JPH0830591A - Label preparation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the operability of edition by easily grasping only position displaying information individually set up in each line without practically displaying the image of the whole printed layout. CONSTITUTION:When character strings of two lines exist in a 1st block and a character string of one line exists in a lateral 2nd block, a line head mark M in the 1st line of the 1st block is '111', a line head mark M in the 2nd line of the 1st block is '112' and a line head mark M in the 2nd block is '121'. When character strings of two lines exist in a vertical 2nd block, a line head mark M in the 1st line of the 2nd block is '211' and a line head mark M in the 2nd line of the 2nd block is '212'.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a label producing apparatus for producing a label by printing a relatively simple character string on a long print medium having a predetermined width.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, characters such as characters and symbols can be printed within a predetermined number of lines on a long tape having a predetermined width and made of paper or plastic film, and the characters within the predetermined number of lines can be printed. There is known a label producing apparatus capable of printing by arranging a plurality of blocks, each of which is one block, in the longitudinal direction of the tape.

In such an apparatus, a keyboard provided with character keys for inputting characters such as characters and symbols and various function keys, a display section composed of a liquid crystal display, and a printing medium such as the tape described above in a longitudinal direction thereof. It was equipped with a printing unit and the like that prints with the print head while sending to. Then, when the user operates the keyboard to input the desired character data and also instructs the execution of the printing operation using the function keys of the keyboard, the label on which the desired character is printed is created on the print medium. (See FIG. 8A).

Further, in such a label producing apparatus, not only one line of characters is printed on the print medium but also a predetermined number of lines (for example, up to five lines) are printed according to the width dimension of the print medium. It is possible, and the characters within the predetermined number of lines are regarded as one block, and a plurality of blocks (first block, second block, etc. in FIG. 8A) are, for example, in order from the left, the length of the print medium. It is also designed to be able to print side by side. In this case, the keyboard is equipped with a line feed key for inputting line feed data that specifies the line feed position, and a block break key for inputting block break data that specifies the block delimiter position. By inputting line feed data and break block data at a predetermined position while inputting character data, it is possible to print in a desired editing form.

Further, in this type of label producing apparatus, once created character data and line feed data,
It also has various editing functions such as modifying, adding, deleting, moving, and copying the block data, so that the editing can be performed according to the operation of the function keys by the user.

[0006]

However, conventionally,
As shown in FIG. 8 (B), the contents displayed on the display section include character data, a line feed mark R indicating a line feed position, a line break mark B indicating a line break position, and a line head mark M. The number of lines in which the character data and the like exist is only displayed as "1" and "2". If you create only one block, you can almost understand the entire layout when you print by only the number of lines,
Even if a plurality of blocks are created, the first line (character "Sashisuseso") of the second block will still display "1" as the line head mark M. Therefore, the information about the number of lines is not printed for the user. In this case, there is a problem that it is difficult to edit in consideration of the layout.

In particular, in the label producing apparatus, in general, only about two lines can be displayed on the display section for compactness. For example, a document creation device such as a word processor having a large-screen display unit capable of displaying nearly 20 lines often has a function of displaying the layout when printed on the large-screen display unit as an image display.
The function allows the user to visually recognize, but it is difficult to display the image on the display unit of the size that the label producing apparatus normally has.

Therefore, the number of lines is displayed like the above-described line head mark. However, in order for the user to grasp the layout only by this information, a display capable of displaying about two lines is possible. While scrolling the lines in the department, I had to remember the line breaks and break block positions and visualize them in my head, or write those images on paper. As described above, it is troublesome to grasp the entire layout when printed (see FIG. 8A), and it is difficult to accurately recognize the destination line to be copied when various types of editing are performed, for example. Therefore, it is not easy to use.

Therefore, in the present invention, the entire layout in the case of printing is not actually displayed as an image, but can be easily grasped only by the position display information individually set for each line, and at the time of editing, etc. It is an object of the present invention to provide a label producing device with improved usability.

[0010]

The label producing apparatus of the present invention, which has been made to achieve this object, prints characters such as characters and symbols within a predetermined number of lines on a medium to be printed. A plurality of blocks each having a character within a predetermined number of lines as one block can be arranged and printed in the longitudinal direction of the printing medium, and a character data input means for inputting data of the character and a line feed position. Line feed data inputting means for inputting line feed data for specifying, break block data inputting means for inputting break block data designating the delimiter position of the block, and character data inputted by each data inputting means -Display means for displaying line break data / break block data and the character data, In a label producing apparatus including a printing unit that prints on the print medium in an edit mode based on the print data, block position information for distinguishing the positional relationship between the blocks, and the position of the rows in the same block. The label producing apparatus is provided with display control means for displaying position display information, which is composed of line position information for distinguishing relationships, on the display means corresponding to each line.

According to this label producing apparatus, character data is input by the character data inputting means,
By inputting the line feed data designating the line feed position by the line feed data input means and inputting the block break data designating the block delimiter position by the block feed data input means, a predetermined edit form is obtained, and by the printing means, Character data can be printed on a print medium in an edit form based on line feed data and break block data.

Further, the display means displays character data,
The line feed data and the modified block data are displayed. Furthermore, the display control means further determines the block position information for distinguishing the positional relationship between the blocks and the positional relationship between the lines in the same block. Position display information composed of line position information is displayed on the display means in correspondence with each line. Therefore, by referring to this position display information, it is possible to know which row of which block, which block is printed on the print medium side by side in the longitudinal direction of the print medium, and the row is the width direction of the print medium. Considering that they are printed side by side, it becomes easier to understand the overall layout when printed without actually displaying an image.

Conventionally, since only line breaks and break blocks are used, the position display information as described in claim 1 is effective as the corresponding one. However, in addition to these two grouping forms, a predetermined number is further specified. It is also possible to adopt a concept of grouping in which a plurality of vertical blocks in which a character within the number of lines or a plurality of blocks are one "vertical block" are arranged side by side in the width direction of the printing medium and printing is possible.

In this case, as described in claim 2, in addition to the character data inputting means, the line feed data inputting means, and the modified block data inputting means, the modified vertical block data for further specifying the delimiter position of the vertical block A vertical block data inputting means for inputting the data is provided, and the display means can display the character data, the line feed data, the new block data, and the vertical vertical block data input by the respective data inputting means, and the printing The means can print the character data on the print medium in an edit form based on the line feed data, the modified block data, and the modified vertical block data, and the display control means can display the block position information and the vertical blocks. Vertical block position information for distinguishing the positional relationship between the In the position display information composed of the above row position information may correspond to each row configured to be displayed on the display means.

In this case, by referring to the position display information, it is possible to know which row in what number block which row belongs to which vertical block. Then, on the print medium, the vertical blocks are printed side by side in the width direction of the print medium, the blocks are printed side by side in the longitudinal direction of the print medium, and the rows are printed in the vertical blocks or in the width direction of the print medium in the block. Considering that they are printed side by side, it becomes easier to understand the overall layout when printed without actually displaying an image.

The concept of a vertical block is adopted in addition to the normal block. At this time, there are the following two relationships between the two blocks. That is, a case where a plurality of normal blocks are included in a vertical block and a case where a plurality of vertical blocks are included in one normal block, on the contrary. Therefore,
The user may change the layout to be imaged from the position display information depending on which mode is set.

Further, the position display information shown in claim 2 has three types of position information elements.
In the block position information and the vertical block position information, the position information on the side that can include a plurality of other blocks in its own block is first, then the other position information, and the last line. It is conceivable to arrange and display the position information in order. This position display information is
Unlike the actual layout image display, it is indirect information for imagining the layout. Therefore, it is preferable that the layouts are arranged in an order in which the user can easily imagine the layout. Therefore, for example, in the case of a format in which a plurality of normal blocks are included in a vertical block, if position information (for example, a number such as “213”) is arranged in the order of vertical block → block → row, the user It is immediately understood that it is "the third row in the first block of the second vertical block", and it is easy to visualize it in the head.

As the position display information, a number can be given as a typical one, but other than that, if the vertical block can be set to only two upper and lower ones, for example.
The display may be “upper” or “lower”, or may be “left” or “right” if only two blocks can be set on the left and right. Further, if A, B, C, ... Represent the first, second, and third, respectively, they may be displayed in alphabets.

[0019]

Next, a preferred embodiment of the label producing apparatus of the present invention described above will be described with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to a label producing apparatus 1 capable of printing a large number of characters such as kanji, hiragana, katakana, alphabetic characters and symbols on a printing tape (printing medium) 5.

As shown in FIG. 1, a keyboard 3 is arranged in the front part of the main body frame 2 of the label producing apparatus 1, and a printing mechanism PM as a printing means is provided in the main body frame 2 behind the keyboard 3. A liquid crystal display (LCD) 22 as a printing unit capable of displaying characters and symbols is provided behind the keyboard 3. Further, on the right side surface of the main body frame 2, a terminal 4 of an interface (RS232C) for receiving transmission data from an external device.
Is provided.

The keyboard 3 includes character input keys for inputting characters such as alphabets, numbers and symbols, a cursor movement key 50 for moving the cursor up and down, left and right, a return key 51 for line feed or decision, and a break key. A modified block key 52 for blocking
A vertical block key 53 for making a vertical block, a power key 54 for turning the power on and off, a format setting key 55 for setting a format, a delete key 56 for deleting, and the like are provided. Note that, for example, it is possible to convert what is input in the alphabet into Kanji / Hiragana / Katakana by the conversion key. Further, in this embodiment, the keyboard 3 is the character data input means, the line feed data input means, the modified block data input means of the present invention,
Corresponds to the break vertical block data input means.

Here, the vertical block will be described.
Conventionally, only line breaks and break blocks were used, but in the present embodiment, a plurality of vertical blocks in which a character within a predetermined number of lines or a plurality of blocks are regarded as one "vertical block" are further printed. The concept of grouping is adopted so that printing is possible by arranging them in the direction (see FIG. 6 etc.).

Next, the printing mechanism PM will be briefly described with reference to FIG. 2. A rectangular tape storage cassette CS is detachably attached to the printing mechanism PM, and the tape storage cassette CS is transparent. Width of about 2 films
Tape spool 6 around which a 4 mm printing tape 5 is wound
And a ribbon supply spool 8 around which the ink ribbon 7 is wound.
And a take-up spool 9 for taking up the ink ribbon 7,
A supply spool 11 in which a double-sided tape 10 having the same width as the printing tape 5 is wound with a release paper outside and a joining roller 12 for joining the printing tape 5 and the double-sided tape 10 are rotatably provided. Has been.

A thermal head 13 is erected at a position where the printing tape 5 and the ink ribbon 7 overlap each other.
A platen roller 14 that presses the printing tape 5 and the double-sided tape 10 against the joining roller 12 are rotatably supported by a support body 16. The thermal head 13 has a printing tape 5 of about 24 mm.
A heating element group including 128 heating elements arranged in a vertical direction corresponding to the width of the heating element is provided.

Therefore, by driving the tape feed motor 24 (see FIG. 3) in the predetermined rotation direction, the joining roller 12 and the take-up spool 9 are driven in synchronization with each other in the predetermined rotation direction to form 128 heating element groups. When energized, characters and bit images are printed on the printing tape 5 by a plurality of dot rows (maximum 128 dots) almost completely in the tape width, and the printing tape 5 is a state in which the double-sided tape 10 is joined. Then, the tape is fed in the tape feeding direction A.

A cassette discriminating member 17 for setting the type of the tape accommodating cassette CS, that is, the tape width of the accommodated printing tape 5 is attached to the bottom wall of the tape accommodating cassette CS. A cassette discrimination sensor 18 (see FIG. 3) including a photo interrupter for detecting a provided protruding piece (not shown) is attached to the main body frame 2. Therefore, the tape width can be detected based on the discrimination signal from the cassette discrimination sensor 18. In addition, the tape width is "6m
Various tape storage cassettes CS on which the printing tapes 5 of "m", "9 mm", "12 mm", and "18 mm" are wound are separately prepared.

The tape storage cassette CS storing the printing tapes 5 having a width other than the 24 mm width is mounted on the label producing apparatus 1 in the same manner as the tape storage cassette CS storing the printing tape 5 having a width of 24 mm. . Then, by defining which heating element in the heating element group is to generate heat in accordance with the width of each printing tape 5, the printing tape 5 thus mounted is almost filled with the width of the heating tape. Printing is performed.

Next, the control system of the label producing apparatus 1 is shown in FIG.
The block diagram of FIG. A display R for outputting display data to the keyboard 3, the cassette discrimination sensor 18, and the liquid crystal display (LCD) 22.
Display controller (LCDC) 2 with AM
3, a communication interface 19 for receiving data transmitted from an external device, a drive circuit 25 for driving the thermal head 13, and a tape feed motor 24.
And a drive circuit 26 for driving the control circuit C and the input / output interface 27 of the control device C, respectively. The control device C includes a CPU 29, an input / output interface 27 connected to the CPU 29 via a bus 28 such as a data bus, a CGROM 30, ROMs 31, 32, and a RAM.
And 40.

CGROM (pattern data memory) 30
In FIG. 5, dot pattern data for display is stored in association with code data for each of a large number of characters. ROM (outline data memory) 31
In order to print the character, outline data (outline data) that defines the outline of the character for each of a large number of characters is a typeface (Gothic typeface,
It is classified according to Mincho typeface, etc.) and stored in association with code data. Each of the large number of outline data stores the vertical dimension and the horizontal dimension of the print image.

A program for operating the label producing apparatus 1 is stored in the ROM 32. RAM40
Character data input from the keyboard 3 is stored in the text memory area 41 of FIG. In the print buffer area 47, the data of the print dot pattern in which the image is developed is stored. In addition, the RAM 2 has a CPU 2
A work area, a buffer, a counter, a pointer, and the like for temporarily storing the calculation result calculated in 9 are provided.

Next, regarding the operation of the label producing apparatus 1,
This will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Here, it is assumed that the label producing apparatus 1 is equipped with a tape storage cassette CS that stores a printing tape 5 having a width of 24 mm. In this state, when the power is turned on by operating the power key, the label producing apparatus 1 starts operating.

When the operation is started, first, each data in the RAM 40 is initialized according to the program of the ROM 32 (step 10. The step will be simply referred to as S hereinafter). In this embodiment, up to two lines can be displayed on the liquid crystal display 22, and when initialized, the line mark M and the cursor K are initially displayed on the liquid crystal display 22 (S15). Start mark M is vertical block number Y
And a block number X and a line number L.

Here, the meanings of the vertical block number Y, the block number X, and the line number L which form the line head mark M,
And the arrangement order will be described. Blocks are arranged side by side in the longitudinal direction (also referred to as X direction) of the printing tape 5, and vertical blocks are a concept of grouping arranged in the width direction (also referred to as Y direction) of the printing tape 5,
In the case shown in FIG. 6A, one vertical block has a setting format in which two or more blocks can be formed. In this case, since the vertical block is the largest grouping, the line head mark M is "Y" in the order of vertical block number Y → block number X → line number L as shown in FIG. 6 (B).
XL ”is displayed on the liquid crystal display 22.

As another aspect, as shown in FIG. 6C, in the setting format in which two or more vertical blocks can be formed in one block, the block is the largest grouping. As shown in FIG. 6D, the line head mark M is displayed on the liquid crystal display 22 as “XYL” in the order of block number X → vertical block number Y → line number L.

In the following description, the format shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, that is, the line head mark M displayed as "YXL" in the order of vertical block number Y → block number X → line number L will be described. Proceed as a premise. Returning to the description of the flowchart of FIG. 4, after the initial display in which the line head mark M is “111” (that is, the first line of the first block of the first vertical block) is displayed in S15, the keyboard 3 is used. It is determined whether or not a key input has been made (S20). If there is any key input, the process exits S20, and if the detected key input is a character key input (S30: YES), the character data is transferred to the text memory area 41 of the RAM 40.
Is stored (S40), and the edit screen is displayed on the liquid crystal display 22 (S50). The display of the editing screen in this case is an insertion display of the input character.

On the other hand, if it is not the character key input (S
In the case of 30: NO), it is determined whether or not the line feed key 51 is operated (S60), and when the line feed key 51 is operated (S60).
60: YES, 1 is added to the line number L (L ← L
+1) (S70). Then, it is judged whether or not there is an error (S80), and if there is an error, an error is displayed (S12).
0) and returns to S20.

Further, it is not the operation of the line feed key (S60:
If NO, if the block key 52 is operated (S13).
0: YES, 1 is added to the block number X (X
← X + 1) (S140). Then, it is judged whether or not there is an error (S150), and if there is an error, an error is displayed (S150).
120), and returns to S20.

Further, when it is not the operation of the modified block key 52 (S130: NO) but the operation of the modified vertical block key 53 (S190: YES), the vertical block number Y is obtained.
1 is added to (Y ← Y + 1) (S200). And
It is judged whether or not there is an error (S210), and if there is an error, an error is displayed (S120) and the process returns to S20.

The determination of whether or not there is an error in S80, S150 and S210 will be described. The maximum number of lines that can be printed is determined according to the type of the printing tape 5 and mainly the difference in tape width. Therefore, if a line feed command that exceeds the number of printable lines is input, an error is determined in S80 and a message to that effect is displayed (S120). Similarly, when the number of blocks or the number of vertical blocks is exceeded, a message to that effect is displayed (S120) to let the user recognize, and another edit or the like is prompted.

When the line feed key 51 is operated (S6
If 0: YES) and there is no error (S80: NO),
The line feed data is stored at the current position in the text memory area 41 (S90), and the line mark M is registered (S100).
In this case, the line head mark M is the line number L incremented in S70 only. Then, a new line is displayed on the liquid crystal display 22 (S110). The display of the new line means that the current input line is scrolled to the upper stage and the line head mark M and the cursor K registered in S100 are displayed on the next line. In addition,
A line feed mark R is displayed at the line feed position.

If the block key 52 is operated (S130: YES) and there is no error (S15)
0: NO), the modified block data is stored in the current position of the text memory area 41 (S160), and the line-mark M is registered (S170). In this case, the beginning mark M is S1
The block number X is incremented by 40, and the row number L = 1 is set. And
On the liquid crystal display 22, as a display of a new line, the current input line is scrolled to the upper row, and S17 is displayed on the next line.
The beginning mark M and the cursor K registered with 0 are displayed (S180). A break block mark B is displayed at the position where the break has been made.

On the other hand, if the vertical block key 53 is operated (S190: YES) and there is no error (S21).
0: NO), the modified block data is stored in the current position of the text memory area 41 (S220), and the line-mark M is registered (S230). In this case, the beginning mark M is S2
The vertical block number Y is incremented by 00, and the block number X = 1 and the row number L = 1 are set. Then, as a new line display on the liquid crystal display 22, the current input line is scrolled to the upper row, and the line head mark M registered in S230 is added to the next line.
And a cursor K are displayed (S240). A vertical block mark T is displayed at the vertical block position.

If the determination in S190 is negative, S2 in FIG.
The process proceeds to step 50 and it is determined whether or not the cursor movement key 50 is operated. In the case of operating the cursor movement key 50, the cursor K is moved according to the operation (S26).
0). Then, it is determined whether or not the movement of the cursor K is within a line (hereinafter referred to as "current") that has been present until then, and if it is within the current state, the edit screen is displayed as it is ( The process returns to S290) and S20 (see FIG. 4). If it is not within the current range, that is, if the cursor is moved to another line (S270: NO), the text memory area 41 is searched for the numerical value of the line head mark M (S28).
0), the edit screen is displayed (S290).

On the other hand, when the delete key 56 is operated instead of the cursor movement key 50 (S300: YE
S) and S310 and subsequent deletion processes are performed, and the deletion key 56
If it is not the operation of No., various processes corresponding to the key operation are executed while determining whether it is a key operation for other processing such as a print key (S350).

Explaining the deletion processing in S310 and thereafter, first, in S310, it is determined what deletion is instructed by the position of the cursor K when the deletion key 56 is operated, and the deletion target is determined. Execute the deletion process. When there is a character on the cursor K, the corresponding character data is deleted from the text memory area 41. Similarly, when there is a line feed display on the cursor, the line feed data is deleted from the text memory area 41. Further, when there is a break block display on the cursor, the break block data is deleted from the text memory area 41, and when there is a break vertical block display on the cursor, the break vertical block data is deleted from the text memory area 41. To do.

Then, when the deleted data is the line feed data (S320: YES), the deleted block data is (S320).
330: YES), in case of vertical block data (S34)
0: YES), the process of obtaining the numerical value of the line head mark in S280 is performed, and then the process proceeds to the display of the edit screen in S290. On the other hand, if the character data has been deleted, the process proceeds to S290 without performing S280. In this case, on the liquid crystal display 22, the character display on the cursor is erased and the display after the cursor is scrolled. Since the line arrangement itself does not change, the line head mark M also does not change.

On the other hand, in the case of deleting each data of a line feed, a modified block, and a modified vertical block, the line arrangement itself changes, and the line head mark also changes. For example, in the case of deleting line feed data, the characters of the next line are connected to the end of the previous line, so one line is lost. The bullet mark M also disappears. In the display in S290, the line feed display is erased on the liquid crystal display 22, the display after the cursor K is scrolled, and the characters of the next line are displayed continuously at the end of the previous line.

In addition, when the modified block data is deleted (S330: YES), the block itself disappears, and the block is connected to the end of the line immediately preceding the previous block. Therefore, for example, when the block is modified after the third row of the first block and there are two rows in the second block, when the modified block is deleted, the first row of the second block becomes the third row of the first block. It connects after the line. What was in the second row of the second block is now in the fourth row of the first block. Therefore, the line mark M which changes in this way is obtained and then displayed.

When a command to delete the modified block data is issued, the modified block may be deleted by replacing it with a line feed. In this case, in the same manner as described above, there is a break block display after the third line of the first block, and when there are two lines in the second block, deleting the break block replaces it with a line feed. The first and second rows of the block will be the fourth and fifth rows of the first block, respectively.

In case of deleting the vertical block data (S34
0: YES), since the vertical block itself disappears, it will be connected to the end of the line immediately before the previous block, or if there is only a vertical block, it will be connected to the end of the previous line. Become. Therefore, the line mark M which changes in this way is obtained and then displayed.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the character data is input, and if necessary, the line feed data, the modified block data, and the modified vertical block data are input to form a predetermined edit mode, and the character data It is possible to print on the printing tape 5 in an edit form based on the modified block data.

Further, the liquid crystal display 22 displays character data, a line feed mark R, a modified block mark B, and a modified vertical block mark T. Further, the vertical data for distinguishing the positional relationship between the vertical blocks is displayed. A vertical block number Y that is block position information, a block number X that is block position information for distinguishing the positional relationship between blocks, and a positional relationship between rows in the same block or in the same vertical block A line head mark M composed of line number L which is line position information is displayed corresponding to each line. Therefore, by referring to the line head mark M, it is possible to know which line of which block of which vertical block.

Therefore, on the basis of this information, the blocks are printed on the printing tape 5 side by side in the longitudinal direction, the lines are printed side by side in the width direction, and characters or a plurality of blocks within a predetermined number of lines are printed. Considering that it is possible to print multiple vertical blocks arranged side by side in the width direction, it is possible to grasp the entire layout when printed without actually displaying an image on the liquid crystal display. Easier to do.

FIG. 7A shows an example of printing on the printing tape 5 when editing is performed using line breaks, break blocks, and break blocks, and FIG. 7B shows a display state on the liquid crystal display 22. ing. In the present embodiment, since the liquid crystal display 22 can display up to two lines,
All the seven lines shown in FIG. 7B are not displayed at one time, but two consecutive lines are displayed.

The example in the case shown in FIG. 7 will be explained. The first vertical block has two blocks, and the first block has a character string of "aiueo" on the first line.
In the row, there is a character string of "Kakikuke". Then, the character string of "Sashisuseso" is printed in the second block with the character size set large. Looking at the corresponding display state with reference to FIG. 7 (B), for example, “111” is displayed as the line head mark M in the character string “AIUEO”, and the layout on the printing tape 5 is Easy to imagine.

Further, "112" is displayed as the line head mark M in the character string of "Kakikukeko", and the modified block mark B is displayed at the end thereof. Therefore, it can be seen that there are only two rows in the first block of the first vertical block, and the block is modified there. Further, the line head mark M of the character string of "Sashisuseso" is "121", and the vertical block mark T is displayed at the end thereof. Therefore, it can be seen that the second block has only one row and the first vertical block also ends with this character string. Thus, the layout when printed from the display of the vertical block number Y, the block number X, the line number L and the line feed mark R, the modified block mark B, and the modified vertical block mark T in the line head mark M is very easy to understand, This is effective during various types of editing (eg copying and moving).

In the above embodiment, the line head mark M is displayed in the order of vertical block number Y, block number X, and line number L. This is because, in the case of the above-described embodiment, the vertical block is set so that a plurality of blocks can be included, and it is considered that the above order is conceptually preferable. To supplement this,
When considered as information for displaying the position, the line head mark M is indirect information for imagining the layout, unlike the image display of the actual layout. Therefore, it is preferable that the layouts are arranged in an order in which the user can easily imagine the layout. Therefore, in the case of a format in which a plurality of normal blocks are included in a vertical block, if position information (for example, a number such as “213”) is arranged in the order of vertical block / block / row, the user It is immediately understood that it is "the third row in the first block of the second vertical block", and it is easy to visualize it in the head or the like.

As described above, the entire layout in the case of printing is not displayed as an actual image, but it is easy to grasp only by the line head mark M set individually for each line, and the usability at the time of editing is improved. Can be made. Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and it is needless to say that the present invention can be implemented in various modes without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0059]

As described above in detail, according to the label producing apparatus of the first aspect, the position display information includes the block position information for distinguishing the positional relationship between the blocks and the row position information in the same block. It is composed of line position information for distinguishing the positional relationship, and by referring to this position display information, it is possible to know what number line of which block, and for the printing medium, the block is the longitudinal direction of the printing medium. Considering that the lines are printed side by side in the direction and the lines are printed side by side in the width direction of the printing medium, it becomes easy to grasp the entire layout when printed without actually displaying an image. Therefore, usability at the time of editing can be improved.

Further, according to a second aspect of the present invention, a plurality of vertical blocks in which a character or a plurality of blocks within a predetermined number of lines are defined as one "vertical block" can be arranged and printed in the width direction of the print medium. By introducing the concept of grouping and adding positional information about the vertical blocks, a layout with more variations can be set, and the layout can be easily grasped without actually displaying an image.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an overall configuration of a label producing apparatus as an example.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of a printing mechanism of a label producing apparatus as an example.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control system of the label producing apparatus as an example.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the first half of the main routine of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the latter half of the main routine of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an arrangement relationship between blocks and vertical blocks on a printing tape and a display order of vertical block numbers Y, block numbers X, and line numbers L that form a line head mark.

[FIG. 7] (A) is an example of printing on a printing tape when editing while using line breaks, break blocks, and break vertical blocks,
(B) is an explanatory view showing a display state on the liquid crystal display.

FIG. 8A is an example of printing on a conventional printing tape,
(B) is an explanatory view showing the display state.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Label producing device 3 ... Keyboard 5 ... Printing tape 22 ... Liquid crystal display 41 ... Text memory area 47 ... Print buffer area 50 ... Cursor move key 51 ... Return key 52 ... Break block key 53 ... Break vertical block key 56 ... Delete Key C ... Control device PM ... Printing mechanism K ... Cursor M ... Line mark R ... Line feed mark B ... Break block mark T ... Break vertical block mark

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Internal reference number FI Technical display location 9288-5L G06F 15/20 530 J (72) Inventor Kazuko Ishida 15 Naeshiro-cho, Mizuho-ku, Aichi Prefecture No. 1 Brother Industries, Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A character such as a character or a symbol is printed within a predetermined number of lines on a print medium, and a plurality of blocks each having a character within the predetermined line are defined as one block of the print medium. It is possible to print side by side in the longitudinal direction, character data input means for inputting the data of the above characters, line feed data input means for inputting line feed data for specifying the line feed position, and delimiter position for the block Break data input means for inputting the break block data, display means for displaying the character data / line feed data / break block data input by each of the data input means, and the character data A printing unit that prints on the printing medium in an edit mode based on the data and the modified block data; In the file creation device, position display information composed of block position information for distinguishing the positional relationship between the blocks and line position information for distinguishing the positional relationship between the rows in the same block A label producing apparatus comprising display control means for displaying on the display means corresponding to the above. 2. The label producing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein characters and a plurality of blocks within the predetermined number of lines can be printed on the print medium, and further the predetermined lines are further printed. Characters within a number or a plurality of vertical blocks in which a plurality of blocks are one vertical block can be arranged and printed in the width direction of the printing medium, and the character data inputting means, line feed data inputting means,
In addition to the modified block data input means, a modified vertical block data input means for inputting modified vertical block data for designating the delimiter position of the vertical block is further provided, and the display means is input by each of the data input means. Character data, line feed data, new block data, vertical block data can be displayed.
The character data can be printed on the printing medium in an edit mode based on the modified vertical block data, and the display control means is a vertical block position for distinguishing the block position information and the positional relationship between the vertical blocks. Information,
A label producing apparatus characterized in that position display information composed of the line position information in the same block or the same vertical block is displayed on the display means in correspondence with each line. 3. The display control means uses the position display information as position information on the side of the block position information and the vertical block position information, which can include a plurality of other blocks in its own block. 3. The label producing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the first position is followed by the other position information, and finally the line position information is arranged and displayed.