This invention relates to a photographic pack that ensures that images on internally accommodated photographic prints cannot be seen from the outside, and a print system that can produce the photographic pack without causing any waste of print paper.
Conventionally, photographic prints in one order and an index print which has all images of the photographic prints recorded on a single recording medium are accumulated on a sorter and then an operator manually checks the accumulated prints against a customer's information, order information, print fee and the like on a DP bag before packaging them into a DP bag (see, for example, JP 61-239235 A).
JP 61-239235 A discloses a photographic printing apparatus which, in the process of making photographic prints by printing, uses a marker to mark print information such as the number of prints to make and the print fee on the back of the last frame of photographic prints. Using this photographic printing apparatus, one can eliminate the need to indicate the print information on the DP bag and instead need only depend on the clear film that forms a window in the DP bag for verifying the print fee and print information recorded on the back of the last frame without taking the photographic prints from within the DP bag.
However, checking and verifying the print information and subsequent packing of the photographic prints into the DP bag, all being done manually by an operator, is time-consuming. To deal with this problem, there has been proposed a packing apparatus that contributes to labor saving in the packing of photographic prints into the DP bag by the operator (see, for example, JP 9-292660 A and JP 3551402 B).
As referred to above, the packing apparatus is an apparatus by which the photographic prints and index print as accumulated on the sorter are collectively put into a clear bag which is then sealed. In this case, an order print with a bar code is placed in the topmost part of the bag so that the print information such as the print fee and the number of prints can be easily verified and checked.
JP 9-292660 A discloses a photographic print producing apparatus which makes photographic prints in one order, immediately followed by making an index print having fee information printed on it, and which accumulates both the photographic prints and the index print, whereby the photographic prints in one order can be efficiently sorted out to facilitate the packing operation by the packing apparatus.
JP 3551402 B discloses a photographic product producing system in which a recording medium having the fee recorded thereon (the medium is hereinafter referred to as a fee print) is provided immediately before or after photographic prints and which allows the fee print and the photographic prints to accumulate on a sorter in such a way that the former overlies the latter. The photographic prints produced by the system of JP 3551402 B are accommodated within a DP bag with a clear top face in such a way that the fee print overlies the topmost photographic print and can therefore be seen from the outside.
The photographic printing apparatus disclosed in JP 61-239235 A marks the print information on the back of the last frame of photographic prints. Since the print information such as the print fee is marked on the back of the last frame of photographic prints made by the photographic printing apparatus disclosed in JP 61-239235 A, there is a problem in that if the person who shot the original pictures distribute the photographic prints among friends or acquaintances, the print information such as the print fee will become known. Therefore, the photographic print of the last frame should not preferably be distributed among friends or acquaintances.
The photographic print producing apparatus disclosed in JP 9-292660 A and the photographic product producing system disclosed in JP 3551402 B do not mark print information such as the contents of an order on the back of a photographic print; on the other hand, they must use one extra sheet of print paper for making the fee print. This is simply a waste of print paper and results in lower production rate.
These two patent documents also disclose recording both the index image and the print information on the same side of one sheet of print paper so that the index print becomes integral with the fee print. However, if this is done, the index image within the clear bag can also be seen from the outside by people other than the person who placed the order and the privacy of customers cannot be protected.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds