Film searching apparatus

Claim 2

A film searching apparatus for searching desired information from a film which is provided with many kinds of information and search marks thereon, a search mark being provided for at least one of a series of associated information groups on the film comprising: feed means for transporting the film; light source means for irradiating said search mark; mark detection means for receiving a flux of light projected on the search mark to generate a detection signal; pulse generating means operated in cooperation with said feed means for gEnerating a pulse signal in response to the feed of film; gate means for receiving said detection signal and said pulse signal and selectively passing either one of said signals; counter means for counting signals passed through said gate means and generating a control signal upon a count of a predetermined value; gate control means responsive to said control signal for controlling the selection of the signal to be passed through said gate means; and transport control means for controlling the film feed of said feed means in response to said control signal.

Claim 3

A film searching apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said gate means comprises a plurality of gate circuits, and said gate control means comprises flip-flop circuits, said flip-flop circuits opening and closing each of the gate circuits so that said counter means may count pulse signals when a predetermined number of detection signals is counted.

Claim 4

A film searching apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said feed means comprises a drive motor and a film feed roller connected to said drive motor, and said transport control means comprises AND gate circuits, said AND gate circuits being arranged in such a way that a first signal is produced when said counter means counts a predetermined number of detection signals to deenergize said drive motor while rotating said feed roller, a second signal is produced when said counter means counts predetermined pulse signals after the first signal has been generated to stop feeding the film and to transport the film in a reverse direction, and a third signal is produced when said counter means counts the same number of pulse signals as the number of the first-mentioned pulse signals after the film has been reversed.

Claim 5

A film searching apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for changing over the searching of film provided with search marks to the searching of film not provided with a search mark.

Claim 6

A film searching apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that said change-over means comprises a first gate circuit for receiving a pulse signal, a second gate circuit for receiving a mark detection signal and a switch for selectively opening and closing said first and second gate circuits, the searching by search marks and the searching by the length of film feed being changed over by said switch.

Claim 7

A film searching apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising cut-off means for cutting off a detection signal from said mark detection means until the first search mark placed on the film reaches said mark detection means.

Claim 8

A film searching apparatus according to claim 1 characterized in that said signal cut-off means comprises a gate circuit for receiving a detection signal, a counter for counting pulse signals from said pulse generating means, and flip-flop circuits for opening said gate circuit when the counted valve in the counter reaches a predetermined value.

Claim 9

A film searching apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said feed means comprises a drive motor and a film feed roller connected to said drive motor, and said transport control means comprises AND gate circuits, said AND gate circuits being arranged in such a way that a first signal is produced when said counter means counts a predetermined number of detection signals to deenergize said drive motor while rotating said feed roller, a second signal is produced when said counter means counts predetermined pulse signals after the first signal has been generated to stop feeding the film and to transport the film in a reverse direction, and a third signal is produced to stop the reverse feed of film when the difference between the number of pulse signals corresponding to the length of film fed until the second signal is produced and the number of pulse signals counted after the reverse feed of film becomes less than the number of pulse signals counted when the film is fed by one frame.

Claim 10

A film reader for searching a desired photo-image from a film which is provided with many kinds of image and search marks thereon, a search mark being provided for at least one of a series of associated image groups on the film comprising: film feed means for transporting the film; mark detection means for detecting said search mark when the film is transported; pulse generating means operated in cooperation with the film feed for generating a pulse signal; signal selecting means for selectively passing either the mark signal from said mark detection means or the pulse signal from said pulse generating means; counter means for counting the signals passed through said signal selecting means and generating a control signal upon the count of a predetermined value; control means responsive to said control signal for controlling the selection of the signal to be passed through said signal selecting means; and transport control means for controlling the film feed of said film feed means responsive to said control signal wherein said transport control means decelerate the speed of the film feed to overrun the film when said counter means counts the mark signal corresponding to a desired photo-image group, and the film length overrun from a desired search mark counting position being counted with the pulse signal by said counter means, and the film being reversely transported upon the count of a predetermined count value of said counter means, and the reverse transportation of the film being stopped when the number of the pulse signals corresponding to the overrun film length is counted by said counter means.

Claim 11

A film reader for searching a desired photo-image from a film which is provided with many kinds of image and search marks thereon, a search mark being provided for at least one of a series of associated image groups on the film comprising: film feed means for transporting the film; mark detection means for detecting said search mark when the film is transported; pulse generating means operated in cooperation with the film feed for generating a pulse signal; signal selecting means for selectively passing either the mark signal from said mark detection means or the pulse signal from said pulse generating means; counter means for counting the signals passed through said signal selecting means and generating a control signal upon the count of a predetermined value; control means responsive to said control signal for controlling the selection of the signal to be passed through said signal selecting means; and transport control means for controlling the film feed of said film feed means responsive to said control signal wherein said transport control means decelerate the speed of the film feed to overrun the film when said counter means counts the mark signal corresponding to a desired photo-image group, and the film length overrun from a desired search mark counting position being counted with the pulse signal by said counter means, and the film being reversely transported upon the count of a predetermined count value of said counter means, and the reverse transportation of the film being stopped when the number of the pulse signals corresponding to the overrun film length is counted by said counter means.

Claim 12

A searching film reader according to claim 9 further comprising means for projecting the image with an enlargment thereof, a screen for observing the projected image thereon, and means for printing the projected image.

Claim 13

A searching film reader according to claim 9 further comprising switching means for selecting searching modes between a retrievel for each image unit and a retrieval for an image unit, said switching means controlling said signal selecting means to selectively pass either the mark signal or the pulse signal when said switching means has selected the searching mode for the image group unit, and to pass only the pulse signal when said switching means has selected the searching mode for each image unit.