JPH06171194A - Bar code printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the history of printed contents from remaining in a transcription ink ribbon without adding separately an erasing component. CONSTITUTION:A system includes: a microprocessor 1 to control printing; a printing memory 2 to store the printing data of a bar code; a non-inversion buffer 3 to pass bit data read out from the printing memory 2 without inversion; an inversion buffer 4 to pass the data with inversion; a selector 5 to output the selected output of the non-inversion buffer 3 or of the inversion buffer 4; and a printing head to print the printing data of the bar code selected by the selector 5 on a sheet 8 with a thermal transcription ink ribbon 7. After the bar code by non-inverted bit data selected by the selector 5 being printed on the sheet 8, the ink ribbon 7 is returned to the initial position, where the bar code was printed, to print the bar code by the inverted bit data on the sheet 8 so that the history of printed contents is prevented from remaining in the ink ribbon.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bar code printing method capable of preventing printing contents from remaining on a thermal transfer ink ribbon when a bar code is printed using a thermal transfer printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a thermal transfer printer, print data is written in a print memory by a microprocessor for controlling printing, and the bit data read from this memory is sent to the print head through a buffer and a drive circuit, whereby the print head prints. According to the bit pattern of the data, heat is generated to melt the thermal transfer ink ribbon so that the print content can be transferred to the paper.

[0003]

When a bar code is printed by using such a thermal transfer printer, the printed contents are left unprinted on the thermal transfer ink ribbon. Therefore, it is not necessary to leave a history of the printed contents. There is a problem that it is not used for applications where importance is attached to confidentiality. Here, examples of applications where confidentiality (security) is required include an example in which a ticket issuing code is encrypted at a ticket issuing terminal and printed as a bar code. In this case, unless the encryption key is unknown or the encrypted barcode content remains in the history, it is difficult to copy the ticket issued.

In view of this, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-196383 proposes a thermal transfer printer in which no history of printing contents remains on the ink ribbon. In this thermal transfer printer, an erasing head that melts ink is arranged on the take-up spool side of the ink ribbon, and the ink that has been melted by the erasing head is absorbed by an absorbing roller, so that the history of the ink ribbon can be erased. ing. As described above, in this thermal transfer printer, it is necessary to separately incorporate the erasing head and the absorbing roller, and there is a problem that the configuration of the printer is complicated.

The present invention has been proposed in order to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, and the history of the printed contents can be recorded on the thermal transfer ink ribbon without adding additional erasing components. An object of the present invention is to provide a bar code printing method in a thermal transfer printer that can prevent the ink from remaining.

[0006]

In order to achieve this object, a bar code printing method according to the present invention is a thermal transfer printer, in which a print control unit for performing print control, a print memory for storing print data of a bar code, A non-inversion buffer that passes the bit data of the bar code read from this print memory by the print control unit without inverting it, an inversion buffer that passes the same bit data by inversion, and non-inversion based on the selector signal from the print control unit. The selector has a selector for selecting and outputting one of the output of the buffer and the output of the reversing buffer, and a print head for printing the print data of the bar code selected by the selector on the paper via the thermal transfer ink ribbon. After printing the barcode with non-inverted or inverted bit data selected by By returning the ink ribbon to the initial position where this bar code was printed, and printing the bar code with inverted or non-inverted bit data selected by the selector on the paper, the history of the printed contents does not remain on the thermal transfer ink ribbon. The configuration is

[0007]

According to the above-mentioned structure, after the bar code based on the non-inverted or inverted bit data is printed on the paper, the thermal transfer ink ribbon is rewound to print the bar code based on the inverted or non-inverted bit data. Therefore, the bar code printing portion of the ink ribbon is entirely white, and the bar code printing history does not remain on the ink ribbon.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Specific embodiments of the bar code printing method according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. In Figure 1,
The block diagram of the thermal transfer printer comprised by this barcode printing system is shown. In this figure, this thermal transfer printer includes a microprocessor 1 as a control unit for performing print control, a print memory 2 for storing print data, and a selector 5 without inverting bit data read from the print memory 2. Non-inverting buffer (inverter) 3 supplied to
, The inversion buffer 4 which inverts the same bit data and supplies it to the selector 5, and one of the output from the non-inversion buffer 3 or the output from the inversion buffer 4 to select the print head 6.
And the output of this selector is supplied via a drive circuit (not shown) to generate heat according to the bit pattern of the print data, melt the thermal transfer ink ribbon 7, and print a bar code on the paper 8 And have.

The selector 5 is switched by the selector signal S1 output from the microprocessor 1. Further, when the non-reversed bar code is printed and then the reversed bar code is continuously printed, the microprocessor 1 returns the address of the print memory 2 to the initial value of the corresponding bar code, and the thermal transfer ink ribbon 7 is replaced. Rewind to the initial position where you started printing the barcode.

Next, the operation of the thermal transfer printer thus constructed will be described. First, when the microprocessor 1 receives print data from the host device, the print data is written in the memory 2. The print data stored in the print memory 2 is read by the microprocessor 1 in synchronization with the conveyance of the paper 8 and sent to the selector 5 through the non-inverting buffer 3 and the inverting buffer 4. Here, in the print data that has passed through the inversion buffer 4, "0" of bit data is inverted to "1" and "1" is inverted to "0".

When a bar code is printed by a normal method, the selector 5 selects all the non-inverting buffers 3, and the print head 6 prints the content of the print memory 2 on the paper 8 as it is. The barcode 9 shown in FIG. 2 is an example printed by this printing method.

When performing printing by the printing method according to the present invention, first, as in the case of FIG. 2, the microprocessor 1 scans the address of the printing memory 2 from the initial value of the corresponding bar code to read the printing data, and By selecting the inversion buffer 3 by the selector 5, the non-inverted barcode 10 is printed on the paper 8 as shown in FIG. continue,
When the printing of the bar code 10 is completed, the microprocessor 1 returns the address of the print memory 2 to the initial value, returns the thermal transfer ink ribbon 7 to the initial position where the printing of the bar code 9 is started, and selects the selector signal S1. 5 is switched to the inversion buffer 4 side. Since the print data switched by the selector 5 is all inverted data, the inverted barcode 11 is printed by the print head 6. By performing printing in this manner, the bar code printing portion of the thermal transfer ink ribbon 7 is entirely blanked so that no history of printing contents remains on the ink ribbon 7.

It should be noted that first, a bar code based on the inverted bit data selected by the selector 5 is printed on the paper, and then the thermal transfer ink ribbon is returned to the initial position where this bar code is printed, and the selector 5 is used. Form the barcode 8 with the selected non-inverted bit data
It may be printed on.

According to the method of the present invention, the bar codes 10 and 11 printed on the paper 8 are read by, for example, an electric suction bar code reader, but the non-inverted and inverted bar codes 10 and 11 exist. Even if there is a read error in one of the data, the data read from the other one is used, so that highly reliable reading with redundancy can be performed.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, after the non-inverted or inverted bar code is printed, the thermal transfer ink ribbon is returned to the initial printing position of the bar code and inverted or non-inverted on the same paper. Since the inverted bar code is printed, the bar code printed portion of the ink ribbon is entirely white, and no history of the printed contents remains, and confidentiality can be maintained. Further, unlike the conventional case, since the erasing head and the absorbing roller are not used, there is an advantage that the configuration of the printer does not become complicated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a thermal transfer printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of normal barcode printing.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of barcode printing capable of preventing a history from remaining on a thermal transfer ink ribbon.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Microprocessor 2 Print memory 3 Non-reversal buffer 4 Reversal buffer 5 Selector 6 Print head 7 Transfer ink ribbon 8 Paper 9 Bar code 10 Non-reversed bar code 11 Reversed printed bar code S1 Selector signal

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. In a thermal transfer printer, a print control unit for performing print control, a print memory for storing print data of a bar code, and a bit data of a bar code read from the print memory by the print control unit are not inverted. A non-inversion buffer that passes through as it is, an inversion buffer that inverts the same bit data and passes through, a selector that selects and outputs either the output of the non-inversion buffer or the output of the inversion buffer based on the selector signal from the print control unit, It has a print head for printing the print data of the barcode selected by the selector on the paper via the thermal transfer ink ribbon, and after printing the barcode of the non-inverted bit data selected by the selector on the paper, Return the thermal transfer ink ribbon to the initial position where this bar code was printed and select it with the selector. Inversion of the bar code by the bit data by printing on the paper, a barcode printing system being characterized in that so as not to leave the printing contents of the history to the thermal transfer ink ribbon. 2. In a thermal transfer printer, a print control unit for performing print control, a print memory for storing print data of a bar code, and bit data of a bar code read from the print memory by the print control unit is not inverted. A non-inversion buffer that passes through as it is, an inversion buffer that inverts the same bit data and passes through, a selector that selects and outputs either the output of the non-inversion buffer or the output of the inversion buffer based on the selector signal from the print control unit, It has a print head that prints the print data of the bar code selected by the selector on the paper via the thermal transfer ink ribbon, and after the bar code by the inverted bit data selected by the above selector is printed on the paper, it is transferred by heat. Return the ink ribbon to the initial position where this barcode was printed,
A bar code printing method that prints a bar code based on the non-inverted bit data selected by the selector on the paper so that no history of printing contents remains on the thermal transfer ink ribbon.