

Claims (20)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of light-emitting portions are provided with a plurality of exposure heads arranged in a line or a plurality of lines in a dotted line, and an image is formed by exposing a halogenated photographic photosensitive material by the light-emitting portions of the plurality of exposure heads. An image recording apparatus for adjusting at least one of a focus position adjustment of the exposure head, a parallelism adjustment between the exposure heads, and a shift adjustment of a light emitting unit arrangement direction between the exposure heads, and thereafter, the light emission of the exposure head is performed. An image recording apparatus, wherein a light emission amount of a unit is corrected. 2. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the focus position adjustment is performed after at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads is performed. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein after at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads is performed, the focus position is adjusted, and then the emitted light amount is corrected. Image recording device. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least parallelism adjustment and shift adjustment between the exposure heads are performed, a focus position is adjusted, a light emission amount is corrected, and further, a light amount adjustment between a plurality of exposure heads is performed. The image recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein after at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads is performed, the focus position is adjusted, and then the light emission start position is adjusted. The image recording device according to any one of the above. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein after at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads is performed, the focus position is adjusted, and then the light emission start time is adjusted. 3. The image recording apparatus according to any one of 3. 7. A plurality of exposure heads in which a plurality of light-emitting portions are arranged in a row or a plurality of rows in a dotted line, focus position adjustment of the exposure heads, parallelism adjustment between the exposure heads, and light emission between the exposure heads. A method for manufacturing an image recording apparatus, comprising: performing at least one of adjustments of deviation in a unit arrangement direction, and thereafter correcting a light emission amount of a light emitting unit of the exposure head. 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the focus position is adjusted after at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads is performed. 9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the focus position is adjusted after at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads is performed, and then the emission light amount correction is performed. Image recording device manufacturing method. 10. After at least one of parallelism adjustment and shift adjustment between exposure heads is performed, focus position adjustment is performed, light emission light amount correction is performed, and light amount adjustment between a plurality of exposure heads is further performed. The method of manufacturing an image recording apparatus according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein: 11. The method according to claim 7, wherein the focus position is adjusted after at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads is performed, and then the light emission start position is adjusted.
The method for manufacturing an image recording device according to claim 9. 12. The method according to claim 7, wherein the focus position is adjusted after at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads is performed, and then the emission start time is adjusted. The method for manufacturing an image recording device according to any one of the above. 13. A method for exposing a test pattern to a halogenated photographic light-sensitive material using the exposure head, and correcting the amount of light emitted from a light-emitting portion of the exposure head based on an image obtained by developing the halogenated photographic light-sensitive material. The method for manufacturing an image recording apparatus according to claim 7, wherein: 14. An exposure head in which a plurality of light emitting portions are arranged in a line or a plurality of lines in a dotted line, a focus position of the exposure head, a parallelism between the exposure heads, and a light emission between the exposure heads. A method for adjusting an image recording apparatus, comprising: performing at least one of adjustments of a displacement in a unit arrangement direction, and thereafter correcting a light emission amount of a light emitting unit of the exposure head. 15. The adjustment method for an image recording apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the focus position is adjusted after at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads is performed. 16. The method according to claim 14, wherein the focus position is adjusted after at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads is performed, and then the emitted light amount correction is performed. Adjustment method for image recording device. 17. A method of performing at least one of parallelism adjustment and shift adjustment between exposure heads, adjusting a focus position, correcting a light emission amount, and further adjusting light amounts between a plurality of exposure heads. The method for adjusting an image recording apparatus according to any one of claims 14 to 16, wherein: 18. The method according to claim 1, wherein after at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads is performed, the focus position is adjusted, and then the light emission start position is adjusted.
The method for adjusting an image recording apparatus according to any one of claims 4 to 16. 19. The method according to claim 14, wherein after at least one of the parallelism adjustment and the shift adjustment between the exposure heads is performed, the focus position is adjusted, and then the light emission start time is adjusted. The method for adjusting an image recording apparatus according to any one of the above. 20. A test pattern is exposed to a halogenated photographic light-sensitive material by the exposure head, and a light emission amount of a light-emitting portion of the exposure head is corrected based on an image obtained by developing the halogenated photographic light-sensitive material. 20. The method for adjusting an image recording apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the adjustment is performed.