JPH06328791A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform decorative printing having characteristics with respect to inputted documents, respectively, in a printer for label printing. CONSTITUTION:Decorative patterns for printing, wherein 'a cat', 'a dog', 'a pencil' and the like are bit-mapped according to the number of printing dots, are stored in an illustration frame printing pattern memory unit 15, and display patterns corresponding to various kinds of decorative patterns are stored in an illustration frame display pattern memory unit 16 according to the number of display dots. When a printing mode of the illustration frame is set by manipulation of a 'frame' key 25 and arbitrary kinds of decorative patterns are selected on a display unit 22 by manipulation of cursor keys 24a to 24d, document character rows inputted by keys and stored in a document buffer 18 and the decorative patterns read out from the illustration frame printing pattern memory unit 15 in response to the kinds of selected patterns are synthesized at a synthesizing unit 21, written onto a printing information RAM 20 and transferred to a printing unit 23, whereby a printing output is produced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus used for printing a character string of an arbitrarily created document or the like on a label tape or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as one of the devices for making an index label which is attached to an audio cassette or a video cassette and describes the contents thereof, or a name label which is attached to various belongings and describes the owner, etc., as an original device, for example, A label printing device is provided.

This label printing apparatus has a document creation function provided with a large number of character input keys, and the document data or the like consisting of a character string arbitrarily created by this document creation function is operated by operating the print key. The print data is printed on a label tape by thermal transfer printing and output.The printed label tape is fed out from the tape outlet on the side of the main unit and cut and separated by operating the cutter knob. Has become.

In this conventional label printing apparatus, as a function of modifying a print character string, for example, a function of modifying a character itself such as a half-width character, a double-width character, and an italic character is installed as in a general document creating apparatus. In addition, there is a framed printing function that frames the input character string and prints it.

[0005]

However, in the framed printing function in the above-mentioned conventional printing apparatus, since the input character string is simply surrounded by the rectangular frame and printed, the characteristic of each input character string is obtained. There is a problem that some decorations cannot be applied. The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus capable of performing characteristic decorative printing on each input document.

[0006]

That is, a printing apparatus according to the present invention is provided with a printing function of inputting a document with characters / symbols, decorating the input document, and printing. Document storage means for storing a document in characters / symbols, decoration pattern storage means for storing a plurality of types of decorative patterns in which the shapes of objects are designed, and characters / symbols stored in the document storage means The document and the decoration pattern stored in the decoration pattern storage unit are combined as print information, and the printing unit prints the print information combined by the combination unit.

[0007]

In other words, a decoration pattern in which a plurality of types of shapes stored in advance in the decoration pattern storage means are designed as a pattern,
By selectively synthesizing and printing according to the input document,
Characteristic decorative printing can be performed for each document.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an electronic circuit of a label printing apparatus which embodies the printing apparatus of the present invention.

The label printing apparatus has a CPU 11. The CPU 11 controls the operation of each part of the circuit by activating a system program stored in advance in the program storage unit 13 in response to a key operation signal from the key input unit 12, and the CPU 11 includes the key input unit 12 described above.
In addition to the program storage unit 13, the character / symbol storage unit 1
4, the illustration frame print pattern storage unit 15 and the illustration frame display pattern storage unit 16 are connected, and the key buffer 17, the document buffer 18, and the display RAM
19, the print information RAM 20 is connected, and further, the combining unit 21, the liquid crystal display unit 22, and the printing unit 23 are connected.

The key input unit 12 has a large number of character input keys such as kana character keys, numeral keys, and symbol keys for inputting and creating an arbitrary character string (document) to be printed data for printing, and kana characters. / A Kanji conversion key, a select / execute key, etc. are provided, and a cursor key (↑) 2 that is operated when moving the cursor or selecting data on the liquid crystal display unit 22
4a, (↓) 24b, (→) 24c, (←) 24d, a “frame” key 25 operated when setting the print mode of the illustration frame, and a “print” key operated when executing print processing. 26 is provided.

In addition to the system program that controls the basic operation of the label printing apparatus, the program storage section 13 also stores
Document creation program and display printing program of created document,
Then, an illustration frame printing program or the like for performing framed printing in which a cat, a dog or the like is designed is stored.

The character / symbol storage unit 14 stores various characters and symbols that can be input by the key input unit 12 as font data. In the above-mentioned illustration frame printing pattern storage unit 15, a plurality of types of illustration frames, which are patterns of cats, dogs, etc. when printing the illustration frames, are made to correspond to print areas of one character of 64 dots × 64 dots, respectively. It is stored as bitmap data. In this case, the illustration frame has a leading pattern that forms the beginning of the frame, an intermediate pattern that forms the middle of the frame, and an end pattern that forms the end of the frame. It is divided and stored.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a head frame of a cat stored in the illustration frame print pattern storage unit 15 of the label printing apparatus. This head frame is printed as the leading end portion of the frame surrounding the document to be printed. .

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an intermediate frame stored in the illustration frame print pattern storage unit 15 of the label printing apparatus. This intermediate frame is added to the first frame together with individual characters / symbols in the document to be printed. It is printed continuously.

FIG. 4 is a view showing the end frame of the cat stored in the illustration frame print pattern storage unit 15 of the label printing apparatus. This end frame is printed as the rear end portion of the frame surrounding the document to be printed. It

That is, when the cat illustration frame is selected in the illustration frame printing mode, the vertical line pattern existing at the right end of the head frame in FIG. 2 and the left end of the end frame in FIG. 4 are present. Each character / symbol in the printed document is accommodated between the vertical line pattern and the upper and lower sides of each character / symbol are separated by the intermediate frame in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a view showing the head frame of the dog 1 stored in the illustration frame print pattern storage unit 15 of the label printing apparatus. In the head frame of the dog 1, only the head of the dog is patterned. Will be remembered.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a trailing frame of the dog 1 stored in the illustration frame printing pattern storage unit 15 of the label printing apparatus. The trailing frame of the dog 1 corresponds to the head of the dog 1. Only the tail is patterned and stored.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the head frame of the dog 2 stored in the illustration frame print pattern storage unit 15 of the label printing apparatus. In the head frame of the dog 2, a certain dog is entirely patterned. Are stored.

FIG. 8 is a view showing the end frame of the dog 2 stored in the illustration frame print pattern storage unit 15 of the label printing apparatus. The end frame of the dog 2 is different from the start frame of the dog 2. The entire breed of dog is patterned and stored.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the lead frame of the pencil stored in the illustration frame print pattern storage unit 15 of the label printing apparatus. In the lead frame of the pencil, only the lead portion of the pencil is patterned and stored. To be done.

FIG. 10 is a view showing the end frame of the pencil stored in the illustration frame print pattern storage unit 15 of the label printing apparatus. The end frame of the pencil is the rear end part corresponding to the start part of the pencil. Only the pattern is stored.

On the other hand, in the illustration frame display pattern storage unit 16, a plurality of types of illustration frames for display, which are designed as cats, dogs, etc. when printing the illustration frames, are each one character of 16 dots × 16 dots. Is stored as bit map data corresponding to the display area of, and in this case, only the leading pattern of each 64 × 64 dot illustration frame stored in the illustration frame print pattern storage unit 15 is 16 dots × It is stored in a simplified form of 16 dots.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing each display illustration frame stored in the illustration frame display pattern storage unit 16 of the label printing apparatus. FIG. 11A is a cat, FIG. 11B is a dog 1, and FIG. FIG. 2C is a dog 2, and FIG. 2D is a display illustration frame corresponding to a pencil.

That is, in the illustration frame printing mode, the display illustration frames stored in the illustration frame display pattern storage section 16 are displayed on the liquid crystal display section 22 and the user is prompted to select the type.

Further, key operation data from the key input unit 12 is temporarily stored in the key buffer 17. The document buffer 18 stores document data created by operating various character / symbol keys of the key input unit 12.

The display RAM 19 includes a liquid crystal display section 22.
Data to be displayed are stored as bitmap data. Data to be printed is stored in the print information RAM 20 as bitmap data to be printed out by the printing unit 23.

In the illustration frame print mode, the synthesizing section 21 reads the character / symbol data read from the character / symbol storage section 14 corresponding to the document data stored in the document buffer 18 and the illustration frame print pattern. The frame pattern read from the storage unit 15 is combined, and the combined document data of the illustration frame is stored in the print information RAM 20.

The document data stored in the print information RAM 20 is transferred to the print unit 23 in response to the operation of the "print" key 26 of the key input unit 12, printed on a label tape (not shown), and output.

Next, the operation of the label printing apparatus having the above structure will be described. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the display and printing operations associated with the key operation of the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing the illustration frame printing process of the label printing apparatus. That is, first, by operating the character input keys of the key input unit 12,
When the document “Yumiko” is input to be printed together with the illustration frame, the document data “Yumiko” is sequentially transferred from the key buffer 17 to the document buffer 18 and stored, and also stored in the display RAM 19 and displayed on the display unit 22. To be done.

Here, when the "frame" key 25 of the key input unit 12 is operated, the CPU 11 is set to the print mode of the illustration frame, and whether or not the print document has been input based on the contents of the document buffer 18, that is, It is determined whether or not the text has been input (step S1).

In this case, since the document to be printed "Yumiko" is stored in the document buffer 18, "Yes" is determined in the above step S1 and the process proceeds to step S2.
On the other hand, if no document data is stored in the document buffer 18, it is determined that no text has been input,
An error is displayed on the display unit 22 (step S1).
→ S0).

If "Yes" is determined in step S1, each of the images stored in the illustration frame display pattern storage unit 16 is displayed on the display unit 22 in response to the operation of the "frame" key 25. The display illustration pattern “cat” “dog” “pencil” (see FIG. 11) is read and displayed, and the user is prompted to select the type of illustration frame.

Here, for example, when the cursor (→) 24c is operated to move the selection cursor K, the illustration frame of “cat” is selected and the “print” key 26 is operated, the display unit 22 indicates that printing is in process. The message "printing" is displayed, and the process moves to the illustration frame printing process from step S2.

That is, the leading pattern (see FIG. 2) of the illustration frame "cat" selected by the selection cursor K at the time of operating the "print" key 26 is read from the illustration frame print pattern storage unit 15 and print information is printed. R
The data is stored in the AM 20 and is transferred to the printing unit 23 and printed (steps S2 and S3).

In this way, when the head pattern of the selected illustration frame is printed, the first character "Yu" of the document data stored in the document buffer 18 is read and
The intermediate pattern (see FIG. 3) is read from the illustration frame print pattern storage unit 15 and sent to the combining unit 21 to be combined (steps S4, S5, S6).

Then, the composite data of the intermediate pattern and the first character "Yu" is stored in the print information RAM 20 and transferred to the printing unit 23, and the first character "Yu" of the first character of the cat is followed. An intermediate portion composed of upper and lower partition frames is printed (step S7).

Here, the process proceeds to step S8, where it is judged whether or not the printing process of the last character ("ko" in this case) of the document to be printed is completed. In this case, the first character "yu" is the last. Since it is not a character, it is determined to be "No", the character designation pointer of the document to be printed to the document buffer 18 is sent by one character, and the second character "Mi" is designated (step S8 →
S9).

That is, by repeating the above steps S4 to S9, the composite print process of the first character "Yu" and the intermediate pattern, the composite print process of the second character "Mi" and the intermediate pattern,
The third character "ko" and the intermediate pattern are combined and printed, and the character pattern "yu", "mi" and "ko" in the document are framed above and below the head pattern of the "cat". It is divided by and is printed out one character at a time.
As a result, the last character "ko" in the document buffer 18 is
When the intermediate portion printing of is completed, it is determined as "Yes" in step S8, and the process proceeds to step S10.

Then, the end pattern (see FIG. 4) of the illustration frame "cat" previously selected by the selection cursor K is displayed in the illustration frame print pattern storage unit 1.
5 is stored in the print information RAM 20 and transferred to the print unit 23, and is followed by the already printed head pattern of the “cat” and the intermediate composite patterns of “yu”, “mi”, and “ko”. It is printed as a frame that partitions the end (steps S10 and S11).

After that, in the printing section 23, the label tape 27 with the print is fed with a predetermined width and appropriately cut by the cutter (step S12). Therefore, according to the label printing apparatus having the above-described configuration, the “cat”, “dog”, “pencil” are stored in the illustration frame printing pattern storage unit 15.
A frame pattern for printing, which is bit-mapped according to the number of print dots, is stored, and display patterns corresponding to various frame patterns are stored in the illustration frame display pattern storage unit 16 according to the number of display dots. By operating the "frame" key 25, the print mode of the illustration frame is set, and by operating the cursor key 24 on the display unit 22, an arbitrary type of frame pattern is selected. Since the frame pattern read from the illustration frame print pattern storage unit 15 corresponding to the selected type is combined in the combining unit 21, the combined pattern is written in the print information RAM 20, transferred to the print unit 23, and printed out. , The input text is not printed by simply enclosing the keystroked document character string in a rectangular frame. It is possible to perform the framing that is characteristic for each.

In the above embodiment, "cat,""dog," and "pencil" were used as the types of illustration frames, but any other type of frame pattern can be used for the illustration frame print pattern storage unit 15 and the illustration frame. By storing in the display pattern storage unit 16, various types of framed printing according to the contents of the input document can be performed by the same operation procedure as described above, for example, as shown in (A) to (E) of FIG. Become so.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case of horizontal writing is described as an example, but for example, FIGS. 15 (A) and 15 (B).
As shown in, it is of course possible to perform framed printing by vertical writing.

Further, in the above embodiment, the input document character string is collectively printed by the selected frame pattern, but is printed, for example, as shown in FIGS. 16 (A) to 16 (E). It may be configured such that each character of the input document character string is independently surrounded and printed by the selected kind of frame pattern.

[0046]

As described above, according to the present invention, a document having characters / symbols, etc. is input, and a printing function for decorating and printing the input document is provided. Document storage means for storing a document according to the above, decoration pattern storage means for storing in advance a plurality of types of decoration patterns in which the shapes of objects are designed, documents such as characters and symbols stored in the document storage means, and Since the composition is provided with the combining means for combining the decoration pattern stored in the decoration pattern storage means as the print information, and the printing means for printing the print information combined by the combiner, each of the input documents It is possible to perform characteristic decorative printing.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic circuit of a label printing apparatus according to an embodiment of a printing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a head frame of a cat stored in an illustration frame print pattern storage unit of the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an intermediate frame stored in an illustration frame print pattern storage unit of the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a tail frame of a cat stored in an illustration frame printing pattern storage unit of the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a head frame of the dog 1 stored in an illustration frame print pattern storage unit of the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a trailing frame of the dog 1 stored in an illustration frame printing pattern storage unit of the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a head frame of the dog 2 stored in an illustration frame print pattern storage unit of the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a trailing frame of the dog 2 stored in an illustration frame printing pattern storage unit of the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a lead frame of a pencil stored in an illustration frame print pattern storage unit of the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a trailing frame of a pencil stored in an illustration frame printing pattern storage unit of the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing each display illustration frame stored in an illustration frame display pattern storage unit of the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 12 is a display accompanying a key operation of the label printing device,
The figure which shows a printing operation.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing an illustration frame printing process of the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing another embodiment of horizontal decorative printing by the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 15 is a view showing vertical decorative printing by the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing another embodiment of decorative printing by the label printing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... CPU, 12 ... Key input section, 13 ... Program storage section, 14 ... Character / symbol storage section, 15 ... Illustration frame print pattern storage section, 16 ... Illustration frame display pattern storage section, 17 ... Key buffer, 18 ... Document Buffer, 19 ... Display RAM, 20 ... Print information RAM, 21 ...
Compositing unit, 22 ... Display unit, 23 ... Printing unit, 24a (↑),
24b (↓), 24c (→), 24d (←) ... Cursor keys, 25 ... "Frame" key, 26 ... "Print" key,
27 ... Label tape.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus having a printing function for inputting a document including characters / symbols, decorating the input document, and printing the document, and a document storage unit for storing the input document including characters / symbols. A decoration pattern storage means for storing a plurality of types of decoration patterns in which the shape of an object is designed in advance, a document such as characters and symbols stored in the document storage means, and a decoration pattern storage means. A printing apparatus comprising: a synthesizing unit for synthesizing a decorative pattern as print information, and a printing unit for printing the print information synthesized by the synthesizing unit. 2. The plurality of types of decoration patterns stored in the decoration pattern storage means are each composed of three patterns of a head pattern, an intermediate pattern and a tail pattern. Printing device.