JPS62245117A - Pi-character setting printing method for electronic charge balance with label printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily and accurately set a character pattern requiring a character space corresponding to a plurality of characters, by performing the cursor display of one character on a dot display apparatus wherein (n) pieces of character display parts having flashing dots of plural rows X plural lines are arranged in a row. CONSTITUTION:A cursor is displayed on a dot display apparatus 6 wherein (n) pieces of character display parts 10 having flashing dots 9 of plural rows X plural lines corresponding to one character are arranged in a row. At the setting time of Pi- characters corresponding to a plurality of characters, the display parts 10 of the apparatus 6 is divided into n/m pieces to set the phase of a pattern arranged in m-lines and the cursor is moved to allow the dots 9 to light in an arbitrary shape to form the character pattern of a character generator 18 and the content thereof is stored in a memory. At the time of printing, the character display parts 10 of the apparatus 6 are divided into n/m pieces to perform printing on the basis of the pattern arranged in m-lines. Even at the setting time of external characters requiring a space corresponding to a plurality of characters, said character pattern is imperfect but displayed on a display part 6 similarly. Therefore, the setting of the external characters or the correction of the set ones can be performed accurately and easily.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to an electronic price scale with a printer that prints and issues data regarding items weighed in a weighing section on a label.
Concerning how to set and print external characters to be printed on labels.

2. Description of the Related Art In general, character patterns such as letters and logos printed on labels are stored in a character generator having a ROM configuration. Therefore, it cannot be rewritten, which is inconvenient if you need characters or figures that are not available in the character generator.

Therefore, conventionally, there is a system in which a rewritable character generator is provided, and a character pattern of arbitrary characters or figures can be set on this character generator and this pattern can be printed. Specifically, the registration number of the area for inputting the character pattern to be set is specified, and data for forming the character pattern is input into that area.

The method for inputting this data is to
This is done by numerically designating an arbitrary dot from among the printed dots in columns x Y rows. The data thus input is stored and registered in the memory, and is recalled from the memory when printing.

In addition, for character patterns such as logos that require character space for multiple characters, input data by numerically specifying any dot from the X column x Y row of printed dots corresponding to the multiple characters. .

Problems to be Solved by the Invention Since the character pattern data for registering non-standard characters is numerical data, the character pattern cannot be visually captured during its setting.

For this reason, it is necessary to create a character pattern in advance, convert the data into numbers, and then input the data, which has the drawback that inputting and modifying the data is troublesome and difficult. In particular, it becomes more difficult to input or modify data for character patterns that require character spaces for multiple characters. Another disadvantage is that errors in input data cannot be detected until after the character pattern is printed on the label.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and allows for easy and accurate setting of character patterns even if the character pattern requires space for multiple characters, and also enables easy modification after setting. The purpose of this invention is to obtain a method for printing external character settings for an electronic fare scale with a label printer.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention displays a cursor on a dot display device in which n character display sections each having a plurality of columns and a plurality of rows of blinking dots corresponding to - characters are arranged in a row.

When setting external characters for multiple characters, assume a pattern in which the dot display device is divided into n/m character display areas and arranged in m lines, and move the cursor to light up the blinking dots in an arbitrary shape. Create a character pattern for the character generator. The contents of this character pattern are stored in memory. When printing, the dot display device is divided into n/m character display areas and printed in a pattern arranged in m lines.

Thus, the character pattern of the character generator being set is displayed as a blinking dot on the dot display device. Even when setting a custom character that requires space for multiple characters, the character pattern is displayed in the same way, although not in its perfect shape. Therefore, it is possible to easily and accurately set external characters and modify the settings.

In particular, setting and modifying external characters, which require space for multiple characters, becomes significantly easier.

Embodiment of the Invention An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 9. The external structure is shown in FIG. 2. A rectangular parallelepiped-shaped main body case 2 having an operating surface 1 slanted toward the negative side is provided. A weighing plate 3 is disposed on the upper surface of the main body case 2. This weighing plate 3 is connected to a weighing section 4 provided inside the main body case 2. This weighing section 4 uses a load cell. The operation surface 1 is provided with a keyboard 5, a display section 6 as a dot display device, and a label issuing port 8 for issuing a label 7, respectively. The display section 6 has eight character display sections 10 arranged in a row, each consisting of 16x16 blinking dots 9 corresponding to the - character. Further, the label issuing port 8 is a part of the printer unit 11 provided inside the main body case 2 and communicates with the outside. This printer section 11 consists of a thermal printer. Furthermore, the keyboard 5
As shown in FIG. 5, the keypad is made up of a collection of various numeric keys 12.

Next, a CPU 13 is provided, the connection state of each part being shown as a block diagram in FIG. The scale section 4 is connected to the CPU 13, the keyboard 5 is connected via the display section 6, and the printer section 11 is connected via a print buffer memory 14. In addition, the above C
For PU13, program ROM15. memory 1
6. A character generator □17 and a character generator 218 are also connected to each other.

Here, details of the operation control system of the printer section 11 will be explained in the sixth section.
It is shown as a block diagram in the figure. A print controller 20 is provided to which print command signals and signals from the label detector 19 are applied. This print controller 2o includes a thermal head 21. Print image RAM22. Pulse motors 23 are connected to each. In particular, the thermal head 21 and the print image RAM 22 are connected so that various signals are sent from the print controller 2o, and a connection relationship also exists between the thermal head 21 and the print image RAM 22. . Further, the print image RAM 22 is connected to the CPU 13 so that various data are sent via the character generator converter 24. Further, the pulse motor 23 is connected to the print controller 20 via a motor driver 25, and the pulse motor 23 operates as part of a mechanism for conveying the label 7.

In such a configuration, data regarding the item weighed by the weighing section 4 is printed on the label 7 by the printer section 11, and is issued from the label issuing port 8.

On the other hand, character patterns of letters and figures to be printed on the label 7 are stored in the character generator 17 and the character generator 218, and are stored in the memory 16. The character generator 17 stores non-rewritable data. One character generator 218 is for setting external characters, and stores rewritable data. Here, the method for setting external characters will be explained based on the flowchart of FIG. first.

The setting mode is selected using the setting key 12a of the keyboard 5, the external character registration mode is selected, and the external character registration number is input. At this time, a cursor (not shown) is displayed on the display section 6. Therefore, while moving this cursor, a character pattern of desired characters and figures is created on the display section 6. Specifically, the cursor is ↑ key 12b, ↓ key 1
2c, ← key 12d, →12e to move. When the cursor is positioned at a desired position, the blinking dot 10 at the position is turned on or off. To turn on the light, press the wind/wind setting key 12f. To turn off the light, press the off key 1
Press 2g to create an arbitrary character pattern using the illuminated portions of the flashing dots 10, and then press the key 12h to complete the external character registration.

Here, normal characters are created within the frame of the character display section 9, but logos and the like can also be created in the character space for multiple characters. That is, the character pattern of the character generator 218 in such a case is created under a pattern in which the display section 6 is divided into two and arranged in two lines.

It is shown in FIG.

Therefore, in order to create a character pattern of a pig's face as shown in the figure, a figure as shown in FIG. 1 is formed on the display section 6. Formation of such a figure is performed in the character display section 10a.
This is performed on the assumption that the character display section 10a overlaps the character display section 10a', and the character display section 10b overlaps the character display section 10b'. In this way, it is possible to register a character pattern of a maximum size equivalent to the size of the character F as a non-standard character.

Next, the printing operation on the label 7 will be explained. When a print command is issued, the label detector 19 detects whether or not the label 7 is present at the printing position. If printing is OK, the thermal head 21 operates and the pulse motor 2
3, the label 7 is conveyed. At the same time, the weighing section 4
The weighing data regarding the weighed items and the input data from the keyboard 5 are sent to the character generator converter 24.
The data is sent to the print image RAM 22 through the .

In this print image RAM 22, print images of characters and figures to be printed on the label 7 are created,
Based on this, printing is performed on the label 7 by the thermal head 21. An example of various items printed on the label 7 is shown in FIG. In addition, registered characters such as the pig's face in the same figure that use character space for multiple characters are created under a pattern in which the display section 6 is divided into two and arranged in two rows. The image is stored in the print image RAM 22. That is, when setting external characters, a character pattern input as a segmented pig's face as shown in FIG. 1 is converted into a normal pig's face as shown in FIG. 9 and printed on the label 7. It is.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the external character setting is performed by creating the character pattern to be set on the display section 6, so the character pattern is visually shown, and the external character setting is easily performed. Become. At the same time, you can also expect accurate external character settings. In particular, when setting external characters that use spaces for a plurality of characters, the ease of setting operations and the accuracy of setting contents become even more remarkable.

Effects of the Invention The present invention displays a cursor on a dot display device in which n character display sections each having blinking dots in multiple columns x multiple rows corresponding to characters are arranged in a row, and sets external characters for multiple characters. Sometimes, the dot display device is divided into n/m character display areas, and the character pattern of the character generator is created by moving the cursor and lighting up the blinking dot 1- in an arbitrary shape, assuming a pattern in which characters are displayed in n/m lines. , store this content in memory, and when printing it, divide the dot display device into n / m character display areas and print m
Since the pattern is arranged in lines, the character pattern to be set is visually indicated on the dot display, making it easier to set the character pattern even if the character pattern spans the space of multiple characters. Accuracy is achieved, and the pattern once set can be easily modified.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a display section showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
The figure is a perspective view of an electronic fare scale with a label printer, Figure 3 is a block diagram thereof, Figure 4 is a front view showing an enlarged view of one of the character display sections, Figure 5 is a front view of the keyboard, and Figure 6. is a block diagram of the printer section, Figure 7 is a flowchart showing the operation flow for setting external characters, Figure 8 is a diagram showing the character pattern when input as shown in Figure 1, and Figure 9 is printing on a label. FIG. 3 is a front view of a label showing an example. 6... Display section (dot display device), 9... Flashing dot, 10-°° character display section, 16... Memory, 18.
...Character Generator 2 (Character Generator) Applicant: Tokyo Electric Co., Ltd. Agent: Akira Aiki::1
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Claims (1)

[Claims] The cursor is displayed on a dot display device in which n character display sections each having blinking dots in multiple columns x multiple rows corresponding to one character are arranged in a row, and when setting external characters for multiple characters, the dot display device is used to display the character A character pattern of a character generator is created by moving the cursor to light up the blinking dots in an arbitrary shape, assuming a pattern divided into n/m display areas and arranged in m rows. Store the contents of in memory,
When printing, the dot display device is moved to the character display area n.
A method for printing external character settings for an electronic price scale with a label printer, characterized in that printing is performed in a pattern divided into /m pieces and arranged in m lines.