JP2006095796A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer in which the amount of work required for altering the setting of a plurality of printers can be divided. <P>SOLUTION: The printer stores a reservation setting date and a reservation setting content previously input to an input section in a flash ROM, and alters the reservation setting content stored in the flash ROM when the current date output from a calendar IC for counting the date matches the reservation setting date stored in the flash ROM or later than that. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that can change various settings, and more particularly, to a printing apparatus that automatically changes settings at a reserved date and time.

The printing device is installed in, for example, a supermarket and prints a product name, price, expiration date, barcode, and the like on a label attached to a product to be sold. By the way, the price printed on the label is required to display the total amount from April 1, 2004 so that the consumer can know at a glance the total payment amount including the consumption tax equivalent. For example, if the product's main unit price (tax-excluded price) is 9800 yen, a product obtained by adding 490 (= 9800 x 0.05) yen for the consumption tax to 9800 yen when the consumption tax rate is 5% The total payment amount is 10290 yen, and this 10290 yen must be printed on the label.
As a technology related to an apparatus for printing the total payment amount of a product, Patent Document 1 below discloses a body price calculation means for calculating a body price that is a price of a product determined by the weight of the product and a set unit price, and this body price. A consumption tax amount calculating means for calculating a consumption tax amount calculated from the consumption tax rate, a total payment calculating means for calculating a total payment amount calculated from the main unit price and the consumption tax amount, and the vicinity of the notation of the total payment amount In addition, there is disclosed an electronic toll balance with a printer provided with a printing format for printing on the label so as to represent the main body price and the consumption tax, and a printing means for printing the label based on the printing format.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-16529

For example, assuming that the consumption tax rate is revised from 5% to 7%, all labels with the total payment calculated at the consumption tax rate of 5% are no longer necessary, and the total calculated at the new consumption tax rate of 7%. A label with the payment amount printed is required.
In Patent Document 1, when the consumption tax rate is revised as described above, the consumption tax rate setting for all electronic toll balances with printers installed in a supermarket or the like is changed from 5% to 7%, and the revised consumption tax rate of 7 The total amount of payment calculated based on% is printed on a label, and there is a problem that a great deal of labor is required to attach this label to all products. Furthermore, since the consumption tax rate is revised all at once on the enforcement date, the consumption tax rate setting is changed and the label is changed within the limited time from the supermarket opening day on the day before the enforcement date to the next day supermarket opening time. Printing and labeling work on the product had to be completed, requiring a great deal of labor.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus that can divide the amount of work required to change the settings of a plurality of printing apparatuses.

The printing apparatus according to the present invention includes a printing unit that conveys paper and performs printing, an input unit that inputs reservation setting date and time and reservation setting content, and a reservation setting date and time and reservation setting content that are input from the input unit. Storage means for storing; calendar means for measuring the date and time and outputting the current date and time;
Determining means for determining whether the current date and time output by the calendar means is the same as or later than the reservation setting date and time stored in the storage means; and And setting change means for changing the setting to the reservation setting contents stored in the storage means when it is determined that it is after the reservation setting date and time.
Further, the reservation setting content is a consumption tax rate, and the reservation setting date and time is an effective date of revision of the consumption tax rate.
Further, the input means is capable of inputting commodity price information, and further includes commodity price calculation means for calculating a total payment amount of the commodity from the main body price information and a currently set consumption tax rate, and the printing The total payment amount is printed on a sheet by means.
Further, the printing means prints the setting contents before changing the setting and the setting contents after changing the setting when the setting changing means changes the setting.

When it is determined whether the current date and time output by the calendar means is the same as or later than the reservation setting date and time stored in the storage means, and it is determined that the current date and time is the same as or later than the reservation setting date and time Since the setting is changed to the reservation setting contents, it is possible to change the setting of the printing apparatus using the idle time of other work.
Also, enter the consumption tax rate and the enforcement date of the consumption tax rate revision, and if the current date and time output by the calendar means is the same as or later than the enforcement date of the consumption tax revision, change the setting to the consumption tax rate entered by the setting means By doing so, the setting operation of the printer can be completed before the enforcement date of the consumption tax rate revision. Also, by adopting it for multiple printing devices, you can divide the amount of setting change work,
It is possible to reduce the labor required for setting changes.
Further, the total payment amount of the product can be calculated from the main body price information of the product input from the input means and the set consumption tax rate, and the total payment amount can be printed on a sheet.
In addition, when the setting change means changes the setting, the setting contents before changing the setting and the setting contents after the setting change are printed, so it is confirmed that the reservation setting has been executed visually. Can do.

The best mode for carrying out the invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the printing apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the printing apparatus. As shown in these drawings, the printing apparatus 1 mainly includes a supply unit 2, a sensor 3, and a printing unit 4. It has.

The supply unit 2 includes a supply shaft and a label guide (not shown), and both side surfaces of the label continuous body 40 wound in a roll shape are regulated by the label guide and rotatably held on the supply shaft. The label continuum 40 is configured by temporarily attaching a plurality of labels having a predetermined length on the surface of a belt-like mount.

The sensor 3 has a light emitting part and a light receiving part, irradiates light to the label continuous body 40 from the light emitting part, receives light at the light receiving part, and determines the position of the label continuous body 40 by the intensity of the light received by this light receiving part. To detect.

The printing unit 4 includes a thermal head 5 and a platen roller 6 connected to a motor (not shown). The printing unit 4 rotates and drives the platen roller 6 to convey the label continuous body 40. The body 40 is printed. The printing unit 4 performs printing and conveyance by holding the label continuous body 40 between the platen roller 6 and the thermal head 5 with the cover 10 closed.

As shown in FIG. 1, the cover 10 includes an input unit 11 for inputting reservation setting contents, reservation setting date and time, a product main body price as print information, and a display unit 12 for displaying information input by the input unit 11. I have. In addition, a grip portion 13 is provided as a handle for carrying the printing apparatus 1.

The printing apparatus 1 includes a control unit that controls the above-described units, and the control unit 20 illustrated in FIG. 3 will be described. The control unit 20 operates in accordance with a control program stored in the ROM 21 that stores a predetermined control program, a CPU 22 that controls each unit, and a RAM 23 that stores various data necessary for the CPU 22 to operate. A pulse signal is supplied to the platen roller 6 including a stepping motor (not shown) to control the conveyance of the label continuum 40 and the print data supplied from the CPU 22 such as characters, figures and price information to be printed. A control signal corresponding to the above is generated and supplied to the thermal head 5 to perform a printing operation, and the light emitting portion of the sensor 3 is controlled under the control of the CPU 22 to cause the label continuum 40 to emit light. At the same time, an electrical signal output from the light receiving unit is received, converted into digital data, and the CPU 22. The label detection circuit 26 to be supplied, the calendar IC 27 that performs the time measurement process and outputs the current date and time information indicating the current date and time, and the power of the printing apparatus 1 such as reservation setting contents and reservation setting date and time input from the input unit 11 are turned off. Even so, it has a flash ROM 28 for storing information to be held, an interface 29 for connecting the input unit 11 and the display unit 12, and an external interface 30 for connecting an external device such as a scanner (not shown).
These units are connected to the CPU 22 via the data bus 31, and printing is performed on the label continuum 40 based on the print data input from the input unit 11 under the control of the CPU 22.

A reservation setting method for the printing apparatus 1 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining reservation setting processing in the printing apparatus. As an example of the reservation setting process, it is necessary to set the consumption tax rate currently set in the printing apparatus 1 to 5% and change the consumption tax rate to 7% as of April 1, 2005 as the revision date of the consumption tax rate. It is assumed and explained.

  First, as pre-processing for operating the reservation setting, the reservation setting date and time and the reservation setting content are input in advance from the input unit 11 based on the display content of the display unit 12 and stored in the flash ROM 28. That is, the reservation setting date and time to be input is April 1, 2005 and supermarket opening time, for example, 9:00 am, and the reservation setting content is a consumption tax rate of 7%.

After the power is turned on in step S1 in FIG. 4, the system is checked, the program is read, and the printing apparatus 1 is initialized. The current date / time information is read from the calendar IC 27 (step S2), and the reservation setting date / time is read from the flash ROM 28 (step S3). At this time, it is determined whether or not the current date and time information read from the calendar IC 27 is the same as or later than the reservation setting date and time read from the flash ROM 28 (step S4).

If the current date / time information is not the same as the reservation setting date / time and is not later than the reservation setting date / time, that is, if the current date / time is before the reservation setting date / time (9:00 am on April 1, 2005), the process proceeds to step S6. Reads the currently set consumption tax rate of 5%. In step S7, print data including product price information is input from the input unit 11, and the CPU 22 including the price calculation means calculates the total payment amount including tax and the consumption tax amount from the input body price information and the consumption tax rate of 5%. (Step S8), printing is performed on the label continuum 40 (Step S9).

On the other hand, in step S4, if the current date and time information is the same as the reservation setting date and time (April 1, 2005, 9:00 am) or after the reservation setting date and time, the process proceeds to step S5 and the reservation setting contents stored in the flash ROM 28 are stored. Change the setting to 7%. The consumption tax rate 7% changed in this setting is read out (step S6), print data including product main unit price information is input from the input unit 11 (step S7), and the total payment amount including tax is calculated from the main unit price information and the consumption tax rate 7%. The consumption tax amount is calculated (step S8), and the label continuum 40 is printed (step S9).

In the above reservation setting process, a setting change method in a supermarket where a plurality of printing apparatuses are installed will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 shows an example in which a plurality of printing devices 1A to 1D are installed in the supermarket, and FIG. 6 shows the display units of the printing devices 1A to 1D on which the reservation setting is executed.
First, the input unit 11 of the printing apparatus 1A is operated to input a reservation setting date and time, April 1, 2005, 9:00 am and a consumption tax rate of 7%, which is a reservation setting content, and perform reservation setting preprocessing. . Similarly, the input unit 11 of the printing apparatus 1B is operated to input the reservation setting date and time, April 1, 2005, 9:00 am and the consumption tax rate of 7%, which is the reservation setting content, and perform reservation setting preprocessing. .
At this time, the printing apparatuses 1A and 1B complete the reservation setting pre-processing, and the printing apparatuses 1C and 1D are in the reservation setting incomplete state. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, the characters “with reservation setting” indicating the completion of reservation setting are displayed on a part of the display unit 12 of the printing apparatuses 1A and 1B that have completed the reservation setting preprocessing. An icon indicating that there is a reservation setting may be used.

The display unit 12 of the printing apparatuses 1C and 1D confirms that there is no character or icon indicating completion of the reservation setting, and operates the respective input units 11 of the printing apparatuses 1C and 1D to set the reservation setting date and time, April 1, 2005. On the day of 9:00 am, the consumption tax rate 7% which is the reservation setting content is input, reservation setting pre-processing is performed, and the above-described reservation setting is executed in each of the printing apparatuses 1A to 1D.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the fact that the reservation setting change has been made is printed on the printing apparatus 1 that has made the reservation setting, or the fact that the reservation setting change has been made is displayed on the display unit 12. It can be confirmed that the reservation setting has been executed visually.

As described above, in the best mode for carrying out the invention, when the consumption tax rate is revised, the setting work for the plurality of printing apparatuses 1A to 1D is not concentrated on the day before the enforcement date of the consumption tax rate, and the work is performed by the reservation setting. The amount can be divided, and the labor for changing the setting can be reduced.

1 is a schematic perspective view of a printing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the printing apparatus in FIG. 1. The block diagram of a control part. The flowchart explaining a reservation setting process. Explanatory drawing explaining the example in which the multiple printers 1A-1D are installed in the supermarket FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the display unit 12 of the printing apparatuses 1A to 1D for which reservation setting is completed. The top view of the label continuous body which performed the printing which shows that the reservation setting was implemented.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printing apparatus 2 Supply part 3 Sensor 4 Printing part 5 Thermal head 6 Platen roller 10 Cover 11 Input part 12 Display part 13 Holding part 20 Control part 21 ROM
22 CPU
23 RAM
24 Conveyance control circuit 25 Print control circuit 26 Label detection circuit 27 Calendar IC
28 Flash ROM
29 Interface 30 External interface 31 Data bus 40 Label continuum

Claims (4)

Printing means for transporting paper and performing printing;
An input means for inputting the reservation setting date and time and the reservation setting contents;
Storage means for storing the reservation setting date and time and the reservation setting content input from the input means;
Calendar means to measure the date and time and output the current date and time,
Determining means for determining whether the current date and time output by the calendar means is the same as or later than the reservation setting date and time stored in the storage means;
A setting change means for changing the setting to the reservation setting content stored in the storage means when the determination means determines that the current date and time is the same as or later than the reservation setting date and time;
A printing apparatus comprising: The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reservation setting content is a consumption tax rate, and the reservation setting date and time is an effective date of revision of the consumption tax rate. The input means is capable of inputting product body price information,
The product price calculation means for calculating the total payment amount of the product from the main body price information and the currently set consumption tax rate, and the printing means prints the total payment amount on paper. 2. The printing apparatus according to 2. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the setting change unit changes the setting, the printing unit prints a setting content before the setting is changed and a setting content after the setting is changed.

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