This application claims the benefit of the European patent application No. 00 102 414.0, filed Feb. 3, 2000, and entitled xe2x80x9cPhoto lab with automatic routing to automates and different level operatorsxe2x80x9d. The disclosure of this application is included in the present patent application by reference.
The present invention relates to the processing of photographs in a photographic laboratory. The present invention further relates to a processing system in a photographic laboratory for processing the photographs as well as to a program and a computer program product in accordance with the method.
Conventionally, a photographer photographs pictures (images) by means of a camera. In this way he captures image information and stores the image information on a suitable storing medium, e.g. on a film in conventional cameras or on a digital memory device (e.g. floppy disk) in digital cameras. The photographer then brings the storage medium (e.g. film) to a photo shop (peripheral organisation). At a photo shop the storing mediums (e.g. films in film cartridges, electronic memory units of digital cameras, etc.) of several customers are collected and processing information are added concerning the particular processing wishes of the customers (e.g. the format of the photographic prints, type of photographic paper, number of prints per picture (image), adding of a CD with digitalised pictures etc.). Furthermore, the name of the customer is noted and usually an individual order number is assigned to a so-called order or customer order which comprises, for example, a work envelope with an inserted film cartridge and the working instructions or processing information. Moreover the photo shop may add particular requests to the processing information, e.g. the request to add one or more particular promotions to the work envelope at the photographic laboratory. In this way, a plurality of xe2x80x9ccustomer ordersxe2x80x9d are collected at end of the photo shops.
A plurality of photo shops exist, each of which collect a plurality of customer orders. Each photo shop forwards the customer orders to a photographic laboratory (centralised organisation). At this photographic laboratory, each order is processed by processing the customer order (e.g. film) of the order according to the processing information (e.g. notes, bar codes, etc.) of the order. For instance, in the prior art (see EP 0 952 487), a photographic laboratory executes the following processes on a customer order:
receiving the customer order comprising e.g. the work envelope of the photo shop and the film cartridge within the work envelope, and processing information, said order including e.g. notes which describe the processes to be performed with the film negatives of the customer order, transport and customer address etc.;
removing the film cartridge from the work envelope;
pulling the exposed film out of its enclosure in the cartridge;
marking the work envelope and the exposed film by a suitable work code (e.g. bar code or the like);
joining together the films of different customer orders thus marked to provide a film negative batch;
developing the batch of films which have been joined together, thus obtaining batch of negatives, wherein different portions of said batch belong to different customer orders and thus to different processing information;
printing the successive photographs disposed in the batch on a web of photographic paper, different portions of said batch belonging to different customer orders;
distinguishing between the prints of each customer order by applying a work code (e.g. bar code) to the prints, which refers to the corresponding negatives;
cutting the negatives of each customer order into film sections, those film sections including a number of images, according to the number of photographs determined in the processing information belonging to the same customer order;
cutting the prints of each customer order, one by one, from the web of prints and stacking them so as to form the stack of prints associated with this customer order;
inserting sections of negatives and the stack of prints assigned to the same customer order into an appropriate flexible pocket-type envelope (a wallet);
adding any supplements like promotion coupons, mini-albums, floppy disks, CDs etc., assigned to the customer order, to the pocket-type envelope or wallet assigned to the same customer order;
closing the pocket-type envelope and placing it in the work envelope (assigned to the same customer order;
closing the work envelope and applying a price label which corresponds to the customer order treated;
sending the work envelope and thus the processed customer order back to the shop from which it was dispatched, for delivery to the customer.
All above-mentioned processes represent examples of processes on customer orders within the scope of the present invention. The above processes may be performed automatically by processing devices or semi-automatically with the assistance of operators or manually by operators.
A photographic laboratory, in general, serves a wide area with a large number of photo shops and, therefore, must be fitted out for processing (handling) a large number of orders (up to ten thousands various orders a day). This has been made possible only by a high degree of automation in the laboratory itself, with a consistent necessity to standardise the components used (print format, envelopes etc.). A drawback of this standardisation is that individual wishes or information of the customer may not be fulfilled. On the other hand, if a photographic laboratory is designed to fulfil a variety of wishes of a customer, i.e. a variety of processing information, the photographic laboratory must have a huge number of different processing devices which have to perform the individual orders automatically. Since, however, some individual orders are only rarely desired, the particular processing devices assigned to performing the processes according to those individual wishes or instructions, are only rarely used and therefore not profitable. Furthermore the individual wishes of customers can change due to a change of fashion.
In view of this, and in accordance with the present invention, operators process the customer orders in a photographic laboratory at least partly. The operators are integrated in the processing system of the present invention and may use devices for said processing which belong to the processing system. Additional processing work may be done by automatic processing devices which are also part of the processing system.
The operators in a photographic laboratory usually have different skills. A drawback of the photographic laboratories of the prior art is that the skills of the operators are not optimally used and/or developed.
It is an object of the invention to provide a method for processing photographs which allows for an optimised use of the skills of operators. Furthermore, a corresponding processing system, program and computer program product should be provided.
The object of the present invention is solved by the subject matter of the claim 1, claim 13, claim 15, and claim 16. Advantageous embodiments are presented in the dependent claims.
According to the present invention, customer orders, e.g. film cartridges with a film therein, are received in a processing system provided at the photographic laboratory. As mentioned above, the operators represent an integral part of said processing system. Such a processing system may further comprise a plurality of processing devices in particular also instead of the operators. For instance, a processing device may be a splicer for splicing together films to provide film batches, a printer for printing photographs on photographic paper, a developer for developing photographic film, a cutter for cutting a film web or print web, a packing device for packing items, e.g. prints into a wallet or work envelope, a work station or computer which receives digital photographic data together with the processing information via a network, e.g. LAN or internet. The processing system may further comprise a conveying means, in particular a conveying belt, on which pallets are conveyed. The processing system may comprise supplement supplying means which, for example, supply supplements like CDs, mini-albums etc. to a pallet on a conveyer. The processing system may comprise work stations for digitally processing the photographic data, laser printers for printing the photographic data or work stations for transmitting the processed photographic data to a photo shop and so on. In case, the photographic data are received via network, the photographic order may be a block of digital data including the digital image data representing the customer order and a digital header to the digital image data representing the processing information.
A customer order consists e.g. of a film cartridge and an assigned processing information. The processing information defines in which way the film cartridge is to be processed. As stated above, the film is related to a work envelope and a film cartridge at the beginning of processing. During processing, the condition of the customer order is changing, the film is developed and prints are added to the customer order. Furthermore, other elements (supplements) may be added to the customer order, like CDs or wallets etc.
The processing system of the present invention can perform all kinds of processing usually performed at a photographic laboratory or can perform only a part of this according to the present invention. In particular, the processing system can comprise all kinds of processing devices or processing sites equipped with devices for semi-automatic processing, starting from the unpacking of a work envelope received in a photo laboratory and reading the processing instructions attached to the working envelope, to packing the finally processed customer order into a package. The processing system of the present invention may also be restricted to a part of the process. In particular, the processing system may be restricted to the cutting of print webs and film webs and the sorting and final packaging of the developed film and the prints. If the processing system of the present invention is, for example, restricted to this part of the process, the customer orders are, for example, received in the form of print webs and film webs. Furthermore, the processing information or instructions are already digitalised and received in a digital controller (computer) of the processing system. This digital controller may be a work station or a computer which controls the processing devices of the processing system.
It is preferred to assign match codes, e.g. bar codes, to the elements of a customer order, i.e. the film section, the print section, the envelope, and/or the like before or just after entering one or each of the processing devices of the processing system according to the invention. This can be done to be able to assign the elements of a customer order to each other with respect to particular processing devices. The matching operation itself can be accomplished by a centralised computer which coordinates the processing of each of the customer orders in compliance with the respective assigned processing information, e.g. instructions imposed by the customer and/or the photo shop.
Usually the processing of customer orders is organised in a sequence of processing steps. In order to control the processing, the controller may, for instance, monitor at which processing step each customer order is present. If, for example, the customer order comprises digitalised photographic data or image data, the controlling of the processing of the digital data is performed by incorporating the photographic processing program into an overall controlling program. If the customer order comprises conventional films and prints and if thus the customer orders are processed physically and not digitally, usually marks (work codes) are provided on the physical elements of the customer orders, i.e. by providing marks (e.g. bar code) on the margin of the prints (web of prints) or film. These marks are read by detectors or operators in order to monitor the location of the customer orders (prints, film section) within the processing system and/or in order to control the processing as well as for instance the progress of one or several orders during the process flow.
The controlling means of the processing system may be organised centrally or decentrally. If the controlling means is organised centrally, it is preferred to identify a customer order and its location in the processing sequence and to transmit this information to the central processing means. Based on this information, the controlling means controls the processing devices or processing sites of the processing system in order to execute the next processing step on the particular customer order in accordance with the processing information assigned to the customer order. Preferably, there are memory means where the processing information is stored, said memory means being accessed by the controlling means. The control of processing sites staffed with operators may be performed via displays on which the instructions for the operator are displayed, which describe the processing task to be performed by the operator on the customer order just present at the related processing site.
If the controlling means is organised decentrally, preferably, each processing device and/or processing site of the processing system has its own controller. This controller checks the marks on the customer order (e.g. web of prints) which the processing device has to process. In this case, the marks additionally comprise instructions which are read by the controller of the processing device or by the operator at the processing site. The controller of the processing device then controls the processing device in order to perform the instructions or the controller of a processing site gives instruction e.g. via a screen to operators located at processing sites. For instance, the instructions may describe the format into which the web of prints has to be cut, i.e. the format of each single print. Finally, a central controller may cooperate and communicate with decentral controllers.
According to the present invention, processing tasks are assigned to processing sites. Preferably, this assignment is based on the capabilities or features of the processing sites, e.g. available work space, available equipment. The processing sites are staffed with a number of operators of certain skills. Preferably, the assignment is additionally or alternatively based on the skill of the operator(s) which is/are available at a particular processing site. Thus, the assignment is based on the machines and devices available at a processing site and/or the skills of the operator at the processing site, i.e. whether the operator can handle the different devices at the processing site or not. For instance, the assignment can be based (additionally) on the quality of which the operator performs different processing tasks or on the experience of the operator. Preferably, a controlling means of the processing system analyses the processing orders in order to determine which processing sites are suitable for the required process. If different processing tasks are to be performed at different processing sites, the controlling means, preferably, determines the sequence of the processes at the different processing sites and in particular controls the passing of the customer order from one processing site to the next one according to said sequence.
The processing system of the present invention preferably comprises a controlling means and a memory. The different processing skills of the operators and processing features of the processing sites are stored in the memory and the controller accesses the memory in order to determine which one of the processing sites can perform the processing task. The customer order is then passed to the processing site assigned to the processing task to be performed.
If the customer order comprises e.g. prints or envelopes as elements, the elements are passed to a processing site by a conveying means. If the film cartridge is present as digital data, the digital data are transmitted via a network to the processing site for further processing.
Preferably, the different processing sites are organised and ordered into difficulty levels in order to optimally use the different skills of the operators. Depending on the skills of an operator at a processing site, different processing tasks may be performed at the processing site. For instance, a highly skilled operator may produce particular prints representing enlargements of portions of negatives or may digitally process the photographic data in order to produce particular prints. Additionally such a highly skilled operator can be able to cut prints into particular formats or to pack prints into envelops. A medium skilled operator may be able to cut the prints and to pack prints into an envelope. And a low skilled operator may only be able to pack the prints into an envelope. The higher the skill of an operator the higher the difficulty level of the processing tasks which may be assigned to the operator.
Preferably, the controlling means controls the passing of the customer orders and the processing of them such that the customer orders are passed to those processing sites to which a sufficient difficulty level is assigned. Preferably, the controlling means passes the customer order to be processed to that processing site having the lowest difficulty level which is sufficient to perform the processing tasks. In this way the working time of highly skilled operators can be reserved for the difficult tasks.
If processing information contains an instruction which represents new or unknown processing tasks, preferably, the corresponding customer order is directly passed to a processing site with the highest difficulty or skill level.
It may be defined that only operators of a particular skill have access to certain processing sites. In this way a certain difficulty level may be guaranteed for a particular processing site. Alternatively or additionally, it is monitored which operator is available at which processing site. This may be performed by requesting the operator that he logs into a network connected with the controlling means of the processing system of the present invention. The controlling means then assigns, based on the stored processing skills of the operator and the available processing features and capabilities of the devices at the processing site, a particular difficulty level or skill level to the processing site.
Advantageously, there is provided a number of, or a plurality of, processing sites, wherein each processing site is assigned to a number of particular processing tasks. Preferably, the controlling means decides which one of the processing sites is best suitable to perform the processing tasks (instructions). Advantageously, for this purpose, an allocation table is stored in the memory means. This allocation table locates processing tasks (to the performed instructions) to different processing sites. If an instruction defines a particular processing task, the controlling means accesses the allocation table and decides based on the allocation table to which the corresponding customer order or element thereof should be passed. The term xe2x80x9cpassingxe2x80x9d may mean xe2x80x9cconveyingxe2x80x9d if physical elements like prints are concerned, or xe2x80x9ctransmittingxe2x80x9d if digital data like image data are concerned.
As mentioned above, different levels of difficulty may be assigned to at least some of the different processing sites, each processing site of a particular level of difficulty may process processing tasks of the same or lower difficulty level. In this way, an optimum usage of the available processing sites and the skills of the operators at those processing sites is possible. Preferably, a customer order to be processed at a processing site is conveyed to that processing site having the lowest possible difficulty level which is still able to execute the required instructions.
Additionally or alternatively the processing tasks may be categorised in categories based on the kind of processing to be performed, e.g. cutting, packing, image processing etc. A category is assigned to a processing site. The controlling means ascertains to which category the different processing tasks defined by processing information and/or instructions belong and passes the corresponding customer order to the suitable processing site. The allocation of a category to processing tasks and to processing sites may be stored in a memory accessible by the controlling means. The categorisation of processing tasks promotes the modular structure of the processing system of the present invention and may also be applied to automatic processing devices by assigning a category to an automatic processing site. In particular automatic processing devices and semi-automatic processing sites belonging to the same category (e.g. packing) may be locally grouped in order to reduce the transportation distances of the customer orders and to facilitate replacement of processing sites by automatic processing devices, the replacement of automatic processing devices and/or the update of control programs for the processing devices.
Preferably, the processing system of the present invention is also used for quality control and quality management. For example, detectors (e.g. cameras) may monitor whether the elements of a customer order are properly processed. For instance, it may be monitored whether the quality of the cutting of prints or the quality of packing the prints in an envelope is sufficient. If an error or unacceptable quality is detected, the corresponding customer order may be identified by the controlling means and conveyed to an appropriate processing site, e.g. staffed with a quality expert, which may handle the error or quality defect.
It is a major advantage of the processing system of the present invention that it also accepts customer orders with processing information and/or instructions which also define instructions which can automatically be processed by an automatic processing device of the processing system, i.e. not at a processing site and without assistance of an operator. The present invention allows for a continuous processing of the customer orders, even if some of the instructions of the processing information can automatically be processed and some can be processed with the assistance of an operator or even both.
The advantage is accomplished by checking each processing information to ascertain whether or not the processing information or instructions can automatically be processed by the processing system. Checking may be performed by the controlling means of the processing system. In this application, the term xe2x80x9cautomatically processingxe2x80x9d means that a customer order may be processed without the assistance of an operator, i.e. automatically by a processing device. An example of xe2x80x9cautomatically processingxe2x80x9d is packing prints automatically into an envelope by a packing machine without the help of an operator or cutting the prints by an automatic cutting machine and not manually by means of an operator. Thus, automatically processing is performed by the processing system (e.g. by a device or machine of the processing system) without the assistance of an operator.
Preferably checking of the processing orders is performed by analysing the instructions enclosed or included in the processing information and the processing tasks they imply, as stated in further detail later on.
Since, according to the present invention, the processing information and/or instructions are assigned to their corresponding customer orders, based on said checking, it is possible to identify those customer orders in the processing system which are to be processed according to processing information which is automatically processable and partly automatically processable, or processable at a processing site by an operator. If the customer order may be processed both automatically and at a processing site, the controlling means, preferably, determines the way of processing. Advantageously a customer order is processed automatically, if an automatic processing is possible. For this purpose processing information is preferably analysed in order to identify customer orders which may be processed automatically, the remaining units are thus identified to be processed non-automatically.
For instance, at least one of the following processes or treatments may be performed if a non-automatically processable unit has been identified:
a warning signal may be issued which identifies the customer order. In this way the customer order may be separated from the processing line and further processed by means of an operator at a processing site;
the customer order may be automatically separated and conveyed to a processing site where it is semi-automatically or manually processed;
a label may be attached to the customer order and/or a pallet which supports the parts of the customer order which describes the instruction to be performed semi-automatically or manually, and which in particular can also include information, to identify the relation of the customer order to a photo shop, a customer and/or the like.
In summary, the checking of the processing information for automatically processability and the identification of the non-automatically processable units allow for an integration of the automatic processing of customer orders in the semi-automatically or manually processing of those units.
A particular advantage of the present invention is that the automatically processing capabilities may be used as far as possible or appropriate in those cases in which at least one instruction of the processing information is automatically processable.
If, for example, the processing information comprises automatically processable instructions concerning the formats of the prints and thus the cutting of the web of prints, but also comprises particular instructions concerning the addition of supplements to customer orders, a huge part of the information may be accomplished automatically. The prints may be processed and cut in the desired formats, the cut prints and the corresponding section of film may be supplied to a pallet assigned to the information and conveyed on a conveyer. Furthermore, a supplement may be added to another tray or compartment of the pallet. However, if the pallet arrives at the packing machine (which is also part of the processing system), the packing machine is not able to pack the supplement automatically in an envelope. The processing system of the present invention solves this problem since the processing system checks the processing information and recognises that the adding of a supplement results in that the packing machine is not capable of automatically packing all parts of the customer order into an envelope. The processing system identifies the customer order which comprises for instance at this stage of processing a pallet, the prints, the film section and the supplement. This identification allows for a different treatment of the identified customer order. For instance, the identified pallet may be conveyed to a packing site where the film, the prints and the supplement are packed into a suitable envelope by an operator. After packing the package (wallet and/or envelope), the package is refeed to the automatic processing line which conveys the packages to a shipping station. Furthermore, the (empty) pallet is separated from the customer order and refeed to a conveyor belt for reuse in the processing system, i.e. the pallet may be refilled by other prints, films and supplements of a different customer order. A processing system of the present invention may comprise a processing line, where a number of processes is performed on the customer order in a sequence. The xe2x80x9cautomatic partxe2x80x9d of said processing line, i.e. the automatic processing line, comprises devices which automatically process the customer order.
In a very simple case, according to the invention all orders which cannot be handled automatically could be directed to one storing position to wait there the e finished. Accordingly, in correspondence with a processing information, a conveyer could transport the parts of a customer order to said storing position to be treated in a manner which would not be possible automatically. For instance, said orders could be collected to be finished once a day by an operator or several operators of different skills.
For checking the instructions of an order, to ascertain whether the instructions are automatically processable or not by the processing system, the controlling means of the processing system preferably accesses a memory means. A list of processable instructions and/or sequences of processable instructions is preferably stored in the memory means. The controlling means compares the instructions of processing information with the stored instructions or sequences of instructions. Based on this, the controlling means decides and assesses whether the processing information is automatically processable or not. Furthermore the controlling means advantageously decides which instructions of the processing information should be performed automatically and at which stage of the processing the corresponding customer order should be separated from that portion or those portions of a processing line assigned to the automatic processing, and which should be semi-automatically or manually processed.
Advantageously, the method of the present invention for processing customer orders according to their corresponding processing information is performed by means of or with the assistance of a program which runs on a computer, work station etc., which controls the processing system.
The present invention further relates to a computer program product, like a storing medium for storing a computer program, which stores the above-mentioned program. A storing medium may be a CD, a DVD, a hard-disk, a floppy disk etc. The present invention also covers the provision of the program via internet.