Electronically controlled microfilm photographic image utilization device

A microfilm photographic image utilization device for projecting a large library of images onto a viewing area responsive to a three-dimensional selection process, said device comprising a roll of film wound on first and second reels and carrying said large library of images, means for transporting said roll of film in either of two directions from one of said reels to the other of said reels, said film having a plurality of images printed thereon in individually identified discrete photographic areas, the individual area identifications constituting in index for a first selective dimension, each photographic area having a plurality of individual images arranged in an orthogonal array, the X and Y axes of said orthogonal array constituting second and third selective dimensions, means responsive to detection of a selected identification of any one of the individual area identifications for automatically driving said transport to reel said film in either of said two directions to position any selected one of said photographic areas during a first dimensional selection in a reading location in said large library, manually movable means comprising a movable lens which is thereafter moved in X and Y dimensions in a manual search mode for projecting a selected image from the photographic area which is then positioned within said viewing area, said lens having an angle which is wide enough to project an image from a most remote part of the photographic area onto said viewing area, said movable lens further comprising yoke means movable over said orthogonal array of images while one of said photographic areas is in said viewing area, said lens means being mounted in said yoke for projecting at least one of the images under said lens at the instantaneous position where said yoke is located, one-hand control handle means connected to said yoke means, whereby said lens mounted on said control handle means is moved responsive to a manipulation of said one-hand control handle means, and means mounted on and movable with said one-handed control handle means for focusing said lens.

A control means for a transport means for reeling a long strip wound on supply and take-up means, said strip having a plurality of discrete locations serially distributed along the length thereof, bar code means comprising marks and spaces extending longitudinally along the length of said strip for individually identifying each of said discrete locations by an individually associated address code positioned on said strip near each of the discrete locations, the positions of at least one of said marks in each of said codes always having a fixed relationship with respect to the positions of the discrete locations identified thereby, each of said codes including a plurality of sequentially occurring discrete one of said code marks separated by uniform spacing, code reading means consisting of two sensors positioned adjacent said strip, each of said sensors sequentially reading in series each discrete code mark in said codes and providing a corresponding output during the operation of said transport means, means responsive to the discrete outputs of one of said two sensor means as it reads said discrete code marks for enabling the output of the other of said sensor means as it reads such discrete marks, means responsive to the output of said other of said sensor means for indicating a detection of a selected one of said address codes, and means responsive to said code detecting means for stopping said transport means.

A rolled web manipulation and transport means for locating one of many images assembled into a plurality of photographic means responsive to three-dimensional addressing, each of said photographic areas having an individually associated bar code printed on the film, each of said bar codes comprising an aligned series of wide and narrow marks separated by spaces, each narrow mark having the same width, each of said wide marks being twice as wide as said narrow marks, the width of each of said spaces being equal to the width of said narrow marks, said transport means comprising means for moving said rolled web between supply and take-up rolls for selectively positioning any one of many discrete segments of said web in a display area, automatic searching means for moving said web while searching for a preselected bar code associated with a first dimensional address, until a selected portion of said web identified by said preselected bar code is positioned in said display area and for thereupon stopping said web while so positioned, and discrete display means thereafter manually movable along random paths to second and third dimensional addresses within said display area, said manual movement of said display means occurring while said web is and remains stationary, said random paths being not necessarily orthogonally oriented within said display area for projecting an image from a selected incremental part of said web defined by a selected three-dimensional address where said discrete display means is located after its random movement to a manually selected incremental part.

A microfiche photographic image utilization device film transport system for use with a roll of a film mounted on two reels, either of which may be a supply or a take-up reel to provide a bidirectional film travel, wherein successive areas on said film are identified by individually associated series code appearing on said film, said system comprising means for transporting said roll of film at randomly variable speeds between the supply and take-up reels, said speeds varying with the amount of film wound upon a reel, the age and condition of the transport, etc., means for reading said codes as said film is transported at said variable speeds, first motor means for driving said film in a first direction through said device, second motor means for driving said film in a reverse direction through said device, electronic control means for selectively energizing both of said motors simultaneously at different energy levels so that one of said motors may respond to a higher energy level by driving said film in one of said directions, the other of said motors responding to a lower energy and being overpowered by said one motor which is operating at said higher energy level to drive said film, the other said motors acting as a drag or a brake upon said film to maintain film tension while performing clutch and braking functions, whereby said transport is electronically controlled and does not require mechanical speed controllers, transmissions, brakes, or clutches, and whereby a reversing of the electronically controlled energy levels reverses the functions of the two motors and thus reverse the direction of film travel, means for automatically bringing said film transport to a halt responsive to a reading of a preselected code, lens and light source means mounted to be manually movable as a unit, and means for thereafter manually moving said lens and ight source as a unit for selecting and displaying an incremental portion of the individual area identified by the preselected code.