JP2667093B2 - Label printing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a label printing apparatus for printing an input character string on a heading label of a document or the like via a printing means.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At an exhibition, for example, the same heading label is often attached to a large number of samples. Also, with the diversification of information, the demand for suitable filing using heading labels according to the type of information and the like is increasing, and moreover, the same information may be owned and stored by a plurality of persons and a plurality of places. Heretofore, this type of label has been created by hand, and there have been problems such as frequent creation and appearance.

In order to solve such a problem, there has been proposed a printing apparatus which efficiently prints the same contents at both the upper and lower positions of a lined label by appropriately selecting the printing direction (Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 1-178948). Gazette).

Further, a label printing apparatus has been proposed in which the number of input characters and the number of lines are stored in one label and the number of labels is calculated so as to set an integer number of sheets on one sheet (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-1986). -175722).

Further, there has been proposed a label printer which automatically calculates a character to be changed to full-width and half-width so that printing can be suitably performed within a predetermined label width (JP-A-63-18963).
276).

Further, a label printer has been proposed in which a print format of a cut-sheet label can be input and printing can be performed on labels of various sizes (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-1).
No. 58072).

[0007]

A conventional label printing apparatus has a registration function of assigning an appropriate registration name to an input character string and registering the character string in a memory, and a desired character string from the registered character strings. Many have a function to search.

The search function is a function for inputting a registered name given at the time of registration and comparing the registered name with a registered name of a character string registered in a memory to find a desired character string. . Therefore, in order to use this search function, the registered name must be remembered.

However, when the number of registrations in the memory increases, it is very difficult to remember all registered names of registered character strings. If the registered name is forgotten, character strings cannot be searched, so that all registered character strings must be displayed on a display in order and a desired character string must be found visually.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem.

[0011]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a label printing apparatus according to the present invention has an input processing means for automatically determining a character size of an input character string in accordance with an input label name. Is determined only for the label paper with the input label name based on the input label data and the character label information including the automatically determined character size data and the additional information including the input label name data. A printing unit for printing an input character string in a character size, a registration processing unit for combining and storing character label information and additional information in a storage unit, and a registration unit combining the character label information and the additional information from the storage unit. And reading means for inputting to the input processing means. The additional information stored and registered in the storage means includes label attribute data of the label indicated by the label name data. Are, reading means, when the label name input processing means is input, to the input processing unit only reads the registration information having the label attributes and the same label attribute data of the label.

[0012]

According to the label printing apparatus of the present invention, when the registration information registered in the storage means is read and input to the input processing means, when the label name is input to the input processing means, the label attribute of the label is input. Only the registration information having the same label attribute data as is read out selectively. Therefore, the number of readouts is smaller than reading out all registered information registered in the storage means.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a label printing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 4 show the appearance and internal mechanism of the label printing apparatus 1. FIG. A label printing device (hereinafter, referred to as a device) 1 is a device that performs printing on each of a large number of labels 4a regularly arranged on a label sheet 4, and includes an upper half body 2 and a lower half body 3, An insertion port 5 for the label sheet 4 is formed in the middle.

In the upper half 2 of the apparatus 1, a large number of keys 6 capable of inputting characters and the like are arranged. Above the keys 6, a predetermined number of characters, the number of lines, or a liquid crystal panel for displaying the input character string, etc. Is provided. When the number of characters and the number of lines are further input, the screen is scrolled right and left and up and down by the cursor keys. As shown in FIG. 4, the keys 6 arranged include character keys such as alphabets, “functions”,
A function key for performing each processing such as “cancel”, “conversion”, “execution”, and “print” and a cursor key with arrows on all sides are provided. The contents of each key are indicated on the head.

The lower half 3 has an insertion port 5 and this insertion port 5.
And a feed path 11 extending rearward from the feed path, and a guide roller 9 for guiding the inserted label sheet 4 is provided on the upper surface of the feed path 11. In addition, the guide roller 9
Behind the paper feed motor 16, a paper feed roller 8 which is driven to rotate by a sheet feed motor 16 and feeds the inserted label sheet 4 is provided at a total of three places, and further provided with a printing unit 20 for printing. I have.

A side wall 18 for positioning is formed on one side, for example, the left side, of the insertion port 5 and the feeding path 11, and the label sheet 4 is inserted while the left side thereof is in contact with the side wall 18. It is. As shown in FIG. 5, a sheet sensor 19 such as a photo-interrupter having a pair of light-emitting elements 19a and light-receiving elements 19b on the upper and lower surfaces is provided on the side wall 18 on the downstream side of the feed path of the paper feed roller 8. And detects whether or not the left side of the inserted and fed label sheet 4 exactly matches the side wall 18.

The printing unit 20 has a label sheet 4
Spiral shaft 1 disposed in a direction perpendicular to the insertion direction
2, the rotation of the carriage motor 14 is transmitted to the helical shaft 12 via the gear train 15, and the printing unit 20 reciprocates along the rotating helical shaft 12. . On the upper part of the printing unit 20, a rack 13 is installed in parallel with the spiral shaft 12. The teeth of the rack 13 are formed at a lower portion so as to face the printing unit 20.
The gears in the printing unit 20 are in mesh with the rack 13. From the lower part of the printing unit 20, a thermal head 2 composed of a dot array capable of printing one character, for example, is provided.
The lower plate 3 of the thermal head 28 is provided with a rubber platen 17. In addition,
The printing unit 20 also functions as a cassette holder for mounting a ribbon cassette (not shown) of the ink ribbon, and includes a winding shaft 25 for winding the ink ribbon.

The liquid crystal display unit 7 displays an input character string or an edited character string, a code number, a character label, or a respective selection screen. The character label refers to a character string created for label printing or a character string already created.

Next, a control block diagram of the label printing apparatus will be described with reference to FIG.

The apparatus 1 includes a central processing unit (hereinafter, referred to as a CPU) 30 for controlling the entire apparatus, and an RO
And a storage unit 31 composed of M, RAM, and the like.

The CPU 30 synchronizes a head driving unit 36 for driving the thermal head 28 into and out and outputting a character signal, a carriage motor driving unit 37 for controlling the driving of the carriage motor 14, a paper feed roller 8 and a paper discharge roller 23. A sheet feed motor drive unit 38 for driving the sheet feed motor 16 to be driven and a display drive unit 39 for driving the liquid crystal display unit 7 are connected to each other.

The CPU 30 includes a counter for counting the number of sheets and a timer for synchronizing with sheet feeding. The CPU 30 receives input information from the key input unit 6 'and a detection signal from the sheet sensor 19, respectively. A control signal is output to a required circuit unit, and in addition to character input and editing processing as described later,
It comprehensively controls the label sheet type selection, display control, and print processing control.

Further, the CPU 30 monitors the detection signal from the sheet sensor 19, and the insertion and feeding of the label sheet 4 are accurately performed depending on whether or not the signal for detecting the front end of the left side of the label sheet 4 is inputted. The sheet feed motor 1 from the time when the detection signal is generated.
The position of the label sheet being fed is indirectly measured by the rotation pulse 6 or time management.

The storage unit 31 stores programs for controlling the operation of the entire apparatus, such as editing and printing, a dictionary memory for kana / kanji conversion, etc., as well as the arrangement positions of the labels arranged on various label sheets and the labels. Label information in which vertical and horizontal dimensions are registered, a code number as an identification code for specifying the type of label sheet, and a character size table (Table 1) as shown below are stored.

[0026]

[Table 1]

Table 1 shows the character size, from the SS size to the 3L size. In this type of label printing apparatus, the types of label sheets that can be printed are various and hundreds, and a large number of character sizes to be printed thereon are required. Therefore, horizontally long characters and vertically long characters other than square characters can be designated as the character size.
Thus, the selection operation is facilitated by making the character size selectable using the symbol of the size division.

There are various types of label sheets, such as ordinary square labels, labels with lines, tack index labels, box labels, cassette labels, and the like, and there are also various sticking positions on the label sheets.
Each is standardized. When an external input / output device such as an expansion cartridge shown as the auxiliary storage unit 40 in FIG. 6 is connected to increase the number of types of label sheets or print on a desired non-standardized label sheet. Can be newly registered.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a label sheet and a label. Labels R ₁ , R ₂ ,... Having the same dimensions are regularly attached on the label sheet 4 at regular intervals. The positions of the labels on the label sheet 4 are designated as 1, 2, 3,... In the column direction, and A, B, C,.

The seat number is selected by inputting an identification code of one character or two characters (including numbers). This facilitates the selection operation. A table (not shown) storing the sheet numbers in the present embodiment is represented by label dimensions,
Are stored as dimensions based on the corner position of the front edge of the left side of the label sheet 4 detected. The type of dimensions is the data required to identify the label position on the label sheet from the label sheet's vertical and horizontal dimensions, label shape, label vertical and horizontal dimensions, label vertical and horizontal spacing, number of labels on one sheet, etc. Has been adopted. The dimensions are usually specified in units of millimeters (mm). In this embodiment, the dimensions are coded to reduce the memory capacity. The CPU 30 calculates the print position, that is, the label position, based on the label information corresponding to the designated sheet number (identification code).

The apparatus 1 configured as described above automatically sets the character size according to the number of characters and the number of lines of the input character string. In the automatic setting of the character size, the character size is set so that it can be suitably printed in the label automatically in accordance with the character string input on the character input screen. 1 is selected.

Hereinafter, the processing for automatically setting the character size will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

First, by inputting the code number of the label sheet to be printed, all information such as the vertical and horizontal dimensions and arrangement position of the label to be used is specified (# 10).
2). The print area of the label is determined based on the label information, and the length of the print area in the vertical and horizontal directions is compared (# 104). By this comparison, the shorter length is selected, and if the size in the horizontal direction is short as shown in FIG. 10A, a square area S having this horizontal length 1 as one side is assumed (# 106), and FIG.
If the size in the vertical direction is short as shown in FIG. 5, a square area S having this vertical length l as one side is assumed (# 10).
8). Then, the character size of the largest square character that fits in this square area S is selected from Table 1, and this character size is set to an initial value (# 110).

After the initial value of the character size is determined in this way, input of characters (including symbols and the like) is waited, and each time the input character increases or decreases by one character, the character string of the created character string is changed. The horizontal length is calculated. When a character string is created in a plurality of lines, it is calculated for each line (# 202).
Then, the horizontal length of the character string and the set horizontal length of the print area are compared for each line, and it is determined whether or not the created character string can be printed within the set horizontal dimension of the label ( # 204). If the length of the character string in the horizontal direction is larger than the print area, a character size that is one size smaller than the set character size is selected from Table 1, and all character sizes over all lines are changed to this new character size. The size is changed (# 206). And after this, again, # 202, # 20
4 is repeated. In this manner, a suitable character size is temporarily determined based on the horizontal length of the character string in each line and the horizontal length of the print area.

Next, the determined vertical length of the character size is added over the entire line to obtain the total vertical length (# 20).
8) The total vertical length is compared with the vertical length of the print area. Thus, it is determined whether the created character string can be printed within the set vertical dimension of the label (# 21).
0). If the total vertical length of the created character string is larger, a character size that is one size smaller than the determined character size is selected from Table 1, and all character sizes over all lines are changed to the new character size. It is changed (# 212). Thereafter, the processes of # 208 and # 210 are repeated again.
In this way, the maximum character size that can be printed in the print area is finally set. Although the above-described calculation formulas are stored in the ROM of the storage unit 31 in advance, a conversion table storing calculation results may be used.

As described above, in the created character label, the same character size is set for all lines, and when the number of characters differs for each line, the character size differs for each line. The set inconvenience has been eliminated.
When the character size is switched from the S size shown in Table 1 to an extremely small SS size, the character size is not switched immediately but switched to SS-size horizontally long characters.

The automatic setting of the character size is performed when one character is input or deleted, when the size of the input character is changed, when the character decoration of the input character is changed, when a line feed or line feed is performed. This is always performed when the state of the input character or the state of the input line changes, for example, when they are combined.

The character size of each character is set in advance.
Alternatively, it can be manually set to a specific size as needed. In this case, in the above-mentioned # 202,
The length of the character string is calculated for each line by adding the horizontal length of the set character and the horizontal length of each character being automatically set. In # 208, the longest vertical size character is calculated for each line. After being extracted every time, it is added over all rows.

The character labels created in this way are stored in the storage unit 31, and under the control of the CPU 30, print processing is performed on each of the arranged labels based on the stored data and the label information that has been set. Is applied.

Next, an outline of the character label registration processing and the reading processing will be described with reference to the conceptual diagram of FIG.
The storage unit 31 includes a work area 311, a registration area 312, and a search result storage area 313. First, when a character label is input from the key input unit 6 ′, this data is stored in the work area 311. The registration of the input character label is performed by writing the character label read from the work area 311 and the additional information of the character label to the registration area 312 as a registration file. The registration file includes a batch registration file 312a,
There is an individual registration file 312b. Batch registration file 3
12a stores additional information and information on a plurality of character labels, and the individual registration file 312b stores additional information and information on one character label. The reading of the character label is performed by writing the character label read from the registration area 312 into the work area. The search result storage area 313 is a storage area used for a search process when reading a character label. The additional information written in the registration area together with the character label includes types of collective registration and individual registration, a label attribute, a registered character, and a label name.

Next, the registration processing of the created character label will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, a selection screen for selecting one of batch registration and individual registration is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 7 (# 301). When the user selects batch registration according to this selection screen (# 30
2, # 303) has enough memory to register all the character labels held in the work area 311.
Investigation is performed to determine whether or not the number remains in step 12 (# 304). If the memory of the registration area 312 is not enough, a message indicating that the registration memory is insufficient is displayed (# 305), and the process returns to # 301. If the user selects individual registration according to the selection screen (# 302, # 303), is there enough memory left in the registration area 312 to register a predetermined character label held in the work area 311? An investigation is performed (# 306). If the memory of the registration area 312 is not sufficient, a message indicating that the registration memory is insufficient is displayed (# 307), and the process returns to # 301.

If there is enough registration memory,
A registration character input screen is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 7 (# 3).
08). The registration character is a two-digit character used to identify each registration file in the registration area 312. When the user inputs a registered character according to the input screen, a registered file is created (# 310).

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the details of the registration file creation process in step # 310. In this process, first, the start address of an empty area in the registration area 312 is set (# 321). If the user has selected batch registration in # 302 (# 322), the batch registration identification code is written in the area indicated by the start address (# 32).
3). If the user has selected individual registration in # 302 (# 322),
The identification code of the individual registration is written (# 324). Next, it is checked whether the type of the label for printing the registered character label is a cassette label (# 325). If the label type is a cassette label, the cassette label attribute code is written in the area following the identification code (# 326). Similarly, it is checked whether the label type is an index label (# 327). If it is an index label, an index label attribute code is written in the area next to the identification code (# 328). Thereafter, similarly, it is checked whether the label is a box label or a label with a line (# 32).
9 to # 332). If it does not correspond to any of these labels, the attribute code of the normal label is written in the area next to the identification code (# 333). Then, the registered character is written in the area next to the attribute code (# 33)
4). Further, the information of the used label name and the character label is written in the area next to the registered character, respectively (# 335).
By the above-described writing process, the registration file shown in FIG. 11 is created.

Next, the process of reading the created character label will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
First, the liquid crystal display unit 7 displays a selection screen for selecting whether the registration file to be read is registered in one of a batch registration method and an individual registration method (# 341). The user selects one of the registration methods according to this selection screen (# 342). Next, an input screen for prompting input of a search character is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 7 (# 343). Here, the search character is a registered character or a character in which part or all of the registered character is replaced with a space. The space means all characters, for example, "A"("A",
If a space is given, all registered files whose first character starts with "A" are searched. When the user inputs a search character (# 344), a search process of the registered file is executed (# 345).

If the registration file to be sought does not exist in the search process (# 346), a message indicating that the registration file does not exist is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 7 (# 347).
The processing is returned to # 343. If the desired registration file is found in the search process (# 346), the first seven characters of the character label of the found registration file are displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 7.
(# 348). If the search character is alphanumeric, only one registered file is searched. Therefore, the registered file displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 7 has only one character label. However, when a space is used as a search character, a plurality of registered files may be searched. In this case, the liquid crystal display unit 7 displays character labels of a plurality of registered files.

When the user who sees this display specifies a registration file to be read (# 349), the registration file is read from the registration area 312, and the character label in the registration file is written to the work area 311 (# 35
0).

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the details of the search processing of the registered file at # 345. This process
First, the storage address of the first registered file is set as a search address (# 361). Next, the additional information of the registration file indicated by the search address is read (# 36).
2). If the selection of # 341 (# 363) does not match the type of the batch registration and the individual registration in the additional information, the search of the registered file is terminated (# 364, # 36).
5). If the label attribute in the additional information does not match the attribute of the currently edited label, the search of the registered file is terminated (# 366). Further, when the search character entered in # 344 does not match the registered character in the additional information, the search of the registered file is terminated (# 36).
7). If the search character matches the registered character, the registered position information (head address, etc.) of the current search label is stored in the search result storage area 313 of the storage unit 31 (# 36).
8). Here, when a space is used as a search character, a plurality of registered characters may coincide with the search character because the space means all characters as described above. In this case, a plurality of registered position information is stored in the search result storage area 313. For example, "A
("A", space), the registration position information of all the registered files whose first character starts with "A" is stored. Also, "" (space,
When (space) is input, the registration position information of all the registration files is stored. The processing of # 362 to # 368 is
The search is performed on all the registered files while shifting the search address to the storage address of the next registered file (# 370) (# 369).

The details of the comparison process between the search character and the registered character performed in # 367 are shown in the flowchart of FIG. First,
A registration character is read from the additional information of the registration file (# 381). The first character of the search character is compared with the first character of the registered character (# 382). If they do not match, it is checked whether the first character of the search character is a space (# 38).
3). If the first character of the search character matches the first character of the registered character, or if the first character of the search character is a space, the comparison between the second character of the search character and the second character of the registered character is performed. (# 384). If the second character of the search character does not match the second character of the registered character, it is checked whether the second character of the search character is a space (# 385). If the second character of the search character matches the second character of the registered character, or if the second character of the search character is a space, it is recognized that the search character matches the registered character (# 3)
86), the process proceeds to # 368. If the first character of the search character is not a space in # 384, or if the second character of the search character is not a space in # 385, it is recognized that the search character does not match the registered character (# 386), and #
The process proceeds to 369.

The label attributes compared in # 366 include a cassette label, an index label, a box label, a label with a line, and a normal label. Identification of these label forms is performed based on dimensions of a predetermined portion of each label and a sheet name given to each label.

The appearance of each label is shown in the external views of FIGS. FIG. 17A shows the shape of a tack index sheet and an index label stuck on the sheet. “A” to “S” indicate the size and the number of sheets. The label is identified based on the presence or absence of “sa” and “shi” among these. FIG.
(A) shows that the tack index sheet has the dimension of "S" set, but the dimension of "S" has not been set.

FIG. 17B shows the box filing label and the shape of the box label attached to this sheet. From the figure, it can be seen that the box filing label has the dimension "S" set, but does not have the dimension "S". Therefore, since the tack index sheet and the box filing label cannot be identified by the presence or absence of “sa” and “shi”, the label attribute is identified by the sheet name.

FIG. 18A shows the shape of a tack title sheet and a normal label stuck on the sheet. From the figure, the tack title sheet contains
It can be seen that the dimensions of “sa” and “shi” are set.

FIG. 18 (b) shows the shape of a line-attached title sheet and a line-attached label attached to this sheet. From the drawing, it can be seen that the dimension of “sa” is set but the dimension of “shi” is not set in the tack title sheet with lines.

FIG. 19A shows the shape of the cassette label, and FIG. 19B shows the shape of the title print range of the cassette label. FIG. 19 (a)
Thus, it can be seen that the dimensions of “sa” and “shi” are both set in the cassette label.

Since the tack title sheet, the line-attached tack title sheet, and the cassette label are distinguished by the presence or absence of "sa" and "shi", their label attributes are identified by the presence or absence of "sa" and "shi". Is going. The identification of the label attribute is first performed based on the presence or absence of “sa” and “shi”. Labels that have not been identified based on the presence or absence of the “sa” and “shi” (tack index sheet and box filing label) are identified by the sheet name.

By using a method of identifying the label attribute based on the size of a predetermined portion of the label (in this embodiment, "sa" and "shi"), a non-standardized label is newly registered in the storage unit 31. In the case of using a label, a label whose label attribute can be identified by the size of a predetermined portion does not need to be provided with label information on the label attribute, so that memory capacity can be saved.

In the present embodiment, if the comparison result in step # 366 indicates that the registered file has a different label attribute, the registered file is excluded from the search target. Therefore, the search processing can be performed at high speed. The reason why registered files with different label attributes are excluded from the search target is that labels with different label attributes have different shapes as described above, so that even if they are read, printing on the label is impossible. .

[0058]

According to the label printing apparatus of the present invention, when the registered information registered in the storage means is read and input to the input processing means, and when the label name is input to the input processing means, the label of the label is input. Only the registration information having the same label attribute data as the label attribute is selectively read. This is because even if the registered information having different label attributes is read, the input character string included in the registered information cannot be printed on the label having the label name input to the input processing means.

For this reason, even when the number of registered information registered in the storage means is large, only the registered information having a character string that can be printed on a predetermined label is to be read, and all the registered information registered in the storage means is read. Compared to reading registered information, the number of read cases is small.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a label printing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an internal mechanism of the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an internal mechanism of the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a key arrangement of the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of a sheet sensor.

FIG. 6 is a control block diagram of the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a positional relationship of a label with respect to a label sheet.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating setting of an initial value of a character size in automatic character size setting.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating automatic setting of a character size.

FIGS. 10A and 10B are explanatory diagrams showing a method of setting an initial value of a character size corresponding to the shape of a label.

FIG. 11 is a conceptual diagram showing an outline of a character label registration process and a reading process.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a character label registration process.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a registration file creation process.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a character label reading process.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a registration file search process.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a comparison process between a search character and a registered character.

FIG. 17 is an external view showing the shape of a label.

FIG. 18 is an external view showing the shape of a label.

FIG. 19 is an external view showing the shape of a label.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Label printing device, 4 ... Label sheet, 4a ... Label, 6 '... Key input part, 7 ... Liquid crystal display part, 30 ... CP
U, 31 ... storage unit.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-57-176185 (JP, A) JP-A-2-310076 (JP, A) JP-A-60-107357 (JP, A) JP-A-62 297164 (JP, A) JP 63-15750 (JP, A) JP 1-246629 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An input processing means for automatically determining a character size of an input character string according to an input label name; and a character including the input character string data and the automatically determined character size data. A printing unit that prints the input character string with the determined character size only on the label paper having the input label name based on the label information and the additional information including the input label name data; A registration processing unit for combining and storing the character label information and the additional information in a storage unit; and selectively reading the registration information in which the character label information and the additional information are combined from the storage unit and performing the input process. Reading means for inputting to the means, the additional information stored and registered in the storage means includes label attribute data of the label indicated by the label name data, When a label name is input to the input processing means, the reading means reads only registration information having the same label attribute data as the label attribute of the label and inputs the registration information to the input processing means. Label printing device.