JP2011014001A - Printing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the possibility of erroneous input of print information in a printing apparatus by allowing even an operator with little experience of operation to input the print information for printing in a desired shape quickly and correctly even when set values of setting items for changing the shape of an input character string are to be selected correctly to input many items of print information.SOLUTION: The printing apparatus includes an input part for inputting the print information including a parameter group to specify the shape at the time of printing the print contents, a display part for displaying the print contents, a storage unit for storing data corresponding to the print contents, and a control part for displaying on the display part the data stored in the storage unit based on the input print information. The input part for inputting the print information has a function of inputting the print information read by a bar code reader, the operator operates the bar code reader to read a bar code symbol so that the print information stored in the storage unit can be replaced with the value corresponding to the bar code symbol.

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, and more particularly to a printing apparatus that prints characters, numbers, symbols, figures, bar code symbols, and the like on a product (printed object).

In a conventional printing apparatus, there are various set values as print information, and it is necessary for an operator to input set values using a touch panel or the like (see Patent Document 1).
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a conventional print format input screen. The print format input screen 300 is an input screen for selecting whether or not to modify the shape of a character to be printed, a space between characters, or to convert a character string into a barcode symbol. The print format input screen 300 includes a character string display section 301, a character input button 302, an input end button 303, a line number button 304, a horizontal double-angle button 305, a barcode conversion button 306, a character size button 307, an inter-character space button 308, and A line space button 309 is provided.

  A method for setting the print format will be described. When the character input button 302 is pressed, a character string input dedicated screen for inputting characters or character strings to be printed (not shown) is displayed. When a character string is input on this character string input dedicated screen, the input character string is displayed on the character string display unit 301. In addition, various character modifications can be performed on the input characters. The character size is set by selecting a desired character size, for example, “12 × 16” when the character size button 307 is pressed and a list of character sizes is displayed. To set the horizontal double angle of the character, the user presses the horizontal double angle button 305 and inputs a desired horizontal double angle number, for example, “1”. Furthermore, the space between characters is set by pressing a space between characters button 308 and inputting a desired space between characters, for example, “1”. The number of lines is set by selecting and pressing a desired number of lines, for example, “1 line” from “1 line” to “4 lines” of the line number button 304. To set a space between lines, a space between lines button 309 is pressed to input a desired space between lines, for example, “0”.

  Furthermore, when printing a character string with a barcode symbol, it is necessary to select the name of the barcode symbol type. A barcode symbol is selected by a barcode type button 306. When the barcode type button 306 is pressed, a list of barcode types (not shown) is displayed. When a desired barcode type is selected, the name of the selected barcode type is displayed on the barcode 306. When the input of all settings is completed, the input end button 303 is pressed.

  As described above, conventionally, it has been necessary for an operator to directly input various setting values of print information.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-40237

  However, as the function of the printer is improved, the setting items that change the character size, barcode type, and other shapes of the input character string are increasing. There was a problem of doing. In addition, since a large amount of printing information has to be input, it is difficult for an operator who has little experience in operating the printing apparatus to input values for printing in a desired shape easily and accurately.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus that greatly reduces the possibility of erroneous input of print information.

  The present invention includes a printing mechanism that performs printing on a substrate, a printing control unit that generates printing information and sends the printing information to the printing mechanism unit, instructs the printing control unit to generate printing information, and includes the printing mechanism unit. In the printing apparatus having a controller for controlling, the controller includes an input unit for manually inputting print information including a parameter for specifying a print shape, a barcode reader for inputting the print information by a barcode symbol, and a print information It has a display unit for displaying contents, a storage unit for storing the print information, and a CPU, and a control unit for displaying the print information stored in the storage unit on the display unit.

  The print information includes at least one of a character size, a horizontal double angle, the number of lines, a space between characters, a space between lines, and a barcode type.

  In addition, the storage unit in the controller of the controller includes a nonvolatile memory that stores print information corresponding to the barcode symbol.

  Further, the controller of the controller reads out the print information corresponding to the barcode symbol from the storage unit and sends it to the print controller.

  Further, based on the print information input by the input unit, the barcode reader of the input unit causes the controller of the controller to read a barcode symbol, and the print information in the storage unit corresponds to the barcode symbol. It is characterized in that the print shape is changed in place of the print information.

  The display unit has a print format screen for displaying print information.

  Further, the print format screen for displaying the print information of the display unit has a switching button for changing the control unit to a barcode input mode for accepting barcode input.

  Further, the controller adds a new barcode symbol to the print information input by the operator using the input unit, and sends it to the print control unit.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to realize a printing apparatus that can easily set desired print information. Further, since the possibility of erroneous input of print information can be greatly reduced, the possibility that an operator erroneously sets print information is extremely low.

It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the Example of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows schematic structure of the principal part of the Example of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the input screen of the printing format of a prior art example. It is explanatory drawing which shows the input screen of the printing format of the Example of this invention. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the Example of this invention. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the Example of this invention.

  Next, the form for implementing this invention is demonstrated, referring drawings based on an Example.

  The overall configuration of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an industrial inkjet printer (hereinafter referred to as IJP) which is an embodiment of the printing apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printing mechanism portion of the embodiment.

  In FIG. 1, the printing apparatus transmits a printing mechanism unit 1, a printing control unit 2 that controls printing of the printing mechanism unit 1, and designated transmission contents to the printing control unit 2, and executes a printing operation of the printing apparatus. It is comprised from the controller 3 which controls. The print control unit 2 and the controller 3 can be configured as a single unit.

  The printing mechanism unit 1 includes a printed matter detection unit 110, and the other components are omitted and displayed because they will be described later with reference to FIG. The print control unit 2 includes a character signal generation unit 120, a print content storage unit 130, and a print content reflection unit 140. The controller 3 includes an input unit 150, a display unit 160, a control unit 170, and a barcode reader 180.

  The control unit 170 further includes a CPU 173, a ROM 171, a RAM 172, and an EEPROM 174 that are storage units. The CPU 173 performs printing control of the entire printing apparatus and reads and executes a control program stored in the storage unit ROM 171. The control program stored in the ROM 171 includes various control programs such as display screen output to the display unit 160. The RAM 172 is a work memory that temporarily stores processing data.

  The EEPROM 174 is a readable / writable nonvolatile memory that stores print information including a predetermined print format, print pattern, print environment data such as ink density and ink temperature, and the like. Note that the storage medium is not limited to the EEPROM 174 as long as it is non-volatile and can respond to access from the CPU 173 at a sufficient speed.

  The barcode reader 180 is connected to the control unit 170 of the controller 3, and the barcode symbol data read by the barcode reader 180 is transferred to the control unit 170 and developed into corresponding specific print information.

  The print content reflecting unit 140 of the print control unit 2 converts the print content such as characters, symbols, and figures into dot data. The print content storage unit 130 stores the dot data of the print content converted by the print content reflection unit 140. When the printed material detection sensor 204 detects the printed material 203, the printed material detection unit 110 transmits a detection signal to the control unit 170. When the character signal generation unit 120 receives a print command from the control unit 170, the character signal generation unit 120 controls the voltage applied to the print mechanism unit 1 based on the print information. The display unit 160 displays an operation guidance screen for the operator, and is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display. The input unit 150 is, for example, an input device configured from a touch panel, and may have a configuration that also serves as a liquid crystal display of the display unit 160. In the input unit 150, necessary items such as a print format described later are input.

  In FIG. 2, the IJP printing mechanism 1 includes a printed matter detection unit 110, a nozzle 201, a conveyance belt 202, a printed matter detection sensor 204, a charging electrode 206, a deflection electrode 208, an ink container 209, an ink supply pipe 210, and a supply pump. 220, a gutter 221, a recovery pipe 222, a recovery pump 223, and ink 230.

  Next, the operation of the printing mechanism unit 1 will be described. The ink 230 in the ink container 209 is supplied to the nozzle 201 through the ink supply pipe 210 by the supply pump 220. In the nozzle 201, an excitation voltage is applied to make the ink 230 particles, and the ink particles 211 are ejected from the nozzle 201. The ink particles 211 pushed out from the nozzle 201 are charged by the charging electrode 206 based on the printing information of the character signal generation unit 120, and the charged ink particles are bent in the orbit by the deflection electrode 208 according to the printing content. Thus, it reaches the printing surface of the printing material 203 conveyed on the conveying belt 202. The ink particles 211 that have not been bent by the deflection electrode 208 are sucked into a collection port called a gutter 221, returned to the ink container 209 through the collection pipe 222 by the collection pump 223, and reused. Note that the timing of ejecting the ink particles from the nozzle 201 is controlled by the printed matter detection unit 110 based on the detection information of the printed matter detection sensor 204.

  Here, the print format will be described. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a print format input screen on the display unit 160 of the controller 3 in the embodiment of the present invention. The print format input screen 400 is an input screen for selecting whether or not to modify the shape of a character to be printed, a space between characters, or to convert a character string into a barcode symbol.

  The print format input screen 400 includes a character string display unit 401, a character input button 402, an input end button 403, a line number button 404, a horizontal double angle button 405, a barcode conversion button 406, a character size button 407, an inter-character space button 408, A line space button 409 and a bar code input mode button 410 which is an input mode switching button are provided. Except for the barcode input mode button 410, the screen is the same as the conventional print format input screen shown in FIG.

  Here, the setting of the print information according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. As described above, the operator inputs various print information in order to print a desired character shape. The operator must select and input appropriate values for all the print information. In actual use, it is necessary to repeatedly perform test printing while changing the value of each print information, which is a wasteful printing and time consuming factor. By providing means for easily and appropriately setting these values, the number and time of test printing can be reduced.

  Next, setting of each print information will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. IJP stores the print information in an EEPROM 174. The value of each print information is set by reflecting the value of the barcode symbol read using the barcode reader 180 in the EEPROM 174.

  First, in step 501, the controller 3 is changed to a barcode input mode in which the barcode symbol read by the barcode reader 180 is reflected in the print information. In this embodiment, the mode is changed to the above-described mode by pressing the barcode input mode button 410. The reason why the bar code input mode is not always set is to prevent unintentional reading of bar code symbols due to erroneous operation and reflection in print information.

  When the mode is changed to the barcode input mode, the buttons arranged in FIG. 4 except for the barcode input mode button 410 so that the value of the print information can be changed only by the data read by the barcode reader 180. Disables the pressing operation. When the barcode input mode button 410 is pressed again in the barcode input mode, the barcode input mode is restored to the normal input mode, and the button operation with the normal manual input becomes possible.

  Next, in step 502, the barcode reader 180 is operated to read the desired printing information, for example, the barcode symbol converted from the printing information created by the IJP manufacturer. The read value is stored in the RAM 172. In step 503, the IJP checks whether the read barcode symbol information is valid as print information (is included in the allowable range). If it is determined that the value of the information is not valid, the read information is discarded and the print information is not taken. After that, in step 504, the display unit 160 displays whether there is an error in the contents of the barcode symbol and whether to retry. If retry is to be performed in step 505, the process proceeds to step 502. If retry is not performed, the process proceeds to step 507.

  If the read value is valid, it is copied in step 506 from the RAM 172 to the EEPROM 174 that stores the print information, and in step 507, the mode for reflecting the barcode symbol in the print information is canceled, and the process ends. Thus, the operator can rewrite the print information for setting a desired print shape by a simple operation of reading a predetermined barcode symbol using the barcode reader 180.

  At the time of shipment of IJP, character modification combinations that are considered to be frequently used are converted into bar code symbols and printed in advance in an IJP instruction manual or the like. At this time, the type of barcode symbol used for printing is arbitrary. By reading this information with the barcode reader 180, the operator can set print information without manual input. Bar codes are usually written with numbers, so that the general type can be identified.

  In addition, by adding a processing function for newly creating and printing a barcode symbol based on the value of the printing information in the EEPROM 174 to the control program of the control unit 170, the printing information once set by the operator is stored as a barcode symbol. It becomes possible to keep.

  Next, the printing method will be described with reference to FIG. In step 601, the data is converted into a barcode symbol data format according to the format of the conversion destination barcode symbol such as check digit addition based on the print information in the EEPROM 174, and the result is stored in the RAM 172. In step 602, a dot pattern representing a print image of the barcode symbol is created based on the barcode symbol data and stored in the RAM 172 again. In step 603, the printing object 203 is printed using the printing function.

  By having this function, when there are multiple pieces of print information with a desired print shape, it is possible to easily select and switch the print information by printing all the print information in advance and reading the barcode symbol later. become. In addition, it is possible to easily copy the printing information by reading the created barcode symbol with an IJP other than the IJP that has performed printing.

  As described above, since the print information can be set only by reading the bar code symbol using the bar code reader 180, the possibility of erroneous input of the print information can be greatly reduced.

  The name “barcode symbol” used in the description of this embodiment is defined in JIS X0500 and includes not only a one-dimensional symbol but also a two-dimensional symbol, so-called two-dimensional code.

1: printing mechanism unit, 2: printing control unit, 3: controller, 110: printed matter detection unit, 120: character signal generation unit, 130: printing content storage unit, 140: printing content reflection unit, 150: input unit, 160 : Display unit, 170: Control unit, 171: ROM, 172: RAM, 173: CPU, 174: EEPROM, 180: Bar code reader, 410: Bar code input mode button

Claims (8)

A printing mechanism that prints on an object to be printed; a printing control unit that generates printing information and sends the printing information to the printing mechanism unit; and a controller that instructs the printing control unit to generate printing information and controls the printing mechanism unit In a printing apparatus having
The controller includes an input unit that manually inputs print information including a parameter that specifies a print shape, a barcode reader that inputs the print information using a barcode symbol, a display unit that displays the content of print information, A printing apparatus comprising: a storage unit that stores print information; a CPU; and a control unit that displays the print information stored in the storage unit on the display unit.   2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing information includes at least one of a character size, a horizontal double angle, the number of lines, a space between characters, a space between lines, and a barcode type.   3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit in the control unit of the controller includes a non-volatile memory that stores print information corresponding to the barcode symbol.   3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit of the controller reads print information corresponding to a barcode symbol from the storage unit and sends the print information to the print control unit.   3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a bar code symbol is read by a control unit of a controller by a bar code reader of the input unit based on the print information input by the input unit, and the storage unit A printing apparatus, wherein the printing information is replaced with printing information corresponding to the barcode symbol to change the printing shape.   The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display section has a print format screen for displaying print information.   7. The printing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the print format screen for displaying the print information of the display unit includes a switching button for changing the control unit to a barcode input mode for accepting barcode input. Printing device.   3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller adds a new barcode symbol to print information input by an operator using the input unit and sends the information to a print control unit. apparatus.

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