JPH07125375A - Tape printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a useless label from being produced and make operating properties favorable by a method wherein a tape peinting device is constituted so that when printing is insulated, layout indication of writing which is to be printed is allowed to perform and then one side of either printing of the writing or forced release of printing instructions is made to perform based on the instructions. CONSTITUTION:When a layout indication key 11a is operated, a CPU 21 develops a printing program 22a, through which a dot development buffer 23a or an indication buffer 23b which are related to printing are formed and prepared on even an RAM 23. When printing processing is started, content of layout indication graph at the time of the printing following writing during indication are confirmed and layout of the writing is made to indicate a liquid crystal display 35. In the case where layout indication is made to perform, contents of the layout indication by a user is confirmed by the CPU 21, in the case where the desirous layout is materialized, performance of printing process is instructed, and in the case where it is not materialized, forced completion of printing processing is instructed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tape printer capable of producing a label on which a plurality of lines of input text are printed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A tape printer prints an input column of one or more lines (concept including a symbol) (hereinafter referred to as a sentence) on a continuous tape as needed, and
It cuts the printed tape and ejects it. Recently, cut tapes (hereinafter called labels)
In consideration of being used for various purposes, it has been proposed to print not only one line but also two or more lines on a label.

Such a tape printing apparatus is also equipped with a layout display apparatus for displaying a print image, like other information processing apparatuses having a printing function such as a word processor. That is, by operating the layout display device, the user can confirm the layout of the print contents of the label to be produced by displaying without printing the input sentence on an expensive tape.

[0004]

By the way, the main functions of the tape printer are a function of inputting a desired sentence and a function of printing the input sentence on a tape.
Therefore, the layout display function is a useful function if it is provided in the apparatus, but it is sufficiently valuable as a tape printing apparatus without it. Therefore, even a user who is familiar with the input function and the print function may not know that the tape printer has the layout display function. Incidentally, there are many users who do not know that the layout display function is provided even for an ordinary word processor.

[0005] Such a user prints a sentence on a tape, recognizes the discharged label, and realizes that the arrangement of each character string is not the desired one, so that the user again specifies the character size and the like. . That is, useless labels have been generated. Because of the nature of the label, there are many users who stick to the character arrangement of the label, and in the tape printing device, the character arrangement is more problematic than other information processing devices such as word processors, and it is determined that it cannot be used as a label. Often. Therefore, the layout display function is inherently more useful than other information processing devices.

When a user who knows the layout display function uses this function, it is when the text input is completed, and when the confirmation is confirmed, the printing is executed. Therefore, when the input of the text is completed, an operation for executing the layout display is performed, and then an operation for executing the printing is performed. Therefore, there are many operations after text input,
There is a risk that the user will feel overwhelmed. Due to such a feeling of complexity, printing may be executed immediately without using the layout display function even if the layout display function is known, and useless labels may be generated.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and allows the user to effectively use the layout display function to prevent the generation of useless labels and to perform tape printing with good operability. It is intended to provide a device.

[0008]

In order to solve such a problem, according to the present invention, a tape in which an inputted sentence consisting of a character string of one or more lines is printed on a tape, and the printed tape is cut and discharged. In the printing apparatus, the following means are provided.

That is, the layout display means for displaying the text image printed on the tape on the display device, the printing means for printing the instructed text on the tape, and the layout display means are first driven when the printing is instructed. Then, a layout of the text to be printed is displayed, and thereafter, a printing processing control means for executing one of printing the text by the printing means and forcibly canceling the print instruction based on the instruction from the user. Provided.

Here, as the layout display means, (1)
Reduction ratio for associating the display width in the main scanning direction with the display size in the sub-scanning direction, the display position in the main scanning direction of each line that is determined according to the number of lines of the input text, and the characters in each line, respectively. When the shape of is regarded as a quadrilateral, the information determination unit that determines the number of dots corresponding to the length of the quadrilateral in the sub-scanning direction, and (2) for each line of the input text, in the main scanning direction With a fixed number of dots that is unrelated to the shape of each character,
In the sub-scanning direction, a dot expansion unit that expands to the determined number of dots, and (3) Reduces the expanded dot pattern of each row at the reduction ratio that is determined only in the sub-scanning direction, and also determines the dot pattern of each row. It is preferable to apply a display content storage unit that is arranged at the displayed display position and stored in the display buffer, and (4) a display unit that displays the content stored in the display buffer.

Further, the layout layout display flag at the time of printing is attached to the input sentence, and the layout display flag at the time of printing attached to the input sentence is set to the non-display state immediately after the creation, and immediately after the editing and the change, and the layout display according to the print instruction is performed. When the printing is performed, the printing layout display flag is provided with a printing layout display flag control means, and when the printing processing control means is in the undisplayed layout layout layout, the layout prior to printing is provided. It is preferable to execute the display and immediately execute the printing when the print layout display flag is in the display completed state.

[0012]

In the present invention, when the printing is instructed, the printing processing control means first drives the layout display means to display the layout of the sentences to be printed, and then, based on the instruction from the user, The printing means is driven to print the text, or the print instruction is forcibly canceled.

Therefore, the user can confirm the contents of the layout display as a part of the printing process without operating the layout display key, and can judge whether or not the desired label can be obtained. That is, the layout display function is effectively used. The user may instruct whether to continue or forcibly terminate the printing process according to the displayed contents. In any case, it is possible to prevent useless labels from being generated and to generate only valid labels. .

However, if the layout display takes a long time, it may take a long time from when the printing is instructed until the label is ejected, and the user may dislike the layout display. Therefore, as layout display means, a layout display is performed at a fixed position in which a character portion and a background portion are mixed in the sub-scanning direction similarly to the print image and a fixed width and a number of lines are determined in the main scanning direction. It is preferable to apply a layout display that can be executed.

As such a layout display means,
The information determination unit, the dot expansion unit, the display content storage unit, and the display unit as described above may be mentioned.

Further, even if the layout display time is shortened, if the layout display is performed each time a sentence having the same content is instructed, the user may rather dislike the layout display prior to the printing. For example, in the case of printing a plurality of labels with the same content and instructing printing a plurality of times, if the layout is displayed for each printing instruction, the user dislikes this function. Therefore, it is desirable that the layout display is performed only once before printing the same sentence. Therefore, by adding a print layout display flag to the input text and operating this flag,
It is preferable to make only one layout display prior to printing the same sentence.

[0017]

【Example】

(A) Overall electrical configuration of the embodiment First, the overall electrical configuration of an embodiment of the tape printer according to the present invention will be described with reference to the functional block diagram of FIG.

In FIG. 2, this tape printer, like other information processing apparatuses, is mainly composed of an input section 10, a control section 20 and an output section 30.
However, the processing according to the information from the input unit 10 or the processing stage at that time is executed, and the processing result or the like is displayed or printed out by the output unit 30.

The input section 10 is composed of a key input section 11 having a press key, a dial key and the like, and a tape width detection sensor 12 although the detailed structure is omitted.

The key input unit 11 is for generating character code data and various control data given to the control unit 20. In this embodiment, a key 11a for instructing printing and a key 11b for instructing continuous execution or forced termination of the printing process are provided as keys for generating control data.

The tape width detection sensor 12 detects the width of the loaded tape and supplies the tape width information to the control unit 20. In practice, the tape is housed in a tape cartridge, and the tape cartridge is provided with a physical identification element such as a hole that defines the tape width. The tape width detection sensor 12 reads this physical identification element. Output tape width information.

The output unit 30 has a print configuration and a display configuration. For example, the tape / ribbon feed motor 31, which is a stepping motor, feeds the loaded tape or ink ribbon (not shown) to a predetermined printing position or the outside of the apparatus. The thermal head (printing head) 32 is fixed and prints on a running tape by thermal transfer. For example, a maximum of 96 dots can be printed simultaneously. The tape / ribbon feed motor 31 and the thermal head 32 are respectively provided in the control unit 2.
Under the control of 0, the motor drive circuit 33 and the head drive circuit 3
Driven by four. Cutting of the printed tape is performed by, for example, an external force from a user or a cutter (not shown) driven by a motor (not shown).

In the case of this embodiment, a liquid crystal display 35 is provided as a display section, and the liquid crystal display 35 is controlled by the control section 20.
6, the input character string, various attribute information, the print image at the time of layout display, etc. are directly displayed, and the indicator corresponding to the character string indicating the attribute written around the display 35 of the apparatus main body is turned on. Is configured to. The liquid crystal display 35 has, for example, 16 dots in the width direction, and is smaller than the number of dots of the thermal head 32 (for example, 96 dots).
That is, the liquid crystal display 35 cannot display the print image in the layout at the same size.

The control unit 20 is composed of, for example, a microcomputer, and has a CPU 21, a ROM 22,
RAM23, character generator ROM (CG-R
The OM) 24, the input interface unit 25, and the output interface unit 26 are connected via a system bus 27.

The ROM 22 stores various processing programs and fixed data such as kana-kanji conversion dictionary data. The RAM 23 is used as a working memory and also stores fixed data related to user input. The RAM 23 is backed up even when the power is turned off.

In this embodiment, the ROM 22 stores a printing program 22a, the number of main-scan compressed dots (which will be described in detail later) 22b determined by the character size, and the line of the input sentence. A table 22c showing the relationship between the number and the dot position in the main scanning direction driven during layout display is stored. Also, RO
M22 stores the initial value (default value) of the attribute associated with each input sentence. In the case of this embodiment,
As an attribute that accompanies the input sentence, there is a print layout display flag that defines whether to automatically execute layout display when a print instruction is given, and its default value is to instruct execution of layout display. It is ready to go. Further, when the printing program 22a is executed, a work area for that purpose is stored in the RAM 23,
The dot development buffer 23a and the display buffer 23b are formed and prepared in connection with the layout display processing as a subroutine of the printing program 22a.

The CG-ROM 24 stores font information of characters and symbols prepared in the tape printer, and font information corresponding to when code data for specifying characters and symbols is given. Is output. Here, the font information stored in the CG-ROM 24 may be an outline font or a bitmap font. In this embodiment, the CG-ROM 24 is operated during the layout display operation.
Is never used.

The input interface unit 25 is the input unit 10.
The output interface unit 26 serves as an interface between the output unit 30 and the control unit 20.

The CPU 21 uses the processing program in the ROM 22 determined according to the input signal from the input unit 10 and the processing stage at that time, while using the RAM 23 as a working area and, if necessary, the ROM 22 and the RAM 2.
The fixed data stored in No. 3 is used as appropriate for processing, and the processing status and processing result are displayed on the liquid crystal display 35 or printed on a tape (not shown).

(B) Printing Operation of Embodiment Next, an outline of the printing operation of the tape printer of the embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 1 in addition to FIG. here,
FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing the printing operation in this embodiment.

A key 11 for instructing printing by the user
When a is operated, the CPU 21 starts the printing program 22a shown in FIG. As a result, a buffer related to printing (for example, the dot development buffer 23a or the display buffer 23b) is also formed and prepared in the RAM 23. The printing instruction is accepted only when the input text is displayed on the liquid crystal display 35, and the printing program 22a shown in FIG. 1A can be started.

When the printing process is started, the CPU 21 first confirms the contents of the print layout display flag attached to the sentence being displayed (step 50). Here, if the print layout display flag indicates the non-display state, the print layout display flag is changed to the displayed state, and then the print image (layout) of the sentence is displayed on the liquid crystal display 35 ( Steps 51 and 5
2). On the other hand, if the print-time layout display flag indicates the display completed state, the print processing described later (step 54).
Proceed immediately to. The layout display process will be described later in detail.

As described above, the print layout display flag is set in an undisplayed state as an initial value for the created input sentence. Further, as shown in FIG. 1B, the state of the print-time layout display flag is not operated when the key input is sensed unless the key input is to change or edit a sentence. (Steps 60 and 61), if the key input is to change or edit a sentence, it is set to the undisplayed state regardless of whether the previous state is the undisplayed state or the displayed state ( Steps 60, 62, 63).

When the layout display is executed, the CPU 21 takes in the instruction contents of the user's continuation of printing or forced termination and discriminates the contents (step 53).
If the printing is to be continued, the same printing process as the conventional one is executed to end the series of printing processes (step 54). If the printing is forced to end, the series of processes is immediately ended without executing the printing.

The user confirms the display contents of the layout, gives an instruction to continue the print processing when the desired layout is realized, and forcibly terminates the print processing when the desired layout is not realized. Instruct.

Here, the instruction for continuing printing or forcibly ending printing is
Alternatively, only the continuation key 11b may be provided, and a forced termination key (for example, a processing mode cancel key) may be provided.
Only the key 11b may be provided, or both keys (11b) may be provided.

In the first case, when the key built in the timer of the CPU 21 is pressed within a predetermined time from the start of the layout display, the processing is continued when the key 11b is pressed.
When this key 11b is not pressed within the predetermined time, it is forcibly terminated. In the second case, the timer built in the CPU 21 is forcibly terminated when the key 11b is pressed within a predetermined time from the start of the layout display to the timing,
When this key 11b is not pressed within this predetermined time, the processing is continued. In the third case, the process is continued by pressing the continue key, and is forcedly ended by pressing the forced end key.

As described above, in this embodiment, the layout display process is provided as a part of the printing process, and the user does not need to collect and instruct the layout display process. Further, for the same sentence, the layout display by the print instruction is performed only once.

(C) Layout Display Operation Next, the layout display operation executed as part of the printing process will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5 in addition to FIG.

Here, FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the layout display operation in this embodiment, FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of the contents stored in the buffer during the operation, and FIG. 5 is the number of lines of the input sentence. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship with a dot position in a width direction (main scanning direction) on the liquid crystal display 35 driven during layout display.

As a layout display method of this embodiment, a conventional layout display method can be applied. However, the conventional layout display method requires a relatively long time for its processing. Therefore, as described above, when the layout display process is included in the print process, the entire print process takes a very long time. Therefore, in this embodiment, the layout display method shown in FIG. 3 that can perform layout display at high speed is adopted.

When the layout display process is started, the CPU 21 first fetches the width information of the loaded tape from the tape width detection sensor 12 (step 100).
Next, the CPU 21 recognizes the attribute information attached to the input sentence and determines various data necessary for the following processing from the tape width information, the attribute information, and the information of the input sentence itself (step 101, 102).

Here, the recognized attribute information is almost the same as the attribute information recognized in the printing process, and the character size of each line or character, the character decoration, the character pitch, the number of lines, and the like. Vertical writing, horizontal writing, etc. However, in the layout display operation of this embodiment, unlike the printing process, the hatching and the surrounding ruled line are not recognized. In this embodiment, a simple display of the layout (print image) is intended, and hatching and enclosing ruled lines are omitted in the layout display. When the character size is specified as a relative value (for example, the character size of three lines is specified as "large / small"),
It is necessary to convert it to an absolute value according to the tape width information.

When the tape is not loaded,
The series of processes may be forcibly terminated without executing the layout display, or the process may be continued assuming that a tape having the minimum width or the maximum width is loaded. You may make it display the message asking for loading.

The data determined from the tape width information and the attribute information includes the number of main scanning compressed dots to be used, the reduction ratio in the sub scanning direction, the display dot position in the main scanning direction, the length of the label and the like.

In the layout display of this embodiment, the shape of each character does not matter, and as shown in FIG. 4A, each character is regarded as a rectangle (parallelogram in the case of italic characters) and processed. It is supposed to do. Note that FIG.
Is not for explaining the operation, but for explaining the above assumptions. Further, in this embodiment, the size information of each character in the main scanning direction is not included in the layout display (though it can be judged to some extent from the information in the sub scanning direction), and therefore the size in the sub scanning direction is set. All you need is information. Therefore, the ROM 22 stores information 22b on the number of compressed dots in the main scanning, which defines only the character size (or whether italic characters or not) and the size in the sub-scanning direction determined by vertical writing and horizontal writing. The number of main-scan compressed dots used in the layout display is determined.

For example, in the case of horizontal writing, the number of dots in the lower side of the rectangular shape (parallelogram in the case of italic characters) related to the character of the basic character size of the line is prepared as the number of compressed dots in the main scanning. , In the case of vertical writing, the number of dots on the right side (the height of the parallelogram in the case of italic characters) of the rectangular shape related to the character of the basic character size of the line is prepared as the number of compressed dots in the main scanning. .

It is also possible to compress the rectangular shape as shown in FIG. 4 in the main scanning direction (by taking the logical product) to form the main scanning compressed dot number, but such processing is performed in the layout display processing. However, the high-speed processing of the layout display intended in this embodiment cannot be realized, and it is preferable to form and store the number of main-scan compressed dots in advance.

In this embodiment, although the size information in the main scanning direction is not provided in the layout display, the size in the width direction (main scanning direction) of the liquid crystal display 35 is associated with the tape width in a one-to-one correspondence. There is. Therefore, for example, when the maximum number of dots (the number of tape width dots) that can be printed by the thermal head 32 is 80 dots, and when the layout display is performed on the liquid crystal display 35 having 16 dots in the width direction, 1 /
A reduction of 5 is required. Here, since the size in the main scanning direction does not matter, this reduction ratio may be applied only in the sub scanning direction. Such a reduction ratio in the sub-scanning direction is determined as described above.

As described above, in this embodiment, since the size in the main scanning direction is not included in the layout display, there is no problem even if the display position in the main scanning direction of each row is fixed. However, if you make the display position of each line the same for different numbers of lines,
That is, if the display positions of the first line and the second line in the two-line text are set to be the same as the display positions of the first line and the second line in the four-line text, the sense of discomfort given to the user is increased. To do. Therefore, in this embodiment, the fixed display position of each line in the main scanning direction is changed according to the number of lines, and such information is prepared in the ROM 22 as a table 22c in advance. FIG. 5 shows an example of the contents stored in such a table 22c, in the case where the number of dots in the width direction of the liquid crystal display 35 is 16 dots. Therefore, in step 102, the display position in the main scanning direction is determined according to the number of lines of the current text.

Further, the label length (which is also information defining the length in the sub-scanning direction in the layout display) is determined from the character size and the number of characters in each line.

In the tape printing apparatus in which the character size is given as an absolute value, it may be determined in such a determination step whether printing can be executed within the width of the loaded tape. For example, if the print area does not fit within the width of the tape or the tape is not loaded, the display colors (white and black) of the background part and the character part are set to the reverse of the normal layout display. The reverse / reverse display flag may be set.

When various kinds of data are determined as described above, the CPU 21 executes the dot development processing in the sub-scanning direction to the dot development buffer 23a (step 10).
3), reduction conversion in the sub-scanning direction and display buffer 23b
Storing processing (step 104) and scroll processing by the liquid crystal display 35 (step 105) are sequentially executed. Note that these three types of processing are performed by the buffer 2
Depending on the capacities of 3a and 23b, parallel processing may be performed by time division based on the number of clocks.

Dot development in the sub-scanning direction to the dot development buffer 22b is performed as follows, for example.

In the case of this embodiment, in the layout display,
Since the size in the main scanning direction does not matter, a dot development buffer 23a having a length in the sub scanning direction corresponding to the length of the label may be prepared.
As shown in (b), it suffices that the rows can be distinguished in the main scanning direction. If the sentence has a section (sentence section) having a different number of lines, the CPU 21 performs the expansion process for each sentence section. For example, for the first line of the head-side text block, the number of dots in the head-side tape margin is secured as the background, and then the main-scan compressed dot number corresponding to the character size of the character of the first character is displayed. With the number of dots corresponding to the inter-pitch as the background, then the number of main-scan compressed dots corresponding to the character size of the second character is displayed, and
The same expansion process is repeated. Similar expansion processing is executed for the second line. When the expansion processing of the first text section is completed and there is a subsequent text section, the same processing as above is performed on the area of the dot expansion buffer 23a after the end position of the first text section. Here, FIG. 4B shows a state where the label having the print contents shown in FIG. 4A is developed in the dot development buffer 23a when the character is represented by a rectangular shape.

The reduction conversion in the sub-scanning direction and the storage processing in the display buffer 23b are performed as follows, for example.
After confirming the display dot position of the first line of the first sentence section in the main scanning direction, the CPU 21 takes out the logical value of the number of dot expansion buffers 23a which is the reciprocal of the determined reduction ratio, and uses the logical sum to obtain the background. A value representing a dot or a character dot is obtained and stored in the display buffer 23b, and thereafter, the logical sum operation for each number and the storage in the display buffer 23b are repeated. For example, when the reduction ratio is 1/3 and the value of 3 dots consecutive in the sub-scanning direction stored in the dot development buffer 23a is "000" (0 represents the background portion), the display buffer 23b. 1 for the background part
If there is at least one "1" representing the character portion in the value of consecutive 3 dots, one "1" representing the character portion is stored in the display buffer 23b. In this way, the reduction conversion of 1/3 in the sub-scanning direction and the display buffer 2
Storage in 3b is executed. Similar processing is performed on other lines, and similar processing is performed on other text sections.

Thus, at the end of such processing, the process shown in FIG.
There is no size in the main scanning direction as shown in (c), and in the sub scanning direction, the print contents are reduced at a predetermined reduction ratio and stored in the display buffer 23b.

When the reverse display flag is set because the print area exceeds the tape width, for example, the logical values of the background part and the character part are reversed when the flag is stored in the display buffer 23b. Just do it.

In the scroll processing, the display buffer 23b
The length of the liquid crystal display 35 in the longitudinal direction (sub-scanning direction) stored therein is taken out and displayed as an initial image for a predetermined time, and then the read address from the display buffer 23b is sequentially changed. Scrolling is stopped at the timing when the contents of the final position of the display buffer 23b in the sub-scanning direction are displayed at the right end of the liquid crystal display 35, and the process proceeds to the above-mentioned step 51 for determining whether to continue printing or forcibly terminate.

(D) Effect of the embodiment Therefore, according to the above embodiment, the layout display is automatically executed first when the print processing is instructed. Therefore, the user collects the layout display. The layout (print image) can be confirmed without instructing. As a result, useless labels can be prevented from occurring and the layout display function can be effectively used.

Incidentally, providing the layout display process as a part of the printing process can be applied to other information processing devices such as a word processor. However, information processing devices other than tape printers handle a large number of characters, and layout display is executed for each page, and confirmation instructions are also required for each page. Is not practical. That is, it can be said that providing the layout display process as a part of the printing process effectively functions only in the tape printer.

Further, according to the above-described embodiment, the user does not need to separately instruct the printing process and the layout process, and the operability is improved.

Further, according to the above-described embodiment, the character portion and the background portion are mixed in the sub-scanning direction like the print image, and the layout is made in the fixed position in the main scanning direction, which is fixed according to the number of lines. Since the display is performed, the processing is simpler than the conventional layout display method, the layout display can be performed at high speed, and even if the layout processing is included in the print processing, the user can save time. You can avoid feeling a problem.

In the main scanning direction, a layout display that is not faithful to the print image is displayed, but the purpose of the user requesting the layout display in the tape printer is to confirm that the end positions of the lines are aligned. Is actually 90% or more, and such a layout display function is sufficient, and it can be considered that the conventional layout display function provides excessive service.

Furthermore, according to the above-described embodiment, the layout display flag at the time of printing is attached to the text, and the state of this flag is appropriately manipulated, so that the layout display associated with the print instruction can be set to 1 for the text having the same content. This can be done only once, and it is possible to prevent an inconvenience from occurring due to the inclusion of the layout display process in the print process. For example, when creating a plurality of labels of the same sentence, layout display is sufficient once.

(E) Other Embodiments Incidentally, the user may be allowed to fix the state of the layout display flag at the time of printing to the displayed state. Even if changed, the layout display associated with the print instruction is not executed.

In addition to the layout display process included in the print process, a layout display process based on a key operation and performed independently of the print process may be provided as in the conventional case.

Further, a conventional layout display method may be applied to the layout display process executed as a part of the printing process. For example, if the conventional layout display method, which is the same as the dot development method for printing processing, is applied during layout display processing, the dot pattern developed for layout display is instructed to continue printing after layout display. Also, the printing process can be used, and the printing process can be performed at high speed.

[0069]

As described above, according to the present invention, the layout display means for displaying the text image printed on the tape on the display device, the printing means for printing the instructed text on the tape, and the printing instruction. Then, the layout display means is first driven to display the layout of the text to be printed, and then either the text is printed by the printing means or the print instruction is forcibly released based on an instruction from the user. Since the print processing control means for executing the above is provided, the layout display function can be effectively used by the user to prevent the generation of useless labels, and a tape printing apparatus with good operability can be realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a process related to a layout display process associated with a print instruction according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an example.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a layout display process of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of contents stored in a buffer during a layout display operation according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the number of lines of an input sentence and the display position in the main scanning direction during layout display according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Input part, 11 ... Key input part, 11a ... Print instruction key, 11b ... Printing continue / forced stop instruction key, 12 ... Tape width detection sensor, 20 ... Control part, 21 ... CPU, 22 ...
ROM, 22a ... Printing program, 22b ... Main scanning compressed dot number, 22c ... Table showing relation between number of lines of input sentence and main scanning direction display position at layout display, 23
... RAM, 23a ... Dot development buffer, 23b ... Display buffer, 30 ... Output unit, 31 ... Tape / ribbon feed motor, 32 ... Thermal head, 35 ... Liquid crystal display.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. In a tape printing apparatus for printing an input sentence consisting of a character string of one or more lines on a tape, cutting the printed tape, and discharging the tape, the sentence image printed on the tape is displayed on a display device. Layout display means, a printing means for printing the instructed text on the tape, and when the printing is instructed, first the layout display means is driven to display the layout of the text to be printed, and then the user A tape printing apparatus, comprising: a printing process control means for executing one of printing of a sentence by the printing means and forced release of the printing instruction on the basis of the instruction. 2. The layout display means is a reduction ratio for associating a display width in the main scanning direction with a display size in the sub-scanning direction, and main scanning of each line determined according to the number of lines of an input sentence. Direction display position, and the information determination unit that determines the number of dots corresponding to the length of each line in the sub-scanning direction when the shape of each character in each line is regarded as a quadrangle, and each line of the input text On the other hand, in the main scanning direction, a fixed number of dots irrelevant to the shape of each character, in the sub-scanning direction, the dot expansion unit that expands to the determined number of dots, and in the sub-scanning direction the dot pattern of each expanded line The display content storage unit that reduces the dot pattern of each line at the determined display position and stores it in the display buffer, and the content stored in the display buffer. Tape printing device according to claim 1, characterized in that it consists of a Shimesuru display unit. 3. An input sentence is accompanied by a print layout display flag, and immediately after creation, and immediately after editing or modification, the print layout display flag associated with the input sentence is set to a non-display state, and a layout display according to a print instruction is displayed. When the printing is performed, the printing layout display flag control means for setting the printing layout display flag to the displayed state is provided, and when the printing processing control means is in the undisplayed state, the printing layout display flag is prior to printing. 3. The tape printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the layout display is executed, and the printing is executed immediately when the layout display flag during printing is in the display completed state.