JPS61130069A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the need for forming different printing programs for different users and enables to cope with a change of papers or the like, by printing through writing character patterns into a screen memory. CONSTITUTION:While operating an operating part 17, parameters are written into a display part 18 in accordance with printing specifications in a format register 7 by using function keys. At this moment, a storage area is in a stand-by state for writing. In a printing operation, the content of a data register 9 corresponding to the format register 7 and the corresponding pattern data in a character generator 6 are read according to a printing-controlling program, and the read data are written into the screen memory 8 in accordance with the designation of the parameter data. When processing for all area in the register 7 is completed, the contents of the screen memory 8 are printed on a thermal recording paper by a thermal head 11 through a printer interface 15, a shift register 14 and a pulse motor 12.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a printer suitable for use in printing various data such as product name and price on price tags (labels) affixed to products or receipts.

[Prior art]

Label printers that print on labels attached to products,
Receipt printers that print on receipts issued to purchasing customers are used in stores, markets, etc., and contribute to increasing the efficiency of sales processing. In this case, the print format on the label printer or receipt printer is
The size of the label (or receipt) to be printed,
It also varies depending on the layout specified by the user.

Therefore, in the past, a Kataganaro print control program was created for each user, and based on this unique program, printing conforming to a predetermined print format was performed.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, it is extremely inefficient to create a different printing program for each user. Unfortunately, label paper and receipt paper come in a variety of shapes and sizes, so it would be extremely convenient if you could switch between them. This was inconvenient as it was only possible to print on specified paper.

This invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and provides a printer that eliminates the need to create a different printing program for each user and that can be stopped immediately even if the paper is changed. The purpose is to

[Means for solving problems]

6. In order to solve the above problems, the printer of the present invention includes a data register in which various data to be printed is stored, and instructions for how and on which part of the paper each data is to be printed. a format register in which various parameters are stored; a data input means for setting/changing each parameter in the format register;
a character generator in which character patterns are stored in advance; a screen memory having a storage area corresponding to the printing area on the paper; character patterns corresponding to each of the data are read from the character generator, and the read character patterns are read out from the character generator; The apparatus includes a write control section that writes data onto the screen memory according to instructions of each parameter in the format register, and a printing section that performs printing based on the data in the screen memory.

[For production]

Each parameter in the format register is freely set/changed by a data input means, and a write control section writes a character pattern to the screen memory based on each parameter in the format register, and further controls printing. The printing section performs printing based on the data in the screen memory.

Therefore, the print format can be set/changed arbitrarily.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, an outline of the print processing operation in an electronic scale with a printer (see FIG. 7), which is an embodiment of the present invention, will be explained.

1B shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B is a diagram showing a printable area in this embodiment, and corresponds to a predetermined print field on label paper or receipt paper.

C As will be described later, the electronic scale with a printer is configured so that printing can be performed on both label paper and receipt paper by replacing the cassette. ) In other words, in the case of label paper, this corresponds to area E shown in Figure 3 (a), and in the case of receipt paper, it corresponds to area E2 (portion C) shown in the figure.
However, the number of product items is 1). In this case, the size of printable area 1 is area E,
, E, is set to more than ζ.

In the printing process in this embodiment, the position and orientation of printing blocks such as product name and unit price are set in advance using predetermined parameters, and thereafter various printing is performed according to the set format. This point will be explained below. These are the B and f1 product name printing blocks shown in FIG. 2(a), and the lower left point P is the reference position of the block. In this embodiment, as shown in the figure, the coordinates of the reference position P can be specified at will. In this case, the origin of the coordinates is set at the lower left point of the printable area 1, and the origin coordinates are (1°1). In addition, in this embodiment, as shown in the same figure ←), the direction of the product name printing block can be changed, so that it can be rotated counterclockwise around the reference position P, 90 degrees, 18 degrees.
Each direction of 0' and 2700 can be set. The above-mentioned reference position setting and block orientation setting are applied to various printing blocks described later, that is,
The same process is applied to price printing blocks, weight printing blocks, barcode printing blocks, etc.

However, in the case of a receipt, the number of product item data printed increases or decreases depending on the number of items purchased by the customer. For this reason, on printable area 1, only one item's worth of blocks (for example, area E' in Fig. 3) is specified as the product item data printing block, but in reality, it corresponds to the product purchased by the customer. The number of product item data is printed continuously (area E' increases according to the number of items). For this reason, the range of print format settings for receipts is somewhat limited compared to labels. The above is an outline of the print processing operation.

Next, the configuration of this embodiment will be explained.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of this embodiment, and 3 shown in the figure is a 16-bit CP that controls each part of the device.
It is a TJ (central processing unit). 4 is a ROM that stores programs used by the CPU 3; 5 is a RAM that temporarily stores various processing data; and 6111 is a character generator (hereinafter referred to as CG) that stores character patterns such as kanji, kana, and numerical values. be. 7 is a format register, and the X of the base position of each print block is
, the X coordinate, and parameters indicating the orientation of the print block. FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing the structure of the format register 4, and as shown in the figure, there are separate storage areas Fel-Fen for each item. Then, columns X, Y, M, k for each area Fel to Fan
KFi, each X coordinate, each data of the X coordinate, the size of the character, and the orientation of the print block are stored. In this case, the M column that indicates the dog character ζ is 0''
Or data of “1” is written, and if it is “0” fl
c The same number of dots as the character pattern in G6 is printed, and in the case of '1'' (a pattern with twice the number of dots in the character pattern in G6 both vertically and horizontally is printed. A to indicate the direction
The value of either r 0.11 r'J + r2J or r3J is entered in the column, and each value is 039031803270.
Indicates the direction of 0.

Next, 8 shown in FIG. 1 is a screen memory, and the storage space of this screen memory 8 corresponds to the printable area 1 described above. FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing the configuration of the screen memory 8, in which the number of bits in the X direction is 128 bits and the number of pits in the Y direction is 512.
It consists of a storage area of 65,536 bits (=8192 bytes) in total. Therefore, the X coordinate can be specified in the range "1" to r128J, and the X coordinate can be specified in the range "11" to r512j.

As shown in Fig. 5, this 8192-byte storage area is divided into 1 byte (=8 bits) and an address is assigned to II [6] in the figure, and this address is accessed by CPTJ3. It looks like this.

Next, 9F! , is a data register, and as shown in Fig. 6, it consists of storage areas Del to Den for each item such as price data, price unit, weight data, etc., and each storage area stores a code indicating price, weight, unit, etc. will be remembered. Next, 10 shown in FIG. 1 is a printer section, and a thermal head 11 consisting of heating resistors r1 to r0 for 12.128 bits (corresponding to the X direction of the screen memory 8) for driving the paper, a thermal head 11, and a thermal It consists of a drive port 13 for moving the head 13, a shift register 14 for shifting and storing print data, and a printer interface 15 for exchanging data with the CPU 3. In this case, based on the control data of the printer interface 15H1CPU3, the drive pulse MCP for driving the pulse motor is
Print pulse DP to S drive circuit 13, shift register 1
It outputs clock pulse CP and print data DATA to 4. Next, reference numeral 17 is the operation unit, which has a large number of keys (numeric keys, function keys, etc.) as shown in Figure 7.
It is configured to input various data to the CPU 3. Reference numeral 18 denotes a display section, which is comprised of display devices 18a to 184 that display various information such as price, price unit, weight, etc. Reference numeral 19 shown in FIG. 1 is a weighing section consisting of a load cell (path shown) and a weighing pan 19a (see FIG. 7), which supplies weight data to the CPU 3. Further, 20 shown in FIG. 7 is a paper feeding section, which supplies paper (-1) to the printer section 10 shown in FIG.

This paper feed section 20 is a removable cassette type, and there are two types: one that stores receipt paper and one that stores label paper, and either one can be set as appropriate. It looks like this. A through hole is provided at a predetermined position of the label cassette to automatically identify the paper type, and depending on whether or not this through hole is present, the printing control mode of the printer can be set for labels or receipts. It is configured to switch automatically.

Next, the operation of this embodiment with the above-described configuration will be explained.

First, before the printer is used, each parameter is written into the format register 7 in accordance with the printing specifications desired by the user.

This writing is normally performed by a person on the manufacturer's side by operating the operation unit 17 during adjustment before shipping the product, but in cases such as when partially changing the print format, it may be performed by an operator on the user side. is also possible. To operate in this case, first turn on the specified key switch, etc.
Set it to N to start the format data write routine.

As a result, the private storage area Fel for price data in the format register 7 is accessed, and the private storage area Fe1 enters a write waiting state. For example, each (64) is placed in the X, Y, M, and A columns of the storage area Fsl.
, (25(S), (0), (1)), perform the following operation on the numeric keypad of the operation unit 17. That is, the prisoner [411) I21 (2
)IS] [Press the keys in the following order. When this operation is completed, the settings will be displayed on the display 18.
Then, when a predetermined function key instructing the end of input is pressed, the display on the display section 18 disappears, and the storage area Fe2 for price units is accessed, and the area enters a write waiting state. Thereafter, similar operations are sequentially performed to write to the format register 7.

In this case, when "0" is set as the X coordinate data, this data is not printed. Furthermore, when initialized, each area F of each format register 7
"0" is stored in each of θ1 to Fen, and therefore no printing is performed for data corresponding to the format register area to which no writing is performed. This format register is composed of a non-volatile ItAM, which retains its contents even if the power is cut off, until it is modified or initialized. It is configured.

As described above, predetermined parameters are written in each column of each area F e 1 to F e n of the format register 7. In this state, when a printing operation (normally performed by pressing the print key on the operation unit 17) is performed, the CPU 3il''l: first prints the X coordinate of the format register 7 according to the printing control program set in the ROM 4. It is determined whether the data is "0", that is, whether or not to print. If the X coordinate data is not "0", the contents of the data register 9 corresponding to this format register 7 (for example, if the format register 7 is area Fel, the area Dθ of data register 9 is
The pattern data corresponding to the contents of is read out from the character generator 6, and each parameter data X, Y, M, of the format register is read out.
According to the instructions of A, the above-mentioned button data is sequentially written onto the screen memory 8. This operation applies to all areas Fel to Fon of the format register 7.
When writing of the pattern corresponding to the contents of the area Den of the data register 9 corresponding to the area pen into the screen memory 8 is completed, the CPTI
3 supplies data for one line of the thermal radar 11 from the screen memory 8, that is, data for 128 pits in the X direction of the screen memory 8, to the shift register 14 via the printer interface 15. After one line of data has been set in the shift register 14, the thermal pad 11 is driven to print one line of data, and then the pulse motor 12 is driven to print a predetermined amount of paper. feed. By sequentially repeating this operation, the contents of the screen memory 8 are printed on the thermal paper by the thermal head 11.

However, in the case of a receipt, the number of item data to be printed differs depending on the number of product items purchased by the customer, so the processing for printing the item data is slightly different from the above processing.

The above is an outline of the printing control in the apparatus of the embodiment, and below, the writing process of the button data to the screen memory 8 will be explained in more detail.

This process has two cases: to enlarge the character pattern in CG6 (when M-1) and not to enlarge (when CM=0), and CP IJ 3 is used for storage areas Fθ1 to Fe
Which process to perform is determined by the value of M of n (see FIG. 4).

First, the case where there is no enlargement, that is, the case where M=00, will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 8(a). First, storage area F corresponding to the item to be written.
Access el to Fon, read the values of the X and Y data of the accessed storage area, and determine the write start address on the screen memory 8 from these values (step 5PI).

In addition, in the following explanation, the item to be written is "
Assume that the product name is "product name". Next, in step SP2, the product name storage area Den in the data register 9 is accessed, and data (kana code, kanji code, etc.) indicating the product name in the area is read. Then, in step SP3, a character pattern corresponding to the read product name data is read out from the CG6. The readout process in this case differs depending on the value of A that specifies the orientation of the print block, and the processing operation for each orientation will be explained below.

■ When A=0 (0').

First, to give an example of the character pattern in CG6, number 9
As shown in Figures (A) and (B), the address of CG6 and the character pattern dots (Po0 to Ps1
t) is as shown in FIG. If A=0, reading is performed as shown in FIG. 10(a). That is, the data in the area constituting the character pattern CP is stored in read registers HA and RB (each having 8 bits) starting from the lower address as shown. Note that bit number P in the figure. . .

PO? *..., etc. correspond to the bit numbers shown in FIG. 9 (-).

■ When A=1.2.3 (that is, when the printing block orientations are 9oo, 18oO, 927oO).

In this case as well, the process is almost the same as the above process (■), but the register R
The dot numbers of the character patterns stored in A and TtB change as shown in FIGS.

However, FIG. 10 shows a case where the character pattern is a kanji character made up of 16 x 16 bits, and when the character pattern is a kana or alphabet made up of 8 x 16 pits, the bit numbers are somewhat different. The first
The same applies to the case of Fig. 3.

Next, the process of step SP4 will be explained.

In this step SP4, data obtained by shifting the bang data read into the read registers RA and RB to the right by a predetermined number of bits determined by the Y coordinate data is written into the write registers R1, R2, and R3. Process.

That is, the screen memory 8 has Y as shown in FIG.
The direction is divided into 1 byte (= 8 bits) and an address is attached, and since the CPTJ3 processes data in 1/(byte units), when the Y coordinate data is set to "Yo" (YO- It is necessary to shift the number of bits corresponding to the remainder when dividing 1) by "8".For example,
If X0=32, Yo=61, M=O1A=O,
When (YO-1) is divided by "8", the quotient is "7" and the remainder is "sword". Therefore, in this case, the contents of read register RA and I'tT3 are as shown in FIG. is shifted by 4 bits and written into write registers R1, R2, and R3. At this time, "0" is set in the lower 4 pits of register R1 and the upper 4 bits of register R3, respectively. Note that if the remainder is rOJ, no shift processing is performed, and the contents of registers RA and RB are written as they are to registers R1 and 'R2Vc. Then, when the data shift process in step SP4 is completed,
Proceeding to step SP5, the above-mentioned stupor register R1,
Processing is performed to write the contents of R2, T(3) to predetermined addresses of the screen memory 8, respectively. In this writing process, as described above, each parameter data is
2. Yo=61. In the case of M=O, A=O, the contents of register R1 are the memory at address A B + Xo + 128 X S (that is, the 928th memory from the first address) as shown in FIG. , the contents of register R2 are address A s 1X. +128×
In the memory (S+1) (1056th memory), the contents of register R3 are address A 8 + Xo + 1
Each of the data is written to 28×(S+2) memories (the 184th memory). In the above, day A is the address one address before the start address of screen memory 8 (that is, AS+1 is the start address of screen memory 8), and is the quotient when Sba(Yo-1) is divided by "8". . Please note that the above address is 10 for convenience of explanation.
It is displayed in decimal numbers. Note that the method of calculating the fill-in address differs depending on the configuration of the screen memory 8. Further, the above is a case where A=0, and the X coordinate and the X coordinate each coincide with the writing reference position P, but when A=1.
In the case of 2.3, the method of determining the reference position P changes as appropriate, and the P, the X coordinate, and the X coordinate data become slightly different (see Figure 2 (b)). Note that the registers R1 and R
2゜The contents of R3 are stored in the screen memory by storing the contents of registers R1, R2, and R3 and the predetermined screen memories (in the above case, the 928th and 105th registers, respectively).
This is performed by performing a logical OR with the contents of (Sth, 1184184th memory) and storing the data after this calculation in a predetermined screen memory. This is to prevent the previously written slam data from being erased by new writing.

Next, the process moves to step SP6, where it is determined whether or not the filling process has been completed, and if it has not finished, the address of U, CG6 and the address of the screen memory 8 are updated (steps SP7, 5P8), and then again. Step SP3~
Repeat the process of SP6. Thereafter, the loop consisting of SP3 to SP8 is repeated until the determination at step SP6 becomes rYEsJ. Note that the arc-shaped arrow shown in FIG. 10 indicates the state of address update of CG6.

Next, when enlarging the character pattern, that is, M
The processing in the case of =1 will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 8(b). The processing in this case is basically the same as in the case of M=o described above, but since the character pattern is enlarged twice, step SP3 in FIG. SP5゜SF3. Instead of SF3, steps 5P13, 5P15, 5P17, and 5P18 are performed. The processing in these steps will be explained below.

First, in the process of step SI'l3, as shown in FIG.
Each bit constituting the data is stored twice. By performing double storage in this way, the character pattern CP is enlarged twice in the vertical (horizontal) direction.

Next, in step 5P15, as shown in FIG. 12(b), the registers R1 to R3 are connected vertically in parallel and are stored in the corresponding area of the screen memory 8. By arranging the registers R1 to R3 in parallel in this way, the character pattern CP is enlarged twice in the horizontal (or vertical) direction. Note that the figure shows the case where A=O,
In the case of A=1.2°3, how to take the reference position P etc.
Change as appropriate.

Further, the address update in step 5P17 is performed in the order shown by the arrow in FIG.
Address update in P18 is performed using registers R1 to R3.
Since these are arranged in parallel, every other address is updated.

As described above, in this embodiment, parameters indicating the reference position coordinates, orientation, and character size of each print block are written in advance in the format register 7, and thereafter, the data in the format register 7 is written. Based on this, the printing pattern is automatically laid out.

Note that if the spacing between the thermal resistance elements constituting the thermal bed 11 and the feeding interval by the pulse motor are not the same, depending on the printing direction of the characters, as shown in FIG. 14,
The aspect ratio of the entire character changes slightly.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the configuration, printing means, processing method, etc. of the above-mentioned embodiments, but can also be applied to various modifications as described below.

■ If a color printer is used, a parameter specifying the color is also stored in the format register. For example, if the color parameter is C, C=0
to specify black, C=1 to red, C=2 to blue, C=3 to yellow, etc. The type of color printer may be either an inkjet type or a thermal type (multiple coloring layer type or multiple thermal transfer type). In this case, screen memories 8 are prepared for the number of colors, or a memory for storing designated colors is used in combination.

■ Adding a parameter that indicates the direction of character arrangement and a parameter that specifies character spacing. For example, as shown in FIG. 15, a parameter may be provided that specifies the vertical writing arrangement for the label. In this way, the type and number of parameters may be appropriately adopted as necessary, and the angle of the characters is not limited to the embodiment.

■ C for monitoring the print format design
An RT display or a liquid crystal display panel may also be provided. In this case, a color monitor may be used in accordance with the above item ζ.

■ For frequently used printing formats and standard printing formats, you can preset each parameter in advance and instantly set the printing format by simply entering the code that identifies each format. may be configured.

Layer (2) As in the above-mentioned embodiment, if the paper feed section is of the cassette type, it may be configured to output reports such as sales data and inventory data.

■ In addition to inputting parameter data to the format register, it is possible to input parameter data to an external storage device, such as a cassette tape recorder, through an interface circuit, or when this printer is incorporated into a POS system, etc., rather than by operating the operation unit. Input from the host computer may also be considered.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, there is a data register that stores various data to be printed, and a format that stores various parameters that instruct how and where to print each of the data on a sheet of paper. a register, a data input means for setting/changing each parameter in the format register, a character generator in which a character division pattern is stored in advance, and a screen memory having a storage area corresponding to the printing area on the paper. ,
a write control unit that reads a character pattern corresponding to each of the data from the character generator and writes the read character pattern onto the screen memory according to instructions of each parameter in the format register; Since it is equipped with a printing unit that prints based on the printing specifications, there is no need to create a different printing program for each user to satisfy the user's desired printing specifications, and even if the paper or label changes. , you can instantly set the appropriate print format.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the printing process of the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the printing area on paper. 4 to 6 are conceptual diagrams showing the configurations of the format register 7, screen memory 8, and data register 9, respectively; FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the external appearance of the embodiment; and FIG. 8 is the operation of the embodiment. 9 is a pattern diagram showing an example of a character pattern in the character generator 6, FIGS. 10 to 13 are explanatory diagrams for explaining the processing operations of the same embodiment, and FIG. 14 is a paper The above diagram showing the printing example and FIG. 15 are diagrams showing another example of the character arrangement. 3...CPTJ (control unit including 4'), 6...
...Character generator, 7...Format register, 8...Screen memory, 9.
... Data register, 10 ... Printer section (printing section), 17 ... Operation section (data input means). Ku no Ku no Q: α α and Ku n Ku no Q: Ku no Ku no

Claims (1)

[Claims] a data register that stores various data to be printed;
a format register in which various parameters for instructing how and where to print each piece of data on the paper are stored; a data input means for setting/changing each parameter in the format register; A screen memory having a stored character generator, a storage area corresponding to the printing area on the paper, a character pattern corresponding to each of the data is read from the character generator, and the read character pattern is stored in the format register. A printer comprising: a write control section that writes onto the screen memory according to instructions of each parameter; and a printing section that performs printing based on data in the screen memory.