JPH0631987A - Label printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To print a character row which is read from a storage means on various labels regardless of the number of characters and character size of the character row by adjusting the character size of the character row by a read processing means so as to be housed in the printing regions of the labels. CONSTITUTION:A device has a central processing unit CPU 30 controlling the whole device and a storage section 31 composed of a ROM, RAM, etc. A head driving section 36 contacting, separating and driving a thermal head 28 and outputting a character signal, a carriage-motor driving section 37 controlling the driving of a carriage motor 14, a sheet-feed motor driving section 38 driving and controlling a sheet-feed motor 16 synchronously driving a paper-feed roller 8 and a paper-discharge roller 23, and a display driving section 39 driving a liquid-crystal display section 7 are connected to the CPU 30 respectively.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a label printing apparatus for printing an input character string on a heading label such as a document through a printing means.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an exhibition or the like, for example, the same heading label is often attached to many samples. In addition, with the diversification of information, there is an increasing demand for suitable filing using heading labels according to the type of information, and the same information may be owned and stored by a plurality of people at a plurality of places. Conventionally, this type of label is created by handwriting, and there are problems such as the complexity of creation and the appearance.

In order to solve such a problem, conventionally, there has been proposed a printing device for efficiently printing the same content on both upper and lower positions of a lined label by appropriately selecting the printing direction (Actual Publication No. 1-178948). Gazette).

Further, there has been proposed a label printing apparatus which stores the number of characters and lines input in one label and calculates the number of labels so that an integer number of sheets can be set on one sheet (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-61). No. 175722).

Further, a label printer has been proposed in which automatic calculation is performed to change the characters to full-width or half-width so that printing can be suitably performed within a predetermined label width (JP-A-63-189).
276 publication).

Further, there has been proposed a label printer capable of inputting a print format of a cut paper label and printing on labels of various sizes (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-1 / 1987).
58072).

[0007]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention
According to the invention described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 948, the processing for suitably printing on one heading label is described in detail, but the position and size of a plurality of heading labels arranged and the size of each heading label or each label is detected. There is no description about control of how to print.

Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-175722,
JP-A-63-189276 and JP-A-62-15
The one described in Japanese Patent No. 8072 relates to how to appropriately print on one label, and does not relate to a printing process for a large number of arranged labels.

Further, many conventional label printing apparatuses have a function of registering a character string input for printing on a label in a memory or the like. However, the number of characters in this character string matches the size of the input area of the label that was the target of printing at the time of input, so when reading the registered character string from memory etc. and printing it on another label, the character string There was a problem that the print was run off the edge, which was a problem.

The present invention aims to solve such a problem.

[0011]

In order to solve the above problems, a label printing apparatus of the present invention comprises a storage means, a registration processing means, and a reading processing means, and the storage means is arranged on a label sheet. The label information for specifying the size and arrangement position of each label, the identification code corresponding to each label information, and the character size information defining a plurality of character sizes as the character size to be printed are stored and registered. The processing means registers the input character string, the character size of this character string and the identification code of the label used for printing this character string in the storage means, and the read processing means registers the identification code of the label desired to be printed. When there is an instruction to read the character string registered by the first processing means that accepts this input and the registration processing means when this is input, this character string and the text of this character string Second processing means for reading the size and the identification code of the label used for printing the character string from the storage means, and the identification code read from the storage means by the second processing means and the first processing means When the identified identification code is different, the print area of the label is determined from the label information corresponding to the input identification code, and the length in the column direction of the character string read from the storage means is the print area of this print area. A square whose one side is the width of one character that fits in the width of the horizontal direction or the length of one character that fits in the length of this print area in the lengthwise direction. The third processing means for selecting the maximum character size that can be stored in the area from the character size information, the identification code of the label read by the second processing means, and the identification code input by the first processing means are the same. In the case of the second The character size read by the processing means is used as the size of the character string read by the second processing means, and the identification code of the label read by the second processing means and the input by the first processing means. And a fourth processing means for setting the character size selected by the third processing means to the size of the character string read by the second processing means when the identification code is different.

[0012]

According to the label printing apparatus of the present invention, the character string input for printing on the label can be registered in the storage means by the registration processing means. In the registration processing means, in addition to the character string, the character size of the character string and the identification code of the label on which the character string is printed are registered in the storage means.

When there is an instruction to read the character string to print the character string registered in the storage means on the same or different label, the read processing means causes the registered character string and the character size of this character string to be read. And the identification code of the label on which this character string is printed are read from the storage means. When the identification code of the label to be printed and the identification code read from the storage means are the same, the character size read from the storage means is used as the size of the character string read from the storage means.

When the identification code of the label to be printed is different from the identification code read from the storage means, the print area of this label is determined from the label information corresponding to the identification code of the label to be printed. Then, the maximum character size in which the character string read from the storage means fits in this print area is selected from the character size information, and this character size is set as the size of the character string.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A label printing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 to 4 show the external appearance and internal mechanism of the label printing apparatus 1. A label printing device (hereinafter referred to as a device) 1 is a device that prints on each of a large number of labels 4a arranged regularly on a label sheet 4, and is composed of an upper half body 2 and a lower half body 3. An insertion port 5 for the label sheet 4 is formed in the middle.

A large number of keys 6 capable of inputting characters and the like are arranged in the upper half 2 of the device 1, and a liquid crystal panel for displaying a predetermined number of characters, a number of lines, or an input character string is arranged above the keys 6. The liquid crystal display section 7 is provided. When the number of characters and the number of lines more than that are input, the screen is adapted to be scrolled left and right and up and down by the cursor keys. As shown in FIG. 4, the arranged keys 6 include character keys such as alphabets, “function”,
Function keys for performing processes such as “cancel”, “convert”, “execute”, and “print”, and cursor keys with arrows on all four sides are provided. The contents of each key are written on the head of the key.

The lower half 3 has an insertion opening 5 and this insertion opening 5
A feeding path 11 extending rearward from the above is formed, and a guide roller 9 for guiding the inserted label sheet 4 is provided on the upper surface of the feeding path 11. In addition, the guide roller 9
A sheet feeding roller 8 that is driven to rotate by a sheet feeding motor 16 and feeds the inserted label sheet 4 is provided at a total of three places behind the sheet feeding device, and a printing unit 20 that prints is provided behind the sheet feeding roller 8. There is.

A side wall 18 for positioning is formed on one side, for example, the left side, of the insertion port 5 and the feeding path 11, and the left side of the label sheet 4 is inserted in contact with the side wall 18. Is. Further, as shown in FIG. 5, on the side wall 18 on the downstream side of the feeding path of the sheet feeding roller 8, for example, a sheet sensor 19 such as a photo interrupter having a pair structure of a light emitting element 19a and a light receiving element 19b on the upper and lower surfaces. Is provided to detect whether the left side of the inserted and fed label sheet 4 exactly matches the side wall 18.

The printing unit 20 has a label sheet 4 at the bottom thereof.
Helical shaft 1 arranged in a direction orthogonal to the insertion direction of
2, the rotation of the carriage motor 14 is transmitted to the spiral shaft 12 via the gear train 15, and the printing unit 20 reciprocates along the rotating spiral shaft 12. . A rack 13 is installed above the printing unit 20 in parallel with the spiral shaft 12. The teeth of the rack 13 are formed in the lower part so as to face the printing unit 20,
The gear inside the printing unit 20 is in mesh with the rack 13. Further, from the bottom of the printing unit 20, for example, the thermal head 2 including a dot array capable of printing one character
A rubber platen 17 is arranged on the lower half 3 of the lower part of the thermal head 28. In addition,
The printing unit 20 also functions as a cassette holder for mounting a ribbon cassette (not shown) of the ink ribbon, and includes a winding shaft 25 for winding the ink ribbon.

The liquid crystal display unit 7 displays the input character string or the edited character string, the code number, the character label, or a selection screen for each. The character label means a character string created for label printing or a character string already created.

Next, a control block diagram of the label printing apparatus will be described with reference to FIG.

This device 1 includes a central processing unit (hereinafter, referred to as CPU) 30 for controlling the entire device and an RO.
The storage unit 31 includes M, RAM, and the like.

The CPU 30 is synchronized with the head drive unit 36 for driving the thermal head 28 in and out and outputting a character signal, the carriage motor drive unit 37 for controlling the drive of the carriage motor 14, the paper feed roller 8 and the paper discharge roller 23. A sheet feed motor drive unit 38 that controls the drive of the driven sheet feed motor 16 and a display drive unit 39 that drives the liquid crystal display unit 7 are respectively connected.

The CPU 30 is internally provided with a counter for counting the number of sheets and a timer for synchronizing with sheet feeding, and receives the input information from the key input unit 6'and the detection signal from the sheet sensor 19 respectively. Output a control signal to the required circuit part, input characters, edit processing as described later,
Overall control of label sheet type selection, display control, and print processing control.

The CPU 30 monitors the detection signal from the sheet sensor 19, and the label sheet 4 is accurately inserted and fed depending on whether or not the signal for detecting the front end of the left side of the label sheet 4 is input. It is determined whether or not the sheet feed motor 1
The position of the label sheet being fed is indirectly measured by the rotation pulse of 6 or time management.

The storage unit 31 includes a program for controlling the operation of the entire apparatus such as editing and printing, a dictionary memory for converting kana / kanji characters, the array position of labels arranged on various label sheets, and the labels. Label information in which vertical and horizontal dimensions and the like are registered, a code number as an identification code for specifying the type of label sheet, and a character size table (Table 1) as shown below are stored.

[0028]

[Table 1]

Table 1 shows the character size, and shows SS size to 3L size. In this type of label printing apparatus, there are various types of label sheets that can be printed, and there are several hundreds of label sheets, and a large number of character sizes are desired. Therefore, in addition to square characters, horizontally long characters and vertically long characters can be specified.
In this way, the character size can be selected using the size classification symbols, thereby facilitating the selection work.

Further, there are various kinds of label sheets such as ordinary square label, lined label, tack index label, box label and cassette label, and there are various sticking positions on the label sheet.
Each is standardized. When an external input / output device such as an expansion cartridge shown as the auxiliary storage unit 40 in FIG. 6 is connected and the number of types of label sheets increases or when it is desired to perform printing on a desired unstandardized label sheet Can also be newly registered.

FIG. 7 shows an example of the label sheet and the label. Labels R ₁ , R ₂ , ... Having the same dimensions are regularly attached on the label sheet 4 at regular intervals. The positions of the labels on the label sheet 4 are designated as 1, 2, 3 ... In the column direction and A, B, C ... In the row direction.

The sheet number is selected by inputting a one-character or two-character (including numeral) identification code. This facilitates the selection work. The table (not shown) storing the sheet numbers in the present embodiment is represented by the label size, which corresponds to the sheet sensor 19
Is stored with the size and the like based on the corner position of the front end of the left side of the label sheet 4 detected by. The dimension type is the data required to identify the label position on the label sheet from the length and width dimensions of the label sheet, the shape of the label, the length and width dimensions of the label, the length and width of the label, and the number of labels on one sheet. Has been adopted. The size is usually specified in millimeters (mm), but in the present embodiment, the size is coded to reduce the memory capacity. The CPU 30 calculates the print position, that is, the label position based on the label information corresponding to the designated sheet number (identification code).

In the device 1 thus constructed, the character size is automatically set according to the number of characters and the number of lines of the input character string. This automatic setting of the character size is to automatically set the character size according to the character string entered on the character input screen so that it can be printed appropriately in the label. It is selected from 1.

The process of automatically setting the character size will be described below with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 8 and 9.

First, by inputting the code number of the label sheet to be printed, all the information such as the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the used label and the arrangement position are specified (# 10).
2). The print area of the label is discriminated based on the label information, and the vertical and horizontal lengths of the print area are compared (# 104). By this comparison, the shorter length is selected, and if the size in the horizontal direction is short as shown in FIG. 10A, a square region S having one side of this horizontal length 1 is assumed (# 106), and also FIG. 10 (b).
If the size in the vertical direction is short, as shown in, the square area S having the length 1 in the vertical direction as one side is assumed (# 10).
8). Then, the maximum character size of the square character that can be accommodated in this square area S is selected from Table 1, and this character size is set to the initial value (# 110).

After the initial value of the character size is determined in this manner, the input of characters (including symbols) is waited for, and each time the input character increases or decreases by one character, the created character string is changed. The lateral length is calculated. When a character string is created in a plurality of lines, it is calculated for each line (# 202).
Then, the horizontal length of the character string and the horizontal length of the set print area are compared for each line, and it is determined whether the created character string can be printed within the set horizontal dimension of the label ( # 204). If the horizontal length of the character string is larger than the print area, a character size one size smaller than the set character size will be selected from Table 1, and all character sizes across all lines will be the new character size. The size is changed (# 206). Then, after this, again # 202, # 20
The process of 4 is repeated. In this way, a suitable character size is temporarily determined on the basis of the horizontal length of the character string in each line and the horizontal length of the print area.

Next, the vertical length of the determined character size is added over all lines to obtain the total vertical length (# 20.
8) The total vertical length is compared with the vertical length of the print area. As a result, it is determined whether the created character string can be printed within the set vertical dimension of the label (# 21).
0). If the total vertical length of the created character string is larger, a character size that is one size smaller than the determined character size is selected from Table 1, and all character sizes across all lines are set to this new character size. It is changed (# 212). After this, the processes of # 208 and # 210 are repeated again. In this way, the maximum character size that can be printed in the print area is finally set. In addition, although each of the above-described calculation formulas is stored in the ROM of the storage unit 31 in advance,
You may make it utilize the conversion table which memorize | stored the calculation result.

As described above, in the created character label, the same character size is set for all lines, and when the number of characters is different for each line, the character size is different for each line. It eliminates the inconvenience of being set.
When the character size is switched from the S size shown in Table 1 to an extremely small SS size, the character size is not switched suddenly, but is switched to a horizontally long SS size character.

Such automatic setting of the character size is performed when one character is input or deleted, when the size of the input character is changed, when the character decoration of the input character is changed, line feed or line. This is always performed when the state of the input character or the state of the input line changes, such as when they are combined.

The character size of each character is
Alternatively, it can be manually set to a specific size as necessary. In this case, in # 202,
The horizontal length of the set character and the horizontal length of each character being automatically set are added to calculate the length of the character string for each line. In # 208, the longest vertical size character is set for each line. After being extracted for each, it will be added over all rows.

The character labels thus created are stored in the storage unit 31, and under the control of the CPU 30, printing processing is performed on each of the arranged labels based on the stored data and the already set label information. Is applied.

Next, a process of registering the input character string in the storage unit 31 and a process of reading the character string registered in the storage unit 31 will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 to 13.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a process of inputting a character string and registering it in the storage unit 31. First, when the code number of the label for which the character string is desired to be printed is input (# 300), the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the printing range of the label corresponding to this code number are stored in the storage unit 3.
It is read from 1 (# 301). Then, the maximum number of lines (L _max ) on which a character of the smallest character size can be printed is calculated from the vertical dimension of the printing range (# 30).
2). Further, the maximum number of characters (M _max ) at which a character of the minimum character size can be printed is calculated from the horizontal dimension of the print range (# 303). After that, the input work and the edit work of the character string to be printed are performed (# 304). After the input editing work, if there is an instruction to register the edited character string (# 305), the registration process is performed (#
306). The registration process is a process of registering the edited character string and the information group related to this character string in the storage unit 31 as a label file. In the group of information on character strings, information on the character size of the character string, information on the character decoration of the character string,
There is information such as the code number of the label that prints the character string and the information that distinguishes between automatic character size / user-specified character size.

Further, when there is an instruction to print on the label after the processing of # 304, the character string edited by the input editing work is printed on the label corresponding to the code number input in # 300. To be done.

12 and 13 are flowcharts showing the processing for reading the character string registered in the storage unit 31. First, when the code number of the label for which the character string is desired to be printed is input (# 350), the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the printing range of the label corresponding to this code number are read from the storage unit 31. (# 351). Then, the maximum number of lines (L _max ) on which a character of the minimum character size can be printed is calculated from the vertical dimension of the printing range (# 352). Also, from the horizontal dimension of the print range,
The maximum number (M _max ) of characters that can be printed with the minimum character size is calculated (# 353). Next, when a registration character for specifying the label file is input (# 354), the label file is searched using this registration character (# 355). The registration character is an arbitrary two-digit character given in advance when registering the label file. When the label file cannot be found as a result of the search (# 356), a message indicating that the label file does not exist is displayed and the processing is terminated (# 35).
7). When the label file is found as a result of the search (# 356), the first seven characters of the character string in the label file are displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 7 (# 35).
8). The search can also be performed by designating one of the two-digit registered characters. In this case, a plurality of label files may be searched, and the liquid crystal display unit 7 displays the first seven characters of the plurality of character strings. The user can specify a predetermined label file by operating the cursor up and down (# 359). Next, # 350
It is checked whether the code number entered in is the same as the code number in the searched label file (#
360). If they match, the label file is read (# 361). If they do not match, the following processing is performed. First, the number of lines of the character string in the label file designated in # 359 is calculated (#
362). When the number of lines is larger than the maximum number of lines (L _max ) calculated in # 352 (# 363), a message "This label cannot be read" is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 7 (# 364). , Returns the process to # 358. When the maximum number of lines calculated in # 362 is equal to or smaller than the maximum number of lines (L _max ) calculated in # 352 (# 363), the maximum number of character strings in the label file specified in # 359 is increased. Calculate the number of characters in line (# 36
5). When this maximum number of characters is larger than the maximum number of characters (M _max ) calculated in # 353 (# 366), a message saying "This label cannot be read" is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 7.
Is displayed (# 364), and the process is returned to # 358. When the maximum number of characters calculated in # 365 is equal to or less than the maximum number of characters (M _max ) calculated in # 353 (# 3
In 66), the label file is read (#
367). Then, the character size and the character decoration information in the label file are cleared, and the character size of the character string in the label file is set to the automatic character size (# 36).
8). The reason why the character decoration information is cleared is that the character size may substantially increase due to the character decoration. Then, the character size of this character string is set so that it fits within the print range of the label read from the storage unit 31 in # 351 (# 369). The character strings in the label file are displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 7 in the character size set in this way.

After that, the editing process of the character string displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 7, the registration process of the label file in the storage unit 31, the printing process and the like are performed.

[0047]

According to the label printing apparatus of the present invention, when the character string registered in the storage means is read and printed on the label, the character size of the character string is read by the reading processing means so that the character string is stored in the printing area of the label. Is adjusted. Therefore, the character string can be printed on various labels without paying attention to the number of characters and the character size of the character string read from the storage means.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a label printing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an internal mechanism of the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an internal mechanism of the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a key arrangement of the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a sheet sensor.

FIG. 6 is a control block diagram in the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a positional relationship of labels with respect to a label sheet.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating setting of an initial value of a character size in automatic character size setting.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating automatic setting of character size.

10A and 10B are explanatory diagrams showing a method of setting an initial value of a character size corresponding to a shape of a label.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a process of inputting a character string and registering it in a storage unit.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a process of reading a character string registered in a storage unit.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a process of reading a character string registered in a storage unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Label printing device, 4 ... Label sheet, 4a ... Label, 6 '... Key input part, 7 ... Liquid crystal display part, 30 ... CP
U, 31 ... Storage unit.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A label printing device for inputting a desired character string and printing the input character string on each label arranged on a label sheet, the label printing device comprising a storage means and a registration process. And a read processing unit, the storage unit, label information for specifying the size and arrangement position of each label arranged on the label sheet, an identification code corresponding to each label information, The character size information defining a plurality of character sizes as the character size to be printed is stored, and the registration processing means uses the input character string, the character size of this character string, and the printing of this character string. The identification code of the label used is registered in the storage means, and the reading processing means accepts the input when the identification code of the label desired to be printed is input. No. 1 processing means, and when there is an instruction to read out the character string registered by the registration processing means, this character string, the character size of this character string, and the identification code of the label used for printing this character string A second processing means for reading out from the storage means, and when the identification code read from the storage means by the second processing means and the identification code input by the first processing means are different, The print area of the label is discriminated from the label information corresponding to the generated identification code, and the length in the column direction of the character string read from the storage means is one character within the horizontal length of the print area. And the length of the character string in the row direction are within the vertical length of this print area. The maximum character size that can be accommodated in the square area whose side is the shorter of the vertical widths of one character is Font size information If the third processing means selected from among the third processing means, the identification code read by the second processing means and the identification code input by the first processing means are the same, the second processing means The read character size is the size of the character string read by the second processing means,
When the identification code read by the second processing means and the identification code input by the first processing means are different, the character size selected by the third processing means is used as the second processing. A label printing apparatus comprising: a fourth processing unit that sets the size of the character string read by the unit. 2. The label printing apparatus comprises display means, and the read processing means sets the maximum number of characters and the maximum number of lines that can be printed using the characters of the minimum character size in the printing area determined by the third processing means, respectively. If the number of characters in one line of the character string read out by the second processing means is larger than the calculated maximum number of characters, or the number of lines in the character string read out by the second processing means is calculated. When the number of lines is larger than the maximum number of lines, a fifth processing means for displaying a message indicating that the character string cannot be read from the storage means on the display means is performed instead of the fourth processing means. The label printing device according to claim 1.