Patents by Inventor Gunter Findeis

Gunter Findeis has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 6956604
    Abstract: A device (PR) and a method is proposed for determining image correction values for printing on printing material an image acquired with a digital camera. The type (KT1, . . . , KTn) of the digital camera, which acquired the image to be printed, is identified. The image correction values for printing the image are determined as a function of the identified type (KT1, . . . , KTn) of the digital camera.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2005
    Assignee: Agfaphoto GmbH
    Inventors: Wolfgang Keupp, Günter Findeis, Manfred Fürsich
  • Patent number: 6146817
    Abstract: A negative to be printed is masked. The mask, or an image of the mask in the plane of the negative, or both the mask and the image, have a low resolution of 0.1 to 2 line pairs per millimeter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 1995
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2000
    Assignee: AGFA-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Wolfgang Zahn, Friedrich Jacob, Gunter Findeis
  • Patent number: 6118513
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for copying transparencies to a light-sensitive material, the apparatus including an illuminator for illuminating the original, wherein the illuminator has a plurality of individually addressable pixels which can be switched to light or dark and which are controlled according to a raster image. The density values of the original are first determined with a predetermined spatial and gray-scale resolution and the raster image is subsequently generated from the density values of the original according to the error diffusion method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 1998
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2000
    Assignee: AGFA-Gevaert AG
    Inventors: Paul A. Delabastita, Gunter Findeis, Manfred Fursich, Josef Moseler
  • Patent number: 5978066
    Abstract: Film frames are scanned preparatory to copying and a set of density values is generated for each frame. When a frame exhibits excessive contrast, a mask is calculated using the respective set of density values. The calculated mask is formed on an LCD or LED matrix which is in register with the frame. An image of the masked frame is then projected onto copy paper by a zoom objective. The mask has a size which is a function of the magnification factor and/or the mask-to-frame distance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 2, 1999
    Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert AG
    Inventors: Helmut Treiber, Friedrich Jacob, Gunter Findeis
  • Patent number: 5959722
    Abstract: A copying apparatus is adjusted in order to produce high-quality copies of transparent negatives or diapositives having excessive variations in brightness. The adjustment is performed using a reference master. The apparatus is properly adjusted when a copy of the reference master meets specific criteria.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 1997
    Date of Patent: September 28, 1999
    Assignee: AGFA-Gevaert AG
    Inventors: Markus Fussel, Gunter Findeis, Friedrich Jacob, Knut Oberhardt
  • Patent number: 5192970
    Abstract: An exposed and developed filmstrip and band of similar length are connected edge-to-edge. An address for each negative of the filmstrip is imprinted on the band in the form of a bar code adjacent to the respective negative. The negatives are scanned and exposure values are calculated for the negatives from the resulting data. The exposure values are used to make proofs, and the exposure values for each negative are then stored in a memory under the corresponding address. When an order for final copies of a particular negative is subsequently received, the address of the negative is read from the band and used to retrieve the respective exposure values from the memory. The final copies are thereupon made based upon the retrieved exposure values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 1991
    Date of Patent: March 9, 1993
    Assignee: AGFA-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Gunter Findeis, Wilhelm Nitsch, Hans-Juergen Rauh, Wolfgang Zahn, Helmut Treiber, Hans-Georg Schindler
  • Patent number: 5151733
    Abstract: Light is passed through a negative located in a primary optical path and towards a band of copy material disposed in the path. A reflector is movable into the primary path so as to deflect the light into a secondary optical path. A mat, transparent plate is situated in the secondary path. The plate is situated in a plane which is a conjugate of the plane of the copy material with reference to the reflector when the latter is in the primary path. A sharp image of the negative is formed on the plate. Light passing through the plate is deflected into a tertiary optical path by a second reflector. The light entering the tertiary path is sensed by a video camera which then causes the image on the plate to be reproduced on a monitor for evaluation prior to copying.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 1991
    Date of Patent: September 29, 1992
    Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Gunter Findeis, Friedrich Jacob, Eberhard Schulz
  • Patent number: 5132725
    Abstract: A photographic copying machine has a copying unit which must receive a web of unexposed photosensitive web material well above the floor level. The web material is confined in cassettes which must be lifted before they reach a level in which the web material which is confined therein can be drawn into the copying unit. In order to facilitate manual manipulation of a relatively heavy and bulky cassette, the latter is provided with handless and with one part of a separable coupling which constitutes a hinge and enables the person in charge to pivot the cassette to an upright position subsequent to manual lifting approximately to the chest level. If necessary, the pivoted cassette is thereupon pushed into a chamber of the copying unit. A cassette for reception and storage of freshly exposed photosensitive web material can be manipulated in the same way.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 1991
    Date of Patent: July 21, 1992
    Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Gunter Findeis, Reinhard Nicko, Erich Schlick, Reiner Scholz
  • Patent number: 4704026
    Abstract: A strip of originals is copied onto a band of copy material at high speed using a highly automated copier which measures the densities of the originals in the primary colors and calculates exposures from the densities. The calculated exposures for each original in each primary color are recorded. The band of exposed copy material is developed and the copies are evaluated. Unsatisfactory copies are marked. The band of copy material is subsequently cut into individual copies and the unsatisfactory copies, as well as the corresponding originals, are collected. These originals are recopied in a second copier which is far less sophisticated and expensive than the first copier. The exposures used to recopy an original are derived by applying correction factors to the recorded exposures for the original. By performing the recopying procedures, which are rather slow because they require manual operations, in a second copier, the output of the high speed copier can be maintained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 1985
    Date of Patent: November 3, 1987
    Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Hans-Jurgen Rauh, Gunter Findeis, Ernst Biedermann, Bernhard Knor
  • Patent number: 4647187
    Abstract: A photographic copier has a first platform for supporting an original to be copied, and a second platform for supporting copy paper. A focusing system is disposed between the platforms and includes a plate which can be mounted at different distances from the platforms. The plate has a central opening which removably receives a tubular holder. The holder is supported in the opening by a ring which permits the position of the holder relative to the plate to be adjusted. Two lenses are removably mounted in the holder and serve to project an image of the original onto the copy paper. Different magnifications can be achieved in that the copier comes equipped with a variety of holders having different lengths, and a few selected lenses having different optical characteristics. The magnification is changed by simply interchanging holders and/or lenses, and adjusting the position of a holder to be used relative to the plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 1985
    Date of Patent: March 3, 1987
    Assignee: AGFA-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Wolfgang Zahn, Gunter Findeis, Ernst Biedermann
  • Patent number: 4589766
    Abstract: A strip of exposed and developed color film is transported through a transparency measuring system. The transparency of each frame of the film strip in the three primary colors is measured at a multiplicity of regions. The transparency values are converted to density values which are processed to generate a set of data characteristic of the film strip and indicative of the color compositions of the scanned regions. The characteristic set of data and the density values for the individual regions are used to determine whether or not a respective region contains a color dominant. For each frame, the amounts of copying light in the primary colors are established from the density values of those regions which are free of color dominants and have a neutral gray color composition. The amount of copying light in each of the three primary colors is calculated so that the regions of the original having a neutral gray color composition are copied neutral gray.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 1985
    Date of Patent: May 20, 1986
    Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Manfred Fursich, Gunter Findeis, Helmut Treiber, Berthold Fergg, Siegfried Thurm
  • Patent number: 4566786
    Abstract: A film has a series of exposed and developed negatives. Each negative is scanned at a multiplicity of regions, and the densities of each region in the three primary colors are measured. A blue/red density differential is derived for each region by subtracting the red density of a respective region from its blue density. The neutral density of each region is calculated, and every region is assigned a coordinate on a plot of blue/red density differential versus neutral density. According to one embodiment, the blue/red density differential for each region having a neutral density equal to or greater than a limiting value is then subtracted from the blue/red density differential given by a characteristic curve for the film. The differences obtained in this manner are analyzed, at least for selected negatives, and the minimum difference for each selected negative is determined. The region corresponding to the minimum difference is that region of a negative having the maximum blue density.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 1985
    Date of Patent: January 28, 1986
    Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Manfred Fursich, Helmut Treiber, Berthold Fergg, Gunter Findeis, Wolfgang Zahn
  • Patent number: 4492458
    Abstract: A method of copying a colored original involves measuring the transparency of localized regions of the original in each of the three primary colors. Three localized transparency ratios for each region are formed from the transparency values for the different colors. Three corresponding average transparency ratios for the original as a whole are computed from the localized transparency ratios. Each average transparency ratio is compared with a statistical average of similar ratios obtained from a large number of average originals. If an average transparency ratio of the original to be copied deviates from the corresponding statistical average by more than a predetermined amount, the number of each of the localized transparency ratios lying inside and outside of a predetermined range about the corresponding average transparency ratio of the original is counted. When the number outside of a predetermined range exceeds the number inside, a color dominant is assumed to be present in the original.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 1982
    Date of Patent: January 8, 1985
    Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert AG
    Inventors: Horst Bickl, Gunter Findeis, Helmut Treiber
  • Patent number: 4464045
    Abstract: A color copying apparatus having a photoelectric color exposure control device is calibrated by making a copy of a calibrating original, which includes a gray stepped wedge, on a photographic copying material using an exposure determined by the photoelectric color exposure control device and assumed to be proper for achieving the desired density values in the developed image of the calibrating original. The density of the developed image of the gray stepped wedge is then measured in order to obtain actual density values, which are compared with corresponding desired density values. Finally, the photoelectric color exposure control device is adjusted for achieving the required exposure correction as determined during the comparison of the actual and desired values. The calibration is performed for each of the individual values so that correction of the control device is also achieved for each of the corresponding colors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 1982
    Date of Patent: August 7, 1984
    Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Gunter Findeis, Berthold Fergg, Wolfgang Zahn, Gerhard Kuhn
  • Patent number: 4390270
    Abstract: A copier has a movable housing which accommodates a support for an original to be copied, a source of illumination for the original, a lens system for forming an image of the original and a support for photosensitive material which is to receive the image. The housing has an opening in one of its sides and carries a hinged lid for lighttight sealing of the opening. A reflector is pivotally mounted inside the housing in the vicinity of the opening and can be moved between an operative position in which it intercepts the image from the lens system and an inoperative position in which it does not. When an image of normal size is required, the reflector is in its inoperative position and the image is projected onto the photosensitive material located inside the housing. When an image of large size is required, the reflector is brought into its operative position and the opening in the housing is uncovered.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 1981
    Date of Patent: June 28, 1983
    Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Ernst Biedermann, Gunter Findeis, Klaus Weber, Wolfgang Zahn
  • Patent number: 4335956
    Abstract: The condition of a photographic copying and associated developing machine for prints of color photographic negatives is evaluated by exposing a calibrating sample onto a first portion and by making a test exposure with preselected exposure data onto a second portion of photographic paper in the copying machine. The two portions of photographic paper are then developed in the developing machine, and the thus obtained developed prints are monitored in the copying machine by comparing their densities in various colors with preselected reference densities. The results of comparison are indicative whether the machines operate satisfactorily, whether the copying machine requires one or more adjustments, or whether the developing machine is in need of at least one adjustment. The adjustment or adjustments can be effected automatically or upon examination of the results of comparison by an attendant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 1980
    Date of Patent: June 22, 1982
    Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Gunter Findeis, Berthold Fergg, Viktor Osegowitsch, Hans P. Huber, Heinz Meckl
  • Patent number: 4279502
    Abstract: A method of determining the amounts of light in the basic colors to which an original is to be exposed during a color copying operation to obtain a copy the colors of which are matched in dependence on the image recorded on the original includes the establishment of color density difference functional correlations from values denoting the results of measurements at a multitude of regions of the film strip which includes the original in question. The correlations can then be used for determining the light amounts for most of the originals. Furthermore, the originals are evaluated for discrimination between daylight and artificial light exposures as well as for recognition of originals including color dominants and, in the latter instance, also for ascertaining whether the color dominant was caused by image-important features.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 1979
    Date of Patent: July 21, 1981
    Assignee: AGFA-Gevaert, A.G.
    Inventors: Siegfried Thurm, Konrad Bunge, Gunter Findeis
  • Patent number: 4214834
    Abstract: A lengthy strip of originals is transported along a transport path. Positioned along the transport path are a plurality of copying stations, for simultaneous copying of plural successive originals. The originals are transported setwise or batchwise, thereby lowering the average transport time per individual original and increasing copying-machine productivity without the need to speed up the performance of other operations attendant to copying-machine operation. When originals are correctly spaced and all copiable, they are processed setwise or batchwise as just outlined. When not spaced in accordance with a standard and/or when not all copiable, the machine changes over to one-at-a time operation, disabling all but the most downstream copying station, until the arriving originals are again all copiable and spaced by the standard distance. During normal operation, a strip of print paper is advanced by an increment corresponding to the plural concurrently exposed originals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 1979
    Date of Patent: July 29, 1980
    Assignee: AGFA-Gevaert, A.G.
    Inventors: Gunter Findeis, Wolfgang Zahn, Klaus Weber
  • Patent number: 4192605
    Abstract: Color prints from transparencies which constitute frames or sections of universal film are made on printing paper by ascertaining the quotient or difference of integrated transmittance of the transparencies in green and red light, comparing the signal which denotes such ratio with a variable reference signal whereby the resulting comparison signal denotes the color temperature of light by which the respective transparency was exposed, and carrying out color corrections to depart from correction to neutral gray in dependency upon whether the ascertained color temperature denotes exposure in daylight or artificial light. The value of the reference signal is changed in such a way that the intensity of the ratio-designating signal which is necessary for generation of a comparison signal denoting the switchover point between the classification of transparencies into those respectively exposed by daylight and artificial light is lowered when the overall density of the transparency is lower and vice versa.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 1978
    Date of Patent: March 11, 1980
    Assignee: AGFA-Gevert, A.G.
    Inventors: Berthold Fergg, Gunter Findeis, Wolfgang Zahn
  • Patent number: 4152068
    Abstract: Successive frames of a web of photographic color film are subjected to objective examination during transport through an automatic evaluating circuit which may constitute a discrete prereader or a prereader which is integrated into a copying machine upstream of the copying station. The prereader furnishes signals which represent color and/or density correction data for reproduction of those film frames which can be properly copied only with a setting of exposure controls which deviates from the average setting for copying of the majority of film frames. The objective examination of all film frames is followed by a subjective examination which is performed by an attendant who inspects at least some of those film frames whose examination by the prereader resulted in the generation of correction signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 1976
    Date of Patent: May 1, 1979
    Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Horst Bickl, Gunter Findeis, Helmut Treiber, Wolfgang Zahn