JPH0594555A - Bar code printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it unnecessary to design or register several tens or several hundreds of character patterns, to easily print out a bar code and to improve reading accuracy by controlling each dot at the time of printing out a bar. CONSTITUTION:The code data of a bar code are converted into image data by an image data forming part 4. In this case, the number of dots for the width of the bar code is plotted on the X coordinate and the number of dots for its width is plotted on the Y coordinate. In the case of expressing one of right side characters in a JAN(Japan Article Number) code when one module is expressed by 3 dots at the time of printing out the JAN code, X coordinates 0 to 3, 3 to 6, 13 to 15, 15 to 18 are printed out as black bars. The number of dots corresponding to the length of the bar code is set up as the Y coordinate. The information of the found X and Y coordinates is sent to a printer 5 as image data. Thereby it is unnecessary to consider correlation between the number of dots in one character on the printer and a bar code standard.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bar code printing system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when printing a bar code, a bar code pattern is registered in advance as characters, and one bar code is printed by combining these character patterns.

For example, referring to FIG. 3, JAN (Ja
1 in the Pan ArticleNumber) code
7 bars of white or black bars (which are referred to as 1 module) having a standard bar width of 0.33 mm (2.0 to 0.8 times possible) are arranged to represent one character. Here, assuming that the width of one character of the printer is 21 dots, by setting it to 3 dots per module,
One character of the JAN code can be printed in characters. When representing the character "1" on the right side of the JAN code, the hatched portion in FIG. 3 can be represented by a black bar. Therefore, in this case, by registering 10 kinds of characters "0" to "9" in the dot pattern as a character, the JAN can be combined with these characters.
I was printing the code on a printer.

[0004]

In this conventional method of registering a character pattern, several tens to several hundreds of character patterns are designed according to the number of dots per character of the printer and the width of the bar. It is necessary to register a number of character patterns.

Further, since the number of dots and the size of one character of the printer are fixed values, it is difficult to obtain the ratio of the width of the bar that conforms to the bar code standard, and the reading accuracy becomes low. There is a problem that the size of the barcode itself cannot be changed freely.

[0006]

A bar code printing system of the present invention comprises an image data creating section for inputting bar code data and creating a dot image of the bar code, and a printer for drawing the dot image.

Further, the barcode printing method of the present invention is configured to print by enlarging or reducing the dot image of the barcode.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the barcode printing method of the present invention comprises an information medium 1 in which code data of a barcode to be printed is stored, an information medium 2 in which image data to be printed is stored, and a bar. It has an image data creation unit 4 for inputting code data of a code and creating image data of a barcode, and a printer 5 for printing the image data on the barcode form 3.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of generating a bar code.

First, in performing bar code printing, the code data of the bar code is converted into image data by the image data creating section 4. Here, the number of dots of the width of the barcode is taken as the X coordinate, and the number of dots of the length is Y.
Take the coordinates.

When printing a JAN code, assuming that one module has 3 dots, when the right side character of the JAN code is "1", the X coordinate is 0 to 3, 3 to 6, 12 to.
The positions of 15 and 15 to 18 are printed as black bars. The Y coordinate is the number of dots corresponding to the length of the barcode. The X and Y coordinate information thus obtained is sent to the printer as image data.

The image data drawing printer 5 prints the dot image data created as described above.

Further, since there is no need to consider the correlation between the number of dots of one character of the printer and the bar code standard, various types of bar code printing can be performed with a good reading accuracy and free size.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, in printing a bar code, dot units are controlled to print the bar, thereby designing or registering dozens to hundreds of character patterns as in the conventional case. There is no need to do it.

Further, since there is no need to consider the correlation between the number of dots of one character of the printer and the standard of the bar code, it is possible to eliminate the difficulty of printing the bar code, and various sizes can be read with good accuracy. This has the effect of being able to handle various types of barcode printing.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of generating a barcode.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 Image data creation section 5 Printer

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A bar code printing method comprising: an image data creating unit for inputting bar code data to create a dot image of the bar code; and a printer for drawing the dot image. 2. The bar code printing method according to claim 1, wherein the dot image of the bar code is printed by enlarging or reducing it.