Abstract: An improved image transparency or slide is disclosed in which certain small image anomalies are rendered invisible to the human eye in an image projected from the slide. A diffusion layer spaced a finite distance from an image coating of the slide causes disappearance of the anomalies in a the projected image. In applications requiring particularly high sharpness, the image is formed on the slide using image enhancement techniques which produce exaggerated edge effects in the image. When these exaggerated edge effects are diffused in a projection, the projected image is sharp and free of the anomalies.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are disclosed for producing thermal slide transparencies. Receiver elements mounted in open slide frames are positioned on a platen in an exposure station, and donor elements in the form of cut sheets are positioned over the receiver element prior to exposure. A laser beam, modulated in accordance with an information signal, is scanned across the surface of the donor element in order to provide the necessary thermal energy to effect a transfer of dye from a donor element to a receiver element. The elements are moved in a cross-scan direction during exposure by means of a lead screw connected to the platen. In order to form a color slide, successive donor elements of the necessary colors are moved into register with the receiver element. After the image has been formed on the receiver element, the receiver element is moved to a fusing station where the image is fixed. Sections of the slide frame are then joined together to complete the slide.

Abstract: This invention relates to a thermal dye transfer assemblage comprising:a) a dye-donor element comprising a support having thereon a dye layer comprising a dye dispersed in a polymeric binder and an infrared absorbing material associated therewith, andb) a dye-receiving element comprising a support having thereon a polymeric dye image-receiving layer, the dye-receiving element being in a superposed relationship with the dye-donor element so that the dye layer is adjacent to the dye image-receiving layer,the improvement wherein said polymeric layer of either the dye-donor element or the dye-receiving element in face-to-face relationship therewith has a textured surface which is formed only by said polymer, so that effective contact between the dye-receiving element and the dye-donor element is prevented during transfer of a laser-induced thermal dye transfer image, the textured surface having a surface roughness average, R.sub.a, of at least 0.8 .mu.m.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for recording and reading a color image formed on a receiving medium such as a film coated with a blue metastable colloidal silver. Upon application of heat to selected areas of the coating, the blue silver turns yellow to form an image. In a record mode, a modulated beam from a diode laser is scanned onto the receiving medium to form an image. In a read mode, a diode laser beam containing two different wavelengths of radiation is scanned across an image on the recording medium. In order to detect errors in the image, a detector senses the two wavelengths at each pixel and produces signals indicative of the densities of the yellow and blue in the pixel. Signal processing determines valid data points from the two signals.

Abstract: This invention relates to a process of forming a laser-induced thermal dye transfer image comprising:a) contacting at least one dye-donor element comprising a support having thereon a dye layer, having an infrared-absorbing material associated therewith, with a dye-receiving element comprising a support having thereon a polymeric dye image-receiving layer, said dye-donor and dye-receiver being separated by spacer beads;b) imagewise-heating the dye-color element by means of a laser at a given power supplied to the laser; andc) transferring a dye image to the dye-receiving element to form the laser-induced thermal dye transfer image,and wherein another portion of the dye-donor element or another dye-donor element is imagewise-heated by the laser to transfer a second dye image which is approximately the same hue as the first dye image and is in register with the first dye image to produce a given density, the power supplied to the laser for the first and second imagewise heatings being lower than the power which

Abstract: Apparatus is disclosed for recording and reading a color image formed on a receiving medium such as a film coated with a blue metastable colloidal silver. Upon application of heat to selected areas of the coating, the blue silver turns yellow to form an image. In a record mode, a modulated beam from a diode laser is scanned onto the receiving medium to form an image. In a read mode, a diode laser beam containing two different wavelengths of radiation is scanned across an image on the recording medium. In order to detect errors in the image, a detector senses the two wavelengths at each pixel and produces signals indicative of the densities of the yellow and blue in the pixel. Signal processing means is adapted to determine valid data points from the two signals.

Abstract: An aggregated-Group Ib metal colloid is prepared, which may be used to form stable color-differentiated images, by the selective application of thermal energy thereto. The metal aggregates, when exposed to thermal energy, revert either to the unaggregated metal or to an aggregate of lesser dimension. This change induces a color change in the material, which is clearly visible against those areas not so exposed. The metal aggregates, when dispersed in a polymeric matrix, are stable in the absence of heat.

Abstract: A method of forming visible images on a differentiated background comprises the application of thermal energy to a coating of metastable metal colloid on a support. Thermal energy is able to convert the metastable metal colloid to a stable spheroidal form. Computer control of a laser beam or thermal print head can be employed to provide highly resolved images carrying graphic, digital and textural information.

Abstract: Radiation is directed toward a support through an ordered array of lateral walls to form interlaid radiation-exposed and shadowed microareas on the support. A first composition is then located on the support in either the shadowed or unshadowed microareas. At least one additional composition is then positioned on the support in laterally displaced microareas forming an interlaid pattern with the first microareas.

Abstract: Radiation is directed toward a support through an ordered array of lateral walls to form interlaid radiation-exposed and shadowed microareas on the support. A first composition is then located on the support in either the shadowed or unshadowed microareas. At least one additional composition is then positioned on the support in laterally displaced microareas forming an interlaid pattern with the first microareas.

Abstract: In the forming of microcellular arrays, such as those useful in photography, a closure is positioned to overlie a plurality of microcells forming a planar array. The closure is selectively removed from one set of micro- cells forming an interlaid pattern with a second set of microcells so that the contents of the first set of micro- cells can be changed without concurrently changing the contents of the second set of microcells.