JP2003165258A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer in which a print area of one sheet can be set variably on a continuous form. <P>SOLUTION: The number B of inter-label gaps being detected before ending print operation of one sheet is set in a memory 33 and the area of a continuous form where the number A of inter-label gaps detected by a label sensor 43 does not reach the number B of inter-label gaps is regarded as a print area of one sheet before print data is printed in that area under control of a print control means 33. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a printer that can variably set a print area on a continuous sheet. 2. Description of the Related Art Thermal printers for printing on labels or tags pasted on continuous paper have become widespread. As shown in FIG. 3, the labels a, b, and c are pasted on the continuous paper 11 at gaps g1, g2, and g3, and thereafter, the labels a, b, and c are repeatedly pasted in the same manner. I have. When printing on such a label, a gap between the labels is detected by a transmission sensor, and when one gap is detected, it is determined that the issuance of one label is completed, and the next one is printed. Cueing process of the label of. When printing on a label having the configuration shown in FIG. 3, first, the size of the label a and the print data "AIUEO" are transmitted to the thermal printer, and then an issue command is transmitted. Then, the print data "AIUEO" is printed on the label a until the gap g1 is detected by the transmission sensor. When the transmission sensor detects the gap g1, printing of the first label is completed. [0006] Thereafter, after the second label "b" is located at the beginning, the size of the label "b" and the print data "ABC" and "XYZ" are transmitted to the thermal printer, and then an issue command is transmitted. Then, until the transmission sensor detects the gap g2, the print data “ABC” and “XY” are printed on the label “b”.
"Z" is printed. Then, when the gap g2 is detected by the transmission sensor, printing of the second label is completed. Thereafter, printing on the label c is performed in the same manner. Further, consider the case of continuous paper 21 as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B. 23 is continuous paper 2
1 shows black marks printed at equal intervals on the back surface of No. 1. The area of the tag 22 sandwiched between the adjacent black marks 23 is the size of one sheet. Therefore, when the size of one sheet is set to be three times larger than that shown in FIG. 5A as shown in FIG. 5B, the interval between the black marks 23 is accordingly large. 21 must be prepared. This is because the thermal printer recognizes the area from the black mark 23 to the next black mark 23 as one sheet. As shown in FIG. 3, since a label sandwiched between the gaps is recognized as one label, each of the labels a, b, and c has a label a,
The dimensions b and c, print data, and issue command had to be transmitted. Therefore, when image data is included in the print data, the amount of communication data increases, so that there is a problem in that the throughput for label printing becomes slow. FIG. 5 (A) shows the print issue and FIG. 5 (B)
In order to issue the print, the continuous paper 21 has to be replaced. Therefore, there is a problem that the replacement operation is troublesome. The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printer capable of variably setting one print area on continuous paper. According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer, comprising:
For example, the number of black marks is set in the setting unit, and the area of the continuous paper is determined as one printing area until the number of black marks detected by the detecting unit reaches the number set by the setting unit. The print control means prints the print data in the area. Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of the thermal printer. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 31 denotes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) for controlling the entire thermal printer. A flash ROM (read only memory) 32, a RAM (random access memory) 33, a communication I / F (interface) 34, a head control unit 35, a motor control unit 36,
A D / A (digital / analog) converter 37 and an analog input unit 38 are connected. A thermal head 41 is connected to the head control unit 35, and a transport motor 42 is connected to the motor control unit 36. The transport motor 42 is a motor for transporting the continuous paper 11 or 21, and is constituted by a stepping motor. The flash ROM 32 stores a program (print control means) for performing the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. The RAM 33 has a drawing buffer 33a.
In addition, a gap detection counter A for counting the gap is provided. The D / A converter 37 outputs a drive signal for emitting light to the label sensor (transmission type) 43, the label sensor (reflection type) 44, and the strip sensor (reflection type) 45. . Label sensor (transmission type) 43
Are the gaps g1 and g2 as detected portions shown in FIG.
g3... are sensors for detecting g3. The light emitted from the label sensor (transmission type) 43 has a gap g1,
g2, g3,... are received by the analog input unit 38. Further, the label sensor (reflective type) 44 emits light for detecting the black mark 23 as a detected portion shown in FIG. This label sensor (reflective type) 4
The light emitted from 4 is received by the analog input unit 38. The black mark 23 is detected using the fact that the amount of light reflected by the black mark 23 is smaller than the amount of light reflected by portions other than the black mark 23. Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described. The thermal printer shown in FIG.
Is connected to a personal computer PC. Then, from this personal computer PC, FIG.
The data required for performing label printing as shown in FIG. Data transmitted from the personal computer PC to the thermal printer includes format data, print data, the number of gap detections B, the number of issued sheets T, and issued commands. The format data is a dimension for each of the labels a, b, and c. The print data is “AIUEO”, “AB”
C "," XYZ ", and" 123-456 ".
It is treated as print data for one sheet. “3” is set as the gap detection number B. That is, the gap g1,
When g2 and g3 are detected, they are recognized as one print data. First, data is received via the communication I / F 34 (step S1). Next, the command analysis is determined from the received data (step S).
2). If it is determined that the command is a drawing command as a result of the command analysis, the print data is developed as a bit map in the drawing buffer 33a of the RAM 33 based on the format data and the print data (step S3). ). That is, "Aio", "ABC", "XY"
Z "and" 123-456 "are developed as bitmap data in the drawing buffer 33a. On the other hand, as a result of the determination in step S2, when it is determined that the command is a print command, that is, when it is determined that the command is an issuance command, the printing process is started by the processes from step S4. First, the gap detection counter A is cleared, and the gap detection number B is set in the RAM 33 (step S4). Then, a printing process is performed (step S
5). That is, the print data already developed in the drawing buffer 33a is sent to the head control unit 35 and printed by the thermal head 41. Then, it is determined whether a gap has been detected by the label sensor 43 (step S6). If the determination in step S6 is "NO", that is, if no gap is detected, the printing process in step S5 is continued. By the way, in the determination of step S6, "YE
S ", that is, when it is determined that a gap has been detected, the gap detection counter A is incremented by one. Then, it is determined whether the content of the gap detection counter A has become equal to "B" (= 3) (step S7). If the determination in step S8 is "NO", the printing process in step S5 is continuously performed. On the other hand, if "YES" is determined in the determination in step S8, a cueing stop process is performed (step S9). That is, when three gaps g1, g2, and g3 are detected by the label sensor 43, step S8 is performed.
Is determined to be “YES”. That is, the printing of one sheet is completed. Then, the number of issued sheets T is decremented by "-1" (step S11). Then, it is determined whether "T>0", that is, whether there is a designated remaining number (step S11). If the determination in step S11 is "NO", the process returns to step S4, and the subsequent processes are repeated. On the other hand, "YES" in the determination in step S11.
Is determined, it is determined that all printing of the issued number T has been completed, and the process returns to step S1. Then, the next data receiving process is performed. As described above, by setting "3" as the gap detection number B, the labels a,
b and c are treated as one sheet, and the print data “Aioeo”, “ABC”, “XYZ”, and “123-456” can be transmitted together with one issuing command. Therefore, it is possible to improve the throughput of print issuance. In the above embodiment, the case where the labels a, b and c are repeatedly applied to the continuous paper 11 as shown in FIG. 3 has been described. However, FIG.
As shown in (B), for the black mark 23 as the detected portion printed on the continuous paper 21 at the same interval, the black mark detection number B is appropriately set as a value corresponding to the gap detection number B. By doing so, labels with different dimensions can be issued. That is, the label in FIG. 4A is set to “1” as the number of detected black marks B, and the label in FIG. 4B is set to “3” as the detected number B of black marks. Thus, printing can be performed by operating the flowchart of FIG. Therefore, as described in the conventional example, FIG.
As shown in (A) and (B), there is no need to easily prepare continuous paper 21 having different black mark 23 intervals, and it is possible to save the trouble of resetting the paper in the printer. For this reason, the printing operation can be simplified. In the above-described embodiment, a gap or a black mark is detected as a portion to be detected, but a notch may be detected. As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a printer capable of variably setting one print area on continuous paper.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a thermal printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the thermal printer according to the embodiment; FIG. 3 is a plan view showing continuous paper to which the label according to the embodiment is attached. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a continuous sheet to which the tag according to the embodiment is attached. FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a continuous sheet to which a tag according to the related art is attached. [Description of Signs] 31 ... CPU, 32 ... Flash ROM, 41 ... Thermal head, 42 ... Transport motor, 43,44 ... Label sensor, 45 ... Strip sensor.

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. A detecting means for detecting a detected part formed on a continuous sheet, and a setting means for setting the number of detected parts until printing of one sheet is completed. And determining that the area of the continuous paper is a single print area until the number of detected parts detected by the detection means reaches the number set by the setting means, and prints print data in that area. A printer comprising control means.