JPH0615985B2 - Label printing device for electronic scales - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an electronic scale capable of measuring the weight of a product and printing necessary items such as a product name, weight and price on a label.

(Prior Art) The weight of a product is detected by a weight detection unit such as a load cell,
This measured value is converted into a digital value by an A / D converter and sent to an arithmetic and control unit composed of a microcomputer,
By operating the numeric keypad, the arithmetic and control unit executes predetermined arithmetic processing to display the price, weight, etc., and an electronic scale that prints necessary information such as the product name, weight, price, etc. on a label has been put into practical use. There is.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of such an electronic scale, in which the weight value of the product detected by the weight detection unit 1 composed of a load cell or the like is converted into a digital value by the A / D converter 2,
It is input to the arithmetic and control unit 4 configured by a microcomputer or the like.

By operating the key input unit 9 provided with a numeric keypad and a function key, necessary data is read out from the storage unit 3 including a RAM, a ROM, etc. to the arithmetic and control unit 4,
The price is calculated from the read unit price of the article and the detected weight value, and the price, weight, and unit price are displayed on the respective display units 5 to 7. Further, the unit price, the product name, etc. are converted into a character pattern and stored in an area of the corresponding print memory, and necessary items are dot-printed on the label by a thermal printer or the like according to the pattern of the print area.

As shown in Fig. 2 (b), the label has a blank space in the product name (hereinafter referred to as "product name"). Or There is also a case where a specific character or a pattern of a figure (hereinafter abbreviated as POP) is printed.

(Problems of the prior art) When printing necessary items on the label of such an electronic scale,
If the product name consists of long words, if there are two lines in the product name print field, the product name will be printed as it is on two lines. [Fig. 2 (b)]
Example] For a short product name that can be printed in one line,
Leave the line blank or change the dot print pattern and shift the print position between the first and second lines to 1
Product name dots for lines were printed. For this reason, when a short product name is printed, a blank part appears in the product name printing field, and it has not been effectively used.

Also, with the product name on the label, When printing a POP such as the above, a thermal printer such as an advertisement product or a special sale product is set in a label printer and printed. Therefore, when changing the print content, it is necessary to replace the engraving, which is a troublesome operation.

(Object of the invention) An object of the present invention is to provide a specific message such as "90th Anniversary for Thanks" or "Tomorrow's Store" when the product name is printed on only one line when the label is printed on the electronic scale. To make effective use of the label print column by printing a message such as "making" in the remaining line space.

Further, when printing a POP, a pattern of advertisements, bargains, etc. is stored in a memory in advance, and the pattern is read out and printed on a label, thereby performing a complicated operation for exchanging the engraving and storage management of the engraving. Is unnecessary.

(Summary of the Invention) In order to achieve the object of the invention described above, the present invention provides a weight detection unit that detects the weight of a product, a memory that stores various data for each product, and a key including a numeric keypad, a function key, and the like. An input control unit, an arithmetic control unit that reads out data relating to products from a memory by an operation signal from the key input unit to calculate a price, and necessary items such as a product name and a price according to signals from the arithmetic control unit. A printer for printing labels is provided, and the product name printing field of the label is formed for two lines. When the product name is printed within the range of one line, a message is printed on the other line and the key input is performed. A means for selecting and reading a pattern of specific characters, marks, etc. from the memory according to the product by operating the ten-key pad on the part and printing it on a part of the label printing field, and a message once selected. Data storing and holding means for holding the page print data until the next message print data is selected, and means for rewriting the pattern (POP pattern) data such as a specific character or mark each time the data of the product is called. A label printing apparatus in an electronic scale, comprising:

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 3 to 7 are examples of data stored in the storage unit 3 of the electronic scale.

FIG. 3 shows a product data memory using a RAM or a ROM. The product code, product name character code, and
Items such as unit price and tare are stored. In the product name character code, one character is replaced with a four-digit number, and when the product name covers two lines as shown in FIG. 2B, a line feed code 999 is inserted in the middle. The product name is 1 as shown in Fig. 2 (a).
When there are only lines, 0 is associated after the code corresponding to the last character of the product name.

In FIG. 4, a RAM is used as a message memory, and a message in which one character is replaced with a four-digit number is stored in correspondence with the message number of 1 to 8.

FIG. 5 shows a character pattern memory composed of a ROM,
Character codes and character patterns are stored in correspondence with the characters. The character pattern is composed of 16 × 16 = 256 dots for each character.

FIG. 6 shows a POP pattern memory, which is composed of a ROM and stores 1 to 6 types of POPs corresponding to respective numbers. The POP pattern is composed of 16 × 56 = 896 dots.

In FIG. 7, the print memory is composed of a RAM, and the area for printing the product name includes two lines, and each line includes 16 and 256 = 4096 dots A and B regions.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a procedure for calling and printing a message and POP.

(1) Steps 100 and 101 Depending on the product to be weighed, turn on the calling number with the numeric keypad,
Then, the function key call key is turned on. The arithmetic and control unit 4 stores in the storage unit 3 the unit price corresponding to the calling number,
Read product data such as product code.

(2) Step 102 The read product data such as a unit price and a light code is converted into a character pattern and stored in an area of the corresponding print memory (see FIGS. 5 and 7).

(3) Step 103 It is judged whether or not there is a line feed code "999" (Fig. 3) in the product name character code, and if there is, a step 11
0, and if none, go to step 104.

(4) Steps 104 and 105 If there is no line feed code in the product name character code, the product name character code for one line is converted into a character pattern. Subsequently, only one message number selected and stored in advance is checked. If the message number is 0 and the message is not printed, the process proceeds to step 109 and the message numbers 1 to 8
In the case of (FIG. 4), the process proceeds to step 106 to print a message.

(5) Steps 106 to 108 The character spacing (central shift) of the character pattern of the product name is adjusted and stored in the area A of the print memory. Subsequently, the message character code corresponding to the message number is read out, the message character code is converted into a character pattern, the character spacing (center transfer) of the character pattern, etc. is adjusted and stored in area B of the print memory.

(6) Steps 110 and 111 If there is a line feed code in the product name character code, the product name character code for two lines is exchanged for a character pattern, and the character spacing of the character pattern of the product name (adjust the central division etc., It is stored in areas A and B of the print memory.

(7) Step 109 If the message is not printed, in order to print the product name between the first line print field and the second line print field, the character pattern of the product name should be set such as the character spacing, print line position, etc. It is adjusted and stored in areas A and B of the print memory.

In steps 106, 108, 109, and 111, new character patterns are stored in the print memory area, so that even if the POP pattern is stored before,
The POP pattern disappears.

(8) Steps 112 to 115 To print the POP, turn on the POP number with the ten keys, and then turn on the * key. Next, the POP pattern corresponding to the turned-on POP number is read out from the POP pattern memory as shown in FIG. 6, the character pattern in the product name printing area of the print memory is closed to the left, and the POP pattern is placed to the right of the product name printing area. Remember. As a result, POP is printed on the right side of the product name printing field of the printed label [Fig. 2 (b)].

(9) Steps 116 to 120 When the weight measurement data of the product is input, the arithmetic and control unit 4
Calculates the price by calculating the unit price read from the storage unit 3,
Exchange weight and price for letter patterns. Next, the character pattern character spacing and the like are adjusted and stored in the corresponding area of the print memory. Finally, the printer 8 prints a label according to the pattern stored in the print memory.

Thereafter, the steps 116 to 120 are repeated for the same product.

When the product name is printed on one line and the message is printed on the other lines, the POP can also be printed together as shown in FIG. 2 (c).

Furthermore, the product name can be printed within the range of one line, but
Even if the character pattern of the product name stored in the print memory for printing is packed to the left, POP will appear on the right side of the product name printing field on the label.
If a space for printing the product is not available, the product name and the POP can be printed in two lines as shown in FIG. 2 (d).

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the procedure of message selection.

In step 200, turn on 9000 with the numeric keypad,
The registration mode is set by turning on the key. Then, in step 201, the 6 key is turned on by the ten keys, the * key is turned on, and the message selection registration mode is set. Next, in step 202, the message is turned on with the number key of only one and the * key is turned on. When the message number is 0, no message is printed, 1 is, for example, "Thank you 9
0th anniversary ", ..., 8 correspond to" Today is a special sale day ". In step 203, the message number turned on with the ten keys is stored in the RAM of the storage unit 3.

Next, the difference between when the message print and the POP print are selected will be described. The message is a phrase common to each product, for example, once in the registration mode before the start of work in the morning, and the message number is selected. Once selected, the same message is printed regardless of the calling number, that is, regardless of the product, until the next selection is made.

On the other hand, since the POP is a word, mark, or the like for a specific product, the pattern is selected each time the calling number is input, that is, the POP number is input for each product. Input P
The OP number is valid only while the product with the calling number is being processed, and when the next expected number is entered, the POP number
If the number is not entered, POP printing will not be performed.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, in the electronic scale of the present invention, when a label is printed, a message is printed in the product name print field when the product name is short, so the label pace is effectively used. it can. Further, when performing POP printing, since the POP pattern is stored in advance and is read and printed, it is possible to obtain a practical effect such as an operation of replacing the thermal marking becomes unnecessary. Further, the present invention comprises a data storage holding means for holding the message print data once selected until the next message print data is selected, and a means for rewriting the POP pattern data each time the data of the product is called. Therefore, handling of message print data and pattern (POP pattern) data of specific characters, marks, etc. is simplified.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an electronic scale, FIG. 2 (a),
(B), (c), and (d) are diagrams showing an example of a printed label, FIGS. 3 to 7 are diagrams showing an example of data stored in a storage unit, and FIG. 8 is a book. Message according to the invention,
FIG. 9 shows a flow chart for printing a POP, and FIG. 9 shows a flow chart for message selection according to the present invention. 1 ... weight detection unit, 2 ... A / D converter 3 ... storage unit, 4 ... arithmetic control unit 5 ... price display unit, 6 ... weight display unit 7 ... unit price display unit, 8 ... Printer 9: Key input section

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A weight detection unit for detecting the weight of a product, a memory for storing various data for each product, a key input unit including a numeric keypad, a function key, and the like, and a product based on an operation signal from the key input unit. An arithmetic and control unit that reads out the data related to the price from the memory and calculates the price, and a printer that prints a necessary item such as a product name and price according to a signal from the arithmetic and control unit is provided. Two lines are formed, and when the product name is printed within the range of one line, a message is printed on the other one line, and a specific character according to the product is operated by operating the ten keys of the key input unit. Means for selecting and reading patterns such as marks from the memory and printing them in a part of the label print field, and selecting the message print data once selected as the next message print data Certain characters, a label printing apparatus in an electronic scale, characterized by comprising means for rewriting the pattern data of such marks, the storage holding means of the data to be held, each time the data calls of the product until.