Reproducible image and information bearing record

Abstract

A reproducible image and information bearing medium, termed herein as a photorecord, includes a visible image bearing media, such as a photographic print, negative, transparency or the like, and an attached information storage medium. The information storage medium such as a magnetic or optical stripe, is encoded with machine readable information that corresponds to the associated visual image. An original photorecord is manufactured by affixing a blank magnetic stripe to the visual image bearing medium optically reading the visual image, converting the so read optical information to an electrical signal, and recording this signal as machine readable information on the magnetic stripe. Photorecord copies of the original photorecord can be produced by reading the visually indiscernable machine readable information from the magnetic stripe from the original and (a) writing the so read information on the blank magnetic stripe of the copy and (b) controlling an optical imaging device to expose a photosensitive area of the copy and processing the exposed copy to effect the desired image reproduction. The machine readable information read from the original photorecord can be modified electronically to change various image characteristics, such as contrast, color, balance, resolution, etc., so that the image characteristics of the copies will be desirably different from those of the original. In addition to providing efficient machine reproduction of the visual image, the encoded information can be utilized to display the visual image on a cathode ray tube or other display device and/or transmitted by telecommunication techniques to remote locations for display or reproduction.