JPH058491A - Print format setting device for printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a device capable of changing a printing format in a print column of a label easily in a printer which prints print columns such as for commodity name on the label. CONSTITUTION:A printing sequence table 28 consisting of print blocks 28a to 28e whose printing sequence is fixed is provided in the memory area of RAM. At the same time, an index number is given to each print column and the index number is selectively written in the format columns 29 of the print blocks 28a to 28e. Thus a printing format is established.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print format setting device in a label printer which is used in conjunction with a measuring instrument or the like and which prints and issues the price of a product weighed by the measuring instrument on a label.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, in this type of label printer, a label sheet in which a large number of labels are adhered to a strip-shaped mount is loaded inside, and printing is performed corresponding to the feeding path of the label sheet. Means are provided for printing and issuing various product information such as product name, weight and price of the product on the label when the label sheet is fed. In that case, the above information will be printed on the label divided into columns by type. For example, if the product is a food product, this field is divided into print fields such as the product name field, bar code field, additive display field, store name and address display field, and data field for displaying prices, etc. It

However, in the conventional label printer, only one type of print format of the print column such as the product name column is stored in the memory, and the print order for the label is constant. For example, until then, the label is printed at the top of the label. Setting the print format by changing the layout, such as moving the product name field to the center part and printing it, requires a lot of effort of changing the software program of the label printer control circuit, and in reality the user side It was impossible to change the format.

Therefore, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-197272, various printing format data are stored in a printing format table together with a unique identification code, and an arbitrary printing format is selected by inputting the above identification code. Is disclosed.

Further, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 1-146776, various printing items such as product name, product number, and price are set in advance, a label size is entered on the screen of the display unit to display a frame, and The various print items that have been set are sequentially read out and displayed at a predetermined position within the frame, and the displayed print item is moved to the desired position within the frame to set the print format, and the label based on the print format is set. A technique for printing is disclosed.

[0006]

By the way, according to the techniques of both of the above publications, it is possible to create a desired print format by the screen operation. In the former publication technique, a very large variety of print formats are printed. It must be stored in the format table in advance,
Since the techniques of both publications create a print format by screen editing, it requires complicated work, and the software of the control circuit of the label printer that backs up these screen edits is complicated, and the label printer Has the inconvenience of pushing up more expensive than necessary.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a print format setting device for a printer, which can change the print format by operating a screen and can keep the price low.

[0008]

That is, a print format setting device for a printer of the present invention is a printer for printing and issuing print information on a label according to a print format stored in a memory. A table for registering the arrangement order of
The print information is coded according to type, and the means for setting the arrangement order of the print information by inputting the code into the table is provided.

[0009]

As described above, a table for registering the arrangement order of print information in the memory is provided, the print information to be printed is coded by type, and the print format is set by selectively writing this code in the table. Therefore, the print format can be changed by the arrangement of writing in the table of the above code.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an electronic scale 1 in which a label printer is integrally incorporated, in which a weighing pan 3 is provided on a main body 2,
When a product is placed on the weighing pan 3, the weight is weighed by the weighing unit 4 (see FIG. 3) built in the main body 2, and the printing means 5 (see FIG. 3) described below is driven based on the weight. The label is printed so that the price or the like commensurate with the product weight is printed. In addition, this electronic scale 1
Is provided with a key input unit 6 having a large number of key tops and a display unit 7 for displaying data.

The printing means 5 is, in the present embodiment,
As shown in FIG. 2, it is composed of a label cassette 8 which is inserted into and removed from the main body 2 of the electronic scale 1. The label cassette 8 includes a roll support portion 10 to which a roll 9a of a label sheet 9 formed by releasably attaching a large number of labels X to X on a strip-shaped mount Y is attached, and from the roll support portion 10. A guide plate 11 that horizontally guides the pulled-out label sheet 9, and a sheet pressing mechanism 1 that presses the sheet 9 from above on the rear side of the guide plate 11.
2, a first guide roller 13 for guiding and guiding the label sheet 9 that has passed through the pressing mechanism 12 on the front side of the guide plate 11, and a printing unit 14 provided immediately after the first guide roller 13 has passed. 2, a platen roller 16 against which the print head 15 on the main body side is pressed with the label sheet 9 sandwiched therebetween, and a peeling bar 17 arranged in front of the platen roller 16 for peeling the label X from the mount Y. The label issuing port 18 for sending the peeled label X out of the main body, and the mount X having passed through the peeling bar 17 are turned at a substantially right angle to guide the guide downward.
The guide roller 19 and a mount take-up unit 20 for winding the mount Y are provided. The mount take-up unit 20
Is driven by a motor (not shown) on the main body side.

FIG. 3 shows a control circuit of the electronic scale 1, which is provided with a control unit 21 for controlling the entire operation. The control unit 21 includes various CPUs 22, a ROM 23 in which operation programs and the like are stored in advance, a rewritable RAM 24 for storing calculation results and other various data, a battery-backed reference clock 25, and various signals. And an output interface 27 for controlling output. Then, the weighing signal from the weighing unit 4 and the key input signal from the key input unit 6 are input to the input interface 26, and the display signal is output to the display unit 7 and the printing signal is output to the printing unit 5 from the output interface 27. Are respectively output.

The RAM 24 is backed up by a battery, and a database of a print format library that defines the size and print position of the data to be printed on the label X, a product master that sets various product information for each product, etc. as a database. A printing order table, which will be described later, is provided in the memory area of the library.

In addition to the store name and address of the manufacturer or seller, the product name, product data, unit price, etc. of the product are fixed in the memory area for each block assigned to the calling number of each product. In addition to the single item data, the additive, and if necessary, the effective number of days, a time flag, a guide character for instructing these items, and other various data are registered.

Next, the operation in the pricing operation will be described. When the power is turned on, the CPU 22 in the control unit 21 performs a predetermined initialization process in accordance with the startup program written in the ROM 23, and a predetermined work area is stored in the RAM 24. After forming,
Wait for key input from the key input unit 6. Next, the operator inputs a character string indicating the calling number of the product to be weighed from the key input unit 6 and then puts the product on the weighing pan. Along with this, the weight of the product is weighed in the weighing unit 4, the measured value is input to the CPU 22, and the CPU 22 calculates the price from the unit price corresponding to the type of the product based on the measured value and operates the printing means 5. Let That is, in the label cassette 8, the mount take-up roll 20 rotates to pull out the label sheet 9 from the roll 9a, and for the label X passing through the printing unit 14 by the pulling out, the print head 15 determines a predetermined price or the like. Is printed. Then, the label X after printing is sequentially peeled off from the leading end portion (corresponding to the lower end of the label X in this embodiment) from the mount Y fed downward through the peeling rod 17, and finally the trailing end portion (similarly). The sheet (corresponding to the upper end of the label X) is partially attached to the mount Y and then stopped.

Then, the operator mounts the label X in the half-peeled state, the tip of which comes out from the label issuing port 18, on the mount Y.
The price is completed by peeling the label X from the product and attaching the label X to the product placed on the weighing pan 3. Then, such an operation is repeated every time the product is placed on the weighing pan 3 and weighed. When changing the type of product, the type of product is specified by the key input unit 6,
The price is calculated based on the unit price and the measured value of the product, and the similar pricing work is performed.

By the way, in the case of food, the information printed on the label X is a product name column (the address number B described later, which describes the product name of the product, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.
, A data column 1 for printing prices, etc. (also a column corresponding to A of the address number), an additive column indicating additives added to the product (also a column corresponding to C of the address number) ), A data field 2 for printing a barcode (also a field corresponding to the address number D), and a printing field such as a store name / address field (also a field corresponding to the address number E). It is laid out in a predetermined print format. .. In that case, depending on the type of product, for example, when the layout fixed in the format of FIG. 7 is desired to be changed from the state of FIG. 7 to the additive column and the data column 2 as shown in FIG. There is. Therefore, in the present invention, the following control can be performed.

That is, in the control circuit of FIG.
The print order table 28 is set in the memory area of the M24 print format, and the print order table 28 is provided with five print blocks 28a to 28e. Then, the print blocks 28a to 28e are provided with No1 to No5.
In order to print, the product information that has been added to these print blocks 28a to 28e is printed by printing No1 on the label X and heading to the bottom of the label in order. Has been done. However, when the actual printing operation is performed from the bottom to the top of the label X, the printing order table 28
When the print head 15 prints while searching for No. 5 from the print block No. 5 and prints from the top to the bottom of the label X, the print order table 28 is searched for No.
Made from. In addition, at the time of print output, each print block 28
The data of a to 28e are collectively read out for each block and expanded in the image area.
In synchronization with the feeding operation of the label sheet 9 in (1), each dot line is output to the print head 15.

On the other hand, an index number is attached to each of the printing columns such as the product name column, and the index number can be selectively written in the format setting column 29 of the printing order table 28. ing. For example, in the case of this example, the index number A is the data column 1, B is the product name column, C is the additive column,
D is a data column 2 and E is a store name / address column, and the print format is obtained by selectively setting and entering these index numbers in the format setting columns 29 of the respective address numbers 1 to 5 of the print table 28. It is possible to change.

That is, the display unit 7 shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.
When the screen is set to the print format setting menu, the index numbers A to E and the print fields are displayed in correspondence with each other in a predetermined space such as the lower right of the screen, and the cursor 30 appears. Therefore, when an index number is entered according to the desired print format, that number (B in this case) appears on the screen, and the print column of the index number B in the format setting column 29 of No. 1 of the print order table 28 described above. Is written. On the other hand, since the cursor 30 moves laterally (or moves downward) by the writing, the next index number is entered. By repeating this, each print field is written in the format setting field 29 to create a print format. For example, in FIG.
In case of the label, the printing order is the address number No1 =
B, No2 = A, No3 = D, No4 = C, No5 = E
8 to create a print format, and in the case of the label of FIG. 8, NO1 = B, No2 = A, No3 =
A print format is created by typing so that C, No4 = D, No5 = E.

Now that the print format has been created, the detailed setting screen shown in FIG. 6 is displayed by switching the menu, and the number of steps in the product name column and additive column is set and the size of the label X to be used is input. Also, enter the barcode length (actually, the barcode length setting is entered by the number of dots). Then, after these settings, the information content is set for each print field, and the creation of the print format or print information is completed.

The printing operation of the print information thus created will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. The flow chart is for printing from the bottom to the top of the label.

In response to the print command, the search is started from the print block 28e at the bottom of the print order table 28 shown in FIG. 4 (steps S1 and S2).

Next, it is judged whether or not the index number is written in the print block 28e having the address number 5, and if not, the process proceeds to the search for the next print block in step S6. The print information of the block 28e is read from the print format library and printed on the label X (steps S3, S).
4). When printing is performed with the set number of steps, the next print block 28d in the print order table 28 is searched, the index number written in the block 28d is read, and the same operation is performed in step S3. From step S6 to step S6 (step S
5, S6). However, even if there is a print block in which the index number is written, the above steps are not repeated for a print column in which no print information is written, and the next print column is moved to. When the printing of the printing information registered in the printing order table 28 up to the printing block 28a is completed in this way, the label sheet 9 is fed, and the printed label X becomes the label issuing port as described in FIG. While being sent to 18, the next new label X is conveyed to a position corresponding to the print head 15 (steps S2 and S).
7).

As described above, a plurality of print blocks 28a to 28e whose print order is fixed are set in the print order table 28, and these print blocks 28 are displayed on the screen of the display unit 7.
Select the print column index numbers in a to 28e and apply the item column, data column 1 and 2, additive column, address column to set the print order of the print columns and create the print format. Therefore, the print format can be easily created, and the print format can be easily changed. Moreover, since the above print format is created by rewriting the index number in the print order table 28 of the RAM 24, the control circuit required for this does not require complicated software technology.

In the above embodiment, the printing order of each printing column is changed, but the data of one printing column, for example, the information such as the weight, unit price and price of the data column is also coded by the same method. It is also possible to change the order of these arrangements by a similar method.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention, a table for registering the arrangement order of print information in the memory is provided, the print information to be printed is coded by type, and this code is selectively written in the table. Since the print format is set, the print format can be changed only by writing the above code table, and even if the print order in the above table is fixed,
The print format can be changed by selective writing in the arrangement order. Therefore, the print format can be changed and set by a simple operation, and in the printer, the printing order of the table can be fixed, and unnecessary sophistication of software can be prevented, and the control circuit configuration can be prevented. By simplifying the above, it is possible to suppress the cost increase of the printer.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of an electronic scale to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an example of a printing structure of the electronic scale.

FIG. 3 is a control circuit diagram of the electronic scale.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of a print order Dell of a memory.

FIG. 5 is a display screen when setting a print format.

FIG. 6 is a detailed setting screen.

FIG. 7 is a label printing surface showing an example of a printing format.

FIG. 8 is a label printing surface showing another example of the printing format.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a printing operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electronic scale 5 Printing means 6 Key input part 7 Display part 21 Control unit 24 RAM 28 Printing order table 28a-28e Printing block

Claims (1)

Claim: What is claimed is: 1. A printer for printing print information on a label according to a print format stored in a memory and issuing the print information, is provided with a table for registering the arrangement order of the print information in the memory, A print format setting apparatus for a printer, characterized in that the print information is coded according to type and a means for setting the arrangement order of the print information by inputting the code into the table is provided.