Print data creation method, print data creation device, program

Abstract

We provide technology to create printable data for the desired design. [Solution] The computer accepts input of print information into the input area of ​​a print design in which sample information is displayed in the input area, and repeatedly places the print information within the input area so that the size of the area in which the print information is placed approaches the size of the area of ​​the sample information in the print design.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The disclosure of this specification relates to a method for creating print data, a print data creation apparatus, and a program.

Background Art

[0002] Patent Document 1 describes a printing apparatus that obtains a desired print output without requiring complicated management or complex control for various widths of tape by determining the print font to be used for each line of printing based on the magnitude relationship of each line string specified prior to printing and the tape width.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] However, there are limitations in adjusting the print results according to the font size and the type of font. Based on the above circumstances, an object according to one aspect of the present invention is to provide a technique for creating print data capable of printing a desired design.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0005] A method for creating print data according to one aspect of the present invention includes a computer receiving an input of print information to an input area of a print design in which sample information is displayed in the input area, and repeatedly arranging the print information within the input area so that the size of the range where the print information is arranged approaches the size of the range of the sample information occupied by the print design.

[0006] A print data creation apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention includes a control unit that receives input of print information into an input area of ​​a print design in which sample information is displayed in the input area, and repeatedly arranges the print information within the input area such that the size of the area in which the print information is arranged approaches the size of the area of ​​the sample information in the print design.

[0007] A program according to one aspect of the present invention causes a computer to receive input of print information into an input area of ​​a print design in which sample information is displayed in the input area, and to execute a process of repeatedly arranging the print information within the input area such that the size of the area in which the print information is arranged approaches the size of the area of ​​the sample information in the print design. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the above embodiment, it is possible to provide a technology for creating printable data that can print a desired design. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] This is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a printing system. [Figure 2] This is a block diagram illustrating an example of the hardware configuration of an information processing device. [Figure 3] This flowchart shows an example of the processing performed by an information processing device. [Figure 4] This is an example of a format selection screen. [Figure 5] This is an example of the label image display screen before editing. [Figure 6] This is an example of the label image editing screen before editing. [Figure 7] This is an example of the label image editing screen after editing. [Figure 8] This is another example of the label image display screen after editing. [Figure 9] This is yet another example of the label image display screen after editing. [Figure 10] This is yet another example of the label image display screen after editing. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following, embodiments of the present invention will be described using as an example a system that includes a printing device 1, which is capable of printing characters, images, etc., onto a tape that is a printing medium, and cutting the printed tape (label) and ejecting it to the outside of the device, and an information processing device 100 on which an application that assists in the creation of the label (label creation support application) is operated. In the system shown in Figure 1, the information processing device 100 outputs print data including a label image to the printing device 1, and the printing device 1 prints the label image onto the tape to create a label with the label image printed on it.

[0011] In this specification, "tape" refers to a long, thin, strip-shaped printable medium made of plastic, paper, or any other material. Tape typically has an adhesive layer and is detachable. However, tape does not necessarily have an adhesive layer. A "label" refers to a label on which some information is printed using tape as the printable medium. The printing method of the printing apparatus 1 according to this embodiment is not particularly limited. The printing apparatus 1 is, for example, a thermal printer that performs printing using a thermal transfer method or a thermal-sensitive method. However, the printing apparatus 1 is not limited to a thermal printer; it may also be an inkjet printer or a laser printer. The printing apparatus 1 and the information processing apparatus 100 exchange data, for example, by wireless communication, but the communication between the printing apparatus 1 and the information processing apparatus 100 is not limited to wireless communication; it may also be communication using a wired cable.

[0012] The information processing device 100 is a device that creates a label image to be printed on a label by the printing device 1 and transmits print data including the label image to the printing device 1. It is a computer on which a label creation support application runs. The information processing device 100 can create any label image, and can also create label images for cut labels using pre-prepared print design formats. Cut labels are labels made from tape that has been pre-cut into shapes such as circles or squares, and the label image for cut labels is created to match the cut-out shapes such as circles or squares. The information processing device 100 can be any device capable of creating print data including label images, such as a tablet, notebook computer, or smartphone. Furthermore, the information processing device 100 is not limited to a mobile device; it may also be a stationary device.

[0013] The information processing device 100 includes, for example, a processor 101, a storage device 102, an input device 103, a display device 104, and a communication device 105, as shown in Figure 2, and these may be connected via a bus. The processor 101 is an example of the control unit of the information processing device 100. The processor 101 includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and executes the program 102a stored in the storage device 102. The processor 101 may also include any electrical circuit such as a GPU (Graphics processing unit), ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), or DSP (Digital Signal Processor). The storage device 102 is a non-temporary computer-readable medium, such as any semiconductor memory. One or more storage devices 102 include volatile memory such as RAM (Random Access Memory), non-volatile memory such as ROM (Read Only Memory), or flash memory. The storage device 102 may also include magnetic storage devices, optical storage devices, or other types of storage devices. It is desirable that the storage device 102 stores a program 102a and data 102b. The program 102a is, for example, an application that assists in label creation (label creation support application). The data 102b includes, for example, a print design format for cut labels, which will be described later. The input device 103 includes, for example, a touch panel, keyboard, mouse, etc. The input device 103 may further include an audio input device such as a microphone. The display device 104 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, an organic EL display, etc. The communication device 105 is, for example, a device that exchanges data with the printing device 1 by wireless communication.

[0014] In the information processing device 100 of the system configured as described above, a label image is created when the processor 101 executes program 102a. Furthermore, the information processing device 100 sends print data containing the created label image to the printing device 1, and the printing device 1 creates a label with the label image printed on it. The following will specifically explain how the information processing device 100 creates print data, using the case where a label creation support application is executed to create a label image for a cut label as an example.

[0015] When the processor 101 of the information processing device 100 executes program 102a and the user selects to create print data for cut labels, the process shown in Figure 3 begins. First, the processor 101 displays the format selection screen shown in Figure 4 on the display device 104 and accepts the user's selection of a print design format (step S1). Figure 4 shows six print design formats (format 10, format 20, format 30, format 40, format 50, format 60). The print design corresponding to each format is a sample label image for cut labels. Of these, the print designs corresponding to five formats, from format 10 to format 50, have an input area into which arbitrary print information to be printed on the label can be entered, and sample information is displayed in that input area. The sample information is a sample of the print information to be entered in the input area, and in Figure 4, it is one or more repetitions of the string "TEXT". The extent to which the sample information occupies the entire print design affects the impression the print design gives to the user. The sample information shows specific examples of the length and font size of the print information to be entered in the input area, based on the design to be realized in each format. In other words, when users create label images using each format, they can easily reproduce the desired design for each format on a label printed with arbitrary print information by entering print information in the input field in such a way that the range of sample information within the print design of the selected format is similar to the range of print information they enter in the input field.

[0016] When the format selection is accepted, next, the processor 101 accepts the input of print information into the input area (step S2). Here, a case where the user selects format 40 in step S1 and the processor 101 accepts the selection of format 40 will be described as an example. When the selection of format 40 is accepted, first, as shown in FIG. 5, the processor 101 causes the display device 104 to display a label image display screen in which the print design corresponding to format 40 selected by the user, that is, the label image is largely displayed in the label image area 70. In the input area 80 in the label image displayed on the display device 104, sample information C1 in the print design corresponding to format 40 is pre-displayed. Thereafter, when the user selects the input area 80, the processor 101 causes the display device 104 to display a label image editing screen including an input box 90 for editing the information displayed in the input area 80, as shown in FIG. 6. At this time, the sample information C1 displayed in the input area 80 is input into the input box 90. On this label image editing screen, when the user edits the sample information C1 displayed in the input box 90 into arbitrary print information, the processor 101 accepts the input of the print information into the input area 80. FIG. 7 shows a state where the sample information C1 is edited into print information C2.

[0017] As described above, the range of the print information in the label image affects the impression given by the label image. Therefore, if the range of the print information in the label image is significantly different from the range of the sample information in the print design, the impression given by the created label image will be different from the print design corresponding to the selected format. Based on this point, in the information processing apparatus 100, when accepting the print information in step S2, the processor 101 operates as follows.

[0018] Processor 101 first compares the printed information with the sample information (step S3). Here, for example, Processor 101 compares this information based on the number of characters. If the number of characters in the character string constituting the printed information (hereinafter simply referred to as the number of characters of the printed information) is greater than the number of characters in the character string constituting the sample information (hereinafter simply referred to as the number of characters of the sample information) and exceeds the first reference value, then Processor 101 determines that the printed information is excessive (step S4 YES), warns that it is difficult to achieve the desired design that the selected format should achieve (step S5), and ends the process shown in FIG. 3 without editing the printed information C2. As a result, a label image with an impression different from the printed design corresponding to the selected format is created. The first reference value is, for example, the maximum number of characters that can fit within the input area in a predetermined font size for the input area.

[0019] On the other hand, if the number of characters in the printed information is smaller than the number of characters in the sample information and is below the second reference value, then Processor 101 determines that the printed information is insufficient (step S4 NO) and repeatedly arranges the printed information within the input area (step S7). More specifically, Processor 101 repeatedly arranges the printed information within the input area so that the size of the range in which the printed information is arranged in the created label image approaches the size of the range of the sample information in the printed design corresponding to the selected format. As a result, a label image with an impression similar to the printed design corresponding to the selected format is created. The second reference value is, for example, half of the number of characters in the sample information.

[0020] In step S7, the processor 101 may determine the number of times to repeat the placement based on, for example, the number of characters in the print information and the number of characters in the sample information. More specifically, the processor 101 may determine the number of times to repeat the placement by, for example, dividing the number of characters in the sample information by the number of characters in the print information. If the print information C2 shown in Figure 7 is input, the number of characters in print information C2 is 3 compared to the number of characters in sample information C1 is 24, so the number of times is determined to be 24 / 3 = 8. Figure 8 shows an example in which the processor 101 repeatedly places the print information C2 in the input area 8 times, and as a result, the print information C3 created by repeatedly placing the print information C2 8 times is displayed in the input area 80. If the number of characters in the sample information is not divisible by the number of characters in the print information, the number of times may be determined by truncating or rounding up the decimal part. Whether to round up or round down the decimal part can be determined by comparing the number of characters in the print information multiplied by the number of times determined by rounding up the decimal part, or the number of characters in the print information multiplied by the number of times determined by rounding down the decimal part, which is closer to the number of characters in the sample information. In that case, you should choose the number of times that results in a closer number of characters.

[0021] Furthermore, if the number of characters in the print information exceeds the second threshold but is less than or equal to the first threshold, the processor 101 determines that there is no excess or deficiency in the print information (step 4NO, step S6NO), and terminates the process shown in Figure 3 without editing the print information C2. In this case as well, a label image with an impression similar to the print design corresponding to the selected format is created.

[0022] As described above, by performing the processing shown in Figure 3, the information processing device 100 can easily create a label image of the desired design, that is, a label image that closely resembles the print design of the selected format, and can create print data including the created label image. In other words, it can create print data that allows the desired design to be printed. Specifically, if the information processing device 100 determines that the print information entered by the user in the input box 90 is insufficient from a design standpoint, it automatically places the print information repeatedly in the input area so that the size of the area where the print information is placed (more precisely, the area where the print information is repeatedly placed) approaches the size of the sample information area. This makes it possible to create a label image that closely resembles the print design of the selected format, while preserving the user-entered information that should be displayed in the label image, without requiring any effort from the user. In particular, by determining the number of repetitions based on a comparison of the number of characters, the size of the display area of ​​the sample information and the print information can be roughly matched with a simple calculation.

[0023] In Figure 3, an example was shown where a label image is created without changing the font size of the print information from the font size of the sample information. However, the font size may be adjusted as needed. For example, in step S7, if the number of characters in the sample information is not divisible by the number of characters in the print information, the font size of the print information may be changed from the same font size as the sample information, and the print information with the changed font size may be repeatedly placed in the input area the number of times determined. In this case, if the number of repetitions is determined by rounding up the decimal part, the font size should be made smaller; if the number of repetitions is determined by rounding down the decimal part, the font size should be made larger. In other words, the processor 101 may enlarge or shrink the print information so that the size of the area in which the print information is placed approaches the size of the area of ​​the sample information in the print design, and then repeatedly place the enlarged or shrunk print information in the input area. This makes the size of the area of ​​the sample information and the size of the area in which the print information is repeatedly placed more similar, so that a label image with a more similar impression to the print design can be created. Furthermore, even if it is determined that there is no excess or deficiency in the print information, the font size may be adjusted to bring the size of the area in which the print information is placed even closer to the size of the area of ​​the sample information. Furthermore, if it is determined that the print information is too information-heavy, the font size may be reduced to bring the size of the area where the print information is placed closer to the size of the sample information area.

[0024] The embodiments described above are provided as concrete examples to facilitate understanding of the invention, and the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but should be understood as encompassing various modifications and alternative forms of the embodiments described above. For example, it will be understood that the embodiments described above can be materialized by modifying the components without departing from the spirit thereof. It will also be understood that various embodiments can be implemented by appropriately combining the multiple components disclosed in the embodiments described above. Furthermore, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various embodiments can be implemented by deleting some components from all the components shown in the embodiments, or by adding some components to the components shown in the embodiments.

[0025] The above-described embodiment shows an example of selecting a format for cut labels, but the selected format is not limited to cut labels and may be a format for any printing medium. The above-described embodiment shows an example of adjusting the font size to make the size of the area where the print information is placed closer to the size of the sample information area, but the sizes of the two areas may be made closer by adding spaces or predetermined symbols between repeatedly placed strings, for example. The above-described embodiment exemplifies an input area in which strings are arranged in the circumferential direction, but the arrangement of the input area is not particularly limited to this example. The input area may be an area in which strings are arranged in a direction other than the circumferential direction (for example, the radial direction). The above-described embodiment shows an example in which strings are entered into the input area, but the print information entered into the input area is not limited to strings, but may be an image, for example. The above-described embodiment shows an example in which strings are displayed with the radially outer side facing up, but for example, as shown in print information C3a in Figure 9, strings may be displayed with the radially inner side facing up. Also, as shown in print information C3b in Figure 10, the characters may be inverted vertically in the upper half and the lower half of a string arranged along the circumferential direction. [Explanation of symbols]

[0026] 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60: Format, 80: Input area, 100: Information processing device, 101: Processor, 102a: Program, C1: Sample information, C2, C3, C3a, C3b: Print information

Claims

1. Computers The system accepts input of print information into the input area of ​​a print design where sample information is displayed in the input area. The print information is repeatedly placed within the input area such that the size of the area in which the print information is placed approaches the size of the area of ​​the sample information in the print design. How to create print data.

2. In the method for creating print data according to claim 1, Computers The print information is scaled up or down so that the size of the area in which the print information is placed approaches the size of the area of ​​the sample information in the print design, and the scaled print information is repeatedly placed within the input area. How to create print data.

3. In the method for creating print data according to claim 1 or claim 2, Computers Based on the number of characters in the string constituting the print information and the number of characters in the string constituting the sample information, the number of times the print information is repeatedly placed within the input area is determined. How to create print data.

4. The system includes a control unit that receives input of print information into the input area of ​​a print design in which sample information is displayed in the input area, and repeatedly arranges the print information within the input area so that the size of the area in which the print information is placed approaches the size of the area of ​​the sample information in the print design. Print data creation device.

5. On the computer, The system accepts input of print information into the input area of ​​a print design where sample information is displayed in the input area. The process is executed to repeatedly place the print information within the input area so that the size of the area where the print information is placed approaches the size of the area of ​​the sample information within the print design. program.

Images