JP2703461B2 - 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]

By the way, in the conventional label printing apparatus, the input character string can be displayed on the display to confirm whether the input has been performed correctly. However, how this character string was printed on the label could not be understood without actually printing it. For this reason, it is necessary to test-print a character string on the label several times to determine whether the label can be created as an image, which is a problem.

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

[0009]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a label printing apparatus according to the present invention receives an input of a desired character string and converts the input character string into each label arranged on a label sheet. In a label printing device for printing, a display device having a rectangular display screen, scrollable in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the display screen, and a plurality of dimension data of two sides along the outer edge of each label are registered. A list table, a plurality of reference dimensions having different lengths, and a plurality of reduction magnification data corresponding to each of these reference dimensions and reducing each reference dimension to a length equal to or less than the length in the longitudinal direction of the display screen are registered. First processing means for reading out the reduced table and dimension data of two sides along the outer edge of the label from the list table when an instruction to display an image of a predetermined label is issued; Of the two-sided dimension data read out by the control means, the second step of reading out from the reduction table the reduction magnification data for reducing the long-sided dimension data to a length equal to or smaller than the length in the longitudinal direction of the display screen. Processing means, and the dimension data of the two sides read by the first processing means,
A third processing unit that obtains a set of reduced data by reducing each using the reduction magnification data read by the second processing unit;
A print image diagram consisting of rectangular outer frame data having two sides of a set of reduced data obtained by the third processing means and a dot pattern representing a character string arranged in the frame of the outer frame data is displayed. And a fourth processing means for displaying on the means.

[0010]

According to the label printing apparatus of the present invention, when an image display of a predetermined label is instructed, the dimension data of two sides of the label is read from the list table by the first processing means. Then, of the two sides read by the first processing means, the reduction magnification data for reducing the long side dimension data to a length equal to or less than the length in the longitudinal direction of the display screen is provided in the second processing. It is read from the reduction table by means.

The dimension data and the reduction ratio data of the two sides read in this way are given to a third processing means. The third processing means reduces the dimension data of the two sides by using the reduction magnification data. , Create a set of reduced data. Then, the set of reduced data created by the third processing means is
A print image diagram including a rectangular outer frame data as a side and a dot pattern representing a character string arranged in the frame of the outer frame data is displayed on the display means by the fourth processing means. Here, in the print image diagram displayed on the display means, since only the long side of the image diagram is adjusted so as to fit on the display screen, the short side of the print image diagram may protrude from the display screen. However, since the display means can be scrolled in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the display screen, by scrolling in this direction, the entire print image diagram can be displayed on the display means.

[0012]

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. 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 the 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 of the label sheet 4 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 section 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 a storage unit 31 composed of M, RAM, and the like.

The CPU 30 synchronizes a head drive unit 36 for driving the thermal head 28 into and out and outputting a character signal, a carriage motor drive unit 37 for controlling the drive 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 section 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 can be accurately performed depending on whether or not a signal for detecting the front end of the left side of the label sheet 4 is input. 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 labels arranged on various label sheets and the label positions. 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.

[0025]

[Table 1]

Table 1 shows the character size, ranging 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 is configured such that the character size is automatically set 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
Step 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 determine 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
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 already been set. Is applied.

Next, the image display process will be described with reference to FIG.
14 to 14 and conceptual diagrams of FIGS. 15 to 19. In this process, first, the identification code of the label to be printed is input by the user (# 30).
1). Next, when the user presses an image display key (shift key + H key) in a state where a character string can be input or an image is already displayed (# 302),
It is checked whether a character has already been input (# 303).
If no characters have been input yet, the image cannot be displayed, so the key input for image display is invalidated, and the process returns to # 302. If a character has been input, the dimensions of the two sides of the label corresponding to the identification code input in # 301 are read from the list table 31a of the storage unit 31 (# 306, FIG. 15B). The list table 31a stores dimensions of each side of a plurality of labels in mm units. Among the read dimensions, the reduction magnification corresponding to the dimension of the long side is extracted from the reduction table 31b of the storage unit 31 (# 307, FIGS. 15B and 15C). The reduction table 31b has a plurality of reference dimensions (1 mm, 64 mm,
..) And reduction ratios (4 ×, 6 ×, 8 ×,...), And a reduction ratio corresponding to the longest reference size below the long side is selected from these reference sizes. . The reduction table 31b is changed according to the size of the display medium. Then, 2 read in # 306
The size of the side is reduced in accordance with the reduction ratio, and becomes reduced data (# 308). In this reduction processing, first, the unit of the length of the two sides is converted from millimeters (mm) to dots (FIG. 16A). Further, the converted value is divided by the reduction ratio and converted to the actual display size (FIG. 16).
(B)). Data obtained by chamfering a corner by one dot with respect to a rectangle having two sides of the reduced data obtained in this manner becomes outer frame data (FIG. 16C).
If the label type is an index label, (#
309), an unprintable area is set at the center of the outer frame data (# 310, FIG. 16 (d)). The outer frame data thus created is set in the work area of the storage unit 31 (# 311).

Next, characters are sequentially extracted one by one from the input character string, and a basic font size is obtained (#
312, FIG. 17 (a)). The basic size of the character font includes, for example, 16 dots and 24 dots. If vertical writing is specified (# 313), the vertical and horizontal sizes of the extracted characters are exchanged (# 314, FIG. 17).
(B)). Then, the vertical and horizontal magnifications for the basic font are determined according to the type of the extracted character (# 315).
At this magnification, the basic font size is enlarged (# 316, FIG. 17C). When both the italic designation and the vertical writing designation are performed (# 317, # 318), the size in the vertical direction is expanded (# 319, FIG. 18).
(A)). This extension processing is performed by adding ((horizontal size / 3) -1) to the vertical size. Also,
If italics are specified but vertical writing is not specified (# 317, # 318), the size in the horizontal direction is expanded (# 320). Similarly, this expansion process is performed by adding ((vertical size / 3) -1) to the horizontal size. The inclination of the italic in the extension processing is one horizontal dot for three vertical dots (or one vertical dot for three horizontal dots). The range to be extended differs depending on the character size of the extracted character. This is to make the inclination of the character constant for all character sizes.

When the print position of the extracted character is specified at the upper end (#
321), aligning the upper end of the extracted character with the position of the upper end of the largest character in the same line as the extracted character,
The number of actual dots between the extracted character and the upper and left ends of the label is obtained (# 322, FIG. 18B). When the print position of the extracted character is designated as the lower end (# 323), the lower end of the extracted character is aligned with the position of the lower end of the largest character in the same line as the extracted character, and the extracted character and the label The actual dot numbers at the upper end and the left end are obtained (# 324, FIG. 18B). Furthermore, when the print position of the extracted character is intermediate, the center of the extracted character is aligned with the center of the largest character in the same line as the extracted character, and the extracted character and the top and left edges of the label are (# 325, FIG. 18)
(B)).

The actual dot number obtained in this way is
By dividing by the reduction ratio extracted in 307, # 3
The reduced distance data indicating the relative position on the outer frame data created in step 08 is calculated (# 326, FIG. 18C). Similarly, for the character size of the extracted character, a reduced character size having the same magnification as that of the outer frame data is calculated by dividing the character size by the reduction magnification (# 327, FIG. 19).
(A)). If the character code of the extracted character is not a space (# 328), a dot pattern representing the extracted character is written in the outer frame data set in the work area of the storage unit 31 (# 329, FIG. 19 ( b)). Specifically, a rectangle specified by the reduced character size is set at a relative position on the outer frame data indicated by the reduced distance data. Further, the inside of this square is filled with dots, and a dot pattern is formed. The processing of # 312 to # 329 is performed for all the input characters (# 33
0).

If the vertical length of the label is smaller than the vertical length of the liquid crystal display unit 7 (# 331), the storage unit 3
The image data including the outer frame data set in the first work area and the dot data representing each character is read out and displayed at the center of the liquid crystal display unit 7 (# 332, FIG. 19).
(C)). If the vertical length of the label is larger than the vertical length of the liquid crystal display unit 7 (# 331), the read image data is displayed from the upper end of the liquid crystal display unit 7 (# 333). . In this case, since all of the image data cannot be displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 7, the display position can be changed by scrolling.

After the processes of # 332 and # 333, an image display (erect image display) corresponding to the label insertion direction is performed on the liquid crystal display unit 7.

First, it is determined whether there is an instruction to rotate the display direction of the erect image display (# 334).

In this apparatus, a rotation instruction is given by inputting a shift key + H key. This is the same as the input of the image display key, but when an image is displayed, a rotation instruction is made by this key input, and the operation keys are provided by providing individual keys for the rotation instruction. Is prevented from increasing.

Next, when it is determined in step # 334 that there is a rotation instruction (Yes), it is determined whether the displayed image display is an erect image display (# 335).

If the image display is determined to be an erect image display in # 335, the erect image display is rotated 90 degrees to the left (# 336).

With this rotation, for example, in the state of displaying an erect image in which the length of the label in the vertical direction is longer than the length of the liquid crystal display section 7, if all image data cannot be displayed unless the display position is changed by scrolling. In addition, all of the image data can be displayed in the direction along the longitudinal direction of the liquid crystal display unit 7.

When the erect image is displayed in # 335, an arrow indicating the insertion direction of the displayed label is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 7 (# 337).

On the other hand, if it is determined in # 335 that the image is not the erect image display, the displayed image is shifted by 90 °.
Turn clockwise (# 338).

The image rotated to the right is an erect image.

That is, when the operation of # 332 or # 333 is completed, the erect image is always displayed, so that the erect image is turned 90 ° left by the first rotation instruction (Yes in # 334). It is rotated, and 9
The image display rotated left by 0 ° and the erect image are alternately switched.

Further, when the rotation instruction is not issued in # 334 (No), the input of the image display end key (cancel key) is waited for (# 339), and when the end key is input, the image display is ended. To return to the normal editing screen (# 340).

[0055]

According to the label printing apparatus of the present invention, an image of a label reduced in size at a different reduction ratio is displayed on the display means for each label having a different size. The reduction ratio used in the reduction process is one of the two dimensions of the label,
This is a value registered in the reduction table in advance so that the dimension of the long side falls within the dimension in the longitudinal direction of the display means.

Therefore, no matter what size the label is displayed as an image, the label is always displayed as a print image diagram reduced to a length that fits in the longitudinal dimension of the display means. In particular, since the print image diagram is created at the optimal reduction ratio based on a plurality of reduction ratio data having different magnifications, the print image diagram does not become too small.

For this reason, a printed image on any label can be visually grasped without actually printing on the label.

[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 flowchart illustrating a flow of an image display process.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of an image display process.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of an image display process.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of an image display process.

FIG. 15 is a conceptual diagram showing the contents of the image display processing.

FIG. 16 is a conceptual diagram showing the contents of the image display processing.

FIG. 17 is a conceptual diagram showing the contents of the image display processing.

FIG. 18 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the contents of an image display process.

FIG. 19 is a conceptual diagram showing the contents of the image display processing.

[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-63-250687 (JP, A) JP-A-1-217516 (JP, A) JP-A-61-198281 (JP, A) JP-A-61-1982 198283 (JP, A)

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A label printing apparatus for receiving an input of a desired character string and printing the input character string on each label arranged on a label sheet, comprising a rectangular display screen, Display means scrollable in a direction perpendicular to the direction, a list table in which a plurality of dimension data of two sides along the outer edge of each label are registered, a plurality of reference dimensions having different lengths, and each of these reference dimensions Correspondingly, when a reduction table in which a plurality of reduction magnification data for reducing each reference dimension to a length equal to or less than the length in the longitudinal direction of the display screen is registered, and when an instruction to display an image of a predetermined label is issued. A first processing means for reading out dimension data of two sides along the outer edge of the label from the list table; and a dimension of a long side among the dimension data of the two sides read by the first processing means. A second processing unit that reads out the reduction magnification data for reducing data to a length equal to or less than a length in the longitudinal direction of the display screen from the reduction table based on the reference size, and that is read out by the first processing unit. Dimension data of two sides
A third processing unit that obtains a set of reduced data by reducing each using the reduction magnification data read by the second processing unit; and a set of reduced data obtained by the third processing unit, A fourth processing unit for displaying the print image diagram on the display unit, the display image diagram including a rectangular outer frame data having sides and a dot pattern representing the character string arranged in the frame of the outer frame data. A label printer characterized by the above-mentioned. 2. After the print image diagram is displayed on the display unit by the fourth processing means, when there is an instruction to rotate the print image diagram, the outer frame data and the dot pattern are rotated by 90 °. The label printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a fifth processing unit that rotates the display unit to redisplay the display unit.