JPH01216868A - Automatic label printing setting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To set roll paper for printing automatically without moving an optical sensor by calculating the heading distance of label in accordance with data on a distance between the optical sensor and a printing head and data on the length of label and the interval size between labels and setting the position of roll paper. CONSTITUTION:An optical sensor 5 detects the position of label attached on roll paper for printing, and is turned OFF by shielding of light, if the label is detected, while the light penetrates if an interval between the labels is detected, and an ON signal is transmitted to CPU 1. If the roll paper is freely fed based on a reference time when the lower end E of label attached to the roll paper to be fed downward reaches a printing head position H, a feed distance is k. k equals (m+p)-l, and (m+p) is an interval length at which labels are attached on roll paper. In order to feed the length of a single interval, the remaining distance A, i.e. a length equal to A=l has only to be fed. This feed control is performed by counting the pulse width of a stepping motor and thereby a feed distance is obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an automatic labeler printing setting device for a printing machine that prints on labels attached to products.

(Conventional technology) In product distribution routes such as supermarkets that sell large quantities of products, printing machines are widely used to issue labels to be attached to products, along with measuring machines that weigh and price the products. There is.

This type of printing machine uses a roll of printing paper on which labels are affixed one after the other, and the printing head of the printing machine uses a thermal type head with a heat generating part at the tip, and a thermal ink ribbon is used to label the paper. letters and numbers are printed on it. Note that the roll-shaped printing roll paper is usually stored in a cassette and installed in a printing machine to be used for label printing.

On the other hand, labels come in various sizes depending on the product and product bag to which they are attached, and the spacing between the labels when attached to the printed roll paper also varies.

Therefore, when loading the printing roll paper into the printing machine, the label position on the printing roll paper is detected by an optical sensor consisting of a photo coupler, and the position of the optical sensor is slid to set the appropriate position of the label. Printing is in progress.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the relative positions of the label on the printing roll paper, the optical sensor, and the print head. In the figure, S is the optical sensor position, H is the print head position, and L is the optical sensor position and the print head. distance from the position, m is the length of the label,
Assuming that p is the interval between adjacent labels, conventionally, an optical sensor detects the end position of the label, for example, point E, and the optical sensor is moved to this point to set the printing roll paper as the starting point.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) As mentioned above, when initializing a printed roll paper, conventionally the optical sensor has to be slid each time a printed roll paper with different labels or intervals is attached, which is a time-consuming process. The problem has arisen that work efficiency is reduced due to the need for additional work.

The present invention was made in view of such problems,
The purpose is to provide an automatic labeler printing setting device that automatically sets printing roll paper without moving an optical sensor.

(Means for Solving the Problems) According to the present invention, in a labeler printing automatic setting device that detects the label position on a print roll paper using an optical sensor and prints the label with a print head, the optical sensor and the printing a calculation means for calculating the cueing distance of the label in accordance with dimensional data of the distance from the head, the length of the label, and the spacing between adjacent labels; An automatic label printing setting device is provided which includes a setting means for setting a position.

(Function) In the present invention, the length of the label and the interval between adjacent labels are detected by an optical sensor, and the cue dimension of the printed label paper is calculated based on these dimension data and the optical sensor → print head interval. It has the function of setting the position of the printed label paper.

(Example) Next, an example of the present invention will be described in detail using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a central control unit (cpu) for a printing machine, which is composed of a semiconductor circuit LSI and performs control based on arithmetic processing and control programs. 2 is ROM, 3 is RAM, both are storage devices, ROM2 stores the control program, and R
AM3 stores label dimensions, label spacing, and manually generated product information. Reference numeral 4 denotes a key input section which has a numeric keypad and setting keys, and is used to input product information and information regarding labels, which will be described later, by key operations. 5 is the optical sensor, which is connected to the photocoupler - GJ Gaku Roll #
& Ball L! It detects the position of the outer label.If it is a label, the optical sensor 5 is blocked and turns off, and if it is between labels, it becomes transparent and the optical sensor 5 sends an on signal to the CPUI. It is something to do. 6 is a print head that uses a thermal method and prints on the label using a heat-sensitive ink ribbon.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the relationship between the label, optical sensor, and print head in this embodiment, and the same parts as in FIG. 5 are given the same reference numerals.

In Fig. 2, if we consider the point when the bottom edge E of the label affixed to the printing roll paper fed downward reaches the print head position H as the reference point, (a) arbitrarily move from the position shown in the figure (b).
- (C) When the printing roll paper is fed to the figure, the feeding distance will be k. Now, looking at the relationship with m, p, and J2 mentioned above, k
= (m+p) -1, where (m+p) is the pitch distance at which the label is pasted on the printing roll paper, and (
d) To send one pitch as shown, the remaining distance @A.

In other words, in this figure, it is only necessary to send the length of A=1 for 25 times. b. The second feed control is performed by counting the number of pulses of the stepping motor to obtain the feed distance.

FIG. 3 is a process flow diagram showing an example of the operation of this embodiment. Next, the process will be explained with reference to FIG.

In step 1, it is checked whether or not a cassette for printing roll paper has been installed, and if the cassette is in, the feed motor circuit is turned on in step 2.

Next, if the optical sensor 5 is on in step 3, it is between the labels, so the process goes to step 4, and when the feeding progresses and the optical sensor 5 turns off, it means that the light is blocked by the label, and step 5 Set the counter to 0. In step 6, the printing roll paper is fed and the counter increases, and in step 7, it is checked whether the optical sensor 5 is on, and if it is on with transmitted light, the length of the label is m.
is measured by the counter value, so the counter value at this time is stored in memory.

In step 9, the counter is set to O, and the counter increases according to the feed, and by checking whether the sensor is off in step 11, the dimension of the interval between labels is measured by the counter value between steps 9 to 12. , the interval P will be stored in memory.

On the other hand, if the optical sensor is off in step 3, the process proceeds to step 13, where it is checked whether the optical sensor is on or not, and if the sensor is on, the counter is cleared to O.
The dimension of the label interval P at which the transmitted light is detected by the optical sensor is measured in steps 14-17. Further, the length m of the label from which the light sensor is shielded is measured by the counter value in steps 18 to 21.

Next, in step 22, k= (m+p) −ft,
The feed amount A is calculated from the formula A=(m+p)- and is calculated in step 23. and step 24
When the optical sensor is on, the feed amount A is set in step 25, the counter value is decreased in steps 26 and 2, and when it is determined that the counter value has reached 0, the feed amount A is set in step 25.
By stopping the motor at step 8, the state of the label reference position shown in FIG. 2(a) is obtained.

In the process flow diagram of FIG. 3, the flow of detecting the label length m and the label interval p by the detection operation of the optical sensor 5 during steps 1 to 21 was explained, but the flow of detecting the label length m and the label interval p is Depending on the type, if the values of m and p can be easily obtained, manually enter the values of m and p by key operation 4, and the so-called cueing of the standard position of the label can be done from step 22 onwards. You can also follow the flow.

Next, Fig. 4 is an explanatory diagram for the case of a circular label, where the label length of the circular label is mo, the label interval is p゛,
If the distance between the optical sensor and the print head is °, the label feed amount M is M= (m' + p')xn≧1°...I
n is the number of labels, and by increasing n sequentially from 1 and finding M for n that satisfies the above formula, M-j2' = k...1
■(m' + p') - = A (feed amount)
-III, the count starts when the optical sensor turns from on to off, and stops at the feed amount A.

In FIG. 4, for example, m' = 3. p' = 1. n=4.
If 1' = 13, equation 1 is (3+1)X4>13 equation II is 16-13=3, equation 111 is 4-3=1, and the feed amount A is 1.

Note that FIG. 4(a) shows a standard label stop position, at which the print head starts printing.

In the figure (b), the optical sensor is in the on position, in the figure (C), the optical sensor is off, and counting of the relabel length starts from this position, and in the figure (d), it stops at a predetermined count value. However, the position is similar to the state shown in FIG.

Although the present invention has been described above using the above-mentioned embodiments, various modifications can be made within the scope of the gist of the present invention, and these modifications are not excluded from the scope of the present invention.

(Effects of the Invention) According to the present invention, the length of the label and the interval between adjacent labels are detected by the optical sensor, and printing is performed based on the dimensions of the optical sensor and the print head, and the above-mentioned dimension data. Since the beginning dimension of the label paper is calculated and the printing roll is set to the appropriate position according to the calculation result, even when printing roll paper with different label dimensions and label spacing is used, the optical sensor can be used as before. The position of the printing roll paper can be automatically set without requiring the trouble of adjusting the position, which has the effect of improving work efficiency during label printing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
The figure is an explanatory diagram of the relationship between the label, optical sensor, and print head in this embodiment, FIG. 3 is a processing flow diagram showing an example of the operation of this embodiment, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram in the case of a circular label.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the relative positions of the label, optical sensor, and print head on the print roll paper. 1... Central control unit, 4... Key human power department, 5...
Optical sensor, 6...Print head. Figure 1 Figure 2

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In an automatic labeler printing setting device that uses an optical sensor to detect the label position on a print roll paper and prints the label with a print head, the distance between the optical sensor and the print head, the length of the label, and the adjacent The present invention includes a calculation means for calculating the cueing distance of the label corresponding to each dimension data of the interval between labels, and a setting means for setting the position of the printing roll paper based on the calculation result from the calculation means. Features: Labeler printing automatic setting device. (2) The automatic labeler print setting device according to claim (1), wherein the optical sensor detects the length of the label and the interval between adjacent labels. (3) Claim (1) characterized in that dimensional data of the length of the label and the spacing between adjacent labels is manually input.
) Labeler printing automatic setting device.