JPH05330190A - Label printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a label printer constituted so that a label shape and position data are automatically set and a suitable character row can be printed on a large number of the labels bonded to a label sheet. CONSTITUTION:Label data specifying the dimensions and arrangement positions of the labels arranged on a label sheet is stored in a label data memory part 33 in relation to a discrimination code and the discrimination code is inputted to select the label sheet. The selected label data is stored in a label data memory part 35. When printing processing is executed, printing is repeatedly performed at every labels arranged on the label sheet on the basis of the character row stored in a character row memory part 34 and the label data stored in the label data memory part 35. At the time of this printing, the inputted discrimination code of the label sheet is displayed on a liquid crystal display part 7 along with display urging key input for starting printing to prevent erroneous insertion.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a label printing apparatus for printing an input character string on a heading label such as a document through a printing means, and in particular, a large number of labels having standardized arrangements and shapes are attached. The present invention relates to a label printing device that suitably prints on each label on a label sheet regardless of the type of the label sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In many exhibitions and the like, the same heading label is often attached to many samples. In addition, with the diversification of information, there is an increasing demand for suitable filing using a heading label according to the type of information, and the same information may be owned and stored by a plurality of people at a plurality of places. Conventionally, this type of label is created by handwriting, and there are problems such as the complexity of creation and the appearance.

In order to solve such a problem, conventionally, there has been proposed a printing device for efficiently printing the same content on both upper and lower positions of a lined label by appropriately selecting the printing direction (Actual Publication No. 1-178948). Bulletin).

Further, a label printing apparatus has been proposed in which the number of characters and lines input are stored in one label and the number of labels is calculated so as to set an integer number of sheets on one sheet (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-61). No. 175722).

Further, there is provided a label printing apparatus which detects the label length and arrangement interval of labels arranged regularly on a belt-like sheet by using a label sensor and accurately prints on the label based on the detection result. Proposed (JP-A-1-
No. 288469).

Further, a label printer has been proposed in which automatic calculation is performed to change characters to full-width and half-width so that printing can be performed within a predetermined label width (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-189).
276).

Further, there has been proposed a label printer capable of inputting a print format of a cut paper label and printing on labels of various sizes (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-1 / 1987).
58072).

[0008]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention
According to the invention described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 948, the processing for suitably printing on one heading label is described in detail, but the position and dimension detection of each of the plurality of heading labels arranged or each label is detected. There is no description about control of how to print.

Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-175722,
JP-A-63-189276 and JP-A-62-15
The one described in Japanese Patent No. 8072 relates to how to appropriately print on one label, and does not relate to a printing process for a large number of arranged labels.

Further, in the conventional label printing apparatus, each label is printed with a character size designated in advance, but since there are several hundred kinds of labels, the size of each label is different. I had to select the font size one by one. In addition, the character size must be changed depending on the number of characters and the number of lines to be printed, and the setting operation is extremely complicated in order to perform printing with a layout desired by the user.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and its purpose is to identify and store the label type in advance, and to select and instruct from among them,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a label printer in which a label shape and position information are automatically set and a character string suitable for a large number of labels attached on a label sheet can be printed.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a label printing apparatus which eliminates a troublesome setting operation of a character size for appropriately printing a desired label and prevents erroneous insertion of a label sheet to be printed. To provide.

[0013]

A printing device according to the present invention is a label printing device for inputting a desired character string and printing the input character string for each label arranged on a label sheet. In this label printing device, a storage means, a display means and a processing means are provided, and the storage means includes label information for specifying the size and the arrangement position of each label arranged on the label sheet, and each label. The identification code corresponding to the information and the character size information that defines a plurality of character sizes as the character size to be printed are stored, and the display unit displays the input character string and the identification code, and each operation step. A message for prompting the user to input a predetermined key is displayed, and the processing means includes first processing means for identifying the corresponding label information from the input identification code, and Second printing means for selecting the maximum character size that can be accommodated in the printing area of each label from the character size information based on the label information, the number of lines of the input character string, and the number of characters of each line Before
With a display that prompts you to enter a key to start this printing,
A third processing unit that causes the display unit to display the already input identification code of the label sheet again is configured.

The label information may store the size of the postcard as one of the pieces of information. In this case, when the identification code corresponding to the size of the postcard is input, the third processing means displays the key input for starting the printing and the insertion direction of the postcard to be printed. It is also possible to make it display on the means.

[0015]

The label sheet used in the label printing apparatus of the present invention is basically a standardized sheet in which the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the arranged label and the arrangement position on the sheet are fixed according to the type of the label sheet. The identification code is assigned to each standard. In the first processing means, when the identification code of the label sheet is input, the corresponding label information is specified from the large number of label information stored in the storage unit. In the second processing means, the specified label information is specified. The print area of the label is determined from the information, and the maximum character size that can be accommodated in this area is selected.

Further, in the third processing means, immediately before the execution of the printing, a display prompting a key input to start the printing and an identification code of the label sheet to be printed are displayed at this stage. It is displayed again on the top to remind the user whether or not the type of label sheet to be inserted is correct.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A label printing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 to 4 show the appearance and internal mechanism of the label printing apparatus 1. A label printing device (hereinafter referred to as a device) 1 is a device that prints on each of a large number of labels 4a arranged regularly on a label sheet 4, and is composed of an upper half body 2 and a lower half body 3. An insertion port 5 for the label sheet 4 is formed in the middle.

A large number of keys 6 capable of inputting characters and the like are arranged on the upper half 2 of the device 1, and a liquid crystal panel for displaying a predetermined number of characters, a number of lines, or characters which have been input is arranged above the keys 6. A liquid crystal display unit 7 is provided. When more characters and lines are being input, the screen is adapted to scroll left, right, up and down by the cursor keys. As shown in FIG. 4, the arranged keys 6 include character keys such as alphabets, “function”,
Function keys for performing processes such as “cancel”, “convert”, “execute”, and “print” and cursor keys with arrows on all four sides are provided. The contents of each key are written on the head of the key.

The lower half 3 has an insertion opening 5 and this insertion opening 5
A feeding path 11 extending rearward from the above is formed, and a guide roller 9 for guiding the inserted label sheet 4 is provided on the upper surface of the feeding path 11. In addition, the guide roller 9
A sheet feeding roller 8 which is driven to rotate by the sheet feeding motor 16 and feeds the inserted label sheet 4 is arranged at a total of three places behind the sheet feeding motor, and a printing section 20 for printing is provided behind the sheet feeding roller 8. There is. A side wall 18 for guide is formed on one side, for example, on the left side, of the insertion port 5 and the feeding path 11, and the left side of the label sheet 4 is inserted in contact with the side wall 18. Also, the paper feed roller 8
As shown in FIG. 5, a sheet sensor 19 such as a photointerrupter having a pair of light emitting elements 19a and light receiving elements 19b is arranged on the upper and lower surfaces of the side wall 18 on the downstream side of the feeding path. Label sheet 4 inserted, fed and fed
It is to detect whether or not the left side of is exactly aligned with the side wall 18. That is, the sheet sensor 19 has a left side of the label sheet while the sheet is interposed between the light emitting element 19a and the light receiving element 19b and the light receiving element 19b does not receive the light emitted from the light emitting element 19a. Considering the state of being in contact with the side wall 18, it is determined that the sheet is in the proper feeding state. As will be described later, in the present device 1, a sensor for directly detecting the label position on the label sheet 4 is not attached from the viewpoint of the configuration simplification, and the printing process is performed based on the front end of the left side (front left corner) of the label sheet. Ready to run.

The printing unit 20 has a label sheet 4 at the bottom thereof.
Helical shaft 1 arranged in a direction orthogonal to the insertion direction of
The rotation of the carriage motor 14 is transmitted to the spiral shaft 12 through the gear train 15, and the printing unit 20 reciprocates along the rotating spiral shaft 12. .. A rack 13 is installed above the printing unit 20 in parallel with the spiral shaft 12. The tooth portion of the rack 13 is formed in the lower portion so as to face the printing portion 20,
The gear inside the printing unit 20 is in mesh with the rack 13. Further, from the bottom of the printing unit 20, for example, the thermal head 2 including a dot array capable of printing one character
A rubber platen 17 is arranged on the lower half 3 of the lower part of the thermal head 28. In addition,
The printing unit 20 also functions as a cassette holder for mounting a ribbon cassette (not shown) of the ink ribbon, and includes a winding shaft 25 for winding the ink ribbon.

Next, a control block diagram of the label printing apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. The device 1 has a microcomputer, and has a central processing unit (hereinafter, referred to as CPU) 30 for controlling the entire device, editing,
A program for controlling the operation of the entire device such as printing, a ROM 31 having a dictionary memory for converting kana / kanji, a character string storage unit 3 for storing a character string input from the key input unit 6 '.
4, and a RAM 35 having a label information storage unit 35 that temporarily stores the label information read from the ROM 31.

The CPU 30 is synchronized with the head drive unit 36 for driving the thermal head 28 in and out and outputting a character signal, the carriage motor drive unit 37 for controlling the drive of the carriage motor 14, the paper feed roller 8 and the paper discharge roller 23 in synchronization. A sheet feed motor drive unit 38 that controls the drive of the driven sheet feed motor 11 and a display drive unit 39 that drives the liquid crystal display unit 7 are respectively connected.

The CPU 30 is internally provided with a counter for counting the number of sheets and a timer for synchronizing with sheet feeding, and receives the input information from the key input unit 6'and the detection signal from the sheet sensor 19. A control signal is output to each of the required circuit sections, and character input and edit processing as well as type selection of label sheets, display control, and print processing control are comprehensively controlled as described later.

The CPU 30 monitors the detection signal from the sheet sensor 19, and the label sheet 4 is accurately inserted and fed depending on whether or not the signal for detecting the front end of the left side of the label sheet 4 is input. It is determined whether or not the sheet feed motor 1
The position of the label sheet being fed is indirectly measured by 6 rotation pulses or time management.

The ROM 31 stores in advance a character size table to be printed and a sheet number table for designating a standardized label sheet type.

[0027]

[Table 1]

Table 1 shows the character size, which is SS size to 3L size. In this type of label printing apparatus, there are various types of label sheets that can be printed, and there are hundreds of label sheets, and a large number of character sizes are desired. Therefore, in addition to the square character size, horizontally long characters and vertically long characters can be specified.
In this way, the character size can be selected using the size classification symbols, thereby facilitating the selection work. Further, in the present invention, as will be described later, by the input character string,
The font size is automatically calculated and set.

The automatic setting of the character size is to automatically set the character size so that it can be suitably printed in the label according to the character string input on the character input screen. This usually eliminates the need to set the character size each time on the character size setting screen. That is, CP
U30 is the selected seat number (identification code)
In consideration of the label horizontal dimension, the input character string, and the cut size described below, the character size is calculated so that the character string can be properly accommodated in the label to be printed. The calculation formula is stored in the ROM 31 in advance as described above, but a conversion table storing the calculation result may be used. This calculation is performed every time a character is input. For example, when one character is input, the character size is calculated at this point. After that, the calculation is repeated in sequence as the number of input characters increases, and the smaller character size is set. On the contrary, when the character is erased, it is recalculated to a larger character size accordingly. If the number of characters is different for each line, the character size will be different for each line.
In such a state, it does not look good and is hard to read, so that the same character size is set for all lines in the character label. That is, the minimum character size is set from the calculated character sizes of each line. Many character sizes can be considered according to the number of characters, but in this embodiment, the character size closest to Table 1 is selected based on the above calculation result. Also, the font size setting can be
That is, it is performed in consideration of the relationship between the vertical dimension of the label and the line pitch.

When the character size is changed from the S size shown in Table 1 to an extremely small SS size, the character size is not suddenly changed, but is changed to a horizontally long SS size character. Further, the character size can be manually set in advance or when necessary.

Further, there are various kinds of label sheets such as ordinary square label, lined label, tack index label, box label and cassette label, and there are also various attachment positions on the label sheet.
Each is standardized. ROM3
Although the label information of various standardized label sheets is stored in FIG. 1, the type of the label sheet can be changed by connecting an external input / output device such as an expansion cartridge shown as the auxiliary storage unit 40 in FIG. It is also possible to newly register when the number increases or when it is desired to print a desired non-standardized label sheet.

FIG. 7 shows an example of the label sheet and the label. Labels R ₁ , R ₂ , ... Having the same dimensions are regularly attached to the label sheet 4 at regular intervals. The position of the label on the label sheet 4 is designated as 1, 2, 3 ... In the column direction and A, B, C ... In the row direction.

The sheet number is selected by inputting a one-character or two-character (including numeral) identification code. This facilitates the selection work. The table (not shown) storing the sheet numbers in the present embodiment is represented by the label size, which is the sheet sensor 19.
The size and the like are stored based on the corner position of the front end of the left side of the label sheet 4 detected by. The dimension type is the data required to identify the label position on the label sheet from the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the label sheet, the shape of the label, the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the label, the vertical and horizontal intervals of the label, and the number of labels on one sheet. Has been adopted. Note that the memory capacity can be reduced by providing only the position data of the print start point with the front end of the left side of the label sheet as a reference, instead of the above dimensions and the like. The size is usually specified in millimeters (mm), but in the present embodiment, the size is coded to reduce the memory capacity. Then, as will be described later, the CPU 30 calculates the print position, that is, the label position, based on the storage size data of the designated sheet number (identification code).

Further, the table storing the sheet numbers includes a cut dimension. This cut size defines the size of the margin that is not printed on the peripheral portion of the label. This is because, firstly, the present embodiment does not adopt the method of actually measuring and printing the label position, but adopts the simple method of controlling all the positions on the basis of the corner positions of the label sheet. This is because it is possible to surely print on the label even if the sheet is slightly fed by a small amount, and secondly, if the label size is stored slightly smaller than the actual size. Although the same effect can be obtained, this is in consideration of the problem that the size of the image character (on the screen) and the actual print character do not match.

The liquid crystal display unit 7 displays the input character string or the edited character string, the identification code, the character label read from the character string storage unit 34, and other selection screens. The character label means a character string created for printing a label or a character string already created.

The operation of each key 6 arranged in the key input section 6'will be described here (see FIG. 4).

The cursor key is used to change the cursor position on the liquid crystal display unit 7, and the cursor moves up and down and left and right in response to the depression of the displayed arrow mark portion. When one of the upper and lower cursor keys is pressed together with the "function" key, the displayed character label is switched to the character label before and after that character label. If there is no character label, the character label is moved to the start position of a new uninput character label.

The "convert" key is used to convert the characters input in hiragana into kanji, search for that kanji, and select it. That is, when the "convert" key is pressed after inputting kana, the search character obtained by converting the kana into kanji is displayed in the lower line of the display screen of the liquid crystal display unit 7, and the cursor automatically moves to the lower line. Then, after selecting a search character using the cursor and pressing the "execute" key, the selected character is confirmed. If the converted characters still remain, automatic conversion is performed one after another and the above conversion operation is repeated. Numerical symbols can also be converted as needed. Regarding the hiragana characters, the hiragana characters are fixed by pressing the "execute" key.

The "cancel" key is for deleting the character at the cursor position. Further, when the cursor is at the right end of the character string, the cursor moves to the left while erasing the character on the right side, which also has a so-called backspace function. Further, when the selection screen is displayed, it is possible to cancel the screen and return to the previous screen.

By pressing the "function" + "cancel" key, the character strings displayed on the upper and lower lines of the display screen can be connected. That is, when the cursor is located at the beginning of the line, by performing this key operation, all the character strings of the line where the cursor is currently located are at the end of the characters located in the upper line of the display screen of the liquid crystal display unit 7. It is connected.

The "execute" key confirms the search character by pressing the key after converting the hiragana or the like to select the search character. In the case of Hiragana characters, or when the input characters are Katakana and English, conversion is not necessary and can be confirmed with the "execute" key, but it is automatically confirmed at the time of conversion.

A line feed can be made by pressing the "function" + "execute" key. That is, all the characters on the right side of the cursor position are moved to the lower line of the display screen.

The "print" key is used to specify printing on a label sheet, postcard or the like.

Next, each operation for inputting and printing characters in the label printing apparatus will be described.

First, the basic procedure for the start screen will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the power switch 6a is turned on (#
2) First, initialization of the RAM 32, initialization of the hardware configuration such as setting the printing unit 20 to the initial position, and battery check of the built-in storage battery are performed (# 4).

An initial screen is displayed on the screen of the liquid crystal display unit 7, and a selection menu of "label production" and "address book" is displayed (# 6). When the cursor key is moved to the desired item position and the "execute" key is pressed, the screen is switched to the next work screen. The CPU 30 determines which of the above items is selected and designated (# 8), and if "label production" is selected, the necessary initialization is executed (# 12).
During this time, a message such as "please wait for a while" is displayed on the screen. On the other hand, if the "address book" is selected, the work screen for registering, changing, and searching for the name, telephone number, address, etc. is displayed (# 10).

When "Create label" is selected and the above initialization is completed, a selection menu of "Create new" and "Continue" is displayed on the screen (# 14). The CPU 30 determines which of the above items has been selected and designated (# 16), and if "continue" is selected, the content of the previous work is displayed on the screen (# 18). If the character label was created just before, display the sheet number, etc.,
If it is a postcard, that fact is displayed. Then, by pressing the "execute" key (# 20), the screen is switched to the previous work screen, and the character input can be accepted (# 2).
2). In this way, the contents of the previous work are stored in the RAM 32, so that the work that was once interrupted can be easily restarted.

On the other hand, when "New" is selected (# 1
(YES in 6), the screen is switched to the label sheet designation screen to create a new character label (# 24). When the desired sheet number (identification code) is input (YES in # 26), it is determined whether this sheet number exists in the table in the ROM 31 (# 28). If the corresponding sheet number exists, the screen will switch to the character input screen (# 30). If it does not exist, a message such as "This sheet is not registered" will be displayed for 3 seconds and the original designation will be given. Return to the screen (# 24).

On the other hand, if the registered sheet number is not known, pressing the "execute" key without inputting (NO in # 26 and # 32, YES in # 34) switches to the file reading screen. Replace (# 36). And
If a character label to be read is selected, the character label is displayed on the screen and the sheet number is also displayed.

When "postcard" is selected on the screen of # 24 (YES at # 32), the screen is switched to the "designation of text direction" screen, and when the designation is made and the "execute" key is pressed,
The screen switches to the normal character input screen (# 38). Note that #
Since the character input method after 22, # 30, # 36 and # 38 is almost the same as that of a normal word processor, description thereof will be omitted.

Next, the creation of the character label will be described.

FIG. 9 shows a state in which characters are printed on the tack index label. FIG. 9A shows the tack index label, and FIGS. 9B to 9G show the printing mode (format), which can be selected. Has been done.

This is because when the tack index label is designated by the sheet number as the identification code,
The selection screen is read out, and the selection menus corresponding to the six printing modes of the above figures (b) to (g) are displayed. Then, when you specify the desired print mode and press the "Execute" key, the screen switches to the character input screen in the specified print mode,
Character input becomes possible.

When the designated character label is a cassette label, "Create title", "Create side A" and "Create side B" are displayed as a menu on the screen. When each of them is selected and designated and the "execute" key is pressed, the corresponding character input screen is displayed. When the specified character label is a box label, it can be input in the same way as normal character input. However, only one label is input, and the display and printing are automatically performed to display and print the same character in three places, and the number of printed labels printed in three places is counted as one label. ..

Next, the setting of the number of print copies and the skip processing of the peeled label will be described.

In the middle of the printing operation procedure, the print number setting screen for setting the number of prints is displayed.
For example, 10 sheets can be designated by inputting numbers. On the other hand, since the label 4a on the label sheet 4 is also used by handwriting, the label on the label sheet to be printed may already be used in some places. Therefore, in this apparatus, in the next screen for specifying the number of sheets, 1, 2, 3, ...
... and A, B, C, ... Are used to specify the label position where printing is prohibited. The number of labels is not counted at the label position where printing is prohibited so that the designated number of labels can be accurately obtained. In addition,
The label position is specified by the above 1, 2, 3 ... and A,
Other designation methods may be adopted without using B, C, ....

Next, the operation from the "print" key on to the end of printing will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the "print" key is pressed (# 50) after the character input is completed or the registered character label is read and the "execute" key is further pressed, the mode shifts to the print mode. First, a screen for designating the number of printed sheets is displayed (# 52), and for example, the input of a numerical value indicating the number of sheets from 1 to 99 is accepted. When a numerical value is entered (# 5
4) Then, the screen is switched to the screen for designating the position of the print start label (# 56). Normally, it is specified from the A row, 1st column, but it can be specified from the desired label position (#
58). When the position is designated, the screen is switched to the skip label selection screen (# 60). If there is a skip label, "Yes" is selected (# 62), and then the screen is switched to the skip label position designation screen (# 64),
Here, the corresponding skip label position is input (# 66). On the other hand, when there is no skip label, the process directly proceeds to # 68. In # 68, a selection screen as to whether the printing object is a postcard is displayed, and if it is a label sheet, the screen is switched to the sheet number designation screen (# 70).

For the sake of simplification of the structure, this apparatus is provided with no sensor other than the sheet sensor 19 for detecting the front end of the left side of the label sheet 4 for detecting the label sheet 4.
Therefore, since it is not detected whether or not the size of the inserted label sheet 4 is the set size, the designated sheet number is displayed as shown in FIG. 11A immediately before the execution of the printing process (# 70). It is displayed again on the screen to alert the user. The user can confirm the sheet number of the label sheet to be printed by looking at this display screen.
Further, when the postcard is designated in # 68, FIG.
As shown in (b), "Please insert the postcard horizontally" or "Please insert the postcard vertically",
A screen showing the insertion direction of the postcard is displayed (# 72).

After this, when the user is prompted by the display of FIG. 11A or 11B and presses the "execute" key (YES in # 74), the label sheet set in the insertion slot 5 (or Feeding of a postcard is started when the driving of the paper feed roller 8 is started (# 76). After that, the CPU 30 waits for a sheet detection signal from the sheet sensor 19 (# 78),
The label sheet 4 is not properly set when a detection signal is not received even after a lapse of a certain time, that is, a sufficient time required for the fed sheet to be fed from the set position to the position of the sheet sensor 19. Alternatively, it is determined that a feeding deviation has occurred, the paper feed roller 8 is driven in the reverse rotation direction (# 80), the label sheet 4 is returned to the insertion slot 5 and the reinsertion instruction screen is displayed. Then (# 8
2) Prompt re-setting. The reinsertion instruction may display a message indicating "erroneous insertion" on the screen. In this way, the seat is always encouraged to be set properly.

When the leading edge of the left side of the label sheet 4 is detected by the sheet sensor 19 (YES in # 78), the screen is switched to a display instructing that printing is in progress (# 84). When the first label position to be printed is reached, the thermal head 28 moves to the left end position of the corresponding label 4a,
The expanded character signal guided to the head drive unit 36 via the print buffer, shift register, etc. is output from the thermal head 28, and the ink of the ink ribbon is transferred onto the label to perform printing character by character ( # 86).
When the printing of one character is completed, the thermal head 28 moves to the next character position and prints only the number of characters to be printed on one label. And when printing on one label is completed,
Next, the label is moved to the left end position of the label that is designated, that is, the print is not prohibited, and the same character string is printed in the same manner as above. When the printing of the designated number of sheets is finished, the thermal head 28 is returned to the initial position and the printing operation is finished. The labels 4a are arranged in parallel on the label sheet 4 in a direction perpendicular to the feeding direction.
When printing at least two lines on a, one line is printed for each label. In this case, by controlling the sheet feed motor 16 in the reverse direction, it is possible to perform printing for each label unit.

When the number of printed sheets is not enough for one label sheet 4 (NO in # 88), the next label sheet is inserted so that the same printing process as described above is executed according to the depression of the "execute" key. To be done. Then, when printing of the set number of prints is completed (YES in # 88), the screen returns from the printing to the initial setting screen (# 90), and the operation for label creation can be performed. Is.

In the present embodiment, the description has been given by using the cut sheet label sheet, but the present invention can also be applied to the type in which the label is regularly attached to the roll paper. Also,
The print head is not limited to a thermal head, and various types can be used within the scope of the present invention.

[0065]

As described above, according to the label printing apparatus of the present invention, the label information for specifying the size and the arrangement position of each label arranged on the label sheet is stored in association with the identification code. The user can specify all the necessary information such as the size and shape of the label sheet to be printed in the first processing means and the label arrangement by simply inputting this identification code. The input operation can be simplified.

Further, the second processing means can automatically determine the optimum character size to be stored in this area in consideration of all the printing area of the label, the number of characters to be printed, and the number of lines, and the desired label. It is possible to eliminate the troublesome setting operation of the character size for performing suitable printing.

Further, since the third processing means is provided, when the label sheet is printed, a display for prompting a key input to start the printing is displayed on the display means, and the label sheet to be printed is to be displayed. The identification code can be displayed again at this stage, so that the user can be alerted and misinsertion can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the outer appearance of a label printing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an internal mechanism of the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an internal mechanism of the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a key arrangement of the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a sheet sensor.

FIG. 6 is a control block diagram in the label printing apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a positional relationship of labels with respect to a label sheet.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a basic procedure for a start screen.

FIG. 9A is a plan view showing a tack index label, and FIGS. 9B to 9G are plan views showing respective printing modes of the tack index label.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an operation from printing to completion of printing.

FIG. 11 is a plan view showing a liquid crystal display unit on which a message is displayed.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Label printing device, 4 ... Label sheet, 4a ... Label, 6 '... Key input part, 7 ... Liquid crystal display part, 20 ... Printing part, 30 ... CPU (processing means), 31 ... ROM (storage means), 32 ... RAM (storage means).

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A label printing apparatus for inputting a desired character string and printing the input character string for each label arranged on a label sheet, the label printing apparatus comprising a storage means and a display means. And storage means, the storage means, label information for specifying the size and arrangement position of each label arranged on the label sheet, an identification code corresponding to each label information, and print Character size information defining a plurality of character sizes as a character size to be applied is stored, and the display unit displays a character string and an identification code that have been input, and a message prompting a predetermined key input according to each operation step. The processing means displays a first processing means for identifying the corresponding label information from the input identification code, and the identified label information. Second processing means for selecting the maximum character size that can be accommodated in the print area of each label from the character size information based on the number of lines in the input character string and the number of characters in each line, and executing the print process. Previously, a display for prompting a key input to start the printing and a third processing means for displaying the already input identification code of the label sheet on the display means again are provided. Label printing device. 2. The label information stores a postcard size as one of the pieces of information, and when the identification code corresponding to the postcard size is input, the third processing unit: 2. The label printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display means displays the insertion direction of a postcard to be printed together with a display prompting a key input to start the printing.