Printed body, element provided on printed body, printer, and computer system

• US 7,540,603 B2
• Filed: 11/21/2002
• Issued: 06/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Otsuki, Koichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah; Manish S
• Application Number:
  US10/415,932
• Publication Number:
  US 20040239744A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,385 Days
• Field of Search: 347/101, 347/105.5, 347/16, 347/19, 347/9, 347/100, 347/96, 347/95, 347/14, 425/32.1, 425/195, 428/195, 428/32.1, 235/492, 235/487, 235/494, 235/495, 355/40, 358/1.15, 348/552
• US Class Current: 347/105
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 11/009 Detecting type of paper, e.g. by automatic reading of a code that is printed on a paper package or on a paper roll or by sensing the grade of translucency of the paper
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 3/44 Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms having dual functions or combined with, or coupled to, apparatus performing other functions

Abstract

A printing medium with which various kinds of information relating to the printing medium can be held on the printing medium itself, an element provided in or on that printing medium, a printing apparatus for printing on that printing medium, and a computer system having such a printing apparatus and a computer main unit connected to that printing apparatus are realized. The printing medium has an element on which information can be written by the printing apparatus.

Claims

1. A printing paper that is printed on without being cut by a printing apparatus, wherein:

a thickness of said printing paper is at least 0.5 mm;

an element for storing information about said printing paper is provided;

information for specifying a printing apparatus that has printed onto said printing paper, information for specifying a digital camera that has been used in a case of recording image data that are printed onto said printing paper, information for specifying a date on which printing was performed on said printing paper, and image data that are printed onto said printing paper are written into said element; and

the written image data are read by a printing apparatus provided with an image data reader of a noncontact type and into that printing apparatus.

2. A printing paper that is printed on without being cut by a printing apparatus, wherein:

an element for storing information about said printing paper is provided;

said element is provided in or on a section of said printing paper that is at the front of the printing paper when the printing paper is being inserted into said printing apparatus;

a thickness of said printing paper is at least 0.5 mm;

information for specifying a type of said printing paper, information for specifying a thickness of said printing paper, information for specifying a width of said printing paper, information for specifying a date of manufacture of said printing paper, and information that is referred to when performing a color conversion in accordance with said printing paper are stored in said element; and

the information stored in said element is read into said printing apparatus with a reader of a noncontact type provided on that printing apparatus.

3. A printing paper comprising:

a printing paper main body onto which printing is performed by a printing apparatus based on image data generated with an image-capturing device; and

an element attached to said printing paper main body, into which information is electrically written by said printing apparatus,

wherein information for identifying an image-capturing condition used when the image data were generated by said image-capturing device is written by said printing apparatus into said element.

4. A printing paper according to claim 3, wherein said image-capturing device is a digital camera.

5. A printing paper according to claim 3, wherein information for specifying a date when the image data have been generated by said image-capturing device is written by said printing apparatus into said element as said image-capturing condition.

6. A printing paper according to claim 3, wherein information for specifying a model of a digital camera serving as said image-capturing device is written by said printing apparatus into said element as said image-capturing condition.

7. A printing paper according to claim 3, wherein information for specifying a shutter speed during picture taking of a digital camera serving as said image-capturing device is written by said printing apparatus into said element as said image-capturing condition.

8. A printing paper according to claim 3, wherein information for specifying an aperture value during picture taking of a digital camera serving as said image-capturing device is written by said printing apparatus into said element as said image-capturing condition.

9. A printing paper according to claim 3, wherein information for specifying an ISO sensitivity equivalent of a digital camera serving as said image-capturing device is written by said printing apparatus into said element as said image-capturing condition.

10. A printing paper according to claim 3, wherein information for specifying whether a flash has been used or not when taking a picture with a digital camera serving as said image-capturing device is written by said printing apparatus into said element as said image-capturing condition.

11. A printing paper according to claim 3, wherein the image data printed on said printing paper are written into said element.

12. A printing paper according to claim 3, wherein said image-capturing condition used when the image data were generated with said image-capturing device is written by said printing apparatus into said element in a noncontact state.

13. A printing paper according to claim 3, wherein a thickness of the printing paper is at least 0.5 mm.

14. A printing paper according to claim 3, wherein said printing paper is printed on without being cut by said printing apparatus.

15. A printing paper according to claim 3, wherein printing is performed on the entire surface of the printing paper by said printing apparatus based on the image data that have been generated with said image-capturing device.

16. A printing paper comprising an element into which information can be written and that is printed on by a printing apparatus based on image data generated with a digital camera, wherein:

information for specifying a date when the image data have been generated by said digital camera as well as the image data are written by said printing apparatus into said element in a noncontact state;

a thickness of the printing paper is at least 0.5 mm; and

the entire surface of the printing paper is printed on by said printing apparatus based on the image data that have been generated by said image-capturing device, without the printing paper being cut by said printing apparatus.

17. A printing paper comprising:

a printing paper main body onto which printing is performed; and

an element attached to said printing paper main body, into which information is electrically written and that is printed on by a printing apparatus,

wherein output control information for controlling an output state of an image data in said printing apparatus is written by said printing apparatus into said element,

wherein said printing apparatus reads said output control information from an image file in which the image data are stored, and writes the read output control information into said element, and

wherein said image file is an image file that has been generated with a digital camera.

18. A printing paper according to claim 17, wherein said output control information is data for controlling image processing with said printing apparatus by specifying gamma value, color space, contrast, color balance, sharpness, color correction, and accent color.

19. A printing paper according claim 17, wherein said output control information is data for controlling image output processing with said printing apparatus by specifying print media, resolution, and operative direction of a print head.

20. A method of printing an image, the method comprising:

reading first image information from a first image, the first image information having been previously stored in a memory element of the first image during a printing process of the first image;

formatting a printing device in accordance with the first image information;

printing a second image in accordance with the first image information, the second image being substantially identical to the first image,

wherein the first image information comprises at least on of;

a date at which the image data were generated,

a model of the digital camera,

a shutter speed used when the image was taken,

an aperture value used when taking the image,

an ISO sensitivity equivalent of the digital camera,

whether a flash was used when taking the image, and

the image data, and

reading printing paper attribute information from a storage paper attached to the printing paper on which the second paper is printed;

formatting a printing device in accordance with the read printing paper attribute information,

wherein the printing paper attribute information includes at least one of;

a printing paper type,

a printing paper thickness,

a printing paper width,

a printing paper manufacturing date, and

a printing paper look up table (LUT).