JPS6259675B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention uses a print head in which a large number of printing elements are arranged in a line, and selects and operates the printing elements according to the required print data to display the product name, price, etc. along with the bar code on the label. The present invention relates to a printing element control method in a barcode label printer for printing.

Generally, in barcode label printers, it is preferable to use a large number of printing elements on average from the viewpoint of longevity.

However, when printing barcodes with a label printer, because there is fixed data, a specific printing element is used each time, and printing elements located at the positions that form the gaps between each code are rarely used. .

If the frequency of use of the printing elements is extremely different, the lifespan of the printing head will be determined by the one that is used more frequently, resulting in a problem that the lifespan will be shortened.

In view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, the present invention improves the lifespan of the print head by changing the printing element that prints the bar code in the print head and printing it, thereby making the frequency of use of each printing element as uniform as possible. The purpose is to

The above-mentioned change in the used portion is carried out by moving only the barcode printed portion in the direction in which the printing elements are arranged.

In addition, the timing of changing the used part is automatically changed before a defect occurs in a specific printing element, for example, after each printing operation or multiple printing operations.
Alternatively, when a defect occurs in a specific printing element, the change can be made manually or automatically.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Before describing embodiments of the present invention, a barcode label printer to which the present invention is directed will be described below. First, dot printers include thermal type,
There are various methods such as inkjet type, electrostatic recording type, electrophotographic type, and wire dot type, and any of them can be applied, but below we will explain the case of thermal type, and the printing element is a dot-shaped heating element. be.

The print head 1 has many printing elements on one side of the substrate 2.
D ₁ , D ₂ , ...D ₂₃₀ are arranged horizontally in a line (Fig. 1), and these printing elements D ₁ , D ₂ ...D ₂₃₀ are wired in parallel to the thermal power source 3 and shift registers R ₁ , R ₂
…R ₂₃₀ corresponding individual screwdriver (not shown)
(Figure 3).

Shift registers R ₁ , R ₂ ...R ₂₃₀ receive print data (electrical signals that turn each print element ON or OFF) transmitted from a control unit (not shown), shifted sequentially by clock pulse 4 and input. When the shift is stopped (when data input is completed), the power supply circuit is energized via the driver, and the printing element shift registers R ₁ , R ₂ . . . R where the printing data is ON are turned on. ₂₃₀ is energized and heated to cause the label 10 to develop color.

The printing head 1 is configured to be able to move vertically in multiple steps, or the label 10 is configured to move vertically by the same number of steps, and as the print head 1 moves, characters are printed by a horizontal x vertical dot matrix. (e.g. 16×
16), numbers (for example, 10×10), and barcodes (for example, 7 dots horizontally and any number vertically) are printed.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a label 10 printed by the printing head 1, including the characters of the product name "ground beef",
Processing date “56.2.19”, expiration date “56.3.03”, unit price “123”, net amount “1000”, code “11000”, price “1230” and barcode 12 are displayed once in a row. It was printed using the same printing operation.

In the above configuration, if the frequency of use of the printing elements is simply to be averaged, it is possible to do so by appropriately changing the parts of the printing elements used as a whole, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 118890/1983. .

For example, using the illustrated example, 225 of the 230 printing elements of the print head 1 are set as the used portion, and printing elements D ₁ to _{D 225} or D ₆ to _{D 230} are set to the used portion A or A', respectively. It is only necessary to set the two used portions A and A' and change them at any time.

The used portions A and A' are changed by changing the number of shift clocks of the clock pulse 4 mentioned above.

That is, when the number of shift clocks of clock pulse 4 is set to 225, the printing element is set to the used part A (no data is input to printing elements D ₂₂₆ to _{D 230} ), and when the number of shift clocks of clock pulse 4 is set to 230, the printing element is set to the used part A'. set (no data input for printing elements D ₁ to _{D 5} ).

The above used parts A and A' can be changed after each printing operation, that is, after completing the required printing on the label 10, or multiple times (10 times, 20 times, etc.)
The clock pulse 4 may be automatically switched in response to the end signal of each printing operation.

Further, a modification of the means for changing the used portions A and A' is shown in FIG. That is, the shift register R ₁ ,
Auxiliary shift registers _R'1 , _R'2 ...R'5 each having switches _S1 , _S2 ... _S5 are connected to the front stage of _R2 ... _R230 , and _the shift register R is connected through these shift registers. ₁ , R ₂ ...Enable R ₂₃₀ to input data. Thereby, even if the number of shift clocks of the clock pulse 4 is always constant (230), the portion to be used can be changed.

In other words, turn on switch _S5 of shift register _R'5 .
If it is shifted by clock pulse 4 with the print head set to 1, data is input to shift registers R ₁ to R ₂₂₅ and print head 1 is set to the used part A, and switch S ₁ of shift register R' ₁ is turned on. If the data is shifted by clock pulse 4 in this state, data is input to shift registers R ₆ to R ₂₃₀ and set in the used portion A'.

Also, according to the modification in FIG. 4, the switches S ₂ , S ₃ ,
By turning on any one of S ₄ , the parts to be used are not limited to A and A', but also R ₅ to _{R 229} , R ₄ to _{R 228} , R ₃
It is also possible to set it to ~R ₂₂₇ .

R′ ₆ which further increases the number of auxiliary shift registers,
R′ ₇ ...By this, the portions of the printing element to be used can be further varied.

The method described above is to change the used portion by moving the entire portion in the arrangement direction, but in this case, there is a drawback that the entire print data on the label is moved. In particular, if characters or frames such as "product name" and "processing date" are pre-printed on the label, the balance between the pre-printed parts and the later printed parts will be disrupted, causing the label to become Print quality will deteriorate.

The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and describes a method of changing only the printing elements for printing the barcode 12, for example, D ₁ to _{D 130} , based on FIGS. 5 and 6. explain.

Now, if the product name characters and barcode 12 are printed on the used part A' mentioned above, the printing elements D ₆ to D ₁₃₀
is the used part B of the barcode 12 (fifth
figure).

When using the circuit shown in Figure 3, input data for 100 shift clocks into the shift register, input empty data for 5 clocks, and then input barcode data for 125 clocks.
If you input a number, the part used for the barcode becomes the printing element.
The used part B' of D ₁ to _{D 125} is changed (FIG. 6).
There is no change in the printing elements D ₁₃₁ to _{D 230} in the used portion A'.

When using the circuit shown in Figure 4, shift the data with switch _S1 turned on, and when the number of clocks reaches 100, turn off the switch.
By turning off _S1 , turning on switch _S5 , and further shifting the clock number 130, the used part of the barcode is changed to B'.

As described above, the present invention changes the printing element that prints the barcode by moving it in the direction in which the printing elements are arranged, so even when printing the same data, the printing element used for printing changes. As a result, the frequency of use of the printing elements constituting the printing head can be averaged, and the life of the printing head as a whole can be extended.

Furthermore, since the parts used are not changed except for the barcode, the printing position on the label itself does not shift except for the barcode, so there is an advantage that the printing quality does not deteriorate.

Thus, the intended purpose can be achieved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 4 are drawings for explaining the background of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a front view of the print head, and FIG.
The figure is a surface view illustrating a printed label, FIGS. 3 and 4 are circuit diagrams of the print head, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are main parts of the print head and the printed label explaining an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. In the figure, 1 is a printing head, D ₁ to _{D 230} are printing elements,
A, A', B, B' and C, , C ₁ , C ₂ are used portions of the printing element, respectively.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Using a print head in which a large number of printing elements are arranged in a line, the printing elements are selected and activated according to the required printing data, and the label is moved relative to the direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the printing elements to print the label. In addition to printing data such as product name and price along with a barcode on the top, the barcode is printed once or multiple times using a barcode label printer in which each bar is printed parallel to the moving direction of the label. A method for controlling a printing element for a barcode label printer, characterized in that each time the barcode is printed, the printing element used in the printing head is changed by moving in the arrangement direction only in the part where the barcode is printed.