Patent ID: 6985673

Claim:
An unattended automated film processing kiosk at which a customer can deposit a photographic film unit exposed with images and can later pick up finished processed photographic prints of said images by presenting an identification and form of payment, with the film processing and printing taking place without requiring presence of the customer; said kiosk comprising an enclosure having a film drop-off portion at which the customer inserts said film unit for automated processing and a prints pick-up portion at which the finished prints can be picked up when processing thereof is completed; said enclosure defining an interior; said drop-off portion including drop-off customer identification entry means and film-unit accepting means permitting the customer to insert said exposed film unit; mini-lab processing means within the interior of said enclosure for automatically processing said film unit and extracting images from said film unit; printing means within the interior of said enclosure for producing photographic prints of the customer's images based on the images extracted from the customer's film unit; print packaging means within the interior of said enclosure for automatically packaging and labeling the photographic prints for each said customer film unit; storage carousel means within said enclosure and having a plurality of storage chambers for storing the packaged prints for the customer until picked up; said prints pick-up portion of said kiosk enclosure having a pick-up customer identification entry means and a delivery bin for presenting the packaged finished prints to the customer; the kiosk also comprising a carousel unload mechanism for identifying the chamber of the storage carousel means which holds the customer's packaged finished prints and for automatically transferring said packaged finished prints from such chamber to the delivery bin; and computer control means linking said drop-off customer identification means, said pick-up customer identification means, said mini-lab processing means, said printing means, said storage carousel means; and said carousel unload mechanism.