JPH0752469A - Printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform a printing by a natural layout even when voiced sound symbol characters or semivoiced sound symbol characters are selected and printed. CONSTITUTION:An optional 1 character from a larger number of characters which are listed on a cylindrical data drum 11 is selected by controlling a row selecting knob 13 and row selecting keys 15a-15j. When characters other than voiced sound symbol characters or semivoiced sound symbol characters on the data drum 11 are selected, a specified margin width is set to the characters which are printed by a previous character selection, by a carriage- control of a label tape 20, and a font corresponding to this time's selected character is read from a ROM, and a printing-output is done to the label tape 20. Also, when a voiced sound symbol character or semivoiced sound symbol character is selected, the setting of a margin is not done, and a printing-output is continuously done by reading the voiced sound symbol or semivoiced sound symbol font from the ROM, for the constitution of a printing device.

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 selectively inputting desired character / symbol data and sequentially printing it on a printing medium such as a label tape.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, electronic typewriters and word processors have been widely used as printing apparatuses for inputting and printing desired character strings. For example, a word processor performs correction, editing, etc., while storing the character string data that is keyed in on a display screen, and stores it in a document memory, and stores the character string data stored in the document memory in response to an instruction to start printing. This is for reading and printing with a printer. According to this word processor, desired character string data can be freely edited and created on the display screen, and the character string data to be printed can be printed in its entirety. Can be executed.

However, in such a word processor, various functions are installed in each of the input, display, edit, and print functions, which requires complicated operations and is expensive. .

[0004]

By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional printing apparatus, in the case of a dakuten character or a semi-dakuten character such as "ga" or "po", the basic printing of "ka" or "ho" is selected. Due to the provision of a blank space of a predetermined pitch, the dakuten or semi-dakuten is selected and printed, so the dakuten and semi-dakuten parts are greatly separated from their basic character parts, resulting in a very unnatural printing. There is a problem of layout.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing device that can print with a natural layout even when a dakuten character or a semi-dakuten character is selectively printed.

[0006]

That is, the printing apparatus according to the present invention has an input means for inputting a character or a supplementary sign, and when a character is input by this input means, the character is placed in front of the margin. Is provided and printed, and when the supplementary symbol is input, the control unit prints the supplementary symbol without providing a margin at the front thereof.

[0007]

In other words, the margin to be provided between the character and the symbol printed by the previous input operation is set before the printing of the input character associated with each input operation is started. For example, a dakuten or a half-dakuten is input. In this case, the margin setting is not made and the dull or semi-dakuten is printed. Therefore, the basic character part of the dakuten character or the semi-voiced sound character and the dakuten character or the semi-voiced sound part are not unnaturally separated from each other.

[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 diagram showing an external configuration of a label printer embodying the printing apparatus of the present invention.

A cylindrical data drum 11 is mounted on the label printer body 10. This data drum 1
Reference numeral 1 designates, on the surface of the drum, 320 individual characters / symbol characters such as kana characters of Japanese syllabary, voiced sound, semi-voiced sound, alphanumeric characters, English symbols, pictograms, for example, 32 in the cylinder rotation direction. Rows and rows are printed additionally in a matrix of 10 columns in the cylinder axis direction, and a certain row (13 rows in this case) on the data drum 11 is displayed through the drum window 12.

The data drum 11 is the printer body 1.
The row selection knobs 13 projecting on both sides of 0 are rotated together so that any data row on the data drum 11 is selected corresponding to the data selection window 14 located at the lower end of the drum window 12. Is displayed.

On the front face of the printer body 10, ten column selection keys 15a to 1 are provided along the data selection window 14.
5j is provided, and one character in one data row selectively displayed in the data selection window 14 is selected and designated by the selection operation of the column selection keys 15a to 15j.

Further, on the front surface of the printer body 10,
A power switch 16 that is operated when the power is turned on and off, and a battery indicator 1 that warns when the battery level is low
7. Typeface change switch 18 for switching and designating Mincho typeface printing, Gothic typeface printing or shaded typeface printing, when repeatedly printing up to 32 characters of data which is printed immediately before and is stored in the built-in input buffer There are provided an "end again" key 19 to be operated and an "end" key 21 to be operated when erasing the data stored in the input buffer.

Further, inside the printer main body 10, a tape cassette of a label tape 20 as a medium to be printed is mounted in a tape cassette storage portion (not shown), and the printed label tape 20 is printed by a printer through a tape cutting mechanism (not shown). The tape is discharged from the tape discharge port on the side surface of the main body 10.

That is, for example, the typeface changeover switch 18
After designating "Mincho," the row selection knob 13 is rotated to display the first row "Ako" of the data drum 11 in the data selection window 14, and the column selection key 15a is operated. If you specify the character "a" with
The font pattern “a” stored corresponding to the 1st row and 1st column of the (Mincho type) area of the built-in font ROM is read and printed on the label tape 20.

That is, every time the column selection keys 15a to 15j are selected and operated, one character on the drum 11 displayed in the data selection window 14 is designated corresponding to the column selection key, and the typeface is designated. Label tape according to 20
Is printed out.

Here, the margin of a predetermined pitch to be provided between the individual characters printed on the label tape 20 in accordance with the character selection is a predetermined pitch immediately before printing the selected character when selecting the character for the second and subsequent times. The minute label tape 20 is conveyed and set.

In this case, when the selected character is a dakuten or a semi-dakuten, the above-mentioned margin setting is not performed, and the font pattern of the dakuten or the semi-dakuten is read and continuously printed.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the electronic circuit of the label printer. This label printer is C
The PU 31 controls the operation of each part of the circuit. The CPU 31 has a key switch 33, a mode switch 34, a font ROM 35, a power supply 36, and a reset in addition to the roll switch 32 mounted on the data drum 11. A signal generating circuit 37, a vibrator (ceralock) 38,
The battery indicator 17 is connected, and the pulse motor 40 is connected via the pulse motor driver 39.
Further, a line type thermal head 42 is connected via a thermal head driver 41.

The roll switch section 32 is provided with a data selection window 14 by a row selection knob 13 of the printer body 10.
The roll switch unit 3 detects one data row out of 32 rows on the data drum 11 selected corresponding to
The roll switch signal 43 from 2 is supplied to the CPU 31.

The key input section 33 is composed of the column selection keys 15a to 15d of the printer main body 10, the "more and more" key 19 and the "end" key 21, and the keys from the key input section 33. Out signal 44 is C
The key-in signal 45 from the CPU 31 is supplied to the PU 31, and is also supplied to the key input unit 33.

The mode switch section 34 comprises a power switch 16 and a typeface changeover switch 18 in the printer body 10. A mode switch signal 46 from the mode switch section 34 is supplied to the CPU 11.

In the font ROM 35, 320 characters / symbols and dakuten /
Font data such as semi-voiced points are stored in correspondence with the respective fonts of Mincho typeface, Gothic typeface, and shaded type. The read control signal 47 for the font ROM 35 is supplied from the CPU 11 and its read address is It is transferred via the address bus 48, and the read data is transferred via the data bus 49.

Here, both the dakuten font and the half-dakuten font stored in the font ROM 35 are stored as half-width patterns. In addition, the power supply unit 36,
A power supply control signal 50 is supplied from the CPU 11, a predetermined power supply voltage is supplied to each part of the circuit when the power switch 16 is turned on, and the reset signal generating circuit 37 is also provided.
Reset signal 5 from CPU to CPU 31 for initial setting
1 is supplied.

Further, the pulse motor control signal 52 from the CPU 31 is supplied to the pulse motor driver 39, and the pulse motor 40 is rotated to rotate the platen 53.

Further, the thermal head control signal 54 from the CPU 31 is supplied to the thermal head driver 41, and the thermal head 42 is driven to generate heat. On the other hand, CP
U31 includes an input buffer 55 and a flag register (F
1) 56a and (F2) 56b are connected.

The input buffer 55 converts the roll switch signal 43 from the roll switch unit 32 and the key-out signal 44 corresponding to the column selection keys 15a to 15j from the key input unit 33 into 1/320 character selected. Corresponding character codes for 32 characters are sequentially stored. A mode switch signal 46 corresponding to the character code stored in the input buffer 55 and the typeface changeover switch 18 from the mode switch section 34 is stored.
According to the printed font pattern is the above font ROM
Read from 35.

The flag register (F1) 56a contains:
"0" is set when the first character is selected, and "1" is set when the second and subsequent characters are selected. In the flag register (F2) 56b, "1" is set when a dakuten or semi-dakuten character is selected, and "0" is set when any other character is selected.

That is, the printed font pattern selectively read from the font ROM 35 via the data bus 49 in accordance with the character code written in the input buffer 55 by the character selection is line type from the thermal head driver 41. Each line pattern is thermally transferred and printed on the label tape 20 via the thermal head 42, and the label tape 20 is conveyed by the platen 53 which is rotationally driven by the pulse motor 40 in synchronization with the transfer timing of the one line pattern.

Here, each full-width font pattern stored in the font ROM 35 is 32 dots vertically × 28 do horizontally.
It is composed of a font pattern of ts, and the feeding interval of the label tape 20 per dot line when printing this font pattern is set to 0.157 mm (/ dot).

Therefore, the transport distance of the label tape 20 accompanying the printing of the one-byte font pattern is 4.396 mm (=
0.157mm × 28dots) The conveyance distance of the label tape 20 for printing a one-byte font pattern is 2.198.
mm (= 0.157 mm × 14 dots), and the margin width between print characters is set to 10 dots (= 1.57 mm).

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of 320 pieces of matrix data added to the data drum 11 of the label printer. On the cylindrical surface of the data drum 11,
32 rows of 1 to 32 are allocated corresponding to the cylinder rotation direction, and 10 columns of 1 to 10 are allocated corresponding to the cylinder axis direction. Kana characters of Japanese syllabary, dakuten, semi-dakuten, alphanumeric, English 320 characters and symbols such as symbols and pictograms are printed and added.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view showing the structure of the data drum 11 of the label printer. Data drum 1
1 is rotated by the row selection knob 13 around the drum shaft 61, and a disc-shaped contact substrate 62 is provided at one end of the data drum 11.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the structure of the contact substrate 62 in the data drum 11 of the label printer.
Six layers of metal contact patterns 63a to 63f are concentrically formed on the contact board 62, and a radial line of the contact board 62 is provided in the drum housing portion on the printer body 10 side facing the pattern surface of the contact board 62. A line terminal 65 having six contacts 64a to 64f corresponding to the above is provided.

That is, according to the rotational position of the data drum 11, the first contact 64a of the contact board 62 selectively connected to the first contact 64a to the fifth contact 64e of the line terminal 65 to the contact pattern 63a to the first layer of the contact substrate 62. By combining the five-layer contact pattern 63e (2 ⁵ = 32), 1 on the data drum 11
/ 32 data line is detected, and the first layer contact pattern 63a to the fifth layer contact pattern 63e are all connected to the ground contact pattern 63f of the sixth layer inside the drum 11, and the line terminal 65 is used. Each contactor 64a
Up to 64f, each corresponding metal contact 63 on the contact substrate 62
The signal "0" is derived by the connection with a to 63f, and the signal "1" is derived by the non-connection.

Therefore, for example, when the data row detection signal from the first contact element 64a to the fifth contact element 64e in the line terminal 65 is "00000", the data drum 1
It means that the first line “Ai ... ko” above 1 has been selected corresponding to the data selection window 14 of the printer body 10.
In the case of "11111", the 32nd line "group week ... mother" is selected.

That is, the contact switch board 62 and the line terminal 65 constitute the roll switch section 32, and the row detection signal of the data drum 11 is the roll switch signal 43.
Is supplied to the CPU 31.

Next, the operation of the label printer having the above configuration will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the input printing process of the label printer. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of label printing corresponding to a printer operation accompanying the input printing process of the label printer.

That is, the user selects, for example, "Kingin"
To print, the row selection knob 13 and the column selection key 15
When the character "ki" on the data drum 11 is selected by operating g, the character code "ki" is written in the input buffer 55, and the CPU 31 determines whether the input character is a dakuten character or a semi-dakuten character. It is determined (step S1).

If "No" in this step S1, that is, if it is determined that the input character is "ki" and is not a dakuten or semi-voiced character, a character other than the dakuten / half-dakuten is input to the flag register (F2) 56b. Is set to 0, and this flag F2 (= 0) and the flag F1 (= F1) 56a indicating that this time is the first character input.
Based on 0), "1" indicating that the second and subsequent characters will be input to the flag register (F1) 56a next time.
Is set (steps S1 → S2, S3 → S4 →
S5).

Then, the font pattern corresponding to the character code "ki" stored in the input buffer 55 is read from the font ROM 35, and the label tape 20 conveyed by the platen 53 is indicated by the arrow a0 in FIG. On the other hand, thermal transfer printing is performed one dot line at a time via the thermal head 42 (step S6).

In this way, after "ki" is printed on the label tape 20, the character "n" on the data drum 11 is selected by operating the row selection knob 13 and the column selection key 15h. The code "n" is written in the input buffer 55, and the CPU 31 determines whether the input character character is a dakuten character or a semi-dakuten character (step S1).

If "No" in this step S1, that is, if it is determined that the input character is "n" and is not a dakuten or semi-voiced character, a character other than the dakuten / half-dakuten is input to the flag register (F2) 56b. Is set to 0, and this flag F2 (= 0) and the flag F1 (F1) 56a indicating that this time is the second or subsequent character input.
Based on (= 1), as shown by the arrow p1 in FIG. 7, the label tape 20 is conveyed in correspondence with a predetermined intercharacter space width (steps S1 → S2, S3 → S4 → S7).

Then, the font pattern corresponding to the character code "n" stored in the input buffer 55 is read from the font ROM 35, and as shown by an arrow a1 in FIG. On the other hand, thermal transfer printing is performed one dot line at a time via the thermal head 42 (step S6).

After "Kin" is printed on the label tape 20, the row selection knob 13 and the column selection key 15 are subsequently pressed.
When the character "ki" on the data drum 11 is selected by operating g, the character code "ki" is written in the input buffer 55, and the CPU 31 determines whether the input character is a dakuten character or a semi-dakuten character. It is determined (step S1).

If "No" in this step S1, that is, if it is judged that the input character is "ki" and is not a dakuten or semi-dakuten character, a character other than the dakuten / half-dakuten is input to the flag register (F2) 56b. Is set to 0, and this flag F2 (= 0) and the flag F1 (= 1) indicating that the second and subsequent characters are input in the flag register (F1) 56a.
Based on the above, as shown by the arrow p2 in FIG. 7, the label tape 20 is conveyed in correspondence with a predetermined intercharacter space width (steps S1 → S2, S3 → S4 → S7).

Then, the font pattern corresponding to the character code "ki" stored in the input buffer 55 is read from the font ROM 35, and the label tape 20 conveyed by the platen 53 is indicated by the arrow a2 in FIG. On the other hand, thermal transfer printing is performed one dot line at a time via the thermal head 42 (step S6).

Then, when the row selection knob 13 and the column selection key 15i are operated to select the dakuten character on the data drum 11, the dakuten code is written in the input buffer 55. The CPU 31 determines whether the character is a semi-voiced character (step S1).

If "Yes" in this step S1, that is, if the input character is judged to be the dakuten character, "1" indicating the character input of the dakuten is set in the flag register (F2) 56b, and this flag F2 is set.
(= 1) and the flag F1 (= 1) in the flag register (F1) 56a indicating that the second and subsequent characters have been input, the margin setting in step S7 is not executed, and the input buffer is not set. A half-width font pattern corresponding to the dakuten code stored in 55 is read from the font ROM 35, and as shown by an arrow x in FIG. Thermal transfer printing is performed dot by dot (steps S1 → S8, S3 → S9 →
S6).

That is, when the dakuten character or the semi-dakuten character is selected and input, the margin width shown by each arrow pn in FIG. 7 is not set, and for example, the character character ", The dakuten character is continuously printed, and a more natural dakuten character is printed.

In this way, the label tape 20 has "Kingi"
After printing, the row selection knob 13 and the column selection key 15h are operated to select the character character "n" on the data drum 11. The character code "n" is written in the input buffer 55. The CPU 31 determines whether the input character character is a dakuten character or a semi-dakuten character (step S1).

If it is judged "No" in this step S1, that is, if the input character is "n" and is not a dakuten or semi-voiced character, a character other than the dakuten / half-dakuten is input to the flag register (F2) 56b. Is set to 0, and this flag F2 (= 0) and the flag F1 (= 1) indicating that the second and subsequent characters are input in the flag register (F1) 56a.
Based on the above, as shown by the arrow p3 in FIG. 7, the label tape 20 is conveyed in correspondence with the predetermined intercharacter space width (steps S1 → S2, S3 → S4 → S7).

Then, the font pattern corresponding to the character code "n" stored in the input buffer 55 is read from the font ROM 35, and the label tape 20 conveyed by the platen 53 is indicated by the arrow a3 in FIG. On the other hand, thermal transfer printing is performed one dot line at a time via the thermal head 42 (step S6).

Accordingly, characters other than the dakuten / semi-dakuten characters are corresponding to the Japanese syllabary pattern and the dakuten / semi-dakuten character combination operation on the data drum 11 using the row selection knob 13 and the column selection keys 15a to 15j. In the case of, the print processing with a predetermined margin width is performed, and in the case of a dakuten / semi-voiced character, the print processing without the margin width is performed to include a natural dakuten / semi-voiced character. You will be able to print labels that are “good”.

On the other hand, even when the dakuten character or the semi-dakuten character on the data drum 11 is selected and input, the flag F1 (= 0) indicating that it is the first character input in the flag register (F1) 56a.
If is set, the input of the dull or semi-dakuten flicker is invalid (steps S1 → S8, S).
3 → S9 → S10).

Therefore, according to the label printer having the above-mentioned structure, a large number of characters / symbol characters attached in a matrix on the surface of the cylindrical data drum 11 are operated by selecting the data row by operating the row selection knob 13. The selection is made in correspondence with the window 14 and one character in the data row selected in the data selection window 14 is selected by the column selection keys 15a to 15a.
When a character other than the dakuten or the semi-dakuten on the data drum 11 is selected by operating 15j, the label tape 20 is controlled to be the character printed by the previous character selection by the feeding control. A predetermined margin width is set between the two, the font pattern corresponding to the selected character this time is read from the font ROM 35, printed out on the label tape 20 via the thermal head 42, and the dakuten or semi-dakuten character is selected. In this case, the dakuten or semi-dakuten font pattern is set to the font ROM 35 without setting the margin.
It is possible to obtain more natural dakuten characters or semi-dakuten characters without separating the basic character part and the dakuten part or semi-dakuten part of the dakuten characters or semi-dakuten characters from each other as they are continuously printed out. it can.

[0056]

As described above, according to the present invention, an input means for inputting a character or a supplementary mark and, when a character is input by this input means, the character is printed with a blank space in front thereof. However, when the additional symbol is input, the additional symbol is provided with a print control unit that prints the additional symbol without providing a blank space in front thereof, so that, for example, a dakuten character or a semi-dakuten character is selectively printed. Even in this case, it is possible to print with a natural layout.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an external configuration of a label printer according to an embodiment of a printing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic circuit of the label printer.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of 320 pieces of matrix data added to a data drum of the label printer.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view showing a configuration of a data drum of the label printer.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a configuration of a contact substrate in the data drum of the label printer.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an input printing process of the label printer.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of label printing corresponding to a printer operation accompanying an input printing process of the label printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Label printer main body, 11 ... Data drum, 12
... Drum window, 13 ... Row selection knob, 14 ... Data selection window, 15a to 15j ... Column selection key, 16 ... Power switch, 17 ... Battery indicator, 18 ... Font selection switch, 19 ... "Most timeless key" key , 20 ... Label tape, 21 ... "End" key, 31 ... CPU, 32 ... Roll switch section, 33 ... Key input section, 34 ... Mode switch section, 35 ... Font ROM, 36 ... Power supply section, 37 ...
Reset signal generation circuit, 38 ... Oscillator (ceralock),
39 ... Pulse motor driver, 40 ... Pulse motor, 4
1 ... Thermal head driver, 42 ... Thermal head,
43 ... Roll switch signal, 44 ... Key-out signal, 4
5 ... key-in signal, 46 ... mode switch signal, 47 ...
Read control signal, 48, 58 ... Address bus, 49, 5
9 ... Data bus, 50 ... Power supply control signal, 51 ... Reset signal, 52 ... Pulse motor control signal, 53 ... Platen,
54 ... Thermal head control signal, 55 ... Input buffer,
56a ... Flag register (F1), 56b ... Flag register (F2), 57 ... Write / read control signal, 61 ...
Drum shaft, 62 ... Contact board, 63a-63f ... Metal contact pattern, 64a-64f ... Contact, 65 ... Line terminal.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An input unit for inputting a character or a supplementary symbol, and when the character is input by this input unit, the character is printed with a margin at the front thereof, and the supplementary symbol is input. A printing control means for printing the supplementary symbol without providing a margin in its front part. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the additional symbol is a dakuten or a semi-dakuten. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing by the printing control unit is performed every time a character or a supplementary symbol is input.