JP3258486B2 - Tape printer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tape printing apparatus for printing characters such as characters and symbols on a tape as a printing medium, and more particularly to a tape printing apparatus having an improved display form on a display.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, the applicant of the present application has disclosed a Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No.
As described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 50, a tape printer that has a keyboard, a display, and a printing function and is capable of printing characters, symbols, and the like on a tape (for example, tape widths of 6, 9, 12, 18, 24 mm) as a print medium. Then, a tape printer suitable for producing a tape-shaped label suitable for attaching to the spine of a file was put into practical use, and a tape printer having various editing functions was proposed.

In the tape printing apparatus, the width of the tape can be changed by replacing the tape cassette, and characters such as characters and symbols are printed in a character size corresponding to the tape width.

Further, recently, a tape printing apparatus configured to display a character on a display in a specific display mode in a print image similar to a character printed on a tape has been put into practical use.

[0005]

However, in the conventional tape printer, the display size of the character displayed on the display is set irrespective of the tape width, so that the character is displayed on the display as a print image. Also, since it is not possible to grasp the printing state of the character in relation to the tape width and it is not configured to switch the display size of the character, when printing on multiple lines, the display size becomes small and it is difficult to see, There are problems such as lack of operability.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and is intended to make it possible to grasp the printing state of a character in relation to the tape width or to enlarge the character as necessary. It is intended to provide a printing device.

[0007]

In order to achieve this object, a tape printing means according to the first aspect of the present invention comprises an input means for inputting characters such as characters and symbols and various commands. Data storage means for storing input character data, display means including a display capable of displaying characters, font storage means for storing dot patterns of a large number of characters for a plurality of sizes, and a display for displaying on the display a display data buffer for storing image data, the tape printing comprising display control means for controlling the display means receiving the display image data in the display data buffer, and a printing means for printing characters on a tape as a printing medium In the apparatus, a desired tape width desired to be printed by the printing means is predetermined.
Select one of the tape width variations
That the tape width setting means receives the data of the set tape width in the tape width setting means, wherein the stored character data storage means, the dot pattern data of a display size corresponding from the font storage means in the tape width reading, by creating a display dot image data for displaying the same image and print status on the display, the display data producing means for developing the display data buffer, the display data by the display data generating means
The character displayed on the display when creating
Selectively set to enlarge the display size of the data
Display size enlargement setting means, and the display size
Is set by the tape width setting means.
Enabled only when the tape width is less than the specified width.
are doing.

[0008]

In the tape printing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, the tape width setting means includes:
When the desired tape width desired by the operator is set, the display data creating means receives the data of the tape width setting means, and for the character stored in the data storage means,
The dot pattern data of the display size corresponding to the tape width is read from the font storage means, and the display dot image data to be displayed on the display in the same image as the print state is created, and is developed in the display data buffer. By doing so, an image is displayed on a display or the like according to an image to be printed, corresponding to an arbitrary tape width desired by the operator.

In addition, a table by the display data creating means is used.
Displayed on the display when creating the display data
Selectively increase the character display size
A display size enlargement setting means to be set, and
The display size enlargement setting means is set by the tape width setting means.
Enabled only when the specified tape width is less than the specified width
Like that.

Therefore, when the tape width is less than the predetermined width,
Display size enlargement setting means is enabled, and
The print state of the character
In this case, it can be easily confirmed.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In this embodiment, alphabet letters, numbers,
The present invention is applied to a tape printer capable of printing a large number of characters such as symbols on a print tape.

As shown in FIG. 1, a keyboard 3 is provided at the front of a main body frame 2 of the tape printer 1, and a printing mechanism PM is provided in the main body frame 2 behind the keyboard 3; Immediately behind 3, a liquid crystal display 22 capable of displaying input characters and symbols in a print image is provided. The liquid crystal display 22 has a display screen composed of 32 dots in the vertical direction and 121 dots in the horizontal direction. Here, the release button 4 is a button for opening the cover frame 6 when attaching or detaching the tape cassette CS mounted on the printing mechanism PM.

A keyboard (corresponding to input means) 3 includes character keys for inputting alphabets, numbers and symbols, a space key, a return key, a cursor movement key for moving the cursor K in the up, down, left and right directions, and a display. Size setting key, format setting key for changing and setting format information including character modification, display character size, print character size, etc., execution key for ending various setting processes, print key for instructing printing, power ON / OFF Power key and the like are provided.

Next, the printing mechanism PM will be briefly described with reference to FIG. 2. A rectangular tape cassette CS is detachably mounted on the printing mechanism PM, and the tape cassette CS has a laminated film tape. 7, a ribbon supply spool 10 on which a print ribbon 9 is wound, a take-up spool 11 for winding the print ribbon 9, and a double-sided tape 12 having the same width as the laminated film tape 7. Is provided rotatably with a supply spool 13 wound with the release paper outside and a joining roller for joining the laminated film tape 7 and the double-sided tape 12.

A thermal head 15 is erected at a position where the laminating film tape 7 and the printing ribbon 9 overlap, and a platen roller 1 presses the laminating film tape 7 and the printing ribbon 9 against the thermal head 15.
6 and a feed roller 17 that presses the joining roller 14 between the laminated film tape 7 and the double-sided tape 12 to form the printing tape 10 are rotatably movable on a support 18 that is pivotally attached to the main body frame 2. Is pivoted to. In the thermal head 15, a heating element group including 128 heating elements is vertically arranged in rows.

Accordingly, by driving the tape feed motor 45 (see FIG. 3) in a predetermined rotation direction, the joining roller 14 and the take-up spool 11 are driven in synchronization with each other in the predetermined rotation direction. When electricity is supplied to the heating element group, characters and bar codes are printed on the laminated film tape 7 by a plurality of dot rows, and the laminated film tape 7 is bonded to the double-sided tape 12 as a printing tape 19 in a tape feeding direction. A, and the tape is fed to the main body frame 2 as shown in FIGS.
Is sent out. The details of the printing mechanism PM are the same as those of the known printing mechanism disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-106555, and a description thereof will be omitted.

Next, the cutting device 30 for automatically cutting the printing tape 19 will be briefly described with reference to FIG. 2. A plate is provided immediately inside the main frame 2 corresponding to the left side of the tape cassette CS. An auxiliary frame 31 is provided upright, and a fixed blade 32 is fixed to the auxiliary frame 31 upward. A portion near the front end of an operation lever 34 extending in the front-rear direction is rotatably supported on a pivot shaft 33 fixed to the auxiliary frame 31 in the left-right direction so as to be rotatable, and forward of the pivot shaft 33 of the operation lever 34. At a position where the movable blade 35 is located, the movable blade 35 is attached to face the fixed blade 32. The rear end of the operation lever 34 is configured to be vertically swingable by a swing drive mechanism (not shown) connected to a cutting motor 46 (see FIG. 3).
5 is held away from the fixed blade 32.

The printing tape 19 printed by the thermal head 15 extends from the tape cassette CS to the outside of the main body frame 2 through between the fixed blade 32 and the movable blade 35, and is driven by a cutting signal. The cutting motor 46 swings the rear end of the operation lever 34 up and down via a swing drive mechanism, and the movable blade 35 approaches the fixed blade 32, and the printing tape 19 is cut by these two swords 32 and 35. You.

The printing tape 19 fed from the tape cassette CS has a tape width of 6 mm and a width of 9 mm.
Five types of mm, 12 mm, 18 mm, and 24 mm are prepared, and four projecting pieces 20 are provided on the bottom wall of these tape cassettes CS to detect these five types of tape widths. A cassette sensor 42 (see FIG. 3) for detecting the tape width from the combination of the protruding claws of the protruding piece 20 is attached to the main body frame 2 for pointing the lower side of the tape cassette CS.

Next, a control system of the tape printer 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

Input / output interface 50 of control device C
Includes a keyboard 3, a cassette sensor 42, a display controller (LCDC) 23 having a video RAM 24 for outputting display data to a liquid crystal display (LCD) 22, a driving circuit 44 for a buzzer 43 for warning, Drive circuit 4 for driving thermal head 15
7 and a drive circuit 4 for driving the tape feed motor 45
8 and a drive circuit 49 for driving the cutting motor 46 are connected to each other.

The control circuit C includes a CPU 52 and the CPU 5
2 includes an input / output interface 50, a CGROM 53 (character generator ROM), a ROM 55, a RAM 60, and the like, which are connected to the device 2 via a bus 51 such as a data bus.

The CGROM 53 stores, for each of a number of characters such as alphabetic characters, numbers, and symbols,
As character font data, there are nine types of dot pattern data for display and printing (7, 10, 16, 21 and 2) for each typeface (Gothic typeface, Mincho typeface, etc.).
4, 32, 48, 64, and 96 dots) are stored in association with the code data (see FIG. 4).

The ROM 55 displays a character input from the keyboard 3 on the display 22 and then sequentially reads a tape print control program for printing on the tape and data in the print data buffer 66 to read the data from the thermal head 15 and the tape feed motor. 45 and a table TB2 shown in FIGS.
To TB4 are stored in advance.

The ROM 55 stores nine types of character sizes shown in the table TB1 and dot pattern data of a group of characters and symbols related to each character size.
A search table in which the start address (index address) of the ROM 53 is associated, and an index table in which the index address is associated with the storage start address of each character or symbol in the CGROM 53 are stored.

With respect to the RAM 60, a text memory 61
Stores document data input from the keyboard 3. The parameter memory 62 includes a text memory 61
, The pointer value SP of the start address pointer indicating the start address of the data, the pointer value EP of the end address pointer indicating the end address of the data, and the data count value DC
The head data is stored. In the arrangement position information memory 63, display position information of each character or symbol to be displayed in the display data buffer 64 is stored.

The display data buffer 64 stores display dot image data obtained by synthesizing display dot pattern data of a plurality of input characters and symbols, and the print data buffer 65 stores a plurality of characters and characters to be printed. The printing dot image data obtained by combining the printing dot pattern data of the symbols is stored. In the tape width memory 66,
In a tape width setting process described later, the tape width data of the tape cassette CS specified by the operator is stored. The display magnification memory 67 stores R = 1 at the time of initialization as data of the display magnification R, and thereafter stores the data of the changed display magnification R every time the display magnification is changed via the display size setting key. Is done. The RAM 60 is also provided with a work memory 68.

Next, the tables TB1 to TB4 will be described.

The table TB1 shown in FIG.
3 shows the character size of the character font stored in 53, the range of the display font, and the range of the print font. The table TB2 shown in FIG. 5 is a table in which the correspondence between the tape width, the number of dots of the printable width of the tape, the number of printing lines of characters and symbols, and the printing character size (point value: number of dots) is set in advance. When the tape width and the number of print lines are determined, the print character size is determined from this table.

The table TB3 shown in FIG. 6 has a print character size (point value) and three types of display magnifications (basic magnification,
The correspondence between the display character size and the display character size is set in advance. For example, the print character size is determined from the tape width and the number of print lines by the table TB2, and based on the table TB3 and the display magnification R. Thus, the display character size is determined from the print character size.

The table TB4 shown in FIG. 7 sets in advance the relationship between the tape width, the display magnification R, and the width of the upper cut area, the image display area (effective display area), and the lower cut area of the display 22. Things.

As shown in the remarks column of the table TB4, the image display area of the display 22 is an effective display area for displaying characters and symbols, and the width of the image display area is changed according to the tape width. You. The upper end cut area and the lower end cut area are areas that are not used as image display areas by performing shadow display with oblique lines. The width of the image display area,
Since the display character size is increased as the tape width is increased and the displayed character size is increased as the tape width is increased, characters and symbols can be displayed within the width of the image display area in a manner substantially similar to the printing state.

Next, the main routine of the tape printing control performed by the controller C of the tape printing apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. still,
In the figure, reference symbol Si (i = 1, 2, 3,...) Indicates each step.

When the power is turned on by the power key on the keyboard 3, this control is started. First, the memories 61 to 68 of the RAM 60 are cleared, and an initial setting process for initializing the printing mechanism PM is executed ( S1). next,
A tape width setting process (see FIG. 9) is performed (S2).

The tape width setting process performed in S2 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 9 shows a flowchart of the tape width setting processing program. FIG.
Is a tape width selection screen used in the program.

When the tape width setting process starts, the CPU 52 first causes the liquid crystal display 22 to display a tape width selection screen shown in FIG. On this screen, five types of tape widths are displayed, and the operator operates a cursor movement key to move the cursor K on the screen to select a tape width. Then, by positioning the cursor K to the desired tape width and pressing the return key, a tape width determination process is performed (S21). That is, when the return key is pressed, the code data corresponding to the selected tape width is stored in the tape width memory 66 of the RAM 60.
Note that the tape width setting is not limited to the above five types of tape widths, and an arbitrary tape width may be set by the keyboard 4 using numerical values. After the tape width setting process is performed, the process returns to S3 of the flowchart of FIG.

When the tape width is determined by the tape width setting process, the width of the image display area is calculated based on the tape width data stored in the tape width memory 66 and the table TB4 (S3).

Next, standard format information data (data such as the number of print lines, print character size, font, etc.) is stored in the first two bytes of the text memory 61 (S4). For example,
The number of print lines is set to 1, the print character size SZ is set to the print character size calculated from the table TB2 based on the tape width and the number of print lines "1", and the font is set to Mincho. .

Next, on the display 22, a document input screen as an image display area corresponding to the tape width calculated in S3 as a document input screen, and a basic magnification based on the print character size and the table TB3. A cursor K (see FIG. 20) having the determined display character size is displayed (S5). In this document input screen, data of the upper end cut area width, the image display area width, and the lower end cut area width at the basic magnification corresponding to the tape width are read from the table TB4, and based on the data,
The upper cut area and the lower cut area are displayed as shadows with oblique lines. In this case, the display dot image data is developed in the display data buffer 64, and the data is displayed.

Next, a print image display process for displaying the characters and symbols stored in the text memory 61 on the display 22 as a print image is executed (S6). It will be described later.

Next, it is determined whether or not there is a key input (S
7) If there is no key input, S7 is repeated, and if there is a key input (S7: Yes), the process proceeds to S8.

When the display size setting key is operated to change the display magnification displayed on the display 22, (S
8: Yes), a display size setting process is executed (S9).
This display size setting process will be described with reference to FIG.

The tape width data is stored in the tape width memory 66.
Since the data of the current display magnification R is stored in the display magnification memory 67, the determinations of S60, S62, S64 and S66 are executed based on these data.

First, when the tape width is 6 mm (S
60: Yes), the display magnification R is incremented by 1 (S
61) Then, when the display magnification R is 4 (S62: Yes), the display magnification R is set to 1 (S63). That is, when the tape width is 6 mm, the display character size at the basic magnification is small, and there is a large room for enlarged display. Therefore, the display magnification R indicates the basic magnification, “1” → “2” → “3”. "→" 1 "
The data of the display magnification R is stored in the display magnification memory 67 (S69). On the other hand, when the tape width is 9 mm (S60: No, S64: Yes), the display magnification R is incremented by 1 (S65), and when the display magnification R is 3 (S66: Yes), the display magnification R is 1 (S66: Yes). Is set (S67).

That is, when the tape width is 9 mm, since there is not much room for the enlarged display, the display magnification R is switched from "1" to "2" to "1" indicating the basic magnification. The data of the display magnification R is stored in the display magnification memory 67 (S69).

When the tape width is 12 mm or more (S6
0: No, S64: No), since there is no room for enlarged display, the display magnification R is fixed at 1 (basic magnification), and the data of the display magnification R is stored in the display magnification memory 67 (S69). The display dot image data of the upper cut area and the lower cut area are changed in accordance with the change of the display magnification, and are expanded in the display data buffer 64 (S70). After the display size setting process, the process returns to S6.

In the main routine, when the format setting key is operated (S10: Yes), format information setting processing control is executed (S11), and thereafter, the process proceeds to S6. In this format information processing control, a format setting screen on which the format setting contents such as the number of print lines, the print character size, and the font name can be collectively set is displayed on the display 22. Setting item "Print font size name"
When the cursor is moved to “or font name” and the numeric key corresponding to the desired setting content is input and the execution key is operated, the format information is stored in the text memory 61 as the changed format information. The changed format information including the changed setting information is stored in the text memory 61 after the standard format information.
Then, the process proceeds to S6 (see FIG. 14).

Next, when a printable key, which is a key for alphabetic characters, numerals, symbols, etc., is operated (S12: Y
es) A document data storing process of storing the code data of the operated printable key in the text memory 61 as document data is executed (S13), and thereafter, the process proceeds to S6 to execute a print image display process (S6). .

Next, the print image display processing will be described with reference to FIGS. At this time,
It is assumed that, as shown in FIG. 14, standard format information, first modified format information, characters "ABCD", second modified format information,... Are sequentially stored in the text memory 61.

When this control is started, first, the data in the text memory 61 is sequentially searched from the head address, and based on the format information, the character code, and the line feed code, each of the characters and symbols to be displayed is displayed. Arrangement position information for developing the dot pattern data in the display data buffer 64 is obtained, and the arrangement position information is stored in the arrangement position information memory 63 (S30). The arrangement position information is obtained, for example, by calculating the character arrangement position at the time of printing from the format information, the character code, the line feed code, and the printing dot pattern data, multiplying the coordinate value by １ ／, and determining the arrangement position for display. Is required.

Next, an initialization process for initializing parameter information relating to the printing process in the parameter memory 62 is executed (S31). That is, in the parameter memory 62, the start address of the text memory 61 is set as the start address pointer value SP (see FIG. 15), and the next address (end) of the current end address of the text memory 61 is set as the end address pointer value EP. Address + 2) is set (see FIG. 14), and an initial value “0” is set as data count value DC.

Next, since the format information data and the character code are each composed of two bytes, the data of the search address obtained by adding the address obtained by doubling the data count value DC to the start address is read (S32). Is the data of the format information (S33: Yes), the data of the format information is stored in the work memory 68 (S34), and then S37
Move to If the data read from the search address is printable character, symbol, or space data (S33: No, S35: Yes), display image generation processing is executed (S36), and then the process proceeds to S37. .

Next, the data count value DC is incremented by one (S37). Next, the search address and the end address obtained by adding the address obtained by doubling the data count value DC to the start address pointer value (start address) SP. When the address indicated by the address pointer value EP does not match and there is a character to be displayed in the text memory 61 (S38), S32 to S38 are repeatedly executed.

Next, the display image data generation processing executed in S36 will be described with reference to FIG.

When this control is started, the print character size SZ of the format information stored in the work memory 68 in S34 and the display magnification R of the display magnification memory 66 are applied to the display character size by applying the table TB3. Is calculated (S50), and based on the display character size and the search table, an index address of the CGROM 53 storing a dot pattern of a group of characters and symbols of the character size is read (S51), and the index address is further read. Based on the address, the index table, and the character code, the storage start address of the character code in the CGROM 53, that is, the font storage address is read (S52), and the dot pattern data stored in the font storage address is read from the CGROM 53. Once in work memory 68 It is paid.

Next, the dot pattern data stored in the work memory 68 is stored in the storage position of the display data buffer 64 supported by the character position data stored in the position data memory 63. And (S5
4) After ending this control, the process returns to S37 of the print image display process control.

Next, in the print image display processing, S
After the execution of step 37, when the search address obtained by adding the doubled data count value DC to the start address matches the address indicated by the end address pointer value EP (S38: Yes), the display data buffer 64 The display dot image data expanded and stored is a video RA.
M24 and displayed on the display 22 (S3
9), end this control and return to S7 of the main routine.

Next, in the main routine, when the print key is operated (S14: Yes), the printing process on the tape is executed (S15), and the process returns to S6. Since this printing process is the same as the normal printing process, a brief description will be given. Format information and character codes are sequentially read from the text memory 61,
Based on the search table and the index table,
The dot pattern data of the character code in the CGROM 53 is read out, expanded in the print data buffer 65 and combined and stored. The print dot image data in the print data buffer 65 is output to the printing mechanism PM and printed on the print tape 19. You. On the other hand, the display size setting key,
When a key other than the format setting key, the printable key, and the print key is operated (S14: No), a process corresponding to the operated key is executed (S16), and the process returns to S6.

Here, the text memory 61 shown in FIG.
The display example on the display 22 in a state where the data of “ABCD” is input among the document data shown in FIG. 15 is as shown in FIGS. 15 to 19 in the case of the basic display magnification.
15 to 19 show that the tape width is 24 mm,
18 mm, 12 mm, 9 mm, and 6 mm.

However, "ABCD", "EFG", "HI"
In a state where all the data of “JK” has been input, “EFG” and “HIJK” are displayed in two lines as shown in FIG. The cursor K is also displayed.

The operation of the display control included in the tape print control described above will be described.

In this control, basically, the print character size is set to be substantially proportional to the tape width, and the display character size is set to be substantially proportional to the print character size. As described above, since the display character size is set to be approximately proportional to the tape width, the printing state of the character can be easily grasped in relation to the tape width, and the operability is improved.

Further, an upper cut area and a lower cut area are shadow-displayed at the upper and lower ends of the display 22, respectively, and an image display area having a width substantially proportional to the tape width is displayed at the center in the width direction of the display 22. Is set to display characters and symbol characters in the image display area in the same image as the print state, so that the print state of the characters printed on the tape can be more accurately related to the tape width. Since it is possible to grasp, it is possible to improve the operability at the time of inputting the document data, and to prevent the setting error of the print character size and the like.

Since the display magnification, that is, the display character size can be enlarged and set via the display size setting key, the characters can be appropriately enlarged and displayed on the display 22 as necessary. When the size is small, the display can be enlarged and displayed on a plurality of lines, and the operability is improved.

Here, the correspondence between the means described in the claims and the configuration in the above embodiment will be described. The data storage means is equivalent to the text memory 61 of the RAM 60 and the font storage means. Is the CGROM 53, the display data buffer is the display data buffer 64 of the RAM 60,
The tape width setting means corresponds to the numerical keys of the keyboard 3 and the control device C (particularly, the tape width memory 66 of the RAM 60, the flowchart of FIG. 9 and the like), and the display data creation means corresponds to the control device C ( In particular, table T
B2, TB3, flowcharts of FIGS. 10 and 11, etc.)
It is. What is equivalent to the size enlargement setting means is:
Display size setting key and control device C (in particular, RAM 60
Of the display magnification memory 67, the flowchart of FIG. 12, and the like).

Instead of displaying the upper cut area and the lower cut area of the display 22 in a shadow display, these areas and the image display area may be divided by an appropriate boundary line. Instead of a display CGROM and an independent printing CGRO
M, a tape of 24 mm or more may be used as the tape, and the size of the thermal head may be increased. Various changes can be made based on existing techniques or techniques obvious to those skilled in the art, such as by displaying an image corresponding to the print image in a one-to-one correspondence, within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention. It could be added.

A tape width setting key is provided, and by pressing this key, the tape width can be set at any time in the same manner as in step S2. The change may be made arbitrarily. Further, the document data being created stored in the text memory 61 at this time is subjected to data conversion (change of image display area and format information) so as to conform to the newly set tape width. It may be stored again. Then, the operator can easily change settings such as a tape width and a layout that are optimal for a document to be printed without impairing workability.

[0069]

As apparent from the above description , the contract
According to the tape printer according to claim 1, a tape printer that prints a character on a tape,
Providing tape width setting means and display data creating means, reads out display dot pattern data of a display size corresponding to the tape width, and creates display dot image data for displaying on the display in the same image as the printing state Then, by expanding the data in the display data buffer and displaying it on the display, the character can be displayed in the display size corresponding to the tape width, so that the printing state of the character can be easily grasped in relation to the tape width, and the operability is improved. It can be significantly improved.

Further, the operator can set a predetermined tape.
Tape width setting to select one of the width variations
In particular, when considering the layout of tape printing, by setting various tape widths and displaying the respective print images, it is possible to easily compare and examine the results. The performance is improved.

[0071]In addition, the display data created by the display data creation means
When creating data, the characters displayed on the display
Selectively set to enlarge the display size of the data
Display size enlargement setting means, and the display size
Is set by the tape width setting means.
It is effective only when the width is less than the specified width.
You.

Therefore, when the tape width is equal to or smaller than the predetermined width,
Display size enlargement setting means is enabled, and
The print state of the character
In this case, it can be easily confirmed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tape printing apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of a printing mechanism equipped with a tape cassette.

FIG. 3 is a control system block diagram of the tape printing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a table showing a character size of a character font stored in a CGROM.

FIG. 5 is a table of a table in which a relationship among a tape width, the number of print lines, and a print character size is set.

FIG. 6 is a table of a table in which a relationship between a print character size, a display character size, and the like is set.

FIG. 7 is a table of a table in which a relationship between a tape width and an area width is set.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a main routine of tape print control.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a tape width setting process in the flowchart of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a print image display process of the flowchart of FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a display image generation process of the flowchart of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a display size setting process in the flowchart of FIG. 8;

FIG. 13 is a display example of a liquid crystal display during a tape width setting process.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of a text memory in which a plurality of format information and character string codes are stored.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example on a display when the tape width is 24 mm.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example on a display when the tape width is 18 mm.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example on a display when the tape width is 12 mm.

FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example on a display when the tape width is 9 mm.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example on a display when the tape width is 6 mm.

FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example on a display when the tape width is 9 mm.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 tape printer 3 keyboard 13 thermal head 19 printing tape 22 liquid crystal display 52 CPU 53 CGROM 55 ROM 60 RAM 61 text memory 64 display data buffer C controller PM printing mechanism

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Sachie Kanda 15-1, Nashiro-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya-shi Inside Brother Industries, Ltd. (56) References JP-A-6-199002 (JP, A) JP-A-7 JP-A-125373 (JP, A) JP-A-6-115224 (JP, A) JP-A-7-125310 (JP, A) JP-A-2-134274 (JP, A) JP-A-5-18853 (JP, U) ) Japanese Word Processor Ichitaro Reference Manual 1 (September 7, 1986) p. 169-170 (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 2/485 B41J 3/36 B41J 21/00 G06F 3/12

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An input unit for inputting a character such as a character or a symbol and various instructions; a data storage unit for storing data of the input character; a display unit including a display capable of displaying the character; Font storage means storing dot pattern data of a large number of characters for a plurality of sizes, display data buffer storing display image data to be displayed on a display, and controlling the display means in response to the display image data of the display data buffer Display control means, and a tape printing apparatus comprising a printing means for printing a character on a tape as a print medium, a tape width desired to be printed by the printing means ,
One of the variations of the predetermined tape width
A tape width setting means for selecting, receiving the data of the set tape width in the tape width setting means, for the stored character in the data storage device, the dot pattern of the display size corresponding from the font storage means in the tape width reads the data, create a display dot image data for displaying the same image and print status on the display, the display data producing means for developing the display data buffer, the display data by the display data generating means When creating
And a display support for the characters displayed on the display.
Selectable display size to enlarge the size
Size enlargement setting means , and the display size enlargement setting means has the tape width setting means.
Available only when the tape width set by the
A tape printer characterized in that it is activated .