JPH0677253B2 - Address printing device - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an address printing device for automatically printing a destination address and a destination name (personal name, company name, department, etc.) on a postcard, envelope, or other sheet according to address data. Regarding

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an address printing device used for issuing direct mail or the like prints a destination address and a destination name with a certain character size on an address sticker according to the address data read from an auxiliary storage device or the like. It is composed.

However, according to such a conventional configuration, the printing range of the destination address and the destination name fluctuates greatly depending on the number of characters and the number of lines of each, and the number of characters and the number of lines of the destination address or the destination name are extremely large. In the case of a large number or a small number, there is a problem that the printed destination address and the destination name are significantly unbalanced and the appearance of the address is bad.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an address printing apparatus capable of printing an address on a postcard, an envelope, or another sheet with good appearance.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention adjusts the character size according to the number of characters and the number of lines of the destination address and the destination name, and prints in a well-balanced print area. Thus, the address printing device is configured.

That is, the address printing apparatus according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, includes a first means for storing address data composed of a block of destination address data and a block of destination name data, and a destination address on a postcard or envelope. The second means for storing the size and position information of each print area of the destination name, the third means for obtaining the number of character codes and the number of line feed codes of each block of the destination data, and the third means. Fourth means for determining a character size in each block based on the number of character codes and line feed codes in each block of the address data and size information of each print area corresponding to the block; A font pattern of a character corresponding to each character code of each block and having a size determined by the fourth means for each block. Fifth means for generating and arranging in the storage space according to the order of the character code of each block and the line feed code, and the information of the position of each print area corresponding to each block, and a sixth means for providing the storage space Printing a font pattern arranged in the storage space on a postcard, a letter of seal, or other paper with the arrangement.
And a configuration having means.

Operation According to the present invention, the character size of the destination address and the destination name is adjusted according to the number of characters and the number of lines, and the layout and printing are performed in accordance with the respective print areas. It is possible to print an address with good appearance without losing the balance.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an address printing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a central processing, 2 is a main memory for storing programs and data, and 3 is an image memory as the sixth means.

Reference numeral 4 is a printer capable of printing an image.
Corresponds to the means. A printer control device 5 controls this printer.

Reference numeral 6 is a hard disk device, and 7 is a disk control device for controlling the same. Although not shown, the hard disk device 6 stores programs such as an operating system and address printing processing. The operating system is loaded into the main memory 2 when the address printing apparatus is powered on.

The hard disk device 6 is also used as the first means and the second means, and a plurality of address data 8
An address data file 9 which is a set of a print area information file 10 and a print area information file 10 which is a set of information on the size and position of the print area of the destination address and the destination name on the postcard or various envelopes are stored.

The hard disk device 6 also stores a font file 11 which is a set of character font patterns of a fixed size. Note that in this embodiment, the font file 11 includes a character font pattern of a writing brush typeface.

12 is a disc play device with a keyboard attached,
Reference numeral 13 is a display control device for the control. 14
Is a bus, and data and control information are exchanged between the respective units through the bus 14.

The third means, the fourth means, the fifth means, and the sixth means are controlled by the address printing processing program, and the hardware resources such as the central processing unit 1 and the phantom file.
Realized using 11.

FIG. 3 shows the data structure of the address data 8. As shown in the figure, the address data 8 is divided into a block 15 of address data and a block 16 of address data, a block delimiter code 17 is inserted at the end of the block 15, and a code 18 is delimited at the end of the block 16. Has been added.

Each block is composed of a character code and a line feed code indicating a line feed of a character line.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a print area on a postcard. Here, it is assumed that the address is written vertically, and 19 is a destination address printing area and 20 is a destination name printing area. In the print area information file 10, the width x and the length y are registered as the size information of each print area, and the coordinates of the upper right corner are registered as the position information of each print area. Similar printing area information is registered for envelopes of one or more sizes.

The address data file 9 and the print area information file 10 can be created through the keyboard of the display device 12.

FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart of the address printing operation in this embodiment. The address printing operation will be described above with reference to the schematic flowchart.

When the address printing device is powered on, a menu screen is displayed on the display device 12 under the control of the operating system.

When the operator selects the address printing from the application displayed on the menu screen, inputs the application number from the keyboard and then inputs the execution instruction, the address printing processing program causes the hard disk device 6 to execute the address printing processing program under the control of the operating system. The display device 12 is loaded and activated to display the input guidance on the display device 12. The operation flow from here is shown in FIG.

In step 1, when the operator inputs the designation information of a postcard or an envelope of a certain size from the keyboard, the printing area information of the postcard or envelope designated in accordance with the designation information is printed from the printing area information file 10 in the main memory in step 2. It is read into two specific storage areas.

In the next step 3, one address data 8 is read from the beginning of the address data file 9 and written in a specific storage area of the main memory 2. The delimiter of the destination data 8 is identified by the data end code 18.

In step 4, the character code number N and the line feed code number K of one block of the address data are counted.
This processing corresponds to the function of the third means. The block delimiter is identified by the block delimiter code 17 or the data delimiter code 18. Further, the specific address of the main memory 2 is used as a flag FLG for identifying the destination address block 15 and the destination name data block 16, which is reset at the processing start stage.

Next step 5 is a processing step corresponding to the fourth means, and based on the size information (x, y) of the printing area read in the main memory 2, the character code number N and the line feed code number K, The character size Z (width) of the block is determined by the calculation.

Note that when the flag FLG is in the reset state, the block is a destination address data block, so the print area sizes x and y of the destination address are used for calculation, and when the flag FLG is in the set state, the print area of the destination name is displayed. The sizes x and y of are used in the calculation.

The following steps 6 to 15 are processing parts corresponding to the fifth means.

First, in step 6, a code is read from the head of the block, and in step 7, it is checked whether the code is a character code (a code of letters, numbers, or other symbols used for addressing).

If it is a character code, a font pattern (a writing brush typeface is selected in this embodiment) corresponding to the character code is extracted from the font file 11 in step 8. In the next step 9, scaling processing of the font pattern is performed on the main memory 2 to generate a font pattern having a width of Z. The height of the character is scaled at the same scale as the width.

In step 10, the font pattern after the scaling processing is sequentially developed in the print area of the image memory 3 starting from the print start position. Next, returning to step 6, the same processing is started for the next code.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step 7 that the code is other than the character code, it is checked in step 11 whether it is a line feed code. If it is a line feed code, go to step 12
The development position of the font pattern on the image memory 3 is controlled to the beginning of the next line. After this line feed processing, the process returns to step 6.

If it is determined in step 11 that the code is not the line feed code, step 13 checks whether the code is a block delimiter code. If it is determined to be a block delimiter code, it means that the process up to this point has been completed for the block (destination address data block). In this case, the flag FLG is turned on in step 14, the process returns to step 4, and the same processing of the next block (destination name data block) starts.

If it is determined in step 13 that it is not the block delimiter code, it is the data delimiter code indicating the end of the address data, so the flag FLG is reset in step 15 and is expanded in the image memory 3 in the next step 16. The address print image information is transferred to the printer 4 and printed on a postcard or envelope (or other paper). This step 16 is a processing step corresponding to the seventh means.

As is clear from the above description, according to the present embodiment, the character size is adjusted in inverse proportion to the number of characters and the number of lines of the destination address and the destination name, and printing is performed in the predetermined print area. It is possible to print a well-balanced address with a well-balanced address name. Moreover, in this embodiment, since it is printed with a writing brush typeface, beautiful address printing such as handwriting is possible.

When printing of one address data is completed as described above, the address data file 9
The end judgment (can be judged from the file end code) is performed. If not completed, the process returns to step 3 and the same processing is performed for the next address data. If so, the operation ends and control is returned to the operating system.

In this embodiment, a part of the address printing apparatus is realized by program control, but it may be realized by hardware or firmware.

Also, in this embodiment, the sender's address and name (company name,
Printing is not performed (including departments), but these can also be made to perform similar printing by preparing the data and print area information.

The structure of the address data and the type of information of the print area are not limited to those of the present embodiment, and may be modified appropriately. Also, the address data is not prepared as a file in advance,
It is also possible to input from the keyboard or the like each time the address is printed.

Further, in this embodiment, the writing is done with a brush typeface, but it may be printed with another typeface.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, each character size is set to the number of characters and the number of lines so that the destination address and the destination name are appropriately distributed and printed in the preset printing area. As a result, the address is automatically adjusted in accordance with the present invention, so that it is possible to perform the address printing in which the destination address and the destination name are well-balanced and the appearance is good.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram corresponding to claims of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an address printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a data structure diagram of address data, and FIG. 4 is a print area and its information. And FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart of the address printing operation in the address printing apparatus. 1 ... Central processing unit, 2 ... Main memory, 3 ... Image memory, 4 ... Printer, 6 ... Hard disk device, 8 ...
... Address data, 9 ... Destination data file, 10 ... Print area information file, 11 ... Font file, 15 ... Destination address data block, 16 ... Destination name data block,
17 …… Block delimiter code, 18 …… Data delimiter code, 19 …… Destination address print area, 20 …… Destination name print area.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first means for storing address data composed of a block of destination address data and a block of destination name data, and size and position information of each print area of the destination address and destination name on a postcard or envelope. The second to remember
Means, third means for obtaining the number of character codes and line feed codes of each block of the address data, and number of character code and line feed codes of each block of the destination data obtained by the third means and each block A fourth means for determining the character size of each block based on the size information of each print area corresponding to, and a second means for each block of a character corresponding to each character code of each block of the address data. A fifth means for generating a font pattern of a size determined by the four means, and arranging the font pattern in the storage space according to the order of the character code of each block, the line feed code, and the position information of each print area corresponding to each block; A sixth means for providing the storage space, and a font pattern arranged in the storage space in a postcard or a seal. Alternatively seventh to print on another sheet
Address printing apparatus having means.