It included marketing, market research, film research and development, film manufacturing, camera design, photofinishing equipment design, photofinishing services, finance, system integration and industrial engineering. Within months, the next major step was taken. Canon, Fuji, Minolta and Nikon signed a joint development agreement to work with Kodak to develop specifications for a new photo system. The entire back surface of the film base would be coated with a virtually transparent magnetic layer which can be used to store the camera data for later use by the photofinisher. The Advanced Photo System was officially and jointly launched by the System Developing Companies in April 1996.
Information is recorded initially on a magnetic layer as the consumer is taking pictures.
In general, the magnetic tracks located adjacent to frames are used to record information which pertains to that frame. For example, the date and time the picture is taken. Information recorded on the leader pertains to all of the exposures on the roll. An example of this information might be the serial number of the camera. The pioneering new development of the Advanced Photo System is the fact that the film not only serves as an optical recording medium but also stores additional data for the processor on its magnetic coating.