JP2005288778A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce a wasteful consumption of an ink ribbon in a printer equipped with a printing mechanism which carries out printing by moving a printing head in a predetermined direction while the ink ribbon is sent to the printing head. <P>SOLUTION: The printer is equipped with a tray movable relative to a printer part set inside the apparatus, and a turntable set rotatably to the tray to carry an optical disk. Margin amounts before and after a character string to be printed to the optical disk are detected (S3 and S4). When it is judged that the front margin amount is large (Yes in S9), the tray is moved, and moreover the turntable is rotated by 180° (S10). Then printing data of the character string rotated by 180° is printed (S11 and S12). When it is judged that the rear margin amount is large (No in S9), the printing data of the character string is printed (S14 and S12) by neither moving the tray nor rotating the turntable (S13). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that performs thermal transfer printing using an ink ribbon.

  Conventionally, there is a printer described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-72155 as a printing apparatus that performs thermal transfer printing using an ink ribbon.

  This printing apparatus is configured to perform printing directly on a label surface of an optical disk, and a printer that performs thermal transfer printing using an ink ribbon on an optical disk placed on the tray and an optical disk placed on the tray. It has a mechanism.

  The printer mechanism includes a printer frame provided facing the upper surface of the tray, a carriage guided and supported by the printer frame so as to be capable of reciprocating along the upper surface of the tray, and a thermal head mounted on the carriage. An ink ribbon cassette that is detachably attached to the carriage, and the carriage has a carriage self-running mechanism for running the carriage along the printer frame, and the thermal head is moved to a printing position and a non-printing position. A thermal head up / down moving mechanism, an ink ribbon winding mechanism for collecting the ink ribbon fed out from the ink ribbon cassette and supplied to the thermal head and used for printing into the cassette. A single drive motor for driving each mechanism is provided.

  In this printing apparatus, when the drive motor is driven forward at the start of printing, the carriage at the home position receives the forward drive of the drive motor, and the traveling path formed by the printer frame by the self-running mechanism is unidirectional (from left to right). ) In addition, the forward drive of the drive motor moves the thermal head to the printing position, and the control unit drives the thermal head to generate heat and prints on the optical disc, and the ink ribbon winding mechanism is activated for printing. Wind up the used ink ribbon.

  When printing is completed, the drive motor is driven in reverse. When the drive motor rotates in the reverse direction, the thermal head is moved to the non-printing position by the up / down movement mechanism, and the carriage returns to the home position by the carriage self-running mechanism.

Thus, printing is performed on the label surface of the optical disc in a range in which the width is the effective print width of the thermal head and the length corresponds to the moving distance of the thermal head.
JP 2003-72155 A

  When printing on an optical disk using the conventional printing apparatus, the character string to be printed is arranged on the left side within the printable range by the printer mechanism, or the character string to be printed is arranged on the right side. For example, a character string may be arranged close to one side in the moving direction of the thermal head within a printable range.

  By the way, in the printing apparatus, the printer mechanism performs the reciprocating traveling of the carriage, the up and down of the thermal head, and the winding of the ink ribbon by the forward / reverse driving of the single driving motor provided in the carriage. It is configured. In other words, with a single drive motor as a drive source, the carriage travels during printing, the thermal head is lowered to the print position, and the ink ribbon feed operation is performed in conjunction with each other.

  Therefore, for example, when printing is performed when the thermal head moves in one direction from the left side to the right side of the printer frame by normal rotation driving of the drive motor, the character string to be printed on the right side within the printable range of the printer mechanism. However, in the printing apparatus, the thermal head is lowered to the printing position in accordance with the movement of the carriage from the home position. Since the winding operation of the ink ribbon is performed, the ink ribbon is fed at the front margin portion of the character string.

  As described above, in the conventional printing apparatus, the ink ribbon is fed in conjunction with the movement of the carriage (thermal head). Therefore, if the distance from the carriage movement start position to the printing start position where actual printing starts is long. In the meantime, the ink ribbon is fed idle without performing heat generation driving of the thermal head, and there is a problem that the ink ribbon is wasted.

  The present invention solves such a conventional problem, and by moving the print head in a predetermined direction while feeding the ink ribbon to the print head, a character string is applied to the print object via the ink ribbon. An object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus including a printing unit that performs the above printing, and can reduce wasteful consumption of an ink ribbon.

In order to achieve the above object, a printing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention includes:
Printing means for printing a character string on a print object via the ink ribbon by moving the print head in a predetermined direction while feeding the ink ribbon to the print head;
A support means configured to be movable with respect to the printing means and for supporting a printing object printed by the printing means;
Drive means for moving the support means relative to the printing means so as to correspond the position of the printing area on the printing object to the printing means;
Margin amount detection means for detecting the margin amounts of the front margin and the rear margin respectively provided before and after the character string to be printed on the print object;
A determination unit that determines the size of the front margin amount and the rear margin amount detected by the margin amount detection unit; and a control unit that controls the printing unit and the driving unit.
The control means determines the support means via the driving means so that the smaller margin amount of the front margin amount and the rear margin amount corresponds to the print start position side of the print head from the determination result of the determination means. A character string is printed by moving the print head from a small margin amount side to a large margin side.

  In the above configuration, the support means is configured to be capable of rotating and linearly moving with respect to the printing means, and the driving means is a rotational drive means for rotating the support means and / or a linear movement for linearly moving the support means. And means.

  In the above configuration, when the character string to be printed is composed of a plurality of lines, the margin amount detection unit detects a front margin amount and a rear margin amount for each line, and the determination unit detects the margin amount detection. It is preferable to determine the size of the smallest front margin amount and the smallest rear margin amount detected by the means.

  In the above configuration, when the support means is rotated by the rotation driving means, the control means rotates character string data to be printed according to the rotation, and prints the rotated character string data. To do.

In order to achieve the above object, a printing apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention includes:
Printing means for printing a character string on a print object via the ink ribbon by moving the print head in a predetermined direction while feeding the ink ribbon to the print head;
A support means for supporting a printing object printed by the printing means configured to be movable with respect to the printing means;
Manual operation means for manually moving the support means relative to the printing means so as to correspond the position of the printing area on the printing object to the printing means;
Margin amount detecting means for detecting margin amounts of a front margin and a rear margin provided before and after a character string to be printed on a print object;
Determination means for determining the magnitude of the front margin amount and the rear margin amount detected by the margin amount detection means;
Display means for displaying an operation guidance message necessary for the printing operation;
Control means for controlling the printing operation,
The control means moves the support means to a predetermined position on the basis of the determination result of the determination means, so that the smaller of the front margin amount and the rear margin amount is set to the print start position of the print head. A guidance message for prompting the operation of the manual operation means to be displayed on the display means is displayed on the display means.

  In the above configuration, the support means is configured to be rotatable and linearly movable with respect to the printing means, and the manual operation means is a rotation operation means for rotating the support means and / or a linear movement operation of the support means. It is desirable to comprise the linear movement operation means to be configured.

  Further, in the above configuration, the apparatus further comprises position detection means for detecting that the support means has moved to a position corresponding to an instruction of the guidance message displayed on the display means, and the control means includes the position detection means. It is preferable that the printing unit performs a printing operation when it is detected that the supporting unit has moved to a position corresponding to the instruction of the guidance message.

  According to the printing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the size of the margin amount of the front margin and the rear margin provided before and after the character string to be printed is determined, and the print head starts printing the smaller margin amount side. In order to correspond to the position side, the support means for supporting the print object is moved to align the position of the print area on the print object with the print means, and the print head is moved from the side with the smaller margin amount toward the larger side. Since printing is performed by moving the ink ribbon, it is possible to reduce the amount of the ink ribbon that is skipped in the margin and reduce the wasteful consumption of the ink ribbon.

  Further, according to the printing apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, the size of the margin amount of the front margin and the rear margin provided before and after the character string to be printed is determined, and the side with the smaller margin amount is set to the side of the print head. In order to correspond to the print start position side, the support means for supporting the print object is moved by the manual operation means so that the position of the print area on the print object is aligned with the print means, and the side from which the margin amount is small to the large side Since printing is performed by moving the print head toward, the amount of ink ribbon that is fed in the blank space can be reduced, and wasteful consumption of the ink ribbon can be reduced. Further, since the supporting means for supporting the printing object can be moved by manual operation, the configuration of the apparatus can be simplified.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the entire printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are a plan view and a front view showing the configuration of the main part of the printing apparatus.
This printing apparatus includes a case 1 as an apparatus main body, and a key input unit 2 and a liquid crystal display unit 3 are provided on the upper surface of the apparatus main body (case) 1. An opening 4 is provided on the front surface of the case 1. A printer cover 5 that covers the printer unit 25 is disposed above the opening 4, and the tray 15 is provided so as to be able to be pulled out of the case 1 through the opening 4 from the storage position in the case 1.

  The key input unit 2 is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 3, a character input key for inputting characters, symbols, blank characters (spaces), etc., a Kanji conversion key and a non-conversion key for editing the input character, and the like. A cursor key for moving the cursor, a print key for executing printing of the input character string, a power key for turning on / off the power of the apparatus, an eject key for ejecting the tray 15; Control keys necessary for operation are provided.

  A base 6 is disposed inside the case 1, and a tray 15 that supports an optical disk (optical recording medium) 45 such as a CD-R is disposed on the base 6. In addition, inside the case 1 is provided a printer unit 25 that prints predetermined characters on the surface (label surface) of the optical disk 45 supported by the tray 15. The printer unit 25 prints a title and the like related to data recorded on the optical disc in a printing process to be described later. The optical disk 45 has a circular hole 46 at the center thereof. An engaging claw 20 of the turntable 18 which will be described later is engaged with the inner edge of the circular hole 46, and the optical disk 45 is mounted on the turntable 18.

  The tray 15 includes a rectangular and plate-like tray body 16, and a turntable 18 that supports an optical disk and is rotatable about a rotation shaft 17 is disposed on the tray body 16. A cushioning material sheet 19 is affixed to the surface of the turntable 18, and a plurality of engaging claws 20 that are engaged with the inner edge of the circular hole 46 of the optical disk 45 protrude from the surface of the turntable 18 at the center. Yes. The tray 15 is guided along guide rails 7 a and 7 b provided on the base 6 at left and right positions in the case 1, and is movably disposed inside and outside the apparatus.

  A rack 8 is provided on one side edge of the tray body 16, while a stepping motor (tray) that rotates the drive gear 9 forward and backward via a drive gear 9 and a gear train 10 that mesh with the rack 8 in the case 1. Drive motor) 11 is provided. Then, the motor 11 is driven to rotate forward by the operation of the eject key, and the tray 15 in the storage position in the apparatus is discharged from the opening 4 formed in the front surface of the case 1 to the outside of the apparatus, and the motor is operated by the operation of the eject key. 11 is reversely driven and the tray 15 located outside the apparatus is moved to the storage position in the apparatus.

  The case 1 includes a position detection switch 12 that detects that the tray 15 has moved to the storage position (position L1) in the apparatus, and that the tray 15 has moved to a discharge position outside the apparatus where the optical disk can be attached and detached. A position detection switch 13 for detecting and a position detection switch 13a for detecting that the tray 15 has moved to a predetermined intermediate position (position L2) between the inside and outside of the apparatus are provided. The drive of the motor 11 is controlled based on the signals of these position detection switches 12, 13, 13a, and the tray 15 is controlled to stop at a predetermined stop position inside and outside the case 1 and in the middle thereof.

  The rotary base 18 has a rotary shaft 17 pivotally supported by the tray main body 16 and is configured to be rotatable with respect to the tray main body 16. The turntable 18 uses a stepping motor (rotary stand drive motor) 21 provided on the back side of the tray body 16 as a drive source, and the driving force of the motor 21 is transmitted to the rotary shaft 17 via the gear train 22. Is driven to rotate clockwise. The tray body 16 is provided with a rotation position detection switch 23 for detecting the initial position (reference position) of the turntable 18 and managing the amount of rotation of the turntable 18 based on the reference position.

  The printer unit 25 disposed in the case 1 is constituted by a thermal transfer printer, and is provided to face the turntable 18 of the tray 15 at the storage position (position L1) or a predetermined intermediate position (position L2). Yes.

  The printer unit 25 includes a bridge-shaped printer frame 26. The printer frame 26 is fixed to the base 6 in the case 1 with legs 27 a and 27 b provided at both ends. A horizontal frame portion 27 c that is disposed between the leg portions 27 a and 27 b in a horizontal direction is arranged so as to be biased toward the front surface side of the case 1 from the rotation center portion of the turntable 18.

  The printer frame 26 supports a carriage 31 on which the thermal head 32 is mounted, and forms a traveling path for reciprocating the carriage 31 along the rotary table 18. The printer frame 26 is provided with a guide shaft 28 for slidably guiding the carriage 31 in parallel with the horizontal frame portion 27c. A guide rail 30 for guiding the rack 29 and the carriage 31 is arranged along the surface of the horizontal frame portion 27c facing the turntable 18. The rack 29 meshes with a drive gear 34 provided on the carriage 31 when the carriage 31 travels. The carriage 31 employs a self-propelled system in which a driving gear 34 that meshes with the rack 29 is driven by a stepping motor (carriage driving motor) 33 mounted thereon to reciprocate along the rack 29.

  A ribbon cartridge 40 containing an ink ribbon for thermal transfer printing is mounted on the front side of the carriage 31, and the ribbon cartridge 40 can be replaced by opening the printer cover 5 provided on the front surface of the case 1.

  As will be described below, the carriage 31 has a head moving mechanism for moving the thermal head 32 to a printing position and a non-printing position by a cam mechanism or the like using a motor 33 as a driving source, and ribbon winding using the motor 33 as a driving source. A ribbon take-up mechanism that drives the shaft 35 to take up the ink ribbon is provided.

  The configuration of the printer unit 25 will be described in more detail based on FIG.

  A ribbon cartridge 40 containing an ink ribbon 80 as a printing consumable is detachably mounted on the cartridge mounting surface on the front surface of the carriage 31. The ribbon cartridge 40 includes a case 81, and a recess 82 into which a head cover (not shown) is fitted is formed in the case 81.

  In this case 81, a ribbon supply core 83 and a ribbon take-up core 84 are provided, and an ink ribbon 80 is wound around the ribbon supply core 83 in a roll shape. The ink ribbon 80 fed out from the ribbon supply core 83 is hooked on the winding core 84 through a plurality of guide pins 85. Further, the ink ribbon 80 is sequentially wound around the winding core 84 in accordance with the normal rotation of the winding core 84 fitted to the ribbon winding shaft 35. A middle portion of the ink ribbon 80 is exposed to the outside of the case 81 and travels on the lower surface side of the recess 82 where the thermal head 32 is located.

  An output gear 86 attached to the output shaft of the carriage drive motor 33 is disposed in the carriage 31, and the first gear 87 a meshes with the output gear 86. Further, a second gear 87b is provided coaxially with the first gear 87a, the third gear 34 meshes with the second gear 87b, and the fourth gear 87d meshes with the third gear 34. doing.

  A ribbon take-up shaft 35 is disposed coaxially with a rotation shaft of the fourth gear 87d via a one-way clutch (not shown). The ribbon winding shaft 35 protrudes forward from the cartridge mounting surface of the carriage 31 and engages with the winding core 84 in accordance with the mounting of the ribbon cartridge 40 on the cartridge mounting surface.

  The third gear 34 meshes with a rack 29 disposed in the horizontal frame portion 27 c along the traveling path of the carriage 31 in parallel with the guide shaft 28. Due to this meshing, the carriage 31 reciprocates along the guide shaft 28 in accordance with forward and reverse rotation of the third gear 34.

  A cam gear 89 is provided in the carriage 31, and a gear is provided on the outer periphery of the cam gear 89. An arcuate cam groove 90 that is eccentric with respect to the center of rotation is formed on a side surface of the cam gear 89. A swing clutch 91 is provided between the cam gear 89 and the output gear 86. The swing clutch 91 includes a sun gear 92 meshed with the output gear 86, and a pair of planetary gears 94a meshed with the sun gear 92 and supported so as to be movable in the circumferential direction of the sun gear 92 via an arm 93. , 94b. When the sun gear 92 rotates in the clockwise direction, one planetary gear 94 a meshes with the cam gear 89 and the other planetary gear 94 b moves away from the cam gear 89. On the other hand, when the sun gear 92 rotates counterclockwise, one planetary gear 94 a is separated from the cam gear 89 and the other planetary gear 94 b is engaged with the cam gear 89.

  A head arm 96 that rotates in the vertical direction about the shaft 95 is provided in the carriage 31. The head arm 96 is elastically urged counterclockwise in FIG. 4 by a spring 97 stretched at an end portion on one end side. The head arm 96 is provided with a pin 98 near one end thereof, and the pin 98 is slidably inserted into the force groove 90 of the force gear 89. A head holder 99 is attached to the other end of the head arm 96. The head holder 99 is disposed on a head cover (not shown) protruding to the front side of the carriage 31 and extends to the front side of the carriage 31 along the head cover. Further, the head base 101 is supported on the lower surface of the head holder 99 via the shaft 100, and the thermal head 32 is attached to the lower surface of the head base 101. The thermal head 32 is disposed so as to face the opening on the lower surface of the head cover.

  The thermal head 32 is pressed against a label surface opposite to the signal recording surface of the optical disk 45 held stationary on the rotating table 18 in a stopped state with the ink ribbon 80 fed out from the ribbon cartridge 40 interposed therebetween. In this state, the thermal head 32 moves integrally with the carriage 31 along the guide shaft 28 from the left side to the right side in FIG. 3, and during this movement, a predetermined image is formed on the surface of the optical disk 45 while melting ink on the ink ribbon. The printing is performed by the method of thermal transfer. Therefore, a rectangular area determined by the width of the heat generating element array of the thermal head 32 (width in the main scanning direction) and the moving distance of the thermal head 32 (length in the sub scanning direction) orthogonal to the width is printed once. This is the printing range.

  In the printer unit 25, the carriage 31 is moved from the left side to the right side in FIG. 3 by the forward rotation of the motor 33, and the thermal head 32 is moved to the printing position where it abuts against the optical disk by the head moving mechanism. Hold on. Further, the ribbon take-up shaft 35 is driven by the ribbon take-up mechanism to take up the ink ribbon used for the thermal transfer. Further, by the reverse drive of the motor 33, the thermal head 32 is moved to the non-printing position and held at that position, and the carriage 31 is returned and moved from the right side to the left side in FIG. The ribbon winding mechanism is provided with a one-way clutch mechanism, and the ribbon winding shaft 35 is not driven when the carriage 31 returns.

  Thus, in this printing apparatus, the printer mechanism is driven by the carriage 31 during printing, the thermal head 32 is lowered to the printing position, and the ink ribbon 80 by the single drive motor 33 provided on the carriage 31. It is configured to be performed in conjunction with the feeding operation.

  In FIG. 1, areas A and B on the optical disk 45 indicated by broken lines are printable areas in each printing operation of the printer unit 25. In this printing apparatus, printing is performed on two printing areas A and B on the label surface of the optical disk 45.

  In this printing apparatus, when the tray 15 is at the position L1 accommodated in the apparatus main body and the turntable 18 is at the reference position (rotation angle 0 °), the first printing area A of the optical disk 45 is the printer. Corresponding to the position of the portion 25, the first printing area A is configured to be able to print.

  Even when the tray 15 is at the position L2 outside the apparatus main body and the turntable 18 is at a position rotated by 180 ° with respect to the reference position, the first printing area A of the optical disk 45 is located at the position of the printer unit 25. The first print area A can be printed.

  When the tray 15 is at the position L1 stored in the apparatus main body and the turntable 18 is at a position rotated by 180 ° with respect to the reference position, the second print area B of the optical disk 45 is the printer unit. It corresponds to position 25 and is configured to be able to print in this second print area B.

  Also, when the tray 15 is at the position L2 outside the apparatus main body and the turntable 18 is at the reference position, the second printing area B of the optical disc 45 corresponds to the position of the printer unit 25, and this second The printing area B is configured to be able to print.

  FIG. 5 shows the configuration of the electronic circuit of the printing apparatus according to this embodiment. The control unit 50 included in the printing apparatus includes a key input unit 2, a display control unit 51, drive circuits 52, 53, 54, and 55, position detection switches 12, 13, and 13 a for the tray 15, and a turntable 18. The rotation position detection switch 23 is connected. Here, the internal configuration of the control unit 50 will not be described in detail. In addition to a central processing unit CPU (Central Processing Unit) or MPU (Micro Processing Unit) for performing various calculations and controls, the control unit 50 inputs various signals to and from each component shown in FIG. It consists of a signal input / output device for output.

  The display control unit 51 has a display RAM for outputting display data to the liquid crystal display unit 3. The drive circuits 52, 53, 54, and 55 are for driving the tray drive motor 11, the turntable drive motor 21, the carriage drive motor 33, and the thermal head 32, respectively.

  The control unit 50 is connected to font ROM 56, ROM 57, and RAM 58. The font ROM 56 stores a display dot pattern for a large number of characters and symbols, and the print dot pattern corresponds to large and small character sizes. It is remembered. The ROM 57 stores various programs for performing processing to be described later.

  Examples of the program include a display control program, a print control program, and a print drive control program. The display control program controls the display control unit 51 in correspondence with the character code data input from the key input unit 2. The printing control program creates printing dot pattern data based on a character string stored in an input buffer 58a described later. The print drive control program outputs the created dot pattern data for printing to the thermal head 32 one by one. The control unit 50 controls each unit of the printing apparatus based on these programs to perform a predetermined operation.

  The RAM 58 includes an input buffer 58a and a print buffer 58b. Here, the input buffer 58a stores the input character string, and print data of characters to be printed for each printing operation is expanded in the print buffer 58b.

  Next, FIGS. 6 and 7 are flowcharts showing the printing process of the printing apparatus. 8 to 11 are explanatory diagrams of the printing operation of the printing apparatus. The printing process shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  In this printing apparatus, printing is performed on two print areas A and B of the optical disc 45, and printing is performed on one or more lines of first print data to be printed on the first print area A and on the second print area B. When a character string of one or more lines of second print data is input from the key input unit 2 and a print start instruction is given, the processing of FIGS. 6 and 7 is started.

  First, the number of lines of the first print data is detected from the input character string stored in the input buffer 58a of the RAM 58 (step S1). If the character string of the first print data is one line (Yes in Step S2), the front margin amount (F1) of the first print data is detected, and then the rear margin amount (R1) is detected (Step S2). S3, S4).

  In this printing apparatus, the number of printable lines for the print areas A and B, the number of characters in each line, and the character size are determined. For example, in the case of one line, the number of printable characters is 12 characters. Yes. In step S3, the front margin amount counts the number of blank characters (spaces) input at the front of the character string stored in the print buffer 58a, and the rear margin amount determines the blank characters from the number of characters that can be entered in one line. The number is calculated by subtracting the number of characters actually entered.

  For example, in the example illustrated in FIG. 9, as the first print data to be printed in the print area A, five character data “technical development room” are input after one blank character. In this case, out of 12 characters that can be input in one line, the character data input from the key input unit 2 is character data for 6 characters, and blank characters (spaces) are included for 6 characters that are not input. Forced insertion. Therefore, according to this example, there is one blank character S at the front of the “technical development room” and six blank characters S at the rear, and the front margin amount (F1) is the blank character 1 The length is equivalent to the number of characters, and the trailing margin amount (R1) is the length corresponding to six blank characters.

  Further, for example, in the example illustrated in FIG. 8, as the first print data to be printed in the print area A, five character data of “Technology Development Office” are input after the six blank characters. . In this case, among the 12 characters that can be input in one line, the character data input from the key input unit 2 is 11 character data, and a blank character (space) is input for one character that is not input. Forced insertion. Therefore, according to this example, there are six blank characters S at the front of the “technical development room” and one blank character S at the rear, and the amount of front margin (F1) is six blank characters. The length is equivalent, and the trailing margin amount (R1) is the length equivalent to one blank character.

  If the first print data is not a one-line character string in step S2 (No in step S2), the front margin amount of each line is obtained (step S5), and the minimum front margin amount (F1min) is determined from the front margin amount. Is obtained (step S6). Similarly, for the rear margin amount, the rear margin amount is obtained for each row (step S7), and the minimum rear margin amount (R1min) is obtained therefrom (step S8).

  Then, it is determined whether or not the front margin amount F1 is greater than the rear margin amount R1 for the first print data composed of one or more lines of character strings. In the case of a plurality of rows, this determination is made with the minimum values F1min and R1min (step S9). If it is determined that the front margin amount F1 (or F1min) is greater than the rear margin amount R1 (or R1min) as a result of this determination (Yes in step S9), the tray drive motor 11 is driven and based on the detection signal of the position detection switch 13a. The tray 15 is moved to the position L2 outside the apparatus main body 1, while the turntable drive motor 21 is driven to rotate the turntable by 180 ° from the reference position (step S10).

  FIG. 8 illustrates the state at that time. In the figure, the arrow indicates the moving direction of the thermal head 32 during printing. The same applies to FIGS. 9 to 11. As shown in the figure, among the margins before and after the character string, the trailing margin with a small margin amount corresponds to the print start side of the thermal head 32, and follows the direction of the character string to be printed from the side with the smaller margin amount toward the larger side. Thus, the thermal head 32 is moved. In the figure, P represents a preprinted character printed in advance, and S represents a blank character.

  After adjusting the positions of the tray 15 and the turntable 18 in this way, the character data is read sequentially from the end of the character string of the first print data stored in the input buffer 58a, and the character font corresponding to the character data is read. Is read from the font ROM 56, rotated by 180 ° with the designated character size, and developed in the print buffer 58b. In this case, a blank corresponding to the character size is set for the blank character (step S11).

  Then, the carriage drive motor 33 is driven to rotate forward to move the thermal head 32 down to the printing position, move along the label surface of the optical disk 45, and develop the first ink developed in the print buffer 58b while feeding the ink ribbon 80. The character string as the first print data is printed in the first print area A of the optical disk 45 via the ink ribbon 80 by driving the thermal head 32 to generate heat based on the character string pattern data of the print data. (Step S12). In this case, since the character string obtained by rotating the character string of the first print data by 180 ° in the print buffer 58b is developed in the reverse order and the pattern data upside down, it is printed in order from the end of the character string. It will be. When all the first print data is printed, the carriage drive motor 33 is driven in reverse to raise the thermal head 32 to the non-printing position, the carriage 31 is returned to the home position, and the process ends.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S9 that the front margin amount F1 (or F1min) is not larger than the rear margin amount R1 (or R1min), the tray 15 is positioned at the position L1 in the apparatus body, and the turntable 18 is moved. It is positioned at the reference position without rotating (step S13).

  FIG. 9 shows this state. As shown in the figure, the front margin with a small margin amount among the margins before and after the character string corresponds to the print start side of the thermal head 32, and follows the direction of the character string to be printed from the side with the smaller margin amount toward the larger side. Thus, the thermal head 32 is moved.

  Next, the character data is read sequentially from the beginning of the character string of the first print data stored in the input buffer 58a, the character font corresponding to the character data is read from the font ROM 56, and rotated at the designated character size. Instead, they are expanded in the print buffer 58b. A blank is set for the blank character (step S14). Then, the character string pattern data of the first print data developed in the print buffer 58b is printed in the first print area A of the optical disc 45 by the printer unit 25 (step S12). In this case, since the pattern data of the first print data is expanded in the character string order in the print buffer 58b, the print data is printed in order from the head side of the character string.

  When the printing of the first print data is thus completed, the process proceeds to the second print data printing process shown in FIG. First, the number of lines of the second print data is detected from the input character string stored in the input buffer 58a of the RAM 58 (step S15). If the second print data is one line (Yes in step S16), the front margin amount (F2) of the second print data is detected, and then the rear margin amount (R2) is detected (steps S17 and S18). ).

  If it is determined in step S16 that the second print data is not a one-line character string (No in step S16), the front margin amount of each line is obtained (step S19), and the minimum front margin amount is determined from the front margin amount. (F2min) is obtained (step S20). Similarly, for the rear margin amount, the rear margin amount is obtained for each row (step S21), and the minimum rear margin amount (R2min) is obtained therefrom (step S22).

Then, it is determined whether or not the front margin amount F2 is larger than the rear margin amount R2 for the second print data composed of one or more lines of character strings. In the case of a plurality of lines, this determination is made with the minimum value F2min of the front margin amount and the minimum value R2min of the rear margin amount (step S23).
As a result of this determination, if it is determined that the front margin amount F2 (or F2min) is greater than the rear margin amount R2 (or R2min) (Yes in step S23), the tray 15 is positioned at the position L1 in the apparatus main body 1, and the turntable Is rotated 180 ° (step S24). In FIG. 10, as a second print data, a character string of “new product data” consisting of six character data is input following five blank characters, and this is input to the second print area B of the optical disc 45. It is explanatory drawing in the case of printing with respect. As shown in the drawing, five blank characters are inserted in the front margin of the character string, and one blank character is inserted in the rear margin. Accordingly, in this case, of the margins before and after the character string, the trailing margin with a small margin amount is made to correspond to the print start side of the thermal head 32, and the character string direction is increased from the side with the smaller margin amount toward the larger side. Thus, the thermal head 32 is moved.

  Next, the character data is read sequentially from the end of the character string of the second print data stored in the input buffer 58a, and the character font corresponding to the character data is read from the font ROM 56 and rotated by 180 ° with the designated character size. The data is expanded in the print buffer 58b. Note that a blank is set for a blank character (step S25). Then, the character string pattern data of the second print data developed in the print buffer 58b is printed in the second print area B of the optical disc 45 by the printer unit 25 (step S26).

  The operation of the printer unit 25 is the same as that for the region A in step S12. In this case, since the character string obtained by rotating the character string of the second print data by 180 ° in the print buffer 58b is expanded in the reverse order and the pattern data upside down, it is printed in order from the end of the character string. It will be. When all of the second print data is printed, the carriage 31 is returned to the home position and the process ends.

  If it is determined in step S23 that the front margin amount F2 (or F2min) is not greater than the rear margin amount R2 (or R2min), the tray 15 is positioned at the position L2 outside the apparatus body 1, and the turntable 18 Is placed at the reference position without rotating (step S27). FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of this state. As shown in the figure, in this example, one blank character is inserted in the front margin of the character string, and five blank characters are inserted in the rear margin. Therefore, in this case, the front margin with a small margin amount among the margins before and after the character string is made to correspond to the print start side of the thermal head 32, and the direction of the character string is extended from the side with the smaller margin amount toward the larger side. Thus, the thermal head 32 is moved. .

  Next, the character data is read sequentially from the beginning of the character string of the second print data stored in the input buffer 58a, the character font corresponding to the character data is read from the font ROM 56, and rotated at the designated character size. Instead, they are expanded in the print buffer 58b. The blank character portion is set to blank (step S28).

  Then, the character string pattern data of the second print data developed in the print buffer 58b is printed in the second print area B of the optical disc 45 by the printer unit 25 (step S26). In this case, since the pattern data of the second print data is expanded in the print buffer 58b in the order of the character string, the print data is printed in order from the head side of the character string.

  12 and 13 show print examples of the first print data and the second print data printed on the optical disc 45 by the print processing shown in FIGS. The printing example in the first printing area A in FIG. 12 is based on the processing in steps S10 to S12 in FIG. 6, and the printing example in the second printing area B in FIG. 12 is in step S24 in FIG. 13 is based on the processing in steps S13 to S14 and S12 in FIG. 6, and the printing example in the first printing region A in FIG. 13 is based on the processing in steps S26 to S26. The example of printing on B is based on the processing in steps S27 to S28 and S26 in FIG.

  As described above, in the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment, the size of the margins of the front margin and the rear margin provided before and after the first print data and the second print data to be printed is determined, and the margin is determined. In order to correspond the smaller amount side to the print start position side of the thermal head 32, the tray 15 and / or the turntable 18 are moved by driving the tray drive motor 11 or the turntable drive motor 21, and the print area A of the optical disc 45, Since the position of B is aligned with the printer unit 25 and printing is performed by moving the thermal head 32 from the smaller margin amount side toward the larger margin amount, it is possible to reduce the ink ribbon blank feed amount in the margin portion. And wasteful consumption of the ink ribbon can be reduced.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, FIGS. 14 and 15 are explanatory views of a printing apparatus according to the second embodiment. In the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment described above, the tray 15 and the turntable 18 are configured to move and rotate by the motor. However, in the printing apparatus according to the second embodiment, the tray 112 and the turntable are configured. The difference is that 113 is configured to move and rotate by manual operation of the user.

  14 and 15, a tray 112 is provided in a case 111 as an apparatus main body so as to be movable in and out of the case (apparatus main body) 111, and a turntable 113 is rotatably provided in the tray 112. A printer unit 114 is provided inside the apparatus main body 111. The printer unit 114 has the same configuration as the printer unit 25 of the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment described above.

  A handle 115 for manually moving the tray 112 with respect to the apparatus main body 111 is provided at the front of the tray 112, and concave portions 116 a and 116 b for positioning a stop position with respect to the apparatus main body 111 are provided on the side surface of the tray 112. 116c, and an engaging portion 117 is provided on the apparatus main body side corresponding to the recesses 116a, 116b, 116c. The engaging portion 117 is urged toward the side surface portion of the tray 112 by a spring (not shown), and engages with the concave portions 116a, 116b, 116c to position the stop position of the tray 112.

  The apparatus main body 111 is provided with switches 118a and 118b for detecting the movement position of the tray 112. Thereby, the movement position (position L1 and position L2) of the tray 112 can be detected.

  Further, the turntable 113 is rotatably supported on the tray 112 by being supported by the rotation shaft 119, and a dial 120 for manually rotating the turntable 113 is provided on the tray 112. A part of the tray 112 is exposed and disposed. The dial 120 is provided with a gear 122 coaxially with the shaft 121, and the gear 122 meshes with a gear 123 provided coaxially with the turntable 113. Accordingly, when the dial 120 is rotated at the front portion of the tray 112, the turntable 113 is rotated via the gear 122 and the gear 123.

  The turntable 113 has a reference position as in the first embodiment, and it is preferable that a reference position mark or the like is displayed on the dial 120 so that the reference position can be confirmed by the user. Further, positioning concave portions 124 for positioning the rotational position of the turntable 113 are provided at two positions on the periphery of the turntable 113 facing each other by 180 °.

  An engagement portion 125 is provided on the apparatus main body 111 side corresponding to the recess 124. The engaging portion 125 is urged toward the peripheral edge of the turntable 113 by a spring (not shown), and engages with the concave portion 124 to position the stop position of the tray 112. Thereby, it is possible to position each time the turntable 113 rotates 180 °. The apparatus main body 111 is provided with a switch 126 for detecting the rotational position of the turntable 113. Thereby, the rotation position of the turntable 113 is detected.

  As described above, in this printing apparatus, the tray 112 is completely pulled out to the position (position L1) where the tray 112 is stored in the apparatus main body 111 and the outside of the apparatus main body 111 by manual operation using the handle 115, and the optical disk 45 is attached / detached. Is possible to move between each of the possible positions and each stop position at a predetermined position (position L2) between them.

  These stop positions are the same as those in the first embodiment in the positional relationship with the printer unit 114. FIG. 14 shows a state where the tray 112 is stopped at the position L1, and FIG. 15 shows a state where the tray 112 is stopped at the position L2. In this printing apparatus, the turntable 113 can be rotated by 180 ° by manual operation of the dial 120.

  In this printing apparatus, the key input unit 2 is the same as in FIG. 5 except that the tray drive motor 11, the rotary table moving motor 21, and the drive circuit thereof are not provided in the first embodiment. , The display unit 3, the control unit 50, the ROM 57, the RAM 58, and other electronic circuit configurations.

  Next, the printing process of the printing apparatus according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

  When there is an instruction to start printing after inputting the first print data and the second print data, first, the number of lines of the first print data is detected from the input character string stored in the input buffer 58a of the RAM 58 ( Step T1). If the first print data is one line (Yes in step T2), the front margin amount (F1) of the first print data is detected, and then the rear margin amount (R1) is detected (steps T3 and T4). ).

  If the first print data is not a one-line character string in step T2 (No in step T2), the front margin amount of each line is obtained (step T5), and the minimum front margin amount (F1min) is determined from the front margin amount. ) Is obtained (step T6). Similarly, the rear margin amount is obtained for each row (step T7), and the minimum rear margin amount (R1min) is obtained therefrom (step T8).

  Then, it is determined whether or not the front margin amount F1 is greater than the rear margin amount R1 for the first print data composed of one or more lines of character strings. In the case of a plurality of rows, this determination is made with the minimum values F1min and R1min (step T9). If it is determined that the front margin amount F1 (or F1min) is larger than the rear margin amount R1 (or R1min) as a result of this determination (Yes in step T9), the tray 112 is positioned at a predetermined position L2 outside the apparatus main body 111, A guidance message for performing an operation for rotating the turntable 113 by 180 ° is displayed on the display unit 3 (step T10).

  When the user moves the tray 112 to a predetermined position L2 outside the apparatus main body 111 according to the guidance and rotates the turntable 113 by 180 °, the movement of the tray 112 is detected by the movement position detection switch 118b. Is detected by the rotation position detection switch 126, and when the operation completion is determined (Yes in step T11), the character string of the first print data stored in the input buffer 58a The character data is read in order from the end of the character, the character font corresponding to the character data is read from the font ROM 56, rotated by 180 ° with the designated character size, and developed in the print buffer 58b. Blank characters are left blank (step T12).

  Then, the character string pattern data of the first print data developed in the print buffer 58b is printed in the first print area A of the optical disc 45 by the printer unit 114 (step T13). In this case, since the character string obtained by rotating the character string of the first print data by 180 ° in the print buffer 58b is developed in the reverse order and the pattern data upside down, it is printed in order from the end of the character string. It will be.

  If it is determined in step T9 that the front margin amount F1 (or F1min) is not larger than the rear margin amount R1 (or R1min), the tray 112 is positioned at the position L1 (initial position) in the apparatus main body 111. In addition, it is confirmed by the signal from the detection switch that the turntable 113 is at the reference position (initial position) (step T14), and character data is sequentially input from the beginning of the character string of the first print data stored in the input buffer 58a. The character font corresponding to the character data is read from the font ROM 56 and developed in the print buffer 58b without rotating at the designated character size. The blank character is blank (step T15).

  Then, the character string pattern data of the first print data developed in the print buffer 58b is printed on the first print area A of the optical disc by the printing device (step T13). In this case, since the pattern data of the first print data is expanded in the character string order in the print buffer 58b, the print data is printed in order from the head side of the character string.

  In place of or in addition to step T14, the tray 15 is positioned at the position L1 and the turntable 113 is operated at the reference position, or a guidance message to be confirmed is displayed on the display unit 3. It may be.

  When the printing of the first print data is thus completed, the process proceeds to the second print data printing process shown in FIG. First, the number of lines of the second print data is detected from the input character string stored in the input buffer 58a of the RAM 58 (step T16). Then, it is determined whether the second print data is one line (step T17). If the second print data is one line (Yes in step T17), the front margin amount (F2) of the second print data is detected. Next, the trailing margin amount (R2) is detected (steps T18 and T19).

  If it is determined in step T17 that the second print data is not a one-line character string (No in step T17), the amount of the front margin of each line is obtained (step T20), and the minimum front margin is determined from the amount. An amount (F2min) is obtained (step T21). Similarly, for the rear margin amount, the rear margin amount is obtained for each row (step T22), and the minimum rear margin amount (R2min) is obtained therefrom (step T23).

  Then, it is determined whether or not the front margin amount F2 is larger than the rear margin amount R2 for the second print data composed of one or more lines of character strings. In the case of a plurality of lines, this determination is made with the minimum values F2min and R2min (step T24). As a result of this determination, if it is determined that the front margin amount F2 (or F2min) is greater than the rear margin amount R2 (or R2min) ( In step T24, Yes), a guidance message indicating that the turntable 113 should be rotated 180 ° is displayed on the display unit 3 (step T25).

  When the completion of the rotation operation of the turntable 113 is detected (Yes in step T26), the character data is read sequentially from the end of the character string of the second print data stored in the input buffer 58a, and the character corresponding to the character data is read. The font is read from the font ROM 56, rotated by 180 ° with the designated character size, and developed in the print buffer 58b. The blank character is blank (step T27).

  Then, the character string pattern data of the second print data developed in the print buffer 58b is printed in the second print area B of the optical disc 45 by the printer unit 114 of the printing apparatus (step T28). In this case, since the character string obtained by rotating the character string of the second print data by 180 ° in the print buffer 58b is expanded in the reverse order and the pattern data upside down, it is printed in order from the end of the character string. It will be.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step T24 that the front margin amount F2 (or F2min) is not larger than the rear margin amount R2 (or R2min) (No in step T24), the tray 112 is moved to the position L2 outside the apparatus main body 111. A guidance message that the movement operation should be performed is displayed on the display unit 3 (step T29).

  When completion of movement of the tray 112 is detected by the switch 118b (Yes in step T30), character data is read in order from the beginning of the character string of the second print data stored in the input buffer 58a, and the character data corresponds to the character data. The character font is read from the font ROM 56 and developed in the print buffer 58b without rotating at the designated character size. In this case, the blank character is blank (step T31).

  Then, the character string pattern data of the second print data developed in the print buffer 58b is printed in the second print area B of the optical disc 45 by the printer unit 114 of the printing apparatus (step T31). In this case, since the pattern data of the second print data is expanded in the print buffer 58b in the order of the character string, the print data is printed in order from the head side of the character string.

  As described above, in the printing apparatus according to the second embodiment, the size of the margins of the front margin and the rear margin provided before and after the first print data and the second print data to be printed is determined, and the margin is determined. The print area of the optical disk 45 is moved by moving the tray 112 and / or the turntable 113 by a moving operation using the handle 115 or a rotating operation using the dial 120 so as to correspond the small amount side to the print start position side of the thermal head. Since the positions of A and B are aligned with the printer unit 114 and printing is performed by moving the thermal head 3 from the side with the smaller margin amount toward the larger side, the amount of ink ribbon idle feed at the margin portion is reduced. And wasteful consumption of the ink ribbon can be reduced. In addition, since a manual operation mechanism for the tray 112 and the turntable 113 is provided, the structure can be simplified.

  In the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment, in the control of FIGS. 6 and 7, the tray 15 is moved with respect to the apparatus body 1 by the tray drive motor 11, and the turntable 18 is rotated by the turntable drive motor 21. However, only the tray 15 may be moved without rotating the turntable 18, or only the turntable 18 may be rotated without moving the tray 15.

  When only the tray 15 is moved, wasteful consumption of the ink ribbon can be reduced when the front margins of the first and second print data are small as shown in FIGS. Further, when only the turntable 18 is rotated, as shown in FIG. 10, when the trailing margin of the second print data is small, wasteful consumption of the ink ribbon can be reduced.

  Similarly, in the printing apparatus according to the second embodiment, the tray 112 is moved with respect to the apparatus main body 111 by a manual movement operation, and the turntable 113 is rotated by a manual rotation operation. However, only the tray 112 may be moved without rotating the turntable 113, or only the turntable 113 may be rotated without moving the tray 112.

1 is a perspective view showing an entire printing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a configuration of a main part of the printing apparatus of FIG. 1. The front view which shows the structure of the principal part of the printing apparatus of FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer unit of the printing apparatus in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an electronic circuit in the printing apparatus of FIG. 1. 5 is a flowchart of print processing of the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a flowchart of print processing of the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a printing process of the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a printing process of the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Explanatory drawing of the printing process of the printing apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a printing process of the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a printing example of the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a printing example of the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a printer apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a printer apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 9 is a flowchart of print processing of a printing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 9 is a flowchart of print processing of a printing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Case (apparatus main body), 2 ... Key input part, 3 ... Liquid crystal display part, 11 ... Tray drive motor, 12, 13, 13a ... Switch for position detection, 15 ... Tray, 16 ... Tray main body, 17 ... Rotation Axis, 18 ... rotary table, 21 ... rotary table drive motor, 23 ... rotational position detection switch, 25 ... printer unit, 31 ... carriage, 32 ... thermal head, 33 ... carriage drive motor, 35 ... ribbon take-up shaft, 40 ... Ribbon cartridge, 45 ... optical disc, 50 ... control unit, 57 ... ROM, 58 ... RAM, 111 ... case (device main body), 112 ... tray, 113 ... rotating table, 114 ... printer unit, 115 ... handle, 116a to 116c ... Recessed portion, 117, engaging portion, 118a, 118b, switch for detecting a moving position, 119, rotating shaft, 120, dial, 121, shaft, 122, 23 ... gear, 124 ... recessed portion, 125 ... engaging portion 126 ... switch for the rotational position detection,

Claims (7)

Printing means for printing a character string on a print object via the ink ribbon by moving the print head in a predetermined direction while feeding the ink ribbon to the print head;
A support means configured to be movable with respect to the printing means and for supporting a printing object printed by the printing means;
Drive means for moving the support means relative to the printing means so as to correspond the position of the printing area on the printing object to the printing means;
Margin amount detection means for detecting the margin amounts of the front margin and the rear margin respectively provided before and after the character string to be printed on the print object;
Determination means for determining the magnitude of the front margin amount and the rear margin amount detected by the margin amount detection means;
Control means for controlling the printing means and the driving means,
The control means determines the support means via the driving means so that the smaller margin amount of the front margin amount and the rear margin amount corresponds to the print start position side of the print head from the determination result of the determination means. A printing apparatus that moves and prints a character string by moving the print head from a small margin amount side to a large margin side. The support means is configured to be rotatable and linearly movable with respect to the printing means,
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the driving unit includes a rotation driving unit that rotates the supporting unit and / or a linear moving unit that linearly moves the supporting unit. Printing means for printing a character string on a print object via the ink ribbon by moving the print head in a predetermined direction while feeding the ink ribbon to the print head;
A support means for supporting a printing object printed by the printing means configured to be movable with respect to the printing means;
Manual operation means for manually moving the support means relative to the printing means so as to correspond the position of the printing area on the printing object to the printing means;
Margin amount detecting means for detecting margin amounts of a front margin and a rear margin provided before and after a character string to be printed on a print object;
Determination means for determining the magnitude of the front margin amount and the rear margin amount detected by the margin amount detection means;
Display means for displaying an operation guidance message necessary for the printing operation;
Control means for controlling the printing operation,
The control means moves the support means to a predetermined position on the basis of the determination result of the determination means, so that the smaller of the front margin amount and the rear margin amount is set to the print start position of the print head. A printing apparatus that displays on the display means a guidance message that prompts an operation of the manual operation means to correspond to the side. The support means is configured to be rotatable and linearly movable with respect to the printing means,
The printing according to claim 3, wherein the manual operation unit includes a rotation operation unit that rotates the support unit and / or a linear movement operation unit that linearly operates the support unit. apparatus. Furthermore, a position detection means for detecting that the support means has moved to a position corresponding to an instruction of the guidance message displayed on the display means,
4. The control unit according to claim 3, wherein the control unit performs a printing operation by the printing unit when the position detecting unit detects that the supporting unit has moved to a position corresponding to the instruction of the guidance message. 5. The printing apparatus according to 4. When the character string to be printed is composed of a plurality of lines, the margin amount detection means detects a front margin amount and a rear margin amount for each line,
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines whether the smallest front margin amount and the smallest rear margin amount detected by the margin amount detection unit are large or small.   When the support means is rotated by the rotation driving means, the control means rotates character string data to be printed in accordance with the rotation, and prints the rotated character string data. The printing apparatus according to claim 2 or 4.

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