JP5774533B2 - Label printer - Google Patents

Description

  Embodiments described herein relate generally to a printer that receives print data from a host machine and prints it on paper.

  For example, data created by a host device such as a personal computer is transmitted to a printer and printed on paper. Some have a function called a print preview that displays a result of printing on a personal computer screen before printing on paper. In this print preview, an application program running on a personal computer expands print data into a buffer and displays it on the screen. Also, print data is transmitted from the personal computer to the printer, and printing is performed by the printer.

  On the other hand, there is a printer that receives print data by a command, analyzes the received command, develops the print data into bitmap data in a print buffer of the printer, and prints on paper. For example, in many printers that print characters and special codes that are not provided in a normal personal computer or the like such as a bar code, data is sent from the personal computer to the printer by a command and the print data is developed by the printer.

JP 2002-82933 A

  When a command is received from a personal computer and expanded into bitmap data with a printer based on this command, it is not possible to know how it will be printed on the personal computer screen before printing. It is necessary to correct the printing position with a personal computer by looking at the printed result and send a command again, which is very time-consuming and wastes paper. Further, since the command is retransmitted from the personal computer, time is required for transmitting the command.

For this reason, in this embodiment, a communication interface that receives a print command from the outside , a print unit that prints on a label print data developed in a print buffer by a print command received by the communication interface, and the developed print A display for displaying a preview of data, an adjustment screen for adjusting matters relating to printing of the print data, and a plurality of selection keys for selecting the adjustment screen, and a display on the display Input means for inputting information for adjusting matters relating to printing of displayed print data, and adjusting means for adjusting matters relating to printing of print data based on information inputted by the input means, There are a plurality of adjustment screens, and each of the plurality of selection keys corresponds to one of the plurality of adjustment screens. Indicator, if any of the plurality of selected key is selected, in addition to the preview display in a different area from that of the preview the adjustment screen is displayed corresponding to the selected key selected areas The plurality of adjustment screens include at least a screen for adjusting the density of the entire print data, and the input means is information for adjusting the density of the entire print data printed on the label. The adjustment unit is a label printer that adjusts the density printed by the printing unit in accordance with the density input by the input unit .

The figure which shows the whole label printer of this embodiment. Print block diagram of the label printer. The figure which shows the flowchart which shows the process which a label printer performs. The figure which shows the flowchart which shows the process which a label printer performs. The figure which shows the flowchart which shows the process which a label printer performs. The figure which shows the flowchart which shows the process which a label printer performs. The figure which shows the flowchart which shows the process which a label printer performs. The figure which shows the flowchart which shows the process which a label printer performs. The figure which shows the preview display of a label printer. The figure which shows the adjustment screen display of a label printer. The figure which shows the printing position adjustment screen display of a label printer. The figure which shows the density adjustment screen display of a label printer. The figure which shows the print size adjustment screen display of a label printer. The figure which shows the cut position adjustment screen display of a label printer.

  The first embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the entire label printer 1 of this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a printing block diagram of the label printer 1. 3 to 8 are flowcharts showing processing executed by the label printer 1. 9 to 14 are diagrams showing examples of screens displayed by the label printer 1.

This embodiment is applied to a label printer 1 that prints on a label sheet 2 with a thermal head 3. The label sheet 2 is formed by attaching a large number of labels 5 to the mount 4 at predetermined intervals. The label sheet 2 is wound in a roll shape and supported by a sheet holding unit 6 provided in the label printer 1. Yes. The label paper 2 is conveyed by the rotation of the platen roller 7 facing the thermal head 3. Here, the thermal head 3 and the platen roller 7 constitute a printing unit 8. A paper sensor 9 for determining the printing position of the label 5 is provided between the printing unit 8 and the roll holding unit 6 due to the difference in the amount of light transmitted between the portion with the label 5 and the portion without the label 5 of the mount 4. Is provided. The paper sensor 9 includes a light emitting element and a light receiving element, and these elements are arranged to face each other so as to sandwich the paper. A paper discharge port 10 is provided on the downstream side of the label paper 2 in the paper conveyance direction. The paper discharge port 10 is attached with a cutter unit 11 for cutting the paper discharged from the paper discharge port 10 at the portion of the mount 4 between the labels 5. Since the cutter part 11 is a well-known thing, detailed description is abbreviate | omitted. Above the front of the label printer 1 provided with the cutter unit 11, a display device 12 made of liquid crystal for displaying various information is provided. The sheet sensor 9, the light emitting element and a light receiving element are provided side by side on the same side of the label paper 2, a reflection type for detecting the label 5 from the difference in reflectance of light between the label 5 and the mount 4 Light It may be a sensor.

  A control unit that performs control to be described later of the label printer 1 will be described. The label printer 1 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 21 and a ROM (Read Only Memory) 23, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 24, a motor control unit 25, a head control unit 26, and a touch panel control unit via a bus line 22. 27, a sensor control unit 28, a cutter control unit 29, and a communication interface (shown as “communication I / F” in the drawing) 30 are connected.

  The ROM 23 stores a program for performing each process described later. The RAM 24 is provided with a work area for temporarily storing data necessary for the program to execute processing, a drawing area for developing and storing print data, and the like. Further, the RAM 24 has an area as described later. The motor control unit 25 controls a stepping motor 31 for rotationally driving the platen roller 7. The head control unit 26 controls the thermal head 3. The touch panel control unit 27 controls the display of the display device 12 described above and takes in information input by touching from the display device 12. The sensor control unit 28 controls the paper sensor 9. The cutter control unit 29 controls the cutter unit 11. The communication interface 30 is connected to a personal computer 32 as a host device via a LAN (Local Area Network) line 33 and the like. The label printer 1 develops bitmap data in a drawing area based on a print command from the personal computer 32, This bitmap data is printed on the label paper 2.

  In addition to the above-described work area and drawing area, the RAM 24 is provided with the next area necessary for the label printer 1 to execute processing. That is, an area for storing the print position for each print item, an area for storing the density, an area for storing the print size for each print item, and an area for storing the cut position of the label paper 2 are provided. Here, the print item is a symbol such as a character string or barcode specified in the area, and is determined from, for example, the print position and size, the font of the character to be printed, the type of barcode, and the like. .

  Next, processing executed by the label printer 1 will be described. FIG. 3 shows processing after the label printer 1 is turned on and initialization is completed. First, it is determined whether or not data is received from the personal computer 32 (Act 1), and data reception of Act 1 is repeated until data is received. If data is received, it is determined whether it is a print command (Act 2). If it is not a print command, other processing is executed (Act 3), and the next data reception is awaited. When the print command is received, the bitmap data to be printed is drawn in the drawing area (Act 4), and the drawn print image is displayed on the display device 12 as a preview, and the previewed bitmap data is displayed on the same display device 12. A key is displayed to adjust the information related to printing (Act 5). An example of the displayed screen is shown in FIG. In this screen, a print content preview 41 is displayed in a size that occupies two-thirds of the display area, a print key 42 (displayed as “Print” in the figure), and an adjustment key 43 (in the figure, displayed in the figure). “Adjust set” is displayed), an UP key 44 and a DOWN key 45 are displayed.

  If the screen is displayed, it is determined whether or not the print key 42 is operated (Act 6). If the print key 42 is pressed, printing is performed by the thermal head 3 while rotating the platen roller 7 (Act 7). Then, the label paper 2 is conveyed to the cutting position and cut by the cutter unit 11 (Act 8). If it is determined in Act 6 that the print key 42 has not been operated, it is determined whether or not the adjustment key 43 has been operated (Act 9). If not, the process returns to Act 1 and the adjustment key 43 is pressed. If so, adjustment processing is executed (Act 10).

  By the way, the print command includes the print position of each print item indicated by the coordinates with the upper left of the label as the origin, the type of each print item, such as the character Mincho and Gothic, or the type of code (in the case of barcodes, the code 39, JAN code, etc.), and the size of the length of each print item in the X and Y directions is included.

  In the adjustment process, as shown in FIG. 4, an adjustment screen is first displayed on the display 12 (Act 21). This screen is shown in FIG. In this figure, in addition to what is displayed in FIG. 9, the print position key 46 (indicated as “Print Position” in the figure), the density adjustment key 47 (indicated as “Density” in the figure), and the size key 48 (in the figure, in FIG. 9). “Print Size” is displayed), and a cut position key 49 (displayed as “Cut Position” in the figure) is displayed.

  When the print position key 46 is pressed (Act 22), the print position process shown in FIG. 5 is performed (Act 23). When the density key 47 is pressed (Act 24), the density process shown in FIG. 6 is performed (Act 25). When the print size key 48 is pressed (Act 26), the print size process shown in FIG. 7 is performed (Act 27). When the cut position key 49 is pressed (Act 28), the cut position process shown in FIG. 8 is performed (Act 29). If the print key is pressed, the adjustment process is exited, and the process returns to the process of printing Act 8 shown in FIG.

  In the print position process, a print position adjustment display is performed as shown in FIG. 5 (Act 31). FIG. 11 shows a screen during adjustment of the print position. As can be seen on this screen, in addition to the display contents of the preview screen of FIG. 9, a display area 50 that indicates the print position adjustment screen, an area 51 that indicates the adjustment amount in the X direction (left and right in the drawing). , An area 52 indicating the amount of adjustment in the Y direction (vertical direction on the screen) is displayed. Further, as will be described later, a designated print item 53 is displayed surrounded by a red frame.

  It is determined whether or not the print item 53 has been designated after the display (Act 32). If the print item 53 is designated, the print item 53 is enclosed in a red frame so that it can be seen that the print item 53 has been designated (Act 33). . The selected print item 53 can be displayed with characters and background reversed. Next, it is determined whether or not the X key has been pressed in order to set the direction in which the print item 53 is moved (Act 34). If the X key is pressed, the cursor is blinked in the X column to set the X direction. Is displayed (Act 35). Further, it is determined whether or not the Y key has been pressed (Act 36). If the Y key has been pressed, the cursor is blinked in the Y column to indicate that the setting is in the Y direction (Act 37). The input of the X key and Y key is ignored unless the print item 53 for adjusting the print position is selected before the X key and Y key are input.

  Next, it is determined whether or not the UP key is input (Act 38). If the UP key is input, the X column is designated if the X direction is designated, and the Y column is designated if the Y direction is designated. “1” is added to (Act 39). Also, it is determined whether or not the DOWN key has been inputted (Act 40). If the DOWN key is inputted, the X column is designated if the X direction is designated, and the Y column is designated if the Y direction is designated. "1" is subtracted (Act 41). Note that if either the X direction or the Y direction is not designated, the input of the UP key or the DOWN key is ignored. FIG. 11 shows an example in which the barcode print item 53 on the right side is moved in the minus direction by 50 lengths in the Y direction (that is, in the downward direction on the screen). Compared with the preview screen of FIG. 9, it can be seen that the print item 53 is shifted downward. The adjustment amount in the X direction and the Y direction can be performed in units of 0.1 mm. FIG. 11 shows a state in which the corresponding print item 53 is adjusted downward by 5 mm.

  If the print key is pressed during the execution of this process (Act 42), the process exits from the print position process and starts from the process of printing Act 7 in FIG. Furthermore, if the adjustment key is pressed (Act 43), the set print position is saved (Act 44), and this process is terminated.

  When the density processing is started, density adjustment is displayed on the display 12 as shown in FIG. 6 (Act 51). FIG. 12 is a density adjustment screen. In addition to the display contents of the preview screen of FIG. 9, a display area 54 and an area 55 indicating the density adjustment amount are displayed so that the density adjustment screen can be seen. This density adjustment is an adjustment of all densities for one label to be printed from now on, and does not adjust the density for each print item 53.

  When the UP key is pressed after this screen is displayed (Act 52), “1” is added to the density (Act 53). This density is adjusted by changing the energization time applied to the thermal head 3. When the DOWN key 45 is pressed (Act 54), “1” is subtracted from the density. (Act 55). If the print key is pressed (Act 56), the process proceeds from the printing position process to the printing of Act 7 in FIG. Furthermore, if the adjustment key is pressed (Act 57), the set density is saved (Act 58), and this process is terminated.

  In the screen of FIG. 12, the density is −10. This density adjustment amount is possible for each minimum unit adjustment amount that can be set by the label printer 1. By the way, since it is difficult to represent the change in density on the display device 12, the color may be gradually reduced instead of the change in density. That is, with a printer that prints in monochrome, the displayed characters and lines are displayed so that white increases little by little every time the DOWN key 45 is pressed, and black slightly every time the UP key 44 is pressed.

  When the size processing shown in FIG. 7 is started from Act 27 shown in FIG. 4, a size adjustment screen is displayed on the display 12 (Act 61). 13 is a size setting screen. In addition to the display content of the preview screen of FIG. 9, a display area 56 that can be seen as a print size adjustment screen and an area 57 that indicates the print size adjustment amount of the selected print item 53 are displayed. Note that the adjustment of the print size indicates the percentage of how large or small the received print size of the selected print item 53 is from the received data size.

  After the display, it is determined whether or not the print item 53 whose size is to be changed is specified (Act 62). If the print item 53 is specified, the selected print item 53 is surrounded by a red line so that the selected print item 53 can be understood. Display (Act 63). Next, it is determined whether or not the UP key has been input (Act 64). If the UP key has been input, "1" is added to the size (Act 65). Further, it is determined whether or not the DOWN key is input (Act 66). If the DOWN key is input, the size is subtracted from “1” (Act 67). If the print item 53 is not designated, the input of the UP key or the DOWN key is ignored. If the print key is pressed (Act 68), the printing position process is skipped and the process of printing Act 7 in FIG. 3 is executed. Further, if the adjustment key is pressed (Act 69), the set size of the print item 53 is saved (Act 70), and this process is terminated. FIG. 13 shows that the character string of the designated print item 53 “ABC” is reduced by 20%.

  When the cut position adjustment process shown in FIG. 8 is started, a cut position adjustment display is first displayed on the display 12 (Act 81). FIG. 14 is a cut position adjustment screen. In addition to the preview screen of FIG. 9, a display area 59 and an area 60 indicating the amount of adjustment of the cut position are displayed so that it can be seen that the screen is a cut position adjustment screen. Further, the mark 61 indicating the position to be cut and the leading end 62 of the label 5 to be printed next are displayed in the preview screen. This cut position is displayed from the label length included in the label information sent from the personal computer 32 and the length between the labels, so that an intermediate point between two adjacent labels is cut as initial data. It is. The adjustment can be set in units of 0.1 mm. When the numerical value increases, the mount 4 is cut at a position approaching the label 5 to be printed, and when the numerical value becomes negative, the position approaches the leading end 62 of the next label 5. The cutting position is adjusted to.

  After the display is made, it is determined whether or not the UP key is pressed (Act 82). If the UP key is pressed, the cut position is incremented by “1” (Act 83). Here, as the value of the cut position increases, the mount 4 is cut at a position approaching the label 5 that is currently being printed. It is determined whether or not the DOWN key has been pressed (Act 84). If the DOWN key has been pressed, "1" is subtracted from the cut position (Act 85). If the print key is pressed (Act 86), the printing position process is skipped and the process of printing Act 7 in FIG. 3 is executed. Further, if the adjustment key is pressed (Act 87), the set cut position is saved (Act 88), and this process is terminated.

  In the above-described embodiment, the label printer 1 in which only the mount 4 between the labels 5 is cut by the cutter has been described. However, the label is peeled from the mount near the discharge port of the label printer, and the paper discharge port 10 is removed. The label 5 is issued by projecting from the label. In order to perform peeling, it is common to peel off the label from the mount by bending the mount only at an acute angle using the force of the label going straight by the strength of the printed label itself. For this purpose, as compared with the above-described embodiment, a cutter unit is not required, and a peeling unit for abruptly bending the mount and a transport unit for the mount that allows the mount to be transported in a stretched state Is provided.

  Also, the conveyance of the label paper is stopped with the trailing edge of the peeled label stuck to the mount. This is because if the label is completely peeled off from the mount, the label sticks to the printer case or floor and the printed label cannot be used. On the other hand, if the amount of the label attached to the mount is too large, the force for peeling the label from the mount becomes large, resulting in poor workability. For this reason, it is important to adjust the amount of labels attached to the mount. Further, it is preferable to adjust the peeling position depending on the size of the label and the thickness of the label itself. In other words, if the size of the label is large, the weight of the peeled part may cause the person to hang down with the weight of the label itself and drop without removing the label. Therefore, since the adhesive force is increased by increasing the portion attached to the back end mount, it is less likely to peel off due to the weight of the label itself.

  The setting of the adjustment position is not significantly different from the method of adjusting the cut amount in the cutter part. 14 does not display the leading edge 62 of the label next to the mark 61 indicating the cutting position, and it is only necessary to display the portion where peeling is performed at the peeling portion and the trailing edge of the label to be peeled off. Since the position of the peeling portion is fixed, the label peeling position can be adjusted by adjusting the transport amount of the paper.

In this way, the label printer 1 analyzes the received print command, and draws and prints in the drawing area with the label printer 1. In addition, a preview for printing the label is displayed on the display device 12 during printing. The operator can determine whether the print position, print density, print size, and cut position of each item to be printed are acceptable by looking at the preview screen. Also, since printing can be started simply by pressing the print key during each adjustment, printing after the adjustment is completed can be performed easily.

  Further, since the printing position can be adjusted on the displayed screen while looking at the display 12 of the label printer 1 on which the preview is displayed, it is not necessary to move from the preview screen to the setting screen. In addition to that, the adjustment itself can be performed reliably. Further, since the data for displaying the preview uses the data drawn in the drawing area as it is, it is not necessary to provide a separate area for storing information for displaying the preview.

  In this embodiment, a label printer is taken as an example, but the present invention can be applied to any printer in which printing is performed by determining the printing position of each item to be printed. For example, the present invention can be applied to a paper in which a continuous paper is provided with a black mark. The present invention can also be applied to a printer that employs another print head instead of a thermal head.

  In addition, the key for adjusting the print position, density, print size, and cut position is a touch panel in this embodiment, so that it is unnecessary to provide other keys. A plurality of small keys may be received in the vicinity of the display device 12 and input. In this case, the display device does not need to be a touch panel.

  In this embodiment, when the print command is received, the preview expanded into the bitmap data is displayed on the display unit 12. However, for example, the preview is displayed only when the print format is changed. If the value does not change, printing may be performed even if the print key 42 is not pressed.

  As described above, the embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof.

1. Label printer 8. Printing unit 11. Cutter unit 12. Display 30. Communication interface 41. Preview key 42. Printing key 53. Printing items

Claims (4)

A communication interface that receives print commands from the outside;
A printing unit that prints on a label print data developed in a print buffer by a print command received by the communication interface;
A display for displaying on the same screen a preview of the expanded print data, an adjustment screen for adjusting matters relating to printing of the print data, and a plurality of selection keys for selecting the adjustment screen;
Input means for inputting information for adjusting matters relating to printing of print data displayed on the display;
Adjusting means for adjusting matters relating to printing of print data based on information input by the input means,
There are multiple adjustment screens,
Each of the plurality of selection keys corresponds to one of the plurality of adjustment screens,
In the case where any one of the plurality of selection keys is selected, the display unit displays the adjustment screen corresponding to the selected selection key in an area different from the area where the preview is displayed in addition to the preview. display and,
The plurality of adjustment screens include at least a screen for adjusting the density of the entire print data,
The input means is for inputting information for adjusting the density of the entire print data printed on the label,
The adjusting unit adjusts the density printed by the printing unit according to the density input by the input unit.
Label printer. The printing medium to be printed by the printing unit is composed of a label sheet in which a plurality of labels are arranged on the mount in the longitudinal direction of the mount, and are attached.
Further comprising a cutter part for cutting between the plurality of adjacent labels,
The input means inputs cut position information for adjusting a position along the longitudinal direction of the mount of the label, the position of cutting the mount in the cutter unit,
The adjusting means according to claim 1 Symbol placement of the label printer to adjust the cutting position of cutting the printing medium in accordance with the cutting position information inputted by said input means. The printing medium to be printed by the printing unit is composed of a label sheet in which a plurality of labels are arranged on the mount in the longitudinal direction of the mount, and are attached.
A peeling mechanism for peeling the label from the mount by bending the mount at an acute angle;
The input means inputs information on a stop position where conveyance is stopped while the rear end of the label peeled off from the front end by the peeling mechanism is attached to the mount,
The adjusting means according to claim 1 Symbol placement of the label printer to adjust the stop position of the sheet in accordance with the outage position input by the input means. The display is a touch panel capable of inputting information,
The label printer according to claim 1, wherein the input unit inputs information from the display.

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