JPS60134833A - Label printer - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a label printer that automatically issues labels to be attached to products.

Conventionally, labels have been printed using printing plates in two-bell printers, but in recent years, labels have been put into practical use that use thermal printers instead of printing plates. This type of label printer uses characters (kana, kanji, etc.) to be printed in advance in a P-ROM (programmable read-only memory).

A pattern (dot pattern) of numbers, alphabets, etc.) is stored, and this pattern is read out to print the label. In this case, the P-ROM is created corresponding to the user's industry, and the valley label printer is stored with character patterns suitable for the user's industry.
- ROM is set. Furthermore, the user can newly set or change the contents of the label print by operating keys.

By the way, when the user sets or changes the content of label printing, it is necessary to check what character patterns are stored in the P-ROM and which character codes are set corresponding to each character pattern. I need to know if there are any. Conventionally, manufacturers have created a list of correspondences between character patterns and character codes in the P-ROM and provided this to users. However, such lists are easily lost and often become unusable due to dirt or damage. In such a case, the user would request the manufacturer to reissue the list, but this was extremely inconvenient since the new list would not be able to be set or changed. On the manufacturer's side, on the other hand, since the contents of the P-ROM differ depending on the industry, a list must be prepared for each industry, and even if the industry is the same, the contents of the P-ROM can be changed as appropriate. Because it is done,
A new list must be created every time a change is made, and therefore, it takes a lot of effort to create the second list, and furthermore, there are problems in that mistakes are likely to occur.

In this way, the list of conventional character patterns on the user side,
This is extremely inconvenient for both manufacturers, and there has been a strong desire to develop an alternative to this list.

Therefore, the present invention provides a label printer that can solve all of the problems caused by the conventional list described above, and includes a thermal head that performs thermal printing on roll paper, a head drive section that drives this thermal head, and a head drive section that drives the thermal head. A second printing area having a printing area corresponding to the printing area of the roll paper.
reading a numeric pattern from the first memory in response to the operation of the operating unit, and writing the read numeric pattern to a predetermined position in a printing area of the first memory as a number representing the entire character code; Further, each character pattern is read from the/th memory, and the
each comprising a control means for writing in the position of the character code represented by the numerical pattern, and a means for transferring each pattern in the printing area to the head driving section,
This allows the user to create a correspondence table (character pattern list) between character patterns and character codes by himself/herself whenever desired, without any intervention from the manufacturer.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Eko. FIG. 7 is an external view of a label printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration. The label printer shown in these figures is used for weighing object 1.
A function to perform thermal printing on label paper based on this cutting result and issue a label 2,
It has a function of tabulating data regarding the price of a wave meter kimono 10, 10 years, etc., and a function of printing out the tabulation results using the journal printer section 3, and allows the user to set the characters to be printed on the label 2 by himself/herself.

Or you can change it.

Furthermore, P-ROM4 in which each character pattern is stored
(Fig. 2) can be automatically printed out in the journal printer section 3 based on the user's key operations.

To explain in detail below, first, in FIG. 1, reference numeral 6 is a weighing section that measures the weight of the object to be weighed 1, and a weight signal (analog signal) indicating the weighed weight is sent to the interface circuit 7 (
Figure 1). The interface circuit 7 converts the supplied weight signal into digital data and outputs it to a pass line 9 of a CPU (central processing unit) 8. Code 10 (
1) is a label printer main body, and this main body 10 includes an operation panel section 11. Label issuing department 12. Journal printer! 1ts3 is provided, and a control circuit is provided inside. The operation panel section 11 is
As shown in FIG. 3, it is composed of an operation section 14 and a display section 15. The operation unit 14 is a numeric keypad.

It is composed of various function keys, etc., and the output of each key switch is outputted to the pass line 9 via the interface circuit 16. The display unit 15 is composed of a liquid crystal display, and the display section 15a displays the characters to be printed on the label 2, and the display section 15b displays the price of the object to be weighed. . This display part work 5 is C
From PU8 to pass line 9 and interface circuit 1
It is driven by dot data supplied via 7. The label issuing unit 12 is composed of a label roll paper in which a number of label papers are pasted on a mount at equal intervals, a stepping motor that drives the label roll paper, a thermal printer that prints on the label paper, etc. Both the stamping motor and the thermal printer are driven and controlled by control signals and print data supplied from the CPU 8 via the interface circuit 18.

The journal printer section 3 includes a printing section 20 shown in FIG. 9 and a head drive circuit 21 shown in FIG. 5, and an interface circuit 22 includes a clock generation circuit 23 . A parallel/serial conversion circuit 24 is connected to a control signal generation circuit 25. Printing section 20 (Fig. 9) is a C-27ii printed circuit board, and a thermal head 28 is installed at the upper end of this printed circuit board 27.
(See Figure 5) is attached, and a shift register 29 (See Figure J) is attached at the bottom. Board 27
A heat dissipation plate 3O is attached to the back side of the unit. ′! 7′
Reference numeral 32 is a platen roller driven by a stepping motor, and a roll paper 33 passes between the platen roller 32 and the thermal head 28. At this time, printing is performed on the roll paper 33 by the thermal head 28.

The head drive circuit 21 (FIG. 5) drives the thermal head 28.
This is a circuit for driving each heating element 28a, 28a..., and drive transistors 35.3 provided corresponding to each heating element 28a, 28a...
5...and each transistor 35.35...
AND gate 36°3 that controls the base current of 1 respectively.
6... and a shift register 29. In addition, in this example, the heating element 28a
, 28a=--・- number is 2Ql' (horizontal, 2.21
1 dot) and therefore the transistor 35.3
5... number, and gate 36.36...
... is also t2.211, and the shift register 29 has 22 gbits.

Next, in the interface circuit 22 shown in FIG. 6, the clock generation circuit 23 is a circuit that generates a clock pulse CP synchronized with the clock of the CPU 8.
Clock terminal C of the workpiece 77 register 29 (Fig. 5)
Supplied to K. The parallel/serial conversion circuit 24 is
The parallel data supplied from the CPU 8 via the data bus 9b is converted into serial data, and the clock pulse C
It is sequentially output to the data terminal DI of the shift register 29 at timing P. The control signal generation circuit 25 generates a drive pulse DP based on a head drive command supplied from the CPU 8 via the data bus 9b, and generates a drive pulse DP.
．． 36...... to each input terminal, and
A drive pulse MCPi for the stepping motor that drives the platen row 232 (FIG. 9) is created based on the seven-way drive command supplied from the PU 8, and output to the stepping motor. Note that the above-mentioned parallel-to-serial conversion circuit 24. Both the control signal generation circuits 25 and the address bus 9
Connection and disconnection with data bus 9b are performed based on address data supplied via a. In addition, in FIG. 3, the hash line 9 shown in FIG. 2 is replaced by the address bus 9.
Next, the operations of the journal printer section 3 and the interface circuit 22 described above will be explained. First, the CPU 8 selects 22Z to print dots on the first line of the roll paper 33.
The dot data of the pits is sequentially output to the data bus 9b in units of g pits. This dot data is taken into the parallel/serial conversion circuit 24, converted into serial data, and output one by one pit at the timing of the clock pulse CP to the shift register 29, where it is read. Next, the CPU 8 outputs a motor drive command to the control signal generation circuit 25.

The control signal generation circuit 25 receives this command and generates a drive pulse M.
CP? r Output to stepping motor. To this, Eli
The roll paper 33 is driven in steps.

Next, the CPU 8 outputs a head ilR movement command to the control signal generation circuit 25. The control signal generation circuit 25 receives this command and outputs the drive pulse DP to the AND gate 36.36.
Output to... Eri, Andogu) 36
．． 36... becomes open, and shift register 2
The signals at each output terminal of 9 are transmitted through transistors 35°35...
..., and these transistors 35
．． 35...V, each heating element 28a+28a... of the thermal head 28 is driven, and dot printing of the first line is performed. Next, the CPU
8 outputs a motor drive command to the control signal generation circuit 25;
Next, the dot data (2, 1 bits) to be printed on the column 33 of the roll paper 33 is sequentially outputted to the data bus 9b, and the above operation is repeated.

The details of the journal printer section 3 and the interface circuit 22 have been described above. Next, returning to Figure 1 again, 4
0 is a ROM (read only memory) in which programs used in the CPU 8 are stored; 41 is a RAM (random access memory) for data processing;
In AM41, as shown in FIG.
A Ql pit printing area 41a is provided. In this printing area 41a, the character pattern (dot data data is stored in advance) t to be printed on the roll paper 33 (FIG. 9), and when printing, the character pattern (dot data data) is sequentially selected from the highest dot data (J, 2 dabits). The data is transferred to the interface circuit 22 mentioned above. 42 has RAM'''C for data files, and has a battery bank amplifier.This RA
M42 stores various data such as sales totaling data or data indicating the product name to be printed on the label 2. The P-ROM 4 is a memory in which various character patterns or character codes of additional characters to be described later are stored in advance, and has storage areas 4a to 40 as shown in FIG. , kana characters (katr-
yi・na, hiragana, including symbols) pattern (vertical/
6 x Kokoza dot), Kanji pattern (/Ax/ 6
(dot), character code for additional characters.

Pattern of lowercase letters used for additional characters (gxgt2.
Each * character pattern is memorized. A three-digit /θ-address character code is determined corresponding to each valley character pattern, and each pattern in the P-ROM 4 is accessed based on this character code. Here, additional characters will be explained.

These additional characters are printed in lowercase letters along with the product name on the label, such as ``Spice'' and ``Koshiyou.''

These are characters such as "egg" and "beef", and in this label printer, the character codes of the individual characters constituting these characters are stored in advance in the area 4c of the P-ROM 4,
For each additional character (such as “beef”), an additional character code (
/θ base 3 digits), and the kanji, kana, etc. used for each additional character are stored in advance in the area 4d.

Next, the operation of printing out character patterns or additional characters stored in the above-mentioned P-ROMJ by the journal printer section 3 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 7 to 1.

In this case, the operator first operates the keys on the operation unit 14 in a predetermined order. When the keys are operated in the above order, the CPU 8 detects this and displays it.

In the display section 15a of the section 15, the following characters are displayed: 0 End 1 Kana/Kanji 2 Tenkamoji 3 All. Note that this display is of course P-ROM
This is done by reading out the character pattern in J.

Next, when the operator inputs "1" using the numeric keypad,
Thereafter, under the control of the CPU 8, the character patterns of kana and kanji in the P-ROM 4 (area 4 of the P-ROM 4)
a, 4b contents) are printed out based on the correspondence with the character code, and when you input "2" using the numeric keypad, the additional characters in %P-ROM4 (the contents of area 4c) are printed out in correspondence with the additional character code. If you enter [3] using the numeric keypad, the P-RO
All character patterns and additional characters in M4 (area 4
The contents of a to 4d) are printed out in correspondence with each code. Note that the numbers in area 4e are not printed out.

The printout process when "3" is input using the numeric keypad will be described below. Figure 2 shows the printed roll paper (character pattern list) in this case, and in this figure, the numbers in the top column (referred to as column numbers) and the numbers in the leftmost column (referred to as digit numbers) are each Indicates the character code of the character. For example, the character code for "a" is rlJ, the character code for "rs" is l-13J,
The character code for "r back" is r213J. Also r90
0J.

r901Jr902-J... indicates an additional character code.

Fig. 1θ is a general flowchart showing the above-mentioned printout process. As shown in this figure, the printout includes printing of column numbers, printing of kana characters, printing of kanji, printing of additional characters, /"h This is done in the order in which the characters are printed.

Figure 1 is a flowchart showing the process of printing column numbers. First, in step S1, the N register,
Valley in X register, X register, E register” xo
*3'O+ 0 is set.

The same is true for the f, N, X, Y, and E registers as well as the valley registers of 1tA. Also, data Xo
, yo have data sets corresponding to the X and Y coordinates of the position where the number "0" is to be printed, in other words, the seventh
This is data indicating at which position in the printing area 41a shown in the figure the "O" pattern is to be stored. Further, "0" in the E register indicates that the data in the N register is a number. Next, the PWRITE subroutine SU
Go to B1. In this PWR I T E subroutine, first, the data in the E register is checked, then the data "0" in the N register is converted to address data based on the data in the E register, and the data is supplied to the PROM4. . In response to this, a pattern of number [0] is read out from area 4e of P-ROM 4. Next, this read pattern is placed at a predetermined location within the printing area 41a.
That is, it is written to the location specified by data X0TyO in the X,X register (see FIG. 7). Next, in step S2, raJ is added to the data in the X register, and "1" is added to the data in the N register. Here, the data raJ is data corresponding to the distance (distance in the X direction) between the printing position of the number rOJ and the printing position of the number "l", as shown in FIG.

Next, in step S3, it is determined whether the data in the N register is "1O". And this judgment result is r
In the case of NOJ, the process returns to subroutine 5UBI, and in the case of rYEsJ, the process proceeds to step S4 shown in FIG. By repeating the above subroutine 5UBI and steps 82 and 83, two columns of numbers [OJ~
A character pattern of "9" is set in the printing area 41a.

FIG. 72 is a flowchart showing the process of printing kana characters; first, in step S4, LN. E
．． "0" is set in each M register. Here, the data in this LN register indicates a digit number. Furthermore, the data in the M register indicates a character code. Next, when the process proceeds to step S5, data X shown in FIG. 7 is set in the X register, and data "b" shown in the same figure is added to the data in the X register. Next, when the process advances to step S6, r 16J (
(corresponding to the vertical 76 dots of the character pattern) is added, and then it is determined whether the addition result is less than or equal to θ. And this judgment result is r'YESj (/Otsu θ or less)
In this case, the process advances to the line number writing subroutine 5UB2. In this subroutine 5UB2, the numerical value in the LN register (line number; the highest three digits) is checked first. Next, the character pattern of that number is stored in area 4e of P-ROM4.
The data is read out one time from the X and X registers and written to a predetermined position in the print area 41a (see FIG. 7). Next, when the process advances to step S7, data "1" and Xo a are stored in the E register and the X register, respectively.
It gets sucked in. Here, data Xo and data a are data shown in FIG. 7, respectively. Next, in step S8, "a" (see FIG. 7) is added to the data in the X register. Next, when the program advances to the PWRITE subroutine 5UBI, the data in the E register is first checked, as in the case AjJ described above. In this case, the data in the E register is "1", and therefore the following kana or kanji patterns are set in the printing area 41a. That is, first, the data in the M register is converted into address data and supplied to the P-ROM 4. The character pattern corresponding to the data in the ERI
It is written in (S'r, tM in 1a. A blank corresponds to the one-character code 10, and all ) turns become 'X0.'Next, when the process advances to step S9, M "1" is added to the data (character code) in the register,
Next, when the process advances to step SIO, it is determined whether or not there is a carry in the 7th digit of the data in the M register.

If the result of this judgment is rNOJ, the process returns to step S8, and the process proceeds to step 88. Subroutine 5
UB1. The process of step S9 is performed, and rYEs
In the case of J, the process advances to step 811. In step Sll, "lO" is added to the data in the LN register.

Next, in step S12, it is determined whether the data in the LN register has reached r200J.

If the flJ disconnection result is "NO", the process returns to step S5-\.

However, when the above process is repeated, the printing area 41
The line numbers and the pattern of each digit or digit character are stored sequentially in a. Then, when the area 41a becomes full, that is, in step S6! ! '(l@ When the result becomes rNOJ, the process advances to step S13, and each don't data in the print area 41a is sequentially outputted to the interface circuit 22--, and is subjected to error printing.Next, the process advances to step S14, Data rb in X register
J is set and the process returns to subroutine 5UB2. Also, when the printing process of kana characters is completed, that is,
When the result of step S12 is rYEsJ, the process advances to the kanji processing routine RUI. This kanji processing routine R,
The process in U1 is substantially the same as the process of kana character processing described above, and the explanation will be omitted.

Next, when the kanji character processing routine RUI ends, the process proceeds to the additional character printing processing routine shown in FIG. 73. In this processing routine, first, in step S15,
Data x2 + y2 + r in Y and E registers respectively
2 J is set. Here, the data X2+y2 is the data shown in the first diagram.

Further, data "2" means an additional character.

Next, when the process advances to step S16, r9J, rOJ, and rOJ are set in the A, B, and C registers, respectively. and,
Proceed to PWRITE subroutine 5UBI. In subroutine 5UBI, the contents of the E register are first checked, and then the data in the A register (in this case, r 9 J
)2>E It is converted into address data and supplied to the P-ROM4. As a result, the pattern of the number "9" is read out. Next, the successive patterns are printed in the printing area 41 specified by the data in the X and X registers.
is written to the storage location in a (see Figure 1). next,
Proceeding to step 817, the data in the X register is
Data d shown in FIG. 1 is added. Next, when the program advances to subroutine 5UBI, a pattern of numbers "0" is read from the P-ROM 4 based on the data in the B register (in this case, "O") and written into the print area 41a. Next, proceeding to step 818, data d is added to the data in the X register (rx2+dJ in this case),
Next, proceeding to subroutine 5UBI, P-R0M4 is set based on the data in the C register (in this case "O").
The pattern of numbers rOJ is read out from the print area 4.
1a. Through the above process, r900J is written in the printing area 41a, as shown in FIG. 11I.

Next, when the process advances to step S19, data x3 shown in the first diagram is stored in the X register, and data [O] is stored in the D register.
is set. Then, proceeding to step 820, A
, B, C registers I'9J, rOJ, rO
J is read out, the additional character code F 900J indicated by these data is converted to address data, and P
- Supplied to ROM4. As a result, the character code of each character of the additive character "additive" corresponding to the additive character code r900J in P-ROMJ is read from P-ROM4. Each read character code is then stored in a predetermined area of the RAM 41. Next, when the process advances to step S21, the character code of the first character "SU" is written into the M register. Next, proceeding to the PWRITE subroutine 5UB1, the P-ROM is written based on the character code in the X register.
The character pattern of the lowercase "subscript" is read from 4 and written in the print area 41a. Next, step 822
Then, data e shown in FIG. 11 is added to the data in the X register. Next, proceeding to step S23, D
The data in the register is incremented. and,
The process advances to step S24. In step S24, it is determined whether the data in the D register has reached "5". If the result of this determination is "No", the process returns to step S21 again. In step S21, the character code of the next character "+" is written to the M register, then in subroutine 5UB1, a pattern of the lowercase letter "+" is written in the printing area 41a, and then in step S22. S
23. S24 is executed sequentially.

By repeating the process of steps 821 to S24 described above, the character pattern of Eri "Additive" is printed in the printing area 4.
1 is placed in 1a. Then, when the determination result in step S24 is rYESJ, the next additional character code r
The processing moves on to the additional character corresponding to 904j. Note that this processing process is substantially the same as the process shown in FIG. 73, so its explanation will be omitted. Also, the content of the D register is 1
The reason why the process proceeds to the next additional character when the number reaches 5 is because the longest additional character is the j character. In addition, the lowercase character code rOJ is blank (
(See FIG. 2), if the number of additional characters is, for example, three characters, "0" is written in area 4cv as the code for the other character.

Next, the processing of the additional characters described above proceeds, and the printing area 4
When the area 1a becomes full, each don't data in the same area 41a is sequentially transferred to the interface circuit 22 and printed on the roll paper 33, as in the case described above. When all the additional characters have been processed, the lowercase letter pattern in area 4d of P-ROM 4 is printed in the same manner as the kana letter pattern described above.

The above is the process of printing out each character pattern and additional characters in the P-ROM 4 and creating the character pattern list shown in FIG. Note that the character pattern list printed out using the above-described process may be attached to the front surface of the label printer main body IO. below,
An example of the mounting structure in this case will be explained with reference to FIGS. 7j to 77.

BL/5 In the figure, 50 is a storage notebook for the character pattern list) PL, and the number 50 is a transparent resin bag bound into a notebook shape to store the character pattern list) PL.
The end side of the cover is folded in to form a holding part 51 for each page. The cover of the storage compartment 50 is made of one side of a velvet fastener, and the other side is attached to the front surface of the printer body 10 to form a mounting portion 52.

In Fig. 76, 54 is a notebook in which the character pattern list) PL is bound and made into a binder, and an index is formed at the end of each page, and a magnetic sheet is provided at the end of each page to form the presser part 55. do. The cover of the notebook 54 is made of a magnetic sheet, and the front surface of the printer made of iron plate is used as the attachment part 56.

The character pattern PL in FIG. 17 is strip-shaped,
It is formed by winding both ends of a winding core 58, and providing a mounting part 59 for storing the winding core 58 on the front surface of the printer main body. In this embodiment, the winding core 58 is rotated manually, but it may also be rotated by a motor.

As described above, according to the present invention, each character pattern preset in the P-ROM can be printed out in correspondence with a character code. As a result, the user can obtain a correspondence table (character pattern list) between each character pattern and character code whenever he or she wants, and problems that occur on the user side and the manufacturer side in the case of conventional lists can be solved. can all be solved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 7 is an external view of a label printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the label printer, and FIG. 3 is an operation panel section 1 of the label printer.
1, FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the interface circuit 22 in the figure, FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the printing area 41a set in the RAM 41 shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a storage area of the P-ROM 4 shown in FIG. 1. Figure 2 is a diagram showing an example of the character pattern list, Figure 1θ is a general flowchart showing the process of printing out the character pattern list, and Figure 1/Figure 1 is a flowchart showing the printing process of column numbers. , No. 7-1! Is the process of printing kana and kanji characters illustrated? Fig. 73 is a flowchart showing the process of printing additional characters, and the first figure shows the storage area 4 of RAM 41 when printing additional characters.
1j to 77 are perspective views showing examples of mounting structures for character pattern lists. 2...Label, 3...Journal printer section, 4...P-ROM, 8...CI
) U, 14... operation unit, 21... navel)" drive circuit, 28... thermal head,
33...r=-ru paper-41...RAM
, 41 a... Printing area. Applicant Sei Teraoka Co., Ltd.] [No. 999? f L-111111

Claims (1)

[Claims] A label printer having a first memory in which character patterns to be printed on a label are stored in advance, and printing a label based on each pattern in the first memory, an operation unit having a numeric keypad and a function key; , a thermal head that performs thermal printing on roll paper, a head drive section that drives the thermal head, a first memory having a printing area corresponding to the printing area of the roll paper, and a first memory that responds to the operation of the operation section. reads out a number pattern from the first memory, inserts the read number pattern into a predetermined position in the printing area of the second memory as a number representing a character code, and reads each character from the memory of +jtJ memory 1. A control means for reading a pattern and placing it in the position of the character code represented by the H number pattern in the printing area, and a means for transferring each pattern in the printing area to the head driving section. Label printer.