JPH06227052A - Tape printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a tape printer capable of identifying a layout of a document to be printed on a tape and a tape length prior to printing and easily identifying a present cursor position in a document under edition even if it is larger than a display screen. CONSTITUTION:A layout of a printing result and a tape length can be easily identified prior to printing by a tape printer comprising an input means 1 for inputting characters and symbols; an edition means 2 for editing the inputted characters and symbols; a memory means 3 for storing the inputted and edited document; a display means 4 for displaying the document stored in the memory means 3; and a printing means 5 for printing the document on a tape.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tape printer for inputting, displaying, editing and printing a document, and more particularly to an image display function for reducing and displaying the entire printed document.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional tape printer, it is not possible to confirm the layout of a document to be printed before printing or to easily know the tape length of the document to be printed.

[0003]

The conventional tape printer has the following drawbacks.

(1) Unless actually printed, the layout of characters and the tape length are unknown. (2) It is difficult to understand which part of the entire document is displayed, such as when the document being edited is too long to fit on the display screen. .

The present invention has been made to solve such a drawback, and an object thereof is to confirm the layout of a document printed on a tape and the tape length before printing. The document being edited is long,
An object of the present invention is to provide a tape printer capable of easily confirming which part of the entire document is displayed, such as when the display screen cannot be fully displayed.

[0006]

In order to solve the above problems, a tape printer of the present invention has a means for inputting, displaying, and editing a document, and a tape printer having means for printing the document on a tape, It is characterized by having a function of displaying an image of a document to be printed.

In the image display function, the cursor position during image display is indicated by blinking, and in the image display function, the document being edited and its image display are displayed on the same screen. It is characterized by

Further, the tape printer is characterized by displaying the tape length when the document being edited is printed.

[0009]

According to the above configuration of the present invention, the image of the print result can be confirmed before printing without actually printing the tape and observing the print result.

Further, the tape length of the document to be printed can be easily confirmed.

[0011]

1 is a schematic view of the structure of a tape printer showing an embodiment of the present invention.

Reference numeral 1 is an input means such as a keyboard for inputting characters and symbols. 2 is an editing means,
It is for editing the character string input from the input means 1. 3 is a random access memory (hereinafter referred to as RAM
Is used to store the input / edited document.

Reference numeral 4 is a display means such as a liquid crystal for displaying the document stored in the storage means 3, and 6 is a printing means for printing the document on a tape.

2 (a) and 2 (b) are explanatory views of the display means 4 in FIG. 1, and "6" is a print / edit input from the input means 1. A target document 7 is a display means such as a liquid crystal for displaying the document 6 and can display a maximum of 8 characters in the horizontal direction.

In this example, the characters displayed on the display unit 7 are only eight characters (including blanks) of "Kikukekosususse", and the front part "Aiueoka" and the rear part "satsutsutsu" of the document 6 are This is the part that is not displayed.

Reference numeral 8 denotes an image display unit which displays the document 6 in a reduced size, and is for confirming the layout of the input document. 9 is a cursor to delete characters in the document,
This is for indicating the position when a character is inserted in the document, and 10 indicates the cursor position in the image display unit 8. This cursor 10 is linked to the movement of the cursor 9 in the document 6. It is a moving object that blinks at regular intervals to notify the user of the cursor position. Even when the document is too long to fit in the display unit 7 as in the present embodiment, the edited document 6 and the image display 8 are displayed on the same screen, so that the user can view the layout of the entire document and display it. It is possible to easily infer at which position in the document 6 the indicated “Kikuke Kossuse” is located. Reference numeral 11 denotes a tape length when the document 6 is printed, which is a value uniquely determined by the number of characters of the document 6, the character spacing, the character size, and the like. By looking at this value, the user of the tape printer can easily confirm the tape length after printing before printing.

In this state, if the character "shi" is additionally input in front of the cursor 9 to make the document "aiueokakikusushisusesatsutsutsutsu", the display will be changed to that shown in FIG. ) To FIG. 2B. That is,
Simultaneously with the input of "shi", the character "shi" is displayed on the image display section 8.
The image □ corresponding to is added, and the tape length 11 is also
Increase from 135 mm to 142 mm.

Image display 8 and tape length 11
The display changes not only by inserting characters, but also by deleting characters in the document 6, changing the spacing between characters, and changing the size of characters. With these functions, the user of the tape printer can easily guess the result after printing before actually printing.

[0019]

As described above, the present invention has the following excellent effects.

(1) The entire layout and tape length can be easily checked before actually printing.

(2) Even if the document being edited is too long to fit on the display screen, it is possible to easily confirm which part of the entire document is being displayed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a tape printer showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a display unit of a tape printer showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Input Means 2 Editing Means 3 Storage Means 4 Display Means 5 Printing Means 6 Documents to be Printed 7 Display Area 8 Image Display 9 Cursor 10 Cursor on Image Display 11 Tape Length

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A tape printer having means for inputting, displaying, and editing a document (hereinafter referred to as a document) composed of characters, symbols, and graphics, and having a means for printing the document on a tape is printed. A tape printer having a function of displaying the entire document in a reduced size (hereinafter referred to as an image display function). 2. The tape printer according to claim 1, wherein the insertion position (cursor position) in the document is indicated by blinking dots. 3. The tape printer according to claim 1, wherein the document being edited and its image display are displayed on the same screen. 4. The tape printer according to claim 1, wherein the tape length when the document being edited is printed is displayed.