JPH05301375A - Tape printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a tape printer which is common to respective blocks of a text and can print by a maximum character size printable on a tape to be used. CONSTITUTION:When an automatic size has been set with a character size setting key, whether or not all character data are a large character is judged per each block of the divided text data via a block feed key (S23). When all the character data are the large character (S24, S25: NO), a big size character mode is selected from a table of a ROM (S27). Further, when there is a fancy character in a character code (S24: NO, S25: YES), the character mode of the big size in the fancy is selected from the table of the ROM (S26). Further, when every character code is not a large character (S24: NO), a character mode of a normal size is selected from the table of the ROM (S31).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tape printer capable of printing characters such as characters input from an input means such as a keyboard on a tape, and more particularly to a plurality of character sizes for each predetermined block when printing characters. The present invention relates to a tape printer capable of automatically setting the maximum character size printable on a tape.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various kinds of tape printers of this kind have been proposed, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 4-18512,
Japanese Patent Application No. 4-19495 sets an auto mode through a mode setting means for setting an auto mode in which characters and the like can be printed on a tape with a maximum size.
There is described a tape printer capable of printing a maximum size character or the like within an allowable area of the tape width. According to such a tape printer, it is possible to print characters and the like by making maximum use of the printable area of the tape.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional tape printer, the maximum character size can be set according to the tape width of the tape used, but such character size is unique to the tape width. It will be decided. Therefore, only one kind of character size can be set for each tape.

On the other hand, the content of the text (document) to be printed on the tape is generally a combination of various characters, from which the character size of each character should be uniquely determined. It should be decided corresponding to each character, not a thing. In particular, in such a tape printer, each character is generally grouped into one in the text, that is, a character is often input for each block, and printing is performed with a common maximum character size in the block unit of such character. It is desirable to do.

According to the above, in the conventional printing apparatus, the character size of each character in the text is determined depending only on the tape width of the tape to be used. One character size common to all the characters is determined, and each character is printed with that character size.

In this case, there is a problem in that each character cannot be printed with a character size that is common to each character block, and the appearance of the printed character is extremely poor. In particular, when the input characters are only uppercase letters, there is a problem that only the small uppercase letters can be printed on the whole although the tape width of the tape to be used is taken into consideration.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and divides a character input in a text into a plurality of blocks, and a tape of a tape used for each block. An object of the present invention is to provide a tape printer capable of printing with a maximum character size common to each character block by automatically determining the maximum character size that can be printed on the tape in consideration of the width. To do.

[0008]

To achieve the above object, the present invention stores character input means for inputting characters such as characters and symbols, and code data corresponding to the characters input from the character input means. A text memory, block setting means for dividing the code data stored in the text memory into a plurality of blocks, and inputting a block mark for each block,
Block detection means for detecting the block mark input by the block setting means, storage means for storing the tape width of each tape having a plurality of types of tape width and each of a plurality of character sizes in association with each other, A tape width detecting means for detecting the tape width of the tape, a detection result of the tape width detecting means, a storage content of the storage means,
And an automatic size setting means for automatically setting, for each block, the maximum character size printable on the tape from the plurality of character sizes based on the type of code data in the block, and stored in the text memory. A printing control means for printing a character on each tape by a printing means, the printing control means based on the character size set by the auto size setting means when the detection means detects a block mark. The printing control of the printing unit is performed for each block.

[0009]

In the present invention having the above construction, the code data corresponding to the character input from the character input means is stored in the text memory, and is divided into predetermined blocks of the character through the block setting means to be divided into each block. The block mark is entered. Then, the automatic size setting means refers to the block mark based on the detection result of the tape width detection means and the stored content of the storage means that stores the tape width and the character size in association with each other, and the tape for each block. Set the maximum character size that can be printed on.

Thereafter, when the block mark is detected by the block detecting means, the character is printed for each block on the basis of the character size set as described above through the printing means under the control of the print control means. It is done.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the tape printer showing the tape cassette housing portion with a housing cover opened. In FIG. 1, the tape printer 1 encloses a character input key 2 for inputting characters such as characters over a plurality of lines, a print key 3, an underline key 4A for underlining characters, and a character. A character modifier key 4 including a frame key 4B for giving a frame, a character size set key 5 for setting the character size of a character, a numeral key N (keys 1 to 0 are provided), and a predetermined block of a character A keyboard 6 provided with various keys such as a break block key B for inputting a break block mark for each, a liquid crystal display 7 for displaying characters and the like input from the keyboard 6, and a cassette for storing a tape cassette 13 described later. Storage part 8
Are arranged.

Further, the tape cassette 13 is rotatably driven by a pulse motor (not shown) in the cassette housing portion 8
The ribbon winding shaft 9 for winding the thermal ink ribbon 17 by rotating the ribbon winding spool 21 is installed upright.
Further, a tape feed roller shaft 10 for rotating a tape feed roller 27, which will be described later, is rotatably driven by a tape feed motor 40, which will be described later, via an appropriate transmission mechanism at an obliquely forward position (on the side of the keyboard 6). It is set up.

Further, a thermal head 11 for printing on a film tape 15, which will be described later, is fixedly installed in front of the cassette housing portion 8 via a thermal ink ribbon 17. Further, behind the cassette housing portion 8, various tapes such as film tapes 15 stored in the tape cassette 13 (each tape has a tape width of one tape cassette 1).
3 has the same tape width) is provided with a tape width detector K for detecting the tape width.

The tape width detector K comprises three photo couplers P1, P2, P3, and the photo couplers P1, P2, P3 are attached to the back surface of the tape cassette 13 when the tape cassette 13 is mounted in the cassette housing portion 8. The discriminating member (not shown) provided in the disc is inserted into the discriminating member to selectively block the photocouplers P1, P2, P3 so that various kinds of tapes such as the film tape 15 stored in the tape cassette 13 The tape width is detected.

Here, in this embodiment, the film tape 15 is used.
6 mm, 9 mm, 12 mm, etc.
There are five types, 18 mm and 24 mm, and each of the photocouplers P1, P2, and P3 determines the width of the tape in the tape cassette 13 by a combination of an "H" signal and an "L" signal issued based on the selective cutoff by the determination member. It is something to detect. Since the tape width detector K has the same structure as that described in Japanese Patent Application Nos. 3-217860 and 3-217861, detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

Further, the cassette storage portion 8 has a storage cover 1 pivotally supported rearward of the tape printer 1.
The tape cassette 13 is opened and closed by 2, and the tape cassette 13 is exchanged in the open state.

Next, the structure of the tape cassette 13 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the state where the tape cassette 13 is stored in the cassette storage portion 8 (the tape cassette 13 is shown excluding the upper case).

In FIG. 2, a tape spool 16 around which a transparent film tape 15 is wound in a lower case 14,
A ribbon spool 18 around which the thermal ink ribbon 17 is wound, and an adhesive tape spool 20 around which a double-sided adhesive tape 19 with release paper is wound with the release paper side facing outward are arranged. These spools 16, 18, 20 is rotatably supported by cooperation with a support portion provided on the lower surface of the upper case (not shown).

A ribbon take-up spool 21 is also rotatably supported between the spools 16, 18 and 20, and the ribbon take-up spool 21 is meshed with the ribbon take-up shaft 9 described above. By driving the take-up shaft 9, the thermal ink ribbon 17 used for printing is taken up.

Further, the above-mentioned thermal head 11 is arranged in a recess 22 provided in the lower case 14, and a platen roller 24 rotatably supported by a roller holder 23 opposes the thermal head 11 at a position where it can be pressed. It is arranged. The thermal head 11 includes a large number of heating elements (the thermal head 1 of the tape printer 1 according to the present embodiment).
1 has 128 heating elements), and prints characters and the like on the film tape 15 via the thermal ink ribbon 17.

Further, the tape ejecting section 25 of the lower case 14
The tape pressure roller 26 is provided near (on the lower left side in FIGS. 1 and 2).
Is rotatably supported, and a tape feed roller 27 rotatably supported by the roller holder 23 is arranged opposite to the tape pressure contact roller 26 at a position where it can be pressure contacted.

In the cassette housing section 8, a roller holder 23 is rotatably supported by a support shaft 28 in front of the tape cassette 13 (lower side in FIGS. 1 and 2), and the roller holder 23 is not shown. It is possible to switch between the print position and the release position by a manual switching mechanism (FIGS. 1 and 2 both show a state in which the print position is switched to the print position).

In the roller holder 23, the platen roller 24 and the tape feed roller 27 are rotatable, and the thermal head 11 and the pressure contact roller 2 are rotated when the roller holder 23 is switched to the print position.
It is arranged so as to be in pressure contact with 6. The tape feed roller 27 is rotationally driven by the tape feed roller shaft 10 described above, and at the same time, the pressure contact roller 26 is rotationally driven in conjunction with the tape feed roller 27 by a gear mechanism (not shown).

Further, the pressure contact roller 26 and the tape feed roller 27 cooperate with each other to attach the adhesive agent of the double-sided adhesive tape 19 to the film tape 15 on which characters and the like are printed by the thermal head 11 via the thermal ink ribbon 17. The surfaces are pressure-bonded, the tape T is finally produced, and the tape T is sent in the direction of arrow J.

Next, the control system of the tape printer 1 thus constructed will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 shows a control block diagram of the tape printer 1, and the controller 3
It is configured with 0 as the nucleus. The controller 30 is the CPU 3
1, ROM 32, CGROM 33, and RAM 34, which are connected to each other via a bus 35 and also to an input / output interface 36.

The ROM 32 stores various programs. The tape printing control program, the character size setting processing program, the printing processing program, the character size discriminating processing program, and other control of the tape printer 1 are stored in the ROM 32. Various programs required for the above are stored. Then, the CPU 31 performs various calculations based on various programs stored in the ROM 32.

Further, the ROM 32 stores a table in which the tape widths of the various tapes described above and the character size data indicating the various character sizes are associated with each other, as shown in FIG. In the table shown in FIG. 4, the types of tape width are 24 mm, 18 mm, 12 as described above.
There are 5 types, mm, 9 mm, and 6 mm, and the maximum character size that can be printed on each tape indicates the number of points for each of the three character modes (big size, big size for decoration, and normal size) for each tape width. It is indicated by the character size code.

As will be described later, the big size is made up of only uppercase letters in which characters are not decorated with characters such as underlines in the block designated by the modified block key B, and the character size setting key is used. 5
Is a character mode selected when the automatic size is set by. In addition, the big size at the time of decoration is underline key 4 in the big size selection conditions.
A is the character mode selected when the frame key 4B is pressed and character modification is performed. Further, the normal size is a character mode selected when all the characters are not capital letters when the automatic size is set by the character size setting key 5.

Further, the CGROM 33 stores dot pattern data corresponding to each character input from the keyboard 6, and the dot pattern data is CGR.
It is read from the OM 33 and transferred to the expansion buffer 42 described later. Further, the RAM 34 is the CPU 31
This is for temporarily storing various calculation results calculated by the above. The RAM 34 is provided with various memories as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 4, the text memory 41 sequentially stores code data corresponding to characters input from the keyboard 6 as document data.
Further, the expansion buffer 42 corresponds to the character code data stored in the text memory 41 and corresponds to the CGROM.
The dot pattern data read from 33 is expanded and stored.

Further, the print buffer 43 transfers and stores the dot data stored in the expansion buffer 42 at the time of printing, and the thermal head 11 performs dot printing according to the dot data stored in the print buffer 43. It is a thing. Also, the character size memory 45
Stores the character size data relating to the character size set in the character size setting process described later.

Further, the set flag F44 is set to OFF when the characters in each block are all uppercase letters by the character size discrimination described later, and is set to ON otherwise. It is something.

Now, returning to FIG. 3 and continuing the description of the control block diagram, the keyboard 6 is controlled via the input / output interface 36, and the liquid crystal display 7 and the display controller 37 are controlled via the input / output interface 36, respectively. When a character is input from the keyboard 6 which is connected to the device 30, the character data described above is sequentially stored in the text memory 41, and the character data is sequentially stored in the text memory 41 via the keyboard 6 based on the dot pattern generation control program and the display control program. A dot pattern corresponding to the input character is displayed on the liquid crystal display 7.

The thermal head 11 has a drive circuit 38.
The dot data transferred from the expansion buffer 42 to the print buffer 43 is printed by the drive circuit 39, and in synchronization with this, the tape feed motor 40 controls the feeding of the tape T via the drive circuit 39. is there.

Next, the operation of the tape printer 1 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 12. FIG. 6 shows a flow chart of the print control program. First, in step (hereinafter abbreviated as S) 1, various memories are initialized such as clearing.
In S2, it is determined whether or not there is a key input from any of the keys on the keyboard 6. If there is a key input (S2: YES), the process proceeds to S3, while if there is no key input (S2: NO), the process waits until there is a key input.

In S3, it is determined whether or not the key input is the key input from the print key 3, and if it is the key input from the print key 3 (S3: YES), after the print processing described later is performed in S4. Return to S2. On the other hand, when it is determined that the key input is not the print key 3 (S3: N
In O) and S5, it is determined whether the key input is from the character size set key 5.

If the key input is from the character size set key 5 (S5: YES), a character size setting process, which will be described later, is performed in S6, and the process returns to S2. When it is determined that the key input is not the character size set key 5 (S5: NO), it is determined in S7 whether or not there is a key input from the document edit key such as the character input key 2.

If there is a key input from the document edit key (S7: YES), the document is edited in S8 and the created text (document) data is stored in the text memory 41. After this, the process returns to S2. Also, S
When it is determined that there is no key input from the document edit key in S7 (S7: NO), other processing corresponding to the input key is performed in S9. For example, when there is a key input from the break block key B, the block processing of the text data stored in the text memory 41 is performed.

Next, the character size setting process performed in S6 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the character size setting processing program. When the character size setting key 5 is pressed, the liquid crystal display 7 is brought to the character size setting screen shown in FIG. 8 in S10. In the character size setting screen of FIG. 8, there are six fixed sizes as the character size (there are 1st to 6th character sizes, the number on the left side indicates the size number, and the number on the right side indicates the point number of the character). And Auto size (7th character size) are displayed.
Each character size is selected by the numeric key N on the keyboard 6.

In the next step S11, it is determined whether or not there is a key input from any of the keys. If there is a key input (S11: YES), the process proceeds to S12, and if there is no key input (S11: NO). ) Waits for key input.

In S12, it is determined whether or not there is a key input from the numeric keys 1 to 7 corresponding to the type of the character size. When there is a key input from the number key N (S12: YES), the character size data indicating the character size corresponding to the pressed number key N is stored in the character size memory 45 and the process is returned. On the other hand, when there is a key input from a key other than the number keys 1 to 7 (S12: NO), after a buzzer (not shown) sounds to notify that an invalid key has been pressed. , S11 to wait for key input.

Next, the printing process performed in S4 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 shows a flow chart of the print processing program. In S20, the tape width detector K detects the tape width of each tape. Here, it is detected which of the five tape widths the tape width of the tape contained in the tape cassette 13 mounted in the tape storage portion 8 corresponds to, as described above.

Subsequently, in S21, the text memory 4
It is determined whether or not there is text data in 1 and if there is text data (S21: YES), the process proceeds to S22, whereas if there is no text data (S21:
If NO), error processing is performed by, for example, sounding a buzzer in S34, and then the process returns to the print control program shown in FIG.

Here, it is assumed that the text memory 41 is prepared with text composed of text data (character data) as schematically shown in FIG. In FIG. 11, the text data is composed of two block data of “ABCD” and “ABCDg”, and is divided by the modified block mark (code) M input from the modified block key B.

Next, in S22, it is determined whether the character size data stored in the character size memory 45 indicates automatic size. If it is not the character size data indicating the automatic size, that is, if it is the character size data indicating any fixed size (S22: N
O), it is subsequently determined in S33 whether or not the character relating to the fixed size falls within the tape width detected in S20. When the tape width is reached (S33: YE
If S does not fit within the tape width (S28)
33: NO), after performing error processing in S34,
The process returns to the print control program shown in FIG.

On the other hand, when it is determined in S22 that the character size data indicates the automatic size (S2
2: YES), the character size is determined in S23 (here, since the character mode such as big size is selected when the character in the block is only uppercase, the character in the block is uppercase). Whether or not the capital letter is determined) is performed.

The character size discrimination processing of the capital letter discrimination will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 is a flowchart of the character size determination processing program. In S40, the set flag F is turned off and a text pointer (not shown) is set at the first position (top position) of the text data.

Subsequently, in S41, it is determined whether or not there is a modified block code (mark) M in the text data. When there is no modified block code M (S41: N
O) and S42, it is determined whether or not the character code in the text data is uppercase, and as long as the character code is uppercase (S42: YES), S41 and S42 are repeated until the modified block code M is detected.
That is, it is determined by S41 and S42 whether all the character codes in the block are capital letters.

On the other hand, when a code that is not uppercase is detected in the character codes in the block (S42: N
O), the set flag F, which was set to OFF in S40 in S43, is set to ON and then the process returns to S41. S
In 41, when the modified block code M is detected (S41: YES), the character size determination process is terminated,
The process returns to the print processing program shown in FIG.

Now, returning to FIG. 9 again and continuing the explanation,
After the character size determination process, in S24, it is determined whether the set flag F is set to ON, that is, all the character codes in the block are capital letters.

When it is determined that all the character codes in the block are uppercase by detecting the OFF of the set flag F (S24: NO), the process proceeds to S25,
In S25, it is determined whether or not the character code is modified. When there is character modification (S25:
YES), after the decoration big size is selected from the table stored in the ROM 32 in S26, and the character size data indicating the decoration big size corresponding to the tape width detected in S20 is stored in the character size memory 45. The process moves to S28. On the other hand, if the characters are not modified (S25: NO), the big size is selected from the table of the ROM 32 in S27, and S
After the character size data indicating the big size corresponding to the tape width detected in 20 is stored in the character size memory 45, the process proceeds to S28.

On the other hand, if it is determined in S24 that the set flag F is ON (S24: YES), the normal size is selected from the table of the ROM 32 in S31 and corresponds to the tape width detected in S20. After the character size data indicating the normal size is stored in the character size memory 45, the process proceeds to S28.

In S28, the above-described judgment is made, and the dot pattern data corresponding to the data of the block delimited by the block code M is CGROM33.
The dot pattern data read out from the image data is expanded based on the character size data stored in the character size memory 45 and expanded in the expansion buffer 42.

Subsequently, in S29, it is determined whether or not the next text data exists in the text memory 41, and if the text data exists (S29: YES), the text data related to the next block is determined again. If the next text data does not exist (S29: NO), the data in the expansion buffer 42 is transferred to the print buffer 43, and the data in the print buffer 43 is transferred via the thermal head 11 to perform the processing. It is printed.

An example in which each character is printed in this way is shown in FIG. In FIG. 12, the character "ABCD" in the first half block is printed based on the big size, and the character "ABCDg" in the second half block is printed based on the normal size.

As described in detail above, in the tape printer according to the present embodiment, when the automatic size is selected by the character size set key 5, each block of the text data divided via the break block key B is divided. It is determined whether or not all the character data are in upper case. If all the character data are in upper case, the ROM 32
Table, the big size character mode is selected, and when the character code has character decoration, the decoration big size character mode is selected from the table of the ROM 32. Furthermore, when all the character codes are not capital letters, the ROM 32 The normal size character mode is selected from the table, and the character is printed with the maximum character size according to the tape width for each block, so select the maximum character size that can be printed for each block. Can print.

As a result, the character size is not determined only by the tape width of the tape used as in the conventional tape printer, and therefore, a character with a very good appearance can be printed for each block of the text. This can be done, and it is possible to prevent the uppercase character from being printed in a small size as a whole. still,
The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and it goes without saying that various improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0059]

As described above, according to the present invention, the character input in the text is divided into a plurality of blocks and the tape can be printed in consideration of the tape width of the tape used for each block. By automatically determining the maximum character size, it is possible to provide a tape printer capable of printing with a maximum character size common to each character block,
The effect produced by the industry is great.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a tape printer showing a storage cover of a tape cassette storage unit opened.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a state where a tape cassette is stored in a cassette storage portion.

FIG. 3 is a control block diagram of the tape printer.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing the contents of a table stored in a ROM.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing the contents of RAM.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a tape print control program.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a character size setting processing program.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing types of character sizes displayed on a liquid crystal display.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a print processing program.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a character size determination processing program.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing, for each block, the content of the text stored in the text memory.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a text printing example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 tape printer 2 character input key 3 print key 4 character modifier key 4A underline key 4B frame key 5 character size set key 6 keyboard 11 thermal head 30 controller 31 CPU 32 ROM 33 CGROM 34 RAM 41 text memory 42 development buffer 43 Print buffer 44 Set flag F B Break block key K Tape width detector N Numeric key

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A character input means for inputting characters such as characters and symbols, a text memory for storing code data corresponding to the character input from the character input means, and code data stored in the text memory. A plurality of blocks, block setting means for inputting a block mark for each block, block detecting means for detecting the block mark input by the block setting means, and tapes having a plurality of tape widths Storage means for storing the tape width of each of the plurality of character sizes in association with each other, a tape width detection means for detecting the tape width of each tape, a detection result of the tape width detection means, and a storage of the storage means. Based on the content and the type of code data in the block, An automatic size setting means for automatically setting the maximum character size that can be printed on the tape from the character size for each block, and a printing control means for printing the characters stored in the text memory on each tape by the printing means. The print control means performs print control of the print means for each block based on the character size set by the automatic size setting means when the detection means detects a block mark. Tape printer.