JP2013216021A - Printer apparatus and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer apparatus and a program capable of facilitating an operator's operation when issuing a label.SOLUTION: A printer apparatus includes: a display unit; a printing unit configured to print on a printing medium; item setting means configured to set printable items for printing on the printing medium for each of types of printing on the printing medium; type receiving means configured to receive the selection of the types of printing; display control means configured to display to the display unit a data input screen in which the printable items set in accordance with the selected type of printing are displayed; data receiving means configured to receive the data input relative to the data input screen as printing information; and printing control means configured to control the printing unit to print on the printing medium in accordance with the received printing information.

Description

  Embodiments described herein relate generally to a printer apparatus and a program.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, label printers that print and issue product names, prices, and the like on labels have been disclosed in supermarkets and stores.

  According to such a label printer, a plurality of items of data to be printed on a label such as a price label, the number of printed items for each POP advertisement, a product name, and a selling price on a print data creation screen in which items for inputting print data are provided in advance. After selecting (changing), the label can be issued.

  However, on the print data creation screen of the prior art, even data items that are not printed on the price label or POP advertisement are displayed. For this reason, when the number of preset items is large, it is necessary to search for necessary items when inputting data, even though the number of printed items is actually small, and the operation is complicated. There is a problem of becoming. In particular, when the number of items set in advance is large and page turning or scrolling has to be performed, such a problem appears remarkably.

  The printer apparatus according to the embodiment includes a display unit, a printing unit that performs printing on a printing medium, an item setting unit, a type receiving unit, a display control unit, a data receiving unit, and a printing control unit. The item setting means sets a print item used for printing on the print medium for each print type for the print medium. The type accepting unit accepts selection of the print type. The display control means displays a data input screen on which the print items set corresponding to the selected print type are displayed on the display unit. The data receiving means receives data input on the data input screen and uses it as print information. The printing control means controls the printing unit according to the received printing information and performs printing on the printing medium.

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a label printer according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the label printer. FIG. 3 shows the data structure of the PLU file. FIG. 4 shows the data structure of the label item file. FIG. 5 shows the data structure of the format file. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the label printer. FIG. 7 is a front view exemplarily showing a label format selection screen. FIG. 8 is a front view exemplarily showing a data input screen. FIG. 9 is a front view exemplarily showing a keyboard screen. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a flow of data input screen generation processing in label printing processing. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of print item extraction processing. FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the flow of the screen display process. FIG. 13 is a front view illustrating an example of data setting on the data input screen. FIG. 14 is a plan view showing an example of a label issued according to the data setting input on the data input screen. FIG. 15 is a front view illustrating an example of data setting on the data input screen. FIG. 16 is a plan view showing an example of a label issued in accordance with the data setting input on the data input screen.

  Hereinafter, a label printer which is a printer apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a label printer according to the embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the label printer. The label printer 1 according to the present embodiment displays information on an operator and receives an instruction from the operator. The display input unit 11 accepts an instruction from the operator. Printing that prints on a label L that is a printing medium of a product according to a set label format or the like And a printer 27 (see FIG. 2), a label issuing port 12 for issuing a label L, and the like.

  The display input unit 11 includes an LCD 11a which is a display unit and a touch panel 11b which is arranged on the display surface of the LCD 11a and can be touch-designated.

  The label printer 1 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 21 as a control unit, a flash ROM (Read Only Memory) 22 that stores a control program, fixed data, and the like, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 23 having a work area, It has.

  Further, the label printer 1 according to the present embodiment includes a network interface 29 for transmitting and receiving various setting data from the host device, a key controller 24 for capturing input data from the touch panel 11b, and display of various setting screens on the LCD 11a. And a display controller 25 for displaying the LED 26, a printer engine 28 for controlling the printer 27, and an I / O port for passing data to and from various sensors 30 such as transmission, reflection, and temperature used when printing the label L. 31.

  The CPU 21, the flash ROM 22, the RAM 23, the network interface 29, the key controller 24, the display controller 25, the printer engine 28, and the I / O port 31 are connected by a bus line.

  The flash ROM 22 stores a PLU (Price Look Up) file F1 (see FIG. 3), a label item file F2 (see FIG. 4), and a format file F3 (see FIG. 5).

  FIG. 3 shows the data structure of the PLU file F1. The PLU file F1 is a file that stores product information indicating products. The product number is a number corresponding to each product such as a 6-digit product code. The PLU file F1 stores merchandise information indicating merchandise, such as a search, classification code, bar code creation type, JAN code, merchandise code, and the like in association with the product number.

  The initial of the product name is assigned to Aiueo search. The classification code is a 6-digit code representing the classification to which the product belongs. The barcode creation type is a two-digit code indicating the type of barcode printed on the product label L. The JAN code is a 13-digit common product code for common products. The product code is a 6-digit product code.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a data configuration of the label item file F2. The label item file F2 functions as an item setting unit, and defines the print items used for printing the label L for each print type. The format code is a label format code used for printing the label L of the product. The label format name is the name of the label format. The label item file F2 stores a print item used for printing the label L in association with a format code (print type) as a label format. In the label item file F2 shown in FIG. 4, the print items to be set are represented by “◯”.

  FIG. 5 shows the data structure of the format file F3. The format file F3 stores a plurality of types of label formats used for printing the label L. The format code is a label format code used for printing the label L of the product. The format file F3 is associated with the format code, parameter length, character string number, base point X coordinate, base point Y coordinate, horizontal magnification / character width / graphic data width, vertical magnification / character height / graphic data height. Further, a label format used for printing the label L, such as a format such as a character type / graphic data type, is stored.

  Next, the functional configuration of the label printer 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the label printer 1. As shown in FIG. 6, the CPU 21 of the label printer 1 sequentially executes the control program stored in the flash ROM 22, thereby displaying a display control unit 211 that is a display control unit, a code reception unit 212 that is a type reception unit, and data Functions include a data receiving unit 213 serving as a receiving unit and a print control unit 214 serving as a print control unit.

  The display control unit 211 displays a label format selection screen P1 on the LCD 11a (see FIG. 7). As shown in FIG. 7, the label format selection screen P1 displays a list of format codes and label format names corresponding to the format codes.

  Further, the display control unit 211 displays on the LCD 11a a data input screen P2 on which print items used for printing the label L corresponding to the format code selected from the label format selection screen P1 are displayed (see FIG. 8). As shown in FIG. 8, the data entry screen P2 displays print items associated with the format codes in the label item file F2.

  The display control unit 211 also displays an issue button B1 for requesting printing of the label L after data input on the data input screen P2.

  The code receiving unit 212 receives a format code for a product on which the label L is printed. In the present embodiment, when any format code listed in the label format selection screen P1 is operated via the touch panel 11b, the code receiving unit 212 stores the label stored in association with the operation target format code. The print item used for printing L is read from the label item file F2. The read print item is transferred to the display control unit 211, and the display control unit 211 generates and displays the data input screen P2.

  The data receiving unit 213 receives a product for printing the label L. In the present embodiment, when the print item displayed on the data input screen P2 is operated via the touch panel 11b, the data receiving unit 213 displays a list of selection items associated with the print item to be operated, for example, PLU. Extracted from the file F1 and displayed as a pull-down menu or selection screen. When any selection item displayed as a pull-down menu or a selection screen is operated via the touch panel 11b, the data reception unit 213 assumes that the selection item has been input to the print item on the data input screen P2. The selected item is stored in a print information table (not shown). Although not particularly illustrated, the RAM 23 stores a print information table that stores print information such as a product name, a price, and the number of prints when the label of the product is printed.

  Note that the data input for the print items is not limited to that performed by a pull-down menu or a selection screen. For example, a keyboard screen P3 as shown in FIG. 9 may be displayed to input various data as characters.

  When the issue button B1 is operated via the touch panel 11b after data input on the data input screen P2, the print control unit 214 reads product print information from the print information table stored in the RAM 23. Then, the label printer 1 controls the printer 27 according to the read print information and the label format of the format file F3 corresponding to the format code received by the code receiving unit 212 to print the product label L.

  Next, generation processing of the data input screen P2 in label L printing processing in the label printer 1 according to the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of the generation process of the data input screen P2 in the label printing process. As illustrated in FIG. 10, when the code receiving unit 212 determines that any of the format codes listed on the label format selection screen P1 has been operated via the touch panel 11b (Yes in step S1), the format to be operated is determined. The label format stored in association with the code is read from the label item file F2 (step S2).

  Next, the data receiving unit 213 performs a print item extraction process used for printing the label L set in the label format (step S3).

  Here, FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of print item extraction processing. As shown in FIG. 11, in the print item extraction process, the number N of print items set in the read label format is extracted (step S31), and when the number of print items is 0 (step S32). Yes), the process is terminated.

  On the other hand, if the number of print items is not 0 (No in step S32), the content of the print item N is taken out (step S33), the flag of the print item N is turned on (step S34), and the print item N is decremented (N <-N-1) (step S35).

  Steps S32 to S35 described above are repeated until the number of print items is determined to be 0 (Yes in step S32).

  Returning to FIG. 10, when the print item extraction process in step S3 is completed, the data receiving unit 213 executes a screen display process (step S4).

  Here, FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the flow of the screen display process. As shown in FIG. 12, in the screen display process, the number of items of the print item flag ON executed in step S34 described above is acquired (step S41), the item N is displayed on the screen (step S42), and the print item N is displayed. Decrement (N ← N−1) (step S43).

  Steps S42 to S43 described above are repeated until the number of print items is determined to be 0 (Yes in step S44). If it is determined that the number of print items is 0 (Yes in step S44), the generation and display of the data input screen P2 including all print items is completed.

  FIG. 13 is a front view illustrating an example of data setting on the data input screen P2, and FIG. 14 is a plan view illustrating an example of a label issued according to the data setting input on the data input screen P2. As shown in FIG. 13, only the print items set as the label format in the label item file F2 are displayed on the data input screen P2. A label L shown in FIG. 14 displays “item name” and “price” which are print items set as a label format.

  FIG. 15 is a front view illustrating an example of data setting on the data input screen P2, and FIG. 16 is a plan view illustrating an example of a label issued according to the data setting input on the data input screen P2. As shown in FIG. 15, when there are many print items set as the label format and cannot be displayed on one page, the data input screen P2 has a plurality of pages (in the example of FIG. (The screen of the page). The label L shown in FIG. 16 displays “item name”, “auxiliary message”, “department code”, “price”, and “production area” which are print items set as the label format.

  As described above, according to the label printer 1 of the embodiment, the print item used for printing on the label in the label item file F2 is set for each print type (format code) for the label, and is selected by the code receiving unit 212. The data input screen P2 on which the print items set corresponding to the print type are displayed is displayed on the LCD 11a, and the printer 27 is controlled according to the print information in which the data input to the data input screen P2 is received by the data receiving unit 213. The label is printed. As a result, only the print items set as the label format in the label item file F2 are displayed on the data input screen P2, so that the operator's operation when issuing the label can be facilitated.

  Note that the control program executed by the label printer 1 of the present embodiment is provided by being preinstalled in the flash ROM 22 or the like, but is not limited thereto, and is a file in an installable format or an executable format. You may comprise so that it may record and provide on computer-readable recording media, such as CD-ROM, flexible disk (FD), CD-R, DVD (Digital Versatile Disk).

  Furthermore, the control program executed by the label printer 1 of the present embodiment may be provided by being stored on a computer connected to a network such as the Internet and downloaded via the network. In addition, the control program executed by the label printer 1 of the present embodiment may be provided or distributed via a network such as the Internet.

  The control program executed by the label printer 1 of the present embodiment has a module configuration including the above-described units (the display control unit 211, the code reception unit 212, the data reception unit 213, the print control unit 214, and the like). As the hardware, the CPU 21 (processor) reads the control program from the flash ROM 22 and executes it to load the above-described units onto the main storage device. The display control unit 211, the code receiving unit 212, the data receiving unit 213, and the printing The control unit 214 and the like are generated on the main storage device.

  Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described, this embodiment is presented as an example and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The novel embodiment can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. This embodiment is included in the scope and gist of the invention, and is also included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalent scope thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printer apparatus 11a Display part 27 Printing part 212 Type reception means 211 Display control means 213 Data reception means 214 Print control means F2 Item setting means

JP 2001-236398 A

Claims (6)

A display unit;
A print unit for printing on a print medium;
Item setting means for setting a print item used for printing on the print medium for each print type for the print medium;
Type accepting means for accepting selection of the print type;
Display control means for displaying, on the display unit, a data input screen on which the print items set corresponding to the selected print type are displayed;
Data accepting means for accepting data input to the data entry screen and making it print information;
Print control means for controlling the printing unit according to the received print information and performing printing on the print medium;
A printer apparatus comprising: The display control unit displays a selection screen on which the print types are displayed in a list on the display unit so that the type reception unit receives a selection of the print types.
The printer apparatus according to claim 1. The display control means displays a plurality of pages when the print items set corresponding to the selected print type cannot be displayed on the display unit.
The printer apparatus according to claim 1. The data receiving means displays a list of selection items associated with the print items displayed on the data input screen on the display unit and receives data input.
The printer apparatus according to claim 1. The data receiving means displays an input unit on the display unit, and receives data input for the print item displayed on the data input screen via the input unit.
The printer apparatus according to claim 1. Computer
Item setting means for setting a print item used for printing on a print medium for each print type for the print medium;
Type accepting means for accepting selection of the print type;
Display control means for displaying on the display unit a data input screen on which the print items set corresponding to the selected print type are displayed;
Data accepting means for accepting data input to the data entry screen and making it print information;
Print control means for controlling the print unit according to the received print information and performing printing on the print medium;
Program to function as.

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