JPH10217585A - Printer for plate-like printing medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to print to a desired position of a plate-like printing medium by arranging a means to permit printing justified to the bottom of paper, a means to input a margin from bottom as well as bottom-justified printing, and a means that permits printing justified to the bottom in a desired position of the plate-like printing medium. SOLUTION: When a user inputs margin values x for margins, judgment is made whether margin values x inputted subsequently are within the range of the margins. If the answer is yes, data specifying printing justified to the bottom of paper and margin values x for tags for which data are being inputted are stored in a RAM 4. If settings for top-justified printing are keyed, in as with bottom-justified printing, data specifying printing justified to the top for tags for which data are being inputted and margin values are stored in the RAM 4. If centering is keyed in, data specifying centering for tags for which data are being inputted are stored in a prescribed area of the RAM 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus for printing on a plate-like printing medium which can print at a desired position in a vertical direction when printing on a plate-like printing medium such as a tag or a nameplate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a plate-like printing medium such as a tag or a nameplate has a small rectangular size and shape, so that it does not print too many characters, and therefore, printing on a plurality of lines is rare. At most, only about four lines were printed. In this case, the printing position in the vertical direction was at the center.

[0003]

Therefore, a printing device for printing a plate-shaped printing medium such as a tag or a nameplate has basically been printed by centering. However, tags and nameplates have various sizes and usages, and there has been a desire to print them with a bias toward the top or bottom.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a printing apparatus for a plate-shaped printing medium capable of performing various kinds of printing, the present invention provides a printing apparatus for writing character data below a plate-shaped printing medium. A means for inputting settings for printing and a means for enabling printing shifted downward based on this, and a means for inputting a margin from below as well as a means for shifting downward are provided. The means for enabling the provided printing is provided.

Further, in order to provide a printing device for a plate-shaped printing medium capable of printing at a position desired by a user of the plate-shaped printing medium, selection is made between printing up or down, and centering. Means for selecting whether to perform printing, and means for inputting a margin value for inputting the upper or lower margin value of the input print data, and selecting whether to print upward, lower, or center. Based on the set margin value,
Means for enabling printing at desired vertical positions are provided.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A printing apparatus according to the present invention comprises: input means for inputting print data such as characters, character size, format, and type and size of a plate-shaped print medium; storage means for storing print data; Printing means for printing the like, transport means for transporting a plate-shaped printing medium toward the printing means, and control means for creating dot data for printing from print data and supplying the dot data to the printing means. In a printing device for a plate-shaped printing medium, a bottom-up printing setting means for setting printing to be shifted to a lower side of the printing medium, and printing data by shifting characters to a lower position of the plate-shaped printing medium based on the bottom-up printing setting. And a print position control means for printing.

Further, there is provided a lower margin value input means for inputting a lower margin value, and the above-mentioned printing position control means prints characters at intervals of a margin value from below based on the inputted margin value. Thus, a printing apparatus for a plate-shaped printing medium with higher versatility can be provided.

In a printing apparatus for a plate-shaped printing medium,
A print position selection means for inputting a selection of whether to print a print character on a plate-shaped print medium by shifting the print position upward or downward; a margin value input means for inputting a margin value; and a print position and the input margin Print position control means for printing characters by shifting them to the upper or lower margin position based on the value.

Further, the printing position selecting means of the printing apparatus for printing on a plate-shaped printing medium described above selects whether the printing position of the printing character on the printing medium on the plate-shaped printing medium is shifted upward or downward, or whether printing is performed with centering. The print position control means can print the character by shifting it to the upper or lower margin position based on the print position and the input margin value, or by centering the character.

Further, all of the above-mentioned printing devices for plate-shaped print media are provided with line setting means for setting the number of lines to be printed on the plate-shaped print medium. It is desirable that the latest line character data after line feed be expanded downward.

[0011]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of a printing apparatus of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the control unit 1 includes a keyboard 2 for inputting print data such as character data, the number of lines, a print margin, and the size of a print medium, and for inputting instructions such as printing and erasing data. Display device 3 for displaying the displayed character data, format and size, and for displaying instructions to the user, storing print data such as input characters, format and size, and developing dot pattern data for printing and display Erasable RAM4
And a ROM 5 for storing a control program and the like of the printing apparatus.
A CGROM 6 for storing character data, a print head 8 for outputting print data, a print transport unit 7 having a transport motor 9 for driving a tag transport, and a motor 24 for driving a print head movement; It is connected to a size detection device 10 for detecting the size of a tag to be tried.

Referring to FIG. 2, the printing apparatus 11 will be briefly described. A printing apparatus 11 includes a housing 13 for housing a plurality of tags 12 as shown in FIG. A regulating plate 14 that is provided movably and regulates the rear end of the tag 12 and detects the tag size based on the position when the rear end of the tag is regulated by being connected to the size detection device 10 and the tag 12 is printed. A supply roller 15 for supplying an area, a pressing plate 16 for urging the tag 12 toward the supply roller 15, a printing means of a thermal transfer system including a print head 8 and an ink ribbon 21, a transport belt 17, and the transport belt Transport means comprising a plurality of rollers 18 and a plurality of transport rollers 19 for stretching the printhead 17, a platen roller 20 facing the print head 8, and a storage section 2 for storing printed and discharged tags. When a sensor 23 for detecting the transport of the tag 12, those having a keyboard 2 and a display unit 3.

The printing device 11 prints a plurality of lines of a plurality of characters on the surface of the tag 12 as shown in FIG. 3. In addition, another printing medium such as a name plate 30 shown in FIG. It is also suitable for printing.

Next, the input of print data to the tag 12 and the operation of the printing will be described with reference to the schematic diagram of the printing apparatus shown in FIG.
This will be described with reference to the printing state diagram on the tag of FIG. First, by the user, (1) selection of a print medium such as a tag or a nameplate (2) selection or input of a size of a print medium such as a tag large, medium and small (3) selection of a character size (4) input of the number of lines ( 5) Input between lines (6) Input between characters (7) Format settings such as vertical writing and horizontal writing are performed, and the initial setting process ends (S1).

Next, when a new input is made by the user through the input means, it is first determined whether the input is a character input (S2). If the input is a character key, the input data is stored. (S3), and the input character is displayed on the display 3 (S4).

Here, when an input other than a character key is made,
It is determined whether a margin setting key has been input (S
5). The entered key is not a key operation for margin setting,
If it is not a key operation for printing (S9), it is a key operation for other processing, and that processing is executed (S11).

If the input key is a key input for setting a margin, it is determined whether or not the input is a key input for setting an upper / lower margin following the processing in S5 (S6). Here, if the key input for the bottom alignment is made, since the key input is for the setting of the upper and lower margins, subsequently, the upper and lower margin setting subroutine is executed (S7).

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a subroutine for setting the upper and lower margins. Referring to FIG. 10, first, it is determined whether the input key is centering (S1).
2) Since it is not, it is subsequently determined whether or not the setting is an upper alignment (S13), and since it is not, an instruction for inputting the margin value is displayed and the margin value is input. Will be.

When the user inputs the margin value x of the lower margin (S17), subsequently, it is determined whether or not the inputted margin value x is within the range of the margin (S18). Therefore, in the predetermined area of the RAM 4, data indicating that the tag for which data is being input is to be printed at the bottom and a margin value x are stored (S19).

Here, when the key for setting the upper alignment is input, data indicating that the tag whose data is being input is to be printed in the upper area in a predetermined area of the RAM 4 as in the above-described lower alignment, The margin value is stored (S14), and when a key for centering is input, data indicating that the tag for which data is being input is to be centered and printed is stored in a predetermined area of the RAM 4. (S20).

Next, when the user inputs print data such as all characters and formats necessary for printing, and inputs a print start instruction, the print processing subroutine in the flowchart of FIG. 9 is executed. (S9, 10).
FIG. 11 shows a flowchart of a subroutine of the printing process. Referring to this flowchart, first, it is determined whether or not there is print data in the RAM 4 (S
21).

If there is print data, the type of the medium to be printed and transported next is read (S22). Here, since the tag is a large size shown in FIG. 3, it is read, and subsequently, whether or not a margin is set is read (S2).
3) Here, the margin value x is read in the lower margin.

Subsequently, the format is read (S24).
Here, the horizontal writing is performed for the tag placed horizontally. continue,
The character size, the number of lines, the line spacing, and the character spacing as the document style are read (S25), and the character data to be printed is read (S26).

Next, a print area of the size of the tag to be used is secured in a predetermined print buffer area in the RAM 4 (S27). Here, assuming that a large-sized tag is used, a print area 121 shown in FIG.
Is ensured. In the print buffer area, the vertical direction corresponds to the number of dots of the print head 8 and the horizontal direction corresponds to the number of dots of the length in the print conveying direction. I try to fill it.

Next, it is determined whether the upper and lower margins have been set (S28). Here, since the margin value is x at the bottom, it is determined that the top and bottom margins are set, and it is determined that the centering and the top are not the top but the bottom (S2).
9, S30).

Next, in order to develop the dot pattern data in the print buffer, first, an upper margin y from the upper part of the tag to the upper part of the character to be printed shown in FIG. 4 is calculated. The upper margin y is calculated by subtracting the print height h of character data to be actually printed and the lower margin (= margin value) x from the height X of the entire print area 121. Here, the height X of the print area is the height of the tag size, which is stored in advance in the ROM 5, and the data of the print height x of the character data is the height of one character of the input character size. It will be.

When the upper margin y is calculated, the value of the upper margin y is replaced by the number of dots, and the upper margin is added as blank data to print data (dot pattern data) in a predetermined print buffer area in the RAM 4. ) Is developed (S33).

After the print data (dot pattern data) is created, the tag is conveyed and printed (S)
35). First, the transport motor 9 rotates, and in conjunction with this, the feed roller 15 rotates to transport one of the tags 12 of the storage unit 13 toward the print area. Further, the tag 12 is transported by a transport belt 17 and a transport roller 19, and in conjunction with this transport, print data is supplied to the print head 8 line by line, printed, and discharged to the storage unit 22.

In this way, when one sheet of the tag 12 has been conveyed and printed, it is determined whether there is the next print data (S21). If so, the printing process for the next tag is performed. If not, the printing process ends.

FIG. 5 shows a printing state when two lines are printed on the tag 12. In this case, since the number of lines is two, as the print height h, the height of one character of the designated character size and the print height h are increased by the space between the lines, so that the upper margin y is as shown in FIG. Is narrower than the one-line printing.

Next, FIG. 6 shows a top-up printing, showing a printing state of a tag in which two lines of character data have been input, with the margin value of the upper margin being y. If the value is input as the margin value y with the upper margin, it is determined that the margin is shifted upward in step S30 of the flowchart in FIG. 11, and the input margin value y is replaced with the number of dots as the value of the upper margin y. The print data (dot pattern data) is developed in a predetermined print buffer area in the RAM 4 by adding the upper margin as a blank (S33), and transport printing is performed (S35).

FIG. 7 shows a printing state of a tag to which two lines of character data have been input as centering printing. In this case, S2 in the flowchart of FIG.
In the stage 9, the centering is determined, and then the upper margin y from the upper part of the tag to the upper part of the character string to be printed is calculated to develop the dot pattern data in the print area. The upper margin y is calculated from the center of the print area 1
It is obtained by subtracting the print height h / 2 from the center of the character data actually printed from the height X / 2 up to the upper part of 21.

When the upper margin y is calculated, the value of the upper margin y is replaced with the number of dots, and the upper margin is added to RA.
Print data (dot pattern data) is developed in a predetermined print buffer area in M4 (S33), and transport printing is performed (S35).

Although the present embodiment shows a case where a tag is printed, a nameplate can be used as another plate-shaped printing medium. In the case of a nameplate 30 as shown in FIG. By inputting the length A in the vertical direction and the length B in the horizontal direction, the print area 301 is automatically obtained, so that printing including the upper and lower margins can be performed.

As described above, the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment can freely change the printing position in the vertical direction on the tag or the nameplate by setting the alignment to the upper side, the lower side, and the centering value, and further inputting the margin value. Therefore, printing can be performed at a position desired by the user.

[0036]

According to the printing apparatus for a plate-shaped printing medium of the present invention, it is possible to set the printing shifted below the plate-shaped printing medium. ,
Further, by allowing input of the bottom margin value, bottom printing can be performed at a desired position on the plate-shaped printing medium.

Further, printing can be set up or down on the plate-shaped printing medium, and the margin value can be input, so that printing up or down at a desired position on the plate-shaped printing medium can be performed. As a result, various types of printing can be performed on the plate-shaped printing medium.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a printing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of a printing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a printing state of a tag.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a printing state of one-line printing of a tag whose lower margin is specified;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a print state of two-line printing of a tag with a lower margin specified.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a print state of a tag whose upper margin is specified.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a printing state of a tag designated to be centered.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a printing state of a nameplate.

FIG. 9 is a basic operation flowchart of the printing apparatus.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a subroutine of margin processing.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a subroutine of a printing process.

[Description of sign]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Control part 2 Keyboard 3 Display device 4 Semiconductor memory (RAM) 5 Semiconductor memory (ROM) 6 Semiconductor memory (CGROM) 7 Print conveyance part 8 Print head 11 Tag printer 12 Tag 121 Print area 122 hole 123 Center 13 Storage part 15 Supply Roller 17 Conveyor belt 19 Conveyor roller 30 Name plate 301 Printing area

Claims (5)

[Claims] An input means for inputting print data such as characters, character sizes, formats, types and sizes of plate-shaped print media, a storage means for storing print data, a print means for printing characters and the like, In a printing apparatus for a plate-shaped printing medium, the printing apparatus includes a transporting unit that transports the plate-shaped printing medium toward the printing unit, and a control unit that creates dot data for printing from the printing data and supplies the dot data to the printing unit. A print position control unit configured to print the print data by shifting the character to a position below the plate-shaped print medium based on the print setting based on the print position. A printing device for a plate-shaped printing medium, characterized in that: 2. A printing apparatus for printing on a plate-shaped print medium according to claim 1, further comprising a lower margin value input means for inputting a lower margin value, wherein the print position control means causes a character to be blanked from below based on the input margin value. A printing device for printing on a plate-shaped printing medium, characterized in that printing is performed at intervals of a value. 3. Input means for inputting print data such as characters, character size, format, type and size of a plate-shaped print medium, storage means for storing print data, and printing means for printing characters and the like. In a printing apparatus for a plate-shaped printing medium, the printing apparatus includes a transporting unit that transports the plate-shaped printing medium toward the printing unit, and a control unit that creates dot data for printing from the printing data and supplies the dot data to the printing unit. A print position selection means for inputting a selection of whether to print a print character on a plate-shaped print medium by shifting the print position upward or downward; a margin value input means for inputting a margin value; and a print position and input margin A printing device for printing a plate-shaped printing medium, comprising: printing position control means for printing a character by shifting the character to an upper or lower margin position based on the value. 4. A printing position selecting means for inputting a selection of whether to print a printing position of a printing character on a plate-like printing medium upward or downward or to perform printing by centering the printing position. 4. A printing apparatus for printing on a plate-shaped printing medium according to claim 3, wherein said control means causes the character to be shifted to the upper or lower margin position and printed or centered and printed based on the printing position and the input margin value. 5. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a line setting unit configured to set the number of printing lines of the plate-shaped printing medium.
A printing device for a plate-shaped printing medium, characterized in that, based on a line feed instruction, the print data before the line feed is expanded upward, and the latest line character data after the line feed is expanded downward.