JPH06105944B2 - Microfilm retrieval / reading device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial field of application) The present invention is designed to find a target image from a storage shelf storing a large number of microfilm cartridges, read the image from an image sensor, and output it as an image signal. The present invention relates to a microfilm retrieval / reading device.

(Technical Background of the Invention) One cartridge is selected from a large number of microfilm cartridges stored in a storage shelf, a target image included in the cartridge is read by an image sensor, and this image signal is output as a digital signal. The device is considered. For example, it is considered that an image is output to a CRT, a printer, or a facsimile using this image signal, or a desired form or document is output by printing in combination with the output of another data processing device. That is, by converting the image of the microfilm into a digital signal, it becomes possible to cooperate with other digital image processing devices by utilizing the data communication network, and the usefulness of the microfilm can be enhanced.

As such a device, a rotary shelf type device has been conventionally known. This is because many cartridges are detachably mounted on the rotary drum from its outer peripheral surface in multiple stages, a desired cartridge is taken out by a take-out device that only works vertically at a certain position, and this is transferred to an image reader having an image sensor. To read the image.

However, in this case, since the heavy rotating drum rotates to take out the target cartridge, there is a problem that the time (access time) required to search for the target image becomes long and the installation area becomes large.

In addition, a large number of cartridges are stored in a fixed shelf like a bookshelf, and a carrier running in the XY direction on the front of this shelf is an arbitrary one.
It is also known to find one cartridge, carry it to an image reader fixed in place, and read the image there.

However, in this case the cartridge must be delivered twice. That is, from the shelf to the carrier and then from the carrier to the image reader. Therefore, there is a problem that the access time becomes long. There is also a problem that the system becomes large in size and cannot be dealt with when a small system is required.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and it is possible to shorten the access time, reduce the installation area,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a microfilm retrieval / reading device that can easily adapt to changes in system scale.

(Construction of the Invention) According to the present invention, an object of the present invention is to select a cartridge containing a target image from a storage rack storing a large number of microfilm cartridges, read the target image with an image sensor, and output an image signal. In the search / reading device, a vertically long storage rack for stacking and storing a group of cartridges in a vertical direction, a scanner installed with a film traveling drive device and an image radar and arranged below the group of cartridges, and a target cartridge Carrier means for extracting and guiding to the scanner, return means for returning this cartridge while pushing up a group of cartridges from the bottom of the storage shelf after reading the target image by the scanner, memory means for storing the cartridge storage position, and said carrier means. A scanner and a control means for controlling the return means are provided. Achieved by a featured microfilm retrieval and reading device.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a system using an embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a state where the scanner cartridge is not stored, FIG. 3 is a view showing a state where the cartridge is loaded in the scanner, FIG. 4 is a conceptual view of a system using this device, and FIG. It is a conceptual diagram at the time of developing into a large scale system.

In FIGS. 1, 4 and 5, reference numeral 10 is a prismatic case, and a cartridge storage shelf 12 (FIGS. 1 and 5) is assembled in the case 10 toward one side. A large number of cartridges 14 are stored in this storage rack in a vertically stacked manner. Microfilm in the cartridge 14
A reel 15 around which 16 (see FIG. 3) is wound is stored.

The storage rack 12 includes carrier means formed by a pair of left and right guide rails 18, 18 and a pushing means 20 for pushing any one cartridge 14 onto the guide rails 18. That is, when the cartridge 14 in the storage rack 12 is pushed out in the horizontal direction, the guide rail 18 is inserted with the guide pin 22 (FIGS. 1 and 2) projecting from the side surface of the cartridge 14, and the cartridge 14 is vertically oriented. While rotating, it guides downward and guides it to the scanner 30 described later. The pushing means 20 for pushing the cartridge 14 in the horizontal direction is formed by a large number of electromagnetic plungers facing the back surface of each cartridge 14 as shown in FIG. 1, for example, and when any one of the plungers is excited and protrudes, it faces it. Cartridge 14 is guide rail 18
Configured to be extruded into.

In FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, 30 is a scanner. The scanner 30 is located below the guide rail 18. That is, the scanner 30 is arranged between a traveling drive device 32 for accommodating a film traveling motor and the like, an entry space 34 for accommodating the cartridge 14 guided by the guide rail 18, a take-up reel 36, and both of them. Image reader 38.

The image reader 38 includes a sealed reader unit 40 and an EL plate 42 as a light source. The EL plate 42 can be pressed and separated from the film 16 and is controlled by an electromagnetic plunger (not shown) or the like. The reader unit 40 holds the film 16 in between.
A glass 44 facing the EL plate 42, a projection lens 46 and an image sensor 48 housed in a sealed case are provided. Here, the lens 46 is moved in the optical axis direction by a motor, a piezoelectric element, or the like so that focusing can be performed.

Reference numeral 50 is a returning means for returning the cartridge 14 in the entry space 34 to the lowermost part of the storage shelf 12 after the target image is read by the scanner 30. The returning means 50 is provided with a pantograph-type lift 52 as shown in FIG.
The motor 52 can be moved up and down by a motor 54. Scanner 30
When the reading is completed, the cartridge 14 in the entry space 34 is placed on the lifter 52 in a horizontally tilted state and lifted.
Raised by 52. Therefore, this cartridge 14
The entire group of cartridges 14 in the storage rack 12 is pushed up and returned to the bottom. The cartridge 14 returned to the lowermost portion is locked by a stopper 56 (FIG. 1), and in this state, the guide pins 22 of the group of cartridges 14 are held at a position facing the entrance of the guide rail 18. .

Therefore, now, when the target cartridge 14 is pushed out to the electromagnetic plunger 20 and enters the guide rail 18, and is guided by the guide rail 18 and enters the entry space 34, the film running device 32 rotates the reels 15 and 36 to rotate the film 16. Run. At this time, the EL plate 42 is separated from the film 16. When the target image comes, the EL plate 42 presses the film 16 against the glass plate 44. The EL plate 42 serves as a surface light source, and the projected image of the film 16 is guided to the image sensor 48 through the glass plate 44 and the lens 46. The image sensor 48 scans an image and outputs a time-series image signal a (see FIG. 1). This signal a is binarized by the image processing circuit 60 to be a digital signal, and the control means
Entered in 100. Here, the image sensor 48 is preferably a two-dimensional area sensor, but the one-dimensional line sensor may be moved in the direction orthogonal to the length direction (sub scanning direction) to read the image.

The control means 100 is formed by a small computer, and as shown in FIG. 1, a CPU 102, input / output interfaces 104, 10
6. A RAM 108 for storing a control program, a RAM 110 for storing data during control, for example, data for performing autofocus, and the like. Reference numeral 112 denotes a memory means, which is composed of a storage medium such as an optical disk, a magnetic disk, a magnetic tape, or a semiconductor memory, and stores data such as the storage address of the cartridge 14 in the storage shelf 12. These control means 100 and memory means 112 are housed in a cabinet 114 in FIG.

Data such as contents of each cartridge 14 and storage addresses are input to the CPU 102 from the keyboard 116 and stored in the memory means 112. When searching for a target image, the code of the target image or the like is input from the keyboard 116, for example. The CPU 102 searches the memory means 112 for the cartridge 14 containing the target image, and operates the pushing means (electromagnetic plunger) 20 corresponding to the cartridge 14 to activate the cartridge 14.
Is extruded onto the guide rail 18. The ejected cartridge 14 is guided by the guide rail 18 and descends, and the scanner 30
Enter the entrance space 34 inside. The CPU 102 rotates the reels 15 and 36 by the traveling drive device 32 in the scanner 30 so that the target image is EL
It is controlled so as to enter between the plate 42 and the glass plate 44. The target image can be recognized by reading a blip mark (not shown) previously recorded on the microfilm 16 with another optical sensor (not shown).

When the target image comes in front of the glass plate 44, the CPU 102 presses the EL plate 42 against the film 16 to emit light. The projected image of the target image is guided to the image sensor 48. The image signal a of the image sensor 48 is subjected to various kinds of processing such as variation correction of characteristics of each light receiving element, shading correction, and waveform shaping in the signal processing circuit 60, further binarized, and then inputted to the CPU 102.
In addition, this circuit 60
For example, a predetermined spatial frequency component of the image signal a is selected by a bandpass filter, and the absolute value of this component is integrated to obtain a contrast signal. The CPU 102 controls the lens 46 at a position where this contrast signal becomes maximum. Needless to say, another element dedicated to autofocus, for example, a phase detection type element may be separately prepared to perform autofocus.

When the reading of the image is completed, the cartridge 14 is rotated counterclockwise as shown by the arrow in FIG. The CPU 102 operates the motor 54 to raise the lift 52. Therefore, the cartridge 14 is returned to the bottom of the storage shelf 12 while pushing the stopper 56 open, and at this time, the storage shelf 12
Each of the existing cartridges 14 are slid upward one step at a time. The new storage address at this time is input from the CPU 102 to the memory means 112 and stored. Then, it stands by for the next operation.

According to this embodiment, the cartridge 14 is guided to the scanner 30 by the guide rail 18, and after the image is read, the cartridge 14 is read.
Since 14 is pushed up and returned to the bottom of the storage rack 12 from below, the time required to move the cartridge to the image reader can be shortened as compared with the conventional device.

In this embodiment, if the cartridges to enter the scanner 30 are sequentially made to stand by in the guide rails 18 or the like in advance (see FIG. 2), the cartridges 14 are transferred from the storage rack 12 to the scanner 30.
Can be further shortened, and the access time can be further shortened.

When the image is read in this way, the CPU 102 outputs this data to various types of image processing devices. For example, this image
Output to CRT118 or printer 120, optical disk device 1
It may be stored in other external memory means such as 22. Also
It is also possible to use a data communication network 124 such as a LAN (local area network) to output to a facsimile 126 (see FIG. 4) or a CRT in a remote place. The CPU 102 can also read data from an external image processing device using the data communication network 124 and use the external image data in this system.

The smallest version of this system is completed by combining one case 10 with a workstation as shown in FIG. That is, the keyboard 116, the CRT 118,
The printer 120 and a cabinet 114 for accommodating the control means 100 and the memory means 112 (see FIG. 1) can be used.

In the above embodiment, the case 10 is controlled by the control means 100.
I explained it as done in. However, the control means 100A (Fig. 1,
A virtual line (see virtual line) may be provided, and the control means 100A may control the motor 40, the scanner 30 and the like in the case 10 or perform image signal processing independently for each case. That is, the control means 100 obtains the location (film number, image address, etc.) of the target cartridge 14 and the target image from the data of the memory means 112, and sends this information (address information) to the control means 100A in the case 10. The control means 100A on the case side moves the scanner 30 up and down based on this address information, selects the target cartridge 14, searches for the target image from this cartridge 14, reads the image, and further performs signal processing on this to perform binary processing. Control means 100
Send to.

As described above, when the control means 100A for independently controlling each case 10 is provided on the side of each case 10 and each case 10 is operated independently, when the case 10 is expanded and scaled up, It is easy to deal with.

When increasing the scale of this system, as shown in Fig. 5, for example, a stack that combines eight cases 10 into one stack.
S1 to Sn may be installed so as to be movable on a plurality of rails 132 and connected to a large number of workstations.

As described above, this device can be easily made large in scale by collecting a large number of cases 10 as one unit. In this case, if the cases 10 are controlled in parallel at the same time, the access time becomes shorter. For example, in one case 10, while the scanner 30 is reading an image from one cartridge, in the other case 10, the scanner 30 moves up and down to prepare for searching for and reading a target image, thereby shortening the access time. .

Further, by connecting the cases 10 dispersedly arranged in different places to each other by the data communication network 124, the cases can be freely used and the microfilm can be used in common.

In the above embodiment, the case 10 has a substantially rectangular shape in a plan view, so that the case 10 can be properly stored in the wall or pillar of the room, and the space near the ceiling can be effectively used.

Further, in this embodiment, the entire storage shelves 12 are managed as one group, but the present invention also includes one in which the inside of this storage shelf is divided into two or more groups and each group is managed in the same manner as in the above-mentioned embodiments. To do.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, the target cartridge is extracted from the vertically stacked storage shelves and guided to the scanner, where the image is read, and then the cartridge is placed at the bottom of the group of cartridges in the storage shelves. Therefore, the access time required to read the target image can be shortened. Further, since the unit of one case can be made smaller than that of the conventional device, the installation area becomes smaller, and by appropriately increasing or decreasing the case, it is possible to easily cope with a change in system scale.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a system using an embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a state where the scanner cartridge is not stored, FIG. 3 is a view showing a state where the cartridge is loaded in the scanner, FIG. 4 is a conceptual view of a system using this device, and FIG. It is a conceptual diagram at the time of developing into a large scale system. 10 …… Case, 12 …… Storage rack, 14 …… Cartridge, 18 …… Guide rail, 30 …… Scanner, 32 …… Travel drive 34 …… Entry space, 36 …… Take-up reel, 38 …… Image Reader, 50 ... Returning means, 100 ... Control means, 112 ... Memory means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A microfilm retrieval / reading apparatus for selecting a cartridge containing a target image from a storage rack containing a large number of microfilm cartridges, reading the target image with an image sensor and outputting an image signal. A vertically long storage rack for stacking and storing the above in a vertical direction, a scanner installed under a group of cartridges that incorporates a film traveling drive device and an image reader, and carrier means for extracting a target cartridge and guiding it to the scanner, After reading the target image with the scanner, returning means for returning the cartridge while pushing up a group of cartridges from the bottom of the storage shelf, memory means for storing the cartridge storage position, control means for controlling the carrier means, the scanner and the returning means. And a microfilm inspection characterized in that Searching / reading device.