JP2005169898A - Printer for printing product attribute mark and method for selecting product attribute mark - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer for printing a product attribute mark which judges which product attribute mark should be best-suited and can easily print it at any time, with regard to a variety of numerous product attribute marks such as recycle marks and environmental marks, and a method for selecting a product attribute mark. <P>SOLUTION: In this printer for printing a product attribute mark, the method aims at classifying a finished product into a packaging container and a finished product main body and providing a finished product name table storing product attribute marks. In order to select the best-suited mark, the printer is equipped with a product attribute mark table storing product attribute marks and the descriptions of their contents and a finished product name table storing the product attribute marks to be put to the packaging container and the finished product main body. In addition, the printer is operated in the following modes: a search start mode which enters a search keyword; a mark display mode which displays the product attribute mark corresponding to the packaging container or the finished product main body from the finished product name table; a container mark selection mode or a main body mark selection mode which selects the product attribute mark; and a printing mode which prints the product attribute mark. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

The present invention relates to a product characteristic mark printing printer and a product characteristic mark selection method, and more particularly to a product characteristic mark printing printer and a product characteristic mark selection method for printing product characteristic marks such as a recycling mark and an environmental mark. It is.

There has been a movement to give consideration to resources and the environment by giving a recycling mark for effective use of resources or an environmental mark to show that the product has taken into consideration the impact on the environment. It is growing.
However, not all recycling marks and environmental marks are attached to all products at the manufacturing and shipping stage of the product, and other parts even if they are attached to a part of the product (for example, the main body of the bottle) Some parts (for example, bottle lids) are not marked with product characteristic marks, and products sold by individual manufacturers or importers may not be marked with these product characteristic marks. In these cases, There is a problem in that it is necessary for a manufacturer or distributor of a product to attach a corresponding product characteristic mark to a corresponding product and display it later.
Furthermore, there are many types and numbers of product characteristic marks such as recycle marks and environmental marks, and it is difficult to determine which product characteristic mark is appropriate and optimal for a specific product.
Moreover, although there are cases where it is required to issue labels and other print output media printed with product characteristic marks for arbitrary products as described above, the necessary product characteristic marks themselves can be easily and easily provided. There is a problem that there is no printer that can print and issue or a mark selection method.

JP 2003-80769 A JP 2003-81237 A

    The present invention has been considered in view of the above problems, and a product characteristic mark printing printer and a product characteristic that a product manufacturer or distributor can attach a product characteristic mark such as a recycling mark or an environmental mark later. It is an object to provide a mark selection method.

    In addition, the present invention determines which product characteristic marks, such as recycle marks and environmental marks, which have a large number of types and numbers, are appropriate and optimal for specific products, and prints them on labels and other print output media. It is an object of the present invention to provide a product characteristic mark printing printer and a product characteristic mark selection method that can be performed.

    Further, the present invention provides a product characteristic mark printing printer and a product characteristic mark selection method capable of easily and easily printing and issuing a product characteristic mark itself necessary for a certain product as needed. Let it be an issue.

    That is, the present invention classifies products into their packaging containers and product bodies, provides a product name table storing product characteristic marks that can be attached to each, and inputs a search keyword for the product to package the product. The first invention is a product for printing various product characteristic marks related to resources or environment for various products. A printer for printing a characteristic mark, the product characteristic mark table storing the product characteristic mark and the description thereof, and the product that can be attached to the packaging container and the product body corresponding to the product name of the product. A product name table storing characteristic marks is provided, and a search key for the above products is provided. According to the search start mode for starting the search for the product characteristic mark corresponding to the product by inputting a word and the search keyword input in the search start mode, the packaging container or the A mark display mode for displaying the product characteristic mark corresponding to the product main body together with the description of the contents in the product characteristic mark table, and the packaging of the product from the product characteristic mark displayed in the mark display mode. Container mark selection mode or body mark selection mode for selecting the product characteristic mark that can be attached to the container or the product body, and printing for printing the product characteristic mark selected in the container mark selection mode or body mark selection mode. mode A product characteristic mark printing printer characterized by having a.

    A second invention is a product characteristic mark selection method for selecting various product characteristic marks related to resources or environment for various products, the product characteristic mark table storing the product characteristic mark and the description thereof, By providing a product name table storing the product characteristic mark that can be attached to the packaging container and the product main body corresponding to the product name of the product, and by inputting a search keyword for the product, A search start process for starting a search for the product characteristic mark corresponding to a product, and the product characteristics corresponding to the packaging container or the product main body from the product name table according to the search keyword input in the search start process. Mark the above description in the product characteristic mark table A mark display step for displaying both of them, and a container mark for selecting the product characteristic mark that can be attached to the packaging container or the product body of the product from the product characteristic marks displayed in the mark display step. A product characteristic mark selection method comprising a selection step or a body mark selection step.

    The product characteristic mark table can store the product characteristic mark and the description thereof corresponding to the product characteristic mark number assigned to the product characteristic mark related to the product.

    The search keyword can be the product name related to the product.

    An environmental mark determination mode for determining whether or not the product characteristic mark selected in the container mark selection mode or the main body mark selection mode is an environmental mark can be provided.

    The environment mark can have an authentication determination mode for determining whether authentication is necessary.

    The environmental mark can have a recycled paper use determination mode for determining whether or not there is a recycled paper use mark.

    A related item input determination mode for determining whether or not to input related items for the product characteristic mark selected in the container mark selection mode or the main body mark selection mode can be provided.

    As the print output medium or printing paper for performing the above printing, the form of a continuous label body in which a plurality of label pieces are temporarily attached to a belt-like mount is desirable. However, depending on the type or form of the product, a label or any other form may be used. In addition to being able to be adopted, a thermal transfer printing method, an ink jet method, a thermal coloring method, or any other method can be adopted as a printing method.

    In the product characteristic mark printing printer and the product characteristic mark selection method according to the present invention, the product characteristic mark table storing the product characteristic mark and the description thereof, and the packaging container and the product main body corresponding to the product name of the product are provided. A product name table storing each product characteristic mark that can be attached is provided, and a search keyword for the product is input to select each product characteristic mark that can be attached to the product packaging container or product body. Therefore, an appropriate product characteristic mark for any product can be selected or printed as necessary, and the printed product characteristic mark can be displayed on the product.

    In particular, according to the product characteristic mark printing printer according to the first invention, a product characteristic mark table and a product name table are provided, and a search start mode, a mark display mode, a container mark selection mode or a main body mark selection mode and a printing mode are provided. Thus, starting from the input of a search keyword, an environmental mark or a recycle mark for a predetermined product can be selected from a displayed product characteristic mark and printed according to a predetermined procedure.

In particular, according to the product characteristic mark selection method according to the second invention, a search start process, a mark display process, a container mark selection process or a main body mark selection process is provided as in the first invention. An environmental mark or a recycling mark can be selected according to a predetermined procedure.

    The present invention classifies product characteristic marks, such as recycling marks and environmental marks, into product packaging marks and product bodies for products to be marked with product characteristic marks, and classifies product characteristic marks into products, for example, product names, etc. The search keyword can be entered, and the product characteristic mark can be displayed and selected for each packaging container and product body of the product, and the necessary product characteristic mark can be selected or printed from among many types and numbers. Therefore, a product characteristic mark printing printer and a product characteristic mark selection method capable of selecting or printing an appropriate product characteristic mark as required for an arbitrary product have been realized.

Next, a product characteristic mark printing printer 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a product characteristic mark printing printer 1 which includes a label supply unit 2, a label position detection unit 3, a printing unit 4, and an ink ribbon supply unit. 5 and the ink ribbon winding unit 6 and a control circuit 7.

The label supply unit 2 winds and holds the label continuous body 8 in a roll shape, and allows the label supply unit 2 to be fed out in a strip shape in the direction of the label position detection unit 3 and the printing unit 4.
FIG. 2 is a plan view of the label continuum 8. The label continuum 8 has a plurality of label pieces 10 temporarily attached on a strip-shaped mount 9, and a position detection mark 11 on the back surface of the mount 9. Is printed in advance.

    The label position detection unit 3 includes a light reflection type sensor 12, and the light reflection type sensor 12 detects the position detection mark 11 on the back surface of the label continuum 8 (mounting sheet 2), and determines the position of the label piece 10. To detect.

The printing unit 4 includes a thermal head 13 and a platen roller 14. The label continuous body 8 is transferred by the rotational drive of the platen roller 14, and the thermal transfer ink ribbon 15 is supplied from the ink ribbon supply unit 5 to Predetermined print data is printed on the surface of the label piece 10 by the head 13.
If this thermal transfer ink ribbon 15 is equipped with three primary colors of blue, red and yellow, color printing is possible and it can correspond to various product characteristic marks. In addition, an ink jet method and other arbitrary printing methods can be used. The employed printing unit 4 can also be used.
The printed label continuum 8 can be in any form by inverting the mount 9 and peeling off the label piece 10 from the label continuum 8 or by winding the label continuum 8 on an arbitrary winding part (not shown) as it is. Used for use.

    3 is a schematic explanatory diagram of the control circuit 7. The control circuit 7 includes a CPU 16, a ROM 17, a RAM 18, an input operation panel control circuit 19, a label transfer control circuit 21, a thermal head control circuit 20, and the like. Are connected to each other by a bus 22.

    The CPU 16 controls each of the above parts according to various control programs stored in the ROM 17.

The ROM 17 stores a control program for the product characteristic mark printing printer 1 as a whole, various fixed data, IO constants, and the like, and has a product characteristic mark table 23 and a product name table 24.
The product characteristic mark table 23 stores a product characteristic mark and a description thereof, and includes an environmental mark table 25 and a recycle mark table 26.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the environmental mark table 25, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the recycle mark table 26.
The product characteristic mark table 23 stores a product characteristic mark and a description of the contents corresponding to the product characteristic mark number assigned to the product characteristic mark related to the product.
That is, the environmental mark table 25 and the recycle mark table 26 each have a product characteristic mark number column 27, a mark figure column 28, and a content description column 29.
The product characteristic mark number field 27 includes product characteristic mark numbers, and environmental marks include environmental mark numbers such as “A1”, “A2”,. . . And the like, for example, “B1”, “B2”,. . . Etc. are given.
The mark diagram column 28 specifically displays the environmental mark and the recycle mark.
The content explanation column 29 is a column explaining specific contents of the environmental mark and the recycle mark, and provides a guideline when the operator of the product characteristic mark printing printer 1 selects one of the marks. ing.
In the environment mark table 25 in FIG. 4 and the recycle mark table 26 in FIG. 5, for the marks that require items corresponding to the contents of the inquiry destination column 49 in FIG. is there.

The product name table 24 classifies and stores the product characteristic marks that can be attached to the packaging container and the product body corresponding to the product name of the product.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the product name table 24, and FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the product name table 24A of another aspect.
As shown in FIG. 6, the product name table 24 has a product name field 30, a packaging container field 31, and a product field 32. The packaging container field 31 is further classified and provided with a box field 31A and a bag field 31B. The product characteristic marks corresponding to the respective columns are indicated by environmental mark numbers (FIG. 4) or recycle mark numbers (FIG. 5).
As shown in FIG. 7, the product name table 24A is provided with a box column 31A, an environmental mark column 33, and a recycle mark column 34 corresponding to the product name column 30 and corresponding to the bag column 31B and the product column 32, respectively. Similarly, an environmental mark column 33 and a recycle mark column 34 are provided.
It is assumed that the data about the product characteristic mark table 23 and the product name table 24 in the ROM 17 can be changed or updated at any time.

    The RAM 18 has a flag, a work area, a print development area, and the like.

    The input operation panel control circuit 19 controls a display unit 35 provided with numeric keys and command keys for inputting various data and commands and a touch panel type display panel.

    The label transfer control circuit 21 controls driving of the platen roller 14 and the ink ribbon winding unit 6.

    The thermal head control circuit 20 controls driving of the thermal head 13.

The product characteristic mark printing printer 1 configured as described above prints various product characteristic marks related to resources or environment for various products. The printing operation will be described below.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart of operations based on various instructions or inquiries displayed on the display panel in the display unit 35, and displays the search start screen 40 (FIG. 9) in step S8-1 (search start mode). , Search start process).
That is, FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a search start mode in which a search for a product characteristic mark corresponding to a product is started by inputting a search keyword for the product, and a search keyword input field 41 is provided. A search keyword related to the product is entered in the keyword input field 41. As this search keyword, for example, this is the product name related to the product.
The search start screen 40 displays representative examples 42A of environmental marks and representative examples 42B of recycle marks.

    In step S8-2, it is determined whether this search keyword is in the product name table 24 (product name table 24A). If there is, the process proceeds to the packaging container flowchart (FIG. 10) in step S8-3.

That is, FIG. 10 is a flow chart of a packaging container for selecting a product characteristic mark for a product packaging container. In step S10-1, it is determined whether there is a packaging container in the product name table 24. 2 displays the packaging container screen 43 (FIG. 11) (mark display mode, mark display step).
That is, FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of the packaging container screen 43. The packaging container screen 43 displays the packaging container or product from the product name table 24 (product name table 24A) according to the search keyword entered in the search start mode. The product characteristic mark corresponding to the main body is displayed together with the description in the product characteristic mark table 23. The product characteristic mark table 23 (environmental mark table) is provided for each box 44A (cardboard box) and bag 44B as a product packaging container. 25, the contents of the recycle mark table 26) are displayed, and a division field 45 and a selection field 46 are provided together with a mark figure field 28 and a content explanation field 29. The classification field 45 displays the contents of whether the mark is an environmental mark or a recycling mark, and whether or not third-party authentication is required.
Thus, the product characteristic mark that can be attached to the product packaging container or the product body is selected from the product characteristic marks displayed in the mark display mode.
That is, the mark figure column 28 lists all the items that can be attached with both the environmental mark and the recycle mark, the category column 45 shows the classification of the environmental mark or the recycle mark, and the explanation in the content explanation column 29 Therefore, a predetermined mark can be selected by pressing a “select” button 47 in the selection field 46 (container mark selection mode or main body mark selection mode, container mark selection step or main body mark selection step).

Next, in step S10-4, it is determined whether the selected mark is an environmental mark or includes an environmental mark (environment mark determination mode, environmental mark determination step).
If there is an environmental mark, the process proceeds to step S10-5 to check or determine whether authentication by a third party is necessary, and display an authentication determination screen 48 (authentication determination mode, authentication determination step).
That is, FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing the authentication judgment screen 48. The authentication judgment screen 48 is provided with an inquiry destination field 49 and an authentication judgment field 50 together with a mark figure field 28, a content explanation field 29 and a classification field 45. If necessary, the inquiry destination column 49 is inquired and the “YES” button 51 or the “NO” button 52 in the authentication determination column 50 column is pressed to select whether or not the authentication is performed (step S10-6).

If not authenticated in step S10-6, the process returns to step S10-1. If authenticated, the product characteristic mark selected in the above-described container mark selection mode or main body mark selection mode in step S10-7. It is determined whether or not related items are input (related item input determination mode, related item input determination step).
That is, FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing the related item input selection screen 53. The related item input selection screen 53 includes a representative example 42A of the environmental mark, a representative example 42B of the recycle mark, and a related item example column 54. In addition, one of the “YES” button 51 and the “NO” button 52 can be selected.

If a related item is to be input, the related item is input in step S10-8.
That is, FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing a related item input screen 55. The related item input screen 55 is provided with a representative example 42A of environmental marks and a related item example column 54, and in the related item input column 56. Necessary items can be input, and necessary items are entered in the related item input field 56.

    Next, in step S10-9, the data input so far is temporarily stored in the RAM 18 or the like as print data for product characteristic mark output.

If there is no environmental mark requiring authentication in step S10-5, it is determined in step S10-10 whether there is a recycled paper use mark for the environmental mark (recycled paper use determination mode, recycled paper use determination step).
That is, FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing the recycled paper use mark numerical value input screen 57. In the recycled paper used mark numerical value input screen 57, the numerical value of the used paper mixture ratio of the recycled paper used mark is input (step S10-11). ).
As a method for inputting this numerical value, a numerical value (for example, R50 is used paper mixing ratio is 50%, R55 is used paper mixing ratio is 50%,...) Is input to the left, and the numerical value is input to the right. This is entered using either the right-side selection column 59 or the numeric entry column 60 in which an arbitrary numeric value can be entered.
After this numerical value input, the process proceeds to step S10-7 described above.

Further, after step S10-9, the process proceeds to step S8-4 (product flowchart) in FIG.
That is, FIG. 16 is a product flowchart for selecting a product characteristic mark for the product body, and displays the product screen 61 in step S16-1.
FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram showing the product screen 61. Similar to the packaging container screen 43 (FIG. 11), the product main body 62 (for example, the product screen 62 is displayed on the product screen 61 according to the search keyword input in the search start mode. The product characteristic mark corresponding to the personal computer) is displayed together with the description in the product characteristic mark table 24 (product name table 24A). The product characteristic mark table 23 (environment mark table 25, recycle mark table 26) is displayed for each product body. ) And a mark field 28 and a content explanation field 29 as well as a classification field 45 and a selection field 46 are provided.

The operator selects a predetermined mark with reference to the content of the content description field 29 (step S16-2) in the same manner as the processing on the packaging container screen 43 (FIG. 11), and step S10-4 in FIG. Similarly, in step S16-3, it is determined whether there is an environmental mark.
Subsequent steps S16-4 to S16-10 are exactly the same as steps S10-5 to S10-11 (FIGS. 12 to 15) in FIG.

    Finally, the product characteristic mark selected in the container mark selection mode or the main body mark selection mode is shifted to step S8-5 in FIG. 8, and the data once saved is output, that is, printed (printing mode, printing process). .

Thus, since the printed environmental mark or recycle mark can be obtained in the form of the label piece 10, the label piece 10 is attached to the corresponding product.

1 is a schematic side view of a product characteristic mark printing printer 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a plan view of the label continuum 8. FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory diagram of the control circuit 7. It is explanatory drawing of the environment mark table 25 similarly. It is explanatory drawing of the recycle mark table 26 similarly. It is explanatory drawing of the product name table 24 similarly. It is explanatory drawing of the product name table 24A of another aspect similarly. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of operations based on various instructions or inquiries displayed on the display panel of the display unit 35. FIG. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a search start mode for starting a search for a product characteristic mark corresponding to a product by inputting a search keyword for the product. It is a packaging container flowchart figure for selecting a product characteristic mark regarding the packaging container of a product. It is explanatory drawing of the packaging container screen 43 same as the above. It is explanatory drawing which shows the authentication determination screen 48 similarly. It is explanatory drawing which shows the related matter input selection screen 53 similarly. It is explanatory drawing which shows the related matter input screen 55 similarly. FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a recycled paper use mark numerical value input screen 57. FIG. 5 is a product flowchart for selecting a product characteristic mark for the product body. It is explanatory drawing which shows the product screen 61 similarly.

Explanation of symbols

1. Product characteristic mark printer (Example, Fig. 1)
2 Label supply unit 3 Label position detection unit 4 Printing unit 5 Ink ribbon supply unit 6 Ink ribbon take-up unit 7 Control circuit 8 Label continuum (print output medium)
9 Mount 10 Label piece (print output medium)
11 Position Detection Mark 12 Light Reflective Sensor 13 Thermal Head 14 Platen Roller 15 Thermal Transfer Ink Ribbon 16 CPU
17 ROM
18 RAM
19 Panel control circuit for input operation 20 Thermal head control circuit 21 Label transfer control circuit 22 Bus 23 Product characteristic mark table (FIGS. 4 and 5)
24 Product name table (Figure 6)
24A Product name table (Figure 7)
25 Environmental Mark Table (Figure 4)
26 Recycle Mark Table (Figure 5)
27 Product characteristic mark number field 28 Mark figure field 29 Description field 30 Product name field 31 Packaging container field (FIGS. 6 and 7)
31A Box field 31B Bag field 32 Product field 33 Environmental mark field 34 Recycle mark field 35 Display section (FIG. 3)
40 Search start screen (Figure 9)
41 Search keyword input field 42A Typical example of environmental mark 42B Typical example of recycle mark 43 Packaging container screen (Fig. 11)
44A box (cardboard box) (packaging container)
44B bag (packaging container)
45 Category field 46 Selection field 47 “Select” button 48 Authentication judgment screen (FIG. 12)
49 Inquiry field 50 Authentication judgment field 51 “YES” button 52 “NO” button 53 Related matter input selection screen (FIG. 13)
54 Related Items Example Field 55 Related Items Input Screen (Figure 14)
56 Related Items Input Field 57 Recycled Paper Use Mark Value Input Screen (Figure 15)
58 Left selection field 59 Right selection field 60 Numeric value entry field 61 Product screen (FIG. 17)
62 Product body (eg PC)

Claims (8)

A product characteristic mark printing printer for printing various product characteristic marks related to resources or environment for various products,
A product characteristic mark table storing the product characteristic mark and its description;
Corresponding to the product name of the product, a product name table storing the product characteristic mark that can be attached to the packaging container and the product body, and
And providing
A search start mode for starting a search for the product characteristic mark corresponding to the product by inputting a search keyword for the product;
Mark display for displaying the product characteristic mark corresponding to the packaging container or the product body from the product name table together with the description in the product characteristic mark table according to the search keyword input in the search start mode. Mode,
A container mark selection mode or a body mark selection mode for selecting the product characteristic mark that can be attached to the packaging container or the product main body of the product from the product characteristic marks displayed in the mark display mode,
A printing mode for printing the product characteristic mark selected in the container mark selection mode or the body mark selection mode;
A product characteristic mark printing printer characterized by comprising: 2. The product according to claim 1, wherein the product characteristic mark table stores the product characteristic mark and the content description corresponding to a product characteristic mark number assigned to the product characteristic mark relating to the product. Printer for printing characteristic marks. The product characteristic mark printing printer according to claim 1, wherein the search keyword is the product name related to the product. 2. The product characteristic mark printing mode according to claim 1, further comprising an environmental mark determination mode for determining whether or not the product characteristic mark selected in the container mark selection mode or the main body mark selection mode is an environmental mark. printer. 5. The product characteristic mark printing printer according to claim 4, further comprising an authentication determination mode for determining whether or not authentication is required for the environmental mark. 5. The product characteristic mark printing printer according to claim 4, wherein the environmental mark has a recycled paper use determination mode for determining whether or not there is a recycled paper use mark. 2. The product characteristic according to claim 1, further comprising a related item input determination mode for determining whether to input related items for the product characteristic mark selected in the container mark selection mode or the main body mark selection mode. Mark printing printer. A product characteristic mark selection method for selecting various product characteristic marks related to resources or environment for various products,
A product characteristic mark table storing the product characteristic mark and its description;
Corresponding to the product name of the product, a product name table storing the product characteristic mark that can be attached to the packaging container and the product body, and
And providing
A search start step for starting a search for the product characteristic mark corresponding to the product by inputting a search keyword for the product;
Mark display for displaying the product characteristic mark corresponding to the packaging container or the product body from the product name table together with the description in the product characteristic mark table according to the search keyword input in the search start step Process,
From the product characteristic mark displayed in the mark display step, a container mark selection step or a body mark selection step for selecting the product characteristic mark that can be attached to the packaging container or the product main body of the product,
A product characteristic mark selecting method characterized by comprising:

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