JPH11311945A - Mountless label printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mountless label printer which can print on both the surfaces of a label. SOLUTION: This printer is equipped with a label form 3 which provides heat-sensitive recording layers which color by heating on the top and reverse surfaces of base paper and a heat-sensitive adhesive layer which activates glue at a temperature higher than the coloring temperature of the said heat-sensitive recording layer on the heat-sensitive recording layer provided on the reverse surface, a 1st thermal head 5a which comes into contact with the surface of the label form 3 to heat the label form 3, a 1st platen roller 5b which is arranged oppositely to the 1st thermal head 5a and presses and conveys the label form 3, a 2nd thermal head 8a which comes into contact with the reverse surface of the label form 3 to heat the label form 3, a 2nd platen roller 8b which is arranged oppositely to the 2nd thermal head 8a and presses and conveys the label form 3 and a control means which controls the positions where a print part and a glue activation part are formed by varying the temperature and position of heating by the 2nd thermal head 8a.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a label printer for printing and issuing a label to be affixed to a product, and more particularly to a mountless label printer which does not require a mount by activating adhesiveness by heating paper. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional mountless label printer, a heat-sensitive seal layer is formed on one side of a label sheet, and after printing on this label sheet, the sheet is cut and heated to activate the heat-sensitive seal layer. Labels were issued by causing stickiness.

[0003]

However, in the conventional mountless label printer, the entire back surface of the printing surface is an adhesive surface, and only the front surface can be printed. When printing the characters or the like on a label, there is a problem that the length of the paper must be lengthened to increase the printing area. Further, when the article to which the label is to be attached is small, there is a problem that desired printing cannot be performed. The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and has as its object to provide a mount-less label printer capable of printing on both sides of a label.

[0004]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a heat-sensitive recording layer that develops a color by heating is provided on one of the front and back surfaces of the base paper. A label sheet provided with a heat-sensitive adhesive layer in which the glue is activated by heating, a thermal head that contacts the surface of the label sheet on which the heat-sensitive recording layer and the heat-sensitive adhesive layer are provided, and heats the label sheet; and the thermal head A platen roller that is disposed opposite to and conveys the label paper by pressing the same, and a control unit that controls a position at which a printing unit and a glue active unit are formed by changing a temperature heated by the thermal head and a heating position. And characterized in that:

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a heat-sensitive recording layer that develops color by heating is provided on the front and back surfaces of the base paper, and the paste is activated by heating on the heat-sensitive recording layer provided on the back surface. A label paper provided with a heat-sensitive adhesive layer, a first thermal head which is in contact with the surface of the label paper and heats the label paper, and which is arranged to face the first thermal head and press-contacts the label paper. A first platen roller to be conveyed, a second thermal head in contact with the back side of the label paper and heating the label paper, and a second thermal head disposed opposite to the second thermal head to press and convey the label paper. A second platen roller, and control means for controlling a position at which a printing portion and a glue active portion are formed by changing a heating temperature and a heating position by the second thermal head. And butterflies.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, when there is a plurality of data to be printed on the label paper, the control means prints a part of the data on the back surface of the label paper.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the printing apparatus has a printing format for designating whether printing is to be performed on either the front side or the back side, and the control means has a printing format for the surface specified by the printing format. Prints by driving the thermal head

The invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that, when the print data includes at least the price of a product and a store name, the store name is printed on the back surface.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the label paper, the surface having the heat-sensitive recording layer and the heat-sensitive adhesive layer performs printing near the end of the label, and the adhesive portion prints the printing. It is characterized in that it is provided in an area excluding the area where the operation was performed.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The construction of a mechanism of a mountless label printer according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1, a mount-less label printer mechanism 1 according to the present embodiment includes a strip-shaped mount-less label paper 3 (hereinafter, “label paper 3”) drawn from a label roll 2
), A cutter 6 for cutting the printed label paper 3 into labels 3a of a desired length, and a heat-sensitive adhesive surface 7 of the cut labels 3a. And an adhesive force activating section 8.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control unit of the labelless label printer. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 10 denotes a CP.
U, which controls the control unit. Reference numeral 11 denotes a ROM for storing a control program, and the program is loaded by the CPU 10 at the same time when the apparatus is started. Reference numeral 12 denotes a RAM for storing various product data and various print formats as print data. The print format not only determines which print items are to be printed and where, but also determines which portions are to be heated to become adhesive portions. You can give instructions. It also includes an instruction as to whether each print item is to be printed on the front side or the back side.

Reference numeral 13 denotes an operation unit for inputting, setting, or calling data to be printed such as a product number, print format data, and the like. Reference numeral 14 denotes a display unit for displaying print data and the like. The operator inputs a character string to be printed on a label issued from the operation unit 13 as print data while referring to the display unit 14, or sets a print format and sets a print surface and position on the input print data. Is specified. Reference numeral 15 denotes an interface for inputting and outputting data. Reference numeral 16 denotes the first thermal head 5
a is a driving circuit for driving a. Reference numeral 17 denotes a drive circuit for driving the second thermal head 8a. Code 18
Is a drive circuit for driving the cutter 6 for cutting the label paper 3. Reference numeral 19 denotes a sensor. Reference numeral 20 denotes a first stepping motor that drives the platen roller 5b. Reference numeral 21 denotes a second stepping motor that drives the platen roller 8b.

Next, the operation for printing will be described with reference to FIGS. The label roll 2 is formed by winding the label paper 3. The label paper 3 is provided with a heat-sensitive recording layer on both sides of a printing surface 4 (hereinafter, also referred to as a front surface) and a heat-sensitive adhesive surface 7 (hereinafter, also referred to as a back surface) of the base paper. A heat-sensitive adhesive layer is provided in which the adhesiveness is activated at a temperature higher than the coloring temperature of the layer. In FIG. 1, the label paper 3 is wound around the label roll 2 such that the heat-sensitive adhesive surface 7 is on the outside. Label paper 3
It is also possible to wind the label roll 2 so that the printing surface 4 is on the outside, however, in this case, the first thermal head 5a provided in the printing unit 5 contacts the printing surface 4 of the label paper 3. Since the second thermal head 8a provided in the adhesive active portion 8 needs to contact the heat-sensitive adhesive surface 7 of the label sheet 3, the vertical positional relationship is reversed from that shown in FIG.

The printing section 5 sandwiches the label paper 3 drawn from the label roll 2 between the first thermal head 5a and the first platen roller 5b, and moves the label paper 3 by rotating the first platen roller 5b. While printing, predetermined printing is performed on the printing surface 4. The first platen roller 5b is driven by a stepping motor 20.

When printing of one label 3a is completed and the leading end of the label paper 3 reaches the adhesive active section 8, the second platen roller 8b of the adhesive active section 8 is driven to rotate to remove the label paper 3. Move. Then, the label paper 3 is cut by the cutter 6 to form the label 3a. Cutter 6
Is driven by the cutter driving unit 18. Next, the first
By rotating the platen roller 5b in the reverse direction, the printing unit 5 positions the target printing position on the printing surface 4 of the label paper 3 with respect to the first thermal head 5a. Thereby, the drive control of the printing unit 5 can be made to correspond to the printing area for one next label 3a, and accurate printing can be performed in the printing area.

The second platen roller 8b of the adhesive active portion 8
Is driven by the stepping motor 21. The contact position of the heat-sensitive adhesive surface 7 with respect to the second thermal head 8a is detected and identified by the sensor 19. Further, in the adhesive force active section 8, the label paper 3 supplied from the printing section 5 side is used.
Alternatively, a guide 8c for guiding the label 3a between the second thermal head 8a and the second platen roller 8b is provided, and the end of the guide 8c on the downstream side in the moving direction of the label paper 3 or the label 3a and the second platen roller 8b. The label paper 3 or the label 3a is strongly sandwiched between them so that the label paper 3 or the label 3a can be transported reliably.

Further, during the movement of the label 3a by the rotational driving of the second platen roller 8b, the adhesive force activating section 8
Electricity is supplied to each heating element 8d (see FIG. 3) of the thermal head 8a to heat the heat-sensitive adhesive surface 7 of the label 3a. Second
During the step of driving the stepping motor 21 that rotationally drives the platen roller 8b, the movement of the label 3a is stopped and the heat-sensitive adhesive surface 7 is heated by the heating element 8d. At this time, the data stored in the RAM 12 is printed by heating at a temperature at which the thermosensitive recording layer develops color, and the adhesive layer is activated by heating at a temperature higher than the temperature at which the thermosensitive recording layer develops color. In order to obtain a temperature for activating the heat-sensitive adhesive layer, the same position on the sheet is heated a plurality of times or heated for a longer time depending on the temperature at which the heat-sensitive recording layer is heated. As described above, while the label 3a is being moved by the second platen roller 8b, the heat-sensitive adhesive surface 7 is heated and activated while repeating the movement and the stop of the label 3a, so that the printing portion and the glue active portion are formed. .

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the second thermal head 8a. In FIG. 3, the heating element 8d is about 0.1 m.
This is a thin-film heating element composed of an m-square thin film, and a label 3a
A large number of heating elements 8d are arranged in a straight line perpendicular to the moving direction of the label (in FIG. 3, the heating elements 8d arranged in a row are shown by straight lines), and the label 3a abuts over the entire width (up and down in FIG. 3). And is urged toward the second platen roller 8b. The second thermal head 8a is a so-called vertical thermal head, which is commercially available at low cost for printing.

The heating elements 8d and the heat-sensitive adhesive surface 7 arranged in a row
The contact area of the label 3a in the direction of movement of the label 3a is very short, and the second thermal head 8a itself, which is a vertical thermal head, also has a very small dimension in the direction of movement of the label 3a. The heated portion is activated and moved immediately after heating, and the adhesive activated by heating the heat-sensitive adhesive surface 7 does not adhere to the second thermal head 8a. Even if there is a slight adhesion, it is rubbed off by a later inactive portion. For this reason, the movement of the label 3a in the adhesive force active section 8 can always be performed smoothly. Further, since the heating efficiency of the heat-sensitive adhesive layer is high, the calorific value is small, and there is little possibility that the heat-sensitive recording layer on the surface is activated.

When the heating of the second thermal head 8a is performed intermittently, the portion of the heat-sensitive adhesive surface 7 that has been activated by the heating and has become tacky, as shown in FIG. 4A (indicated by an arrow in FIG. 4A), or may be formed in an oblique stripe shape as shown in FIG. 4B. Even if the portion of the heat-sensitive adhesive surface 7 where the adhesiveness is generated is about half the area of the label 3a,
In most cases, the adhesion of the label 3a is sufficient. Also,
In this case, the power consumption related to the heat generation of the heating element 8d is reduced to about half as compared with the case of continuous energization, and the electricity bill can be saved. Further, since the current is not continuously supplied, it is possible to prevent the temperature of the heating element from becoming high, and to extend the life of the second thermal head 8a. The both ends of the label 3a in the moving direction of FIG. 4A and the four corners of the rectangular label 3a of FIG. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the label 3a from being turned up after being attached to the product.

FIG. 5 shows the second platen roller 8b. In FIG. 5, the second platen roller 8b, like the first platen roller 5b for printing, has an outer peripheral surface covered with an elastic member 8f such as rubber having no unevenness. The second platen roller 8b keeps the heating element 8d arranged in line with the urged second thermal head 8a in parallel with the rotation axis of the second platen roller 8b, thereby forming the label 3a.
Can be evenly pressed across the entire width direction of the device.

As shown in FIG. 1, the second platen roller 8
After the label 3a moved by b has passed between the second thermal head 8a and the second platen roller 8b,
When riding on the label receiver 8e composed of two rollers, the second
The rotation drive of the platen roller 8b is stopped. The operator takes the label 3a from the label receiver 8e and attaches it to the product. It is preferable that the second platen roller 8b moves the label 3a by a length slightly added to the dimension of the label 3a in the movement direction. The size of the entire printer mechanism 1 can be reduced.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show an example of printing. FIG.
Is an example of a product label in which the shop name is not printed on the front side but is printed on the lowermost row on the back side. In a store, the name of the store is printed on the back side because the store name does not need to be displayed on the label for the person who is going to buy the product, and it is sufficient that the store name can be viewed as needed after taking it home. By doing so, the shop name can be seen by turning the bottom of the label when the label is attached to the product. Further, since the direction of the characters on the back side is turned upside down, the direction of the characters in a state where the lower part of the label is turned over can be made correct.

The printing example shown in FIG. 7 is an example in which a description about a product is printed on the back surface. By doing so, it is not essential to print on the front side, and it is possible to print on the back side items that are not strongly linked to commercial value (for example, how to eat and cook food, precautions, etc.) The label can be made as small as possible so that the product can be seen well.

It should be noted that printing indicating the content of printing on the back surface may be performed on an empty area on the front surface such as "the cooking method is described on the back surface".

The difference in heating temperature may be obtained by changing the voltage applied to the thermal head 8a.

The adhesive layer of the paper is not provided on the entire back surface, but is divided into a plurality of areas in parallel with the paper transport direction, and any one of the divided areas is defined as a print area, excluding the print area. An adhesive layer may be provided in the area.
In this case, the set temperatures of the adhesive layer and the recording layer can be made the same, and the heating control can be simplified. In addition, when a label is attached to a transparent packaging film or the like, the printed content can be viewed through the film or the like even if the printed portion is attached, so that the adhesive layer is activated at a higher temperature than the recording layer. You don't have to. Rather, it is possible to make the adhesive layer easier to see by coloring only the necessary portions where the set temperature is lower.

Further, the printing and the activation of the adhesive layer may be performed by heating the thermal head 8a while changing the heating temperature in accordance with the width of the area parallel to the paper transport direction. By doing so, it is not necessary to heat the adhesive layer a plurality of times, and the paper feed speed can be kept constant, so that even when a long label is issued, high-speed printing can be performed without changing the configuration. .

The printed content on the back side may be "hidden characters" or the like so that lottery can be performed.

The label to be issued is not limited to a product label, but may be attached to a traveler's suitcase or bag at an airport or the like and used as a tag for sorting. When used in such a tag, for example, the flight number of the aircraft boarding on the front surface is printed in a large size prominently, and detailed items such as destination name and transit location name are printed on the back surface, so that it is easy to see and understand Can be a tag.

The paper to be used may be a paper with perforations in advance or a fixed length of label to be issued, such as cut paper.

Further, the amount of data that can be printed on the print area on the front surface is determined in advance, and it is determined whether or not the predetermined data amount has been exceeded. You may make it. In this way, the length and size of the label to be issued can be limited.

In addition, both the printing area and the adhesive portion may be provided on the front side of the sheet, similarly to the back side.

When using a sheet of paper on which the label surface is printed in advance, the platen roller 5b and the thermal head 5a need not be provided.

[0035]

As described above, according to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the printing on the back surface of the paper is simplified by using the thermal head for activating the heat-sensitive adhesive layer. Can print on the back surface of the label.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a label having a large area is printed by printing, on the back surface of the label, items having relatively low necessity of inner surface printing of the product data to be printed on the product label. Thus, it is possible to provide more information to the purchaser of the product without using the information.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, there is an effect that the surface to be printed can be changed only by changing the print format for the print item.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, when shopping at a store, the name of the store is known and does not need to be printed on the label surface, so that less print data is printed on the surface. As a result, the effect of reducing the label area can be obtained.

According to the sixth aspect of the invention, even when the label is affixed to the product, an effect is obtained that the printed portion on the back surface of the label can be turned over and seen.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a mechanism section 1 of a mountless label printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating control of the embodiment of the mountless label printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a second thermal head of the mountless label printer of FIG. 1 as viewed from a label side.

4A and 4B are views of the mount-less label paper in which the heat-sensitive adhesive surface is activated by the mount-less label printer of FIG. 1 and the adhesive force is generated, as viewed from the heat-sensitive adhesive surface side, and FIG.
Is a state in which the adhesive part of the heat-sensitive adhesive surface has intermittent stripes in the direction of movement of the labelless label paper,
(B) shows a state in which the portion of the heat-sensitive adhesive surface where the adhesive force is generated is striped obliquely in the moving direction of the mount-less label paper.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a second platen roller of the labelless printer of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a print example of a label issued in the embodiment shown in FIGS.

FIG. 7 is another printing example of the label issued in the embodiment shown in FIGS.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Mount-less label printer mechanism part, 3 ... Mount-less label paper, 3a ... Mount-less label paper (label), 4 ... Printing surface, 7 ... Heat-sensitive adhesive surface, 8a
..Thermal head (second thermal head), 8b
Roller (second platen roller), 8d: heating element, 8f: elastic member.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A heat-sensitive recording layer that develops a color by heating is provided on one of the front and back surfaces of a base paper, and a heat-sensitive adhesive layer is provided on the heat-sensitive recording layer, the adhesive being activated by heating. A label paper, a thermal head that contacts the surface of the label paper on which the heat-sensitive recording layer and the heat-sensitive adhesive layer are provided, and heats the label paper. A mountless label printer comprising: a platen roller for performing printing; and control means for controlling a position at which a printing unit and a glue-active unit are formed by changing a heating temperature and a heating position by the thermal head. 2. A heat-sensitive recording layer that develops color by heating is provided on the front and back surfaces of the base paper, and a heat-sensitive adhesive layer that activates glue by heating is provided on the heat-sensitive recording layer provided on the back surface. A label paper, a first thermal head that contacts the surface of the label paper and heats the label paper, and a first platen roller that is disposed to face the first thermal head and presses and conveys the label paper. A second thermal head that contacts the back surface of the label paper and heats the label paper; and a second platen roller that is disposed to face the second thermal head and presses and transports the label paper. Control means for controlling the position at which the printing section and the glue active section are formed by changing the temperature to be heated by the second thermal head and the position to be heated. Linta. 3. The mountless printer according to claim 2, wherein when there are a plurality of data to be printed on the label paper, the control means prints a part of the data on the back surface of the label paper. Label printer. 4. The printing apparatus has a printing format for designating whether to perform printing on a front or back printing surface, and the control unit drives a thermal head on a surface specified by the printing format to perform printing. The mountless label printer according to claim 3, wherein the labelless printer is used. 5. The mount-less label printer according to claim 3, wherein when the print data includes at least a product price and a store name, the store name is printed on a back surface. 6. In the label paper, the surface having the heat-sensitive recording layer and the heat-sensitive adhesive layer is printed near the end of the label, and the adhesive portion is an area excluding the area on which the printing is performed. The mountless label printer according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the labelless printer is provided in a printer.