Label printer

Abstract

To provide a label printer configured to be easily operated by a finger of a user even when a size of a display unit is small.SOLUTION: A printing label creation apparatus 1 includes: a thermal head 23; a touch panel 5 equipped with a touch sensor 5B and configured to display a cursor K indicating a cursor position corresponding to a position of a character to be edited; and a physical keyboard 2 including a specific key. A CPU 230 is configured to: determine, when a touch position on the touch sensor 5B is detected, whether the specific key included in the physical keyboard 2 is operated or not; correct, when it is determined that the specific key is operated, a touch position of a character string displayed on the touch panel 5 to set a cursor position; when it is not determined that the specific key is operated, set a position corresponding to a position of a character closest to the touch position of the character string displayed on the touch panel 5, as a cursor position; and display the cursor K in the determined cursor position on the touch panel 5.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a label printer for printing labels.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a character string selection device provided with a touch panel. This character string selection device of Patent Document 1 includes an icon display control unit that displays, on the touch panel, a UI component for receiving an adjustment instruction regarding a character string selection range displayed on the touch panel, an operation icon discrimination unit that discriminates a UI component operated by a user's touch operation, a touch operation discrimination unit that discriminates the type of touch operation, and a selection range adjustment unit that executes adjustment content defined in association with the discriminated UI component and the type of touch operation on the character string selection range.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] In the technology described in Patent Document 1, since the icon and the character string are displayed within the same display panel, especially when the size of the display panel is small, the character string may be hidden by the icon or the user's finger, making it difficult to operate.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a technology that enables easy operation with a user's finger even when the size of the display unit in a label printer is small.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] To achieve the above object, the invention of the present application provides a label printer having a printing unit for printing a label, a display unit provided with a touch sensor, the display unit being capable of displaying a character string including a plurality of characters for printing by the printing unit, and a cursor indicating a cursor position corresponding to the position of a character to be edited on the character string. The label printer further has a physical keyboard including specific keys and a control unit. The control unit executes a touch detection process for detecting a touch position on the touch sensor, an operation determination process for determining whether the specific key included in the physical keyboard is operated when the touch position is detected in the touch detection process, a first cursor position determination process for, when it is determined in the operation determination process that the specific key is operated when the touch position is detected in the touch detection process, correcting the touch position detected in the touch detection process of the character string displayed on the display unit to be the cursor position, and for, when it is not determined in the operation determination process that the specific key is operated when the touch position is detected in the touch detection process, setting as the cursor position a position corresponding to the position of the character closest to the touch position detected in the touch detection process of the character string displayed on the display unit, and a first cursor display process for displaying a cursor at the cursor position determined in the first cursor position determination process on the display unit.

[0007] The label printer of the present invention has a display unit, a physical keyboard, and a control unit. The display unit is provided with a touch sensor. The control unit executes a touch detection process, an operation determination process, a first cursor position determination process, and a first cursor display process. When editing the printing content on the label, when the user touches the display unit from above with the printing content displayed on the display unit, the touch position on the touch sensor is detected by the touch detection process. When touching as described above, if the user operates a specific key on the physical keyboard and the operation is identified in the operation determination process and determined to be an operation, the cursor position is corrected by the first cursor positioning process. The touch position detected in the touch detection process of the character string displayed on the display unit is corrected to be the cursor position. In the first cursor display process, a cursor is displayed at the corrected cursor position on the display unit. According to the present invention, when the user touches the display unit and simultaneously operates a specific key, the cursor position is corrected to a position different from the touch position. As a result, when the size of the display unit of the label printer is small, the cursor can be displayed at a position that is not hidden by the user's finger, making it easier for the user to operate with their finger.

Effect of the Invention

[0008] According to the present invention, even when the size of the display unit in the label printer is small, it is possible to make it easier for the user to operate with their finger.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0009]

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Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0010] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to a printing label creating device is shown.

[0011] <External Appearance Schematic Configuration> As shown in FIG. 1, the printing label creating device 1 includes a housing 1A that forms an outer shell. The printing label creating device 1 is an example of a label printer. The housing 1A includes an upper cover 17 that forms the upper surface of the device. The upper cover 17 includes a cartridge cover 17a that covers a cartridge border (not shown) on the rear side. On the front side of the upper cover 17, for example, a rectangular opening edge 6 adjacent to the cartridge cover 17a is provided.

[0012] A physical keyboard 2 is provided around the opening edge 6. The physical keyboard 2 includes a key group 3 having a plurality of operation keys capable of performing various operations such as character input from the front to the back of the upper cover 17, and a function key group 4 for executing various functions such as a power switch and up, down, left, and right keys. The function key group 4 includes, for example, a power button 4f at the right side position of the opening edge 6 and up, down, left, and right keys 4d at the lower side position thereof. The plurality of operation keys provided in the key group 3 include a "Delete" key, a "BackSpace" key, an "Enter" key, etc. as shown in the figure. The up, down, left, and right keys 4d are an example of a specific key (details will be described later).

[0013] Inside the opening edge 6, a touch panel 5 is provided. The touch panel 5 is an example of a display unit. The touch panel 5 includes a touch sensor 5B that allows an operator to perform a desired operation input while visually recognizing the display content in a translucent state.

[0014] In the printing label creating device 1 of the present embodiment, a printed label (not shown) on which a character string corresponding to a user operation using the touch panel 5 is printed can be created. For example, the operator can input and edit a character string consisting of a plurality of characters by using the operation key group 3 and the up, down, left, and right keys 4d, etc. At this time, by touching the touch panel 5 with a finger, as shown in FIG. 2, the position of a cursor K, which is a symbol representing the position to be edited in the character string, can be changed. At this time, in order to detect the above touch for designating the display position of the cursor K, a CPU 230 (described later) provided in a control circuit 210 (described later) is provided with an operation detection unit (not shown). The operation detection unit can identify which part of the touch panel 5 the user has touched based on the detection signal of the touch sensor 5B.

[0015] In the example of FIG. 2, the printed text R of the character string “This is your pen.” is displayed on the touch panel 5. Also, in this example, it represents an example of the state after editing the printed text R, and a cursor K is displayed after the character string “This is your pen.” In this example, the cursor K is displayed immediately to the right of the character to be edited in the character string. Therefore, in the illustrated example, the character to be edited is a period “.”. Note that the display of the cursor K is not limited to such a mode, and it may be displayed directly below the character itself that constitutes the character string, that is, the character, or may be displayed so as to surround the character.

[0016] <Internal Structure of the Housing> As shown in FIG. 3, inside the housing 1A, there are provided a first roll 102 around which a strip-shaped base material tape 101 is wound, a second roll 104 around which a transparent cover film 103 is wound, a thermal head 23 for performing desired printing formation on the cover film 103, a feed roller 27, and a cutter 40. A label discharge port 1B opened in the housing 1A is provided on the downstream side in the conveyance direction from the cutter 40. The thermal head 23 is an example of a printing unit.

[0017] Also, inside the housing 1A, there are provided a printing drive circuit 205 for energizing the heating element 23a of the thermal head 23, a touch panel drive circuit 207 for driving the touch panel 5, a roller drive circuit 209 for controlling a roller drive motor 208 for driving the feed roller 27, a cutter solenoid drive circuit 300 for controlling the energization of a cutter solenoid 280 for operating the cutter 40 to perform a cutting operation, and a control circuit 210 for controlling the operation of the entire printing label creating apparatus 1.

[0018] The control circuit 210 is a so-called microcomputer. Although detailed illustration is omitted, it includes a CPU 230 which is a central processing unit, and a memory 220 composed of, for example, a ROM and a RAM. The CPU 230 performs predetermined processing according to a program stored in advance in the ROM while utilizing the temporary storage function of the RAM. The CPU 230 is an example of a control unit.

[0019] <Basic Operations of the Label Printing Device> In the label printing device 1 with the above configuration, the printed text R generated by an editing operation via the operation key group 3 and the function key group 4 of the physical keyboard 2 is temporarily stored in the memory 220 and is also displayed on the touch panel 5. Then, the base material tape 101 is fed out and conveyed from the first roll 102 by the rotation of the feed roller 27. Also, the cover film 103 is fed out from the second roll 14 and supplied to the feed roller 27. At this time, based on the label image corresponding to the printed text R stored in the memory 220, a plurality of heating elements 23a of the thermal head 23 are energized. Then, the desired printed text R corresponding to the label image is printed on the back surface of the cover film 103 fed out from the second roll 104. Then, the base material tape 101 and the cover film 103 on which the printing has been completed are adhered and integrated by the feed roller 27 and a pressure roller (not shown) to form a printed label tape 109. Thereafter, the cutter 40 operates, and the printed label tape 109 is cut to a predetermined length, and a printed label (not shown) is generated. The generated printed label is discharged from the discharge port 1B of the housing 1A to the outside of the label printing device 1.

[0020] <Features of this Embodiment> As described above with reference to FIG. 2 and the like, when the character string of the printing text R for printing on the printing label is displayed on the touch panel 5 and the editing target position of the character string is represented by the cursor K, the character string and the cursor may be hidden by the user's finger, making the operation difficult. Further, as a result, when the user touches, the cursor K may be displayed at a position different from the intended position, which may be inconvenient. The feature of the present embodiment is that, in order to cope with these situations, when both a touch on the touch panel 5 and an operation of a specific key (described later) included in the physical keyboard 2 are performed, the detected touch position is corrected to be the position of the cursor K. Hereinafter, the details will be described step by step.

[0021] <When the left triangle key is operated> As the above specific key, the case where the "left triangle key" of the up, down, left, and right keys 4d is operated will be described with reference to FIGS. 4(a) to (d). FIGS. 4(a) to (d) are operation examples when, for example, the user wants to add "probably" between "is" and "your" in the state where the character string "This is your pen." is displayed on the touch panel 5.

[0022] In this case, since the user needs to position the cursor K between "is" and "your", usually, the user tries to touch between "is" and "your" with the fingertip 10. However, as described above, the character string and the cursor K may be hidden by the user's fingertip 10 itself, making the operation difficult. Therefore, in this case, the user touches any position inside "your" and presses the "left triangle key". Then, the cursor K, which was previously positioned after "pen.", moves and is displayed in front of "your" as shown in FIG. 4(b). In this case, the user only needs to touch anywhere within the four characters of "your" approximately, without having to touch exactly between "is" and "your", so the operation is easy.

[0023] In the case of moving the position of the cursor K, in the text displayed on the touch panel 5, words are identified as one unit, and the cursor K automatically moves to the left end of the touched word (details will be described later). In other words, the operation of the "left triangle key", which is a specific key, is a key for correcting the touch position touched by the fingertip 10 to immediately before the first character of the touched character string, that is, the word, and setting the corrected touch position as the position of the cursor K.

[0024] After the cursor K has moved as described above, as shown in FIG. 4(c), the user inputs "probably" using the operation key group 3 or the like. At this time, a space can be inserted as appropriate. As a result, as shown in FIG. 4(d), "probably" is incorporated between "is" and "your", and the sentence "This is probably your pen." intended by the user can be completed.

[0025] <When the right triangle key is operated> The case where the "right triangle key" of the up, down, left, and right keys 4d is operated as the above specific key will be described with reference to FIGS. 5(a) to 5(d). FIGS. 5(a) to 5(d) are operation examples when, for example, the user wants to add "favorite" between "your" and "pen" with the character string "This is your pen." displayed on the touch panel 5.

[0026] In this case, the user touches any position inside "your" and presses the "right triangle key" as described above. Then, the cursor K that was previously positioned after "pen." moves and is displayed after "your" as shown in FIG. 5(b). In this case, the user only needs to touch anywhere within the four characters of "your" approximately, without having to touch exactly between "your" and "pen", so the operation is easy.

[0027] Note that, similar to the above, also in this case, words in the text displayed on the touch panel 5 are identified as one unit, and the cursor K automatically moves to the right end of the touched word (details will be described later). In the case of a character string consisting of alphabets as in this example, each one delimited by a space is recognized as a word. However, a comma or a period is recognized as one word by itself. In this case, "This is your pen." is recognized as five words: "This", "is", "your", "pen", and ".". In other words, the operation of the "right triangle key", which is a specific key, is a key for correcting the touch position touched by the fingertip 10 immediately after the end of the character string being touched, that is, the word, and setting the corrected touch position as the position of the cursor K.

[0028] After the cursor K has moved as described above, as shown in FIG. 5(c), the user inputs "favorite" using the operation key group 3 or the like. At that time, a space can be inserted as appropriate. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5(d), "favorite" is incorporated between "your" and "pen", and the sentence "This is your favorite pen." intended by the user can be completed.

[0029] <When not using the specific key> Note that in this embodiment, it is also possible to use the conventional method without using the touch position correction function as described above. In that case, for example, as shown in FIG. 6(a), when the user touches with the fingertip 10 in a state where the character string "This is your pen." is displayed, the cursor K moves to the position corresponding to the touched position. In this example, as shown in FIG. 6(b), the cursor K moves and is displayed between the "o" and "u" of "your".

[0030] In the state shown in FIG. 6(b), when the user wants to add "probably" between "is" and "your" as shown in FIG. 4 above, as shown in FIG. 6(c), by pressing the "left triangle key" of the up / down / left / right keys 4d twice, the cursor K can be moved to before "your" and displayed.

[0031] In the state shown in FIG. 6(b), when the user wants to add "favorite" between "your" and "pen" as shown in FIG. 5 above, as shown in FIG. 6(d), by pressing the "right triangle key" of the up / down / left / right keys 4d twice, the cursor K can be moved to after "your" and displayed.

[0032] <In the case of Japanese character strings> The above has been described by taking the case where the character string is alphabetic as an example. However, in this embodiment, the same method as above is also executed when the character string is Japanese.

[0033] <When the left triangle key is operated> In the case of a Japanese character string, the case where the "left triangle key" of the up / down / left / right keys 4d is operated as the specific key will be described with reference to FIGS. 7(a) to (d). FIGS. 7(a) to (d) are operation examples when, for example, a user wants to add "from morning" before "cadre" in the state where the character string "A cadre meeting will be held." is displayed on the touch panel 5 and make it "From morning, a cadre meeting will be held.".

[0034] In this case, the user touches any location inside "cadre" and presses the "left triangle key". Then, the cursor K that has been located after "will be held." moves to before "cadre" and is displayed as shown in FIG. 7(b). In this case, the user does not need to precisely touch before "cadre", and it is sufficient to approximately touch anywhere within the two characters of "cadre", so the operation is easy.

[0035] In addition, when moving the position of the cursor K in this case, similar to the above, words in the text displayed on the touch panel 5 are identified as one unit, and the cursor K automatically moves to the left end of the touched word (details will be described later). In the case of a character string in Japanese as in this example, "words" are recognized by performing part-of-speech analysis by a known method, and each one after the part-of-speech analysis is recognized as a word. However, punctuation marks are recognized as one word by themselves. In this case, "A cadre meeting will be held." is recognized as five words: the noun "cadre", the noun "meeting", the particle "wo", the verb "hold", the suffix "masu", and the period "." as shown in FIG. 8(a) as a result of part-of-speech analysis.

[0036] In addition, when inconveniences occur due to being too detailed in part-of-speech analysis by the above-known method, it is also possible for the user to register desired words in advance. For example, in the example shown in the upper part of FIG. 8(b), where "hold" in the above text is divided into two words, the verb "hold" and the suffix "masu" in the above part-of-speech analysis, an example is shown where the user registers the verb "hold" and thereafter it is treated as one word. In the example shown in the lower part of FIG. 8(b), where "cadre meeting" in the above text is divided into two words, the noun "cadre" and the noun "meeting" in the above part-of-speech analysis, an example is shown where the user registers the noun "cadre meeting" and thereafter it is treated as one word.

[0037] That is, also in this example, the operation of the "left triangle key", which is a specific key, is a key for correcting the touch position touched by the fingertip 10 immediately before the first character of the touched word and setting the corrected touch position as the position of the cursor K.

[0038] After the cursor K has moved as described above, as shown in FIG. 7(c), the user inputs "from morning" using the operation key group 3 or the like. As a result, as shown in FIG. 7(d), "from morning" is incorporated before "cadre", and the sentence "A cadre meeting will be held from morning." intended by the user can be completed.

[0039] In the case of a Japanese character string, when the "right triangle key" among the up, down, left, and right keys 4d is operated as the specific key, since it is the same as the content described above, illustration and explanation are omitted.

[0040] <Control Flow> To implement the above method, the content of the process executed by the CPU 230 of the control circuit 210 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 9. First, in S10, based on the detection result of the touch sensor 5B described above, the operation detection unit of the CPU 3230 determines whether a touch on the touch panel 5 has been detected. If a touch is detected, a Yes determination is made and the process proceeds to S20. The process executed in S10 is an example of touch detection processing.

[0041] In S20, it is determined whether the "left triangle key" has been operated simultaneously with the touch. If the "left triangle key" has not been operated, a No determination is made and the process proceeds to S60 described later. If the "left triangle key" has been operated, a Yes determination is made and the process proceeds to S30. Note that the "left triangle key" is an example of the second specific key.

[0042] In S30, all the character strings displayed on the touch panel 5 at this time are decomposed into words by the method described above. The character string at this time is an example of the first character string. That is, for an alphabetic character string, the space between spaces is decomposed as one word, and for a Japanese character string, one part of speech is decomposed as one word by part-of-speech analysis. Then, the process proceeds to S40.

[0043] Here, in the present embodiment, a plurality of specific keys including the above-mentioned "left triangle key" and "right triangle key", etc., and the above-mentioned cursor position correction modes executed by each specific key are associated as a one-to-one correlation, and are stored in the memory 220 in the form of a table, for example. FIG. 10 shows an example of such a table. As described above, the "left triangle key" is associated with a mode of correcting the touch position before the character string being touched, that is, immediately before the first character of the touched word. Similarly, the "right triangle key" is associated with a mode of correcting the touch position after the character string being touched, that is, immediately after the last character of the touched word.

[0044] When shifting from S30 to S40, the above table is referred to. Based on the Yes determination in S20, in S40, the touch position is corrected before the character string including the touch position, that is, the word, and the cursor position is determined at that position (refer to FIGS. 4(b) and 7(b) described above).

[0045] In S50, the cursor K is displayed at the cursor position determined in S40. The process executed in S50 is an example of the first cursor display process. When S50 is completed, this flow ends.

[0046] On the other hand, in S60 where the transition is made after S20 is determined to be No, it is determined whether the "right triangle key" is operated simultaneously with the above touch. If the "right triangle key" is not operated, a No determination is made, and the process proceeds to S90 described later. If the "right triangle key" is operated, a Yes determination is made, and the process proceeds to S70. The processes executed in this S60 and the above-mentioned S20 are examples of operation determination processes. Also, the "right triangle key" is an example of the first specific key.

[0047] In S70, similar to the above S30, for all the character strings displayed on the touch panel 5 at this time, decomposition into words is performed by the method described above. The character string at this time is also an example of the first character string. When transitioning from S70 to S80, the above-mentioned table shown as an example in FIG. 10 is referred to, and based on the Yes determination in S60, in S80, the touch position is corrected after the character string, that is, the word including the touch position, and the cursor position is determined at that position (see FIG. 5(b) above). Then, the process proceeds to the above-mentioned S50, and the cursor K is displayed at the cursor position determined in S80.

[0048] On the other hand, in S90 where S60 makes a No determination and transitions, among the character strings displayed on the touch panel 5 at this time, the cursor position is determined after the character closest to the touch position detected in S10 (see FIG. 6(b) above). Then, the process proceeds to the above-mentioned S50, and the cursor K is displayed at the cursor position determined in S90.

[0049] In the above, the processes executed in S30, S40, S70, S80, and S90 are examples of the first cursor position determination process.

[0050] <Effects of the Embodiment> As described above, the printing label creating device 1 of the present embodiment includes a touch panel 5, a physical keyboard 2, and a CPU 230. The touch panel 5 is provided with a touch sensor 5B. When the user edits the printing content on the label, when touching from above the touch panel 5 with the fingertip 10 while the printing content is displayed on the touch panel 5, the touch position with respect to the touch sensor 5B is detected in S10. When touching as described above, if the user operates a specific key on the physical keyboard 2 and the operation is identified in S20 and S60 and determined to be being operated, the cursor position is corrected in S30, S40, S70, S80, and S90. That is, the touch position detected in S10 with respect to the character string displayed on the touch panel 5 is corrected to be the cursor position. In S50, on the touch panel 5, a cursor K is displayed at the corrected cursor position. As a result of the above, according to the present embodiment, when the user touches the touch panel 5 and also operates the above specific key, the display position of the cursor K is corrected to a position different from the touch position. As a result, when the size of the touch panel 5 of the printing label creating device 1 is small, the cursor K can be displayed at a position that is not hidden by the user's fingertip 10, making it easier to operate with the user's fingertip 10.

[0051] Also, in particular in the present embodiment, different correction modes are assigned to each of the plurality of specific keys according to the correlation stored in the memory 220 (see FIG. 10). According to the present embodiment, the user can appropriately select a correction mode for the cursor position by appropriately selecting the specific key to be operated together with the touch on the touch sensor 5B.

[0052] Also, in particular in the present embodiment, when the user edits the character string displayed on the touch panel 5, the user can display the cursor K at the right end of the character string by touching on the character string and operating the "right triangle key" (see S80). Therefore, for example, even when touching with a finger above the middle or near the left end of the character string, it is possible to suppress the display of the cursor K from being hidden by the finger. Also, since the cursor K is positioned at the right end of the character string, for example, when it is desired to start erasing from the right end character by operating the "BackSpace" key later, erasing can be started quickly, which is highly convenient.

[0053] In particular, in this embodiment, when the user edits the character string displayed on the touch panel 5, by touching above the character string and operating the "left triangle key", the cursor K can be displayed at the left end of the character string (see S40). Therefore, for example, even when touching above the middle or near the right end of the character string with a finger, it is possible to suppress the display of the cursor K from being hidden by the finger. Further, with the cursor K positioned at the left end of the character string, for example, when it is desired to start erasing from the leftmost character by operating the "Delete" key later, erasing can be started quickly, which is highly convenient.

[0054] Note that in the above, the touch operation on the touch panel 5 performed together with the operation of the specific key may not be a simple touch but may require "long pressing". That is, when both the long press on the touch panel 5 and the operation of the specific key are performed together, the correction of the cursor position described above is performed. In this case, in the case of a simple touch (not a long press), the above correction is not performed, and the cursor K is displayed at a position corresponding to the position of the character closest to the touch position, for example, on the right side or left side or lower side of the character. Furthermore, at that time, when the long press on the character string of the touch panel 5 + the operation of the "right triangle key" is performed, position correction to the right end of the character string may be performed, and in other cases, position correction to the left end of the character string may be performed. Alternatively, when the long press on the character string of the touch panel 5 + the operation of the "left triangle key" is performed, position correction to the left end of the character string may be performed, and in other cases, position correction to the right end of the character string may be performed.

[0055] Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible without departing from the spirit and technical idea thereof. Hereinafter, such modification examples will be described in order. The same reference numerals are given to the parts equivalent to the above embodiment, and the description will be omitted or simplified as appropriate.

[0056] (1) When distinguishing between a touch by a fingertip and other touches The control procedure executed by the CPU 230 of the control circuit 210 in this modification example is shown in FIG. 11. In the flow shown in FIG. 11, a new S15 is provided between S10 and S20 of the flow shown in FIG. 9 described above.

[0057] That is, if a touch is detected at S10 and the determination is Yes, the process proceeds to the newly provided S15. At S15, it is determined whether the touch detected at S10 is a touch by a finger or some other touch. Specifically, the thickness of the contacted object is detected by a known method. The process executed at S15 is an example of a finger determination process.

[0058] If the detected thickness is equal to or greater than a threshold value appropriately determined in advance, it is regarded as a touch by the fingertip 10, S15 is determined as Yes, the process proceeds to S20 described above, and thereafter, the same process is executed. That is, the correction mode is switched according to whether the "left triangle key" or the "right triangle key" is operated at the same time. On the other hand, if the detected thickness is less than the threshold value, it is regarded as a touch by something other than a finger, for example, a thin object such as a pen, S15 is determined as No, the process proceeds to S90 described above, and thereafter, the same process is executed. That is, at this point, among the character strings displayed on the touch panel 5, the cursor position is determined after the character closest to the touch position detected at S10 and S15.

[0059] The content of the process other than the above is the same as the content described above with reference to FIG. 9, and the description is omitted.

[0060] In this modification example, the subsequent process differs according to the result of S15 executed by the CPU 230. When it is determined in S15 that there is a touch by a human fingertip 10, similar to the above-described embodiment, when S20 or S60 is determined to be Yes, the touch position is corrected to be the cursor position, or when S20 and S60 are determined to be No, the position corresponding to the position of the character closest to the touch position is selectively executed as the cursor position. When a specific key is operated and S20 and S60 are determined to be Yes, the corrections in S30, S40, S70, S80, and S90 described above are performed, and the cursor K is displayed at the cursor position after the above correction in S50, thereby suppressing the cursor K from being hidden by a finger. On the other hand, when it is not determined that there is a touch by a human fingertip 10, in S90, the cursor K is displayed at the cursor position corresponding to the position of the character closest to the touch position detected in S10.

[0061] That is, according to this modification example, in the case of a touch by something other than the human fingertip 10 that does not require correction, the user's discomfort can be suppressed by normally displaying the cursor K at the position of the character closest to the touched position.

[0062] In the case of this modification example, unlike the above-described embodiment, in order to clearly distinguish whether it is the fingertip 10 with a relatively large contact area or the pen tip or the like with a relatively small contact area, a high-sensitivity and high-cost sensor is required as the touch sensor 5B.

[0063] (2) Case of Executing Correction Only by a Long Press Operation on the Touch Panel Without Operating a Specific Key In this modification example, as shown in FIG. 12(a), in a state where the same string "This is your pen." as described above is displayed on the touch panel 5, for example, the user performs an operation of continuously touching any location inside "your" for a predetermined time or more as shown in FIG. 12(b). Hereinafter, an operation in which the user continuously touches a certain position on the touch panel for a predetermined time or more will be described as a "long press operation". Then, as shown in FIG. 12(c), the cursor K that was previously positioned after "pen." moves and is displayed after "your". In this case, the user only needs to long-press anywhere within the four characters of "your" instead of precisely touching between "your" and "pen", making the operation easy.

[0064] On the other hand, when the user touches with the fingertip 10 for a short time less than the predetermined time, for example, the cursor K moves to the position corresponding to the touched position as shown in FIG. 12(d). In this example, as shown in FIG. 12(e), the cursor K moves and is displayed between "o" and "u" in "your".

[0065] The control procedure executed by the CPU 230 of the control circuit 210 in this modified example is shown in FIG. 13. In the flow shown in FIG. 13, instead of S20 after S10 shown in the flow of FIG. 9 described above, S15 is newly provided, and instead of S40, S80 is provided, and S60 and S70 are omitted.

[0066] That is, if a touch is detected at S10 and the determination is Yes, the process proceeds to newly provided S17. In S17, it is determined whether the touch operation detected at S10 is the long-press operation or an operation other than the long-press operation. The process executed in S17 is an example of a touch determination process.

[0067] If the long-press operation has been performed, the determination at S17 is Yes, and the process proceeds to S30 described above, and thereafter, the same process is executed. That is, in S30, for all the character strings displayed on the touch panel 5 at this time, decomposition into words is performed by the method described above. The character string at this time is an example of the second character string.

[0068] After that, in S80, as described above, the touch position is corrected after the character string, that is, the word including the touch position, and the cursor position is determined at that position (see FIG. 12(c) above). Then, the process proceeds to S50 described above, and the cursor K is displayed at the cursor position determined in S80. The process executed in S50 in this modification example is an example of the second cursor display process.

[0069] On the other hand, in S17, if the long-press operation is not performed, a No determination is made, and the process proceeds to S90 described above, and the same process is executed. That is, among the character strings displayed on the touch panel 5 at this time, the cursor position is determined after the character closest to the touch position detected in S10 (see FIGS. 12(d) and (e)). Then, the process proceeds to S50 described above, and the cursor K is displayed at the cursor position determined in S90.

[0070] In the above, the processes executed in S30, S80, and S90 are examples of the second cursor positioning process.

[0071] In this modification example, as in the above embodiment, when the user edits the printing content on the label, when touching from above the touch panel 5 with the fingertip 10 while the printing content is displayed on the touch panel 5, the touch position with respect to the touch sensor 5B is detected in S10. At this time, during the touch, if the user continues to touch for a predetermined time or more, the touch operation is identified in S17, and when it is determined that the touch continues for a predetermined time or more, the cursor position is corrected in S40. That is, the touch position detected in S10 with respect to the character string displayed on the touch panel 5 is corrected to the right end of the character string. In S50, on the touch panel 5, the cursor K is displayed at the corrected cursor position, that is, the right end of the character string. According to this modification example, when the user touches the string displayed on the touch panel 5 and continues to touch for a predetermined time or longer, the cursor position is corrected to the right end of the string regardless of the touch position. As a result, even when the size of the touch panel 5 of the printing label creating device 1 is small, the cursor K can be displayed at a position not hidden by the user's fingertip 10, making it easy to operate with the user's fingertip 10. Also, since the cursor K is positioned at the right end of the string, for example, when it is desired to subsequently operate the "BackSpace" key to delete characters from the right end, deletion can be started quickly, providing high convenience.

[0072] In the above, the correction is made so that the cursor K is positioned at the right end of the string, that is, the word, by the long-press operation on the string displayed on the touch panel 5. Conversely, the correction may be made so that the cursor K is positioned at the left end of the string, that is, the word, by the long-press operation. Furthermore, at the position where the long-press operation is performed on a word in the string displayed on the touch panel 5, the right end or the left end of the word may be switched. That is, if the long-press operation is performed on the first half, that is, the left side, of a horizontally written word from left to right, the cursor K may be positioned at the left end of the word, and if the long-press operation is performed on the second half, that is, the right side, of the word, the cursor K may be positioned at the right end of the word. In this case, when the long-press operation is performed exactly in the middle of a horizontally written word, it is sufficient to position the cursor K in the predetermined direction out of the left end and the right end of the word.

[0073] (3) Others Note that in the above, the arrows shown in FIG. 3 show an example of the signal flow and do not limit the signal flow direction. Also, the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 9, 11, and 13 do not limit the present invention to the procedures shown in the above flows, and procedures may be added, deleted, or the order may be changed within the scope not departing from the gist and technical idea of the invention.

[0074] Also, in addition to what has been already described above, the methods according to the above-described embodiments and each modification example may be appropriately combined and used.

[0075] Although not exemplified one by one, the present invention can be implemented with various modifications within the scope not departing from the gist thereof.

Explanation of Signs

[0076] 1 Printing label creating device (an example of a label writer) 2 Physical keyboard 4d Arrow keys (an example of specific keys) 5 Touch panel (an example of a display unit) 5B Touch sensor 23 Thermal head (an example of a printing unit) 210 Control circuit 220 Memory 230 CPU (an example of a control unit)

Claims

1. A printing unit that prints labels, A display unit provided with a touch sensor, which can display a character string including a plurality of characters for printing by the printing unit, and a cursor indicating a cursor position corresponding to the position of a character to be edited on the character string, A physical keyboard including specific keys, A control unit, A label printer having, The control unit, A touch detection process for detecting a touch position on the touch sensor, An operation determination process for determining whether or not the specific key included in the physical keyboard is being operated when the touch position is detected in the touch detection process, When the touch position is detected in the touch detection process and it is determined in the operation determination process that the specific key is being operated, correct the touch position detected in the touch detection process of the character string displayed on the display unit to be the cursor position, When the touch position is detected in the touch detection process and it is not determined in the operation determination process that the specific key is being operated, set the position corresponding to the position of the character closest to the touch position detected in the touch detection process of the character string displayed on the display unit as the cursor position, A first cursor positioning process, A first cursor display process for displaying a cursor at the cursor position determined in the first cursor positioning process on the display unit, A label printer that executes.

2. Further having a memory, The physical keyboard, Includes a plurality of the specific keys, The memory, Stores a correlation representing the association between each of the plurality of specific keys and each of the plurality of correction modes to be applied when correction is performed in the first cursor positioning process, The control unit, When the touch position is detected in the touch detection process and it is determined in the operation determination process that the specific key is being operated, in the first cursor positioning process, based on the correction mode associated with the specific key by the correlation stored in the memory, correct the touch position detected in the touch detection process of the character string displayed on the display unit, The label printer according to Claim 1.

3. The specific key, Includes a first specific key for instructing cursor movement to the right, The control unit, When a touch position on an arbitrary first character string displayed on the display unit is detected in the touch detection process and it is determined in the operation determination process that the first specific key is being operated, in the first cursor positioning process, based on the correction mode associated by the correlation, the touch position detected in the touch detection process of the character string displayed on the display unit is corrected to the right end of the first character string. The label printer according to claim 2.

4. The specific key includes a second specific key for instructing cursor movement to the left. The control unit When a touch position on an arbitrary first character string displayed on the display unit is detected in the touch detection process and it is determined in the operation determination process that the second specific key is being operated, in the first cursor positioning process, based on the correction mode associated by the correlation, the touch position detected in the touch detection process of the character string displayed on the display unit is corrected to the left end of the first character string. The label printer according to claim 2.

5. The control unit further executes a finger determination process for determining whether a touch by a human finger has been made on the touch sensor. When it is determined in the finger determination process that a touch by a human finger has been made, either the touch position detected in the touch detection process is corrected by the first cursor positioning process to be the cursor position, or the position corresponding to the position of the character closest to the touch position detected in the touch detection process of the character string displayed on the display unit is selectively set as the cursor position. When it is not determined in the finger determination process that a touch by a human finger has been made, the position corresponding to the position of the character closest to the touch position detected in the touch detection process of the character string displayed on the display unit is set as the cursor position. The label printer according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

6. A printing unit for printing a label, A display unit provided with a touch sensor, which can display a character string including a plurality of characters for printing by the printing unit, and a cursor indicating a cursor position corresponding to the position of the character to be edited on the character string. A control unit A label printer having The control unit A touch detection process for detecting a touch position on the touch sensor When the touch position is detected in the touch detection process, a touch determination process for determining whether the touch state has continued for a predetermined time or more; When the touch position on an arbitrary second character string displayed on the display unit is detected in the touch detection process, if it is determined in the touch determination process that the touch state has continued for the predetermined time or more, the touch position detected in the touch detection process of the second character string displayed on the display unit is corrected to the right end of the second character string and set as the cursor position; When the touch position on an arbitrary second character string displayed on the display unit is detected in the touch detection process, if it is not determined in the touch determination process that the touch state has continued for the predetermined time or more, a position corresponding to the position of the character closest to the touch position detected in the touch detection process of the second character string displayed on the display unit is set as the cursor position; A second cursor position determination process; A second cursor display process for displaying a cursor at the cursor position determined in the second cursor position determination process on the display unit; A label printer that executes the above.

7. Further having a physical keyboard, The physical keyboard includes a backspace key, The label printer according to claim 6.

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