JP3438653B2 - Label 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 label printer which prints and issues the price of a product, a product name, etc. on a label.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, fixed amount label printers and weighing label printers store product data such as price (unit price) and product name corresponding to a product number in advance in a product file (PLU file), and perform a pricing operation ( When performing the price label issuing process), the product data is automatically set only by inputting the product number of the product. However, an operator who is not skilled in work often knows what the product is, but does not know the product number of the product. Therefore, in order to make it easy to input the product number, it is possible to display a list (list) of products satisfying a predetermined condition on the screen and input the product number by touching the product in the displayed list. Has been done.

As a condition for inputting the product number, for example, when a department is input, a list of products belonging to the department is displayed, (Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-51372), or when the product type is specified by voice input, A list of products belonging to the product type is displayed (for example, if "tri" is input, a list of products related to "trinik" is displayed). (In addition, there are display of a product list by inputting the tray number and image data of the product (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-92338), display of a list of products processed on the previous day, etc.)

[0004]

However, when the list of products is displayed by the above method, the list of corresponding products is simply displayed as a list. Therefore, the worker needs to select from the displayed list. It is difficult to find the product to be selected, and it takes time to select the product, which puts a burden on the worker, which causes a decrease in work efficiency and a selection error.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a label printer in which a product list can be easily selected by devising a method of displaying a product list.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a label printer having a function of displaying a product list for specifying a product number of a product to be priced on the screen. A label printer is characterized in that, when is displayed, a product that has already been priced during the current period and a product that has not been priced during the current period are displayed separately.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a label printer having a function of displaying a product list for specifying a product number of a product to be priced on a screen, and displaying the product list when the product list is displayed. Determining means for determining whether or not the product to be priced has already been priced during the current period, the product already priced during the current period, and the current price (EN) Provided is a label printer which distinguishes and displays products which have not been priced during a period.

The invention according to claim 3 is a label printer having a function of displaying a product list for specifying a product number of a product to be priced on a screen, and the product already priced during the current period. A storage means for storing, based on the storage content of the storage means when displaying the product list,
Judgment means for judging whether or not the merchandise to be displayed is already priced during the current period, and based on the judgment result of the judgment means, the merchandise already priced during the current period,
There is provided a label printer, comprising: a display control unit that distinguishes and displays products that have not been priced during the current period.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the label printer according to any one of the first to third aspects, the display is distinguished by display color, reverse display, typeface, character size, display position and the like. Is characterized by.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention, in the label printer according to the fourth aspect, a plurality of types of displayable displays are provided, and one of them can be selected and set.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the label printer according to any one of the first to third aspects, when the product list is displayed, a department input, a product type input by voice input, a tray number input, Alternatively, when the image data is input, the corresponding candidate product is displayed.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the label printer according to any one of the first to third aspects, a storage means is provided for storing the commodity priced in the immediately preceding period, and the commodity list is displayed. It is a list of products priced in the immediately preceding period.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the label printer according to any one of the first to seventh aspects, the period is a unit period for which a product is priced, for example, a "day unit".
Is characterized in that.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external configuration of a label printer having a commodity pricing mode according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the label printer. In these drawings, reference numeral 1 is the main body of the label printer, the control unit shown in FIG. 2 is provided inside the main body, and the scale 2 is connected to the control unit.

On the front surface of the main body 1, there are provided two label printing mechanism parts 3 and 4 and an operation part 5. Further, the second printing mechanism section is removable from the main body 1. These printing mechanism units 3 and 4 include a thermal head that performs dot printing, a shift register that stores data for one dot line and supplies the data to the thermal head, and a stepping motor that moves the label one dot line at a time. It has, and can print arbitrary characters, numbers, and images.

Further, weighing labels (price labels) of different sizes may be set on the printing mechanisms 3 and 4, and
By setting a weighing label on the printing mechanism unit 3 and setting a pop label (product advertisement label) on the second printing mechanism unit 4, it is possible to appropriately print different types of labels. The operation panel of the operation unit 5 is attached to the main body 1 by a bellows 6 for adjusting an angle, and the angle thereof can be adjusted.

The operation unit 5 has a structure as shown in FIG. That is, numeric keypad 7 and function key 8
Label feed key 9, zero reset switch 10 of scale 2, power switch 11, operation / display unit 12
And a connector 13 for connecting the image scanner. The function key 8 is composed of a product number key PLU used when setting a unit price and the like, and a numeric keypad 7 and a shift key SHIFT for using the product number key PLU as a double function.

The operation / display section 12 has a touch panel 12a laminated on the upper surface of a liquid crystal display 12b so that data can be displayed and input on the same surface. That is, the liquid crystal display 12b is 480 × 200.
By dot display of dots, the product list in the pricing mode and other various displays are performed. On the other hand, the touch panel 12a is provided on the upper surface of the liquid crystal display 12b,
When the operator's finger touches the transparent panel on the upper surface of the liquid crystal display 12b, the touched position is detected and input is performed.

The above-mentioned units are connected to the control unit shown in FIG. First, the load cell 2 a of the balance 2 is connected to the CPU 20 via the load cell control unit 21. Similarly, the touch panel 12a and the various keys 7 to 11 are connected to the CPU 20 via the operation control unit 24, and the liquid crystal display 12b is connected to the CPU 20 via the display control unit. The scanner control unit 23 has a built-in buffer for storing the image data input from the image scanner 14. The CPU 20 further includes a ROM 40 in which a control program is written and an R for writing and reading data.
The AM 30 is connected. This RAM3
0 is provided with a PLU (price lookup) file, a department name file recording the department to which each product belongs, a buffer for each data, a work area, and the like.

Next, among the operations of the label printer according to the embodiment of the present invention having the above-mentioned configuration, the operation relating to the display of the product list in the pricing mode, that is, the "department"
4 is an operation for displaying a list of products belonging to the section when step SP1 of the flowchart shown in FIG.
0 to SP15 will be described. Prior to this processing, the product numbers of the products already belonging to the department are found by searching the PLU file using the department number as a search key, and written in the registers DR1 to DR10 in ascending order of the numbers. (For details of this search processing, refer to the description in Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-51372).

SP10 ... Initially sets the value of a counter C which designates the positions of the registers DR1 to DR10 (in this example, 10 items are displayed on one screen) in which the item numbers of the item names to be displayed are stored. SP11 ... Reads out the product number stored in the registers DR1 to DR10. Which register value is read is specified by the value of the counter C.

SP12 ... It is determined whether or not the read product number has already been processed in the current pricing target period. Note that the current pricing target period is during the current pricing work period, and is the day (the current day) in a shop or the like where pricing work is performed once a day. Further, in a store or the like where daily pricing work is divided into a plurality of times, this means that the present pricing work period is in progress. The determination as to whether or not the processing has been completed is performed as follows. That is, the product number of the product that has already been processed in the current pricing target period is stored in the processed product file of the RAM 30. That is, the product number of the price-processed product is stored in the RAM.
It is stored in 30 processed product files. The file structure of this processed product file is as shown in FIG.
It is stored as a push type. Then, it is determined whether or not the read product number is stored in this processed product file. If it is stored, the process proceeds to SP14, and if it is not stored, the process of SP13 is performed.

SP13 ... Normally displays "product number" and "product name". SP14 ... "Product number" and "Product name" are displayed in reverse (reverse). SP15 ... Checks whether all registers are finished. If YES, the process is ended, and if NO, the process of SP16 is performed. SP16 ... The counter C is incremented by +1.

FIG. 6 is a display example of the product name list obtained by the above-described processing, and the product numbers "0002", "0004" and "0" are displayed.
“008” indicates that the pricing process has already been performed in the current pricing target period. As a result, the processed products can be seen at a glance and the product number can be easily selected. In addition,
Of course, the processed product file can be cleared by key operation, but it is also possible to set conditions in advance and automatically clear it when the conditions are met.

It is also conceivable to cancel the clear by inquiring whether the clear is possible or not when clearing. The conditions for this clearing are, for example, when the date of the built-in clock (with calendar function) changes, when the power of the label printer is turned off, and the operation mode of the label printer is set to a mode other than the "price mode". When switching, when the pricing work is interrupted for a certain period of time or more, when the pricing work of the product instructed by the work reservation data received from the external device is completed, and so on are considered.

Next, the method described below will be given as another embodiment of the present invention. A method of identifying the product type by voice input. When a product type such as "pig" is generated in the pricing mode, the content thereof is recognized and a predetermined recognition code is specified. As shown in FIG. 7, a recognition code corresponding to the product number is stored in the PLU file when PLU data is registered. In this case, for example, when the recognition code “02” is specified, the PLU file is searched and the product list of the recognition code “02” is displayed.

The product list is displayed by inputting the tray number. In this case, as shown in FIG. 8, the tray number (No.) of the tray to be used is stored in advance in the PLU file.
For example, when the tray number "T3" is input in the pricing mode, the PLU file is searched and the tray number is "T3".
Display a list of products. The processing when displaying is shown in FIG.
It is the same as the processing shown in.

A method of specifying the product number by the TV camera. It can also be applied when displaying a list of candidates (possible ones) when one cannot be identified. It is also applicable when displaying a list of products that have been processed within the immediately preceding pricing work processing period.

The operation of the embodiment of the present invention has been described above in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and design changes and the like within a range not departing from the gist of the present invention. Even if it exists, it is included in the present invention. For example, those described below are also included in the present invention.

A. The conditions for displaying the product list are
It is not limited to the case described in the embodiment. It can be applied under any condition, and the desired effect can be obtained. b. Although the display distinction is the reverse display in the embodiment, the display distinction is not limited to this. For example, changing the color, changing the typeface, changing the size of characters, changing the display position (for example, split the screen into two left and right, display unprocessed products on the left, processed products on the right, etc.) Combinations of, and the like are possible.

C. In the embodiment, 10 items are displayed on one screen, but the present invention is not limited to this. The number of items to be displayed on one screen can be limited, and scroll display may be considered instead of screen switching. d. In the embodiment, the measurement label printer is used, but it is also possible to use a fixed amount label printer. It is also applicable in the case of a weighing and packaging pricing machine. e. In the embodiment, the product is selected from the product list displayed on the touch panel, but it is also possible to input the product number using the key and to specify the product using the cursor instead of the touch panel.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. a. When displaying a list of products, products that have already been priced during the same period (for example, the same day) and those that are not priced are displayed separately, making it easy to select products (generally, during the same period) It is almost unthinkable in the normal process to price a product that has already been priced, and since it is excluded from the selection targets, it is possible to search for a product that has not been priced yet). Therefore, the time required for the selection work is shortened and the burden on the worker is reduced, resulting in an improvement in work efficiency.

B. Since the products that have already been priced during the same period are not displayed, they are displayed separately, so
No inconvenience occurs even if a product already priced during the same period is priced again for some reason. c. Since the user can freely select the display category according to his / her preference, the usability is improved (claim 5).

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external configuration of a label printer having a commodity pricing mode according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the label printer of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of an operation unit of the label printer of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation related to display of a product list in a pricing mode.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a file structure of a processed product file.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of a product name list.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of items in a PLU file.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of items in a PLU file.

[Explanation of symbols]

12a ... Touch panel 12b ... Liquid crystal display 20 ... CPU 25 ... Display control unit 30 ... RAM 40 ... ROM

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] 1. A label printer having a function of displaying a product list for specifying a product number of a product to be priced, wherein the product list is already priced during the current period when the product list is displayed. A label printer, wherein the displayed product and the product that has not been priced during the current period are displayed separately. 2. A label printer having a function of displaying a product list for specifying a product number of a product to be priced on a screen, wherein when the product list is displayed, the product to be displayed is in the current period. Judgment means for judging whether or not the product has already been priced, and based on the judgment result of the judgment means, the product already priced during the current period and the price still priced during the current period. A label printer characterized by being displayed separately from products that are not available. 3. A label printer having a function of displaying a product list for specifying a product number of a product to be priced on a screen, and storage means for storing the product already priced during the current period, When displaying the product list, based on the stored content of the storage unit, a determination unit that determines whether the displayed product is a product that has already been priced during the current period, and a determination result of the determination unit. On the basis of the above, the label printer is provided with display control means for distinguishing and displaying a product that has already been priced during the current period and a product that has not been priced during the current period. 4. The display is distinguished by display color, reverse display,
4. The label printer according to claim 1, wherein the label printer is distinguished by typeface, character size, display position and the like. 5. A plurality of types of displayable displays are provided,
The label printer according to claim 4, wherein one of the label printers can be selected and set. 6. The display of the product list, when inputting a department,
4. The label printer according to claim 1, wherein the corresponding candidate product is displayed when the product type is input by voice input, the tray number is input, or the image data is input. 7. The storage means for storing the product priced during the immediately preceding period is provided, and the display of the product list is a list of the product priced during the immediately preceding period. The label printer according to any one of 1 to 3. 8. The label printer according to claim 1, wherein the period is a unit period for which a product is priced.