JP2006334978A - Label printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a label printer which makes more efficient or facilitates working especially for price reduction or display change of commodities, and which is easy to use without the need for a special seat-of-the-pants working when working on price reduction timing, a price reduction amount and a price reduction rate, other display change contents, and the like. <P>SOLUTION: The label printer is characterized in that: it calls attention of a worker by issuing to the worker instructions (price reduction instructions, display change instructions) regarding timing of price reduction treatment and other display change treatment, a target place, and contents; that print information for applying new displaying according to existing display displayed on a predetermined article is printed on a label piece; and that the display change instructions to urge the worker to print the print information for display changing are given to the worker. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a label printing apparatus, and more particularly to a label printing apparatus capable of printing display change printing information such as price reduction information on a label piece.

    Conventionally, in the retail field, in order to promote sales of products, prices have been reduced from prices already displayed on products. As a specific method of price reduction, there is generally a method of pasting (marking down) a label displaying a price reduction amount and a price reduction ratio on a price tag such as a price label or a price tag.

As a matter of course, the timing of price reductions, as well as the amount of price reduction and the rate of price reduction, are based on the standards determined in advance for each product, and while looking at the sales of each product, The person in charge and the person in charge of each sales floor judge, but in order to carry out more effective price reduction processing, the actual season, day of the week and time of day, weather, product type and characteristics, expiration date, inventory quantity, Since various factors such as purchasers are involved, the work of issuing a price cut label while replenishing the display of goods and serving customers is a work that requires considerable nerves and requires experience.
In particular, if the price reduction work is not performed at the required timing, it may have an unfavorable effect on the sales situation, and when and at what timing, for what product, at which sales floor, the decision on which price reduction processing should be performed There is a problem that it is very difficult.

    In addition, the type of product to be reduced, the reduction price or the rate of reduction are determined, and when actually attaching the price reduction label, the printed label is manually input after the print data input and issue operations by the label printer. In many cases, the labeling work to the price tag displaying the old price is often performed by hand, which is inferior in workability of the pasting work.

    Also, when setting a new price for price reduction, an optical or mechanical reader such as a barcode reader or scanner is used to read the barcode or OCR of the price tag displaying the old price. However, since the label printing apparatus is separate from the scanner, there is a problem that handling of the apparatus is inconvenient.

    In addition to reducing the price of the product, it may be necessary to change the contents of, for example, “special sale” and other pop displays. As with the price reduction operation described above, the display change operation should be made more efficient. Is requested.

Japanese Patent Publication No.58-15376 Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-44619

    The present invention has been considered in view of the above-described problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a portable label printing / applying device that can efficiently or simplify the price reduction operation or display change operation of a product.

    In addition, the present invention is a portable label printing affixing that can be used easily and without special experience when working on the timing of price reduction, price reduction rate, price reduction ratio, and other display changes. It is an object to provide an apparatus.

    Another object of the present invention is to provide a portable label printing and sticking device that is excellent in workability when sticking a display change label or a price reduction label.

    In addition, the present invention provides a portable label printing and sticking device that is easy to handle when setting a new price reduction price by optically or mechanically reading a barcode or the like of a price tag displaying an old price. The issue is to provide.

    It is another object of the present invention to provide a portable label printing / applying device having good operability particularly in the operation of price reduction or display change of products.

    In other words, the present invention pays attention to the operator's attention by issuing instructions (price reduction instruction, display change instruction) about the timing of the price reduction process and other display change processes and the location and contents thereof to the worker. A label printing apparatus having a label holding unit for holding a continuous label body having a plurality of label pieces on a belt-like mount, and a printing unit for printing on the label pieces, which is displayed on a predetermined article. New print information for display change can be printed on the label piece by the printing unit in accordance with the already displayed information, and a display change command for prompting printing of the print information for display change is issued to the operator. Is a label printing apparatus characterized by

    The display change print information may be price reduction information related to the article.

    This can be done by displaying the display change command on the display unit.

    The display change command can be performed by voice.

    The display change command can be cautioned by vibration.

    The display change command can include information about a display change location and a display change target article.

    The printing unit having the label holding unit and the printing unit is separate from the printing unit, and is capable of transmitting print data to and from the printing unit and performing the display change command. A unit, and the control unit can input and display the print data relating to the article, and issue the display change command.

    A peeling part for peeling off the label piece printed by the printing part from the mount and a sticking part for sticking the label piece peeled off at the peeling part to a predetermined article are provided in the printing unit. Can be a pasting unit.

    A central processing unit separate from the control unit may be provided, and sales data relating to the sales status of the article can be supplied to the central processing unit.

    The central processing unit can create the display change print information based on the sales data and supply the print information to the control unit.

    The control unit can transmit display change information issuance data indicating that the print information for display change has been issued by the printing unit to the central processing unit.

The above print data includes not only data necessary for general printing, but also existing display information such as old price display, display change print information such as new price reduction information, and display change print information. This means display change information issuance data.
The display change print information can include not only the data necessary for the printing, but also the price reduction target product name (display change target article name) that requires a price reduction process, and the price reduction location (display change location).

In the label printing apparatus according to the present invention, the display change command for prompting the printing of new display change print information is given to the worker in accordance with the already displayed information displayed on the predetermined article. Can definitely execute display change work such as price reduction processing for necessary places and articles (products) without missing timing.
Specifically, the displayed information is read by an optical or mechanical reader (display information reader) such as a barcode reader or a scanner, and according to the displayed information and based on sales data or a predetermined standard. Create the necessary display change print information, print it on the label piece, and overlay this new label piece on the article (or this already displayed information if the displayed information is a barcode) , Can be pasted to display instead.
Therefore, display change work such as price reduction work can be reliably performed without losing timing.

    According to the present invention, instructions (price reduction instruction, display change instruction) about the timing of the price reduction process and other display change processes, and the location and contents thereof are issued to the worker. A label printer that can perform display change processing has been realized.

Next, a price reduction display processing system 1 (display change processing system) including an example in which the label printing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention is implemented as a portable label printing application apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a schematic overall explanatory diagram of a price reduction display processing system 1 (display change processing system). The price reduction display processing system 1 includes a central processing unit 2, a post register 3 (POS register), and a central processing unit 2. And the portable label printing and pasting device 4 separately from the post register 3.

    The central processing unit 2 is an information processing device such as a personal computer having a server and an information processing unit having a predetermined capacity, manages the inventory of products, and from the sales data from the post register 3 and the portable label printing and pasting device 4 In addition to receiving the previously displayed information, print data including display change printing information (for example, print data for price reduction) necessary for the portable label printing and pasting device 4 is created based on these data, and the display change is performed together with these. A command (for example, a price reduction command) is supplied.

The post register 3 is a sales processing machine installed on the billing counter of each sales floor, and supplies the sales data of each product to the central processing unit 2 in real time or after batch processing.
It should be noted that the data transmission between the central processing unit 2 and the portable label printing / applying device 4 is preferably performed by various types of radio, but the data transmission between the central processing unit 2 and the post register 3 is performed. Wireless or wired may be used.

The portable label printing and sticking device 4 issues and sticks price reduction labels, and has a control unit 5 and a sticking unit 6, and the control unit 5 performs real-time or batch processing with the central processing unit 2. In addition, it transmits and receives various data.
The control unit 5 and the affixing unit 6 are separate from each other, and the operator carries them together. For example, the control unit 5 is always carried around the waist, and the affixing unit 6 is gripped and operated. .
Note that data transmission between the control unit 5 and the pasting unit 6 may be either wireless or wired, but this is performed by wireless LAN, Bluetooth, or IrDA wireless or other various wireless methods. It is desirable.

FIG. 2 is a schematic circuit diagram of the control unit 5. The control unit 5 includes a battery 7, a power switch 8, a CPU 9, a ROM 10, a RAM 11, the central processing unit 2 and the pasting unit 6. Each includes a communication interface 12 for transmitting and receiving data, a liquid crystal display 13 (display unit), a numeric keypad 14 (input unit), and an alarm 15 by voice or vibration.
The control unit 5 can transmit print data to and from the pasting unit 6. In this control unit 5, the print data is received from the central processing unit 2 via the communication interface 12, or by the numeric keypad 14. The print data relating to the article is input and displayed on the liquid crystal display 13.
Further, on the liquid crystal display 13 of the control unit 5, a display change command (for example, a price reduction command) for prompting the printing and pasting of display change print information (for example, print data for price reduction) is displayed to the operator. If there is, the user is warned that the display change command is displayed on the liquid crystal display 13 by sound or vibration in the alarm device 15.
In addition, if it comprises so that the data transmission between the control unit 5 and the sticking unit 6 may be performed by radio | wireless, an operator will carry only the control unit 5 at the time of general work other than the sticking work, and will attach heavy weight. It is not necessary to always carry the unit 6, and it is only necessary to hold the affixing unit 6 only at the time of label printing work and price reduction work, and manual operation for operating the affixing unit 6 as compared with the case of the configuration by wired connection. The movable range can be wider and flexible.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of the affixing unit 6. The affixing unit 6 has an integral grip 16 and main body housing 17, and includes a label holding unit 18, a printing unit 19, a peeling unit 20, and an affixing unit. 21.
The grip 16 is gripped by an operator, and the sticking unit 6 is carried to each sales floor to perform operations such as reading information, printing, and sticking.
The main body housing 17 includes a label holding unit 18, a printing unit 19, a peeling unit 20, and a pasting unit 21, and incorporates a necessary circuit configuration.
The label holding unit 18 holds the label continuum L, and the label continuum L has a plurality of label pieces L2 on a strip-shaped mount L1.
The printing unit 19 includes a thermal head 22 and a platen roller 23. The platen roller 23 is rotated at a predetermined pitch by a transfer motor 24, and necessary print data is supplied to the thermal head 22 and sandwiched between them. Printing is performed on the label piece L2 to be transferred.
The peeling unit 20 has a turning pin 25, turns only the mount L1 at the turning pin 25, and peels the printed label piece L2 from the mount L1.
The affixing part 21 is located at the foremost part of the main body housing 17, has an affixing roller 26, and affixes the peeled label piece L2 to a predetermined article.

    Further, the pasting unit 6 has, as its circuit configuration, a battery 27, a power switch 28, a CPU 29, a ROM 30, a RAM 31, and a communication interface 32 for performing data transmission / reception between the control unit 5 and a scanner 33 ( Display information reader), a scanner button 34, a print button 35, a pasting sensor 36, an operation identification unit 37, the thermal head 22 and the transfer motor 24.

The scanner 33 is attached to a part different from the pasting unit 21 in the pasting unit 6, for example, the end of the grip 16 in the pasting unit 6 in the illustrated example.
As other attachment parts of the scanner 33, the sticking unit 6 (main body housing 17) located rearward from the sticking part 21 located at the most distal portion of the sticking unit 6 or the vicinity of the sticking part 21. Even if it exists, this can be attached to the side plate on either the left or right side of the main body housing 17 (see the phantom line in FIG. 3).
Further, the scanner 33 can be attached to the sticking unit 6 so as to be able to appear and disappear, so that the sticking operation by the sticking unit 21 or other operations can be prevented.
The scanner 33 may employ any device that can read the displayed information displayed on the article or its packaging container directly or indirectly via a label piece or the like.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the label piece L3 before price reduction displaying the already displayed information (prior price reduction). The label piece L3 before price reduction includes a product name, a unit price, and an existing information barcode. 39 (displayed information) and other necessary items are printed.
As the existing information barcode 39, the price is displayed directly by the barcode, or the product number is displayed in the case of the PLU method (price look-up method) according to the sales system of each retail store, When the scanner 33 reads the existing information barcode 39, it is possible to create new display change print information (price after reduction or price reduction ratio) for price reduction.
In other words, the already displayed information by the information bar code 39 read by the scanner 33 is transmitted to the central processing unit 2 via the control unit 5, and the central processing unit 2 responds to this already displayed information and from the post register 3. Based on the sales data and other conditions, a new information barcode 40 (print information for display change) as price reduction information is created for this product, supplied to the control unit 5, and the printing unit 19 of the pasting unit 6. Is printed on the label piece L2, and the new label piece L2 printed with the new information bar code 40 is pasted on the past information bar code 39 by the pasting unit 21 (see the virtual line in FIG. 4). The price cut by the new information bar code 40 can be displayed in place of the price before the price cut by the existing information bar code 39.
Depending on the type (display content) of the price reduction label, the new information barcode 40 is not printed on the label piece L2, and the price reduction price or the price reduction rate using ordinary letters or numbers that can be directly recognized by the purchaser's eyes. May be printed, and in this case, a new label piece L2 can be affixed to an arbitrary part of the article, not on the existing information barcode 39.

As a specific operation, among the scanner button 34 and the print button 35 provided on the grip 16, first, the existing information barcode 39 on the label piece L <b> 3 before price reduction is scanned while pressing the scanner button 34. Then, by pressing the print button 35, the new information barcode 40 can be printed on the label piece L2.
In addition, by providing the scanner button 34 on the side surface of the grip 16 opposite to the print button 35 (see the imaginary line in FIG. 3), it is possible to avoid mistakes in pressing each button.
Furthermore, the scanner button 34 and the print button 35 are combined into one, and this single button is used to start only the printing operation in a general printing operation, and the display change command (value reduction command) from the central processing unit 2 is used. In the price reduction process based on the above, the scanner 33 can be operated when the single button is pressed once, and the printing unit 19 can be operated when the second button is pressed. With this configuration, scanning by the scanner 33 can be performed first, and then the operation in the order of printing of the price reduction label (label piece L2) can be performed reliably. The label piece L3 before price reduction by a general printing operation, and scanning It is possible to prevent the label piece L2 issued by the user from making a mistake and sticking to the product.

    The affixing sensor 36 can detect the presence or absence of the label piece L2 in the affixing part 21, and can confirm the affixing of the label piece L2 by the affixing part 21 to the article or the label piece L3 before the price reduction. After that, it is possible to shift to the next reading or printing operation.

    The operation identification unit 37 displays the operating state of the affixing unit 6 with each lamp to notify the operator. For example, a lamp is displayed on a display portion such as “scanner”, “printing”, “communication”, etc. It becomes possible to identify by lighting up.

The price reduction processing by the price reduction display processing system 1 (display change processing system) and the portable label printing / applying device 4 having such a configuration will be described with reference to FIG.
In general printing and pasting processing without performing price reduction processing, the printing data is input from the numeric keypad 14 in the control unit 5 of the portable label printing and pasting device 4 or the printing data prepared in advance from the central processing unit 2 is supplied. The control unit 5 receives it, transmits it to the affixing unit 6, operates the print button 35 of the affixing unit 6 to perform printing and transfer by the printing unit 19, and affixes the label piece L <b> 2 peeled off by the peeling unit 20. It can be affixed to a predetermined product with 21 affixing rollers 26.

    FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the procedure of price reduction processing. In step S1, the central processing unit 2 instructs the portable label printing and pasting device 4 (control unit 5) to start price reduction (display change command), and A price reduction place (display change place), a price reduction target product name (display change target article name), and price reduction data (print data) for a price reduction label are transmitted.

In step S2, the control unit 5 receives the price reduction command and the print data, activates the alarm 15, and displays the display change print information including the price reduction place and the price reduction target product name, and further the price reduction start command on the liquid crystal display 13. To display.
The post-register 3 can supply sales data related to the sales status of the articles to the central processing unit 2, and the central processing unit 2 instructs the display change printing information and the start of price reduction based on the sales data and various conditions. Can be supplied to the control unit 5.

    In step S <b> 3, the operator scans and reads the existing information barcode 39 of the label piece L <b> 3 before price reduction (FIG. 4) displaying the already displayed information of the product to be reduced by the scanner 33 of the pasting unit 6. The same applies to the case where the already-printed barcode 39 or the like is directly printed on the packaging box or the like of the product to be reduced regardless of the label piece L3 before the reduction.

In step S4, the affixing unit 6 transmits the scanned information bar code 39 data to the control unit 5, and affixes the print data of the price reduction label (label piece L2) corresponding to the label piece L3 before the price reduction from the control unit 5. Send to unit 6.
If the operator accidentally reads the existing information barcode 39 of the label piece that does not require a price reduction, an error display or warning is given by the liquid crystal display 13 or the alarm 15 of the control unit 5, and the price reduction label ( A new label piece L2) is not issued.

In step S5, the print data received by the affixing unit 6 is printed on the label piece L2 by the printing unit 19, and affixed to the label piece L3 before price reduction by the affixing unit 21. However, as shown by the phantom lines in FIG. 4, the existing information barcode 39 is covered and other necessary display information is not hidden.
Further, the issuance history of the price reduction label (display change information issuance data indicating that the print information for display change has been issued by the pasting unit 6) is stored.
It should be noted that the consistency between the price reduction label (label piece L2) and the label piece L3 before price reduction can be confirmed after labeling. For example, the barcodes of both label pieces (the existing information barcode 39 and the new information barcode 40) are read by the scanner 33, and the presence or absence of the consistency is displayed on the liquid crystal display 13 of the control unit 5. If consistency is not achieved, the label piece L2 is peeled off and the above-described price reduction label issuance operation is performed.
In addition, when various data is transmitted and received between the control unit 5 and the pasting unit 6 by batch processing, one existing information bar code 39 is read particularly when the same price is corrected (price reduction), Alternatively, since all of the existing information barcode 39 is first read and a plurality of price-reduction labels having the new information barcode 40 can be issued at a time, the workability of printing and pasting is good.

    Finally, in step S6, after the above-described operation, the control unit 5 of the portable label printing and pasting device 4 transmits the price reduction label issuing history to the central processing unit 2.

Thus, according to the existing display information (previously information barcode 39) displayed on the predetermined article by the label piece L3 before the price reduction, the printing unit 19 prints the new display change print information on the label piece L2, and pastes it. 21 can be easily pasted. That is, since the operation from the printing to the pasting of the label piece L2 can be performed with the grip 16 of the pasting unit 6 held, there is no troublesome trouble of pasting the label piece L2 by hand as in the prior art.
Moreover, the price reduction processing work as described above is started by a price reduction command from the central processing unit determined based on various data, and the necessary products and It is possible to realize price reduction processing that is more effective than conventional ones for sales floors.

In addition, when it is set as the structure which peels and sticks by hand, instead of sticking the label piece L2 to the goods or label piece L3 before price reduction by the sticking part 21 of the sticking unit 6, the peeling part 20 is attached to the sticking unit 6. And without providing the sticking part 21, while the sticking unit 6 is comprised as a printing unit only of printing, the portable label printing sticking apparatus 4 can also be comprised as a label printing apparatus.

It is a schematic whole explanatory drawing of the price reduction display processing system 1 (display change processing system) including the example which implemented the label printing apparatus by the Example of this invention as the portable label printing sticking apparatus 4. FIG. 2 is a schematic circuit diagram of the control unit 5 in the same manner. It is a schematic block diagram of the sticking unit 6 same as the above. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the label piece L3 before the price displaying the already-displayed information (prior price before price reduction) similarly. It is a flowchart figure which shows the procedure of a price reduction process similarly.

Explanation of symbols

1 Price reduction display processing system (display change processing system) (Figure 1)
2 Central processing unit 3 Post register (POS register)
4 Portable label printing and sticking device (Example, label printing device, Fig. 3)
5 Control unit 6 Pasting unit (Fig. 3)
7 Battery (Figure 2)
8 Power switch 9 CPU
10 ROM
11 RAM
12 Communication interface 13 Liquid crystal display (display unit)
14 Numeric keypad (input section)
15 Alarm 16 Grip (Figure 3)
17 body housing 18 label holding part 19 printing part 20 peeling part 21 sticking part 22 thermal head 23 platen roller 24 transfer motor 25 turning pin 26 sticking roller 27 battery 28 power switch 29 CPU
30 ROM
31 RAM
32 Communication interface 33 Scanner (Display information reader)
34 Scanner button 35 Print button 36 Pasting sensor 37 Operation identification part 38 Protrusion part 39 Previous information barcode (present display information)
40 New information barcode (print information for display change)
L Label continuum L1 Mount of label continuum L L2 Label piece of label continuum L (Price cut label)
L3 Label piece before price reduction displaying already displayed information (Fig. 4)

Claims (11)

A label holding unit for holding a label continuous body having a plurality of label pieces on a belt-like mount,
A label printing device having a printing section for printing on the label piece,
According to the existing display information displayed on a predetermined article, it is possible to print new display change print information on the label piece by the printing unit,
A label printing apparatus characterized in that a display change command for prompting printing of the display change print information is issued to an operator. The label printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display change print information is price reduction information about the article. The label printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display change command is performed by displaying on the display unit. The label printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display change command is performed by voice. The label printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display change command prompts attention by vibration. The label printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display change command includes information about a display change place and a display change target article. A printing unit including the label holding unit and the printing unit;
A control unit that is separate from the printing unit and that is capable of transmitting print data to and from the printing unit and that issues the display change command;
Provided,
2. The label printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in the control unit, the print data relating to the article is input and displayed, and the display change command is issued. A peeling portion for peeling the label piece printed by the printing portion from the mount;
The label printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a sticking unit for sticking the label piece peeled off at the peeling part to a predetermined article is provided in the printing unit, and this is used as a sticking unit. A central processing unit is provided separately from the control unit,
The label printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein sales data relating to the sales status of the article can be supplied to the central processing unit. 10. The label printing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the central processing unit creates the display change print information based on the sales data and supplies the display change print information to the control unit. 10. The label printing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the control unit is capable of transmitting display change information issuance data indicating that the display change printing information has been issued by the printing unit to the central processing unit.

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