JPH0872320A - Tapelike label forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To perform printing within tape width, in a figure wherein a width dimension is larger than a length dimension, by converting the image data of the figure so that the height direction of the figure becomes the length direction thereof. CONSTITUTION: When a printing key is operated, at first, the data of tape width is stored (S21). When data to be printed is image data (S23; Yes), the height dimension of an image is calculated and it is judged whether the image is printable on the basis of the height dimension of the image, a printable width table and tape width data (S25) and, when printing is impossible because the height dimension of the image is larger than the printable width of a tape (S25; No), the width dimension of the image is calculated (S26). When the width dimension of the image is smaller than the printable width of the tape and printing is possible, the image data is rotated to set the width direction of the image data to the width direction of the tape (S29) to execute printing (S31).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tape-shaped label producing apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus capable of producing a tape-shaped label on which not only characters such as characters and symbols but also images read by an image scanner apparatus are printed. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the applicant of the present application has proposed that Kaikaihei 1-850.
As described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 50, a tape-like label is provided which is equipped with a keyboard, a display and a thermal printing mechanism and can print characters and symbols on a tape (for example, tape width 6, 12, 18, 24 mm) as a printing object. A device,
A tape-shaped label producing apparatus suitable for producing a tape-shaped label suitable for being attached to the spine of a file has been put into practical use, and a tape-shaped label producing apparatus to which various editing functions have been added has been proposed. Then, in this tape-shaped label producing apparatus, the tape width can be arbitrarily changed by exchanging the tape cassette.

By the way, the inventor of the present application connects a handy type image scanner device for reading a graphic and inputting image data to the tape label producing device,
Image data of various figures such as "train", "standing person", and "Eiffel Tower" that the user arbitrarily draws is input by manually moving the image scanner device, and these figures are taped. In addition, for example, it was conceived to create a variety of self-made tape-like labels by printing as a one-point mark and printing a self-made figure. In this case, the orientation of the image printed on the tape is such that the width direction of the image is the length direction of the tape and the height direction of the image is the tape width direction.

[0004]

As described above, in a tape-shaped label producing apparatus to which an image scanner device is connected, when a user arbitrarily draws a figure, the reading width of the figure is usually read. Is limited to the width of the image reading head,
Like "standing man" and "Eiffel Tower",
For a figure whose height dimension is larger than its width dimension, the image data of the figure is input by moving the image reading head in the height direction of the figure. Therefore, the height of the image data corresponding to the height direction of the figure is input. The height dimension is greater than its width dimension, and when this height dimension is greater than the tape width,
There is a problem that the lower part of the figure cannot be printed.

An object of the present invention is to convert the image data of a graphic so that the height direction of the graphic is the length direction of the tape for a graphic having a height dimension larger than the width dimension so as to be within the tape width. It is to provide a tape-shaped label producing apparatus capable of printing on a label.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tape-shaped label producing apparatus, wherein at least input means for inputting characters and symbols and various commands, and a dot pattern is printed on a tape which is an object to be printed. In a tape-shaped label producing apparatus having a printing means including a print head, an image input means for reading a graphic and inputting image data, and an image data storage means for storing the image data input from the image input means, Based on the tape width detecting means for detecting the tape width of the tape and the data of the image data storing means and the tape width data from the tape width detecting means, the width direction of the image data is the tape length direction and the height direction thereof. Is the tape width direction, the printability determination unit that determines whether the image can be printed within the tape width, and the printability determination unit that receives the determination result from the printability determination unit. When it is possible, the image data received from the image data storage means is rotated, and the data conversion means is provided for converting the width direction to the tape width direction and the height direction to the tape length direction. is there.

Here, the data conversion means, when the printability determination means determines that printing is impossible, calculates the width and height dimensions of the image, and the height of the image is larger than the width. The image data may be converted only when the width of the image is smaller than the tape width (claim 2 dependent on claim 1).

[0008]

In the tape-shaped label producing apparatus of the first aspect, the image data of the figure read and input by the image input means is stored in the image data storage means. By the way, the tape width detection means detects the tape width of the tape which is the print target, and the printability determination means determines the image data based on the data in the image data storage means and the tape width data from the tape width detection means. The width direction of the tape is the tape length direction and the height direction is the tape width direction, and it is determined whether or not the image can be printed within the tape width.Therefore, the data conversion unit receives the determination result from the printability determination unit. When printing is not possible, the image data received from the image data storage means is rotated to convert the image width direction to the tape width direction and the height direction to the tape length direction. Then, the printing means prints a dot pattern on the tape within the tape width by the print head based on the data received from the image data storage means or the converted data received from the data conversion means.

As described above, when the width direction of the image data input by reading the figure is the tape length direction and the height direction is the tape width direction when printing, the height of the image is larger than the width. When the image cannot be printed within the tape width, the image data is rotated to convert the image width direction to the tape width direction and the height direction to the tape length direction, and then print on the tape. Therefore, it is possible to print within the tape width such that the height direction of the figure becomes the tape length direction.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, in addition to a large number of characters such as alphabetic characters and symbols, an image read by an image scanner device is printed on a tape which is a print target,
This is a case where the present invention is applied to a production apparatus for producing a tape-shaped label. As shown in FIG. 1, a tape-shaped label producing apparatus 1 includes a CRT display 3 capable of displaying characters such as characters and symbols for a plurality of lines, a keyboard 4, a coordinate input device (mouse) 5, and a handy type image scanner device. 6, a data creation device 2 including a control main body 7, and a printer 8 connected to the control main body 7 of the data creation device 2 by a connection line L. Here, the CRT display 3, the keyboard 4, the coordinate input device 5, and the image scanner device 6 are connected to the control main body 7 via connection lines, respectively.

The keyboard 4 includes character keys for inputting alphabetic characters, numbers and symbols, a space key, a return key, a cursor movement key for moving the cursor on the CRT display 3 in up, down, left and right directions, input document data and A print key for printing image data is provided.

Next, the thermal printing mechanism PM built in the printer 8 will be briefly described with reference to FIG.
A rectangular tape cassette CS is detachably attached to the thermal printing mechanism PM, and a tape spool 11 on which the laminating tape 10 is wound and an ink ribbon 12 are wound on the tape cassette CS. Ribbon spool 13, a take-up spool 14 for winding the ink ribbon 12, a supply spool 16 in which a double-sided tape 15 having the same width as the laminating tape 10 is wound with a release paper outside, and the laminating tape 10 A joining roller 17 for pressing and joining the double-sided tape 15 is provided rotatably.

A thermal head 18 is erected at a position where the laminating tape 10 and the ink ribbon 12 overlap each other, and a platen roller 19 for pressing the laminating tape 10 and the ink ribbon 12 against the thermal head 18.
And the feed roller 20 that pushes the laminating tape 10 and the double-sided tape 15 against the joining roller 17 and sends the tape-shaped label TL in the tape feeding direction A while being rotatably pivotally attached to the frame of the printer 8. It is rotatably supported by the roller support 21. In this thermal head 18, 128 heating elements are vertically arranged in a row.

Therefore, when the tape feed motor 51 (see FIG. 3) is driven in the predetermined rotation direction, the joining roller 17 and the take-up spool 14 are driven in synchronism with each other in the predetermined rotation direction, and the heating elements are energized. At this time, on the back surface side of the laminating tape 10, a character or an image is printed as a mirror image by a plurality of dot rows, and moreover, the laminating tape 1
The double-sided tape 15 is joined to the back side of 0 to form the tape-shaped label TL, which is fed in the tape feeding direction A,
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, it is fed out of the printer 8. For details of the thermal printing mechanism PM,
See Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-106555.

By the way, the tape width of the laminated tape 10 wound around the tape spool 11 as the tape cassette CS is 6 mm, 9 mm, 12 mm, 18 mm, 24.
5 types of mm are prepared, and three projecting pieces 22 to 24 are provided in combination on the bottom wall of the tape cassette CS so as to detect any of the five types of tape widths. . And these protruding pieces 22 to 24
The tape width detection sensor 53 (see FIG. 3) that detects the tape width of the mounted tape cassette CS and outputs the tape width information is attached.

Next, the control system of the tape-shaped label producing apparatus 1 is constructed as shown in the block diagram of FIG. First, the control system of the data creation device 2 will be described. A keyboard (K / B) 4 and a CRT display (CRT).
D) CRT display controller (CRTC) 30 having display RAM for outputting display data to 3
The floppy disk drive controller (FDC) 32 for driving and controlling the floppy disk drive (FDD) 31 provided in the control body 7, the coordinate input device 5, and the image scanner device 6 are
Are connected to the input / output interfaces (input / output I / F) 36 of the control device C1 provided in the above.

The control device C1 includes a CPU 33 and the CP.
A hard disk drive for driving and controlling an input / output interface 36 connected to the U33 via a bus 38 such as a data bus, a communication interface (I / F) 37, and a hard disk drive device (HDD) 34 equipped with a hard disk. Controller (HDC) 35
And a RAM 40.

On the hard disk, a display pattern data memory in which dot pattern data for display is stored in association with code data for each of a large number of characters, and for each of a large number of characters for printing characters, A font memory is provided in which contour line data (outline data) that defines the contour line of a character is classified for each typeface (Gothic typeface, Mincho typeface, etc.) and stored in association with code data. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, a printable width table TB1 in which the tape width (mm) of the laminate tape 10 and the printable width dot number Pd are associated with each other is stored.

Further, in this hard disk, a display drive control program for controlling the CRT display controller 30 corresponding to code data of characters such as characters, numbers and symbols inputted from the keyboard 4, RAM
An image development control program for converting outline data corresponding to each code data in the text memory 41 of 40 into dot pattern data and outputting the dot pattern data to the printer 8, a control program for tape-like label production control, which will be described later and peculiar to the present application, are stored. ing.

The text memory 41 of the RAM 40 stores document data input from the keyboard 4. The image data memory 42 stores image data of a figure read by the image scanner device 6. The tape width memory 43 stores the tape width data of the laminating tape 10 stored in the tape cassette CS attached to the thermal printing mechanism PM at the start of printing. The print data buffer 44 stores dot image data for print output of characters and image data that have undergone image expansion.

Next, the control system of the printer 8 will be described. The drive circuit 5 for driving the thermal head 18
0 and a drive circuit 5 for driving the tape feed motor 51
2 and the tape width detection sensor 53 are connected to an input / output interface (input / output I / F) 57 of the control device C2. The control device C2 includes a CPU 54 and this CPU.
An input / output interface (input / output I / F) 57, a communication interface (I / F) 58, a ROM 55, and an R, which are connected to 54 via a bus 59 such as a data bus.
It is composed of AM56.

The ROM 55 is provided with a communication control program for data communication between the communication interfaces 37 and 58, and the thermal head 18 and the tape based on the print output dot image data transmitted from the data creating device 2. A print drive control program for driving the feed motor 51 is stored. In the RAM 56, a reception buffer for receiving and storing the dot image data transmitted from the data creating device 2 via the communication interface 58, and various memories for temporarily storing the calculation result calculated by the CPU 54. Etc. are provided.

Next, a tape-shaped label production control routine executed by the controller C1 of the data production apparatus 2 will be described with reference to the flow charts of FIGS.
In the figure, reference numeral Si (i = 10, 11, 12, ...) Indicates each step. When the power is turned on, after initialization processing of the thermal printing mechanism PM and the like is executed, a document data input screen is displayed on the display 4, and the tape-shaped label production control shown in FIG. 5 is started. When printable keys such as a line feed key are operated in addition to the character keys, number keys, and symbol keys (S10 / S11: Yes), the code data corresponding to the input printable key is used as document data. The storage process of storing in the text memory 41 and the display process of displaying the printable characters or symbols on the display 4 are executed (S14), and the process returns to S10.

On the other hand, as a one-point mark, for example, as shown in FIG.
In order to print this figure, when the image reading key is operated (S10: Yes, S11: No, S12: Yes), the image scanner device 6 placed on the figure is moved in the direction of the figure. By reading the figure, 2
A storage process of converting the image data to the image data consisting of bit map data and storing it in the image data memory 42 is executed (S15), and the process returns to S10. For example, the read image data of the figure “Tsukushi” is stored in the image data memory 42 as shown in FIG. 7. At this time, since the image scanner device 6 is moved from the upper side to the lower side of the figure "Tsukushi", in the image data of the figure "Tsukushi", the width direction of the image data is defined by the symbol W. At the same time, the height direction thereof is defined by the symbol H.

When the print key is operated (S
10: Yes, S11 to S12: No, S13: Yes), and print processing control (see FIG. 6) is executed (S16). When this control is started, first, the tape width information from the tape width detection sensor 53 is read through both the communication interfaces 37 and 58, and the tape cassette CS is mounted based on this tape width information. Sometimes (S20: Yes), the tape width is read and the tape width data is stored in the RAM4.
0 in the tape width memory 43.

Next, when there is print data to be printed in the text memory 41 or the image data memory 42 (S22: Yes), and when the print data is document data (S23: No), each character of the document data is printed. About the expansion processing to expand the dot image data is executed,
The data output processing control is executed to store the dot image data in the print data buffer 44 (S30), and to output the dot image data of the print data buffer 44 to the thermal printing mechanism PM for each bit data of one dot row (S31). Is ended, and the process returns to S10 of tape-shaped label production control.

By the way, when the print data to be printed is image data (S23: Yes), the height dimension (dot number) Hd of the image is obtained (S24), and the image height dimension Hd and the printable width table are obtained. When an image having this image height dimension Hd can be printed within the tape width of the laminate tape 10 of the currently mounted tape cassette CS based on the data of TB1 and the tape width data of the tape width memory 43 (( S25: Yes), image data memory 4
After the second image data is transferred to the print data buffer 44, the image printing of the image data is executed (S31), the control is terminated, and the process returns to S10.

However, when an image having the image height dimension Hd cannot be printed within the tape width of the laminated tape 10 of the currently mounted tape cassette CS, that is, the image height dot number Hd is equal to that of the laminated tape 10. When the printable width is larger than the number of dots Pd (S25: No),
The width dimension Wd of the image and the height dimension Hd thereof are obtained (S26), the height dimension Hd of the image is larger than the width dimension Wd of the image (S27: Yes), and the width dimension Wd of the image can be printed. When the number of width dots is less than or equal to Pd (S28: Yes
), The image data is rotated, the width direction W of the image data is converted to the tape width direction Ty, and the height direction H of the image is converted to the tape length direction Tx, and stored in the print data buffer 44. (S29). Then, image printing of the image data in the print data buffer 44 is executed (S31), the control is terminated, and the process returns to S10.

For example, as shown in FIG. 7, when the height dimension Hd of the image is larger than the width dimension Wd of the image and the width dimension Wd of the image is equal to or less than the printable width dot number Pd, FIG. , The image data is rotated counterclockwise, and the width direction W of the image data is changed to the tape width direction T.
It is converted to y and the height direction H of the image is converted to the tape length direction Tx, and stored in the print data buffer 44. Then, the converted image data is printed on the laminating tape 10, and as shown in FIG.
The tape-shaped label TL having the width direction W as the tape width direction Ty and the height direction H as the tape length direction Tx is created.

Here, when the tape cassette CS is not mounted (S20: No) or when there is no data to be printed (S22: No), an error message corresponding to the error content is displayed on the display 4. (S3
2) Further, when the width dimension Wd of the image is larger than the height dimension Hd of the image (S27: No), or the height dimension H of the image
Even if d is larger than the width Wd of the image, the width W
When d is larger than the printable width dot number Pd (S
27: Yes, S27: No), an error message indicating that the image can only be partially printed is displayed on the display 4 (S33), and the process returns to S10.

By the way, in the tape-shaped label production control, when a printable key, an image reading key, or a key other than the print key is operated (S10: Yes, S11 to S11).
13: No), various processes corresponding to the various operated keys are executed (S17), and the process returns to S10.

Next, the operation of converting the image data of a figure long in the height direction by the tape-like label production control and printing the figure in the height direction of the figure toward the tape length direction Tx will be described. Laminate tape with a long figure in the height direction 1
When printing on 0, the width direction W of the image data is the tape length direction Tx and the height direction H of the image data input by reading the figure with the image scanner device 6.
When the image is printed in the tape width direction Ty, the image height is larger than the width. Therefore, when the image cannot be printed within the tape width, the image width dimension Wd and the height dimension Hd are calculated respectively. , The image data is converted only when the height Hd of the image is larger than the width Wd and the width Wd of the image is smaller than the tape width Pd. Therefore, a figure having a width dimension larger than the height dimension or a width dimension For a figure that is larger in height but larger in width than the tape width Pd, such as a figure that cannot be printed even if the image data is converted, the conversion processing of the extra image data is reliably prevented. It is possible to create the tape-shaped label TL in which only the printable graphic is printed.

It should be noted that, instead of the handy type image scanner device 6, a stationary image scanner device in which an image reading head is mechanically driven, a digitizer, or the like may be used, or image data may be rotated for conversion. When printing is not possible, the image is divided into two parts and printed, and the like. Within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention, it is obvious to the existing technology and those skilled in the art regarding the control of the embodiment. Various changes may be made based on the technology. It is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to various tape-shaped label producing devices equipped with a display, a keyboard and a printer.

[0034]

According to the tape-shaped label producing apparatus of the first aspect, the image input means, the image data storage means, the tape width detection means, the printability determination means, and the data conversion means are provided, and the figure is displayed. When the width direction of the read and input image data is the tape length direction and the height direction is the tape width direction when printing, the image height is larger than the width, so the image cannot be printed within the tape width. When possible, rotate the image data to convert the width direction of the image to the tape width direction and the height direction to the tape length direction, and then print on the tape. It is possible to print within the width of the tape so as to be in the length direction of the tape.

According to the tape-shaped label producing apparatus of the second aspect, the data converting means calculates the width and height dimensions of the image when the printability determining means determines that the image cannot be printed, Image data is converted only when the height of the image is larger than the width and the width of the image is smaller than the tape width. Therefore, figures with a width larger than the height or heights larger than the width. However, for graphics that cannot be printed even if the image data is converted, such as graphics whose width is larger than the tape width, be sure to prevent the conversion process of excess image data and Only can be printed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tape-shaped label producing apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of a thermal printing mechanism equipped with a tape cassette.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control system of the tape label producing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating setting contents of a printable width table.

FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart of a tape-shaped label production control routine.

FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart of a print processing control routine.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing image data expanded in an image data memory.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing image data converted by rotation.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a tape-shaped label created by printing a converted image.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 tape-shaped label producing device 2 data producing device 4 keyboard 8 printer 10 laminating tape 18 thermal head 33 CPU 34 hard disk drive device 40 RAM 42 image data memory 43 tape width memory 53 tape width detection sensor C1 controller PM thermal printing mechanism

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A tape-like label production comprising at least an input means for inputting characters and symbols and various commands, and a printing means including a print head for printing a dot pattern on a tape which is an object to be printed. In the apparatus, an image input unit for reading a graphic and inputting image data, an image data storage unit for storing the image data input from the image input unit, a tape width detection unit for detecting the tape width of the tape, Based on the data in the image data storage means and the tape width data from the tape width detection means, the width direction of the image data is the tape length direction and the height direction is the tape width direction, and the image is within the tape width. The printability determination means for determining whether or not printing is possible, and the determination result from the printability determination means. A tape-like label comprising: a data conversion unit that rotates the image data received from the device and converts the image data so that the width direction is the tape width direction and the height direction is the tape length direction. Creation device. 2. The data conversion means calculates the width and height dimensions of the image when the printability determination means determines that the image cannot be printed, and the height of the image is larger than the width and the image is larger than the width. 2. The image data is converted only when the width of the image is smaller than the tape width.
The tape-shaped label producing apparatus described in.