JP7249516B2 - Print management system, management terminal, print management program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a print management system, a management terminal, and a print management program for performing desired printing on a print-receiving medium.

In a printing apparatus that prints on a print-receiving medium, a technique is already known in which the host side controls automatic selection of a template to be printed through transmission of data input to the template to be printed (for example, see Patent Document 1). In this prior art, a printing device automatically selects item data included in reception data received from a host and a template corresponding to the number of item data to create printed matter.

JP 2008-125031 A

However, in the conventional technology described above, the user has to input in advance a large number of item data to be printed into the host, and the operation is complicated. In addition, since it is necessary to store all the large number of templates in the storage device of the printing device itself, the storage area of the printing device is compressed and the performance is lowered.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a print management system, a management terminal, and a print management program that can reduce the user's labor burden for template selection.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides transport means for transporting a print-receiving medium, printing means for performing desired printing on the print-receiving medium transported by the transport means, and a communication medium storing selection factor information. A portable printing device having communication means for wireless communication and device-side control means, terminal-side template storage means for storing a plurality of templates each having at least one print object allocated in a desired manner, and and a management terminal having terminal-side control means, wherein the device-side control means of the portable printing device is triggered by contact or proximity of the communication medium to the communication means. , a first acquisition process of acquiring the selection factor information from the communication medium by the wireless communication via the communication means; a first transmission process of transmitting the selection factor information acquired in the first acquisition process to the management terminal ; and the terminal-side control means of the management terminal performs second acquisition processing for acquiring the selection factor information transmitted in the first transmission processing; extraction processing for extracting at least one template corresponding to the acquired selection factor information from among the plurality of templates stored in the terminal-side template storage means; a second transmission process of transmitting a template to the portable printing apparatus; and the apparatus-side control means of the portable printing apparatus acquires the at least one template transmitted in the second transmission process 3 Acquisition process; controlling the conveying means and the printing means, and forming a print using one of the at least one template acquired in the third acquisition process on the print-receiving medium to generate a printed matter. Print processing;

The present invention improves convenience when a user takes out a portable printing apparatus and performs printing using a template.

That is, when the user intends to take out the portable printing apparatus, for example, the user brings the communication medium into contact with or close to the communication means of the printing apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as "holding up" as appropriate). Then, the selection factor information is acquired from the communication medium by the device-side control means of the printing device (first acquisition process), and further transmitted to the management terminal (first transmission process).

The transmitted selection factor information is acquired by the terminal-side control means of the management terminal (second acquisition process). At this time, a plurality of templates are stored in advance in template storage means (terminal-side template storage means) of the management terminal. The terminal-side control means extracts (extracts) at least one corresponding template from among the plurality of stored templates according to the acquired selection factor information, and then transmits it to the printing device (second 2 transmission processing). The transmitted template is acquired by the apparatus-side control means of the printing apparatus (third acquisition process).

As a result, by simply holding the communication terminal over the printing device by the user, the template corresponding to the selection factor information (for example, the user information of the user) of the communication terminal among the plurality of templates stored in the management terminal is printed. Sent to and retrieved from the device. After that, in the printing apparatus, the acquired template is used to form the corresponding print on the print-receiving medium, thereby forming the printed matter.

As described above, in the present invention, only the template corresponding to the selection factor information in the communication terminal is acquired by the printing device and becomes usable. As a result, there is no need for the user to find a single template at the time of execution of printing, unlike in the case where a large number of templates are pre-stored in the printer so that they can be used. can be reduced.

Further, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a management terminal having template storage means storing a plurality of templates in which at least one print object is allocated in a desired manner, and control means. an acquisition process in which the control means acquires the selection factor information acquired from the communication medium and transmitted by the portable printing apparatus upon contact or proximity of a communication medium storing the selection factor information; extraction processing for extracting at least one template corresponding to the acquired selection factor information from among the plurality of templates stored in the template storage means according to the acquired selection factor information; a transmission process of transmitting the at least one template obtained from the template to the portable printing device;

Further, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a management terminal having template storage means storing a plurality of templates in which at least one print object is allocated in a desired manner, and computing means. an acquisition step of acquiring the selection factor information acquired from the communication medium and transmitted by the portable printing device to a computing means upon contact or proximity of the communication medium storing the selection factor information; and the acquisition procedure. an extraction procedure for extracting at least one template corresponding to the acquired selection factor information from among the plurality of templates stored in the template storage means according to the acquired selection factor information; and a transmission step of transmitting the extracted at least one template to the portable printing device.

According to the present invention, the user's labor burden for template selection can be reduced.

1 is a system configuration diagram showing a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention together with a tag card; FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external structure of a printer; FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the printer with the cartridge cover opened; FIG. 4 is a conceptual plan view showing the internal structure of the cartridge; FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing functional configurations of a printer, a tag card C, and a management PC; FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the processing and flow of information transmitted and received between the tag card C, the printer, and the management PC when acquiring a template corresponding to client information; It is a figure showing an example of the printed label produced using the template corresponding to supplier information. 4 is a sequence chart showing an example of the contents of operations and controls executed by the CPU of the management PC, the control circuit of the printer, and the user. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the processing and flow of information transmitted and received between the tag card C, the printer, and the management PC when a template corresponding to business information is acquired; It is a figure showing an example of the printed label produced using the template corresponding to business information.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, a print management system 1 includes a management PC 2 configured by, for example, a general-purpose personal computer; and a tag card C capable of transmitting/receiving information to/from the printer 3 by short-range communication (details will be described later) by being brought close to it. In this example, the printer 3 is of a portable type and can be detachably connected to the communication network NW. In the illustrated example, the communication network NW is connected by a wired LAN, but it may be implemented by wireless communication such as USB connection or wireless LAN. The management PC 2 corresponds to the management terminal described in the claims, the printer 3 corresponds to the portable printer described in the claims, and the tag card C corresponds to the communication medium described in the claims.

<Printer configuration>
A schematic configuration of the printer 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the printer 3 has a housing 302 forming its outer shell. The housing 302 is composed of a resin lower cover 315 forming the device lower surface and integrated with the device side surfaces, and a resin upper cover 317 forming the device upper surface.

The side surface of the lower cover 315 is provided with a concave portion 315b and a discharge port 315a formed in the center of the inner portion of the concave portion 315b for discharging the printed label tape 109 (see FIG. 4, which will be described later). .

On the upper cover 317, a keyboard 303 for performing various operations such as character input and function keys for executing various functions of the printer 3, including a print button and a power button, are arranged from the front to the rear. A group 304 and a display unit 307 mounted to cover, for example, a rectangular opening are provided.

A cartridge holder 309 to which the cartridge 8 can be attached and detached is provided on the rear side of the upper surface of the printer 3 . The upper cover 317 has a cartridge cover 317a for mounting the cartridge 8 in the form of a tape cassette. The cartridge holder 309 is normally closed by the cartridge cover 317a (see FIG. 2), but is exposed by opening the cartridge cover 317a (see FIG. 3). A notch portion 317b is provided at the end of the cartridge cover 317a. A cut lever 350, which is an operation lever for cutting the label tape 109 with print, is provided so as to be accommodated in the notched portion 317b.

Next, detailed structures of the cartridge 8 and the cartridge holder 309 will be described with reference to FIG. The cartridge 8 includes a housing 8A and a first roll 102 disposed in the housing 8A and wound with a band-shaped base tape 101 (actually spiral-shaped, but shown concentrically in the drawing for simplicity). , a second roll 104 (which actually has a spiral shape, but is shown concentrically in the figure for simplicity) around which a transparent print-receiving tape 103 having substantially the same width as the base tape 101 is wound, and an ink ribbon. 105 (unnecessary if the print-receiving tape 103 is a thermal tape), a ribbon winding roller 106 for winding the ink ribbon 105 after printing, and a tape discharge portion of the cartridge 8. and a tape feed roller 27 supported thereon. The print-receiving tape 103 corresponds to the print-receiving medium described in the claims.

The first roll 102 has the base tape 101 wound around a reel member 102a. The base tape 101 is composed of, for example, an adhesive layer for bonding, a base film, an adhesive layer for bonding, and a release paper, which are laminated in this order from the side wound inside toward the opposite side. there is The second roll 104 winds the print-receiving tape 103 around a reel member 104a.

The tape feed roller 27 presses and adheres the base tape 101 and the print-receiving tape 103 to form the printed label tape 109 while feeding the tape.

A fixed blade 40 and a cut lever 50 are provided downstream of the tape feed roller 27 and the pressure roller 28 along the transport path of the printed label tape 109 (that is, downstream of the print head 23, which will be described later). A movable blade 41 is provided that advances relative to the fixed blade 40 by manual operation and cuts the printed label tape 109 in the thickness direction in cooperation with the fixed blade 40 .

On the other hand, the cartridge holder 309 includes a ribbon winding roller driving shaft 107 for winding the used ink ribbon 105 in the cartridge 8 and a tape feed roller driving shaft for conveying the printed label tape 109. 108 are provided. The tape feed roller drive shaft 108 corresponds to the conveying means described in the claims. The ribbon take-up roller 106 and the tape feed roller 27 are interlocked by transmitting the driving force of a transport roller motor (not shown) to the ribbon take-up roller drive shaft 107 and the tape feed roller drive shaft 108 . driven to rotate. The cartridge holder 309 is also provided with a print head 23 for performing desired printing on the transported print-receiving tape 103 so as to be positioned at the opening when the cartridge 8 is mounted. Incidentally, this print head 23 corresponds to the printing means described in the claims. The print head 23 is arranged so as to be separated from the movable blade 41 and the fixed blade 40 by a predetermined separation distance along the tape transport path. Further, the cartridge holder 309 detects the type of the cartridge 8 mounted in the cartridge holder 309 (in other words, the type of the print-receiving tape 103 representing various tape attributes such as the tape width of the print-receiving tape 103) by a known method. A cartridge sensor 309A is provided.

<Overview of printing tape creation>
In the above configuration, when the cartridge 8 is attached to the cartridge holder 309, the print-receiving tape 103 and the ink ribbon 105 are sandwiched between the print head 23 and the platen roller 26 facing it. Also, the base tape 101 and the print-receiving tape 103 are sandwiched between the tape feeding roller 27 and the pressing roller 28 facing thereto. Then, the ribbon take-up roller 106 and tape feed roller 27 are synchronously driven to rotate in the directions indicated by arrows B and C in FIG. 4, respectively. As a result, the tape feed roller 27 , pressure roller 28 , and platen roller 26 are rotated, and the base tape 101 is unwound from the first roll 102 and supplied to the tape feed roller 27 . On the other hand, the print-receiving tape 103 is fed out from the second roll 104, and a plurality of heating elements of the print head 23 are energized by a print driving circuit (not shown). As a result, the print is printed on the back surface of the print-receiving tape 103 .

Then, the base tape 101 and the print-receiving tape 103 on which the printing has been completed are adhered and integrated by the tape feed roller 27 and the pressure roller 28 to form a printed label tape 109, which is discharged from the tape discharge section. It is carried out outside the cartridge 8 .

The ink ribbon 105 that has finished printing on the print-receiving tape 103 is wound around the ribbon winding roller 106 by driving the ribbon winding roller drive shaft 107 .

The printed label tape 109 discharged out of the cartridge 8 as described above is cut by the cooperation of the fixed blade 40 and the movable blade 41 based on the manual operation of the cut lever 50, and the printed label L ( (see FIG. 6, etc., which will be described later))) is generated. At this time, as described above, the manual operation of the cut lever 50 by the user is transmitted to the movable blade 41 via a mechanism (not shown), and the movable blade 41 advances relative to the fixed blade 40 and is fixed to the movable blade 41. This is done by closing the blades 40 together like scissors.

<Functional Configuration of Print Management System>
Functional configurations of the printer 3, the tag card C, and the management PC 2 will be described with reference to FIG.

<Functional Configuration of Printer>
In FIG. 5, the printer 3 includes the print head 23 for performing desired printing on the print-receiving tape 103, the platen roller 26, a control circuit 341, a memory 342 comprising, for example, a RAM or ROM, and a desired display. , an operation unit 344 for receiving an input operation from the user, an NFC communication unit 345, an antenna 345a, and a device communication control unit 346. The control circuit 341 controls the entire printer 3 by performing signal processing according to a program pre-stored in the ROM or memory 342 (not shown) while using the temporary storage function of the RAM (not shown). The control circuit 341 corresponds to the apparatus side control means described in the claims, and the memory 342 corresponds to the apparatus side template storage means described in the claims.

The NFC communication unit 345 performs NFC communication (Near Field Communication), which is short-range wireless communication with a relatively short communication distance (for example, about several tens of centimeters) between the printer 3 and the tag card C via an antenna 345a. Communication). The antenna 345a corresponds to communication means described in the claims.

The device communication control unit 346 controls information transmission/reception with the management PC 2 via the connection of the wired communication network NW described above. It should be noted that a separate antenna for wireless communication must be provided when connecting via a wireless communication network (not shown).

The memory 342 stores various programs including a print processing program for executing processing of the printer 3 shown in FIG. 8, which will be described later. The memory 342 also has a storage area for storing template data, which will be described later. The display unit 343 performs desired display (for example, display of a label image or the like edited when the user edits the label). The operation unit 344 includes, for example, a keyboard, and various commands and data input operations from the user are performed.

<Functional configuration of tag card>
The tag card C is a kind of NFC communication medium, and has a tag antenna 151 and an IC circuit section 150 , and the IC circuit section 150 has a memory section 155 and a tag control section 157 .

The memory section 155 is connected to the tag control section 157 . The memory section 155 and the tag antenna 151 are controlled by the tag control section 157 .

The tag antenna 151 can transmit and receive information to and from the printer 3 through NFC communication with the antenna 345 a of the printer 3 under the control of the tag control section 157 . For example, the 13.56 MHz band is used for this NFC communication. As a result, when the user holds the tag card C in his/her hand and brings it into contact with the antenna 345a of the printer 3, or holds it close to the antenna 345a of the printer 3 (hereinafter, these operations are collectively referred to simply as "holding" as appropriate), , NFC communication between the tag card C and the printer 3 is established.

<Functional Configuration of Management PC>
The management PC 2 consists of a CPU 201, a memory 202 composed of RAM, ROM, etc., an operation unit 203 for inputting instructions and information from the user, a display unit 204 for displaying various information and messages, and a printer 3. It has a device communication control section 205 for controlling information exchange, a calendar section 206 and a large capacity storage device 207 .

The CPU 201 performs various processes and transmits/receives various instruction signals/information signals to/from the printer 3 or the like according to programs pre-stored in the ROM or large-capacity storage device 207 while using the temporary storage function of the RAM.

The calendar unit 206 has a clock function for measuring and outputting the current date and time.

The large-capacity storage device 207 is composed of, for example, an HDD, and stores various programs and information in a non-volatile manner. A schedule database is stored for storing and managing the schedule of each user (see FIG. 6, which will be described later).

The above CPU 201 corresponds to terminal-side control means, control means, and computing means, and the large-capacity storage device 207 corresponds to terminal-side template storage means, template storage means, and correlation storage means. Equivalent to.

<Characteristics of this embodiment>
A feature of this embodiment having the above-described basic configuration is that when the user holds the tag card C over the printer 3, only the templates that are likely to be used by the user can be automatically selected and obtained. The details will be described in order below.

<Acquisition of template corresponding to each business partner>
In the example of this embodiment, a plurality of users are in charge of a plurality of different business partners, and one user acts as a user for one printer 3 shared by the plurality of users. Describes the case of obtaining a template to be used by an account that is in charge of.

First, when the printer 3 acquires a template, the printer 3 is connected to the management PC 2 via the communication network NW. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, in the memory unit 155 of the tag card C, an acquisition command instructing acquisition of a template and user information of the user who owns the tag card C (example shown in FIG. 6) are stored in advance. "User B") is stored. This user information corresponds to selection factor information described in the claims.

When the user holds the tag card C in hand and holds it over the printer 3 (specifically, the antenna 345a; the same shall apply hereinafter), the acquisition command stored in the memory unit 155 and the above acquisition command stored in the memory unit 155 are transmitted by NFC communication with the tag card C. User information “user B” is sent to the printer 3 . As a result, the printer 3 is instructed to acquire a template that is highly likely to be used by the user information "user B" at that time, and the user information "user B" is transmitted to the management PC 2 . The specific data content of this user information may be text data representing the name of the user, or may be ID data assigned to uniquely identify the user. good.

The large-capacity storage device 207 of the management PC 2 stores the above-described schedule database 211 (database is abbreviated as "DB" in the figure, the same applies hereinafter) and a template database 212. FIG. In the schedule database 211, information on business partners to which a plurality of users correspond is recorded for each date of year, month, and day. The template database 212 records all the templates that are created in advance on the assumption that they will be used for each business partner. The schedule database 211 and the template database 212 correspond to the correlation that associates the selection factor information described in the claims with the corresponding templates. It corresponds to the correlation with customer information associated with the template.

After receiving the user information from the printer 3 as described above, the management PC 2 first receives the calendar information of the current date ("January 11" in the illustrated example) output from the internal calendar unit 206. is used as a search key to search for and refer to the supplier's schedule for one day corresponding to the calendar information. In the supplier schedule, for each of a plurality of users who use the print management system 1, information on the supplier scheduled to correspond to the user on the date of the calendar information is recorded. In the schedule database 211, the user information received in the supplier schedule to be referred to is used as a search key, and the supplier information corresponding to the user information "user B" (in the illustrated example, "supplier D", "transaction K”) is retrieved and output.

Next, the management PC 2 searches the template database 212 for at least one template corresponding to the supplier information output from the schedule database 211 as a search key, and extracts the template. In other words, the template extracted in this way is information that is highly likely to be used by the user (“user B”) at the business partners (“customer D” and “customer K”) scheduled to correspond on that day. A template containing the Then, the management PC 2 returns the extracted templates (in the illustrated example, three templates for "supplier D" and two templates for "supplier K") to the printer 3. FIG.

With the above-described processing by the print management system, only the templates that are likely to be used by the user on that day can be selected, downloaded from the management PC 2, and stored in the printer 3. FIG. Therefore, the data volume of templates to be stored in the memory 342 of the printer 3 can be greatly reduced, and the user's burden of selecting the template to be actually used can be greatly reduced.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a print label L created using the template acquired by the printer 3 as described above. In the illustrated example, the printed label L is an inspection certificate for the goods delivered to the supplier D, and the logo mark of the supplier D is printed at the left end position of the rectangular display area of the printed label L, and An inspection number is printed in the upper position, and the name of user B is printed as the inspector in the lower position on the right side. The template is print data in which information such as the layout, style, points, and print content of each print object such as the logo mark, inspection number, and inspector is allocated in a predetermined manner in advance. Then, the user edits the template via the operation unit of the printer 3 as required, and causes the printer 3 to print the template to create the printed label L. FIG.

In the editing operation, the user may enter arbitrary information such as the inspection number shown in the drawing, or the name of the user (user) such as the inspector. At this time, if the user information received by the printer 3 from the tag card C is text data of the user's name, the printer 3 may automatically enter the user's name. Further, when the data content of the user information is ID data, a name database in which the ID data and the name text data are associated with each other may be separately stored, and the name text data may be acquired from the database and printed. The printing of the user's name in the above case corresponds to the printing corresponding to the user information described in the claims.

<Control procedure of print management system>
An example of operations and control contents executed by the CPU 210 of the management PC 2, the control circuit 341 of the printer 3, and the user in order to realize the above processing will be described with reference to the sequence chart of FIG.

In FIG. 8, first, at step SU5, the user holds the tag card C owned by the user over the antenna 345a of the printer 3 as described above, and transmits the user information stored in the tag card C via NFC communication. Send to printer 3.

Next, at step SP5, the control circuit 341 of the printer 3 receives the user information transmitted at step SU5 from the antenna 345a. In addition, the procedure of this step SP5 corresponds to the first acquisition process and the acquisition process described in the claims.

Next, at step SP10, the control circuit 341 of the printer 3 transmits the user information received at step SP5 to the management PC 2 via the communication network NW. Note that the procedure of step SP10 corresponds to the first transmission process described in the claims.

Next, at step SP15, the control circuit 341 of the printer 3 erases and initializes all the templates stored in the memory 342 at that time. The procedure of step SP15 corresponds to the initialization process described in the claims.

At step SS5, the CPU 210 of the management PC 2 receives the user information transmitted at step SP10. The procedure of step SS5 corresponds to the second acquisition process, acquisition process, and acquisition procedure described in the claims.

Next, at step SS10, the CPU 210 of the management PC 2 searches the schedule database 211 for client information corresponding to the user information received at step SS5. Specifically, as described above, the supplier schedule corresponding to the date of the calendar information output by the calendar unit is referred to, and the corresponding supplier information is retrieved and output using the received user information as a search key. .

Next, at step SS15, the CPU 210 of the management PC 2 searches the template database 212 for at least one corresponding template using the customer information output at step SS10 as a search key, and outputs the retrieved template. The procedures of steps SS10 and SS15 described above correspond to the extraction process and the extraction procedure described in the claims.

Next, at step SS20, the CPU 210 of the management PC 2 transmits the template output at step SS15 to the printer 3 via the communication network NW. The procedure of step SS20 corresponds to the second transmission process, transmission process, and transmission procedure described in the claims.

Next, at step SP25, the control circuit 341 of the printer 3 receives the template transmitted at step SS20 and stores it in the memory 342. FIG. It should be noted that the procedure of step SP25 corresponds to the third acquisition process described in the claims.

At this point, the printer 3 stores in the memory 342 templates that are likely to be used by the user. Therefore, the user can disconnect the communication network NW and bring the portable printer 3 to the business site of the customer.

At the work site, the user selects a template to be used via the operation unit of the printer 3 in step SU10.

Next, at step SP25, the control circuit 341 of the printer 3 receives a selection operation from the user and selects a template to be actually used from the templates stored in the memory 342. FIG. It should be noted that the procedure of step SP25 corresponds to the receiving process described in the claims.

Next, at step SP30, the control circuit 341 of the printer 3 synthesizes the template selected at step SP25 with the user information received at step SP5 (fills in a predetermined print object) to generate final print data. Generate. Although not shown, the user may perform an appropriate editing operation such as entering arbitrary information in the print object of the template via the operation unit to generate print data.

Next, at step SP35, the control circuit 341 of the printer 3 prints the print data generated at step SP30 on the print-receiving tape 103 to create a print label L. FIG. The sequence then ends. The procedure of step SP35 corresponds to the printing process described in the claims.

<Effects of this embodiment>
As described above, in the print management system of this embodiment, only the template corresponding to the user information in the tag card C is acquired by the printer 3 and becomes available. As a result, the user does not have to struggle to find one template at the time of printing as in the case where a large number of templates are pre-stored in the printer 3 so that they can be used. can be reduced.

In this embodiment, in particular, in the procedures of steps SS10 and SS15, a plurality of templates corresponding to the user information acquired by the management PC 2 are extracted, and in the procedure of step SS20, the extracted templates are sent to the printer. 3, and in the procedure of step SP20, the plurality of templates transmitted in step SS20 are obtained. The procedure of step SP25 for receiving the selection of is executed. As a result, a desired template selected by the user from among several templates acquired from the management PC 2 in correspondence with the user information in the tag card C can be reliably used when printing is executed. .

In addition, particularly in this embodiment, the printer 3 further has a memory 342 capable of storing templates, and the control circuit 341 further includes a The procedure of step SP15 for initializing the template storage area of is executed. As a result, the information stored in the memory 342 of the printer 3 is erased (cleared) before the template is acquired from the management PC 2 corresponding to the user information, and the inside of the memory 342 is cleared as described above. can only be templates that are

In this embodiment, the management PC 2 further has a large-capacity storage device 207 storing a schedule database 211 and a template database 212 as correlations for associating user information with corresponding templates, In the procedures of steps SS10 and SS15, the correlation between the schedule database 211 and the template database 212 is referenced to specify at least one template corresponding to the user information acquired in the procedure of step SS5, and the large-capacity storage device 207 At least one specified template is extracted from among the plurality of templates stored in . As described above, in this embodiment, by using the correlation between the schedule database 211 and the template database 212 stored in the large-capacity storage device 207, it is possible to easily specify and extract a template corresponding to user information. .

In addition, particularly in this embodiment, the large-capacity storage device 207 stores a schedule database 211 that is a correlation between user information and customer information associated with templates, and the procedures of steps SS10 and SS15 Then, by referring to the correlations in the schedule database 211, at least one template associated with the customer information corresponding to the user information acquired in step SS5 is specified, and a plurality of templates stored in the mass storage device 207 are identified. At least one identified template is extracted from the templates.

In this embodiment, the user information in the tag card C (related to the user) can be used to specify and extract business partners and templates pre-associated with the business partners. . As a result, for example, when the user carries the printer 3 with him to a business partner, simply holding the tag card C over the antenna 345a of the printer 3 allows the user to use the printer 3 at the business partner. template is transmitted from the management PC 2 to the printer 3. As a result, it is possible to reliably reduce the user's labor burden for template selection as described above.

In addition, by using the correlation of the schedule database 211 that associates user information and business partner information as described above, even when the correspondence between a plurality of users and a plurality of business partners is changed at an appropriate timing. Even if there is, it can be easily dealt with by changing (updating) the correlation so as to match the changed correspondence at the timing.

In this embodiment, in particular, in the procedure of step SP35, printing using one template and printing corresponding to the user information acquired in step SS5 (user name in this example) are performed on the print-receiving tape. 103 to generate a printed label L; As a result, the user's name, identification information, and the like can be printed together on the print label L created by the user using the printer 3 by the above method.

In addition to the name and ID of the user who owns the tag card C, the user information to be stored in the tag card C may include information indicating attributes of the user, such as a department or title. In this case, the attribute information can also be used as a search key for the schedule database 211 and the template database 212, and can also be used as the print content on the printer 3. FIG.

<Modification>
It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible without departing from the gist and technical idea of the present invention. Hereinafter, such modifications will be described in order. In addition, in each modification, the same code|symbol is attached|subjected to the part equivalent to the said embodiment, and description is abbreviate|omitted or simplified suitably.

(1) Acquisition of Templates Corresponding to Business Contents In the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which the printer 3 acquires a template used by a business partner for which the user is in charge, but the present invention is not limited to this. . For example, a plurality of users are engaged in a plurality of different work contents, and one user serves as a user for one printer 3 shared by the plurality of users, and the user is engaged. The print management system of the present invention can also be used when acquiring a template to be used for business content.

FIG. 9 corresponding to FIG. 6 above shows the processing and information flow executed in the print management system in the case of this modification. In the processing and information contents shown in FIG. 9, the difference from the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 is the correlation stored in each of the schedule database 211A and the template database 212A. In the schedule database 211A, a one-day schedule corresponding to the calendar information is a business schedule, and the business schedule contains the dates of the calendar information for each of a plurality of users who use the print management system. Information on the content of work that the user is scheduled to engage in is recorded. In the schedule database 211A, the user information received in the business schedule to be referred to is used as a search key, and the user information ("user A" in the example shown) corresponds to the business information ("business E" in the example shown). , “Business J”) and output.

Next, using the business information output from the schedule database 211A as a search key, the management PC 2 searches the template database 212A for at least one template corresponding to the business information and extracts it. In other words, the template extracted in this way contains information that is highly likely to be used by the user ("user A") in the work contents ("task E" and "task J") that the user ("user A") is scheduled to engage in on that day. template. Then, the management PC 2 returns the extracted templates (in the illustrated example, two for “work E” and three for “work J”) to the printer 3 .

FIG. 10 shows an example of a print label L created using a template corresponding to the user's business content acquired by the printer 3 as described above. In the illustrated example, the printed label L is a price tag for a product sold at a retail store, and the name of the store that uses the printed label L (in the illustrated example, " Supermarket △△△”) is printed, the business content (in the illustrated example, the type of product to be managed called “today’s side dish”) is printed in the middle position on the left end, and the name of user A is printed in the upper position on the right end. The name of the product and its price are printed in the lower position across the left and right. The template is print data in which information such as layout, style, points, and print content for each print object of store name, business content, manager, product name, and price is allocated in a predetermined manner in advance. is. Then, the user edits the template via the operation unit of the printer 3 as required, and causes the printer 3 to print the template to create the printed label L. FIG.

As for the contents of the operations and controls executed in the print management system of this modified example, the management PC 2 outputs business information in the schedule database 211A, and the template database 212A uses the business information as a search key. The sequence chart is almost the same as the sequence chart shown in FIG. 8 in the case of the above-described embodiment (not shown) except for the two points of outputting the template as . In other words, the schedule database 211A and the template database 212A in this modified example correspond to the correlation that associates the selection factor information described in the claims with the corresponding template, and the schedule database 211A corresponds to the selection factor information described in the claims for the user. Correlation between information and business information associated with a template.

As described above, in the print management system of this modification, the large-capacity storage device 207 stores the schedule database 211A, which is a correlation between user information and business information associated with a template. In the procedure of SS10 and step SS15, the correlation of the schedule database 211A is referred to specify at least one template associated with the business information corresponding to the user information acquired in step SS5, and the At least one identified template is extracted from the plurality of stored templates.

In this modified example, by using the user information in the tag card C (related to the user), it is possible to specify and extract business contents and templates pre-associated with the business contents. . As a result, for example, when the user carries the printer 3 to go to work, he or she simply holds the tag card C over the antenna 345a of the printer 3, and the tag card C can be used in the printer 3 when performing the work. Only suitable templates are sent from the management PC 2 to the printer 3 . As a result, it is possible to reliably reduce the user's labor burden for template selection as described above.

Further, by using the correlation of the schedule database 211A that associates the user information and the business information as described above, even if the correspondence between the plurality of users and the plurality of business is changed at an appropriate timing. can be easily dealt with by changing (updating) the correlation so as to match the changed correspondence at this timing.

In addition, in the above description, when there are descriptions such as “perpendicular”, “parallel”, “planar”, etc., these descriptions do not have a strict meaning. In other words, "perpendicular," "parallel," and "flat" mean "substantially perpendicular," "substantially parallel," and "substantially flat," with allowance for design and manufacturing tolerances and errors. .

In addition, in the above description, descriptions such as "the same", "equal", and "different" regarding external dimensions and sizes are not strictly defined. That is, the terms "same", "equal", and "different" mean "substantially the same", "substantially equal", and "substantially different", with allowance for design and manufacturing tolerances and errors. .
However, if there is a description of a value that serves as a predetermined judgment criterion or a value that serves as a delimiter, such as a threshold value (see the sequence chart in FIG. 8) or a reference value, "same", "equal", and ""Different" and the like have a strict meaning, unlike the above.

5, 6, 9, etc., in the above description show an example of signal flow, and do not limit the direction of signal flow.

Also, the sequence chart shown in FIG. 8 etc. does not limit the present invention to the procedures shown in the above flow, and additions, deletions, or changes in the order of procedures may be made within the scope of the spirit and technical idea of the invention. may

In addition to the methods already described above, the methods according to the above-described embodiments and modifications may be appropriately combined and used.

In addition, although not exemplified one by one, the present invention can be implemented with various modifications within the scope of the invention.

1 Print management system 2 Management PC (management terminal)
3 Printer (portable printing device)
23 print head (printing means)
103 print-receiving tape (print-receiving medium)
108 tape feed roller drive shaft (conveying means)
201 CPU (terminal-side control means, control means, arithmetic means)
207 mass storage device (terminal-side template storage means,
template storage means, correlation storage means)
211, 211A schedule database 212, 212A template database 341 control circuit (apparatus side control means)
342 memory (apparatus-side template storage means)
345 NFC communication unit 345a antenna (communication means)
C tag card (communication medium)
L Printed label (printed matter)

Claims (10)

Conveying means for conveying a print-receiving medium, printing means for performing desired printing on the print-receiving medium conveyed by the conveying means, communication means for performing wireless communication with a communication medium storing selection factor information, and apparatus-side control a portable printing device comprising:
a management terminal having terminal-side template storage means storing a plurality of templates each having at least one print object allocated in a desired manner; and terminal-side control means;
A print management system comprising:
The device-side control means of the portable printing device,
a first acquisition process of acquiring the selection factor information from the communication medium by the wireless communication via the communication means when the communication medium contacts or approaches the communication means;
a first transmission process of transmitting the selection factor information acquired in the first acquisition process to the management terminal;
and run
The terminal-side control means of the management terminal,
a second acquisition process for acquiring the selection factor information transmitted in the first transmission process;
At least one template corresponding to the acquired selection factor information is extracted from the plurality of templates stored in the terminal-side template storage means according to the selection factor information acquired in the second acquisition process. extraction process;
a second transmission process of transmitting the at least one template extracted in the extraction process to the portable printing device;
and run
The device-side control means of the portable printing device,
a third acquisition process of acquiring the at least one template transmitted in the second transmission process;
a printing process that controls the conveying means and the printing means and forms a print on the print-receiving medium using one of the at least one template acquired in the third acquisition process to generate a printed material;
and run
In the extraction process,
extracting a plurality of templates corresponding to the acquired selection factor information;
In the second transmission process,
transmitting the plurality of extracted templates to the portable printing device;
In the third acquisition process,
Acquiring the plurality of templates transmitted in the second transmission process;
The device-side control means of the portable printing device further comprises:
acceptance processing for accepting selection of one template from the plurality of templates acquired in the third acquisition processing;
A print management system characterized by executing Conveying means for conveying a print-receiving medium, printing means for performing desired printing on the print-receiving medium conveyed by the conveying means, communication means for performing wireless communication with a communication medium storing selection factor information, and apparatus-side control a portable printing device comprising:
a management terminal having terminal-side template storage means storing a plurality of templates each having at least one print object allocated in a desired manner; and terminal-side control means;
A print management system comprising:
The device-side control means of the portable printing device,
a first acquisition process of acquiring the selection factor information from the communication medium by the wireless communication via the communication means when the communication medium contacts or approaches the communication means;
a first transmission process of transmitting the selection factor information acquired in the first acquisition process to the management terminal;
and run
The terminal-side control means of the management terminal,
a second acquisition process for acquiring the selection factor information transmitted in the first transmission process;
At least one template corresponding to the acquired selection factor information is extracted from the plurality of templates stored in the terminal-side template storage means according to the selection factor information acquired in the second acquisition process. extraction process;
a second transmission process of transmitting the at least one template extracted in the extraction process to the portable printing device;
and run
The device-side control means of the portable printing device,
a third acquisition process of acquiring the at least one template transmitted in the second transmission process;
a printing process that controls the conveying means and the printing means and forms a print on the print-receiving medium using one of the at least one template acquired in the third acquisition process to generate a printed matter;
and run
The portable printing device is
further comprising device-side template storage means capable of storing the template;
The device-side control means further includes:
initialization processing for initializing the device-side template storage means prior to acquiring the at least one template in the third acquisition processing;
A print management system characterized by executing Conveying means for conveying a print-receiving medium, printing means for performing desired printing on the print-receiving medium conveyed by the conveying means, communication means for performing wireless communication with a communication medium storing selection factor information, and apparatus-side control a portable printing device comprising:
a management terminal having terminal-side template storage means storing a plurality of templates each having at least one print object allocated in a desired manner; and terminal-side control means;
A print management system comprising:
The device-side control means of the portable printing device,
a first acquisition process of acquiring the selection factor information from the communication medium by the wireless communication via the communication means when the communication medium contacts or approaches the communication means;
a first transmission process of transmitting the selection factor information acquired in the first acquisition process to the management terminal;
and run
The terminal-side control means of the management terminal,
a second acquisition process for acquiring the selection factor information transmitted in the first transmission process;
At least one template corresponding to the acquired selection factor information is extracted from the plurality of templates stored in the terminal-side template storage means according to the selection factor information acquired in the second acquisition process. extraction process;
a second transmission process of transmitting the at least one template extracted in the extraction process to the portable printing device;
and run
The device-side control means of the portable printing device,
a third acquisition process of acquiring the at least one template transmitted in the second transmission process;
a printing process that controls the conveying means and the printing means and forms a print on the print-receiving medium using one of the at least one template acquired in the third acquisition process to generate a printed matter;
and run
The management terminal
further comprising correlation storage means for storing a correlation for associating the selection factor information with the corresponding template;
In the extraction process,
By referring to the correlation, at least one template corresponding to the selection factor information acquired in the second acquisition process is specified, and the plurality of templates stored in the terminal-side template storage means are selected from among the templates. A print management system characterized by extracting at least one identified template. In the print management system according to claim 3 ,
The correlation storage means is
storing a correlation between user information as the selection factor information and client information associated with the template;
In the extraction process,
By referring to the correlation, at least one template associated with the client information corresponding to the user information acquired in the second acquisition process is specified, and the template stored in the terminal-side template storage means is specified. A print management system that extracts at least one specified template from among a plurality of templates. In the print management system according to claim 3 ,
The correlation storage means is
storing a correlation between user information as the selection factor information and business information associated with the template;
In the extraction process,
By referring to the correlation, at least one template associated with the business information corresponding to the user information acquired in the second acquisition process is specified, and the plurality of templates stored in the terminal-side template storage means are specified. and extracting at least one of the identified templates from among the templates. In the print management system according to claim 4 or claim 5 ,
In the printing process,
A printing management system, wherein printing using the one template and printing corresponding to the user information acquired in the second acquisition process are formed on the print-receiving medium to generate the printed matter. . template storage means storing a plurality of templates each having at least one print object laid out in a desired manner;
a control means;
A management terminal having
The control means is
Acquisition processing for acquiring the selection factor information acquired and transmitted by the portable printing device from the communication medium upon contact or proximity of the communication medium storing the selection factor information;
an extraction process for extracting at least one template corresponding to the acquired selection factor information from among the plurality of templates stored in the template storage means according to the selection factor information acquired in the acquisition process;
transmission processing for transmitting the at least one template extracted in the extraction processing to the portable printing device;
and in the extraction process,
extracting a plurality of templates corresponding to the acquired selection factor information;
In the transmission process,
transmitting the plurality of extracted templates to the portable printing device so as to select one of the templates in the portable printing device;
A management terminal characterized by: template storage means storing a plurality of templates each having at least one print object laid out in a desired manner;
a control means;
A management terminal having
The control means is
Acquisition processing for acquiring the selection factor information acquired and transmitted by the portable printing device from the communication medium upon contact or proximity of the communication medium storing the selection factor information;
an extraction process for extracting at least one template corresponding to the acquired selection factor information from among the plurality of templates stored in the template storage means according to the selection factor information acquired in the acquisition process;
transmission processing for transmitting the at least one template extracted in the extraction processing to the portable printing device;
and run
The management terminal
further comprising correlation storage means for storing a correlation for associating the selection factor information with the corresponding template;
In the extraction process,
At least one template corresponding to the selection factor information acquired in the acquisition process is specified by referring to the correlation, and the specified at least one template is selected from the plurality of templates stored in the template storage means. extract one template
A management terminal characterized by: template storage means storing a plurality of templates in which at least one print object is allocated in a desired manner;
an acquisition procedure for acquiring the selection factor information acquired and transmitted by the portable printing device from the communication medium upon contact or proximity of the communication medium storing the selection factor information;
an extraction procedure for extracting at least one template corresponding to the acquired selection factor information from among the plurality of templates stored in the template storage means according to the selection factor information acquired in the acquisition procedure;
a transmission procedure for transmitting the at least one template extracted in the extraction procedure to the portable printing device;
A print management program for executing
In the extraction procedure,
extracting a plurality of templates corresponding to the acquired selection factor information;
In the transmission procedure,
transmitting the plurality of extracted templates to the portable printing device so as to select one of the templates in the portable printing device;
A print management program characterized by: template storage means storing a plurality of templates in which at least one print object is allocated in a desired manner;
an acquisition procedure for acquiring the selection factor information acquired and transmitted by the portable printing device from the communication medium upon contact or proximity of the communication medium storing the selection factor information;
an extraction procedure for extracting at least one template corresponding to the acquired selection factor information from among the plurality of templates stored in the template storage means according to the selection factor information acquired in the acquisition procedure;
a transmission procedure for transmitting the at least one template extracted in the extraction procedure to the portable printing device;
A print management program for executing
The management terminal
further comprising correlation storage means for storing a correlation for associating the selection factor information with the corresponding template;
In the extraction procedure,
By referring to the correlation, at least one template corresponding to the selection factor information acquired in the acquisition step is specified, and at least one of the specified templates is selected from among the plurality of templates stored in the template storage means. extract one template
A print management program characterized by:

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