Production printing system and printing method

Abstract

The invention discloses a production printing system and a printing method. The production printing system comprises an upper computer, control equipment and printing equipment. The control equipment is used for setting the trigger signal to be in a first state when it is detected that the current battery cell arrives at the printing station; the upper computer is used for obtaining the battery core code of the current battery core when reading that the trigger signal is in the first state, and sending the battery core code to the printing equipment; and the printing equipment is used for receiving the cell code sent by the upper computer based on network communication with the upper computer and generating a first printing instruction of the cell code according to a preset configuration rule, and the first printing instruction indicates the printing equipment to print data matrix code information corresponding to the cell code. In this way, the printing accuracy of the data matrix code can be improved, the printing mode can be dynamically configured according to requirements, and then the printing effect is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the technical field of batteries, and specifically, to a production printing system and a printing method. Background Art

[0002] With the increase in the types of electronic devices and the continuous upgrade of functions, the importance of batteries in electronic devices is becoming higher and higher. A battery generally includes a housing and one or more battery cells encapsulated in the housing. During the production and manufacturing process of the battery, in order to facilitate the labeling and identification of each battery cell, it is necessary to paste and print Data Matrix Code (DMC) information on the battery cell.

[0003] In the related art, currently, the method of installing a printer driver is adopted, so that the industrial control computer can select this printer for document printing on the printing interfaces of various documents. The printer usually caches prints in advance. However, if other programs call the printer, it is very easy to damage the print data in the buffer area, resulting in data misalignment of the DMC code of the battery cell, so that the DMC code information corresponding to the battery cell cannot be accurately printed. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This application provides a production printing system and a printing method, which can improve the printing accuracy of the DMC code of the battery cell, and can also dynamically configure the printing method according to requirements, thereby improving the printing effect.

[0005] The technical solution of this application is implemented as follows:

[0006] In a first aspect, an embodiment of this application provides a production printing system, which is characterized in that the production printing system includes a host computer, a control device, and a printing device, where:

[0007] The control device is configured to set the trigger signal to a first state when it detects that the current battery cell reaches the printing station;

[0008] The host computer is configured to obtain the battery cell code of the current battery cell when it reads that the trigger signal is in the first state, and send the battery cell code to the printing device;

[0009] The printing device is configured to receive the battery cell code sent by the host computer based on the network communication with the host computer, and generate a first printing instruction for the battery cell code according to a preset configuration rule, where the first printing instruction instructs the printing device to print the data matrix code information corresponding to the battery cell code.

[0010] Through the above technical means, when the control device detects that there is a battery cell in place at the printing station, it will trigger the host computer to read the virtual code of the current battery cell, and then obtain the battery cell code of the current battery cell; then, based on the network communication between the host computer and the printing device, the battery cell code is sent to the printing device, which can solve the problem of data misalignment in the buffer area caused by other programs calling the printer driver, and improve the printing accuracy of the battery cell DMC code; in addition, by dynamically configuring the printing method according to the preset configuration rules, the printing style can also be customized to meet various printing scenarios, and further improve the printing effect.

[0011] In some embodiments, the production printing system further includes a production execution system, where: the host computer is further configured to, when determining that the battery cell code meets the transcoding condition, call the transcoding interface of the production execution system and send the battery cell code to the transcoding interface of the production execution system; the production execution system is configured to perform transcoding processing on the battery cell code to generate a special code for the current battery cell and return the special code to the host computer.

[0012] Through the above technical means, after obtaining the battery cell code of the current battery cell, if it is determined that transcoding processing is required, the transcoding interface of the production execution system can be called, and then the special code returned by the production execution system is received. According to the special code, the efficiency of on-site operators in determining abnormal battery cells can be improved.

[0013] In some embodiments, the printing device is further configured to receive the special code sent by the host computer based on the network communication with the host computer, and generate a second printing instruction for the special code according to the preset configuration rules. The second printing instruction instructs the printing device to print the data matrix code information corresponding to the special code.

[0014] Through the above technical means, when transcoding processing is required, the transcoding interface of the production execution system can be called first to obtain the special code; then, based on the network communication between the host computer and the printing device, the problem of data misalignment in the buffer area caused by other programs calling the printer driver can also be solved, and the printing accuracy of the battery cell DMC code can be improved; in addition, by dynamically configuring the printing method according to the preset configuration rules, the printing style can also be customized to meet various printing scenarios, and further improve the printing effect.

[0015] In some embodiments, the host computer is further configured to determine that the battery cell code meets the transcoding condition when detecting that the current battery cell is an abnormal battery cell.

[0016] Through the above technical means, transcoding processing is performed on the abnormal battery cell, so that special character processing of the abnormal battery cell can be realized, and the efficiency of on-site operators in determining abnormal battery cells can be improved.

[0017] In some embodiments, the host computer is further configured to display a first display interface of the dimension measurement process on the current interface of the host computer; and when the connection status displayed in the first display area of the first display interface is normal, in response to the selection operation of the operation option in the second display area acting on the first display interface, enter the running state of the dimension measurement process.

[0018] By the above technical means, the connection status is displayed in the first display area of the first display interface, and the operation options are displayed in the second display area of the first display interface, enabling the user to control the running state of the host computer to control the rhythm of the cell dimension measurement process, thereby helping to improve the efficiency of the production and printing system.

[0019] In some embodiments, the host computer is further configured to, in response to the selection operation of the target menu item in the third display area acting on the first display interface, display a second display interface on the current interface of the host computer; wherein, the following one or more menus are displayed in the third display area of the first display interface: real-time production data, first-piece information, production output statistics, alarm query, data query, parameter configuration, debugging tool, user management, and authority item management.

[0020] By the above technical means, a menu bar is displayed in the third display area of the first display interface for the user to select, improving the efficiency of the production and printing system.

[0021] In some embodiments, the host computer is further configured to, in response to the selection operation of the target menu item in the third display area acting on the first display interface, display a first device parameter interface of the printing device on the current interface of the host computer; and in response to the first input operation acting on the first device parameter interface, generate a first printing instruction corresponding to the case where the coding mode is selected as the cell code; wherein, the first device parameter interface at least includes one or more of the following: label paper height, label paper width, printing barcode length, element space height, X-axis starting position, Y-axis starting position, number of DM block rows, number of DM block columns, coding mode, font height, and font width.

[0022] By the above technical means, on the first device parameter interface, the first printing instruction corresponding to the cell code is dynamically configured according to the preset configuration rules, so that the printing style can be customized to meet various printing scenarios, and further the printing effect is improved.

[0023] In some embodiments, the host computer is further configured to, in response to a selection operation on a target menu item in a third display area on the first display interface, display a second device parameter interface of the printing device on the current interface of the host computer; and in response to a second input operation on the second device parameter interface, generate a second printing instruction corresponding to the case where the coding mode is selected as a special code; wherein the second device parameter interface includes at least one or more of the following: label paper height, label paper width, printed barcode length, element space height, X-axis starting position, Y-axis starting position, number of DM block rows, number of DM block columns, coding mode, font height, and font width.

[0024] By the above technical means, on the second device parameter interface, the second printing instruction corresponding to the special code is dynamically configured according to a preset configuration rule, so that the printing style can also be customized to meet various printing scenarios, and furthermore, the printing effect is improved.

[0025] In some embodiments, the host computer is further configured to, when a material replacement occurs in the printing device, display a third device parameter interface of the printing device on the current interface of the host computer; and in response to a fifth input operation on the third device parameter interface, control the printing position of the data matrix code information to be adjusted to a target printing position. [[ID=——]]

[0026] By the above technical means, for the offset of the printing position caused after the printer replaces the coding paper or the carbon ribbon, an overall offset adjustment scheme can be set according to the third device parameter interface, so that the operator can conveniently adjust the printing position and improve the printing effect.

[0027] In some embodiments, the host computer is further configured to read a trigger signal from a control device; and when the read trigger signal is in a first state, read the virtual code of the current battery cell; the host computer is further configured to query the battery cell code of the current battery cell in a preset database according to the virtual code; wherein the preset database is used to record the corresponding relationship between the virtual code and the battery cell code.

[0028] By the above technical means, after the host computer reads the virtual code, the battery cell code corresponding to the virtual code can be queried in combination with the preset database, so that the label printing process can be smoothly executed subsequently, and the efficiency of the production printing system is improved.

[0029] In some embodiments, the host computer is further configured to, after the printing device receives the code to be printed sent by the host computer, return a sending result signal to the control device; wherein the sending result signal is used to indicate whether the code to be printed sent by the host computer is successfully sent, and the code to be printed includes a battery cell code or a special code.

[0030] Through the above technical means, after the host computer sends the battery cell code or special code to the printing device, it is possible to determine whether the battery cell code or special code is successfully sent, and send the sending result signal to the control device, so that the control device can control the printing device to execute the label printing process when it determines that the sending is successful, improving the efficiency of the production printing system.

[0031] In some embodiments, the control device is further configured to reset the trigger signal from the first state to the second state after receiving the sending result signal.

[0032] Through the above technical means, after the sending result signal is fed back to the control device, the trigger signal is then reset to smoothly execute the next round of reading of the trigger signal and maintain the stability of the production printing system.

[0033] In some embodiments, the control device is further configured to trigger the printing device to print the data matrix code information corresponding to the code to be printed when the sending result signal indicates that the code to be printed sent by the host computer is successfully sent.

[0034] Through the above technical means, when the control device determines that the sending is successful, at this time, it controls the printing device to execute the label printing process, improving the efficiency of the production printing system.

[0035] In some embodiments, the printing device is further configured to print the data matrix code information as a preset character when the data matrix code information corresponding to the code to be printed does not meet the length requirement.

[0036] Through the above technical means, when the input data matrix code information to be printed does not meet the length requirement, for example, the * character can be default printed, improving the printing effect.

[0037] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a printing method applied to a production printing system. The production printing system includes a host computer, a control device, and a printing device. The method includes:

[0038] When the control device detects that the current battery cell reaches the printing station, the control device sets the trigger signal to the first state; when the host computer reads that the trigger signal is in the first state, the host computer obtains the battery cell code of the current battery cell and sends the battery cell code to the printing device; based on the network communication between the host computer and the printing device, the printing device receives the battery cell code sent by the host computer and generates a first printing instruction for the battery cell code according to the preset configuration rule, and the first printing instruction instructs the printing device to print the data matrix code information corresponding to the battery cell code.

[0039] Through the above technical means, when the control device detects that a battery cell arrives at the printing station, it will trigger the host computer to read the virtual code of the current battery cell, and then obtain the battery cell code of the current battery cell; then, based on the network communication between the host computer and the printing device, the battery cell code is sent to the printing device, which can solve the problem of data misalignment in the buffer caused by other programs calling the printer driver, and improve the printing accuracy of the battery cell DMC code; in addition, by dynamically configuring the printing method according to the preset configuration rules, the printing style can also be customized to meet various printing scenarios, and further improve the printing effect.

[0040] In some embodiments, the production printing system further includes a production execution system. After obtaining the battery cell code of the current battery cell, the method further includes: when the host computer determines that the battery cell code meets the transcoding condition, the host computer calls the transcoding interface of the production execution system and sends the battery cell code to the transcoding interface of the production execution system; the production execution system performs transcoding processing on the battery cell code to generate a special code for the current battery cell and returns the special code to the host computer.

[0041] Through the above technical means, after obtaining the battery cell code of the current battery cell, if it is determined that transcoding processing is required, the transcoding interface of the production execution system can be called, and then the special code returned by the production execution system is received. The efficiency of abnormal battery cell determination by on-site operators can be improved according to the special code.

[0042] In some embodiments, the method further includes: based on the network communication between the host computer and the printing device, the printing device receives the special code sent by the host computer and generates a second printing instruction for the special code according to the preset configuration rules. The second printing instruction instructs the printing device to print the data matrix code information corresponding to the special code.

[0043] Through the above technical means, when transcoding processing is required, the transcoding interface of the production execution system can be called first to obtain the special code; then, based on the network communication between the host computer and the printing device, the problem of data misalignment in the buffer caused by other programs calling the printer driver can also be solved, and the printing accuracy of the battery cell DMC code can be improved; in addition, by dynamically configuring the printing method according to the preset configuration rules, the printing style can also be customized to meet various printing scenarios, and further improve the printing effect.

[0044] In some embodiments, the method further includes: when the host computer detects that the current battery cell is an abnormal battery cell, it determines that the battery cell code meets the transcoding condition.

[0045] Through the above technical means, transcoding processing is performed on the abnormal battery cell, so that special character processing of the abnormal battery cell can be realized, and the efficiency of abnormal battery cell determination by on-site operators can be improved.

[0046] In some embodiments, when the host computer reads that the trigger signal is in the first state, obtaining the cell code of the current cell includes: the host computer reads the trigger signal from the control device, and when it reads that the trigger signal is in the first state, reads the virtual code of the current cell; according to the virtual code, the host computer queries the cell code of the current cell in a preset database; wherein, the preset database is used to record the correspondence between the virtual code and the cell code.

[0047] Through the above technical means, after the host computer reads the virtual code, it can combine the preset database to query the cell code corresponding to the virtual code, so as to smoothly execute the label printing process subsequently, improving the efficiency of the production printing system.

[0048] In some embodiments, the method further includes: after the printing device receives the code to be printed sent by the host computer, the host computer returns a sending result signal to the control device; wherein, the sending result signal is used to indicate whether the code to be printed sent by the host computer is sent successfully, and the code to be printed includes a cell code or a special code.

[0049] Through the above technical means, after the host computer sends the cell code or the special code to the printing device, it can determine whether the cell code or the special code is sent successfully, and send the sending result signal to the control device, so that the control device can control the printing device to execute the label printing process when it determines that the sending is successful, improving the efficiency of the production printing system.

[0050] In some embodiments, the method further includes: when the sending result signal indicates that the code to be printed sent by the host computer is sent successfully, the control device triggers the printing device to print the data matrix code information corresponding to the code to be printed.

[0051] Through the above technical means, when the control device determines that the sending is successful, at this time it controls the printing device to execute the label printing process, improving the efficiency of the production printing system.

[0052] In some embodiments, the method further includes: when the data matrix code information corresponding to the code to be printed does not meet the length requirement, the printing device prints the data matrix code information as a preset character.

[0053] Through the above technical means, when the input data matrix code information to be printed does not meet the length requirement, for example, it can default to print the * character, improving the printing effect.

[0054] A production printing system and a printing method provided by an embodiment of the present application. The production printing system includes a host computer, a control device, and a printing device. Among them, the control device is used to set the trigger signal to the first state when it detects that the current battery cell reaches the printing station; the host computer is used to obtain the battery cell code of the current battery cell when it reads that the trigger signal is in the first state, and send the battery cell code to the printing device; the printing device is used to receive the battery cell code sent by the host computer based on the network communication with the host computer, and generate a first printing instruction for the battery cell code according to a preset configuration rule. The first printing instruction instructs the printing device to print the data matrix code information corresponding to the battery cell code. In this way, when the control device detects that there is a battery cell in place at the printing station, it will trigger the host computer to read the virtual code of the current battery cell, and then obtain the battery cell code of the current battery cell; then, based on the network communication between the host computer and the printing device, the battery cell code is sent to the printing device, which can solve the problem of data misalignment in the buffer caused by other programs calling the printer driver, and improve the printing accuracy of the battery cell DMC code; in addition, by dynamically configuring the printing method according to the preset configuration rule, the printing style can also be customized to meet various printing scenarios, and further improve the printing effect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0055] Figure 1 FIG. is a schematic structural diagram of a production printing system provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0056] Figure 2 FIG. is a schematic flow chart of a printing method provided by an embodiment of the present application Figure 1 ;

[0057] Figure 3 FIG. is a schematic flow chart of a printing method provided by an embodiment of the present application Figure 2 ;

[0058] Figure 4 FIG. is a schematic flow chart of a printing method provided by an embodiment of the present application Figure 3 ;

[0059] Figure 5 FIG. is a detailed schematic flow chart of a printing method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0060] Figure 6 FIG. is a schematic diagram of a first display interface of a production printing system provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0061] Figure 7 FIG. is a schematic diagram of a second display interface of a production printing system provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0062] Figure 8 FIG. is a schematic diagram of a first device parameter interface of a printing device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0063] Figure 9 Schematic diagram of the second device parameter interface of a printing device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0064] Figure 10 Schematic diagram of the third device parameter interface of a printing device provided by an embodiment of the present application. Detailed implementation manners

[0065] In order to understand the features and technical content of the embodiments of the present application in more detail, the implementation of the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The accompanying drawings are only for reference and explanation, and are not intended to limit the embodiments of the present application.

[0066] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by those of ordinary skill in the technical field to which this application belongs. The terms used herein are only for the purpose of describing the embodiments of this application and are not intended to limit this application.

[0067] In the following description, reference is made to "some embodiments", which describe a subset of all possible embodiments. However, it can be understood that "some embodiments" can be the same subset or different subsets of all possible embodiments, and can be combined with each other without conflict.

[0068] It should also be noted that the terms "first / second / third" involved in the embodiments of the present application are only used to distinguish similar objects, and do not represent a specific order for the objects. It can be understood that "first / second / third" can be interchanged with a specific order or sequence when allowed, so that the embodiments of the present application described herein can be implemented in an order other than that illustrated or described herein.

[0069] New energy batteries are being used more and more widely in life and industry. For example, new energy vehicles equipped with batteries have been widely used. In addition, batteries are also being used more and more in the energy storage field and so on.

[0070] At present, new energy batteries are being used more and more widely in life and industry. New energy batteries are not only used in energy storage power systems such as hydraulic, thermal, wind and solar power stations, but also widely used in electric transportation such as electric bicycles, electric motorcycles, electric vehicles, and in many fields such as aerospace. With the continuous expansion of the application fields of power batteries, the market demand for them is also continuously increasing.

[0071] In the embodiments of the present application, the battery may be a battery cell. A battery cell refers to the basic unit that can realize the mutual conversion between chemical energy and electrical energy, and can be used to make a battery module or a battery pack, so as to supply power to an electrical device. The battery cell may be a secondary battery, which refers to a battery cell that can continue to be used after the active material is activated by charging after the battery cell discharges. The battery cell may be a lithium-ion battery, a sodium-ion battery, a sodium-lithium-ion battery, a lithium metal battery, a sodium metal battery, a lithium-sulfur battery, a magnesium-ion battery, a nickel-metal hydride battery, a nickel-cadmium battery, a lead-acid battery, etc., and the embodiments of the present disclosure do not limit this.

[0072] In the embodiments of the present application, the battery may also be a single physical module including one or more battery cells to provide higher voltage and capacity. When there are multiple battery cells, the multiple battery cells are connected in series, parallel or in a hybrid connection through a busbar component.

[0073] In the production process of the battery, there are multiple production processes here, such as winding process, cold pressing process, top cover welding process, helium leak detection process, first injection / second injection process, film wrapping process, dimension measurement process and packaging process, etc. For the dimension measurement process, first, the printer driver needs to be installed. After the battery cell is in place, the control device transmits the virtual code to the specified position and triggers the upper computer. The upper computer searches for the corresponding battery cell code, and then generates the DMC code and sends it to the printer.

[0074] In the related art, by using the method of installing the printer driver, the industrial control computer can select the printer for document printing on the printing interfaces of various documents. When the device is in production, the printer prints in advance through the buffer. If other programs call the printer, it is very easy to damage the printing data in the buffer area, resulting in data misalignment of the DMC code of the battery cell, so that the DMC code information corresponding to the battery cell cannot be accurately printed.

[0075] In order to improve the accuracy of DMC code printing, the embodiments of the present application provide a production printing system and a printing method. When the control device detects that there is a battery cell in place at the printing station, it will trigger the upper computer to read the virtual code of the current battery cell, and then obtain the battery cell code of the current battery cell; then, based on the network communication between the upper computer and the printing device, the battery cell code is sent to the printing device, so as to solve the situation of data misalignment in the buffer area caused by other programs calling the printer driver, and improve the printing accuracy of the DMC code of the battery cell; in addition, by dynamically configuring the printing method according to the preset configuration rules, the printing style can also be customized to meet various printing scenarios, and further improve the printing effect.

[0076] The present application will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0077] Figure 1The figure is a schematic diagram of the composition structure of a production and printing system provided by an embodiment of the present application. As Figure 1 shown, the production and printing system 10 includes a control device 101, a host computer 102, and a printing device 103. The host computer 102 is communicatively connected to the control device 101 and the printing device 103 respectively. Among them:

[0078] The control device 101 is configured to set the trigger signal to a first state when it detects that the current battery cell reaches the printing station.

[0079] It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, the production and printing system 10 is in the dimension measurement process. In the dimension measurement process, after the current battery cell goes through the in-station process of the dimension measuring machine, the dimension measurement process, and the out-station process of the dimension measuring machine, the current battery cell flows to the printing station, that is, enters the label printing process, so as to print the DMC code information corresponding to the current battery cell.

[0080] It should also be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, the control device 101 can be a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). When the PLC detects that the current battery cell reaches the printing station, it controls the trigger signal to be set to the first state to trigger the host computer to obtain the battery cell code of the current battery cell.

[0081] In the embodiment of the present application, detection can be performed by setting an induction device at the printing station. That is to say, during the process of the battery cell being transported along the logistics line, when the induction device detects that a battery cell arrives, at this time the control device 101 can determine that a battery cell arrives at the printing station. Exemplarily, the induction device can be a photoelectric induction device.

[0082] In addition, a trigger signal can be set in the control device 101. Among them, the trigger signal can include a first state and a second state. Among them, the first state can be true, and the second state can be false.

[0083] In a specific embodiment, after the control device 101 determines that a battery cell arrives at the printing station, that is, after detecting that the battery cell arrives at the printing station, the control device 101 can set the trigger signal to the first state (true). Otherwise, in other cases, the trigger signal can be set to the second state (false).

[0084] Exemplarily, the trigger signal can be a Boolean variable (bool), which is used to indicate the trigger signal address for printing the label. Among them, if the address is in the first state (true), it means that there is a battery cell on the printing station, triggering the printing of the battery cell label; if the address is in the second state (false), it means that there is no battery cell on the printing station, and at this time the printing of the battery cell label will not be triggered.

[0085] The host computer 102 is configured to obtain the cell code of the current cell when it reads that the trigger signal is in the first state, and send the cell code to the printing device 103.

[0086] It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the host computer 102 can poll to read the trigger signal in the control device 101. When the trigger signal is read to be in the first state, the host computer 102 is triggered to determine the cell code of the current cell.

[0087] In some embodiments, the host computer 102 is specifically configured to read the trigger signal from the control device 101; and when the trigger signal is read to be in the first state, read the virtual code of the current cell.

[0088] Furthermore, the host computer 102 is further configured to query the cell code of the current cell in a preset database according to the virtual code; wherein, the preset database is used to record the corresponding relationship between the virtual code and the cell code.

[0089] It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the host computer 102 is communicatively connected to the control device 101. When the control device 101 detects that there is a cell in place at the printing station, the host computer 102 is triggered to read the virtual code of the current cell, and then according to the corresponding relationship between the virtual code and the cell code in the preset database, the corresponding cell code is queried therefrom.

[0090] It should also be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the virtual code is unique, and the virtual code can be used for cell identification so as to quickly determine which specific cell is the current cell to be printed.

[0091] Among them, the virtual code can be generated according to a time stamp, or can also be generated according to the primary key of a database, thus ensuring the uniqueness of the virtual code. It can be understood that both the virtual code and the cell code are labels used to identify the current cell, but the length of the virtual code is generally less than the length of the cell code, so that when the host computer reads the virtual code, the label reading speed can be improved.

[0092] In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, the preset database can be stored in the control device 101, or can also be synchronously stored in the host computer 102. Among them, the preset database contains at least one data table, which can be used to record the corresponding relationship between the virtual code and the cell code. In this way, after the host computer 102 reads the virtual code of the current cell, it can search the preset database to determine the cell code corresponding to the virtual code.

[0093] The printing device 103 is configured to receive the cell code sent by the host computer 102 based on network communication with the host computer 102, and generate a first printing instruction for the cell code according to a preset configuration rule. The first printing instruction instructs the printing device to print the data matrix code information corresponding to the cell code.

[0094] It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, the printing device 103 can also be referred to as a printer or a coding machine, and is capable of printing the DMC code information corresponding to the current cell.

[0095] It should also be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, the network communication between the host computer 102 and the printing device 103 can be Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) communication. Specifically, in order to solve the problem of data misalignment in the buffer caused by other programs calling the printer driver, the method of calling the printer driver is modified to network port communication here. By using Zebra Programming Language (ZPL) instructions, it is possible to prevent other programs from affecting the printer data.

[0096] It should also be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, ZPL is a programming language used for industrial models of Zebra barcode printers. Using these programming languages, a set of printing instructions is edited and sent to the barcode printer, and the barcode printer will print the label drawn by ZPL. That is to say, ZPL instructions are a type of instruction in the ZPL language, mainly used for printing labels. By using ZPL instructions, users can conveniently print various types of labels to meet the requirements of different scenarios.

[0097] In this way, after the printing device 103 receives the cell code sent by the host computer 102, it can generate a first printing instruction for the cell code according to a preset configuration rule. Among them, the preset configuration rule can be configuration information set according to actual needs, such as label paper height, label paper width, printing barcode length, element space height, X-axis starting position, Y-axis starting position, number of DM blocks in rows, number of DM blocks in columns, coding mode, font height, and font width, etc. The first printing instruction is dynamically generated according to these configuration information, so as to be able to customize the style of the printed content and meet the scenarios of various printed contents.

[0098] It should also be noted that for the DMC code information to be printed, the DMC code is a type of two-dimensional code composed of black and white small squares. It is a high-density two-dimensional code that can store a large amount of information, including text, numbers, images, etc. It should be noted that the cell code is not the same as the DMC code. Specifically, the cell code is the code engraved on the cell shell, while the DMC code is obtained by sending the cell code to the MES, querying various data of the cell based on this cell code, and then integrating them into a long string of characters and sending them to the printing device so that the printing device can print and paste it.

[0099] A production printing system provided by an embodiment of the present application, when the control device detects that there is a cell in place at the printing station, it will trigger the host computer to read the virtual code of the current cell, and then obtain the cell code of the current cell; then, based on the network communication between the host computer and the printing device, the cell code is sent to the printing device, which can solve the problem of data misalignment in the buffer area caused by other programs calling the printer driver, and improve the printing accuracy of the cell DMC code; in addition, by dynamically configuring the printing method according to the preset configuration rules, it is also possible to customize the printing style to meet various printing scenarios, and further improve the printing effect.

[0100] In another embodiment of the present application, based on the production printing system 10 of the foregoing embodiment, the production printing system 10 further includes a manufacturing execution system 104, where:

[0101] The host computer 102 is further configured to, when determining that the cell code meets the transcoding condition, call the transcoding interface of the manufacturing execution system 104 and send the cell code to the transcoding interface of the manufacturing execution system 104.

[0102] It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, for the manufacturing execution system (MES), MES is used to obtain the output information of multiple production devices, and the output information includes the output time of multiple products produced by the production devices and the identifier indicating whether the multiple products are qualified. MES can include the monitoring of the production process. The production process monitoring of MES focuses on the monitoring of material transportation and quality indicators between the production process and the process. It is based on the real-time data of the production process to realize the real-time monitoring of the production progress, process quality, and material consumption in the production area.

[0103] It should also be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, for whether the cell code meets the transcoding condition, in some embodiments, the host computer 102 is further configured to determine that the cell code meets the transcoding condition when detecting that the current cell is an abnormal cell.

[0104] That is to say, in the embodiments of the present application, when the battery cell fails or is unqualified, i.e., the battery cell has an NG (No Good) situation, the related technology does not distinguish DMC codes, resulting in difficulty in manually distinguishing the state of the battery cell. To solve this problem, if the current battery cell is considered an NG battery cell, then in order to improve the efficiency of on-site operators in determining abnormal battery cells, it can be determined at this time that the battery cell code meets the transcoding condition, so as to be able to print a special code for the NG battery cell.

[0105] In addition, in the embodiments of the present application, in addition to NG battery cells, if the current battery cell has other requirements such as special models or special characters, then it can also be determined that the battery cell code meets the transcoding condition, and no specific limitations are imposed here.

[0106] It should also be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, when the host computer 102 determines that the battery cell code meets the transcoding condition, it is necessary to call the transcoding interface of the Manufacturing Execution System (MES) at this time to implement the transcoding operation.

[0107] The manufacturing execution system 104 is used to perform transcoding processing on the battery cell code, generate a special code for the current battery cell, and return the special code to the host computer 102.

[0108] It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, after receiving the battery cell code, the manufacturing execution system 104 can perform data parsing and transcoding processing on the battery cell code, and then return the special code to the host computer 102.

[0109] Exemplarily, in the embodiments of the present application, when the host computer 102 determines that the battery cell code meets the transcoding condition, the host computer 102 uploads the battery cell code to the manufacturing execution system 104, and finally the manufacturing execution system 104 will return a longer DMC code to the host computer 102, that is, the special code described here.

[0110] That is to say, after the current battery cell reaches the printing station, the control device 101 can trigger the printing label process of the battery cell. The host computer 102 reads the virtual code and determines the corresponding battery cell code according to the virtual code; when the host computer 102 determines that the battery cell code does not need to be transcoded, the battery cell code is directly sent to the printing device 103 for printing. Otherwise, when the host computer 102 determines that the battery cell code needs to be transcoded, the battery cell code is sent to the manufacturing execution system 104 at this time, and the special code returned by the manufacturing execution system 104 is received and sent to the printing device 103 for printing.

[0111] In some embodiments, the printing device 103 is further configured to receive a special code sent by the host computer based on network communication with the host computer, and generate a second printing instruction for the special code according to a preset configuration rule. The second printing instruction instructs the printing device to print the data matrix code information corresponding to the special code.

[0112] In the embodiment of the present application, TCP communication is adopted between the host computer 102 and the printing device 103. Specifically, the method of calling the printer driver is modified to network port communication, and the ZPL instruction is used, so as to prevent other programs from affecting the printer data and avoid the problem of incorrect printing.

[0113] In this way, after the printing device 103 receives the special code sent by the host computer 102, it can generate a second printing instruction for the special code according to the preset configuration rule. Among them, the preset configuration rule can be configuration information set according to actual needs, such as label paper height, label paper width, printed barcode length, element space height, X-axis starting position, Y-axis starting position, number of DM blocks in rows, number of DM blocks in columns, coding mode, font height, and font width, etc. The second printing instruction is dynamically generated according to this configuration information, so that the printing content of the special code can also be customized in style to meet various printing content scenarios.

[0114] In some embodiments, the host computer 102 is further configured to return a sending result signal to the control device 101 after the printing device 103 receives the code to be printed sent by the host computer 102.

[0115] Among them, the sending result signal is used to indicate whether the code to be printed sent by the host computer 102 is sent successfully. The code to be printed may include a battery cell code or a special code.

[0116] It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, the sending result signal can be determined by whether the battery cell code or the special code is sent successfully. Exemplarily, the sending result signal can be an integer variable (int). When its value is 1, it indicates successful sending (i.e., sending OK); when its value is 2, it indicates failed sending (i.e., sending NG).

[0117] In some embodiments, the control device 101 is further configured to reset the trigger signal from the first state to the second state after receiving the sending result signal.

[0118] In the foregoing embodiments, after the control device 101 detects that a battery cell arrives at the printing station, by switching the trigger signal from the second state to the first state, when the host computer 102 makes a polling request, if the trigger signal read is in the first state, the host computer 102 is triggered to read the virtual code of the current battery cell, so as to determine the corresponding battery cell code; if transcoding processing is required, the corresponding virtual code can be determined. After the host computer 102 sends the battery cell code or the virtual code to the printing device 103, regardless of whether the transmission result signal fed back by the host computer 102 to the control device 101 is a successful transmission or a failed transmission, at this time it means that the trigger label printing process has been completed, and the control device 101 can reset the trigger signal from the first state to the second state, so that when the next battery cell arrives at the printing station, by setting the trigger signal to the first state again, the label printing process of the next battery cell can be triggered.

[0119] It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, the label printing process here can be compatible with the printing of fixed barcodes and dynamic barcodes, etc. Among them, for the fixed barcode, it can be the fixed identification code used to uniquely identify the current battery cell; or it can also be the dynamic barcode generated by printing the information such as the voltage information and production date of the current battery cell according to the preset configuration rules.

[0120] It should also be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, the printing mode can include a personal computer (PC) control mode or a PLC control mode. Among them, the PC here specifically refers to the printing device 103, so the PC control mode means that the printing device 103 both sends and receives data and controls printing; while the PLC control mode means that the printing device 103 sends and receives data, and then the control device 101 controls printing. The following takes the PLC control mode as an example for detailed description.

[0121] In a specific embodiment, the control device 101 is further configured to trigger the printing device 103 to print the data matrix code information corresponding to the code to be printed when the transmission result signal indicates that the code to be printed sent by the host computer 102 is successfully transmitted. Among them, the code to be printed can include a battery cell code or a special code.

[0122] That is to say, when the control device 101 determines that the transmission of the battery cell code is successful, at this time the control device 101 can trigger the printing device 103 to print the DMC code corresponding to the battery cell code. Or, if transcoding processing is required, then when the control device 101 determines that the transmission of the virtual code is successful, at this time the control device 101 can also trigger the printing device 103 to print the DMC code corresponding to the virtual code.

[0123] In some embodiments, the printing device 103 is further configured to print the data matrix code information as a preset character when the data matrix code information corresponding to the code to be printed does not meet the length requirement.

[0124] That is to say, whether printing the cell code or the special code, if the corresponding data matrix code information does not meet the length requirement, the data matrix code information can be printed as a preset character. Exemplarily, the * character can be printed by default.

[0125] The embodiment of the present application provides a production printing system. Based on the TCP communication between the host computer and the printing device, the cell code or the virtual code is sent to the printing device for corresponding DMC code printing, so as to solve the data misalignment situation in the buffer area caused by other programs calling the printer driver, and improve the printing accuracy of the DMC code; In addition, the printing method can be dynamically configured according to the preset configuration rules, which can be compatible with two printing methods of fixed barcodes and dynamic barcodes, realize custom styles to meet various printing scenarios, and further improve the printing effect.

[0126] In another embodiment of the present application, based on the production printing system 10 of the foregoing embodiment, Figure 2 It is a schematic flow chart of a printing method provided by an embodiment of the present application Figure 1 As Figure 2 shown, the method may include the following steps:

[0127] S201. When the control device detects that the current cell reaches the printing station, the control device sets the trigger signal to the first state.

[0128] It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, this method is applied to the production printing system of the foregoing embodiment, and the production printing system may include a control device, a host computer, a printing device, and a production execution system.

[0129] It should also be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, whether the current cell reaches the printing station can be detected by setting an induction device at the printing station. That is to say, during the process of the cell being transported along the logistics line, when the induction device detects that a cell arrives, at this time the control device can determine that a cell has reached the printing station. Exemplarily, the induction device can be a photoelectric induction device.

[0130] It should also be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, a trigger signal can be set in the control device. Among them, the trigger signal can include a first state and a second state. Among them, the first state can be true, and the second state can be false. Exemplarily, when the control device detects that a cell arrives at the printing station, the control device can set the trigger signal to the first state (true). Otherwise, in other cases, the trigger signal can be set to the second state (false).

[0131] S202. When the host computer reads that the trigger signal is in the first state, it obtains the cell code of the current cell and sends the cell code to the printing device.

[0132] It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, the host computer can read the trigger signal in the control device by polling. When the trigger signal is read to be in the first state, the host computer is triggered to determine the cell code of the current cell.

[0133] In some embodiments, when the host computer reads that the trigger signal is in the first state, obtaining the cell code of the current cell, the method may include: the host computer reads the trigger signal from the control device, and when the trigger signal is read to be in the first state, reads the virtual code of the current cell; according to the virtual code, the host computer queries the cell code of the current cell in a preset database; wherein, the preset database is used to record the correspondence between the virtual code and the cell code.

[0134] It should also be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, the virtual code is unique, and the virtual code can be used for cell identification to quickly determine which specific cell is the current cell to be printed. Specifically, the host computer is communicatively connected to the control device. When the control device detects that there is a cell in place at the printing station, the host computer is triggered to read the virtual code of the current cell, and then according to the correspondence between the virtual code and the cell code in the preset database, the corresponding cell code is queried therefrom.

[0135] S203. Based on the network communication between the host computer and the printing device, the printing device receives the cell code sent by the host computer and generates a first printing instruction for the cell code according to the preset configuration rules. The first printing instruction instructs the printing device to print the data matrix code information corresponding to the cell code.

[0136] It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, the network communication between the host computer and the printing device can be TCP communication. Here, in order to solve the situation where buffer data is misaligned due to other programs calling the printer driver, the way of calling the printer driver is modified to network port communication and the ZPL instruction is used, which can prevent other programs from affecting the printer data.

[0137] By the above technical means, after the printing device receives the cell code sent by the host computer, it can generate a first printing instruction for the cell code according to the preset configuration rules. Among them, the preset configuration rules can be configuration information set according to actual needs, such as label paper height, label paper width, printing barcode length, element space height, X-axis starting position, Y-axis starting position, number of DM blocks rows, number of DM blocks columns, coding mode, font height, and font width, etc. The first printing instruction is dynamically generated according to these configuration information, so as to be able to customize the style of the printed content and meet various scenarios of printed content.

[0138] In another embodiment of the present application, based on the production printing system 10 of the foregoing embodiment, Figure 3 is a schematic flowchart of a printing method provided by an embodiment of the present application Figure 2 . As Figure 3 shown, the method may include the following steps:

[0139] S301, when the control device detects that the current battery cell reaches the printing station, the control device sets the trigger signal to the first state.

[0140] S302, when the host computer reads that the trigger signal is in the first state, the host computer obtains the battery cell code of the current battery cell.

[0141] It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, the specific steps for the trigger signal and obtaining the battery cell code have been described in the foregoing embodiment, and will not be elaborated here.

[0142] S303, when the host computer determines that the battery cell code meets the transcoding condition, the host computer calls the transcoding interface of the production execution system and sends the battery cell code to the transcoding interface of the production execution system.

[0143] S304, the production execution system performs transcoding processing on the battery cell code, generates a special code for the current battery cell, and returns the special code to the host computer.

[0144] It should also be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, in order to improve the efficiency of on-site operators in determining abnormal battery cells, special code processing can be performed on abnormal battery cells. Therefore, in some embodiments, the method further includes: when the host computer detects that the current battery cell is an abnormal battery cell, determining that the battery cell code meets the transcoding condition.

[0145] That is to say, if the current battery cell has abnormal situations such as failure or unqualified, that is, the current battery cell is considered an NG battery cell, then in order to improve the efficiency of on-site operators in determining abnormal battery cells, it can be determined at this time that the battery cell code meets the transcoding condition, so as to perform special code processing on the NG battery cell.

[0146] In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, for whether the battery cell code meets the transcoding condition, there may also be other situations. For example, if the current battery cell has other requirements such as a special model or special characters, then it can also be determined that the battery cell code meets the transcoding condition, and no limitation is made here.

[0147] In some embodiments, based on the Figure 3 printing process shown, referring to Figure 4 , after step S304, the method may further include:

[0148] S305. Based on the network communication between the host computer and the printing device, the printing device receives the special code sent by the host computer and generates a second printing instruction for the special code according to the preset configuration rules. The second printing instruction instructs the printing device to print the data matrix code information corresponding to the special code.

[0149] In the embodiment of the present application, for the special code sent by the host computer, the printing device can also generate a second printing instruction for the special code according to the preset configuration rules. Among them, the preset configuration rules can be the configuration information set according to actual needs, such as label paper height, label paper width, printing barcode length, element space height, X-axis starting position, Y-axis starting position, DM block rows, DM block columns, coding mode, font height, and font width, etc. Generate the second printing instruction dynamically according to these configuration information, so that the printing content of the special code can also be customized in style to meet various printing content scenarios.

[0150] In this way, after the current battery cell reaches the printing station, the control device can trigger the printing label process of the battery cell. The host computer reads the virtual code and determines the corresponding battery cell code according to the virtual code; when the host computer determines that the battery cell code does not need to be transcoded, it directly sends the battery cell code to the printing device for printing. Otherwise, when the host computer determines that the battery cell code needs to be transcoded, at this time, the battery cell code is sent to the production execution system, and the special code returned by the production execution system is received, and the special code is sent to the printing device for printing.

[0151] In some embodiments, the method may further include: after the printing device receives the code to be printed sent by the host computer, the host computer returns a sending result signal to the control device; wherein, the sending result signal is used to indicate whether the code to be printed sent by the host computer is sent successfully, and the code to be printed includes the battery cell code or the special code.

[0152] Exemplarily, the sending result signal can be an integer variable (int). When its value is 1, it means the sending is successful (i.e., sending OK); when its value is 2, it means the sending fails (i.e., sending NG).

[0153] In some embodiments, the method may further include: after the control device receives the sending result signal, it resets the trigger signal from the first state to the second state.

[0154] In the embodiments of the present application, after the control device detects that a battery cell arrives at the printing station, by setting the trigger signal to the first state, when the host computer makes a polling request, if it reads that the trigger signal is in the first state, the host computer is triggered to read the virtual code of the current battery cell, so as to determine the corresponding battery cell code; if transcoding processing is required, the corresponding virtual code can be determined. After the host computer sends the battery cell code or the virtual code to the printing device, regardless of whether the send result signal feedback by the host computer to the control device is a successful send or a failed send, at this time it means that the trigger label printing process has been completed, and the control device can reset the trigger signal from the first state to the second state, so that when the next battery cell arrives at the printing station, by setting the trigger signal to the first state again, the label printing process of the next battery cell can be triggered.

[0155] It should also be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, the label printing process here can be compatible with the printing of fixed barcodes and dynamic barcodes, etc. Among them, for the fixed barcode, it can be the fixed identification code for uniquely identifying the current battery cell; or it can also be the dynamic barcode generated by printing the information such as voltage information and production date of the current battery cell according to the preset configuration rules.

[0156] In some embodiments, the method may further include: when the send result signal indicates that the code to be printed sent by the host computer is successfully sent, the control device triggers the printing device to print the data matrix code information corresponding to the code to be printed. The code to be printed may include the battery cell code or a special code.

[0157] That is to say, when the control device determines that the sending of the battery cell code is successful, at this time the control device can trigger the printing device to print the DMC code corresponding to the battery cell code. Or, if transcoding processing is required, when the control device determines that the sending of the virtual code is successful, at this time the control device can also trigger the printing device to print the DMC code corresponding to the virtual code.

[0158] In some embodiments, the method may further include: when the data matrix code information corresponding to the code to be printed does not meet the length requirement, the printing device prints the data matrix code information as a preset character.

[0159] That is to say, whether it is printing the battery cell code or the special code, if the corresponding data matrix code information does not meet the length requirement, the data matrix code information can be printed as a preset character. Exemplarily, the * character can be printed by default.

[0160] It should also be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, this printing method is applied to a production printing system, and the production printing system is in the dimension measurement process. In the dimension measurement process, after the current battery cell goes through the dimension measurement machine inbound process, the dimension measurement process, and the dimension measurement machine outbound process, the current battery cell flows to the printing station, that is, enters the label printing process, so as to print the DMC code information corresponding to the current battery cell.

[0161] The embodiment of the present application provides a printing method, specifically a design of the coding rules for a dimension measurement machine. When the control device detects that there is a battery cell in place at the printing station, it will trigger the host computer to read the virtual code of the current battery cell, and then obtain the battery cell code of the current battery cell; when it is determined that transcoding processing is required, the special code of the current battery cell can be further determined. Then, based on the TCP communication between the host computer and the printing device, the battery cell code or the special code is sent to the printing device, which can solve the problem of data misalignment in the buffer area caused by other programs calling the printer driver, and improve the printing accuracy of the DMC code; in addition, dynamically generating a printing instruction according to a preset configuration instruction can achieve custom styles, and can be compatible with both fixed barcode and dynamic barcode printing methods, thereby further improving the printing effect.

[0162] In another embodiment of the present application, based on the production printing system 10 of the foregoing embodiment, Figure 5 is a detailed flow schematic diagram of a printing method provided by an embodiment of the present application. As Figure 5 shown, the control device is a PLC, the printing device is a coding machine, and the production execution system is a MES. The detailed process may include:

[0163] S501, Start.

[0164] S502, The initialization of the host computer software is completed, the connection with the PLC and the barcode scanner is successful, and the printing label process is started.

[0165] S503, Read the trigger signal for printing the label.

[0166] S504, The battery cell triggers the printing of the label, and the trigger signal is set to true.

[0167] In the embodiment of the present application, the trigger signal can be a Boolean variable (bool), which is used to indicate the trigger signal address for printing the label. Among them, if the address is true, it means that there is a battery cell at the printing station, and the battery cell is triggered to print the label; if the address is false, it means that there is no battery cell at the printing station, and at this time, the battery cell will not be triggered to print the label.

[0168] S505, Read the virtual code.

[0169] S506, Query the battery cell code.

[0170] In the embodiment of the present application, when the host computer polls the label printing process, if it reads that the trigger signal is in the first state, the host computer is triggered to read the virtual code of the current battery cell, and then the corresponding battery cell code is queried in the preset database according to the virtual code.

[0171] S507, Is it necessary to perform transcoding?

[0172] In the embodiment of the present application, for step S507, if yes, then continue to execute steps S508 to S511. If no, then directly execute step S511.

[0173] S508, Call the transcoding interface of MES.

[0174] S509, Data parsing.

[0175] S510, Return the special code.

[0176] S511, Send to the coding machine.

[0177] In the embodiment of the present application, if no transcoding is performed, then the DMC code corresponding to the battery cell code can be directly sent to the coding machine; if transcoding is performed, then after the transcoding process, the DMC code corresponding to the special code can be sent to the coding machine.

[0178] In the embodiment of the present application, for data parsing and transcoding processing of the battery cell code, the obtained special code can be a relatively long DMC code. Among them, for the special code, all five lines are custom content. Exemplarily, the first line is a unique character; the first 9 digits of the second line are the DUNS code, and the last six digits are the OCV2 test time; the first three digits of the third line are the Module number, the 4th to 7th digits are the manufacturer code + the base MES version number, and the last six digits are the 32-bit serial number; the first six digits of the fourth line are the cathode wire drawing number + the anode wire drawing number + the assembly wire drawing number, and the last three digits are the IMPB value; the first few digits of the fifth line are the weight of the finished battery cell, the middle five digits are the lower bin capacity value, and the last four digits are the OCV2 value.

[0179] S512, Receive data and wait for PLC to trigger printing.

[0180] S513, Is it sent successfully?

[0181] In the embodiment of the present application, for step S513, if no, then continue to execute step S514, and then end the process; if yes, then continue to execute steps S515 to S516, and then end the process.

[0182] S514, Perform the processing of sending NG.

[0183] S515, Perform the processing of sending OK.

[0184] S516, trigger printing.

[0185] In the embodiment of the present application, taking the PLC control mode as an example, when the host computer determines to send OK, the control device can perform the OK sending process at this time, specifically triggering the coder to print.

[0186] It can be seen that in the related art, first, the printer driver is installed. After the battery cell reaches the printing station, the PLC transmits the virtual code to the specified position and triggers the host computer. The host computer searches for the corresponding battery cell code, and then sends the DMC code corresponding to the battery cell code to the printer. In the embodiment of the present application, the method of calling the printer driver is modified to use network port communication and the ZPL command; after the battery cell reaches the specified position, the virtual code is placed at the specified position. The host computer searches for the battery cell code corresponding to the virtual code in the preset database through the virtual code, and according to the requirements of the battery cell model, calls the transcoding interface of the MES to obtain the DMC code corresponding to the special code, and sends the DMC code to the coder. The main process is as Figure 5 shown.

[0187] That is to say, in the embodiment of the present application, after the PLC and the host computer are ready, the device is in a normal operating state. When the PLC detects that a battery cell is in place at the printing station, it triggers the host computer to send printing data.

[0188] Specifically, the host computer polls and reads the trigger signal of the printing label. When the read trigger point is True, it reads the virtual code, searches for the battery cell code corresponding to the virtual code in the preset database, determines whether transcoding is required. If transcoding is required, it calls the transcoding interface of the MES to obtain the special code. If not, it directly uses the battery cell code, sends the DMC code to the coder, and finally feeds back a completion signal (i.e., a sending result signal). After the PLC receives the result signal, it resets the trigger signal.

[0189] The embodiment of the present application provides a printing method. The specific implementation of the foregoing embodiment is elaborated in detail through the above embodiment. It can be seen from this that according to the technical solution of the foregoing embodiment, modifying the method of calling the printer driver to use network port communication and the ZPL command can prevent other programs from affecting printer data, thereby being able to solve the situation of data misalignment in the buffer area caused by other programs calling the printer driver and improving the printing accuracy of the DMC code.

[0190] In another embodiment of the present application, based on the production printing system 10 of the foregoing embodiment, the host computer has a graphical user interface (GUI).

[0191] In a possible implementation manner, Figure 6Schematic diagram of the first display interface of a production and printing system provided by an embodiment of the present application. This interface is located on the host computer. As Figure 6 shown, the host computer is also used to display the first display interface of the dimension measurement process on the current interface of the host computer.

[0192] It can be understood that an application program is running on the current interface of the host computer. By opening the application program, the first display interface of the application program can be displayed on the current interface of the host computer.

[0193] It should be noted that during the production process of the battery, multiple processes may be included, and the first display interfaces corresponding to different processes may be different. Figure 6 Shown is the first display interface of the dimension measurement process. Exemplarily, it can be the main interface of the dimension measurement process.

[0194] In some embodiments, the host computer is further used to, when the connection statuses in the first display area of the first display interface are all normal, in response to the selection operation of the operation option in the second display area of the first display interface, enter the running state of the dimension measurement process.

[0195] In the embodiment of the present application, as Figure 6 shown, the first display area 601 of the first display interface can be used to display the connection statuses of the host computer with the PLC, heartbeat, and at least one DMC code reader.

[0196] As in the foregoing embodiments, after the host computer is turned on, the application program runs and the first display interface of the application program is displayed on the current interface. Among them, after the user logs in, a "Start" option is set in the second display area 602 of the first display interface. The user can click or check this option, so that the host computer receives the selection operation of the operation option on the current interface and responds to this operation, causing the host computer to enter the running state.

[0197] In this way, the user can control the running state of the host computer through the "Start" option in the second display area 602 to control the rhythm of the cell dimension measurement process, thereby helping to improve the printing efficiency of the production and printing system.

[0198] In another possible implementation, Figure 7 Schematic diagram of the second display interface of a production and printing system provided by an embodiment of the present application. This interface is located on the host computer.

[0199] In some embodiments, the host computer is further used to, in response to the selection operation of the target menu item in the third display area 603 of the first display interface, display on the current interface of the host computer as Figure 7 shown the second display interface.

[0200] Among them, the following one or more menus are displayed on the third display area 603 of the first display interface: real-time production data, first-piece information, production output statistics, alarm query, data query, parameter configuration, debugging tool, user management, and authority item management.

[0201] In the embodiment of the present application, as Figure 6 shown, a menu bar is provided on the third display area 603 of the first display interface, which may include menu items such as "real-time production data", "first-piece information", "production output statistics", and "parameter configuration". It can be understood that the third display area 603 may also include other menu items. For example, alarm query, data query, debugging tool, user management, and authority item management, etc.; or, the above menu items may also include other sub-menu items, which can be specifically set according to the actual production situation of the battery cells. For example, the "alarm query" menu item may further include sub-menu items "PLC alarm" and "host computer alarm"; the "parameter configuration" menu item may further include sub-menu items "process parameters", "equipment parameters", "obtain battery cell barcode when entering the station", "check battery cell status", "obtain data when leaving the station", etc.

[0202] The user can click on the "equipment parameters" sub-menu item under the "parameter configuration" menu item to enter the second display interface as Figure 7 shown. Among them, the left side of the second display interface includes option bars such as "real-time production data", "first-piece information", "production output statistics", "alarm query", "data query", "parameter configuration" (including "equipment parameters", "first-piece", "obtain battery cell barcode when entering the station", "check battery cell status", "obtain data when leaving the station", "marking", "visual inspection", "battery cell cancellation", "code conversion"), etc., and the right side is a schematic diagram of the "equipment parameters" interface. After the worker verifies and logs in and enters equipment parameters such as "basic data", "specification parameter settings", and "basic control tasks" on this page, for example, selects "enable DMC coding task" in the "basic control tasks", etc., to start the production printing system.

[0203] In some embodiments, the host computer is further configured to display the following one or more pieces of information on the fourth display area 604 of the first display interface when it is in the running state: operation logs of the dimension measurement process, MES logs, and error logs.

[0204] It can be understood that when the host computer is in the running state, during the execution of the above method, and the host computer reads that the trigger signal is set to true, at this time, the label printing process is triggered. Then, on the fourth display area 604 of the first display interface, the operation logs of the entire dimension measurement process, MES logs, and error logs can be displayed to implement data log traceability and be able to promptly detect whether there are any abnormalities in the battery cells.

[0205] In yet another possible implementation, Figure 8 FIG. Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of a first device parameter interface of a printing device provided by an embodiment of the present application, and this interface is located on the host computer.

[0206] In some embodiments, the host computer is further configured to, in response to a selection operation on a target menu item in a third display area on the first display interface, display a first device parameter interface of the printing device on the current interface of the host computer; and in response to a first input operation on the first device parameter interface, generate a first printing instruction corresponding to the case where the coding mode is selected as the battery cell code.

[0207] Wherein, as Figure 8 shown, the first device parameter interface at least includes one or more of the following: label paper height, label paper width, printing barcode length, element space height, X-axis starting position, Y-axis starting position, number of DM block rows, number of DM block columns, coding mode, font height, and font width.

[0208] In yet another possible implementation, Figure 9 FIG. Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of a second device parameter interface of a printing device provided by an embodiment of the present application, and this interface is located on the host computer.

[0209] In some embodiments, the host computer is further configured to, in response to a selection operation on a target menu item in a third display area on the first display interface, display a second device parameter interface of the printing device on the current interface of the host computer; and in response to a second input operation on the second device parameter interface, generate a second printing instruction corresponding to the case where the coding mode is selected as the special code;

[0210] Wherein, the second device parameter interface at least includes one or more of the following: label paper height, label paper width, printing barcode length, element space height, X-axis starting position, Y-axis starting position, number of DM block rows, number of DM block columns, coding mode, font height, and font width.

[0211] It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, according to Figure 8 or Figure 9 the shown interface, the dynamic generation instruction rule of the printing device can be implemented.

[0212] It should also be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, TCP communication is adopted here. When the peripheral driver of the printing device receives barcode information, instructions are generated according to the configuration information, which are divided into three parts:

[0213] (1) Calculate the printing width by multiplying (label paper width + left exposed backing paper + right exposed backing paper) by 12, and the printing direction controls the overall direction. Among them, the printing width is in pixel units, and every 12 pixels is 1 millimeter (mm). In addition, for the printing height, the printing height is the same as the printing width.

[0214] (2) The element space height is the magnification factor of the DMC code, the starting position of the X / Y axis is to adjust the position of the DMC code from the origin, and the number of rows and columns of the DM block is to adjust the DMC code block density. This part is used to adjust the DMC code.

[0215] (3) According to Figure 8 or Figure 9 the coding mode shown in the lower right corner, when printing the battery cell code, as Figure 8 shown, among the five lines of characters printed, the first line is custom, the second, third, and fourth lines are the battery cell code content, and the fifth line is custom; when printing the special code, as Figure 9 shown, among the five lines of characters printed, all five lines are custom content. In addition, in Figure 8 or Figure 9 , the font height and width are to adjust the height and width of the characters, the X / Y adjustment is to adjust the position of each line of characters from the origin, and the rotation is used to adjust the rotation angle of the characters.

[0216] It should also be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, when the battery cell code needs to be transcoded, by uploading the battery cell code, MES will return a longer DMC code. Among them, for the printing of the special code, the first line of the battery cell prints unique characters; the first 9 digits of the second line are the DUNS code, and the last six digits are the OCV2 test time; the first three digits of the third line are the Module number, the 4-7 digits are the manufacturer code + base MES version number, and the last six digits are the 32-bit serial number; the first six digits of the fourth line are the cathode wire drawing number + anode wire drawing number + assembly wire drawing number, and the last three digits are the IMPB value; the first few digits of the fifth line are the weight of the finished battery cell, the middle five digits are the lower bin capacity value, and the last four digits are the OCV2 value.

[0217] In another possible implementation, Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of the third device parameter interface of a printing device provided by the embodiment of the present application, and this interface is located on the host computer.

[0218] In some embodiments, the host computer is further configured to, when a material replacement occurs in the printing device, display the third device parameter interface of the printing device on the current interface of the host computer; and in response to the fifth input operation acting on the third device parameter interface, adjust the printing position of the data matrix code information to the target printing position.

[0219] Among them, as Figure 10The third device parameter interface shown at least includes one or more of the following: printing mode, printing depth, printing speed, paper tearing position, label top position, and label left position.

[0220] It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, the material replacement here may include replacing the coding paper or the ribbon, which may cause a certain offset in the printing position. In this case, the overall setting of the printer needs to be performed.

[0221] Exemplarily, when the printer replaces the coding paper or the ribbon, the printing position will have a certain offset. To facilitate the operator to adjust the printing position, a scheme for overall offset adjustment can be set, and according to the printing mode, it can be adjusted to the PC control mode or the PLC control mode, as specifically shown in Figure 10 the figure. Among them, if you need to read / print parameters, please disable the printing mode on the touch screen of the Human Machine Interface (HMI).

[0222] It should also be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, when the input barcode information does not meet the length requirement, the * character can be printed by default.

[0223] It should also be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, network port communication can be used to dynamically generate instructions, and it can be compatible with both fixed barcode and dynamic barcode printing methods; in addition, special character processing can be performed on NG battery cells; in this way, the situation where other programs call the printer driver and cause data misalignment in the buffer area is solved. By using network port communication and ZPL instructions, it can prevent other programs from affecting the printer data, and can also control the status of the printer device in real time. Dynamically generating instructions can also customize the style of the printed content, so that the switching of the printing method can meet various scenarios of printed content; in addition, by performing special character processing on NG battery cells, the efficiency of on-site operators in determining abnormal battery cells can also be improved.

[0224] In the embodiments of the present application, information related to the size measurement process can be displayed on the first display interface of the upper computer, which is beneficial for users to know the relevant information of the current battery cell, and can timely know the problem when the problem occurs, improving the efficiency of the production printing system. Moreover, in this production printing system, the way of calling the printer driver is modified to use network port communication and ZPL commands; customize the DMC code and character code formats, and be compatible with both fixed barcode and dynamic barcode printing methods; and perform special character printing on NG battery cells, so as to improve the printing accuracy of the data matrix code, and can also dynamically configure the printing method according to requirements, thereby improving the printing effect.

[0225] It should be understood that the "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" mentioned throughout the specification means that the specific features, structures or characteristics related to the embodiment are included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Therefore, the "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" that appears throughout the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. In addition, these specific features, structures or characteristics may be combined in one or more embodiments in any suitable manner. It should be understood that in various embodiments of the present application, the magnitude of the serial numbers of the above steps / processes does not mean the order of execution. The order of execution of each step / process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present disclosure. The serial numbers of the embodiments of the present disclosure above are only for description and do not represent the advantages or disadvantages of the embodiments.

[0226] It should be noted that in the application, the term "comprising", "including" or any other variant thereof is intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device including a series of elements not only includes those elements, but also includes other elements not expressly listed, or further includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. Without further limitation, an element defined by the statement "including a..." does not exclude the presence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the element.

[0227] In several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. The device embodiments described above are only illustrative. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division, and there may be other division methods in actual implementation. For example, multiple units or components can be combined, or can be integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored, or not executed. In addition, the couplings, direct couplings or communication connections between the components shown or discussed may be through some interfaces, and the indirect couplings or communication connections of the devices or units may be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0228] The units described above as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units; they may be located in one place or distributed to multiple network units; some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment. In addition, the functional units in the embodiments of the present application may all be integrated in a processing unit, or each unit may be separately a unit, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit; the above integrated units may be implemented in the form of hardware, or in the form of hardware plus software functional units.

[0229] The above are only the preferred embodiments of the present application and are not intended to limit the protection scope of the present application. Any modifications, equivalent replacements, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present application shall be included within the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A production printing system, characterized in that, The production and printing system includes a host computer, a control device, and a printing device, where: The control device is used to set the trigger signal to the first state when it detects that the current battery cell reaches the printing station; The host computer is used to obtain the battery cell code of the current battery cell and send the battery cell code to the printing device when it reads that the trigger signal is in the first state; The printing device is used to receive the battery cell code sent by the host computer based on the network communication with the host computer, and generate a first printing instruction for the battery cell code according to a preset configuration rule, where the first printing instruction instructs the printing device to print the data matrix code information corresponding to the battery cell code.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein, The production and printing system further includes a production execution system, where: The host computer is further used to call the transcoding interface of the production execution system and send the battery cell code to the transcoding interface of the production execution system when it determines that the battery cell code meets the transcoding condition; The production execution system is used to perform transcoding processing on the battery cell code, generate a special code for the current battery cell, and return the special code to the host computer.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein The printing device is further used to receive the special code sent by the host computer based on the network communication with the host computer, and generate a second printing instruction for the special code according to a preset configuration rule, where the second printing instruction instructs the printing device to print the data matrix code information corresponding to the special code.

4. The system according to claim 2, wherein The host computer is further used to determine that the battery cell code meets the transcoding condition when it detects that the current battery cell is an abnormal battery cell.

5. The system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein The host computer is further used to display a first display interface for the dimension measurement process on the current interface of the host computer; and when the connection statuses displayed in the first display area of the first display interface are all normal, in response to a selection operation on the operation option in the second display area on the first display interface, enter the running state of the dimension measurement process.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein The host computer is further used to display a second display interface on the current interface of the host computer in response to a selection operation on the target menu item in the third display area on the first display interface; wherein the following one or more menus are displayed in the third display area of the first display interface: real-time production data, first-piece information, production output statistics, alarm query, data query, parameter configuration, debugging tool, user management, and authority item management.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein The host computer is further used to display a first device parameter interface of the printing device on the current interface of the host computer in response to a selection operation on the target menu item in the third display area on the first display interface; and generate a first printing instruction corresponding to the case where the coding mode is selected as the battery cell code in response to a first input operation on the first device parameter interface. Among them, the first device parameter interface at least includes one or more of the following: label paper height, label paper width, printed barcode length, element space height, X-axis starting position, Y-axis starting position, number of DM block rows, number of DM block columns, coding mode, font height, and font width.

8. The system according to claim 6, wherein the host computer is further configured to, in response to a selection operation on a target menu item in the third display area of the first display interface, display a second device parameter interface of the printing device on the current interface of the host computer; and in response to a second input operation on the second device parameter interface, generate a second printing instruction corresponding to when the coding mode is selected as a special code; wherein the second device parameter interface at least includes one or more of the following: label paper height, label paper width, printed barcode length, element space height, X-axis starting position, Y-axis starting position, number of DM block rows, number of DM block columns, coding mode, font height, and font width.

9. The system according to claim 5, wherein the host computer is further configured to, when a material replacement occurs in the printing device, display a third device parameter interface of the printing device on the current interface of the host computer; and in response to a fifth input operation on the third device parameter interface, control the printing position of the data matrix code information to be adjusted to a target printing position.

10. The system according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the host computer is further configured to read a trigger signal from the control device; and when the trigger signal is in a first state, read the virtual code of the current battery cell; the host computer is further configured to query the battery cell code of the current battery cell in a preset database according to the virtual code; wherein the preset database is used to record the corresponding relationship between the virtual code and the battery cell code.

11. The system according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the host computer is further configured to, after the printing device receives the code to be printed sent by the host computer, return a sending result signal to the control device; wherein the sending result signal is used to indicate whether the code to be printed sent by the host computer is successfully sent, and the code to be printed includes a battery cell code or a special code.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the control device is further configured to, after receiving the sending result signal, reset the trigger signal from the first state to a second state.

13. The system according to claim 11, wherein the control device is further configured to, when the sending result signal indicates that the code to be printed sent by the host computer is successfully sent, trigger the printing device to print the data matrix code information corresponding to the code to be printed.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the printing device is further configured to, when the data matrix code information corresponding to the code to be printed does not meet the length requirement, print the data matrix code information as a preset character.

15. A printing method, characterized in that, Applied to a production printing system, the production printing system includes a host computer, a control device, and a printing device, and the method includes: When the control device detects that the current battery cell reaches the printing station, the control device sets the trigger signal to the first state; When the host computer reads that the trigger signal is in the first state, the host computer obtains the battery cell code of the current battery cell and sends the battery cell code to the printing device; Based on the network communication between the host computer and the printing device, the printing device receives the battery cell code sent by the host computer and generates a first printing instruction for the battery cell code according to a preset configuration rule, and the first printing instruction instructs the printing device to print the data matrix code information corresponding to the battery cell code.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that The production printing system further includes a production execution system. After obtaining the battery cell code of the current battery cell, the method further includes: When the host computer determines that the battery cell code meets the transcoding condition, the host computer calls the transcoding interface of the production execution system and sends the battery cell code to the transcoding interface of the production execution system; The production execution system performs transcoding processing on the battery cell code, generates a special code for the current battery cell, and returns the special code to the host computer.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that, The method further includes: Based on the network communication between the host computer and the printing device, the printing device receives the special code sent by the host computer and generates a second printing instruction for the special code according to a preset configuration rule, and the second printing instruction instructs the printing device to print the data matrix code information corresponding to the special code.

18. The method according to claim 16, wherein The method further includes: When the host computer detects that the current battery cell is an abnormal battery cell, it is determined that the battery cell code meets the transcoding condition.

19. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 18, characterized in that When the host computer reads that the trigger signal is in the first state, obtaining the battery cell code of the current battery cell includes: The host computer reads the trigger signal from the control device, and when reading that the trigger signal is in the first state, reads the virtual code of the current battery cell; According to the virtual code, the host computer queries the battery cell code of the current battery cell in a preset database; wherein, the preset database is used to record the corresponding relationship between the virtual code and the battery cell code.

20. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 18, characterized in that, The method further includes: After the printing device receives the code to be printed sent by the host computer, the host computer returns a sending result signal to the control device; wherein, the sending result signal is used to indicate whether the code to be printed sent by the host computer is sent successfully, and the code to be printed includes a battery cell code or a special code.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein The method further includes: When the sending result signal indicates that the code to be printed sent by the host computer is sent successfully, the control device triggers the printing device to print the data matrix code information corresponding to the code to be printed.

22. The method according to claim 20, wherein The method further includes: When the data matrix code information corresponding to the code to be printed does not meet the length requirement, the printing device prints the data matrix code information as a preset character.

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