JPH0751373B2 - Electronic labeler - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial field of application> The present invention relates to a manual electronic labeler equipped with a printing device that can be driven by electrical means.

<Prior Art> This type of electronic labeler that has been conventionally used is Japanese Patent Publication No.
As disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 567 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 28331/1987, it is possible to drive and control a printing device such as a thermal graphic printing head or other means for transferring label tape by an electric circuit having a microprocessor. The printing device is configured to print the required items on the label by the printing information input to the electric circuit, that is, the printing data relating to the printing characters or the information obtained by combining the printing data relating to the printing mode. Has been.

For this reason, the conventional electronic labeler of this kind has a numeric keyboard for inputting print information, and the user individually creates print information with this numeric keyboard and inputs it to an electric circuit when using the labeler. Was.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> In the conventional electronic labeler, since print information is created by the ten-keyboard keyboard provided in each labeler, it takes time to create print information and work efficiency is poor. In addition to the problem, there is also a problem that human error is inevitable during the creation of print information, and this artificial print information creation error is caused by a large number of labelers, such as in supermarkets. There is also a problem that the occurrence rate is high and causes confusion at business establishments.

Furthermore, in the above supermarket, when the product price is changed, the print information after correction is individually created or input for each labeler in use, or the print information stored in the labeler is called. Since it is necessary to correct the print information, there are many opportunities for the user to create the print information, and even from this point, there is a problem that a mistake in creating the print information may occur frequently.

Also, recently, since this kind of electronic labeler is often connected to a host computer and the number of labels issued and the contents are aggregated in the computer, it is often the case that a mistake in creating print information causes an error in computer processing. A problem is emerging that it causes a large impact on sales planning and product management.

<Means for Solving the Problems> In the electronic labeler of the present invention, the print information is created in advance by an external device, and the print information created in this manner is sequentially assigned an identification number and is grouped in large numbers. Stored in the electrical circuit 30 of the labeler.

For this purpose, the memory section 32 in the electric circuit is provided with a RAM system section 322 and a RAM print information storage section 323, and this print information storage section 323 is used as a part of the RAM system section 322. The large number of print information in the print information storage unit 323 is searched by the search unit 33 provided in the labeler casing 10, and a desired one is taken out, and the selected print information is used as the print information for actual use. Printed on the label.

As the search means of the search unit 33, search keys 331, 33 are used.
A suitable number of 2,333,334 are provided, and the print information stored by these keys is sequentially taken out and the display 34
Displayed above.

As the search means, a voice identification means can be used, and in this case, the search unit 33 is composed of a voice input device and a voice identification device.

The print information storage unit 323 is converted into a card to be a RAM card 323 ′.
It can also be made in this case, and in this case, by inserting the RAM card 323 'in the casing 10 of the labeler freely
You can use the RAM card 323 '.

The memory section 32 of the electric circuit 30 is provided with a RAM usage information recording section 324 for recording the printing information used for label printing, and the usage data about the used printing information recorded in the recording section 324. Is supplied to an external device such as a host computer.

The usage information recording unit 324 is converted into a card to record the recording card 324 '.
Can also be used as a recording card 32 in this case
A large number of recording cards 324 'can be used by inserting the 4'into the casing 10 so that it can be inserted and removed freely.

It is desirable to provide the electric circuit 30 with a bar data input section 39 by a pen scanner 70. Data obtained when the pen scanner 70 scans a bar code is input to the bar data input section 39, and the same print information as the input bar data is retrieved from the print information storage section 323. That is, in this case, the pen scanner 70 is one of the search means.
It will be used as a seed.

Furthermore, the memory section 32 of the electric circuit 30 creates print information by an external bar code scanned and read by the pen scanner 70, or alternatively, this print information is stored in a print information storage section.
It can be stored in 323. In this case, the electric circuit 30
Since the bar data of the bar code scanned by the pen scanner 70 can be sent to the printing device 40 as print information, the bar code read by the pen scanner 70 is printed on the label 52, and accordingly the pen scanner 70 Is used as a copy means.

<Operation> In the electronic labeler of the present invention, since a large amount of print information is stored in the memory unit 32 in advance, only the required print information is selected by the search unit 33, and the actual label printing is performed. Used for.

For this purpose, search keys 331 to 334 are prepared in the search unit 33, and the print information stored in the print information storage unit 323 can be searched by using these keys, or can be printed by voice, for example. Search by uttering the identification number of the information.

When the print information extracted by the search is transferred to the RAM system section 322, the operation switch 35 starts the label issuing operation, and the label issuing operation is performed in the same manner as the conventional electronic labeler.

In the electronic labeler of the present invention, since the details of the print information used for issuing the label are recorded in the used print information recording unit 324 of the electric circuit 30, the label for each product is supplied by supplying this record to the host computer. It is possible to analyze information such as the amount issued and the time of issue.

As described above, if a scanner is attached to the electronic labeler of the present invention, an external bar code is read and the bar code is compared with print information of the bar code stored inside, and the read bar code is stored in a memory. It can be stored in the part 32.

<Examples> FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a first example of the labeler of the present invention.
In this embodiment, the labeler A of the present invention receives a large amount of print information from the data generator B, for example, print data relating to characters or symbols to be printed, or information such as a combination of this print data and a print format relating to the printing mode. It is configured like.

The labeler A has the same structure as the conventional labeler disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 28311/1987, but does not include a numeric keyboard as an input means.
Also, it differs from the conventional labeler in the aspect of drive control by an electric circuit, particularly a microprocessor.

In the labeler of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, a casing 10 is composed of an L-shaped housing portion 11 and a handle 12 extending between free ends of the housing portion 11, and is shown in FIG. As described above, while the power supply battery 20 is housed in the handle 12, the electric circuit 30 is provided in the housing portion 11, the printing device 40 driven and controlled by the electric circuit 30, for example, the thermal graphic print head, and the housing portion. The roll-shaped label tape 50 held by the boulder 13 provided in the housing and the transfer means 60 driven and controlled by the electric circuit 30 for transferring the label tape 50 are built in, and the housing portion 11 A label delivery port 14 through which a printed label is projected is formed in front of, and a press roller 15 as a label sticking means is provided in the delivery port 14.

Further, the bottom surface of the housing portion 11 has an opening / closing lid 16 which opens like a chain line.
It is made of the above-mentioned holder 13 inside the opening / closing lid 16.
Is provided, and a turn-back portion 17 for turning back the transfer tape 51 of the label tape 5 is provided at the rotating end, and these configurations are similar to those of the conventional labeler.

As described above, it is desirable to use a thermal type print head such as a thermal graphic print head as the printing device 40, and this configuration is similar to the conventional labeler.

In the labeler tape 50, a large number of labels 52 are temporarily affixed to a long transfer tape 51 so that they can be sequentially peeled off, and optical marks such as black dots (not shown) are provided on the back surface of the transfer tape 51 for each label. The label tape like this
50 is the same as that conventionally used for labelers.

The transfer means 60 includes a drive source such as a step motor 61 and a feed roller mechanism 62 driven by the step motor 61.
And a detection means 63 such as a photoelectric conversion element which detects the optical mark on the label tape 50 and sends a detection signal to the electric circuit 30.
When the detection means 63 generates a detection signal, the electric circuit 30 temporarily stops the step motor 61, whereby the label 52 of the label tape 50 is placed at a predetermined position with respect to the printing device 40. It is configured so that it can be stopped, and such a configuration is similar to that of the conventional labeler.

As shown in FIG. 3, the electric circuit 30 includes a drive controller 31,
For example, it has a microcomputer (MPU) and a memory unit 32, and this memory unit 32 is a ROM program unit 321 and a RAM.
It includes a system unit 322, a RAM print information storage unit 323, and a RAM usage information recording unit 324.

The drive control unit 31 is the ROM program unit 321 of the memory unit 32.
And the RAM system unit 322 determines the operation.
Required print information is supplied from the print information storage unit 323 to the RAM system unit 322, and a large number of print information is supplied to the print information storage unit 323 from an external print information creating means, for example, the data creating machine B, all at once. A large number of these pieces of print information are stored in the print information storage unit 323 with a series of identification numbers.

The drive control unit 31 includes the printing device 40 and a step motor.
61 and a drive signal to the detection means 63
In response to the detection signal from, the timing of generation of the drive signal is determined.

The electric circuit 30 is provided with a search unit 33, and the search unit 33 is configured to select the print information stored in the print information storage unit 323 and send it to the RAM system unit 322.

In the embodiment, the search unit 33 includes a forward key 331 for sequentially searching the print information in the forward direction, that is, from a small number to a large number, and a predetermined number of the print information, for example, 50.
Fast forward key 332 for skipping forward in the forward direction for address # 3, and backward key 33 for searching the print information in the backward direction in sequence for address # 1
3, and a predetermined number of the print information, for example, a fast-return key 334 for jumping and searching in the backward direction addressed to No. 50, and first by the fast-forward key 332 or the fast-return key 334,
It is designed so that the vicinity of the identification number of the required print information is searched, and then the forward key 331 or the backward key 333 is used to retrieve the identification number of the desired print information.

That is, in this way, for example, assuming that the print information storage unit 323 stores 1000 pieces of print information sequentially assigned with identification numbers from 000 to 999, the 555 of the print information is stored. When the print information is used, first, the fast forward key 332 or the fast reverse key 334 is operated to search the print information of No. 550, and then the forward key 331 is used to move the identification number forward by 5. For example, it is possible to take out 555th print information from 1000 print information at an early stage.

The electric circuit 30 further includes a display 34, an actuation switch 35 such as a trigger switch for issuing a label, a power switch 36, a print information transmission / reception interface 37, and a connector.
38 and the like, and a pen scanner bar data input unit 39 may be additionally provided for the second embodiment described later.

The display unit 34 displays the content of the print information selected by the search unit 33, and is composed of a liquid crystal display equipped with a backup battery 341 in the embodiment, and is displayed on the label on the display unit 34. Information is printed.

The above-mentioned operation switch 35 causes the electric circuit
The drive controller 31, in particular, is operated so that the label tape 50 is transferred and the label 52 is printed.

This operation switch 35 can be used for other than label issuing so as to operate, and this is set by the ROM program unit 321.

The power switch 36 is connected to the power battery 20,
The electric circuit 30 and the power source 20 are disconnected by the opening / closing operation.

The interface 37 is mainly composed of an external device such as the host computer or the data generator B and the memory unit 32.
It is provided for transmitting and receiving storage print information, used print information, and the like to and from, and this information is transmitted and received through the connector 38.

In the electronic labeler of the present invention, as in the second embodiment shown in FIG. 4, a pen scanner 70 is attached to scan the bar code and print bar data as print information through the pen scanner bar data input section 39. It may be supplied to the memory unit 32.

In this case, the print information corresponding to the bar code read by the pen scanner 70 is searched and the sorting action is taken out from the memory unit 32, and the bar data as the print information is created from the bar code read by the pen scanner 70. Memory part 32
And a copy act of writing to, a bar code corresponding to the bar code read by the pen scanner 70 by the selecting act is taken out from the print information storage unit 323,
While the label 52 can be printed on the label 52, the same barcode as the barcode read by the pen scanner can be printed on the label 52 by the copying action.

The print information storage unit 323 is only required to be able to store a large number of print information created externally in advance. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, it may be made into a card and detachably attached to the casing 10. . In this case, for example, the host computer C creates print information and records it on the RAM card 323 'using the card reader / writer R.
323 ′ may be inserted into the electric circuit 30 as the print information storage unit 323.

Therefore, in this embodiment, a card socket 18 is provided in the housing portion 11 of the casing 10 in this embodiment, and a RAM card 323 'is inserted into and removed from the socket 18.

The use information recording unit 324 records the use of print information. As shown in FIG. 3, a time management unit 324a is attached so that the time function can be managed by adding a clock function. There is. As a result, it is possible to record in the use information recording unit 324 which print information has been used and how many times it has been used over time, so it is necessary to record how many labels are issued for what kind of product in a specific time zone. Therefore, if the information of the use information recording unit 324 is supplied to the host computer C through the interface 37, it is possible to analyze the information and obtain product data, and product management, inventory adjustment and sales plan. It can be used for etc.

The use information recording section 324 can be made into a card like the print information storing section 323, so that the RAM recording card 324 'thus formed can be inserted into and removed from the card socket 19 of the housing section 11 freely. If it is configured to be inserted, the recording card 324 ′ as the usage information recording unit 324 is the card reader / reader.
The used print information can be processed by the writer R and supplied to the host computer C.

In the above process, the print information may be created by the host computer C and directly supplied to the print information storage unit 323 of the electric circuit 30, or the use information recording unit 324.
Can send the recorded contents directly to the host computer C. Furthermore, the search for the print information can be performed by voice in addition to the key button and the pen scanner. In this case, a sound receiving unit is provided in the housing portion 11 and a voice input device or a voice input device is provided in the electric circuit 30. It is necessary to provide a voice discriminating means having a voice discriminator or the like as the search unit 33.

Next, the operation of the labeler of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, close the power switch 36 and turn on the electric circuit 30,
The print information currently selected is displayed on the display unit 34.

This print information is printed on the label 52 by operating the operation switch 35, and the label 52 is a transfer tape.
Due to the transfer of 51, the transfer tape 51 is peeled off and the delivery port 14
It is made to advance from and is further pressed to the product by the pressing roller 15. Thus, this label issuing operation is executed one by one or continuously every time the operation switch 35 is operated.
The print information printed on 52 and the number of labels to be issued are recorded and stored in the usage information recording section 324 and transmitted to the host computer C as described above. When changing the print information on the label 52, the search unit 33 is operated without operating the operation switch 35 to search and select desired print information from the large number of print information stored in the print information storage unit 323. .

This search is performed by the fast-forward key 332 and the fast-reverse key 3 as described above.
This is executed by performing a high speed search using 34 and then performing a low speed search using the forward key 331 or the backward key 333.

The print information retrieved and selected in this manner is displayed on the display 34, and by operating the operation switch 35,
As described above, the label 52 is printed, and the label 52 is projected from the delivery port 14 of the housing portion 11.

The transmission / reception with the external device of the electronic labeler of the present invention is performed by the search unit.
Done with 33 keys.

In this case, the keys 331, 332, 333, 334 are used as mode selection keys and are operated before closing the power switch 36.

In the preferred embodiment, the fast rewind key 334 is used to select the scanner search mode, which is selected by pressing the power switch 36 with the key 334 held down.

When this mode is selected, the electric circuit 30 displays the barcode print information scanned by the pen scanner 70 in the print information storage unit 32.
It is searched whether or not it exists in 3, and if it exists, it is displayed on the display 34, and it is selected as print information to be actually used, and this print information is selected by operating the operation switch 35. The barcode is printed on the label and the label issuing operation is performed as described above.

And the reverse key 333 is also used to select the scanner copy mode, which is selected by pressing the power switch 36 with the key 333 pressed.

When this mode is selected, the electric circuit 30 causes the RAM system unit 322 to record the bar code scanned by the pen scanner 70 as the print information to be actually used, displays this on the display 34, and the operation switch 35. The barcode is printed on the label and issued by operating.

Next, the fast-forward key 332 is used to select the print information receiving mode, and is selected by pressing the power switch 36 while the key 332 is being pressed. When this mode is selected, the host computer C and data generator B
A large amount of print information is sent from an external device such as the above to the print information storage unit 323 of the memory unit 32 and stored in the order of the identification numbers.

On the other hand, the forward key 331 is used to select the transmission mode of the issued print information, and when this mode is selected, the electric circuit 30 is transferred to the external device such as the host computer C in the use information recording section 324. Send the stored information about label printing.

Therefore, when the print information storage unit 323 and the usage information recording unit 324 are made into a card, the forward key 3 of the fast-forward key 332.
The mode selection operation by 31 and can be omitted.

Furthermore, the actuation switch 35 is used to select a printout mode that outputs a record for the issued label, which mode is selected by pressing the power switch 36 while the actuation switch 35 is held. To be done. When this mode is selected, when the power switch 36 is closed, a label on which the printed content of the label has been printed is printed. In this label issuing operation, usually one label is used as a print medium and the number of labels on which the print information currently displayed on the display 34 is printed is printed on the label.

<Effects of the Invention> The electronic labeler of the present invention stores a large number of print information created by an external device in advance in the memory unit 32 as described above, and one of the necessary print information is stored in the memory section 32. Since the print information is selected and selected, the label issuing work is much quicker than the conventional electronic labeler, in which the print information is individually created and input by the user, and mistakes in creating print information are prevented. There is an effect that it can be done, and since a large number of print information is created by a single external device, and this print information can be shared by many electronic labelers, the correctly created print information can be transferred to many labelers. There is an effect that it can be used.

Further, in the electronic labeler of the present invention, since the use information recording section 324 is provided in the memory section, there is an effect that the information on the issued label is supplied to the host computer and the data can be analyzed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an electronic labeler of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cutaway side view of an essential part showing the structure of the same labeler, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an electric circuit of the same labeler, FIGS. 4 and 5 are perspective views showing other embodiments of the same labeler, and FIG. 6 is a flow chart of the same labeler. In the figure, 10 is a casing, 11 is a housing part, 30 is an electric circuit, 31 is a drive control part, 32 is a memory part, 321 is a ROM program part, 322 is a RAM system part, 323 is a RAM print information storage part, and 324 is a RAM. Usage information recording unit, 33 is a search unit, 331 is a forward key, 332 is a fast forward key, 333 is a backward key, 334 is a fast return key, 34 is an indicator, 35 is an operation switch, 36 is a power switch, 37 is an interface, 39 is a pen scanner bar data input unit, 40 is a printing device, 50 is a label tape, 51 is a transfer tape, 52 is a label, 60 is a transfer means, and 70 is a pen scanner.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A casing having a handle and a housing portion, an electric circuit housed in the housing portion, a printing device driven by the electric circuit, and a transfer means, the electric circuit including a memory portion. The printing device is configured to print on the label tape according to the print information selected in the memory unit, and the transfer unit is configured to print the label tape. The label tape is configured to be intermittently transferred, and the label tape is transferred by folding the transfer tape so that the printed label is peeled off from the transfer tape and protruded from the outlet of the housing. In the labeler, the memory section of the electric circuit is a ROM program section, a RAM system section, a RAM print information storage section, and
And a RAM usage information recording unit, wherein the RAM print information storage unit is configured to store a large number of print information created by an external print information creating unit with sequential identification numbers.
The M use information recording unit is configured to record the use content of the print information used in the printing device and to supply the recorded information to an external device, and the casing stores the RAM print information storage unit in the RAM print information storage unit. An electronic labeler, which is provided with a search unit that retrieves a large number of printed information obtained and retrieves one required print information.