Photographic display and apparatus for making elemental prints of the same

A picture display representing an enlarged image is divided into print portions arranged in predetermined fashion on a display panel to display a complete enlarged picture. A printing apparatus for making the print portions from a single frame of an original film has a printing stage movable in two mutually perpendicular directions sequentially place in printing position each of a plurality of divisions into which the single image of the original film is nominally divided, in order to make enlarged print portions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a photographic picture display and to an 
apparatus for making elemental prints of the photographic picture display. 
For displaying large photographic pictures on, for example, a wall, an 
enlarged print may be mounted on a frame or attached to a display panel. 
Large photographic paper has been used to make large prints. 
Printing costs for such large pictures made on large size photographic 
paper from a standard format of original film such as negative films, 
positive films or the like, increase with printing size or magnification 
ratio. Another problem is the magnification range of such large prints, 
which depends on the sizes of photographic papers now commercially 
available. 
Meanwhile, to make large prints, expensive large format enlargers or 
printers are needed. Printing costs for large prints made by such large 
format enlargers or printers also increase with printing size or 
magnification ratio. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to 
provide low cost large picture displays. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a photographic 
apparatus which can make low cost large picture displays. 
The above and other objects are accomplished by providing a large picture 
display which comprises a display panel and a number of partial prints 
arranged together so as to constitute a single picture on the display 
panel. Such partial prints are enlarged and printed by an enlarger or 
printer on regular size photographic paper from an image frame of an 
original film which is nominally divided into a number of parts. These 
partial prints are mutually separated and arranged on the display panel. 
Such an arrangement according to the present invention enables the showing 
of unconventional interests to viewers. 
For making partial prints, the printer according to the present invention 
is provided with a printing stage which is movable in two directions 
perpendicular to each other so as to place into printing position smaller 
portions of an original film into which the image frame of the original 
film is nominally divided. The printing stage comprises a table movable in 
one direction and a film holder holding the original film and supported on 
the stage for movement in another, perpendicular direction. By moving the 
film holder and the stage perpendicularly to each other, the original may 
be moved so as to place any portion of an image frame of the original in 
the printing position. The printing stage may be either automatically 
sequentially controlled to move by a controller or manually moved 
according to patterns of the portions. 
According to a feature of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, 
the enlarged print portions include overlapped marginal image areas in 
common with respective adjacent partial prints. Because of the overlapped 
marginal image area, the partial prints arranged with separation as a 
single picture can be viewed without the feeling of visual disorder.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring now to FIGS. 1A and 1B showing a photographic picture display 1 
according to the present invention, a plurality (nine, in this embodiment) 
of smaller picture print portions 4a-1 to 4a-9 are arranged in a matrix on 
a display panel 2 so as to form a single complete picture. These smaller 
prints 4a-1 to 4a-9 are separated by a distance L1 in columns and by a 
distance L2 in rows, so as to display a single complete picture without a 
feeling of visual disorder. 
The display panel 2 may be made of various materials such as plastic plate, 
aluminum plate, cardboard, or the like. For a clear display, the display 
panel 2 may be either white or suitably colored when the print portions 
4a-1 to 4a-9 are made by using photographic paper. Alternatively, when 
making the print portions 4a-1 to 4a-9 by using a transparent material 
coated with an emulsion layer, the display panel 2 may be made suitably of 
a transparent plate. In this case, the picture display 1 maybe illuminated 
from the back by the use of a lamp. 
Each print portion 4a-1 to 4a-9 is provided by making a regular size, 
namely E-size (82.times.114 mm) enlarged print from each of a 
corresponding plurality of small portions 6a-1 to 6a-9 into which an image 
frame 6 of a negative film (shown in FIG. 1B) is nominally divided. 
FIG. 2 shows a printer according to the present invention, by which the 
enlarged print portion 4a-1 to 4a-9 are made. As shown, there are three 
complementary color filters 13, 14 and 15, namely cyan, magenta and 
yellow, controlled by a filter controller 17. Each color filter 13, 14, 15 
may be inserted independently of the other two between an illumination 
lamp 12 for emitting white printing light and a mirror box 16 which 
comprises a square hollow tube having inner mirrored walls and top and 
bottom diffusion plates. The white light from the lamp 12 passes through 
appropriate ones of the color filter, 13, 14, and 15 into the mirror box 
16 and is sufficiently diffused thereby. 
After passing through a color negative film 21 (including the image frame 6 
shown in FIG. 1B) which is placed on a printing stage 8 disposed on a 
printing optical axis 10, the diffused light is focused on a photographic 
paper 66. The printing stage 8 comprises a film holder 22 having an 
exposure opening 24 and a slidable table 30 having an exposure opening 33. 
As will be described in detail later, the table 30 is movably supported by 
a fixed frame 38 (see FIG. 4) of the printer. The film holder 22 and 
slidable table 30 are moved in directions perpendicular to each other by 
pulse motors 28 and 37 controllably driven by respective drivers 77 and 
78. When positioned at their initial positions, namely one extremity of 
their movable range, positions of the holder 22 and table 30 can be 
detected by photosensors 42 and 43, respectively. 
Off the upper left of a masking frame 45 (as viewed in FIG. 2) there is a 
scanner 60 comprising a lens 61 and an image area sensor 62 to measure the 
entire area of an image frame of the negative film 21 to detect light 
intensities of a large number of picture elements into which the image 
frame is nominally divided. The light intensity for each picture element 
is transmitted to an image characteristic value detecting section 63 to 
provide an image characteristic value such as a large area transmittance 
density (LATD), a maximum density, a minimum density, a mean density for 
specified picture elements, or the like, for each color. The 
characteristic value in turn is sent to a controller 64 mainly comprising 
a micro-computer as is well known in the art. 
An enlarging lens, preferably a zoom lens 65, is disposed above the 
printing stage 8 and is disposed in the optical path 10 of the 
illumination light. The lens 65 is moved by a motor 69 through a gear 
train 69 to change its focal length. Between the zoom lens 65 and a 
photographic paper 66 there is a shutter 60 controlled by a shutter driver 
67 which opens the shutter for a certain time to create a latent image of 
the image frame of the negative film 21 on the photographic paper 66. 
The photographic paper 66, in the form of a roll 71, is withdrawn by means 
of a pair of feeding rollers 74 and 75 driven by a pulse motor 73, and is 
placed in an exposure station formed by an exposure masking frame 70 
defining an exposure aperture 70a for an E size print therein. Adjacent to 
the exposure masking frame 70, there is a cutter 76 for cutting off an 
exposed part of the photographic paper 66 after a predetermined number of 
exposures. The cut exposed part of photographic paper then is transported 
into a well known processor (not shown) and subjected to developing, 
bleaching-fixing and rinsing. 
The pulse motors 28, 37, 69 and 73 are controlled in direction and amount 
of rotation by the controller 64 through the respective drivers 77 to 80. 
The filter controller 17 and the shutter driver 67 also are controlled by 
the controller 64. 
An instruction entering device 81 is connected to the controller 64, and 
includes an operating mode selection key 82 for selecting an automatic 
printing operation or a manual printing operation, a division pattern 
selection key 83 for selecting one of various division patterns which have 
been previously prepared, a printing key 84, overlapping ratio setting 
keys 85, and a power switch 86. There are ten overlapping ratio setting 
keys 85 for entering a desired percentage overlapping ratio. Connected to 
the controller 64 is a memory 90 which stores data on sequential control 
programs of operation for the printing stage, an automatic printing 
operation, division patterns and others. 
FIGS. 3 through 6 show in detail the printing stage 8. The film holder 22 
is formed with a wide groove 23 into which the negative film 21 fits and a 
rectangular or square opening 24 at the middle of the wide groove 23. On 
one side of the film holder 22 there are brackets 22a and 22b which 
support a pivot shaft 29 swingably mounting the masking frame 45 through 
brackets 46a and 46b. A glass plate 52 is attached to the back of the 
masking frame 45 to keep the negative film 21 flat in the groove 23 of the 
film holder 22. 
Mounting members 26 and 27 are fixed to the back of the film holder for 
slidably mounting the film holder 22 on the slidable table 30 by means of 
guide rails 31 and 32 fixed to and extending over the slidable stage 30. 
The guide rails 31 and 32 enable the film holder 22 to move back and forth 
in one direction (which hereinafter will be eeferred to as the Y 
direction). A feed screw 25 is provided between the film holder 22 and the 
pulse motor 28 and is mounted on the slidable table 30 to enable the film 
holder 22 to move back and forth in the Y direction. Specifically, the 
feed screw 25 is threadedly engaged at one end by the mounting member 27 
and has at its opposite end a pulley 28c. Between the pulley 28c and a 
pulley 28a attached to an output shaft of the pulse motor 28 a driving 
belt 28b is stretched to operably couple the pulse motor 28 to the feed 
screw 25, so that the film holder 22 is moved in the Y direction through 
rotation of the pulse motor 28. 
As is clearly seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, on the back of the slidable table 30 
there are provided mounting members 34 and 35 slidably mounted on guide 
rails 40 and 41 extending in the direction perpendicular to the Y 
direction (which hereinafter will be referred to as the X direction). As 
shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, these guide rails 40 and 41 are supported on a 
base plate 38 of the printer on which the pulse motor 37 is mounted. The 
pulse motor 37 has a pulley 37a fixed to an output shaft thereof. A 
driving belt 37b is stretched between the pulley 37a of the motor 37 and a 
pulley 37c at the end of a feed screw 36 threadedly engaged with the 
slidable table 30, so that the slidable table 30 is operably coupled to 
the motor 37 for back and forth movement along the X direction. 
At one end of guide rails 32 and 40 there are respective photosensors 42 
and 43 which detect light opaque members 42a and 43a attached to the top 
ends of the film holder 22 and the slidable table 30, respectively. 
Because of the mobility of the printing stage 8 the perpendicular X and Y 
directions, any division 6a-1 to 6a-9 of the image frame 6 of the negative 
film 21 can be placed in the optical path 10. 
FIGS. 7 and 8 show an operation of the printer of the present invention 
when making nine (9) print portions 4a-1 to 4a-9 without overlapped 
marginal area, the print portions being arranged in a 3.times.3 matrix on 
the display panel 2 to display an enlarged single picture. First, the 
power switch 86 is turned on and the image frame 6 of the negative film 21 
is placed in the wide groove 23 of the film holder 22 over the opening 24. 
Then the negative film 21 is held down by the masking frame 45 so as to be 
kept flat in the wide groove 23 of the film holder 22. The operation mode 
selection key 82 is operated to select an automatic operation mode. The 
division pattern selection key 83 then is operated to select a 3.times.3 
matrix pattern and the overlapping ratio setting key 85 is operated to set 
the overlapping ratio to zero in percent. As a result,according to the 
entered division pattern and overlapping ratio instructions, the 
controller 64 selectively retrieves from the memory 90 a sequential 
control program by which the printing stage is sequentially moved. 
When operating the printing key 84, as the first sequential operation, the 
controller 64 controls the driver 79 to cause the pulse motor 69 to rotate 
to vary the focal length of the zoom lens 65 in order to fix a desired 
magnification to make E size prints. 
The controller 64 then instruct the drivers 77 and 78 to rotate the pulse 
motors 28 and 37, moving the film holder 22 in the X direction to its left 
extremity as viewed in FIG. 5 and the slidable table 30 in the Y direction 
to its upper side extremity as viewed in FIG. 5. As a result, the 
photosensors 42 and 43 are interrupted by the light opaque members 42a and 
43a, respectively, and provide stop signals which in turn are sent to the 
controller 64. Consequently, the controller 64 stops the pulse motors 28 
and 37 and thus locates the film holder 22 and the slidable table 30 at 
their respective extreme (initial) positions. 
Next, the controller 64 reverses the pulse motors 28 and 37 to move back to 
film holder 22 and the slidable table 30 and align the centers of the 
openings 24 and 33 of the film holder 22 and the slidable table 30, 
particularly the center of the image frame 6 of the negative film 21, with 
the optical axis 10. The position where the film holder 22 and the 
slidable table 30 place the center of an image frame 6 of the negative 
film 21 in the optical axis 10 is referred to as a center position. To 
move the film holder 22 and the slidable table 30 to their center 
positions from their initial positions, the film holder 22 is moved by one 
third of the length of the image frame 6 of the negative film 21; the 
slidable table 30 is moved by one third of the width of the image frame of 
the negative film 21. 
After the negative film 21 is in the center position, the negative film 21 
is measured by a scanner 60 to detect red, green, and blue transmittance 
densities. Based on the detected transmittance densities, the image 
characteristic value detecting section 63 detects characteristic values 
for the three colors, which in turn are sent to the controller 64 in order 
to determine positions of the color filters 13 to 15 in the optical path 
10 and shutter speed of the shutter 68 for proper exposure. 
Following the determination of exposures, the controller 64 sequentially 
controls the pulse motors 28 and 37 to move the film holder 22 and the 
slidable table 30, respectively, to align the center of the first portion 
6a-1 of the image frame 6 of the negative frame 21 with the optical axis 
10. Specifically, the film holder 22 is moved in the Y direction by one 
third of the width of the image frame 6 of the negative frame 21 and the 
slidable table 30 is moved in the X direction by one third of the length 
of the image frame 6 of the negative frame 21. Then, the controller 64 
actuates the filter controller 17 to place the color filters at their 
proper positions while the shutter 68 is operated at the determined 
shutter speed by the shutter driver 67, thereby forming an enlarged latent 
image 4a-1 of the first portion 6a-1 of the image frame 6 of the negative 
frame 21 on the photographic paper 66 in three color sequential exposure, 
as is well known in the art. 
After the exposure of the first portion 6a-1, the controller 64 controls 
the driver 80 to rotate the pulse motor 73 in order to withdraw the 
photographic paper 66, placing an unexposed part of the photographic paper 
66 in the exposure station defined by the exposure masking frame 70. 
Thereafter, the controller 64 controls the driver 78 to rotate the pulse 
motor 37 and move back the slidable table 30 in the X direction by one 
third of the length of the image frame 6 of the negative film 21. As a 
result, the center of the second portion 6a-2 of the image frame 6 of the 
negative film 21 is aligned with the optical axis 10. The exposure for the 
second portion 6a-2 of the image frame 6 is effected in the same manner as 
for the first portion 6a-1. 
For the exposure of the third portion 6a-3 of the image frame 6, the 
photographic paper 66 again is unwound from the roll 71 and the slidable 
table 30 is moved back again by the same distance. After the exposure of 
the third portion 6a-3 of the image frame 6, the controller 64 unwinds the 
paper and controls the driver 77 to rotate the pulse motor 28 so as to 
move back the film holder 22 in the Y direction by one third of the width 
of the image frame 6 of the negative frame 21 so as to bring the center of 
the fourth division 6a-4 in alignment with the optical axis 10. For the 
fifth and sixth divisions, the slidable table 30 is moved in the X 
direction by the same distance after the exposure of the previous division 
6a-3 of the image frame 6. Thus, each division 6a is placed in the 
exposure position and then exposed under the same exposure conditions. 
After exposure of all the portions 6a-1 to 6a-9 of the image frame 6 of the 
negative film 21, the controller 64 controls the driver 77 and 78 to 
rotate the pulse motor and return the film holder 22 and the slidable 
table 30 to their center positions. Thereafter, the exposed part of the 
photographic paper 66 on which the enlarged latent images 4a-1 to 4a-9 of 
the nine portions 6a-1 to 6a-9 of the image frame 6 of the negative film 
21 have been formed is cut off by the cutter 76 and transported into a 
paper processor well known in the art to provide respective finished 
enlarged partial prints. 
FIGS. 9A to 9C show a picture display in which print portions with 
overlapped marginal areas are used. In this case, an image frame 7 of the 
negative film 21 is nominally divided into expanded portions 7a-1 to 7a-9, 
each pair of adjacent expanded divisions having common lengthwise and 
transverse marginal areas ML and MT. For example, the expanded division 
7a-2 has three overlapped marginal areas, namely lengthwise marginal areas 
ML on opposite sides thereof which are also included in laterally adjacent 
expanded divisions 7a-1 and 7a-3, and a transverse marginal area MT which 
is also included in an expanded division 7a-5 thereof. Also, the expanded 
division 7a-5 has lengthwise marginal areas ML on opposite sides thereof 
and top and bottom transverse marginal areas MT. 
Prints of these expanded divisions 7a-1 to 7a-9 of the image frame 7 of the 
negative film 21 are made in the same manner as for the prints of 
divisions 6a-1 to 6a-9. The overlapping ratio setting key 85 is operated 
to set overlapping ratios (the widths of margins ML and MT) as percentages 
as well as the division pattern selection key 83. Usually, the overlapping 
ratio of marginal areas desirably is less than about ten (10) percent of 
the width or length of an image frame, to avoid the feeling of visual 
disorder. 
In accordance with the operation of the overlapping ratio setting key 85 
and the division pattern selection key 83, the controller 64 reads out 
from the memory 90 another sequential control program, in which the film 
holder 22 and the slidable table 30 are moved stepwise by a distance 
shortened by the width ML or MT of the margins to be overlapped, and the 
zoom lens 65 is readjusted to select a focal length suitable for making 
the same E size of enlarged partial prints 9a-1 to 9a-9 from the expanded 
divisions 7a-1 to 7a-9, respectively. Following such preparatory 
operations, the printing key 84 is operated to perform a program 
controlled operation in the same manner as for the prints with no 
overlapping marginal area. 
When it is desired to print 16 partial prints from an image frame 9 of the 
negative film 21, the image frame of the negative film 21 is nominally 
divided into 16 smaller portions 9b-1 to 9b-16. The printing stage is 
moved in the numbered order indicated in FIG. 10 to divide the image frame 
9 appropriately. Actually, when the division pattern selection key 83 is 
operated to select a 4.times.4 division pattern, the controller 64 selects 
a sequential control program in which the printing stage is moved stepwise 
so as to place the portions 9b-1 to 9b-16 in the optical axis 10 in the 
sequence indicated by the numbered arrows. In this case, exposure control 
and printing operation are effected in the same manner as described above. 
It should be noted that this sequence, as well as the sequence shown in 
FIG. 8, may be changed as desired by altering the program. 
Also, it is to be noted that the printing stage 8 may be manually operated, 
if desired. In that case, the operation mode selection key 82 would be 
operated to select the manual operation mode. As a result of the selection 
of the manual operation mode, a printing stage shift key (not shown) is 
made operative to move the printing stage stepwise or linearly so as to 
place any part of the image frame 6 of the negative film 21 in the optical 
axis 10. 
The partial prints 4a-1 to 4a-9 or 9a-1 to 9a-9 made in the manner as 
described above are attached to the display panel 2 as shown in FIG. 1A 
and 9C. respectively. Alternatively, the display panel, which may or may 
not be transparent, can take various forms, as shown in FIGS. 11 to 13 by 
way of example. In FIG. 11, a display panel 110 is formed with a plurality 
of mounting recesses 115 with separations between adjacent recesses in 
which the print portions 4a-1 to 4a-9 or 9a-1 to 9a-9 are fitted. To 
prevent each print portion from falling off, it is convenient to mount the 
print portions by using tapes or other suitable adhesives. 
FIG. 12 shows another form of a display panel 120 on which a plurality of 
rails 126 having a trapezoidal cross section are arranged transversely at 
regular intervals. Between each pair of rails 126 a picture portion is 
inserted. Because side surfaces of each rail are at acute angles relative 
to the surface of the display panel 120, each print portion can be held 
between the rails 126 without falling off. Also, instead of arranging the 
rails transversely, it may be permissible to arrange them lengthwise on 
the display panel. 
FIG. 13 shows still another form of a display panel 130 to which a 
plurality of web-like transparent sheets 137 are attached by welding the 
transparent sheets 137 to the display panel 130 along several lines 137a 
spaced apart by a distance equal to the width of a print portion so as to 
form a plurality of open ended envelopes 137b. Each picture print portion 
then may be inserted into the envelope 137b through the end opening. 
Although various embodiments of the present invention have been described 
in detail, different modifications within the scope and spirit of the 
invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the 
invention should be considered to be limited only by the scope of the 
appended claims, which follow immediately.