JP2006021439A - Label printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To use a label printer in which a label specification or a peeler specification printing specification can be selected, even when a label sheet is arranged on a sheet path wrong from a sheet path intended by a user, and the label is wasted.
A label printer capable of selecting a print specification based on a peeler specification and a label specification, a print specification selecting unit 23 for selecting a print specification to be executed, a path A and a label in which a label sheet is inserted in the peeler specification A switch for switching printing specifications, comprising a path B into which label paper is inserted at the time of specification and a cover part 2 that can be freely opened and closed, and that allows the label paper to be inserted into path A or path B when opened. 19 is provided in the cover unit 2, and the print specification selection unit 23 switches the print specification by operating the switch 19.
[Selection] Figure 4

Description

  The present invention relates to a label printer.

  The label is issued by the label printer. The label specification allows the printed label to be issued continuously with the label paper, and after printing on the label affixed on the label paper, the label is peeled off one by one by bending the label paper. There is a peeler specification issued from the issue port.

The label paper is set according to the label specifications, the leading end of the label paper is pulled out, the first label is placed in the printing section, printing is performed, and the label paper is discharged without peeling off the label. That is, after printing, the method of discharging to the outside through the discharge port is used. On the other hand, in the peeler specification, after the leading end of the label sheet is pulled out and the first label is arranged and printed on the printing unit, the label is bent by the peeling unit configured with an acute angle until the label is slightly peeled off from the label sheet. Thereafter, excess paper is discharged in the folded direction.
As described above, in the label specification and the peeler specification, the label paper is discharged through another paper path. Therefore, the label paper is set in the paper path corresponding to the printing specification required for the printer.

  Further, the sheet feeding operation is different between the label specification and the peeler specification. That is, in the case of the label specification, the label paper is also continuously fed. In the peeler specification, however, it is necessary to peel off the label from the label paper after printing, so that the paper is intermittently fed. For this reason, it is not only necessary to change the paper path depending on the label specification or the peeler specification, but it is also necessary to perform paper feed control corresponding to that and further print control synchronized with the paper feed.

  By the way, conventionally, even if the label paper is set in the paper path of either the label specification or the peeler specification, the printer cannot recognize this. Therefore, for example, when a printer command is issued from the host to the printer, the print specification conversion is performed by adding a subcommand specifying one of the print specifications to the issued command sent.

However, in this case, when it is necessary to convert the printing specification at the site, the countermeasure is complicated. Therefore, paying attention to the fact that the paper path where the label paper is set is different between the label specification and the peeler specification, a technology for detecting the presence or absence of the label paper in any of the paper paths and making a print specification determination based on the detection result Is disclosed (see Patent Document 1).
JP-A-8-295323

  However, in the above technique, even if the user mistakenly places the label sheet in the sheet path, the label is printed in the wrong way, and the printed label is wasted. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a label printer that allows the user to arbitrarily change the printing specifications when an error is found even during use.

The present invention has been made to solve at least one of the above problems. That is,
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a label printer capable of selecting a print specification by a peeler specification and a label specification,
A print specification selection unit for selecting a print specification to be executed;
A first paper path through which label paper is inserted during peeler specification, and a second paper path through which the label paper is inserted during label specification;
A cover part that can be freely opened and closed, and includes a cover part that allows the label printer to be operated offline when the label printer is opened,
A switch for switching print specifications, which can be operated when the cover is opened, and by operating this switch, the print specification selection section provides a label printer that can switch print specifications.

  According to the label printer configured in this way, it is possible to change the printing specifications at any timing of the user even during the label printer operation, so even if the user misplaces the label paper, the printing specifications are immediately available. It can be changed and wasteful printing of labels can be reduced.

  The label printer according to the embodiment of the present invention is shown below.

FIG. 1 is an external view of a label printer according to an embodiment.
The label printer is provided with a cover portion 2 on the front surface of the main body case 1 and is connected to the front of the main body case so as to be openable. A power switch 3, a cover open switch 4, and an FEED switch 5 are disposed on the surface of the main body case. In addition, a display unit 6 for PAPER OUT LED, ERROR LED, and POWER LED is arranged to grasp the usage status of the label printer.
The cover unit 2 includes a peeler cover 21 and a roll paper cover 25.
The peeler cover 21 is pivotally supported on the upper edge of the roll paper cover 25 so as to be tiltable. The peeler cover 21 can be pulled out from the roll paper cover 25 in the front direction as shown in FIG. When placing the label paper on the paper path of the peeler specification, the label paper is pulled out as shown in FIG. 1, and then only the paper portion is passed through the predetermined path as shown in FIG. Finally, by closing the peeler cover 21 as shown in FIG. 3, the label 8 and the paper 9 are discharged to the outside through separate paths.
In the label specification, the label is discharged from the discharge port 10 while sticking to the sheet.
As described above, the label sheet can be operated when the cover unit 2 is opened. That is, by opening the peeler cover 21, the label paper can be passed through a desired paper path, and by opening the roll paper cover 25, the roll paper can be replaced.

FIG. 4 shows the structure in the label printer and its block diagram.
A storage unit 12 is formed in the main body case 1, and a roll-shaped label sheet 11 is stored in the storage unit 12. The leading end of the label sheet is pulled out and printed by the printing unit 14 through the roller 13 that conveys the label sheet toward the printing unit. If it is a label specification, the label sheet is discharged from the discharge port 10 (path A). On the other hand, in the peeler specification, the label sheet is bent by the label peeling unit 15, the sheet and the label are separated, and the sheet is discharged from the discharge port 16 through the sheet detector 17 (path B). The peeled label is discharged from the discharge port 10.
In addition, a switch 19 for switching printing specifications is provided inside the roll paper cover 25, and the switch 19 cannot be pushed unless the roll paper cover 25 is opened.
In this embodiment, a push button type switch is used as the switch 19, but a slide switch 191 may be used as shown in FIG.

When the switch 19 is pressed, a signal is sent to the control unit 26 and the current print specification is switched to another print specification. In this embodiment, when the cover opening detection unit 18 detects that the cover unit 2, in particular, the roll paper cover 25 is open, by the cover opening detection unit 18, the control unit 26 sets the label printer 1 in an off-line state and switches 19 Enable the switching signal from. In addition, when a switching signal is input by the switch 19 and the printing specification is switched in the offline state, the subsequent switching signal becomes invalid. That is, only one switch operation is effective when the cover is opened, and the print specification selection unit switches the print specification by the first switch operation. When the closed signal is input from the cover opening / closing detection unit 18 to the control unit 26, this state is reset.
In addition to the case where only one switch operation is valid, it is also possible to change the printing specifications each time the switch is pressed. In that case, the printing specification can be visually determined by turning on or off the LED of the display unit 6.

As the print specification changeover switch, a slide switch 191 can be used as shown in FIG. The position of the slide switch 191 is synchronized with the print specification selection unit 27 in the control unit 26, and the print specification can be selected alternatively by the slide switch 191.
It is preferable to provide a window 24 in the cover portion facing the slide switch 191. Thereby, the position of the slide switch 191, that is, the printing specification of the label printer can be confirmed visually.
This slide switch 191 also operates effectively only when the cover 2 is open and the label printer is offline. That is, when the slide switch 191 is changed, a signal is sent to the control unit 26, and the current print specification is switched to another print specification.

The label printer includes an input system (17, 18, 19, 20), a control unit 26, and an output system (6, 13, 14). The control unit 26 manages the entire label printer.
When the paper is to be replaced, the cover 2 is opened so that the cover open / close detection unit 18 detects the open state to bring the label printer off-line, and the control unit 26 stops the paper feeding and printing operations. Next, the label sheet is arranged in the path A or the path B, and the cover portion 2 is closed, so that the stopped state is released. In this case, if it is a peeler specification in which the paper is arranged in the path B, the paper detector 17 detects the presence of the paper, and thereby the control unit 26 performs paper feeding and printing operations according to the peeler specification. On the other hand, if the sheet is arranged in the path A, the sheet detector 17 does not detect the sheet, and therefore the control unit 26 performs sheet feeding and printing operations according to the label specifications.
If it is desired to change the printing specification during the operation of the label printer, it is changed by pressing the switch 19. Since the switch 19 is in the main body case 1, the switch 19 can be pushed only after the cover portion 2 is opened. This is to avoid pressing the switch due to an error during the printer operation by placing the switch 19 inside the cover portion 2.
Further, the label printer is provided with a communication interface 20, and can control the control unit 26 by a control signal from an external host computer 21, and can perform sheet feeding and printing operations in accordance with the control signal. it can.
The display unit 6 is arranged on the surface of the main body case, and the control unit 26 determines and displays the presence / absence of paper, an error display, and a power-on state. The error display is displayed, for example, when the label paper is present in the peeler specification paper path even though the command from the host computer 21 is the label specification.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of the control system of the label printer.
The CPU 30 that performs control performs each process via the bus 31. A ROM 32 and a readable / writable RAM 33 are connected to the bus 31, and information by changing the printing specifications is temporarily stored in the RAM 33, which is read by the CPU 30 to control each processing unit.
In addition, the motor driver 34 and the print driver 36 that operate the roller and the printing unit according to the printing specifications via the bus 31, the sensor circuit 38 that captures information on the presence / absence of paper, whether or not the power is turned on, determination of the printing specification change, A switch circuit 40 that functions to stop or operate the paper feeding and printing operation by opening and closing the cover is connected, and these are controlled by the CPU 30. Further, the display unit 45 determines the status of each processing unit and is turned on or off by the CPU 30.
It is also possible to connect to the communication interface 44 from the outside, and it is possible to access the memory and control the label printer remotely.

  FIG. 7 (a) shows a flowchart for paper replacement. During operation, the cover is opened (step 1), and the label paper is set in the storage unit (step 2). In this case, since it is not necessary to change the printing specification, the operation with the original printing specification can be resumed by closing the cover without pressing the switch (step 3).

FIG. 7B shows a flowchart in the case of changing the printing specification during the printer operation. When changing the printing specification, the cover is opened (step 11). When the switch is pressed while the cover is opened (step 12), the printing specification is changed. That is, when the print specification before pressing the switch is the peeler specification (step 13), the print specification information in the RAM 33 is changed from the peeler specification to the label specification. Thereafter, in step 15, the label paper is replaced from the path B corresponding to the peeler specification to the path A corresponding to the label specification.
Next, when the print specification before pressing the switch is not the peeler specification in step 13, that is, the label specification, the print specification information in the RAM 33 is changed from the peeler specification to the label specification. Thereafter, in step 17, the label sheet is replaced from the path A corresponding to the label specification to the path B corresponding to the peeler specification.
When the above operation is completed, the cover is closed (step 18), and printing with the changed printing specification becomes possible.
If the switch is not pressed in step 12, the printing specification is not changed, and the cover is closed and printing is resumed.

FIG. 8 shows a flowchart when an error occurs (when the layout of the print specification selection unit and the label paper is different). The control unit is provided with a memory switch as a print specification selection unit, and an initial print specification can be set in advance. The print specification written in the memory is compared with the print specification in which the label paper is actually arranged (step 31). If the print specification is different, an error (step 32) is displayed on the display unit 6. Next, the cover can be opened (step 33), the paper can be repositioned in the correct paper path (steps 34, 35), the cover can be closed (step 37), and the operation can be resumed.
On the other hand, when there is no mistake in the layout of the label sheets, that is, when the printing specification selected by the printing specification selection unit is changed, the cover is opened and the switch is pressed (step 36). As a result, the contents of the memory switch are rewritten. Thereafter, the cover can be closed (step 37) to resume the operation. Note that while the cover is open, the memory switch is switched once, no matter how many times the switch is pressed. By closing the cover, the printing specifications are confirmed and the specifications are written to the memory switch. At this time, when it is not desired to change the initial value, it is not always necessary to write the specification to the memory switch.
As described above, when an error is displayed, the user can easily and quickly repair the state of the error. Therefore, waste of labels can be reduced.

FIG. 9 shows a label printer 101 of another embodiment. The same elements as those in the previous embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted.
The label printer 101 of this embodiment has a slide switch 119. A window 124 is formed at the upper edge of the roll paper cover 125 in the cover 102 so that the position of the slide switch 110 can be visually confirmed with the cover 102 closed. On the other hand, when the cover 102 is closed, the slide switch 119 cannot be operated.
In this embodiment, after the peeler cover 121 is opened, the roll paper cover 125 can be opened. Further, the label printer 101 itself is controlled to be offline when the roll paper cover 125 is opened.
The label printer 101 of this embodiment is controlled similarly to the label printer 1 of the previous embodiment. That is, FIG. 11 shows a flowchart for changing the printing specification when the slide switch is used. The same steps as those in the flowchart of FIG. 7B are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.
In the flowchart of FIG. 8, the printing specification is determined according to the position of the slide switch. By using the slide switch (step 22), the set printing specification can be visually confirmed.

FIG. 1 is an external view of a label printer. FIG. 2 is an external view of the label printer. FIG. 3 is an external view of the label printer. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the structure in the label printer. FIG. 5 is an external view when the print specification change switch is a slide switch. FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the control system of the label printer. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of (a) paper replacement and (b) print specification change. FIG. 8 is a flowchart when an error occurs. FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a label printer according to another embodiment. FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a state in which the cover of the label printer according to another embodiment is opened. FIG. 11 shows a flowchart for changing the printing specification by the slide switch.

Explanation of symbols

2, 102 Cover section 19, 119 Printing specification change switch 27 Printing specification selection section

Claims (4)

It is a label printer that allows you to select print specifications as peeler specifications and label specifications.
A print specification selection unit for selecting a print specification to be executed;
A first paper path through which label paper is inserted during peeler specification, and a second paper path through which the label paper is inserted during label specification;
A cover part that can be freely opened and closed, and includes a cover part that allows the label printer to be operated offline when the label printer is opened,
A label printer which is a print specification switching switch, and is operable when the cover is opened, and the print specification selection unit switches the print specification by operating the switch.   The label printer according to claim 1, wherein the switch is a slide type, and a position of the switch is visible from the outside.   2. The switch according to claim 1, wherein the switch is a push button type and is effective only for the first operation when the cover is opened, and the print specification selection unit switches the print specification by the first operation. The label printer described.   The error display is performed when the print specification selected by the print specification selection unit does not correspond to the paper path through which the label paper is passed. Label printer as described in.

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