JPH08585B2 - Label printer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention includes a plurality of printing devices capable of issuing different types of labels, and selects an appropriate printing device according to the product number of a product to label the product. Label printer to issue.

[Prior Art] The present applicant has previously proposed a label printer of this type including a plurality of printing devices (Japanese Patent Application No. 62-20008). This label printer is capable of issuing a plurality of types of labels for one product at appropriate timings by selectively using a plurality of printing devices.

In such a label printer, various ways of using a plurality of printing devices are expected. As a way of using, when issuing a label, an operator selectively uses an appropriate printing device by switching, or, for example, using two printing devices while issuing a measurement label (value-added label), On the other hand, there is a method of issuing a POP label (product advertisement label).

However, whichever method is used, there is no difference in that the selection of the printing device is left to the operator.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, since the selection of the printing device at the time of issuing such a label is a new work that is not required in the conventional label printer, the operator is burdened with the work. It is expected that there will be a decrease in efficiency and a mistake in pasting.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a label printer capable of automatically selecting and using a plurality of printing devices without burdening an operator at the time of issuing a label. With the goal.

[Means for Solving Problems] In order to solve the above problems, a label printer of the present invention includes a plurality of printing devices capable of issuing different kinds of labels, and appropriately prints according to a product number of a product. In a label printer that selects a device and issues a label, a setting unit that sets the type of label to be issued and print data for each product number, and a memory that stores the label type and print data set by this setting unit And a control unit that automatically selects one or more printing devices according to the product number based on the label type and print data stored in the storage device and issues a label. It is characterized by

[Operation] The label printer of the present invention corresponds to the product number,
By storing in advance how to use a plurality of printing mechanism units, etc., based on the stored data in the storage unit,
A plurality of types of labels are issued at an appropriate timing by automatically controlling a plurality of printing mechanism units. As a result, the label can be printed simply by inputting the product number, and the operator's burden is eliminated.

[Embodiment] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the external configuration, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration.

In these figures, 1 is the main body of the label printer. A control unit shown in FIG. 2 is provided inside the main body 1, and the scale 2 is connected to the control unit.
On the other hand, on the front surface of the main body 1, two label printing mechanism sections 3 and 4, a first and a second, and an operation section 5 are provided. The second printing mechanism unit 4 is removable from the main body 1.

These printing mechanism units 3 and 4 include a thermal head that performs dot printing, a shift register that stores data for one dot line and supplies the data to the thermal head, and a stepping motor that moves the label one dot line at a time. It has, and can print arbitrary characters, numbers, and images. In addition, the printing mechanism section 3 and 4,
Set weighing labels (price labels) of different sizes, set weighing labels on the first printing mechanism 3,
By setting a POP label (merchandise advertisement label) on the printing mechanism section 4 of (1), it is possible to appropriately print different types of labels.

The operation panel of the operation unit 5 is attached to the main body 1 by the bellows 6 for adjusting the angle, and the angle thereof can be adjusted. The operation unit 5 has a structure as shown in FIG. That is, the operation unit 5 includes a numeric keypad 7, a function key 8, a label feed switch 9,
Zero reset switch 10, power switch 11, operation / display unit 12, and connector 13 for connecting an image scanner of scale 2
And are equipped with. A clear key C and a tare key T are added to the ten-key pad 7. Also, the function key 8 is a product number key PLU used when setting the unit price,
It comprises a numeric keypad 7 and a product number key PLU, and a shift key SHIFT for using it as a double function.

The operation / display unit 12 has a form in which a touch panel 12a is laminated on the upper surface of a liquid crystal display 12b, and data can be displayed and input on the same surface. That is, the liquid crystal display unit 12b performs various displays as will be described later by dot display of 480 × 200 dots.

On the other hand, the touch panel 12a is provided on the upper surface of the liquid crystal display 12b, and when the operator touches the transparent panel on the upper surface of the liquid crystal display section 12b, the touched position is detected and input. That is, around the operation / display unit 12, five light emitting diodes LED are arranged on the left side and five phototransistors PT are arranged vertically on the right side so as to face each other, and ten light emitting diodes are arranged on the lower side. The LEDs and ten phototransistors PT are arranged in the horizontal direction so as to face each other. Therefore, as shown in FIG.
When a is touched with a finger, the light emitting diode LED and the phototransistor PT corresponding to the touched position are disconnected,
The touched position is recognized and input.

An image scanner 14 can be connected to the control unit via the connector 13. The image scanner 14 has a line sensor with a resolution of 8 dots / mm, and the maximum width is 64 mm by moving on the image.
It reads images up to (512 dots). Each dot that composes the read image is “black” (“1” signal) or “white” with reference to a certain level (variable).
It is converted into a 1-bit signal (“0” signal) and output as image data.

The above-mentioned units are connected to the control unit shown in FIG.
First, the load cell 2 a of the balance 2 is connected to the CPU 20 via the load cell control unit 21. The first print mechanism unit 3 and the second print mechanism unit 4 are connected to the CPU 2 via the print control unit 22.
Connected to 0. The image scanner 14 is connected to the CPU 20 via the scanner control unit 23. Similarly, the touch panel 12a and various keys 7 to 11 are operated via the operation control unit 24, and the liquid crystal display unit 12b is operated via the display control unit 25, respectively.
It is connected to PU20. In addition, the scanner control unit 23,
A buffer is built in for storing the image data input from the image scanner 14.

A RAM 30 and a ROM 40 are further connected to the CPU 20.

FIG. 5 shows the internal structure of the RAM 30, which includes a working area 31 used for various processes, a PLU (price lookup) file 32, and a reservation file 33.
An image file 34, a tally file 35 for storing tally data, and the like are provided. Working area 31
In addition to the various registers, the second one as shown in FIG.
There is an area for use mode flags PF1 to PF4 of the printing mechanism unit 4 of FIG. This flag area will be described later. As shown in FIG. 6, the PLU file 32 stores the unit price of the product, the tare weight, the effective date, the product name, etc. for each product number (PLUNo.). Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the reservation file 33 stores various flags to be described later, the number of packs (quantity of products), the special sale period of the special sale item, the POP number, etc., corresponding to the item number. is there. The reserved file 33 is a fixed word length file, and the area for all the items is secured only by setting any one item.

Further, as a flag stored in the reservation file 33, as shown in FIG. 9, a flag YF which is set when there is a reservation of the number of packs (quantity of products), that is, the number of labels to be printed
1.Reservation of special sale items, that is, flag YF2 that stands when there is a designation as a special sale item, flag YF3 that stands when there is a reservation to issue the POP label described below, and when there is a reservation to issue the promotion label described later There is a flag YF4 and a flag YF5 that stands when there is a reservation to issue a barcode label described later. When setting the flag YF1,
It is necessary to set the reserved quantity (number of packs) in the reservation file 33, similarly, when the flag YF2 is set, it is necessary to set the special sale period described later, and when the flag YF3 is set, the POP No. is also set. Is.

Here, the promotion label has the shape and print format of a general weighing label (price label) as shown in Fig. 16, but the color of the print data, the color of the label paper, or the content of pre-printing is different. Saying different things. For example, if you want to attract the customer's attention especially for advertising items,
Color different from other weighing labels (eg red, yellow etc.)
Printed on the label paper of, or "advertisement" in advance
Is printed on label paper that is pre-printed. In the latter case, the advertisement text such as "advertisement item" can be printed by a label printer, but it is easier to see it by preprinting, and the character pattern is not limited as compared with the case of using a label printer. There is.

The POP label is a product advertisement label as shown in FIG.

Further, the bar code label is, as shown in FIG. 18, printed with a bar code such as the price quoted by the weighing label, and is mainly for sticking to the bottom. This bottom sticking means sticking a label on the bottom of the product for a fixed scanner.For example, for products such as sashimi that can not be turned over due to the nature of the product and products for which the consumer display label is small. Will be implemented.

The special sale period (number of days) set when the flag YF2 is set is decremented every time the date changes. For example, if you set a special sale period of "3 days" on May 1st for 3 days from May 3rd today, it will be "2nd" on May 2nd and "1st" on May 3rd.
It becomes "day" and becomes "0" on May 3 and it is not a special sale. In addition, the price at the time of special sale of the product designated as the special sale is
It is set in the PLU file 32 in advance. Therefore, the PLU file 32 is configured so that two types of settings, that is, the normal price and the special sale price, can be set.

In the ROM 40, each program such as a weighing processing program, a printing processing program, a display processing program,
And Kanji patterns are stored.

Next, a method of inputting label issuing data will be described.

To enter the label printing data, the working area 31
Mode flags PF1 to P of the second printing mechanism unit 4 in
Setting F4 (Fig. 10) and reserved file 33 in RAM30
There are settings. Therefore, in the following, they will be described separately.

(1) Setting of Usage Mode Flags PF1 to PF4 While the first printing mechanism unit 3 is dedicated to issuing the measurement label, the second printing mechanism unit 4 has the following four purposes of use.

do not use.

Issue a promotional label.

Issue a POP label.

Issue a barcode label.

The action mode flags PF1 to PF4 are set as follows according to the purpose of use.

First, change the display screen of the operation / display unit 12 to the menu screen (11th
As shown in Figure (a), specify "8. Setup". This designation is made by the operator touching the display portion as described above. After selecting the setup mode, the specification selection mode of the first printing mechanism unit 3,
It is possible to select the specification selection mode of the second printing mechanism section 4 or the data input mode related to the bar code, and after selecting the specification selection mode of the second printing mechanism section 4, the second printing mechanism is selected. Selection mode of purpose of part 4 or second
The selection mode of the label size of the printing mechanism unit 4 can be selected.

When the selection mode of the purpose of use of the second printing mechanism unit 4 is selected, the operation / display unit 12 displays the four characters "unused", "promotion", and "POP" corresponding to the above-mentioned four purposes of use. , "Bar code" appears, and the display character corresponding to the currently selected purpose of use is displayed so as to be distinguishable from other display characters. That is, the currently selected one is displayed in reverse. Therefore, for example, when the purpose of use for issuing the POP label is selected, the character "POP" is displayed so as to be distinguishable from other characters. To change the purpose of use to issue a promotion label, touch the "promotion" display area. This, in turn,
The word "promotion" is displayed so that it can be distinguished from other characters, and the purpose of use is selected.

In this way, the purpose of use of the second printing mechanism unit 4
By selecting, the flags PF1 to PF4 of the working area 31 are set correspondingly (see FIG. 10). That is, when the purpose of use is selected, the flag PF1 is set,
A flag PF2 is set when the purpose of use is selected, a flag PF3 is set when the purpose of use is selected, and a flag PF4 is set when the purpose of use is selected.

By the way, when the purpose of use of the second printing mechanism unit 4 is selected, it is necessary to set a label sheet suitable for the purpose in the second printing mechanism unit 4.

(2) Setting of reservation file 33 First, the menu screen (11th
As shown in Fig. (A), touch the display area of "4. Reservation settings". As a result, the screen becomes the reservation mode screen of FIG. 11 (b), and three types of reservation selection characters appear at the same time. The first is the selection character for "reservation of the quantity to be dispensed", the second
Is a selection character of “reservation of special sale item number”. Third is second
Selected characters corresponding to the intended use of the printing mechanism section 4 of
That is, the use mode flags PF1 to P set in (1) above
It is a selection character corresponding to the contents of F4. Figure 11 (b) shows
This is the display content when the issuance of the intended POP label is selected, and "POP label reservation" is displayed. When the issue of the promotional label for the intended use is selected, "Reservation of the promotional label" is displayed, and when the issue of the barcode label for the intended use is selected, "Reserve the barcode label" is displayed. . When the unused purpose is selected, the selected character is not used.

(2) -1 By touching the first display portion on such a reservation mode screen, it becomes possible to reserve the number of packs (the number of items to be delivered) in the reservation file 33 shown in FIG.

That is, by touching the first display portion, the screen becomes as shown in FIG. 11 (c).
And by operating the PLU key 8 (Fig. 3),
Enter the product number and the number of packs. The screen of FIG. 11C is a display screen when the number of packs has already been reserved for the products of product numbers “0001” to “0008”.
By the way, in the following, product numbers “0001” to “000
Fig. 12 shows the contents of the reservation file 33 for the product "8". As is clear from the figure, the number of packs of the product number “0001” is “1” and the product number “0002”.
The number of packs of the product No. is set to "2" ... The number of packs of the product No. "0008" is set to "8". Other data will be described later. In the present embodiment, the product numbers are consecutive from “0001” to “0008”, but of course if the reservation is not made, it will be skipped.

(2) -2 By touching the second display portion on the reservation mode screen, it becomes possible to reserve the special sale item number.

First, the screen becomes as shown in FIG. 11 (d), and the contents already set are displayed. Therefore, the display character "next" is touched twice to bring it into a settable state, and then the product number is entered using the ten keys 7 and the PLU key 8. As a result, the regular unit price corresponding to the product number and the special sale price are PL
It is read from U file 32 and displayed. And
Then enter the sale period.

(2) -3 On the reservation mode screen, touch the third display portion to reserve a POP label, a promotion label, or a barcode label.

Reservation of POP Label First, the third display portion (display portion of "reservation of POP label") is touched on the screen of FIG. 11 (b). As a result, the screen becomes as shown in FIG. 11 (e), in which the product number and the corresponding POP No. are input.

Reservation of promotion label "3. Reservation of promotion label" is displayed on the third display area.
On the reservation mode screen in which the character of is displayed, touch the display part. As a result, the screen becomes as shown in FIG. 11 (f), and the product number corresponding to the product for which the promotion label is issued is input on this screen.

Reservation of barcode label Touch the display portion on the reservation mode screen in which the character "3. Reservation of barcode label" is displayed on the third display portion. As a result, the screen becomes as shown in FIG. 11 (g), and the product number corresponding to the product for which the barcode label is issued is input on this screen.

By inputting the label issue data as described above, the contents of the reservation file 33 are as shown in FIG. For example, for the product with the product number “0001”, the flags YF1 to YF4 are set, the number of packs is “1”, the number of special sale days is “2 days”, and the POP number is “1”.

Next, the actual label issuing operation will be described separately for the product number input and the label printing.

(1) When inputting the product number By entering the product number, the flow shown in Fig. 13 is entered. First, the corresponding PLU data is read from the PLU file 32, set in each register, and displayed on the operation / display unit 12. Allow (step SA1). If the entered product number is not the PLU file 32, an error will occur.

Next, search the reservation file 33 (step SA2),
If there is a corresponding PLU in the reservation file 33, the reservation data is read and set in each register (step SA3,
SA4).

Next, it is judged whether or not there is a quantity reservation in the reservation data (step SA5), and if there is a quantity reservation, the quantity data is set in the counter (step SA6). The counter counts up and outputs a stop signal when the number of labels issued reaches the number corresponding to the quantity data.

By the way, when the PLU data and the reservation data are read out, the respective data can be temporarily changed and set. It should be noted that the storage files of these data are not changed by this temporary change setting. Therefore, for example, it is possible to change the unit price data and set or change the POP No.

(2) At the time of label printing By operating the print key, the label is printed by entering the flow shown in FIG. When the automatic mode in which the label is automatically printed after weighing the weighed products is set, when the weighing stability signal is output, the flow of FIG.

In this flow, first, it is judged from the use mode flag PF1 in FIG. 10 whether or not the second printing mechanism unit 4 will be used (step SB1). When the use mode flag PF1 is set, it is determined that the second printing mechanism unit 4 is not used, and the first printing mechanism unit 3 prints only the weighing label (step SB2).

On the other hand, when it is determined that the second print mechanism unit 4 will be used, that is, when the use mode flag PF1 is not set, the use mode of the second print mechanism unit 4 is the POP label print mode. Whether to use mode flag PF2
Judging from (step SB3). When the use mode flag PF2 is set, it is determined that the print mode is the POP label printing mode, the process proceeds to step SB4, and it is determined from the flag YF3 in the reservation file 33 whether the POP label is reserved. If the flag YF3 is not set, it is determined that there is no reservation and the process proceeds to step SB2, where the first printing mechanism unit 3 prints only the weighing label. When it is determined in step SB4 that there is a reservation, that is, when the flag YF3 is set,
The measurement label is printed by the first printing mechanism unit 3 (step SB
5) At the same time, the second printing mechanism unit 4 prints the POP label (step SB6).

When it is determined in step SB3 that the print mode is not the POP label print mode, it is determined from the use mode flag PF3 whether or not the print mode is the promotion label print mode (step SB7). When the use mode flag PF3 is set, it is determined that the print mode is the promotion label printing mode, and the process proceeds to step SB8 to set the flag Y in the reserved file 33.
From F4, determine whether or not there is a promotion label reservation. When the flag YF4 is not set, it is determined that there is no reservation and the process proceeds to step SB2, where the first printing mechanism unit 3 prints only the weighing label. When it is determined in step SB8 that there is a reservation, that is, when the flag YF4 is set, the promotion label is printed by the second printing mechanism unit 4 (step SB9).

When it is determined in step SB7 that it is not in the promotion label character mode, it is determined from the flag YF5 in the reservation file 33 whether or not it is the barcode label print mode (step SB10). When the flag YF5 is not set, it is determined that the bar code label is not reserved, and the process proceeds to step SB2 where the first printing mechanism unit 3 prints only the weighing level. When it is determined in step SB10 that there is a reservation, that is, when the flag YF5 is set, the first
Printing the measurement label by the printing mechanism section 3 (step SB11)
At the same time, the second printing mechanism unit 4 prints the POP label (step SB12).

Figure 15 shows the operation / display section 12 when printing the weighing label.
Is an example of a display screen of. In the case of the present embodiment, the operation / display unit 12 displays the data of the weighing label to be printed by the first printing mechanism unit 3, that is, the first printing mechanism unit 4, even when the second printing mechanism unit 4 is printing a POP label or the like. It is designed to display data as shown in Figure 15. Of course, it is also possible to display the data such as a POP label printed by the second printing mechanism unit 4.

In the above embodiment, the printing device has two first and second printing mechanism units, and the second printing mechanism unit selectively prints one of the POP label and the promotion label. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the third and fourth printing mechanism units are further provided so that two or more kinds of POP labels, barcode labels, etc. can be printed at the same time in addition to the priced labels. You may.

Further, the types of labels to be issued and the combinations of labels to be issued are not limited to those in the above embodiment.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the printer according to the product number is automatically selected based on the setting of the usage mode of the second printing mechanism unit and the stored contents of the reservation file. The configuration is not limited to this. For example, the PLU file may have the same mechanism as the reserved file.

Also, by connecting to a host computer or a label printer (master device) that has a management mechanism, data can be set from these external devices to the reservation file, or the data of the reservation file set in these external devices can be called and used. It is also possible to do it.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the label printer of the present invention is
Since the configuration is provided with a storage unit that presets the usage method and the like for a plurality of printing mechanism units corresponding to the product number, when a label is issued, a plurality of storage units based on the storage data in the storage unit are used. The print storage unit can be automatically controlled to issue a plurality of types of labels at appropriate timings.

Therefore, the operator can print the label only by inputting the product number without paying attention to how to use the plurality of printing mechanism units at the time of the price setting work, and the burden can be reduced. .

[Brief description of drawings]

Drawing is a figure for explaining one example of the present invention,
FIG. 1 is a perspective view for explaining the external structure, FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the electrical structure, FIG. 3 is a front view for explaining the structure of the operating portion, and FIG. 4 is a touch panel. 5 is a side sectional view for explaining the operation of FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the configuration of RAM, FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the configuration of a PLU file in RAM, and FIG. Conceptual diagram for explaining the structure of the reservation file, No. 8
Figure is a conceptual diagram for explaining the structure of the graphic image file in RAM, Figure 9 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the structure of the flag area in the reserved file, and Figure 10 is a usage mode flag area in the working area of RAM. 11 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the configuration, FIGS. 11 (a) to 11 (g) are diagrams for explaining the transition of the display screen when the label issuance data is input, and FIG. 12 is for each product number in the reservation file. FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining an example of stored contents,
FIG. 14 is a flow chart for explaining the action at the time of inputting the product number, FIG. 14 is a flow chart for explaining the action at the time of label printing, and FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining the display screen at the time of printing the weighing label. FIG. 16 is a plan view for explaining an example of a weighing label, FIG. 17 is a plan view for explaining an example of a POP label, and FIG. 18 is a plan view for explaining an example of a barcode label. 1 ... Main body, 2 ... Scale, 3 ... First printing mechanism section, 4 ... Second printing mechanism section, 5 ... Operation section, 12 ... Operation / display section, 20 ... CPU, 22 ...... Print control unit, 24 …… Operation control unit, 25 …… Display control unit, 30 …… RAM, 31 …… Working area, 32 …… PLU file, 33 …… Reserved file, 40 …… ROM.

Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-63-294339 (JP, A) JP-A-57-55843 (JP, A) Actually-opened Sho-55-160346 (JP, U) JP-B 5-36300 (JP , B2) JP-B 4-62549 (JP, B2) JP-B 62-15411 (JP, B2) JP-B 6-55616 (JP, B2) JK-Jan 24-24745 (JP, Y2) J-Kan 1-31940 (JP, Y2)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A label printer which comprises a plurality of printing devices capable of issuing different kinds of labels, selects a suitable printing device according to the product number of a product and issues a label, and issues the label for each product number. Setting means for setting the label type and print data, storage means for storing the label type and print data set by the setting means, and based on the label type and print data stored in the storage means, A label printer comprising: a control unit that automatically selects one or more printing devices according to a product number and issues a label.