JP2006035524A - Label printer and its control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate printing errors when a power supply is turned on again after it is turned off in a label removal waiting state in a label printer. <P>SOLUTION: At the time when printing is carried out by a printing head to labels pasted continuously to a mount, and the mount and the printed labels are transferred through a label peeling mechanism to a label removal position, the head position of a next label to be a next printing object passes the position of the printing head, and therefore the label printer controls the mount to be a label beginning position by transferring the mount in an opposite direction at the time of printing to the next label. The label printer is equipped with a nonvolatile memory which writes information on whether a transfer position of the mount when the power supply of the label printer is turned off is present at the label removal position or the label beginning position, and a control means which carries out transfer control for the mount with reference to written contents (S31) of the nonvolatile memory when the power supply is turned on. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a label printing apparatus for printing on a label affixed to a mount, and more particularly to a label printing apparatus equipped with a label peeling mechanism for peeling a label from the mount and a control method thereof.

  A label printer that prints on a label affixed to a long mount is equipped with a label peeling mechanism that peels off a printed label from the mount, for example, as described in Patent Document 1 below. is there.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 9A, the label peeling mechanism places the mount 52 in the middle of the transport path of the mount 52 transported between the platen roller 50 and the print head 51 in accordance with the clockwise rotation of the platen roller 50. A curved portion 53 that conveys while curving at an acute angle is provided on the back side of the mount, and in this curved portion 53, the stiff label 54a attached to the surface of the mount 52 is peeled off from the mount 52, and the peeled label 54a is The label is discharged from the label discharge port 55 to the outside of the printing apparatus.

  When the printed label 54a is discharged to the label discharge port 55 while peeling the label 54a from the mount 52 using this label peeling mechanism, the mount portion on which the label 54a is pasted after printing one label 54a The label 54a is peeled from the front in the transport direction by passing through the curved portion 53, and the transport of the mount 52 is temporarily stopped with only the rear edge of the label 54a attached to the mount 52.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 9 (b), when the operator waits for the label 54a to be removed from the mount 52 with a finger, and when the removal is detected by the label sensor 56, FIG. 9 (c). As shown, the platen roller 50 is rotated counterclockwise to return the mount 52 in the reverse direction so that the leading position of the next label 54 b on the mount 52 matches the position of the print head 51. The reason why the mount 52 is returned in the reverse direction is that when the mount is transported to the position where the printed label is removed by the operator (the position shown in FIG. 9A), the leading position of the next label 54b is the position of the print head 51. Because it has passed through.

JP-A-8-295323

  As described above, in a label printing apparatus equipped with a label peeling mechanism (peeler), a mount feeding position where a printed label is removed by an operator (the position shown in FIG. 9A, hereinafter this position is referred to as “label removal position”). )), And a mount feed position for aligning the head position of the label 54b to be printed next with the position of the print head 51 (the position shown in FIG. 9C, hereinafter this position is referred to as "label cueing position"). Is different.

  For this reason, for example, when the power of the label printing apparatus is turned off in a state where the printed label 54a is sent to the label removal position, and the label printing apparatus is turned on again after the label 54a is removed while the power is off. When the power is turned off after the mount feeding position is returned to the label cueing position and then the power is turned on, the mount feeding position is different.

  Since the conventional label printing apparatus cannot identify whether the mount feed position when the power is turned on is the label removal position or the label cueing position by the detection signal of the label sensor, it is at the label removal position. There is a problem that a printing error occurs because printing starts on the label.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a label printing apparatus and a control method thereof that can avoid the occurrence of a printing error.

The label printing apparatus of the present invention is the next printing target when the printing head prints on the label continuously stuck on the mount and the mount and the printed label are conveyed to the label removal position through the label peeling mechanism. Since the leading position of the next label passes the position of the print head, in the label printing apparatus that controls the label initial position by transporting the mount in the reverse direction when printing on the next label,
A non-volatile memory for writing information indicating whether the transport position of the backing sheet is at the label removal position or the label cueing position when the power of the label printing apparatus is turned off, and when the power is turned on, And a control means for performing conveyance control of the mount with reference to the contents written in the nonvolatile memory.

  With this configuration, the control means can know whether the mount feed position at the previous power-off was the label removal position or the label cueing position, and it is possible to perform appropriate processing when the power is turned on. Avoided.

The control method of the label printing apparatus of the present invention is the next printing when printing is performed on the label continuously attached to the mount by the print head and the mount and the printed label are conveyed to the label removal position through the label peeling mechanism. Since the leading position of the target next label passes the position of the print head, in the control method of the label printing apparatus for controlling the label initial position by transporting the mount in the reverse direction when printing on the next label,
When the power of the label printing apparatus is turned off, a determination step for determining whether the transport position of the mount is at the label removal position or the label cueing position, and the determination result of the determination step is non-volatile Writing to the memory, and carrying out transport control of the mount with reference to the written contents of the nonvolatile memory when the power is turned on.

  With this configuration, the control means can know whether the mount feed position at the previous power-off was the label removal position or the label cueing position, and it is possible to perform appropriate processing when the power is turned on. Avoided.

  In the control method for the label printing apparatus of the present invention, the control means collects information on the feed position of the mount when the power is turned off, writes the information in the nonvolatile memory, and then performs a power-off process. It is characterized by.

  With this configuration, the present invention can be easily applied when the power is turned off by software processing.

  In the control method of the label printing apparatus of the present invention, when the control unit determines that the feed position of the mount at the previous power-off time is the label removal position based on the written contents of the nonvolatile memory, It is detected whether or not the printed label is removed. If it is not removed, it waits until it is removed. If it is removed, the transport position of the mount is controlled to the label cueing position, and the next label is detected. Is printed.

  With this configuration, when the power was previously turned off in the label removal waiting state, the label printing apparatus can be returned in the label removal waiting state this time.

  In the control method of the label printing apparatus of the present invention, when the control unit determines that the feed position of the mount at the previous power-off time is the label cueing position based on the written contents of the nonvolatile memory, A printing process for the next label is performed.

  With this configuration, when the power is turned off last time in the label printing waiting state, the label printing process can be started immediately this time, and the printing process is not erroneously started in the label removal waiting state.

  According to the present invention, since the mount feed position when the power is turned off last time is known when the power is turned on this time, it is possible to avoid a situation in which printing is suddenly started in a label removal waiting state and a printing error occurs.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a label printing apparatus equipped with a label peeling mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an internal configuration thereof. The label printing apparatus 1 includes a case 2 having a vertically long rectangular parallelepiped shape as a whole, and a label discharge port 3 and a mount discharge port 4 are provided on the front surface portion 2a separately from each other with a peeler cover 15 interposed therebetween. ing.

  As shown in FIG. 2, roll paper 6 is stored in the case 2. The roll paper 6 is configured by winding a continuous long number of labels 7 on a surface of a long mount 8 in a roll shape. The roll paper 6 is pulled out in the case 2, passed between the print head 12 and the platen roller 13, and is bent at an acute angle on the back side of the mount 8 by an acute curved portion 14 constituting a label peeling mechanism. Then, it is discharged from the mount discharge port 4 to the outside.

  In the label printing apparatus 1, a label detection sensor 18 is provided at an upper position slightly separated from the distal end portion of the bending portion 14. The label detection sensor 18 detects, for example, the presence or absence of reflected light from the label 7 to detect the presence or absence of the label 7 and notifies a CPU for printing apparatus control described later.

  FIG. 3 is an external view of the label printing apparatus 1 showing that the roll paper 6 is pulled out inside the case 2 and set so as to be pulled out from the mount discharge port 4. A peeler cover 15 provided between the label discharge port 3 and the mount discharge port 4 of the front surface 2a of the case 2 is pivotally attached to the front surface 2a of the case 2 so as to be opened and closed. The peeler cover 15 is opened, the leading end of the roll paper 6 is passed through the mount discharge port 4, and the peeler cover 15 is closed.

  In this way, by pulling out the leading end of the roll paper 6 from the mount discharge port 4, the label peeling mechanism functions, and the label 7 printed by the print head 12 is sent to the curved portion 14 together with the mount 8, and the mount 8 Is bent at an acute angle on the back side of the mount 8 at the tip of the curved portion 14 and further conveyed further, the label 7 peels off from the mount 8 at the tip of the curved portion 14, and as shown in FIG. It is discharged from the outlet 3.

  Instead of pulling out the leading end of the roll paper 6 from the mount discharge port 4, the leading end of the roll paper 6 is pulled out from the label discharge port 3, that is, together with the label 7 shown in FIG. When the mount 8 is set so as to be pulled out, the label 7 can be continuously printed with the label 7 attached to the mount 8, and the label 7 can be discharged together with the mount 8, and then manually. Each label 7 is peeled off from the mount 8. This is called a continuous printing mode. A mode in which the mount 8 is discharged from the mount discharge port 4 and the label peeling mechanism functions to discharge the label 7 from the label discharge port 3 every time one label 7 is printed is called a label peeling mechanism (peeler) use mode.

  FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the electric control system of the label printing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. A CPU 20 that controls the label printing apparatus 1 is connected via a bus 21 to a ROM 22 loaded with a print control program, a RAM 23 that functions as a main memory, and a rewritable nonvolatile memory 24.

  In the present embodiment, an area for storing the board feed position is provided in a predetermined area of the rewritable nonvolatile memory 24, and the board feed position is stored by a flag value written in this area. Instead of providing the memory 24 separately, the ROM 22 may be composed of a rewritable nonvolatile memory, and an area for storing the board feed position may be provided in a part thereof.

  A communication I / F 25 is connected to the bus 21, and a personal computer (PC) 27 serving as a host computer of the label printing apparatus 1 is connected via a communication cable 26 connected to the communication I / F 25.

  Further, an input / output unit (I / O unit) 29 is connected to the bus 21, and the drive motor 30 such as the label detection sensor 18, the print head 12, the platen roller 13, etc. is connected via the I / O unit 29. A power switch 31, a paper feed (PF) switch 32, and the like are connected. The paper feed switch 32 is a switch forcibly sending the label 7 to a position where the operator can remove it when the switch 32 is pressed.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the execution procedure of the print control program executed by the CPU 20. When the power is turned on, first, it is determined whether or not the peeler use mode (label peeling mechanism use mode) is set (step S1). When not in the peeler use mode, the above-described continuous printing mode is executed (step S2). Whether or not it is in the peeler use mode can be automatically discriminated by providing a mount detection switch in the middle of the mount conveyance path on the mount discharge port 4 side and collecting the on / off state of this switch by the CPU 20. However, manual input by an operator may be used.

  If the result of determination in step S1 is peeler use mode, start processing (step S3) is performed next. In this starting process, as shown in FIG. 6, it is first determined whether or not the flag value F of the mount feeding position storage area is F = 1. If F = 0, that is, if the flag value indicates that the mount feed position is the cueing position of the label, the start process (step S3) is terminated, and the next print process (step S4: Go to FIG.

  As a result of the determination in step S31, when the flag value F = 1, the process proceeds to step S32 and waits for the label detection sensor 18 to detect that there is no label. If the label is peeled off by the operator and the label detection sensor 18 detects that there is no label, next, a reverse rotation command is output to the drive motor of the platen roller 13 to return the mount feeding position to the label cueing position (step) S33), the process proceeds to the printing process (step S4) in FIG.

  In the printing process S4, as shown in detail in FIG. 7, first, data communication is performed with the host computer 27, and data to be printed is acquired from the host computer 27 (step S41). Next, the print data is transferred to the print head 12 to perform printing (step S42), and it is determined whether or not printing has been completed (step S43). If printing has not been completed, the process returns to step S42. If printing has been completed, a forward rotation command is output to the drive motor for the platen roller 13, and the board transport position is advanced to the label removal position, so The conveyance is stopped (step S44), the printing process is terminated, and the process proceeds to the next label removal standby process (step S5: FIG. 5).

  In the label removal waiting process, as shown in detail in FIG. 8, first, the state of the power switch is detected (step S51). This power switch is a soft switch, and the power supply is not actually cut off when the power switch is OFF, but the actual power supply is cut off after the processing described later. When the power switch is ON, it is determined whether or not the label detection sensor 18 detects the presence of a label (step S52). When the label is present, the process returns to step S51.

  When the label detection sensor 18 detects that there is no label, the process proceeds from step S52 to the next step S53, where a reverse rotation command is output to the drive motor for the platen roller, and the backing sheet feed position is fed back to the label cueing position.

  In the next step S54, it is determined whether or not the paper feed switch has been pressed. If the paper feed switch has not been pressed, that is, if the operator has not requested a forced paper feed, the label removal waiting process is terminated. Then, the process returns to the printing process in step S4 of FIG.

  If the paper feed switch is pressed, the process proceeds from step S54 to step S55, where a forward rotation command is output to the drive motor of the platen roller, and the mount feed position is fed forward to the label removal position. Then, the state of the power switch (soft switch) is determined (step S56). If the power switch is ON, it is determined whether or not the presence of the label detection sensor label is detected (step S57). Returns to step S56.

  When the label detection sensor 18 detects no label, the process proceeds from step S57 to the next step S58, where a reverse rotation command is output to the drive motor of the platen roller 13 to reversely feed the mount feed position to the label heading position. The label removal standby process is terminated, and the process returns to the printing process (step S4).

  As a result of the power switch state determination in step S51 or step S56, if the power switch is OFF, the process proceeds to step 59, and the flag value F of the mount feed position storage area is set. That is, information on the board feed position when the power is turned off is collected, and F = 1 when the board feed position is the label removal position, and F = 0 when the board feed position is the label cueing position. Thereafter, a power-off process (step S60) of the printing apparatus is performed.

  As described above, in this embodiment, since the board feed position at the time of the previous power-off is written in the nonvolatile memory, when the power is turned on, by looking at the written contents of this nonvolatile memory, This state can be determined when the power is turned on this time, so that a printing error can be avoided.

  In the above-described embodiment, it is determined whether or not the peeler use mode is set when the power is turned on, and the mount feed position when the power is turned off last time is read when in the peeler use mode. In the printing device that can be set to the mode that forcedly feeds the mount when the power is turned on, it is first determined whether or not the forced feed mode of the mount is initially set when the power is turned on, and the forced feed mode of the mount is initially set. It is good also as a structure which performs embodiment mentioned above when not done.

  In the above-described embodiment, the CPU 20 collects the state of the mount feeding position when the power is turned off, and writes the flag value F in the memory 24 based on the collected information. However, before writing, the flag value F is currently stored in the memory 24. A step may be provided for determining whether the flag value F is different from the flag value F based on the information collected by the CPU 20, and the writing process may be performed only when the flag value F is different. Thereby, it is possible to avoid shortening the life of the memory 24.

  In the above-described embodiment, the CPU 20 collects the state of the mount feeding position when the power is turned off, and writes the flag value F in the memory 24 based on the collected information (step S59). When there is no power, the flag value F is set to 1 every time the drive motor is driven and fed forward to the label removal position (steps S44 and S55) regardless of the power off, and the feed is reversed to the label cueing position ( In step S33, S53, S58), the flag value F = 0 may be set.

  In the present invention, the effect of avoiding label printing mistakes is achieved, and it is useful as a label printing apparatus.

1 is an external perspective view of a label printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic sectional drawing of the label printing apparatus shown in FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the mounting method of the mount in the label printing apparatus shown in FIG. It is a block diagram of the electric control system of the label printing apparatus shown in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the printing control procedure which CPU of the label printing apparatus shown in FIG. 4 performs. It is a flowchart which shows the detailed procedure of the start process shown in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the detailed procedure of the printing process shown in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the detailed procedure of the label removal waiting | standby process shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the conventional label peeling mechanism.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Label printer, 2 ... Case, 3 ... Label discharge port, 4 ... Mount discharge port, 7 ... Label, 8 ... Mount, 12 ... Print head, 13 ... Platen roller, 15 ... Peeler cover, 18 ... Label detection sensor, 20 ... CPU, 24 ... rewritable nonvolatile memory, 27 ... host computer, 30 ... drive motor (stepping motor), 31 ... power switch.

Claims (5)

When the print head prints on the label that is continuously pasted on the mount and transports the mount and the printed label to the label removal position through the label peeling mechanism, the start position of the next label to be printed next is the print In the label printing apparatus for controlling the label heading position by transporting the backing sheet in the reverse direction when printing on the next label because it has passed the position of the head,
A nonvolatile memory for writing information on whether the transport position of the mount when the power of the label printing apparatus is turned off is at the label removal position or the label cueing position;
A label printing apparatus comprising: control means for performing conveyance control of the mount with reference to the written contents of the nonvolatile memory when the power is turned on. When the print head prints on the label that is continuously pasted on the mount and transports the mount and the printed label to the label removal position through the label peeling mechanism, the start position of the next label to be printed next is the print When the label printing apparatus is turned off in the control method of the label printing apparatus, which passes the mount in the reverse direction and controls to the label cueing position when printing on the next label because it has passed the position of the head. Determining whether the transport position of the mount is at the label removal position or the label cueing position;
Writing the determination result of the determination step into a nonvolatile memory;
When the power is turned on, referring to the content written in the non-volatile memory, carrying the board transport control; and
A control method for a label printing apparatus, comprising: The label according to claim 1, wherein the control unit collects information on a feed position of the mount when the power is turned off, writes the information in the nonvolatile memory, and then performs a power-off process. Control method of printing device. The transport control determines whether or not the printed label has been removed when it is determined from the written content of the nonvolatile memory that the mount feed position at the previous power-off is the label removal position. The detection is performed, and when it is not removed, it waits until it is removed, and when it is removed, the transport position of the mount is controlled to the label cueing position, and the next label is printed. The control method of the label printing apparatus of Claim 2 or Claim 3. The conveying means performs a printing process on the next label when it is determined from the written contents of the nonvolatile memory that the mount feeding position at the previous power-off time is the label cueing position. A control method for a label printing apparatus according to claim 2 or 3.

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