FR2484331A1 - - Google Patents

Abstract

PRINTING DEVICE IN BAR CODES AND IN PRINTING CHARACTERS USED IN PARTICULAR WITH A TICKET ISSUANCE SCALE. THE PRINTER ELEMENTS 30, 31 ARE ARRANGED IN TWO SUCCESSIVE ROWS 33, 57 WITH AN OFFSET SUCH THAT THE ELEMENTS 31 OF THE SECOND ROW 57 ARE IN FRONT OF THE INTERVALS 36 WHICH SEPARATE THE ELEMENTS 30 OF THE FIRST ROW OF KIND AS A COMMAND APPROPRIATE ALLOWS TO WRITE EITHER IN CLASSIC PRINTING CHARACTERS OR IN WHITE AND BLACK BAR CODE OF VARIOUS WIDTHS.

Description

The object of the invention is a device

  matrix printer for printing, for example, data

  such as the nature, quantity and / or price of a good, on a ticket allocated to it. This ticket can be used to record the price or weight of the goods and therefore be

  directly attached to it or to its packaging by colla-

  ge, stapling, or by a similar means. Such a ticket can also be attached to the merchandise without being attached to it, and the buyer can present this ticket to a cashier, for

  pay the amount and enter into possession of the goods

  say. The selling price, or at least all the data necessary for its determination; are represented on the ticket by alphanumeric symbols which can be easily read by the buyer who is so informed

  the type, quality and quantity of the goods

  say. The customer can then make his purchase decision in

  according to these data. The seller at the checkout must

  troduce, through the keypad of the latter, the necessary data.

  the determination of the amount to be paid and the data which may have to be recorded for the commercial management and which appear on the ticket; this work is long and easily subject

  to errors when the seller is unresponsive.

For data representation

  alphanumeric, a matrix printer is satisfying

  health. It comprises a plurality of writing elements such as dots which are electrically selectively controlled, so that the symbols appear dot-shaped on a writing medium. For this, this support (which a detached end part is the ticket) is moved in accordance with the activation of the elements. As a writing medium, it is recommended to use a heat-sensitive paper strip for thermal writing, on which the representation of the symbols is done by dots formed by heating.

  pulses of the elements by means of electrical impulses

  c. Such a matrix printer operates without a movable member in the region of the elements. It is simple and

  economical to realize and is distinguished by its high speed

  it works and its great reliability. In addition, such a matrix printer makes it possible to apply on the ticket not only alphanumeric symbols but also graphics. The reason for this is that the alphanumeric data on the ticket can not be read by a device as such and therefore always requires the use of personnel to read the data and manually enter it into a recording device. With devices of another kind,

  it is known to represent data by a graphical code.

  for example by a code called barcode, which is easily ready for automatic reading. In this case, the data is applied on a support where they are in the form of light and dark bands of various widths. When scrolling through the medium of

  data in front of a reading station of a machine, the data

  are immediately taken over by the latter without the

  intermediary of human intervention. The defect of these

  devices is that they require

  complicated ones that are prone to breakdowns. In addition, such data carriers can not be read such

  which customers who want to learn about the quality of

  the quantity or price of a good. In order to offer this possibility to customers, it is necessary to associate

  to the goods a ticket bearing a representation

  3o phanumeric data. We must therefore provide, in addition,

  a device of the kind mentioned at the beginning.

The main purpose of the invention is to

  to achieve a simple and economical device,

  mantis, opening up a new field of application

  tions, printing both in classical characters of im-

  only in a machine-readable barcode.

  This object is achieved according to the invention by the fact that the print head has at least

  two rows of printing elements located one

  on top of each other, the elements of the second row

  (in the direction of advance of the medium receiving the

  criptions) being in alignment with the free intervals separating the elements of the first row and having a useful writing surface which covers at least the blanks that said gaps create between the writing tracks of the elements of the first row; Furthermore

  at least for part of the length of the ticket the

  selective selection of the elements of the two rows is made according to the speed of advance of the writing medium, so that the data relating to the goods are

  presented on the support, in the form of

  bar code consisting of bands whose

is used for coding.

The addition of a second row

  of writing elements in a printhead

  not a lot of room because the activity of these elements

  requires only electrical conductors

  to order them0 All other organs, by

  example, those who cooperate in the movement of

  by the inscriptions, are used by these elements together with the other elements. The structural simplicity and speed of action of the printer to

  matrix are preserved. Thus, the device according to

  It is also suitable for graphical representation using this commodity data printer. These data appear on the medium in the form of light and dark lines having a width corresponding to the code applied. The code

  called UPC-System (Universal Products Code) is suitable

  me graphic code of this kind. In what follows, such a code will be called abbreviated barcode. It is therefore possible, with the same device that prints data

  alphanumerics on a ticket, to print also des-indi-

  which can be easily read by automatic means. The device according to the invention which provides the ticket readable by the customers and the sellers allows,

  without requiring extra work, to use the new

  function of the printer for printing data.

  machine readable. If the data input device, for example the keyboard of a scale, is used by an operator, the matrix printer writes

  then not only the usual alphanumerical

  on the ticket, but also, for example in the area

  bottom of the ticket, the same indications in

  ble by a machine. This gives a device

  nishing a ticket suitable for all conceivable purposes.

  this ticket can be read just as well by men

only by machines.

  The dark and light bands of a barcode are easily produced by placing the elements of the two rows in the print head in a condition of activity or inactivity, in pairs,

  depending on the width of the coding bands.

  A straight line pattern is obtained

  when one chooses, for the sequence of the pulses of com-

  electrical elements, a relatively high frequency

  fast with respect to the feedrate of the writing medium

  ture, so that the different points succeed each other without interruption. In all cases, a strip drawn with edges that are sufficiently sharp for reading by a machine is obtained. By controlling at least two or more adjacent pairs of elements of the two rows, a wider band is obtained as required by the code 30 of representation of certain numbers. The direction of strip-shaped layouts is determined very simply

  by the advance movement of the support receiving these traces.

  The transition from the digital representation of a symbol to its coded representation in barcode is ensured

  automatically by the device. Command keys

  of, or similar means provided on the device allow, if necessary, to suppress one or the other

  modes of representation of the data.

  As, with the staggered arrangement of the various rows of elements, virtually every point

  the support can receive a trace, one could also

  read another orientation of the relative code bars

  to the direction of advance of the support, this other orienta-

  It may be diagonal, for example at 45, with respect to the direction of advance or may have any inclination. We will use the provision of

  the most favorable code bar in each case of application

  cation. With two adjacent rows of elements, we will give in the simplest case, at the useful surface

  of the elements of the second row one

  such as are filled in the blanks left between

  the lines produced by the elements of the other row.

  Tolerances mean that it is not always possible to maintain such contact points for a long time without the formation of a gap, and that is why, to improve reliability, it is advantageous that the lines of the elements of the two rows overlap more or less. This recovery is particularly advantageous with

  the writing supports which, after a first

  tion of a writing area, can not become more

  when, as a result of such recovery, the activation of

  This area should be repeated one or more times. In this case, it is recommended, to give a

  uniform structure to the matrix printer, that the

  parts of all the rows have substantially the same writing area. Like, in the case of a code

  when moving away from a modular width of

  nimal, it is recommended that the overlap of the elements of the two rows be made in such a way that these elements are asymmetrically shifted mutually, so that only a lateral range of an element in a row is aligned with the blank left between neighboring paths made by elements

from the other row.

  A layout of the elements according to

  the invention is finally also advantageous for the re-

  presentation of data by alphanumeric characters. The point type of the representation obtained is largely attenuated and we obtain characters

  continuous lines that are more easily

  by the eye. Since many elements can be used for the representation of data as alphanumeric characters, we finally obtain

  less wear and tear of the elements when editing ticks

  of the usual kind, so that the use value of the

  device is also increased for this kind of use.

lisation.

  As already mentioned, any bar coding system can be used. It is

  instead of the aforementioned UPC system one could use

  be the EAN (European Article Number) system. Instead of a pulse control of the elements of the matrix printer, producing a sequence of points on the support during the advance of the latter, it would be possible, of course, to use a continuous command producing by nature a continuous path when the media is moved. This last type of command is to be used with elements capable of

  to support this kind of continuous solicitation.

  We will now give a description

  several embodiments of the invention, without limiting intent. Reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a view showing

  a scale issuing tickets, in accordance with the invention

  tion; - Figure 2 is a sectional view

  and in elevation of the printer from the scale of the figu-

  Fig. 3 is a detail view on a greatly enlarged scale of a substantial portion of the printer of Fig. 2; FIG. 4 shows, also on an enlarged scale, the bar code representation of the digits 6 and O, carried out by way of example by the member of FIG. 3; Figure 5 shows, still at

  enlarged scale, an example of the alphanumeric

  matrix printer numeric, in the case where only one row of elements is used; FIG. 6 shows a greatly enlarged ticket issued with the device of the invention D and FIG. 7 is a view from above of a portion of a matrix printer member, according to an alternative embodiment of FIG. compared to that of the

figure 3.

  The balance shown in FIG. 1 comprises a portion 11 intended to receive the

  loads and a weighing portion of display and impres-

  sion, hereinafter briefly referred to as the processing module.

  These two parts could be brought together in a single device but, in this case, they are separated

  from each other and connected by an electrical cable

  14. The load receiving portion 11 has a load plate 13 on which the goods 12 are placed whose weight must be determined. Inside this part there is a transducer or weight sensor which is of any kind known per se and which, by the connecting cable 14, provides pulses to the module

treatment 10.

  In this processing module 10 are input means 15 comprising keys which are used to enter data concerning the type the quantity or price of the goods concerned. 12. The determined weight, the unit price of the goods (for example the price per kilogram of merchandise), and the individual price of an article, may be indicated by a display device 16. The processing module

  further comprises a matrix printer 20 which records

  in a variety of ways, all these data on a ticket 19, an example of which is shown in FIG. 6. The basic structure of such a needle printer can be recognized in FIG. 2, from which it follows that: the printer 20 are

  arranged in a stack or envelope 17 of the processing module.

  10 a shutter 18 makes it possible to close. It goes without saying that we could also use a shoemaker or envelope

  separated from the processing module 10.

  Dere, is found first in a tray 219 support a roller 22 of a strip of paper 23 for thermal printing. This paper passes on guide surfaces 24

  or similar means to go to a head of impres-

  sion 25 itself. The shutter 18 is provided with a surveillance window 27 making it possible to observe from the outside the

  paper stock of the roll 22. The print head pro-

  25 to comprise, in order to produce a defined displacement of the pepier band 23, a carrier cylinder

  23 on which the tape goes to go to the next page.

  A cutter 28 is used to urge the blade 28 into a cut, which allows it to be grasped as a ticket 19. The printer 20, of the die type or

  needles comprises elements 30 which, in the case

  heat, cause by heating an inscription on the paper strip 23. For this, the elements 30 can

  be controlled electrically, by pulses. As indicated

  3, the elements 30 are arranged on a flexible plate 32, in a row 33 which extends over the entire printing width of the paper web 23. As can be seen in FIG. pressing member 34 of the print head 25; Pushed by a spring ,, maintains

  the flexible plate 32 provided with the elements 30 pressed

  be the strip of paper 23 that passes around the cylinder

  26. Guide members 35 cooperate with the guide

  dage. As shown in Fig. 39 for their mutual, thermal and electrical insulation, the elements 30 are arranged with gaps 36 on the plate 32 made of a suitable material. The useful surface (useful from the point of view of writing) of the elements 30 is shown in hatching in FIG. 3. Conductors 37 serving to control them individually are mutually isolated and

  are also mounted on the flexible plate 32 and

  weave contact members 38 which are provided on opposite edges of the plate. These contact members 38 with a connector configuration are, after mounting, in engagement with conjugated contact elements 39 which, like

  shown in Figure 2, are mounted on a circuit board.

  printed bake 40 which further carries other components 41, such as memory components, serving the -command

electric.

  While using the printer

  to matrix, the elements 30 are used in the first place.

  for alphanumeric entry of desired data or graphic symbols. Figure 5 shows, as an example,

  the representation of the letter T obtained by the com-

  requested elements. The order of order

  comes from the control means being in the part

  balance and is transmitted according to the representative

  This memory is a PROM (ie a programmable read only memory) and part of the mentioned components 41. A defined advance of the paper web 23 in the print head 25 and a corresponding selective control of the elements 30, lead to the realization of the character shown by way of example in FIG. 5. During an advance of two steps of the band 239 a plurality of neighboring elements 30 is

  ordered, which - as shown in Figure 5 -

  on the strip 23 of the dots 42 having a contour cor-

  corresponding to the cross-sectional profile of the elements 30.

  If nothing else happens, there remain between the points 42 of the free spaces 43 which are determined by the in-

  mentioned above 36 which separate the elements 30.

  The T bar is composed of short traces of

  44, as shown in Figure 5. The advance 63 which

  leads from one point to another 42 of a row of writing points

  In FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is chosen so that between two writing points there is a small gap 45, which could, however, be eliminated in FIG.

  region of each of the lines 44, using a

  addition of the elements 30 between two points of advance of the paper, or by resorting to a more advance

  slow of it. The vertical intervals 43 are

  between the neighboring tracks 44 remain. The shaft of the

  T results, correspondingly, from repeated activation.

  of the corresponding element 30 of row 33 of the

  first, during the course of the displacement 63 of the band 23; horizontal gaps or "blanks" 45 between the points marked on the strip 23 may also

  be abolished by the means already mentioned.

The printer according to the invention

  in addition to printing not only graphics 46 and alphanumeric characters represented on the ticket 19 (Figure 6) but also a coded indication 50

  in a machine-readable bar code, this impres-

  bar code being obtained by means of the same

  elements 30 and similar additional elements 31.

  The alphanumeric symbols 47 may appear as constant indications at the top of ticket 19. These symbols include data 52 relating to the point of sale of the company, the graphics mentioned 46 may be added thereto, and further comprising a line or headband 51 indicating the units such as, for example, the unit of weight, the unit of price for a unit of weight, it

  and the unit in which the price of the goods is expressed

  say acquired. Then appear variable data 49 (briefly called "variables") aligned under the indications of the unit banner 51, these variables having already been displayed by the display means 16 of the processing module to be seen in whole or in part. Since it is interesting that they can be read by a machine, these variables 49 are written in barcode 50 on part of the ticket 19, under

  forms of dark 53 and clear 549 bands with

  The arrangement of these bands and their

  depends on the type of coding used and the number

  which they must represent. It will be explained in

referring to Figure 4.

The bar code drawn as a

  example in Figure 4 represents figures to help

  of a variation on the disposition and on the

  width of two dark bands (or bars) 53 and two

  clears 54 in a set of seven modular strips,

  It is using modular track tracks 55 representing

  each marked in dashed line in Figure 4. that the impres-

  sion is made in a zone 56 called zone of characters

assigned to each digit.

  In Fig. 4, two zones of character

  56 are shown, the number 6 in the left part and the number O in the right part by means of this code. In addition to the character areas 56 containing the numbers in coded form, the barcode printing includes other coded indications for

  of the reading device, such indications being for example

  zones of delimitation between neighboring areas of character. These indications are also provided by light and dark bars or strips having the width of a modular track 55, so that the explanations illustrated in FIG. 4 are an example sufficient to

to understand the invention.

In Figure 4, the figure 6 is

  printed on the left-hand side by the coding of the seven

  these modular 55, as follows: light-dark-light-dark-

  dark-dark-dark. As a result, it appears between

  two light bands 54, a thin dark band 53 on the

  what follows a dark band 53 occupying four modular traces. On the right side of FIG. 4, the modular traces 55 are blackened and non-blackened for

  represent the number 0, as follows: clear-clear-

  dark-dark-light-dark. The result is a wide light band 54, followed by a thin dark band 53,

  then a narrower clear band 54 which is itself

  even followed by a corresponding thin dark band 53.

  All this can be obtained by an order, or a non-order, appropriate and successive

  different elements 30, 31 in the body of FIG.

  re 3, while the paper strip is moved to the

  desired length when writing in barcode 50.

  The plate 32 comprises, in addition to the row 33 of elements,

  another row 57 of elements 31. These are decommissioned

  relative to the elements 30 of the upper row 33,

  so that in the direction of the advance (or moving

  of the paper web 23, they are aligned with the free gaps 36 left between the elements 30. In addition, the elements 31 of this neighboring row 57 have a writing surface such that, when printing points, the vertical intervals 43 visible in Figure 5 between the writing tracks 44 of the elements 30, are covered or masked suddenly sir. For safety reasons, the useful surfaces of the elements 30, 31 are chosen so that the writing tracks overlap

at least partially.

  To represent the dark band 53,

  on the left in FIG. 4, in the zone of left character

  Che 56, which band occupies only one modular trace, it is performed as shown by the lines in broken lines up to Figure 3 the successive control of the two elements 30, 51 which are on this tape and which

  belong to the two rows 33, 57 of the print head.

  if we. If, in order to increase the duration of these elements 50, 51, they are operated only by pulses, the sequence of pulses is chosen, with respect to the speed of displacement of the paper strip 23, so that, as already mentioned with regard to FIG. 5, there is as much as possible the disappearance of the horizontal white interval (see FIG. 5) between two successive points of a writing track 44. In this way, the band is obtained

  continuous dark 53 visible in FIG.

  The two light bands 54, which in FIG. 4 are on the side, simply result from the fact that, when printing the coded assembly 50, the corresponding elements 30, 31 of the two rows 33, 579 which are associated as shown by the dotted line between Figures 3 and 4, are not ordered. The very

  dark broadband 53 represented in the area of

  56 on the left half of FIG. 4 is simply obtained for the printing of the code 50 and, as indicated

  by the four modular lines 55 used by the Commission

  four neighboring pairs of elements 30, 31a

  The writing of the other figures is

  similarly. The printing thus made is visible at the bottom of the ticket 19 shown in Figure 6. o are listed in code 50 variables 49 located above. This ticket 19 is easily readable by the buyer in the area 48, 49. The same information can also be read in the barcode part.

  50, by reading means. Both kinds of indica-

  are created when printing the same ticket 19,

  by one and the same matrix printer 25.

  In the case of Figure 5, the representative

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * In practice, we will strive

  to use as far as possible all the elements

  30, 31 of the existing rows 33, 57, for the alphanumeric characters 47 of the ticket 19 of FIG. 6, in order to achieve as equal an utilization as possible of all the existing elements. This does not only affect the duration elements but also on the readability of the characters which is improved since so the intervals or vertical whites 43 on

  the paper tape, which remain in the case of the

5, then disappear. FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment variant of a printing head

  25 shown in a similar manner to that used for FIG.

  so that the references are the same as those used

  for the previous example. The description given

  that here is still valid. The essential difference lies above all in the fact that the elements 31 have a useful writing surface which is the same as that of the elements 30 of the upper row 33. As a result, the intervals 36 of the row 33 are found, from corresponding manner, as intervals 58 between the elements 31 of the row 57. The elements 31 may have their media arranged substantially in alignment

  with the free interval 36 which separates the elements 30.

  However, in Figure 7, an asymmetrical shift has been

  two rows 33, 57, so that, as indicated by

  with broken lines in Figure 7,

  the writing tracks 59, 60 of the elements 31, 30 are

  1 to a larger lateral area 61 than to the other side 62. To the extent that, again, a modular layout - in correspondence with that which is drawn in FIGS. 3 and 4 - derives from each times of two traces 60, 59 coming from a pair of elements, 31 partially superposed, one can then, for the printing of the light or dark bands of a code to

  bars, doubling or multiplying, again, the

  55, since the differences in the case of a

2484331-

  doubling are extremely low because of the thinness - overlapping side pads 62 of two modular paths and do not suddenly cause any error during the automatic reading. Moreover, with the elements 30, 31 of the two rows 33, 57, inscribed points having identical transverse dimensions are obtained.

  for writing on the ticket in alphanumeric characters

o

  As already mentioned, we could use

  more than two rows 33, 57 of elements for the writing of

  bar code and in alphanumeric characters on a ticket 19. It is not imperative that the rows 33, 57 are exactly perpendicular to the direction

  moving the paper web. They could also

  if arranged otherwise on the plate 32 which carries them

  This could be easily compensated for by an appropriate control of the elements. What is essential for the arrangement of the elements 30, 31 is the fact that their various writing tracks overlap so as to obtain dark and clear bars or bands without internal gaps. The density of the writing within these light and dark bands must always be chosen so that there is no error during the

  reading the code by a reading device.

  REVElNDICATIOnS 1) Matrix printer device for printing commercial data such as nature,

  quantity and / or price of a good, on a ticket

  to the goods, this device being part of

  particular of a ticket scale, including

  a print head provided with a plurality of elements

  point-type writing material, a support receiving the inscriptions, movable appropriately in front of the print head, consisting of a strip of paper

  thermal printing, including an extreme band

  the ticket, the writing elements being arranged

  in a row which is directed transversely to the movement

  movement of the support receiving the inscriptions and being separated from each other by intervals,

  these elements being electrically controllable

  selectively from the scale keypad for

  present data with alphanumeric symbols

  composed of dots, characterized in that the print head

  (25) comprises at least two rows (33, 57) of ele-

  ments (30, 31) situated side by side, the ele-

  (31) of the second row (57) in the direction

  of movement of the support 23 being aligned with the

  free webs (36) separating the elements (30) of the first row (33) and having a writing surface area which covers at least the blanks (43) that these gaps create between the writing tracks (44) elements (30) of the first row (33), while, at least over a portion of the length of the ticket, the selective control of the elements (30, 31) of the two rows (33, 57) is made according to the speed of movement of the writing medium (23) so that the goods data (49) are written on the carrier (23) in the form of continuous traces (53, 54) of a code to

  strip bars (50) whose width (55) is coded.

  2) Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the neighboring courses (60, 59) of the elements (30, 31) of the two rows (33, 57) overlap

mutually partly.

  3) Device according to any one

  claims 1, 2, characterized in that the surfaces

  these useful writing elements (30) (31) of the two

  rows (33) (57) are substantially identical.

  4) Device according to any one

  claims 2, 3 characterized by an asynchronous shift

  metric of the two rows (339 57) of elements, whereby a lateral range of the path (59) produced by an element (31) of the second row (57) is aligned with the white area separating two neighboring paths (60) created by

  elements of the first row (33).