JP2870219B2 - Printer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer and, more particularly, to control of printing and paper feeding when a dump list is output in a label printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a printer that receives print information in the form of a code from the outside and stores it in a memory, and prints in response to a print command, the print information is often checked for a print error or other purposes. It is necessary to print out the code list (dump list).

As the paper for printing the dump list, continuous paper is desirable, but in order to save the trouble of paper preparation and paper replacement, the printing paper itself of the target print information is also used. For example, in a conventional label printer, the code sent from the host computer is continuously transmitted regardless of whether the paper used at the time of outputting the dump list is continuous paper or scraped adhesive paper. It was only printing and paper feeding. For this reason, there was no problem in the case of continuous paper, but in the case of using the scraped adhesive paper as this paper, printing was not performed on the scraped portion and a complete dump list could be output. Can not. In addition, there is a problem that when printing all the paper, the printing position of the adhesive paper must be shifted and output several times or the paper must be replaced with continuous paper.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a printer,
In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a label printer capable of outputting a complete dump list regardless of the paper used at the time of dump list output.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In a printer such as a label printer having a dump list output, continuous paper is output in the case of continuous paper according to the paper used at the time of dump list output. In the case of (1), control means for controlling the printing / paper feeding method of outputting only to the portion of the adhesive paper is provided.

[0006]

According to the present invention, at the time of dump list output, printing and paper feed are controlled in accordance with the paper used at that time, and in the case of adhesive paper that has been scraped, the dump list is output only to the adhesive paper portion. In this way, a complete dump list can be output at one time without having to change paper or retake several times.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below mainly for a label printer. In FIG. 1, (1) indicates a CPU.
And controls the entire printer. A control program storage section (2) stores a program for controlling the printer operation, and receives data, edits, prints,
The program includes a program for outputting a dump list, as shown in the flow chart of FIG. 3, for example, in addition to a normal print control program such as paper feed.

(3) a print control unit for controlling the operation of the print head and the paper feed operation, etc., based on command information from the CPU (1) and the control program storage unit (2), , And controls the stepping motor. (4) is a thermal head or other print head,
(5) is a stepping motor for feeding the recording paper.
(6) is a position sensor for detecting a position state ("home position") serving as a reference for paper feeding. In the case of label tack paper in which the release paper of the adhesive sheet is removed (smeared) at regular intervals, For example, a state in which the tip of the descaling portion matches the sensor position is defined as the home position.

Reference numeral (7) denotes a print paper length storage unit for storing data such as the paper size and the arrangement state of the paper surface. Data required directly at the time of output of the dump list, that is, in addition to the paper feed distance A and print length B, , The length m of one label, the interval (label gap) n between adjacent labels, and the like. When printing these data continuously on paper of the same standard, input this data in advance. It may be used as needed and updated to new data according to changes in paper specifications, or data of several types of paper to be used is stored, and corresponding data is selected according to the paper used. You may do so.

This data may be obtained from the detection output of the sensor (6) by feeding the paper, in addition to the key input. (8) is a printing paper feed length calculation unit for this purpose. The printing paper is fed in advance before printing, and the length m of the label paper 1 unit is determined from the relationship between the paper movement distance and the detection output of the sensor (6). , The length n of the gap between adjacent label papers is detected, and the paper feed length A from the detection of the home position to the start of printing and the length B to be printed on one label (print length) B are calculated from m and n. I do. Although not essential, {the integer part of B / (row pitch)} × row pitch = B1 is the correct print length. (See FIG. 2) When the sensor (6) detects the home position, the paper is fed by the paper feed length A stored and set, and then
The printing control unit (3) controls the thermal head (4) and the stepping motor (5) so that printing is performed for the printing length B, and further the same operation is repeated when the next home position is detected after the paper is fed.

(9) is a communication interface for exchanging information with the outside of the printer. The above elements (1) to (9) are connected via a bus line (10). Although not specifically shown, a switch for switching between a normal print mode for printing dot-deployed print information in a required form and a dump list output mode is provided.

Next, the operation and function of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In a normal label printer, when a label is printed using adhesive paper that has been scraped, the home position sensor (6) detects the leading end of the adhesive paper and removes the paper. The feed distance A and the print length B are stored in advance, and the thermal head (4) and the stepping motor (5) are controlled based on these values so that the print control unit (3) prints only on the adhesive paper portion. Is done.

When the dump list is output, these
By causing the paper to be fed, the dump list is output only to the adhesive paper portion, and is not printed on the descaling portion. For example, a description will be given of a printer operation in a case where data of an amount corresponding to two pages of the dump list is transmitted from the host.

A) When the printer is set in the dump mode, the printer reads and sets the paper feed length A and the print length B from the print paper length storage unit after the detection of debris. B) Next, the printer starts printing the dump list of the code itself without converting the data sent from the host computer. As the printing of the dump list proceeds, the home position sensor detects the leading end of the descaling section, and recognizes that the paper to be used is the scraped adhesive paper.

C) When printing of the dump list of the remaining portion B 'of the printing length B is completed while feeding the paper by the paper feeding length A from this position, the dump list output is temporarily suspended. D) From this position, the paper is fed by the length of (paper feed length A)-(remaining portion B 'of print length B), that is, a page break is performed. When a page break occurs, the rest of the dump list is output on the next label sheet.

E) When the data from the host is completed,
For example, if no data has been sent for three seconds or more, the printing of the dump list is terminated, a page break is performed, and a standby state is received for the next dump data. F) The dump mode itself ends when the tamper mode setting is released by the mode changeover switch.
This is handled as an interrupt and is valid even during dump list output.

G) If the paper used is continuous paper, the position sensor (6) does not operate (detects the decolored portion), so that the dump list is continuously output as before. Will be. That is, the position sensor (6) also functions as a paper type determination unit.

[0018]

As is clear from the above description, the following effects can be obtained by the present invention. 1) At the time of dump list output, a complete dump list is printed only on the adhesive paper portion, not on the scraping portion, and without a dropout portion. 2) There is no need to shift the printing position of the adhesive paper and output it several times, and a complete dump list can be created efficiently and easily at a time.

3) There is no need to prepare a separate sheet for preparing the dump list, and there is no need to exchange sheets for this purpose.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic system configuration diagram of a label printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the apparatus of FIG. 1;
(A) shows a printing start state, and (b) shows an intermediate state.

FIG. 3 is an example of a program flow used in the apparatus of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 2 Control program storage unit 3 Print control unit 4 Print head 5 Stepping motor 6 Position sensor 7 Print paper length storage unit 8 Print paper length calculation unit 9 Communication interface 10 Bus line 11 Label tack paper 12 Adhesive paper (Label paper) 13 Dust removal part (gap between labels) 14 Dump list print target range A Paper feed length B Print length m Label length n Label gap M Paper feed direction

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-63-145048 (JP, A) JP-A-60-184869 (JP, A) JP-A-61-204255 (JP, U) Patent 2535416 (JP, A B2) Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 8-5225 (JP, B2) Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 3-26657 (JP, B2) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B41J 21/00 B41J 2/515 B41J 11 / 42 B41J 29/38 B41K 3/00 G06F 3/12 B65C 9/40

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] In a printer having a dump list output function, printing / printing is performed according to the paper used at the time of dump list output.
A printer comprising control means for selecting and controlling a paper feeding method. 2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein said control means includes means for detecting a home position of the paper, and means for controlling a paper feed distance and a print length after the detection of the home position. 3. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the dump list output sheet is a sheet on which label sheets are periodically arranged. 4. The printer according to claim 3, further comprising means for reading a label paper arrangement state.