JPH0139932B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a label printer that automatically issues labels to be attached to products.

[Description of Prior Art] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a label issuing section A in this type of label printer. In this figure, 1 is a label roll paper, and as shown in FIG. 2, this label roll paper 1 has a backing paper 1a,
It is composed of a large number of labels 1b, 1b, . . . affixed to this mount 1a at short intervals 1c. This label roll paper 1 is guided by rollers 2, 2 and sent to a printing section (printing means) 3.

The printing section 3 includes a label sensor 5, a thermal head 6, and a platen roller 7, as shown in FIG.
and a peeling member 8. The platen roller 7, together with a take-up roller 15 described later,
It constitutes a feed means for feeding the label roll paper 1. The label sensor 5 is composed of a light emitting diode (hereinafter referred to as LED) 5a and a phototransistor 5b.
The label roll paper 1 is designed to pass between the phototransistors 5b. As shown in FIG. 4, the anode of the LED 5a is connected to the positive power supply terminal 11 via the resistor 10, the cathode is grounded, the collector of the phototransistor 5b is connected to the positive power supply terminal 11, and the emitter is connected to the positive power supply terminal 11 through the resistor 10. It is grounded via a variable resistor (variable resistor) 12. Then, the above-mentioned LED 5a and phototransistor 5
b, a resistor 10, and a volume 12 constitute a label position detection circuit (label position detection means) 13 that detects the position of the label 1b, and a signal obtained at the emitter of the phototransistor 5b is output as a label position signal LS. Ru. In this case, the label position signal LS is 1 between the labels as shown in FIG.
When the label 1b is detected, the level becomes high, and when the label 1b is detected, the level becomes low.

In this way, the label position detection circuit 13 detects the difference in physical properties between the mount 1a portion to which the label 1b is affixed and the portion 1c between the labels to which the label 1b is not affixed, that is, the amount of light transmitted. A label position signal LS of a level is output according to the difference between the levels. Therefore, the position of the leading edge of the label 1b can be detected based on the level of the label position signal LS.

Further, in the above-mentioned label position detection circuit 13, the volume 12 is for adjusting the sensitivity of label detection, and is installed at a location where it can be easily operated by a staff member (see the upper left part of FIG. 1). There are various types of paper quality or thickness for the label 1b and the mount 1a, so if the type of label is changed, the label position may not be detected unless adjustment is made using the volume 12. occurs. For example, if the label 1b and mount 1a are both thin, the label position signal LS will have a waveform as shown in Figure 6.
As indicated by _H1 , as the level becomes high, the difference between the detection of the label interval 1c and the detection of the label 1b becomes small, and as a result, the label position cannot be detected. The same applies when both the label 1b and the mount 1a are thick (see waveform _H2 in FIG. 6).

Next, the thermal head 6 in FIG. 3 prints at a predetermined position on the label 1b. The printing position in this case is determined based on the above-mentioned label position signal LS. Next, the label 1b on which printing has been completed is peeled off from the mount 1a at the position of the peeling member 8. Then, the mount 1a is wound up by a winding roller 15. On the other hand, the label 1b is attached to the conveyor belt 16
is conveyed to a prescribed position ST by the holder, and is affixed to the product at this prescribed position ST.

Note that reference numeral 18 is a fan for attracting the label 1b to the belt 16. Further, 19 is a feed switch for feeding the label roll paper 1, and is used when setting the label roll paper 1.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, in such conventional label printers, it is not known whether or not the above-mentioned volume 12 needs to be adjusted when replacing the label roll paper 1, and it is difficult to actually operate the printer. The drawback was that you couldn't tell what adjustments were necessary or unnecessary unless you looked at them.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and provides a label printer that can display whether or not volume adjustment is necessary as described above using letters or figures when setting a label roll paper. The purpose is to

[Means for Solving the Problems] The label printer of the present invention includes: a feed means for feeding a label roll paper on which a large number of labels are pasted at intervals on a mount; and a feed means for feeding the label roll paper; , a label position detecting means for detecting the position of the label based on the difference in physical properties between the label-attached part and the non-label-attached part on the mount; and a variable resistor for adjusting the detection sensitivity of the label position detecting means. and a printing device that prints at a predetermined position on the label based on the label detection timing of the label detection device, the label printer is configured to feed the label roll paper by a certain amount in response to the operation of a feed switch. a constant amount feed control means for controlling the feed means in such a manner; and a determination for determining a maximum value and a minimum value of the output of the label position detection means while the label roll paper is being fed the constant amount; - determining means; calculating means for determining the difference between the maximum value and minimum value determined by the determining/determining means; and determining whether the difference determined by the calculating means is greater than a predetermined value. and a display means for displaying whether or not adjustment of the variable resistor is necessary in accordance with the determination result of the determination means, using characters or figures. It is characterized by

[Function] In the label printer of the present invention, when setting the label roll paper, the feed switch is operated to feed the label roll paper by a certain amount, and while the label roll paper is being fed by the certain amount,
The difference between the maximum value and the minimum value of the output of the label position detecting means is determined, and depending on whether the difference is larger than a certain value, whether or not volume adjustment is necessary is indicated by letters or figures.

[Embodiment] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 7 is an external view of a label printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the same label printer.

The label printer shown in these figures is for the object to be weighed 2.
2, and automatically issues a label L to be attached to the object to be weighed 22 based on the weighing result; a function to aggregate data regarding the weight, price, etc. of the object to be weighed 22; and the result of this aggregation. It has various functions such as printing out.

First, in FIG. 7, reference numeral 21 is a weighing section that measures the weight of the object (commodity) 22 to be weighed, and outputs a weight signal (analog signal) indicating the measured weight to the interface circuit 23 (FIG. 8). do.
The interface circuit 23 converts the supplied weight signal into digital data and outputs it to a bus line 25 of a CPU (central processing unit) 24. code 26
(FIG. 7) shows a label printer main body, and this main body 26 is provided with an operation panel section 27, a label issuing section A, and a journal label section 28, as well as a control circuit inside. The operation panel section 27 is connected to the operation section 3 as shown in FIG.
0 and a display section (display means) 31. The operation section 30 is composed of a numeric keypad, various function keys, etc., and the output of each key switch is outputted to the bus line 25 via an interface circuit 32. The display section 31 is composed of a liquid crystal dot display, and the display section 3
1a displays the characters to be printed on the label 1b, and the display section 31b displays the price of the object to be weighed 22. This display section 31 is driven by dot data supplied from the CPU 24 via the bus line 25 and interface circuit 34.

The label issuing section A has the same configuration as that shown in FIG.
5 is printed on the label 1b by the thermal head 6, and the label position signal LS (see FIG. 4) and the output of the feed switch 19 are supplied to the interface circuit 34. The interface circuit 34 converts the label position signal LS into digital data and outputs it to the bus line 25 as label switch data LSD, outputs the output of the feed switch 19 to the bus line 25, and outputs the print data to the thermal head. Further, based on instructions from the CPU 24, a stepping motor that runs the label roll paper 1 is driven. The journal printer unit 28 prints out journal data such as sales data supplied from the CPU 24 via the interface circuit 36.

Further, the code 38 in FIG. 8 stores a program used in the CPU 24.
ROM (read-on memory). 39 is a RAM (random access memory) for data processing, and this RAM 39 has an area as shown in FIG.
Nmax, Nmin, C, N, BA, and n (all 16 bits) are set in advance. 40 is P-ROM
(programmable ROM), and this P-ROM
40 stores in advance patterns (dot patterns) of a large number of characters (kana characters, kanji, numbers, alphanumeric characters, etc.). A character code is determined corresponding to each character. Reference numeral 41 denotes a RAM for data files, on which battery backup is performed. The RAM 41 stores aggregated data regarding the weight, price, etc. of the object to be weighed, and also stores the following sentences in the above-mentioned character codes.

“Label sensor OK” “Please adjust the volume” “Label roll paper is not passing through the label sensor” This will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in the figure.

First, the staff member places the leading edge of label roll paper 1 in the
After passing in sequence between the label sensor 5, thermal head 6 and platen roller 7 shown in FIGS. Feed switch 1
When 9 is pressed (step S1 shown in Figure 11),
The CPU 24 detects this, clears areas Nmax and C shown in FIG.
Each bit of Nmin is set to "1" (step S2). Next, the CPU 24 proceeds to step S3 and outputs a roll paper drive command to the interface circuit 35. As a result, the stopping motor that drives the label roll paper 1 is driven one step. Next, when the process proceeds to step S4, the above-described label position data LSD output from the interface circuit 35 is transferred to area N shown in FIG. Next, when the process advances to step S5, it is determined whether the data in area C is larger than preset data _D1 . Here, the data _D1 is the number of pulses of the stepping motor necessary to drive the label roll paper 1 for a certain length (the length of two or more of the largest labels 1b). Then, if the judgment result in step S5 is "NO", proceed to step S6, and if the judgment result is "YES", proceed to step S7.
Proceed to.

In step S6, it is determined whether the data within the area (label position data LSD) is larger than the data within the area Nmax. And the result of this judgment is
If YES, proceed to step S9. In step S9, data in area N is written to area Nmax. Next, proceeding to step S10, area Nmax
Predetermined data D ₂ is subtracted from the data within the area, and this subtraction result is used as reference data for the area.
Stored in BA. Then, the process advances to step S11.
Note that the data _D2 and the reference data will be explained later. On the other hand, if the determination result in step S6 is "NO", the process advances to step S12. In step S12, data in area N is
It is determined whether the data is smaller than the data within Nmin. If the result of this judgment is "YES", the process advances to step S13, and the data in area N is
It is written to Nmin, and the process advances to step S11.
Also, the judgment result in step S12 is “NO”.
If so, proceed to step S11. In step S11, the data in area C is incremented. Then, the process returns to step S3, and the above-described process is repeated until C= _D1 .

By repeating the above-described process, the label roll paper 1 is driven by the predetermined length described above.
Also, at the time when C=D ₁ , the area
Nmax and Nmin each contain label position data while label roll paper 1 is driven a certain length.
The maximum and minimum values of LSD are memorized, and
Area BA stores reference data obtained by subtracting constant data _D2 from the maximum value of label position data LSD.

Here, data _D2 and reference data will be explained. As described above, the position of the label 1b is detected based on the level of the label position signal LS shown in _{FIG .} A low level E _O is set as a reference level, and the level of the label position signal LS is determined depending on whether it is larger or smaller than this reference level E _O.
That is, in this embodiment, when the label roll paper 1 is set, the label position data LSD is
Subtract data D ₂ corresponding to voltage E _O from the maximum value of and use this subtraction result as reference data for area BA.
The label position is then detected based on this reference data.

Next, returning to Figure 1 again, C=D ₁ ,
If the determination result in step S5 is "YES", the process advances to step S7. In step S7, it is determined whether the feed switch 19 is turned on. If the result of this judgment is "YES", step S6...S3, S4, S5,
Repeat the process of S7, S6,...S3... The purpose of this process is to feed the label roll paper 1 while the staff member is pressing the feed switch 19. That is, in this embodiment, when the staff momentarily presses the feed switch 19, the label roll paper 1 is fed a certain length;
If the staff member presses the feed switch 19 continuously, the feed is performed while the staff member presses the feed switch 19.

Next, the judgment result in step S7 is “NO”.
When this happens, the process advances to step S14. In step S14, data in area Nmax (maximum value of data LSD) to minimum value of data LSD in area Nmin)
is subtracted, and the result of this subtraction is stored in area n. Next, in step S15, it is determined whether the data in area n is greater than predetermined constant data _D3 . Here, data _D3 is the volume 12 of the label position detection circuit 13 (FIG. 4).
This data is used to judge whether or not adjustment is necessary, and in this example, label position data
If the difference between the maximum and minimum values of LSD (data in area n) is greater than or equal to data D ₃ ,
It is now determined that no adjustment is necessary, and that adjustment is necessary when the value is small. Therefore, if the judgment result in step S15 is "YES" (adjustment not required), step
Proceed to S16. In step S16, it is determined whether the data in area N is larger than the reference data in area BA. If the result of this judgment is "NO", that is, if the label position detection circuit 13 detects the label 1b, then from now on, until N≦BA, that is, the distance between the labels 1c (Fig. 2) is Steps S16, S3, S4, S5, S7, S14, S15, S16 until the label position is detected by the label position detection circuit 13.
Repeat the process of S3... This process is for label 1
This is to set b to the correct initial position.

Next, when the determination result in step S16 becomes "YES", the process advances to step S17, and the words "Label sensor OK" are displayed in the display area 31a shown in FIG. 9. Here, the process of character display mentioned above will be explained. First, the CPU 24 reads the words "la", "be", "ru", ... "de", "su" stored in the RAM 41.
The character code of each character is sequentially read out, converted into address data, and sequentially supplied to the P-ROM 40. As a result, the character patterns of each of the above characters are sequentially read out from the P-ROM 40. The CPU 24 sequentially stores each read character pattern in the RAM 39. Next, each character pattern in the RAM 39 is output to the interface circuit 34. This character pattern is temporarily stored in a register within the interface circuit 34, and then output to the display section 31 to display characters.

On the other hand, the judgment result in step S15 is "NO".
(Adjustment required), proceed to step S18. In step S18, it is determined whether the data in area n is smaller than predetermined constant data _D4 . This determination is for detecting a case where the label roll paper 1 has not passed the label sensor 5. That is, if the label roll paper 1 has not passed the label sensor 5, the area Nmax,
Each data within Nmin is equal. In other words, the data in area n becomes 0. Therefore, by setting an extremely small value as the data _D4 , it is possible to detect the case where the label sensor 5 is not passed in step S18. Therefore, if the judgment result in step S18 is "YES", that is, if the label roll paper 1 has not passed the label sensor 5, the step
Proceeding to S19, the words "Label roll paper is not passing through the label sensor." are displayed in the display section 31a of the display unit 31. Further, if the judgment result in step S18 is "NO", that is, if the label roll paper 1 is passing through the label sensor 5, but the volume 12 needs to be adjusted, the process advances to step S20 and "adjust the volume" is selected. ” are displayed in the display section 31a.

The above is the operation when setting the label roll paper 1 in the label printer shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.

In addition, as another embodiment of the present invention, it is also possible to display how to adjust the volume 12 in the display section 31a.

In this case, instead of step S20 in FIG. 11, each step after the broken line shown in the same figure is added,
Further, an area K is prepared in the RAM 39, and the next sentence is stored in the RAM 41 by character code.

"Please turn the volume to the right.""Please turn the volume to the left."
The average value of the data in Nmax and the data in area Nmin is calculated, and the calculated average value data is stored in area K. Then step
Proceeding to S22, it is determined whether the average value data in area K is greater than predetermined data _D5 . Based on this determination, the direction in which the volume 12 is adjusted is detected. That is, in general, if the label position signal LS deviates toward a high level as shown by waveform _H1 in FIG. If there is a shift toward the low level as shown by waveform _H2 , turn the volume 12 to the left to reduce the resistance value. Therefore, if data corresponding to approximately the middle of the power supply voltage is set as the data _D5 , the adjustment direction of the volume 12 can be detected by the determination in step S22.
If the determination result in step S22 is "YES", the process advances to step S23, and the display section 31a of the display section 31 displays "Please turn the volume to the right."
is displayed, and the judgment result is "NO".
If so, proceed to step S24, and the words "Please turn the volume to the left" will appear in the display section 31a.
will be displayed.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 12, the volume 12
It is also possible to display both the adjustment direction and adjustment amount. In the example of FIG. 12, the indicator mark 46 indicates the current position of the volume 12,
Further, the 0 point on the scale 45 indicates the correct volume position. Therefore, the display as shown in FIG. 12 indicates that the volume 12 should be rotated by one scale (approximately 45 degrees) in the direction (to the right). To perform such a display, the difference between the average value data in area K and the data _D5 described above may be calculated, and the display position of the instruction mark 46 may be determined based on this calculated value. In this case, the display position of the scale 45 is always constant.

FIG. 13 is a functional block diagram of the label printer of the present invention.

In the figure, 101 is a feed means,
As described above, it is composed of the platen roller 7, the take-up roller 15, etc., and has the function of feeding the label roll paper 1. 102 is a constant amount feed control means, and a feed switch 19
When momentarily pressed, the feed means 101
There is a function to feed the label roll paper 1 by a certain length by controlling the label roll paper 1. This fixed amount flowchart control means 102 functions when the CPU 24 executes a program, and its functions correspond to steps S3, S5, S7, and S11 in the flowchart of FIG. 11 described above. .

Reference numeral 103 denotes a judgment/determination means, which has a function of judging and determining the maximum and minimum values of the output of the label position detection circuit 13 while the label roll paper 1 is being fed for the predetermined length. This judgment/determination means 103 functions when the CPU 24 executes a program, and its functions are as follows:
This corresponds to steps S6, S9, S12, and S13 in the flowchart of FIG. 11 described above.

Reference numeral 104 denotes a calculating means, which has a function of determining the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value determined by the judgment/determination means 103. This calculation means 104 is
The CPU 24 functions by executing a program, and its function is the first one described above.
This corresponds to step S14 in the flowchart of FIG.

105 is a determination means, and the calculation means 104
There is a function to determine whether the difference obtained by is larger than a predetermined value. The predetermined value is the above-mentioned data _D3 that serves as the reference value for determination.
The means for setting the data _D3 is referred to as the comparison reference value setting means 106. This comparison reference value setting means 106 is configured, for example, to the operating section 30 (the ninth
), the data _D3 is set by key operations on the operating section 30.
The determining means 105 functions when the CPU 24 executes a program, and its function corresponds to step S15 in the flowchart of FIG. 11 described above.

The display unit 31, as described above,
5, that is, according to the determination result of step S15,
The display unit 31 displays whether or not the volume 12 needs to be adjusted by text or graphics. In the case of the above-mentioned embodiment, when it is determined that the value obtained by the calculation means 104 is greater than or equal to the data _D3 , the text "Label sensor OK", which means that adjustment of the volume 12 is not necessary, is displayed. do. On the other hand, when it is determined that the value obtained by the calculation means 104 is smaller than the data _D3 , the volume 12
The message ``Please adjust the volume.'' is displayed, which means that the volume needs to be adjusted.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the label printer according to the present invention feeds the label roll paper by a certain amount by operating the feed switch when setting the label roll paper, and then feeds the label roll paper by a certain amount. During this time, the difference between the maximum and minimum output values of the label position detection means is calculated, and depending on whether the difference is greater than a certain value, it is indicated by letters or figures whether or not the volume needs to be adjusted. Since the display is configured to display the information, the staff can quickly determine whether or not volume adjustment is necessary when setting the label roll paper.

Therefore, there is no need for the label printer to perform unnecessary operations in order to determine whether or not volume adjustment is necessary.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the configuration of a label issuing section in a label printer, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a label roll paper 1, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing the configuration of the printing section 3 in FIG. 1. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of the label position detection circuit 13, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the waveform of the label position signal LS in FIG. 4, and FIG.
7 is a diagram showing the waveform when the label position signal LS is not normal, FIG. 7 is an external view of a label printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the label printer. FIG. 9 is a front view showing the configuration of the operation panel section 27 of the label printer, FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the area provided in the RAM 39 in FIG. 8, and FIG. 11 is a label roll paper 1 in the label printer. Flowchart for explaining the operation when setting the 12th
This figure shows a display example of the display section 31a in FIG. 9, and FIG. 13 is a functional block diagram of the same label printer. 1... Label roll paper, 1a... Mounting paper, 1b...
... Label, 1c... Interval, 3... Printing section (printing means), 12... Volume (variable resistor), 13...
...Label position detection circuit (label position detection means),
24...CPU, 31...Display unit (display means), 3
8...ROM, 39, 41...RAM, 40...
P-ROM, 101...Feed means, 102...
... constant amount feed control means, 103 ... judgment/determination means, 104 ... calculation means, 105 ... judgment means, 106 ... comparison reference value setting means.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Feed means for feeding a label roll paper on which a large number of labels are pasted at intervals on a mount; and a portion of the label pasted on the mount, which is fed into the feed of the label roll paper; a label position detection means for detecting the position of the label based on the difference in physical properties of a portion to which no label is attached; a variable resistor for adjusting the detection sensitivity of the label position detection means; and a variable resistor for adjusting the detection sensitivity of the label position detection means; A label printer comprising a printing means for printing at a predetermined position on the label based on detection timing, wherein the feed means is controlled by a certain amount to feed the label roll paper by a certain amount in response to operation of a feed switch. Feed control means; Judgment/decision means for judging and determining the maximum and minimum values of the output of the label position detection means while the label roll paper is being fed by the fixed amount; and the judgment/decision means. computing means for determining the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value determined by the computing means; determining means for determining whether the difference determined by the computing means is greater than a predetermined value; and the determining means. 1. A label printer comprising: a display means for displaying, by means of characters or figures, whether or not adjustment of the variable resistor is necessary in accordance with a determination result of the means.