JPH05221075A - Printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to measure the value of print misalignment in a short time and thereby shorten the time required for the correction of a print alignment by printing a test format constituted by codes which indicate auxiliary lines, the first and the second oblique line as well as the length from the tip of the auxiliary line to each cross point, in the test printing mode. CONSTITUTION:A test format is printed on a label in accordance with entered label length data in the test printing mode. The test format is composed of the first oblique line z1 drawn at a position 7mm from the printing start line x1 of an extreme right auxiliary line y8 from a cross point among the printing start line x1, a printing end line x2, auxiliary lines y1 to y8 and the printing start line x1 of an extreme left auxiliary line y1; the second oblique line z2 drawn at a position 7mm from the line x2 of the auxiliary line y8 of the extreme right auxiliary line y8 from a cross point between the auxiliary line y1 and the line x2; and codes 1.0 to 6.0 (in units of mm) which indicate the length from cross points between oblique lines Z1, Z2 and the auxiliary lines y1 to y8 to the line x1 or the line x2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus which positions a sheet at a predetermined position and prints print information by a print head.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a printing apparatus, for example, a label printer that prints on a label paper affixed to a backing paper with a plurality of labels at predetermined intervals, the leading edge of the label is detected by a paper sensor, It is known that the head is positioned at a print position and predetermined print information is printed by the thermal head.

However, in such a label printer,
Due to an error in assembling the mechanical parts, an error in the mechanical parts themselves, and a friction between the ink ribbon or the paper stretched on the thermal head and the platen, the print position of the print information on the paper may be displaced.

The magnitude of such deviation of the printing position is actually measured by visual inspection or the like in a label actually printed in business or in a label printed for checking disconnection of the heating resistor of the thermal head in the test mode. Was measured by. On the basis of the size of the print deviation obtained by this measurement, the conventional correction of the print deviation has been performed by changing the setting of the application software that controls the positioning of the paper or the print start timing of the thermal head.

[0005]

As described above, in a printing apparatus such as a label printer, in order to correct the printing deviation caused by the error of the mechanical parts and the friction between the ink ribbon, the paper and the platen, the work is actually performed. Since the labels printed in or the labels printed in the test mode were measured by visual inspection, the measurement of the size of the print misalignment was troublesome.
Moreover, it was inaccurate and time-consuming. Therefore, there is a problem that it takes time to finally correct the print misalignment.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus capable of easily and accurately measuring the size of print deviation in a short time, and thus shortening the time required to correct the print deviation.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, in a printing apparatus for positioning a paper at a predetermined position and printing print information by a print head, a length between a print start line and a print end line of print information on a paper is set. Based on the print length input means for inputting, and the length input by the print length input means, a plurality of auxiliary lines drawn from the print start line to the print end line in parallel to the paper conveyance direction. , A first diagonal line drawn at a predetermined angle from the print start line end of one of the auxiliary lines, and a second diagonal line drawn at a predetermined angle from the print end line end of one of the auxiliary lines. Generates a standard format consisting of a slant line, a length from the print start line to the intersection of the first slant line and the auxiliary line, and a symbol indicating the length from the print end line to the intersection of the second slant line and the auxiliary line. Reference fo Matte generating means, format printing means for printing the standard format generated by the standard format generating means on a paper by a print head, and fine adjustment input means for inputting information for finely adjusting the print position of print information on the paper. A fine adjustment means is provided for finely adjusting at least one of the positioning of the paper and the print start timing of the print head based on the fine adjustment information input by the fine adjustment input means.

[0008]

In the present invention having such a structure, the print length input means inputs the length between the print information print start line and the print end line on the paper, and based on this length, the reference format generation means , Multiple extension lines,
A reference format is generated consisting of a first slash, a second slash and a length indicating symbol. The format printing means causes the print head to print the generated standard format on the paper.

At this time, if the printing position is deviated, the reference format printed on the paper is deviated and printed, so that the auxiliary line and the first slanted line or the second slanted line are formed depending on the misalignment. There is a part that is not printed at the intersection of. By reading the symbols at the remaining intersections, the numerical value of the print misalignment at this time can be confirmed. This numerical value serves as information for finely adjusting the print position.

Further, the fine adjustment input means inputs information for finely adjusting the print position of the print information on the paper, and the fine adjustment means positions the paper or prints the print head based on the input information. At least one of the start timings is finely adjusted.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that this embodiment is applied to a label printer that prints on a label paper in which a plurality of labels are affixed to a mount at predetermined intervals, and FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the main circuit configuration of this label printer. Is.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a CPU (centra which constitutes the main body of the control unit.
ROM (read only me), which stores program data for processing performed by the CPU 1.
2) and a drawing buffer 3a, and a RAM (random access memory) 3 in which areas of various memories used when the CPU 1 performs processing are formed.
Are connected to the CPU 1 via a system bus 4.

A keyboard controller 6 for controlling the keyboard 5, an I / O port 8 for inputting an output signal from a paper sensor 7 for detecting the leading end of a label attached to a label paper, and a display controller 10 for controlling a display unit 9. A head controller 12 that controls the thermal head 11 and a motor controller 14 that controls a stepping motor 13 as a drive source for transporting a sheet are also connected to the CPU 1 via the system bus 4. The keyboard 5 constitutes a print length input means in the test print mode and a fine adjustment input means at the end of the test format printing. FIG. 2 shows the flow of the main processing performed by the CPU 1.

First, it is judged by the input from the keyboard 5 whether or not the test print mode is set. If it is not the test print mode, the process of the other mode is performed, and if it is the test print mode, then the state of waiting for the input of the label length from the keyboard 5 is entered.

When label length data is input from the keyboard 5, the test format shown in FIG.
Create in a. (Standard format generation means)

In this test format, the print start lines x1 are drawn in parallel with each other at intervals of the label length.
And a print end line x2 and a line drawn from the print start line x1 at a right angle to the print end line x2 at equal intervals.
Vertical lines (auxiliary lines) y1 to y8 of the book, a first diagonal line z1 drawn from the intersection of the vertical line y1 to the print start line x1 to a position 7 mm from the vertical line y8 to the print start line x1, and its From the intersection of the vertical line y1 and the print end line x2, the vertical line y8
The second diagonal line z2 is drawn to a position 7 mm from the print end line of No. 2 and the symbols 1.0 to 6.0 provided in the middle of each of the vertical lines y2 to y7. That is, this symbol is the distance from the print start line x1 to the intersection of the vertical lines y2 to y7 and the first diagonal line z1 and the print end line x2 to the vertical line y2.
The distance from y7 to the intersection of the second diagonal line z2 is shown in mm.

When the drawing of the test format in the drawing buffer 3a is completed, as a step 1 (ST1), the input key or the end key provided on the keyboard 5 is in a standby state.

When the issue key is input, the drawing buffer 3
Printing is performed on the label paper based on the test format stored in a (format printing means), and it is confirmed whether or not the fine adjustment of the print position is performed by the keyboard 5, and the fine adjustment input of the print position is performed. If the keyboard 5 is not used, the process returns to step 1 described above. When the fine adjustment input of the print position is performed by the keyboard 5, the number of paper conveyance steps from the detection of the leading edge of the label by the paper sensor 7 is adjusted based on the input data (fine adjustment means). Then, the process returns to the above-mentioned step 1 again. When the end key is input, this main part process is ended.

In this embodiment having such a structure, for example, when the label paper having the label length Lmm shown in FIG. 4 is used, the vertical lines y1 to y1 of the test format in FIG.
The length of y8 is Lmm.

If the label paper is accurately positioned at the print position, the entire test format created in the drawing buffer 3a including the print start line x1 and the print end line x2 is a single label. Will be printed on.

However, when the label paper is positioned so as to be displaced from the printing position, one label will be printed as shown in FIG. 5 (a) or 5 (b), for example. That is, the arrow A in FIG. 5 indicates the conveyance direction of the label paper, and the printing is performed from left to right in the drawing. In FIG. 5A, since the print start line is not printed, the number of conveyance steps of the label sheet from the detection of the leading edge of the label by the sheet sensor 7 is shown to be insufficient, and it is known that the amount is about 3 mm. You can
In addition, in FIG. 5B, since the print end line is not printed, it is shown that the number of steps of transporting the label paper from the detection of the leading edge of the label by the paper sensor 7 is too large, and the surplus is about 3 mm. Can be known.

Therefore, by inputting the numerical value of the printing deviation, which is known by issuing the printing of the test format, with the keyboard, the paper sensor 7 is based on the input numerical value.
By this, the setting of the number of steps for transporting the label paper from the detection of the label tip is adjusted.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, in the test print mode, the lengths from the tips of the plurality of auxiliary lines, the first diagonal lines, the second diagonal lines, and the auxiliary lines to the respective intersections as shown in FIG. Since it is possible to print the test format constituted by the symbol indicating the height, it is possible to easily visually check the print deviation based on the result of actual printing, and it is possible to accurately confirm the measurement quantitatively. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the time required for the operation of correcting the print misalignment.

Further, in this embodiment, the above-mentioned test format is printed in the test mode, so that the print position of the paper can be adjusted at the initial setting stage at the start of the work, so that the actual work can be performed. It is possible to prevent interruption due to print misalignment.

In this embodiment, the number and spacing of the auxiliary lines and the inclination of the first slanted line or the second slanted line are set so that the adjustment can be performed in units of 1 mm. Not limited to this, for example, if the number of auxiliary lines is increased and the inclinations of the first diagonal line and the second diagonal line are close to a right angle with respect to the auxiliary line, 0.5 mm unit, 0.2 mm unit, etc. are also applied. It is possible.

Further, in this embodiment, the test format is drawn in the drawing buffer by inputting the label length, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the label paper used is limited to several kinds. If so, several kinds of test formats may be stored in the memory in advance corresponding to the label size of each label sheet, and selected and printed in the test print mode.

[0027]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide a printing apparatus capable of easily and accurately measuring the size of print misalignment in a short time, thus shortening the time required to correct the print misalignment.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of essential parts of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a flow of main part processing of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a test format created in a drawing buffer of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of label paper of the same embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of print misregistration in the same embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... CPU, 3a ... Drawing buffer, 5 ... Keyboard, 7
... paper sensor, 13 ... stepping motor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus for positioning print paper at a predetermined position and printing print information by a print head, wherein print length input means for inputting a length between a print start line and a print end line of print information on the paper. And a plurality of auxiliary lines drawn from the print start line to the print end line in parallel to the sheet conveying direction based on the length input by the print length input means, among these auxiliary lines. Of 1
First diagonal line drawn at a predetermined angle from the print start line end of the book, second diagonal line drawn at a predetermined angle from the print end line end of one of the auxiliary lines, from the print start line Criteria for generating a reference format consisting of symbols indicating the length to the intersection of the first diagonal line and the auxiliary line and the length from the print end line to the intersection of the second diagonal line and the auxiliary line Format generating means, format printing means for printing the standard format generated by the standard format generating means on the paper by the print head, and fine adjustment for inputting information for finely adjusting the print position of print information on the paper. Based on the input means and the fine adjustment information input by the fine adjustment input means, the positioning of the paper or the print start timing of the print head is performed. Printing apparatus characterized by comprising a fine adjustment means for finely adjusting the one even without.