JP7216909B2 - printer - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that performs desired printing on a print-receiving medium.

2. Description of the Related Art In a printing apparatus that prints on a print-receiving medium, a technique of obtaining information through wireless communication and printing is already known (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-200013). In this conventional technique, when the user holds the mobile terminal over the printing apparatus, information is transmitted from the mobile terminal to the printing apparatus by short-range wireless communication, and printed matter is created.

JP 2015-7857 A

On the other hand, there are cases where so-called numbering printing is performed on a print-receiving medium as a user's application. In this numbering printing, characters included in each of a plurality of printed materials are sequentially changed (incremented) along the order in which each printed material is created.

When creating a plurality of printed materials by numbering printing, if the technique of the prior art is applied and the content of the characters attached to each printed material can be instructed from an appropriate communication medium to the printing device by short-range wireless communication, the user very convenient for However, such technology did not exist conventionally.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus capable of improving the user's convenience by making it possible to specify character information during numbering printing from a communication medium.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides transport means for transporting a print-receiving medium, printing means for forming a desired print on the transported print-receiving medium to generate a printed matter, and variable information. a communication means for wirelessly communicating with a stored communication medium; and a control means, wherein the control means is triggered by the communication medium coming into contact with or close to the communication means to perform the communication via the communication means. information acquisition processing for acquiring the variable information from the communication medium by wireless communication; controlling the conveying means and the printing means to generate the printed matter formed with printing corresponding to the variable information acquired in the information acquisition processing; printed matter generation processing; information update processing for updating the variable information acquired in the information acquisition processing in response to the generation of the printed matter; an information writing process of writing the variable information updated in the information update process to the communication medium by the wireless communication via the.

In the present invention, variable information is stored in the communication medium, and so-called numbering printing is performed in the printing apparatus based on this stored variable information.

That is, when the user holds the communication medium in hand and touches or holds it over the communication means of the printing device, the above variable information is acquired by the control means of the printing device through wireless communication with the communication medium (so-called short-range wireless communication). (information acquisition processing). Then, based on the acquired variable information, printing is formed on the transported print-receiving medium, thereby forming printing corresponding to the variable information and generating printed matter (printed matter generation processing). Corresponding to the generation of this printed matter, the obtained variable information is updated (information update process). After that, the user holds the communication medium again and touches or holds it over the communication means of the printing apparatus, so that wireless communication with the communication medium (so-called short-range wireless communication) is performed, and the update is performed as described above. The variable information is written to the communication medium. As a result, every time the user holds the communication medium over the communication means, the series of processes described above is executed, and a printed matter with printing based on the latest variable information updated each time is generated.

As described above, according to the present invention, the content of variable information stored in a communication medium is transmitted to a printing apparatus by short-range wireless communication, thereby instructing print formation corresponding to the variable information and performing numbering printing. be able to. As a result, convenience for the user can be improved.

In particular, it is conceivable to perform the above-mentioned numbering printing by repeating the operation of generating one printed matter multiple times each time the communication medium is held over. In this case, for example, even if some kind of error event occurs in the printed matter generation process and the printed matter generation fails (that is, the numbering printing is interrupted), the user can transfer the above variables to another printing device using the communication medium. By instructing with information, it is possible to continue the remaining numbering printing after the interruption in the other printing device.

In particular, it is conceivable to store the print instructions for the total number of printed materials to be created in the communication medium, and to write the variable information corresponding to the printed materials that have been generated out of the printed materials to the communication medium. In this case, the user intentionally creates up to a certain number of the printed materials with one printing apparatus, and then instructs another printing apparatus with the variable information for the remaining printed materials in the same manner as described above. It is possible to create by doing.

According to the present invention, the user's convenience can be improved by making it possible to specify character information during numbering printing from a communication medium.

1 is a system configuration diagram showing a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention together with a tag card; FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external structure of a printer; FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the printer with the cartridge cover opened; FIG. 4 is a conceptual plan view showing the internal structure of the cartridge; FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing functional configurations of a printer and a tag card; FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the behavior of numbering printing performed by a printer using a tag card; FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a case where printing is continued by changing a printer when numbering printing fails in the middle; 4 is a flow chart showing the contents of control executed by a control circuit of the printer; FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing the behavior of numbering printing in a modified example in which character information of a printed label that has already been generated is stored in a tag card; FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing the behavior of numbering printing in a modified example in which character information of a printed label that has already been generated is stored in a tag card; 4 is a flow chart showing the contents of control executed by a control circuit of the printer; It is explanatory drawing showing an example of the printed label in the modification which performs numbering in template printing, and an example of a template. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing the behavior of generating a print label while performing numbering in template printing;

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

<System configuration>
FIG. 1 shows a printer 1 (corresponding to a printing device) of this embodiment together with a tag card C. As shown in FIG. When the tag card C is brought close to the printer 1, it can transmit and receive information with the printer 1 by short-range communication (details will be described later).

<Printer configuration>
A schematic configuration of the printer 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the printer 1 has a housing 2 forming its outer shell. The housing 2 is composed of a resin lower cover 15 forming the bottom surface of the apparatus and integrated with the side surfaces of the apparatus, and a resin upper cover 17 forming the upper surface of the apparatus.

The side surface of the lower cover 15 is provided with a recess 15b and a discharge port 15a formed in the center of the inner part of the recess 15b for discharging the printed label tape 109 (see FIG. 4 described later). .

The upper cover 17 has a keyboard 3 for performing various operations such as character input, and function keys for executing various functions of the printer 1, including a print button and a power button. A group 4 and a display unit 7 mounted to cover, for example, a rectangular opening are provided.

A cartridge holder 9 to which the cartridge 8 can be attached and detached is provided on the rear side of the upper surface of the printer 1 . The upper cover 17 has a cartridge cover 17a for mounting a cartridge 8 in the form of a tape cassette. The cartridge holder 9 is normally closed by the cartridge cover 17a (see FIG. 2), but is exposed by opening the cartridge cover 17a (see FIG. 3).
A notch portion 17b is provided at the end of the cartridge cover 17a. A cut lever 50, which is an operation lever for cutting the label tape 109 with print, is provided so as to be accommodated in the notched portion 17b.

Next, detailed structures of the cartridge 8 and cartridge holder 9 will be described with reference to FIG. The cartridge 8 includes a housing 8A and a first roll 102 disposed in the housing 8A and wound with a band-shaped base tape 101 (actually spiral-shaped, but shown concentrically in the drawing for simplicity). , a second roll 104 (which actually has a spiral shape, but is shown concentrically in the figure for simplicity) around which a transparent print-receiving tape 103 having substantially the same width as the base tape 101 is wound, and an ink ribbon. 105 (unnecessary if the print-receiving tape 103 is a thermal tape), a ribbon winding roller 106 for winding the ink ribbon 105 after printing, and a tape discharge portion of the cartridge 8. and a tape feed roller 27 supported thereon. The print-receiving tape 103 corresponds to the print-receiving medium described in the claims.

The first roll 102 has the base tape 101 wound around a reel member 102a. The base tape 101 is composed of, for example, an adhesive layer for bonding, a base film, an adhesive layer for bonding, and a release paper, which are laminated in this order from the side wound inside toward the opposite side. there is The second roll 104 winds the print-receiving tape 103 around a reel member 104a.

The tape feed roller 27 presses and adheres the base tape 101 and the print-receiving tape 103 to form the printed label tape 109 while feeding the tape.

A fixed blade 40 and a cut lever 50 are provided downstream of the tape feed roller 27 and the pressure roller 28 along the transport path of the printed label tape 109 (that is, downstream of the print head 23, which will be described later). A movable blade 41 is provided that advances relative to the fixed blade 40 by manual operation and cuts the printed label tape 109 in the thickness direction in cooperation with the fixed blade 40 .

On the other hand, the cartridge holder 9 has a ribbon winding roller driving shaft 107 for winding the used ink ribbon 105 in the cartridge 8 and a tape feed roller driving shaft for conveying the printed label tape 109. 108 are provided. The tape feed roller drive shaft 108 corresponds to the conveying means described in the claims. The ribbon take-up roller 106 and the tape feed roller 27 are interlocked by transmitting the driving force of a transport roller motor (not shown) to the ribbon take-up roller drive shaft 107 and the tape feed roller drive shaft 108 . driven to rotate. Further, the cartridge holder 9 is provided with a print head 23 for performing desired printing on the transported print-receiving tape 103 so as to be positioned at the opening when the cartridge 8 is mounted. Incidentally, this print head 23 corresponds to the printing means described in the claims. The print head 23 is arranged so as to be separated from the movable blade 41 and the fixed blade 40 by a predetermined separation distance along the tape transport path. Further, the cartridge holder 9 detects the type of the cartridge 8 mounted in the cartridge holder 9 (in other words, the type of the print-receiving tape 103 representing various tape attributes such as the tape width of the print-receiving tape 103) by a known method. A cartridge sensor 9A is provided.

<Overview of printing tape creation>
In the above configuration, when the cartridge 8 is attached to the cartridge holder 9, the print-receiving tape 103 and the ink ribbon 105 are sandwiched between the print head 23 and the platen roller 26 facing it. Also, the base tape 101 and the print-receiving tape 103 are sandwiched between the tape feeding roller 27 and the pressing roller 28 facing thereto. Then, the ribbon take-up roller 106 and tape feed roller 27 are synchronously driven to rotate in the directions indicated by arrows B and C in FIG. 4, respectively. As a result, the tape feed roller 27 , pressure roller 28 , and platen roller 26 are rotated, and the base tape 101 is unwound from the first roll 102 and supplied to the tape feed roller 27 . On the other hand, the print-receiving tape 103 is fed out from the second roll 104, and a plurality of heating elements of the print head 23 are energized by a print driving circuit (not shown). As a result, the print is printed on the back surface of the print-receiving tape 103 .

Then, the base tape 101 and the print-receiving tape 103 on which the printing has been completed are adhered and integrated by the tape feed roller 27 and the pressure roller 28 to form a printed label tape 109, which is discharged from the tape discharge section. It is carried out outside the cartridge 8 .

The ink ribbon 105 that has finished printing on the print-receiving tape 103 is wound around the ribbon winding roller 106 by driving the ribbon winding roller drive shaft 107 .

The printed label tape 109 discharged out of the cartridge 8 as described above is cut by the cooperation of the fixed blade 40 and the movable blade 41 based on the manual operation of the cut lever 50, and the printed label L ( (see FIG. 6, etc., which will be described later))) is generated. At this time, as described above, the manual operation of the cut lever 50 by the user is transmitted to the movable blade 41 via a mechanism (not shown), and the movable blade 41 advances relative to the fixed blade 40 and is fixed to the movable blade 41. This is done by closing the blades 40 together like scissors.

<Functional Configuration of Printer and Tag Card>
Functional configurations of the printer 1 and the tag card C will be described with reference to FIG.

<Functional Configuration of Printer>
5, the printer 1 includes the print head 23 for performing desired printing on the print-receiving tape 103, the platen roller 26, a control circuit 143, a memory 144 comprising, for example, a RAM or ROM, and a desired display. The display unit 7, the NFC communication unit 141, the first antenna 141a, the communication control unit 142, and the second antenna 142a. The control circuit 143 controls the entire printer 1 by performing signal processing according to a program pre-stored in the ROM or memory 144 (not shown) while using the temporary storage function of the RAM (not shown). The control circuit 143 corresponds to the control means described in the claims, and the memory 144 corresponds to the storage means described in the claims.

The NFC communication unit 141 performs NFC communication (for example, about several tens of centimeters) short-range wireless communication between the printer 1 and the tag card C via the first antenna 141a. Near Field Communication). The NFC communication unit 141 corresponds to communication means described in the claims.

The communication control unit 142 communicates with an information terminal (not shown) via a second antenna 142a and an access point ACP (base station) (not shown) located inside a building, outdoors, or the like. For example, it controls mutual recognition wireless communication (several meters to several tens of meters longer than the NFC communication). The operation terminal is a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a smart phone (a mobile phone with a PDA function), or the like, which has a function corresponding to the mutual recognition wireless communication. Note that the communication control unit 142 and the second antenna 142a may be omitted.

The memory 144 stores various programs including a print processing program for executing processing shown in FIG. 8, which will be described later. A desired display (for example, display of a label image or the like edited when a user edits a label) is performed on the display unit 7 .

<Functional configuration of tag card>
The tag card C is a kind of NFC communication medium, and has a tag antenna 151 and an IC circuit section 150 , and the IC circuit section 150 has a memory section 155 and a tag control section 157 .

The memory section 155 is connected to the tag control section 157 . The memory section 155 and the tag antenna 151 are controlled by the tag control section 157 .

The tag antenna 151 can transmit and receive information to and from the printer 1 through NFC communication with the first antenna 141 a of the printer 1 under the control of the tag control section 157 . For example, the 13.56 MHz band is used for this NFC communication. As a result, the user holds the tag card C in hand and brings it into contact with the first antenna 141a of the printer 1, or holds it close to the first antenna 141a of the printer 1 (hereinafter, these operations are collectively referred to simply as "holding" as appropriate). Thereby, NFC communication between the tag card C and the printer 1 is established.

<Characteristics of this embodiment>

A feature of the present embodiment having the basic configuration described above is that the user can perform so-called numbering printing by holding the tag card C over the printer 1 . The details will be described in order below.

<Normal numbering printing>
For example, as shown in FIG. 6A, the memory unit 155 of the tag card C stores a print command for instructing numbering printing and one character information as variable information (in this example, a number string "001"; appropriately, simply referred to as character information "001" or the like) is stored. When the user holds the tag card C in hand and holds it over the printer 1 (specifically, the first antenna 141a; the same shall apply hereinafter), the above print command stored in the memory unit 155 is transmitted through NFC communication with the tag card C. and the character information “001” are sent to the printer 1 . As a result, the printer 1 is instructed to print the character information "001", and as shown in FIG. is formed (hereinafter referred to as "001" label L, etc.) is generated.

After generating the "001" label L, the printer 1 increments the acquired character information "001" with a certain regularity (in this example, increments the number by "1" as shown in FIG. 6C). ), and the character information after the increment (in this example, the number string “002”) is transmitted to the tag card C by the NFC communication. As a result, the character information "002" is written in the memory section 155 of the tag card C and updated.

After that, as shown in FIG. 6(d), when the user holds the tag card C in which the character information "002" is stored in the memory unit 155 as described above and holds it over the printer 1 again, Similar to the above, the print command and the character information "002" are transmitted to the printer 1 by NFC communication.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 6E, the printer 1 generates the "002" label L corresponding to the obtained character information "002" in the same manner as described above.

Thereafter, in the same manner as described above, the printer 1 increments the obtained character information "002" to "003" as shown in FIG. C, and the character information in the memory section 155 of the tag card C is updated to "003".

Thereafter, every time the user holds the tag card C over the tag card C, a series of processing such as printing instructions, generation of the print label L, and updating of the character information is executed. At that time, when the printed label L is generated each time, printing based on the latest character information (the above character information “001”, character information “002”, character information “003” . . . ) at that time is formed. Labels L (“001” label L, “002” label L, “003” label L, . . . ) are generated.

<Change the printer in the middle and print the numbering>
In the case where one printed label L is generated each time the tag card C is held over as described above, for example, if some error event occurs in the printed label generation process (failure to generate the printed label L and the case where the generation of the print label L itself is completed while there is an error such as faint printing). When the numbering printing is interrupted in this way, the inconvenience can be avoided by replacing the printer 1 that executes the numbering printing with another printer.

For example, as shown in FIG. 7A, which is similar to FIG. Assume that the printer 1 fails to print the "001" label L for some reason, as shown in 7(b).

In this case, unlike FIG. 6C, the printer 1 does not increment the character information from "001" to "002" as shown in FIG. Also, the character information "002" is not written to the memory section 155 of . That is, the character information stored in the memory section 155 of the tag card C is maintained as the same character information "001" as in FIG. 7(a).

In response to the creation failure as described above, the user changes the printer to be used to another printer 1' (equipped with the same configuration and functions as the printer 1) as shown in FIG. 7(d), and tags The card C is held over the printer 1' (specifically, the first antenna 141a). 6(a) and 7(a), the print command and the character information "001" are transmitted to the printer 1' by NFC communication with the tag card C. FIG.

As a result, the printer 1' generates a "001" label L corresponding to the character information "001", as shown in FIG. 7(e), similarly to FIG. 6(b).

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 7(f), the printer 1' increments the character information "001" to "002" in the same manner as in FIG. 6(c), and converts the incremented character information "002" to the NFC It is transmitted to the tag card C by communication, and the character information in the memory section 155 of the tag card C is updated to "002".

Thereafter, in the same manner as described above, each time the user holds the tag card C over the printer 1', a series of processes including the above-mentioned print instruction, generation of the printed label L, and updating of the character information are executed. is generated, a printed label L having a print based on the latest character information at that time is generated.

It should be noted that the increment of the character information as the variable information is not limited to the case where the numbers in the numerical example are incremented one by one, such as "001"→"002"→"003", but also "001"→"003" ]→“005” . . . . Also, the first number is not limited to "001", but may be any desired number such as "002". Further, the character information is not limited to numeric information, and may be character information such as English characters such as "AA". Anything having regularity is sufficient.

<Printer control procedure>
The contents of control executed by the control circuit 143 to implement the above method will be described with reference to the flow chart of FIG.

In FIG. 8, first, in step S10, the control circuit 143 notifies whether the NFC communication with the tag card C has been established by holding the tag card C over the first antenna 141a as described above. is determined by an appropriate method (detailed explanation is omitted). Until the NFC communication is established, the determination in step S10 is not satisfied (S10: NO), and the loop waits. If the NFC communication is established, the determination in step S10 is satisfied (S10: YES), and the control circuit 143 shifts the process to step S20.

In step S20, the control circuit 143 reads the character information ("001", "002", etc. in the above example) stored in the memory unit 155 of the tag card C via the NFC communication established in step S10. (a) reference)) is acquired. The processing executed in step S20 corresponds to the information acquisition processing described in the claims. After step S20 ends, the control circuit 143 shifts the process to step S30.

In step S30, the control circuit 143 controls the tape feed roller drive shaft 108 and the print head 23, and executes the numbering printing for forming the character information acquired in step S20 on the print-receiving tape 103. . The process executed in step S30 corresponds to the printed matter generation process described in the claims. After step S30 ends, the control circuit 143 shifts the process to step S40.

In step S40, the control circuit 143 determines whether or not the printing of the print label L corresponding to the character information performed in step S30 is normally completed by a known appropriate method (detailed explanation is omitted). In the middle of the above-described printing started in step S30, an error event (e.g., tape jam or other transport abnormality, printing error such as faint printing or tape breakage, temperature abnormality such as head overheating, etc.) occurs, and the print label L is printed. is not completed normally (in other words, printing of the printed label L fails), the determination in step S40 is not satisfied (S40: NO), and the control circuit 143 terminates this flow. If the character information is printed and formed on the print-receiving tape 103 without the occurrence of the error event and the printing of the print label L is normally completed, the determination in step S40 is satisfied (S40: YES), and the control circuit 143 moves the process to step S50. Note that the process executed in step S40 corresponds to the error determination process described in the claims.

In step S50, the control circuit 143 increments the character information acquired in step S20 in a predetermined manner ("001"→"002", "002"→"003", etc. in the above example). It should be noted that the processing executed in step S50 corresponds to the information update processing described in the claims. After step S50 ends, the control circuit 143 shifts the process to step S60.

In step S60, the control circuit 143 again causes the tag card C to be held over the first antenna 141a in the same manner as in step S10, thereby making it known whether or not the NFC communication with the tag card C has been established. Determined by an appropriate method. If the NFC communication has not been established, the determination in step S60 is not satisfied (S60: NO), and the loop waits. If the NFC communication has been established, the determination in step S60 is satisfied (S60: YES), and the control circuit 143 shifts the process to step S70.

In step S70, the control circuit 143 transmits the character information incremented in step S50 (in the above example, the numeric information "002", "003", etc.) to the tag card C via the NFC communication, and stores it in the memory unit 155. By writing, the character information stored in the memory unit 155 is updated. The processing executed in step S70 corresponds to the information writing processing described in the claims. When step S70 is completed, the control circuit 143 terminates this flow.

<Effects of Embodiment>
As described above, in this embodiment, variable information (character information "001", etc. in the above example) is stored in the memory unit 155 of the tag card C, and based on this stored character information, the printer 1 a so-called numbering print is performed. That is, when the user holds the tag card C in hand and holds it over the printer 1, the character information is obtained through NFC communication with the tag card C (see step S20). Then, a print corresponding to the acquired character information is formed to generate a print label L (see step S30), and the acquired character information corresponding to the generation of the print label L is updated (step S50). After that, the user again holds the tag card C over the printer 1 to perform NFC communication with the tag card C, and the updated character information is written in the memory unit 155 of the tag card C ( See step S70). As a result, the series of processes described above is executed each time the user holds the tag card C over the tag card C, and the print label L having the print based on the latest character information updated each time is generated.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the content of character information stored in the tag card C is transmitted to the printer 1 through NFC communication, thereby instructing print formation corresponding to the character information and performing printing. Therefore, by repeating the operation of generating one printed label L each time the tag card C is held over once, the numbering printing can be performed. As a result, convenience for the user can be improved.

In particular, when the holding operation to the printer 1 is repeated a plurality of times as described above, as described above with reference to FIG. Even if the printing is interrupted in the middle, the user can use the tag card C to issue a print instruction to another printer 1' based on the variable information, so that the printer 1' can continue the remaining numbering printing after the interruption. (See FIGS. 7(d)-(f)).

In addition, particularly in this embodiment, each time the user holds the tag card C over once, one character information is acquired and one corresponding print label L is generated, and after generation, the one character information is incremented. It is written to the tag card C again. By repeating this operation multiple times, it is possible to reliably perform the numbering printing in which the characters included in each of the plurality of print labels L are incremented in order.

Moreover, in the present embodiment, in particular, when it is determined that a predetermined error event has occurred (see step S40), the information updating process and the information writing process are not executed. As a result, when executing the method of generating one printed label L each time the tag card C is held over once as described above, an error event occurs in one printer 1 as described with reference to FIG. When an error occurs, by holding the tag card C over another printer 1' again, the printed label L using the character information (character information "001" in the example of FIG. 7) at the time of occurrence of the error event can be reliably printed. can be generated.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible without departing from the gist and technical idea of the present invention. Such modifications will be described below.

(1) When character information of printed label L already generated is stored in tag card C In the above embodiment, tag card C stores one character information related to one printed label L to be generated by numbering printing. However, it is not limited to this. That is, the character information of the printed labels L already generated by numbering printing may be sequentially stored. Such a modification will be explained with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10. FIG.

In this modification, for example, as shown in FIG. 9A, the memory unit 155 of the tag card C receives a print command for instructing numbering printing as in the above embodiment, and information on the number of print labels L to be generated ( An example of number information, in this example, the number "4" representing four (indicated by the number circled in the figure, the same applies hereinafter) is stored.

Then, as described above, when the user holds the tag card C in hand and holds it over the printer 1 , the print command stored in the memory unit 155 is transmitted by NFC communication with the tag card C, and the print command is sent to the printer 1 . Numbering printing is instructed.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 9B, the printer 1 prints the print label L on which the print "001" corresponding to the character information "001" preset as the first character information in the numbering printing is formed. (“001” label L similar to that described above). As in the above embodiment, the first character information "001" may also be stored in the memory unit 155 and acquired by the printer 1 through the NFC communication.

After generating the "001" label L, the printer 1 transfers the character information "001" as creation completion information of the "001" label L to the tag card C through the NFC communication, as shown in FIG. 9(c). and write it in the memory section 155 of the tag card C. By this writing, the character information "001" of the print label L that has already been created is additionally stored in the memory section 155 of the tag card C.

After that, as shown in FIG. 9(d), when the user holds the tag card C in which the character information "001" is stored in the memory unit 155 as described above and holds it over the printer 1 again, As described above, the print command and the character information "001" are transmitted to the printer 1 by NFC communication.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 9(e), the printer 1 displays the most recently added value of the transmitted character information (in this example, only "001" is transmitted, so "001"). ) is incremented with a certain regularity (in this example, the number is incremented by "1"), and a "002" label L corresponding to the character information after the increment (in this example, the number string "002") is generated.

After generating the "002" label L, the printer 1 adds "002" to the received "001" to generate character information "001" and "002" as creation completion information. , is transmitted to the tag card C and written in the memory unit 155 as shown in FIG. 9(f). By this writing, the memory section 155 of the tag card C stores the character information "001" and "002".

Thereafter, for example, as shown in FIG. 10(a), the user intentionally changes the printer to be used to a printer 1' having the same configuration as the printer 1, and the tag card C is transferred to the printer 1' (more specifically, to the printer 1'). When held over the first antenna 141a), the print command and character information ("001", "002") stored in the memory unit 155 are transmitted by NFC wireless communication as described above, and are acquired by the printer 1'. be done.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 10(b), the printer 1' displays the most recently added value (in this example, "002" out of "001" and "002") among the acquired character information in the same manner as described above. ) is incremented to “003”, and a “003” label L corresponding to the character information after the increment is generated.

As described above, after generating the "003" label L, the printer 1' adds the "003" to the received "001" and "002" as shown in FIG. 10(c). character information "001", "002", and "003" are generated, transmitted to the tag card C, and written in the memory unit 155. As a result, the character information “001”, “002”, and “003” are stored in the memory unit 155 .

After that, as shown in FIG. 10(d), the user holds the tag card C in which the character information "001", "002", and "003" are stored in the memory unit 155 as described above, and When held over the printer 1', the print command and the character information ("001", "002", and "003") are transmitted by NFC communication and acquired by the printer 1'.

As a result, the printer 1' increments the most recently added "003" of the acquired character information to "004" as shown in FIG. "004" label L corresponding to "004" is generated.

Then, the printer 1' generates character information "001", "002", "003", and "004" as creation completion information by adding "004" to the received "001", "002", and "003". 10(f), it is transmitted to the tag card C and written in the memory unit 155 as described above. By this writing, the memory section 155 of the tag card C stores character information "001", "002", "003", and "004".

As a result, the production of all print labels L corresponding to the number information (four in this example) stored in the memory unit 155 is completed (end of numbering printing). Therefore, even if the tag card C is held over the printer 1', the printer 1' does not respond.

<Control procedure>
The details of the control executed by the control circuit 143 of the printers 1, 1' in order to realize the method of this modification will be described with reference to the flow chart of FIG. Also in this modification, a print processing program for executing the processing shown in FIG. 11 is stored in the memory 144 of the printers 1, 1'.

In FIG. 11, first, in step S105, the control circuit 143 initializes the flag F regarding the start of numbering printing of the print label L to F=0.

After that, in step S110, the control circuit 143 enables NFC communication with the tag card C when the user holds the tag card C over the first antenna 141a as described above, as in step S10 of FIG. Whether or not it has been established is determined by a known appropriate method (detailed explanation is omitted). Until the NFC communication is established, the determination in step S110 is not satisfied (S110: NO), the loop waits, and when the NFC communication is established, the determination in step S110 is satisfied (S110: YES), and the control circuit 143 performs processing. to step S115.

In step S115, the control circuit 143 determines whether the flag F is F=1. Since F=0 at the beginning of numbering printing, the determination in step S105 is not satisfied (S105: NO), and the control circuit 143 shifts the process to step S120.

In step S120, the control circuit 143, like step S20 in FIG. The number "4" representing the (see FIG. 9(a))) is obtained. After step S120 ends, the control circuit 143 shifts the process to step S130.

At step S130, the control circuit 143 controls the tape feed roller drive shaft 108 and the print head 23, similarly to step S30 of FIG. Execution of printing of predetermined character information (character information "001" in the above example). As a result, the "001" label L having the above "001" formed on the print-receiving tape 103 is generated. When step S130 ends, the control circuit 143 shifts the process to step S135.

In step S135, the control circuit 143 converts the data (for example, temporarily stored in the RAM) to be transmitted to the tag card C in step S170, which will be described later, to character information "001" corresponding to the "001" label. Add When step S135 ends, the control circuit 143 shifts the process to step S140.

At step S140, the control circuit 143 sets the flag F to F=1. When step S140 ends, the control circuit 143 shifts the process to step S160.

In step S160, the control circuit 143 again determines whether or not the NFC communication is established by holding the tag card C over the first antenna 141a in the same manner as in step S110, using a known appropriate method. If the NFC communication is not established, the determination in step S160 is not satisfied (S160: NO), loop waiting is performed, and if the NFC communication is established, the determination in step S160 is satisfied (S160: YES), and the control circuit 143 The process moves to step S170.

In step S170, the control circuit 143 transmits the transmission data (including the character information "001") prepared in step S135 to the tag card C through the NFC communication, and writes it to the memory section 155 of the tag card C. By doing so, the information stored in the memory unit 155 is updated. After step S170 ends, the control circuit 143 shifts the process to step S180.

In step S180, the control circuit 143 determines whether or not printing of all the print labels L (four in the example described above) corresponding to the number information acquired from the tag card C in step S120 has been completed. . If the printing of all printed labels L has not been completed, the determination in step S180 is not satisfied (S180: NO), and the control circuit 143 returns the process to step S110.

Thereafter, when the NFC communication is established by the user holding the tag card C over again and the determination in step S110 is satisfied, the determination in step S115 is satisfied because F=1 in step S140 described above (S115 : YES), the control circuit 143 shifts the process to step S145.

In step S145, the control circuit 143, via the NFC communication established in step S110, controls the character information (for example, the above Character information "001") and the number information (4 in this example) are acquired. The processing executed in step S145 corresponds to the information acquisition processing described in the claims. When step S145 ends, the control circuit 143 shifts the process to step S150.

In step S150, the control circuit 143 selects the most recently added character information (for example, character information "001") out of the character information obtained in step S145, based on the character information and the number-of-sheets information obtained in step S145. Generate incremented character information (for example, character information “002”). Then, the control circuit 143 controls the tape feed roller driving shaft 108 and the print head 23 based on the generated character information (for example, character information "002") in the same manner as in step S130, and prints the corresponding "002" label. Generate L. The process executed in step S150 corresponds to the printed matter generation process described in the claims. When step S150 ends, the control circuit 143 shifts the process to step S155.

In step S155, as in step S135, the control circuit 143 reads the character information acquired in step S145 (the character information "001" in the above example, which is temporarily stored in the RAM). ), the character information “002” corresponding to the “002” label, in other words, the character information in which the corresponding print is newly formed on the print label L is added, and the new character information (in this example, the character information “ 001" and "002"). As a result, the character information stored in the RAM becomes a plurality of character information "001" and "002" in this example. The processing executed in step S155 at this time corresponds to the information update processing described in the claims. When step S155 ends in this manner, the control circuit 143 shifts the process to step S160.

In subsequent step S160, the determination is satisfied by establishing the NFC communication as described above (S160: YES). The character information stored in the memory section 155 is updated by transmitting the data (including the character information "001" and "002") to the tag card C and writing it to the memory section 155 of the tag card C. The processing executed in step S170 at this time corresponds to the information writing processing described in the claims.

After that, in step S180, while the printing of all printed labels L has not been completed, the determination is not satisfied (S180: NO), and the control circuit 143 returns the process to step S110, and thereafter repeats the same procedure. . In this way, until all the printed labels L are produced (in this example, until four printed labels L are produced), steps S110 → step S115 → step S145 → step S150 → step S155 → step S160 → The flow of step S170→step S180→step S110→ . . . is repeated. Every time it is repeated, a print label L of character information obtained by incrementing the latest addition of the character information acquired from the tag card C is created, and the character information to which the character information is additionally written is written in the tag card C.

Then, in the repetition of the flow described above, when the printing of all the printed labels L is completed, the determination in step S180 is satisfied (S180: YES), and the control circuit 143 ends this flow.

In this modified example, as in the above embodiment, variable information (in the above example, character information such as "001" as creation completion information) is stored in the memory unit 155 of the tag card C, and the stored character Based on the information, so-called numbering printing is performed in the printer 1 . That is, when the user holds the tag card C in hand and holds it over the printer 1, the character information is obtained through NFC communication with the tag card C (see step S145). Then, printing corresponding to the acquired character information (more specifically, printing of character information obtained by incrementing the latest added character information among the acquired character information) is formed to generate the print label L. (see step S150), and the acquired character information corresponding to the generation of the printed label L is updated (see step S155). After that, the user again holds the tag card C over the printer 1 to perform NFC communication with the tag card C, and the updated character information is written in the memory unit 155 of the tag card C ( See step S170). As a result, the series of processes described above is executed each time the user holds the tag card C over the tag card C, and the print label L having the print based on the latest character information updated each time is generated. In this manner, even in the present modification, the numbering printing can be performed by repeating the operation of generating one printed label L each time the tag card C is held over a plurality of times. As a result, convenience for the user can be improved.

In addition to at least one piece of character information corresponding to the printed label L that has already been generated, the number information representing the number of printed labels L to be generated is stored in the tag card C. there is When the user holds the tag card C over the tag card C, the printers 1 and 1' obtain the character information and the number information (see step S145), and the number of print labels L corresponding to the number information is printed as each corresponding character information. is incremented (see step S150). When the user holds the tag card C over again, the character information corresponding to the print label L whose generation has been completed is written to the tag card C again (see step S170).

9 and 10, the user intentionally sends the tag card to the printer 1' instead of the printer 1 before completing the generation of all the print labels L of the above number of generations. By holding C, the remaining print label L can be reliably generated in the printer 1'. That is, after a certain number (two in the example of FIG. 9) of all the printed labels L are produced by one printer 1, the remaining printed labels L (four in the example of FIG. 10) are produced separately. can be produced by the printer 1' of As described above, in this modification, it is possible to reliably perform the numbering printing of a plurality of print labels L while selectively using a plurality of printers 1 and 1'.

(2) When Numbering is Performed in Template Printing That is, in this modified example, so-called template printing using a template is performed in order to reduce the user's effort for manually setting and inputting print contents.

FIG. 12(a) shows an example of a printed label L0 created using the template in this modified example. FIG.12(b) represents an example of template T0 used in order to create the said printed label L0.

As shown in FIG. 12(a), the print label L0 includes a text print R1 of "April 1st" representing the performance date, a text print R2 of "Uchiko Goro On Stage" representing the performance name, and a text R2 representing the performance name. A text print R3 of "Hashima City Cultural Center Large Hall" representing the place and a print Rn of the number string "001" formed by numbering printing in the same manner as in the above embodiment and modification (1) are formed. there is

As shown in FIG. 10B, the template T0 used to create the printed label L0 includes a plurality of text input boxes W (in this example, three text input boxes W1, W2, and W3). It is pre-allocated in a manner. This template T0 is pre-stored in an appropriate location of the printer 1 (for example, the memory 144). Then, for example, the user appropriately operates the keyboard 3 or the like of the printer 1 to input the text characters "April 1st" as a print object into the text input frame W1 of the called template T0. , enter the text characters "Uchiko Goro On Stage" as the print object in the text input frame W2, and enter the text characters "Hashima City Cultural Center Large Hall" as the print object in the text input frame W3. As a result, as shown in FIG. 12B, the template T0 is in a state in which the three print objects are inserted in the text input frames W1, W2, and W3.

In this state, the user holds the tag card C over the first antenna 141a of the printer 1 and issues a print instruction via NFC communication in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment and modification (1). By controlling the roller driving shaft 108 and the print head 23, printing corresponding to the template T0 shown in FIG. 12(b) is formed to generate the print label L shown in FIG. 12(a). At that time, the print label L is generated by forming the print Rn by numbering printing together with the formation of the print R1 to R3 corresponding to the template T0 by the method described above. That is, each time the tag card C is held over, one print label L having the prints R1 to R3 can be generated, and for each print label L, the print Rn (the number " 001", "002", "003", etc.) can also be formed together.

As described above, in this modified example, when numbering printing is also performed on the printed label L generated by printing using the template T0 (so-called template printing), the above-described embodiment and modified example (1) are used. Similarly, the contents of the character information stored in the tag card C can be instructed to the printer 1 through NFC communication to perform numbering printing.

In addition, in the above description, when there are descriptions such as “perpendicular”, “parallel”, “planar”, etc., these descriptions do not have a strict meaning. In other words, "perpendicular," "parallel," and "flat" mean "substantially perpendicular," "substantially parallel," and "substantially flat," with allowance for design and manufacturing tolerances and errors. .

In addition, in the above description, descriptions such as "the same", "equal", and "different" regarding external dimensions and sizes are not strictly defined. That is, the terms "same", "equal", and "different" mean "substantially the same", "substantially equal", and "substantially different", with allowance for design and manufacturing tolerances and errors. .

In the above description, the arrows shown in FIG. 5 indicate an example of signal flow, and do not limit the direction of signal flow.

Moreover, the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 8 and 11 do not limit the present invention to the procedures shown in the above flows, and additions, deletions, or changes in the order of procedures may be made within the scope of the spirit and technical idea of the invention. You may

In addition to the methods already described above, the methods according to the above-described embodiments and modifications may be appropriately combined and used.

In addition, although not exemplified one by one, the present invention can be implemented with various modifications within the scope of the invention.

1 Printer (printing device)
23 print head (printing means)
103 print-receiving tape (print-receiving medium)
108 tape feed roller drive shaft (conveying means)
141 NFC communication unit (communication means)
143 control circuit (control means)
144 memory (storage means)
C tag card (communication medium)
L Printed label (printed matter)
T0 template

Claims (3)

a transport means for transporting a print-receiving medium;
printing means for forming a desired print on the conveyed print-receiving medium to generate a printed matter;
a communication means for wirelessly communicating with a communication medium storing variable information;
a control means;
has
The control means is
Information acquisition processing for acquiring the variable information from the communication medium by the wireless communication via the communication means when the communication medium contacts or approaches the communication means;
printed matter generation processing for controlling the conveying means and the printing means and generating the printed matter on which printing corresponding to the variable information acquired in the information acquisition processing is formed;
Information update processing for updating the variable information acquired in the information acquisition processing in response to the generation of the printed matter;
Information writing processing for writing the variable information updated by the information updating processing to the communication medium by the wireless communication via the communication means when the communication medium comes into contact with or comes close to the communication means;
run
A printing device,
The communication medium is
further storing information on the number of the plurality of printed materials to be generated;
The variable information is
at least one piece of character information corresponding to printed matter already formed on the printed matter;
In the information acquisition process,
obtaining the at least one piece of character information and the number information stored in the communication medium;
In the information update process,
newly generating a plurality of pieces of character information by adding, to the at least one character information obtained, character information corresponding to printing newly formed on the printed matter in the printed matter generation process;
In the information writing process,
writing the newly generated plurality of character information to the communication medium
A printing device characterized by: The printing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
The control means is
error determination processing for determining whether or not a predetermined error event has occurred in the printed matter generation processing;
further run
A printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when it is determined in the error determination process that the error event has occurred, the information update process and the information write process are not executed. In the printing apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2 ,
further comprising storage means for storing a template in which at least one print object is laid out in a desired manner;
In the printed matter generation process,
Printing characterized by forming a print corresponding to the template read from the storage means and additionally forming a print corresponding to the variable information acquired in the information acquisition process to generate the printed matter. Device.

Images