The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 01, 2000
Filed:
May. 06, 1999
E John Adolphi, Eden Prairie, MN (US);
Gerald A Jensen, Plymouth, MN (US);
Michael Breckenridge, Minneapolis, MN (US);
Todd Kuester, Prior Lake, MN (US);
John Lawson, La Selva Beach, CA (US);
Patrick J Galloway, Sparks, NV (US);
Lifetouch Portrait Studios, Inc., Eden Prairie, MN (US);
Abstract
An improved high speed package printer for producing a plurality of high quality photographs of varying size, shape, and style based on one or a plurality of different film negatives. The improved package printer of the present invention accomplishes the goal of increased throughput and speed through the use of an automatic paper-loading feature, ultrasonic proximity sensors for dynamically measuring paper-slack loops, off-center printing for eliminating the need to advance the paper for punching after each exposure, a rotational prism for creating 10'.times.13' photographs without physically rotating the film, a 13-UP lens deck including 12 wallet lenses and a single 5'.times.7' retro-focus lens for creating 12 wallet-sized photographs and one 5'.times.7' photograph from a single exposure, an automatic diffusion plate cleaner for eliminating the system down time associated with manual diffusion plate cleaning, an improved filtering arrangement for equalizing the amount of energy emitted from each lamp within a photographic lamphouse, and bi-directional film movement for producing a single composite containing a plurality of different images or poses. The high speed package printer of the present invention also boasts an improved film cleaning arrangement for increasing the quality of the prints, as well as penumbra masking for producing photographs having sharply delineated borders.