Printing device and printing control program

Abstract

To reduce an operation burden on a user when a plurality of print images respectively corresponding to a plurality of layers are respectively printed using a plurality of kinds of print media.SOLUTION: The CPU 21c of a label printer 3 performs: a determination process for determining a type of an attached cassette 101; a data acquisition process for acquiring a plurality of print data respectively indicating a plurality of print images; and a printing control process for, in accordance with the acquired plurality of print data and a result of the determination, printing a middle label LB or a lower label LC on the basis of print data for the middle label LB or the lower label LC after printing of an upper label LA on the basis of print data for the upper label LA in a case where a cassette A is attached, and printing the lower label LC or the upper label LA on the basis of print data for the lower label LC or the upper label LA after printing of the middle label LB on the basis of print data for the middle label LB in a case where the cassette B is attached.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a printing control program for printing a plurality of printed images on a plurality of types of printing media respectively.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, for example, as described in Patent Document 1, there is known a tape printing apparatus for creating a label for overlapping, in which a plurality of labels are overlapped and used as one label. In this conventional technique, after a plurality of print data corresponding to each of the plurality of labels to be overlapped are generated, printing of each of the plurality of labels is sequentially executed based on each print data. The order is such that after the first label, which is the base label, is printed based on the first data, the second label, which is the upper label, is printed based on the second data.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] With respect to the tape printing apparatus of Patent Document 1, if a cassette corresponding to the second label is installed, after the user reinstalls the cassette corresponding to the first label and prints the first label, it is necessary to reinstall the cassette corresponding to the second label and print the second label again. That is, there has been a problem of causing a complicated operation burden on the user, such as removing the cassette of the second label → installing the cassette of the first label → removing the cassette of the first label → installing the cassette of the second label.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus and a printing control program capable of reducing the operation burden on a user when printing a plurality of printed images corresponding to a plurality of layers respectively using a plurality of types of printing media.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a mounting unit capable of mounting a printing medium, a printing unit that prints a plurality of printed images corresponding to a plurality of layers respectively using a plurality of different types of the printing media, and a control unit. The control unit performs a determination process for determining the type of the printing medium mounted on the mounting unit, and a data acquisition process for acquiring a plurality of print data representing the plurality of printed images, the data acquisition process including a process of acquiring first print data for printing a first printed image associated with a first medium type and a process of acquiring second print data for printing a second printed image associated with a second medium type. The control unit controls the printing unit to print the second printed image based on the second print data after printing the first printed image based on the first print data when the printing medium of the first medium type is mounted, and to print the first printed image based on the first print data after printing the second printed image based on the second print data when the printing medium of the second medium type is mounted, according to the plurality of print data acquired in the data acquisition process and the determination result in the determination process.

[0007] In the printing apparatus of the present invention, a first printed image based on first print data and a second printed image based on second print data are formed using a printing medium by a printing unit. These first printed image and second printed image correspond to a plurality of layers of one printed matter created by the printing apparatus. The user can use them as one printed matter on which the plurality of printed images are represented by overlapping the printed matter on which the first printed image is formed and the printed matter on which the second printed image is formed.

[0008] In the printing apparatus of the present invention, the control unit executes data acquisition processing to acquire first print data and second print data. In the first print image printed by the first print data, a first medium type on which the first print image is to be printed is associated in advance. In the second print image printed by the second print data, a second medium type on which the second print image is to be printed is associated in advance. Further, the control unit executes determination processing to determine the type of the print medium mounted on the mounting unit at that time.

[0009] Then, the control unit controls the printing unit in the printing control process to perform printing on the print medium. At this time, based on the acquired first print data and second print data and the determination result in the determination processing, it is determined in what order the first print image and the second print image are printed.

[0010] That is, when a print medium of the first medium type is mounted on the mounting unit, printing is performed in the order of the first print image → the second print image. When a print medium of the second medium type is mounted on the mounting unit, printing is performed in the order of the second print image → the first print image. Therefore, when a print medium of the first medium type is mounted on the mounting unit, then, by simply the user performing removal of the print medium of the first medium type → mounting of the print medium of the second medium type, the first print image and the second print image can be printed respectively. Also, when a print medium of the second medium type is mounted on the mounting unit, then, by simply the user performing removal of the print medium of the second medium type → mounting of the print medium of the first medium type, the first print image and the second print image can be printed respectively. In this way, by forming the print image first from the print medium mounted on the mounting unit, it is possible to eliminate the trouble of remounting the print medium on the mounting unit according to the print data, as in the conventional method described above.

[0011] According to the present invention, by changing the printing order of the print images according to the type of the print medium mounted on the mounting unit, the operation burden on the user when printing a plurality of print images corresponding to each layer on different types of print media can be reduced.

Advantages of the Invention

[0012] According to the present invention, when printing a plurality of printed images corresponding to a plurality of layers respectively using a plurality of types of printing media, the operation burden on the user can be reduced.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0013]

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Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0014] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0015] <First Embodiment> First, the first embodiment of the present invention will be described.

[0016] <Overall System Configuration> The configuration of the entire printing system according to this embodiment is shown in FIG. 1(a). In FIG. 1(a), the printing system 1 has an operation terminal 2 composed of, for example, a general-purpose personal computer, and a label printer 3 connected to the operation terminal 2. The operation terminal 2 is connected to the label printer 3 so as to be able to mutually transmit and receive information via, for example, an appropriate network. Note that the operation terminal 2 may be composed of a smartphone, a mobile information terminal, or the like. Also, the operation terminal 2 and the label printer 3 may be connected by an appropriate method that does not use a network, such as a wired connection via a USB cable. The label printer 3 creates a printed label L based on the user's operation on the operation terminal 2. Note that FIG. 1(b) will be described later. Note that the printed label L is an example of a printed matter, and the operation terminal 2 is an example of a terminal device.

[0017] <Operation Terminal> As shown in FIG. 2, the operation terminal 2 includes a CPU 11, a memory 12 composed of, for example, a RAM 12a and a ROM 12b, an operation unit 13, a display unit 14, a communication control unit 15, and a mass storage device 16. Note that the CPU 11 is an example of an arithmetic unit.

[0018] Instructions and information from the user are input to the operation unit 13. The display unit 14 displays various information and messages. Note that it may be configured as a touch panel having both the functions of the operation unit 13 and the display unit 14. The communication control unit 15 controls the transmission and reception of signals with the label printer 3.

[0019] The large-capacity storage device 16 stores various programs and information. In the ROM 12b of the memory 12, a printing control program for causing the CPU 11 to execute the procedures of the flowcharts and sequences shown in FIGS. 8 and 17 to 23 described later is stored. Note that the printing control program may be stored in the large-capacity storage device 16. Note that the large-capacity storage device 16 is not limited to the main body memory, and may be an appropriate external memory such as an SD memory card.

[0020] The CPU 11 performs various processes and transmits and receives various signals to and from the label printer 3 according to the programs stored in advance in the ROM 12b and the large-capacity storage device 16 while using the temporary storage function of the RAM 12a.

[0021] <Label printer> As shown in FIG. 2, the label printer 3 includes a control circuit 21, a cassette holder 22, a cassette sensor 31, a communication control unit 23, a printing motor 32, a motor drive circuit 33, and a printing drive circuit 34. Note that the cassette holder 22 is an example of the mounting portion, the communication control unit is an example of the communication unit, and the CPU 21c is an example of the control unit.

[0022] The cassette holder 22 detachably mounts the cassette 101. The cassette sensor 31 is provided on the cassette holder 22 and detects the type of the cassette 101 by a known appropriate method such as mechanical detection, optical detection, or magnetic detection. The cassette sensor 31 is an example of a detection unit. Note that the label printer 3 is an example of a printing device. When it includes the cassette sensor 31 and can detect the type of the cassette 101, it is an example of a first printing device. When it does not include the cassette sensor 31 and cannot detect the type of the cassette 101, it is an example of a second printing device. At this time, the type of the cassette 101 is previously associated with the types of the cover film 104, the ink ribbon 106, the base material tape 102, and the like. Therefore, by detecting the type of the cassette 101 by the cassette sensor 31, the attributes of the cover film 104, the ink ribbon 106, etc., that is, the tape width and tape color of the printing label tape 110, the printing color by the ink ribbon 106, etc. are detected.

[0023] The control circuit 21 includes a ROM 21a, a RAM 21b, and a CPU 21c. A print buffer 21d is provided in the RAM 21b. The label printer 3 can transmit and receive information with the operation terminal 2 when the control circuit 21 is connected to the communication control unit 15 of the operation terminal 2 via the communication control unit 23. The ROM 21a stores a print control program for causing the CPU 21c to execute the procedures of the flowcharts and sequences shown in FIGS. 9, 11, and 17 to 23 described later.

[0024] <Cassette and Cassette Holder> The detailed structure in the vicinity of the cassette 101 and the cassette holder 22 is shown in FIG. 3. In FIG. 3, the cassette 101 has a housing 101A, a first roll 103, a second roll 105, a ribbon supply side roll 107, a ribbon take-up roller 108, and a tape feed roller 109.

[0025] The first roll 103 has a base material tape 102 wound around a spool 103A rotatably supported with respect to the housing 101A. The base material tape 102 is configured by being laminated in the order of an adhesive layer for bonding, a base material layer, an adhesive layer for attachment, and a release material layer, for example, from the side wound inside the first roll 103 toward the opposite side.

[0026] The second roll 105 has a transparent cover film 104 having the same width as the base material tape 102 wound around a spool 105A rotatably supported with respect to the housing 101A. Note that although the first roll 103 and the second roll 105 are actually spiral, they are shown in a simplified concentric circle form in the figure.

[0027] When the cassette 101 is attached to the cassette holder 22 as described above, the cover film 104, the base material tape 102, etc. are indirectly attached to the cassette holder 22.

[0028] The ribbon supply side roll 107 feeds out the ink ribbon 106. The ribbon take-up roller 108 takes up the ink ribbon 106 after printing. However, when the cover film 104 is a thermal tape that can develop a predetermined color when heated, the ink ribbon 106 is unnecessary. Note that the ink ribbon 106 and the cover film 104 are examples of printing media.

[0029] The tape feed roller 109 is rotatably supported near the tape discharge portion of the cassette 101. The tape feed roller 109 presses and adheres the base material tape 102 and the cover film 104 to form a printing label tape 110 while feeding the tape.

[0030] The cassette holder 22 is provided with a ribbon take-up roller drive shaft 27 for taking up the used ink ribbon 106 and a tape feed roller drive shaft 28 for conveying the printing label tape 110. The aforementioned ribbon take-up roller 108 and tape feed roller 109 are rotationally driven in conjunction with each other when the driving force of the printing motor 32 is transmitted to the ribbon take-up roller drive shaft 27 and the tape feed roller drive shaft 28. The printing motor 32 is driven and controlled by the CPU 21c via the motor drive circuit 33.

[0031] The cassette holder 22 is also provided with a printing head 29 for forming a desired print on the conveyed cover film 104. Note that this printing head 29 is an example of a printing unit.

[0032] Along the conveyance path of the printing label tape 110, on the downstream side of the tape feed roller 109 and the pressure roller 24, a fixed blade 25 and a movable blade 26 for cutting the printing label tape 110 in the thickness direction in cooperation with the fixed blade 25 are provided.

[0033] <Schematic of Label Printer Operation> In the label printer 3 configured as described above, when the cassette 101 is attached to the cassette holder 22, the cover film 104 and the ink ribbon 106 are clamped between the printing head 29 and the platen roller 30 facing the printing head 29. The base material tape 102 and the cover film 104 are clamped between the tape feed roller 109 and the pressure roller 24 facing the tape feed roller 109. When the ribbon take-up roller 108 and the tape feed roller 109 are rotationally driven synchronously in the directions indicated by the arrows B and C in FIG. 3, the pressure roller 24 and the platen roller 30 rotate. The base material tape 102 is fed out from the first roll 103 and supplied to the tape feed roller 109. The cover film 104 is fed out from the second roll 105, and printing is performed on the cover film 104 by energizing a plurality of heating elements of the printing head 29 by the printing drive circuit 34. The ink ribbon 106 on which printing on the cover film 104 has been completed is wound around the ribbon take-up roller 108 by driving the ribbon take-up roller drive shaft 27.

[0034] The base material tape 102 and the cover film 104 on which printing has been completed are adhered and integrated by the tape feed roller 109 and the pressure roller 24, thereby forming a printed label tape 110, which is carried out of the cassette 101. The printed label tape 110 carried out of the cassette 101 is cut by the cooperation of the fixed blade 25 and the movable blade 26 to generate a printed label L.

[0035] <Overlapping label> In this embodiment, a plurality of different printed labels L created by the label printer 3 are overlapped and bonded to each other in the thickness direction, and further bonded to the object to be pasted in that state. That is, in this embodiment, in the label printer 3, by mounting different types of cassettes 100 on the cassette holder 22 while exchanging them, a plurality of different printed labels L that can be overlapped as described above are created respectively. At this time, for example, by selectively using a plurality of types of cassettes 101 each including different types of base tapes 102 and cover films 104, printed labels L having different tape colors can be created. Similarly, by selectively using a plurality of types of cassettes 101 each including different types of ink ribbons 106, printed labels L can be created while variously changing the printing color by the print head 19. Note that if the ink ribbon 106 is different, at least one of the cover film 104 and the base tape 102 may be common. Also, if the base tape 102 is different, at least one of the cover film 104 and the ink ribbon 106 may be common. These cases also correspond to using different types of printing media. As an example as described above, an example of bonding three different types of printed labels L to each other will be described with reference to FIGS. 4(a) to 4(d).

[0036] FIG. 4(a) shows an example of one printed label LA that is laminated on the uppermost layer during overlapping among the three types of printed labels. In this example, red prohibition marks M1, M1 in the shape of being hatched within a circular frame are formed at both ends in the length direction of the printed label LA made of a transparent printed label tape 110 cut to a predetermined length, respectively.

[0037] FIG. 4(b) shows an example of one printed label LB that is laminated on the middle layer during overlapping among the three types of printed labels. In this example, blue cigarette marks M2, M2 emitting smoke are formed at both ends in the length direction of the printed label LB made of a transparent printed label tape 110 cut to a predetermined length, respectively.

[0038] Figure 4(c) shows an example of one printed label LC that is laminated on the bottom layer when the above three types of printed labels are overlapped. In this example, the black text character T1 of "NO SMOKING" is formed near the center in the length direction of the printed label LC composed of the white printed label tape 110 cut to a predetermined length.

[0039] As described above, in this example, the printed label tapes 110 of the printed label LA and the printed label LB are each transparent. As a result, as described above, by overlapping the printed label LA, the printed label LB, and the printed label LC in this order, the printed label LL shown in Figure 4(d) is generated. In this example, the printed label LA, the printed label LB, and the printed label LC are each configured to have the same width and the same length. In the present embodiment, hereinafter, the printed label LL is appropriately referred to as the "laminated label LL". Also, the printed label LA is referred to as the "upper label LA", the printed label LB is referred to as the "middle label LB", and the printed label LC is referred to as the "lower label LC".

[0040] As a result of the above overlapping, in the laminated label LL, the smoking prohibition composite marks M12, M12, which are formed by overlapping the above red prohibition mark M1 and the blue cigarette mark M2, are arranged at both ends in the length direction of the tape portion. Also, the black text character T1 is arranged between those composite marks M12, M12.

[0041] In other words, in the laminated label LL, the print data for creating the upper label LA, the middle label LB, and the lower label LC respectively are in a plurality of layers, in this example, three layers, and three print images corresponding to those three layers are formed. That is, among the three layers, the printing data for the upper label LA with the prohibition marks M1, M1 at both ends is the first layer which is the uppermost layer, the printing data for the middle label LB with the tobacco marks M2, M2 at both ends is the second layer which is the middle layer, and the printing data for the lower label LC with the text characters T1 of "NO SMOKING" is the third layer which is the lowermost layer. On the upper label LA, the prohibition marks M1, M1 are formed as the printing image of the first layer by the printing data of the first layer, on the middle label LB, the tobacco marks M2, M2 are formed as the printing image of the second layer by the printing data of the second layer, and on the lower label LC, the text characters T1 are formed as the printing image of the third layer by the printing data of the third layer.

[0042] <Features of the Embodiment> In the present embodiment having the above configuration, the feature lies in the method for determining the creation order of each printed label L when forming a printed image based on a plurality of printing data and creating a plurality of printed labels L with the label printer 3 as described above. Hereinafter, taking the case of creating the above-mentioned upper label LA, middle label LB, and lower label LC as a plurality of different types of printed labels L with the label printer 3 as an example, the details will be described step by step. Note that hereinafter, the upper label LA, middle label LB, and lower label LC are collectively referred to as "labels LA - C" as appropriate.

[0043] <Comparative Example> First, as a comparative example of the present embodiment, the flow when creating the printed label L by the same method as in the aforementioned Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2014 - 814 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5(a) to (d). When creating the labels LA - C, ultimately, all of the printing data for the upper label LA including the prohibition mark M1, the printing data for the middle label LB including the tobacco mark M2, and the printing data for the lower label LC including the text characters T1 need to be transmitted from the operation terminal 2 to the label printer 3.

[0044] At this time, for example, as shown in Fig. 5(a), assume that a cassette 101 for creating the upper label LA, that is, a cassette 101 equipped with a transparent printing label tape 110 and a red ink ribbon 106, is mounted on the label printer 3. Hereinafter, such a cassette 101 for the upper label LA will be appropriately referred to as "cassette A". The same applies to the illustrations in each figure.

[0045] As described above, in the method of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-814, since label creation is performed in the order of the lowermost lower label LC → the middle-layer middle label LB → the uppermost upper label LA, as shown in Fig. 5(b), first, the print data for the lower label LC is transmitted to the label printer 3. At this time, since the cassette A for the upper label LA is mounted on the label printer 3 as described above, the user needs to perform cassette replacement as shown in Fig. 5(c). That is, the above cassette A is removed, and a cassette 101 for creating the lower label LC, that is, a cassette 101 equipped with a white printing label tape 110 and a black ink ribbon 106, is mounted. Hereinafter, such a cassette 101 for the lower label LC will be appropriately referred to as "cassette C". The same applies to the illustrations in each figure.

[0046] With the cassette C mounted, based on the label data for the lower label LC transmitted from the operation terminal 2 to the label printer 3, as shown in Fig. 5(d), the corresponding lower label LC is created.

[0047] Next, since the label to be created next is the middle label LB in the middle layer, the user mounts a cassette 101 for creating the middle label LB, that is, a cassette 101 equipped with a transparent printing label tape 110 and a blue ink ribbon 106, as shown in Fig. 5(e). Hereinafter, such a cassette 101 for the middle label LB will be appropriately referred to as "cassette B". The same applies to the illustrations in each figure.

[0048] Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 5(f), the print data for the middle label LB is transmitted from the operation terminal 2 to the label printer 3. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5(g), the corresponding middle label LB is created.

[0049] And since the label to be created last should be the uppermost upper label LA, the user attaches the cassette A to the label printer 3 as shown in FIG. 5(h). Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 5(i), when the print data for the upper label LA is transmitted from the operation terminal 2 to the label printer 3, the corresponding upper label LA is created as shown in FIG. 5(j).

[0050] <Problems of the Comparative Example> In this comparative example, as described above, when the cassette A was attached to the label printer 3, the user had to remove the cassette A, reattach the cassette C corresponding to the lower label LC, and print the lower label LC. And even after that, there is a cumbersome operation burden on the user, such as removing the cassette C → attaching the cassette B → printing the middle label LB → removing the cassette B → attaching the cassette A → printing the upper label LA.

[0051] <Outline of the Method of the First Embodiment> In this embodiment, corresponding to the above, depending on which of the cassettes A to C is attached to the label printer 3 at that time, the labels LA to C corresponding to the attached cassettes A to C are first created, and then, while performing cassette replacement, the other labels LA to C are sequentially created. An example of such a method will be described with reference to FIGS. 6(a) to (g).

[0052] <An Example of the Method> That is, first, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6(a), all of the print data for the upper label LA including the prohibition mark M1, the print data for the middle label LB including the tobacco mark M2, and the print data for the lower label LC including the text character T1 are collectively transmitted from the operation terminal 2 to the label printer 3. At the label printer 3, those print data are collectively received and acquired.

[0053] At this time, each print data is associated with the type of ink ribbon 106 to be used for the corresponding printing, in other words, the type information of the cassette 101 equipped with the ink ribbon 106. As this association, the type information of the cassette 101 may be included in the print data, or the print data may be appropriately linked to the type information of the cassette 101 stored in an appropriate separate location by an appropriate method. In the label printer 3, after the batch acquisition of the above print data, the type information of the cassette 101 associated with each is identified. That is, corresponding to the print data for the upper label LA, it is identified in the label printer 3 that the cassette A should be used at the time of printing using the print data. Similarly, it is identified in the label printer 3 that the cassette B should be used at the time of printing using the print data for the middle label LB, and it is identified in the label printer 3 that the cassette C should be used at the time of printing using the print data for the lower label LC.

[0054] Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 6(b), when the cassette A is mounted on the label printer 3 by the user, based on the detection result of the cassette sensor 31, the mounting of the cassette A is determined by the label printer 3. Then, among the cassette A, cassette B, and cassette C associated with the print data for the upper label LA, print data for the middle label LB, and print data for the lower label LC acquired in the batch, respectively, the one to be used corresponding to the detection result is specified as the cassette A.

[0055] Then, based on the above specification, as shown in FIG. 6(c), the upper label LA is created using the print data for the upper label LA. That is, in this case, the printing of the upper label LA corresponding to the mounted cassette A is executed earlier than the printing of the middle label LB and the lower label LC corresponding to the other cassettes B and C, which will be described later.

[0056] In this case, the previously used cassette A is an example of the first medium type, the print data for the upper label LA is an example of the first print data, and the prohibition marks M1, M1 related to the upper label LA are an example of the first printed image. Also, the subsequently used cassette B is an example of the second medium type, the print data for the middle label LB is an example of the second print data, and the tobacco marks M2, M2 related to the middle label LB are an example of the second printed image. Further, the subsequently used cassette C is another example of the second medium type, the print data for the lower label LC is another example of the second print data, and the text characters T1 related to the lower label LC are another example of the second printed image.

[0057] After that, as shown in FIG. 6(d), when the user removes cassette A and replaces it with cassette B, similar to the above, the installation of the cassette B is determined, and it is specified that the print data to be used in printing is the print data for the middle label LB. Then, based on that specification, as shown in FIG. 6(e), the middle label LB is created using the print data for the middle label LB.

[0058] Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 6(f), when the user removes cassette B and replaces it with cassette C, similar to the above, the installation of the cassette C is determined, and it is specified that the print data to be used in printing is the print data for the lower label LC. Then, based on that specification, as shown in FIG. 6(g), the lower label LC is created using the print data for the lower label LC.

[0059] <Another example of the method> On the other hand, another example different from the above is shown in FIGS. 7(a) to (g). First, as described above, in FIG. 7(a) similar to FIG. 6(a), the print data for the upper label LA, the middle label LB, and the lower label LC are collectively transmitted from the operation terminal 2 to the label printer 3.

[0060] After that, in this example, as shown in FIG. 7(b), first, cassette B is attached to the label printer 3 by the user. Then, as described above, the attachment of the cassette B is determined, and it is specified that the data to be used for printing is the print data for the middle label LB. Based on this specification, as shown in FIG. 7(c), first, the middle label LB is created using the print data for the middle label LB. That is, in this case, the printing of the middle label LB corresponding to the attached cassette B is executed prior to the printing of the lower label LC and the upper label LA corresponding to the other cassettes C and A, which will be described later.

[0061] In this case, the previously used cassette B is an example of the first medium type, the print data for the middle label LB is an example of the first print data, and the tobacco marks M2, M2 related to the middle label LB are examples of the first print images. Also, the subsequently used cassette C is an example of the second medium type, the print data for the lower label LC is an example of the second print data, and the text character T1 related to the lower label LC is an example of the second print image. Further, the subsequently used cassette A is another example of the second medium type, the print data for the upper label LA is another example of the second print data, and the prohibited marks M1, M1 related to the upper label LA are another examples of the second print images.

[0062] After that, as shown in FIG. 7(d), when the user removes cassette B and instead attaches cassette C, as described above, the attachment of the cassette C is determined, and it is specified that the data to be used for printing is the print data for the lower label LC. Then, based on this specification, as shown in FIG. 7(e), the lower label LC is created using the print data for the lower label LC.

[0063] Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 7(f), when the user removes cassette C and instead attaches cassette A, as described above, the attachment of the cassette A is determined, and it is specified that the data to be used for printing is the print data for the upper label LA. Then, based on this specification, as shown in FIG. 7(g), the upper label LA is created using the print data for the upper label LA.

[0064] That is, in the present embodiment, the printing of the printing label L corresponding to the cassette 101 mounted on the label printer 3 at that time is performed prior to the printing of the printing labels L corresponding to the other cassettes 101.

[0065] <Control Procedure> To implement the above method, examples of the control procedures respectively executed by the CPU 11 of the operation terminal 2 and the CPU 21c of the label printer 3 are shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 8 and 9. The control procedure of FIG. 8 is executed by the printing control program according to the present embodiment included in a plurality of programs stored in the ROM 12b, and the following printing control method is realized by the execution. Also, the control procedure of FIG. 9 is executed by the printing program included in a plurality of programs stored in the ROM 21a, and the following printing method is realized by the execution.

[0066] In FIG. 8, first at S2, editing by the user of the upper label LA with the above-described printing content is received via the operation unit 13, and corresponding to the editing, printing data for the upper label LA provided with the red prohibition marks M1, M1 at both ends in the above example is generated. Similarly, at S4, editing by the user of the middle label LB with the above-described printing content is received via the operation unit 13, and corresponding to the editing, printing data for the middle label LB provided with the blue cigarette marks M2, M2 at both ends in the above example is generated. Similarly, at S6, editing by the user of the lower label LC with the above-described printing content is received via the operation unit 13, and corresponding to the editing, printing data for the lower label LC provided with the black text character T1 of "NO SMOKING" in the above example is generated.

[0067] Thereafter, at S8, an instruction to print the upper label LA, the middle label LB, and the lower label LC by an appropriate operation via the operation unit 13 of the user is received. In response thereto, at S10 thereafter, the printing data for the upper label LA, the printing data for the middle label LB, and the printing data for the lower label LC generated at S2, S4, and S6 are collectively transmitted to the label printer 3.

[0068] After that, in S12, corresponding to the transmission of the print data for the upper label LA, the print data for the middle label LB, and the print data for the lower label LC to the label printer 3 in S8 above, a request display for mounting any of the cassettes A, B, and C on the label printer 3 is performed on the display unit 14.

[0069] On the other hand, in FIG. 9, in the label printer 3, first in S110, all of the print data transmitted in S8 above, that is, the print data for the upper label LA, the print data for the middle label LB, and the print data for the lower label LC are received in a batch. Note that the process executed in this S110 is an example of data acquisition processing.

[0070] After that, in S120, the type information of the cassette 101 associated with each of the all print data received in S110 as described above is identified. That is, as described above, cassette A is identified for the print data for the upper label LA, cassette B is identified for the print data for the middle label LB, and cassette C is identified for the print data for the lower label LC. Note that the association between each print data and the cassette type information may directly include identification information such as the model and individual number of the corresponding cassette 101 as the above cassette type information in each print data. Alternatively, each print data may be associated with the type information of the cassette 101 stored in an appropriate separate location by an appropriate method.

[0071] Identifying the type of the cassette 101 in this S120 means, in other words, identifying the types of the cover film 104, the ink ribbon 106, and the printing label tape 110 in the cassette 101. Therefore, the process executed in S120 is an example of type identification processing.

[0072] Thereafter, at S130, cassette detection processing is performed. That is, in response to the display at S12 above, when the user mounts any one of cassettes A, B, or C on the cassette holder 22 of the label printer 3, based on the detection result of the cassette sensor 31, the mounting of the cassettes A, B, or C is determined by the label printer 3. The processing executed at this S130 is an example of determination processing. Then, at S140 thereafter, out of the types of cassette 101 identified at S120 for each print data batch-acquired at S110, one cassette type to be used corresponding to the determination result at S130 is specified. The processing executed at this S140 is an example of type specification processing.

[0073] Thereafter, at S150, printing processing of the upper label LA, middle label LB, or lower label LC using the print data corresponding to the one cassette type specified at S140 is executed. The processing executed at this S150 is an example of print control processing.

[0074] Then, at S160 after S150, corresponding to the completion of the printing execution at S150 above, a print completion notification of the upper label LA, middle label LB, or lower label LC printed at S150 is transmitted to the operation terminal 2. This print completion notification is an example of a predetermined notification, and the processing executed at S160 is an example of notification transmission processing.

[0075] After that, at S170, it is determined whether all printing of the upper label LA printing data, the middle label LB printing data, and the lower label LC printing data received at S110 has been completed. If there is unprinted printing data remaining, a No determination is made, and the process returns to S130 and S140, S150, and S160 are repeated. By this repetition, for example, when cassette A is first loaded, at S150 which is executed first, the printing of the upper label LA corresponding to that cassette A is executed earlier than the printing of the middle label LB and the lower label LC corresponding to the other cassettes B and C. Also, when cassette B is loaded later, at S150 which is executed the second time by the above repetition, the printing of the middle label LB corresponding to that cassette B is executed earlier than the printing of the lower label LC corresponding to the remaining cassette C. On the other hand, if the printing of all printing data is completed by repetition, S170 is determined as Yes, and this flow ends.

[0076] On the other hand, returning to FIG. 8, after the above S12, the printing completion notification transmitted at the above S160 in FIG. 9 is received by the operation terminal 2. If the received printing completion notification is for the upper label LA, S22 is determined as Yes and the process proceeds to S32 described later. Also, if the received printing completion notification is for the middle label LB, S24 is determined as Yes and the process proceeds to S52 described later, and if the received printing completion notification is for the lower label LC, S26 is determined as Yes and the process proceeds to S72 described later. If the received notification is none of these, S26 is determined as No and the process returns to S22.

[0077] At S32 where the process has shifted after S22 is determined as Yes, in response to the completion of the printing of the upper label LA using cassette A, a request display for loading cassette B or C into the label printer 3 is performed on the display unit 14. When the user loads cassette B or C into the label printer 3 in response to the display at S22, the middle label LB or the lower label LC is printed at S150 via the above S130 and S140 in FIG. 9, and a printing completion notification for the middle label LB or the lower label LC is transmitted and received by the operation terminal 2 at S160.

[0078] If the received message is the printing completion notice for the middle label LB, S34 is determined to be Yes and the process proceeds to S38 described below. If the received message is the printing completion notice for the lower label LC, S36 is determined to be Yes and the process proceeds to S42 described below. If the received message is neither the printing completion notice for the middle label LB nor the lower label LC, S36 is determined to be No and the process returns to S32 described above.

[0079] In S38 where the transition occurs with S34 determined to be Yes, corresponding to the completion of printing the middle label LB using cassette B, a request display for loading cassette C into the label printer 3 is performed on the display unit 14. When the user loads cassette C into the label printer 3 in response to this display in S38, the lower label LC is printed in S150 via the above S130 and S140 in FIG. 9, and a printing completion notice for the lower label LC is transmitted and received by the operation terminal 2 in S160. As a result, S40 is determined to be Yes and this flow ends.

[0080] Note that when the upper label LA → middle label LB → lower label LC are created in this order as described above, an example of the above-mentioned loading request display executed on the display unit 14 in S12, S32, and S38 respectively is shown in FIG. 10(a). The left end of FIG. 10(a) represents the display example of the display unit 14 in S12. In this example, the cassette names of "Cassette A", "Cassette B", and "Cassette C", which represent the loading requests for any of cassettes A, B, and C, and for which the loading is OK, are displayed.

[0081] Corresponding to this display, cassette A is loaded, and the content displayed on the display unit 14 in S32 with the printing of the upper label LA completed is shown in the center of FIG. 10(a). In this example, the cassette names of "Cassette B" and "Cassette C", which represent the loading requests for cassette B or C, are displayed, and the above-mentioned "Cassette A" for which the printing has been completed is grayed out.

[0082] In response to this display, cassette B is loaded, and the content displayed on the display unit 14 in S38 with the printing of the middle label LB completed is shown at the right end of Fig. 10(a). In this example, the cassette name "Cassette C" indicating the request to load cassette C is displayed, and the printed "Cassette A" and "Cassette B" are grayed out.

[0083] Returning to Fig. 8, on the other hand, in S42 where S36 is determined to be Yes and the process has shifted, in response to the completion of printing the lower label LC using cassette C, a request display to load cassette B onto the label printer 3 is performed on the display unit 14. When the user loads cassette B onto the label printer 3 in response to this display in S42, the middle label LB is printed in S150 via S130 and S140 in Fig. 9, and a notification of the completion of printing the middle label LB is transmitted and received by the operation terminal 2 in S160. As a result, S44 is determined to be Yes, and this flow ends.

[0084] In S52 where S24 is determined to be Yes and the process has shifted, in response to the completion of printing the middle label LB using cassette B, a request display to load cassette C or A onto the label printer 3 is performed on the display unit 14. When the user loads cassette C or A onto the label printer 3 in response to this display in S52, the lower label LC or the upper label LA is printed in S150 via S130 and S140 in Fig. 9, and a notification of the completion of printing the lower label LC or the upper label LA is transmitted and received by the operation terminal 2 in S160.

[0085] If the received notification is the completion notification of printing the lower label LC, S54 is determined to be Yes and the process shifts to S58 described later. If the received notification is the completion notification of printing the upper label LA, S56 is determined to be Yes and the process shifts to S62 described later. If the received notification is neither the completion notification of printing the lower label LC nor the upper label LA, S56 is determined to be No and the process returns to the aforementioned S52.

[0086] In S58 which is reached after S54 is determined to be Yes, in response to the completion of printing the lower label LC using the cassette C, a request display for mounting cassette A on the label printer 3 is performed on the display unit 14. When the user mounts cassette A on the label printer 3 in response to the display in this S58, the upper label LA is printed at S150 via the above S130 and S140 in FIG. 9, and a notification of the completion of printing of the upper label LA is transmitted and received by the operation terminal 2 at S160. As a result, S60 is determined to be Yes, and this flow ends.

[0087] Incidentally, when the middle label LB → lower label LC → upper label LA are created in this order as described above, an example of the above-described mounting request display executed on the display unit 14 at S12, S52, and S58 respectively is shown in FIG. 10(b). The left end of FIG. 10(b) represents the display example of the display unit 14 at S12, similar to the left end of FIG. 10(a).

[0088] In response to this display, cassette B is mounted, and the content displayed on the display unit 14 at S52 in a state where the printing of the middle label LB is completed is shown in the center of FIG. 10(b). In this example, the cassette names of "Cassette A" and "Cassette C" representing the request for mounting cassette A or C are displayed, and the above "Cassette B" for which the printing is completed is grayed out.

[0089] In response to this display, cassette C is mounted, and the content displayed on the display unit 14 at S58 in a state where the printing of the lower label LC is completed is shown at the right end of FIG. 10(b). In this example, the cassette name of "Cassette A" representing the request for mounting cassette A is displayed, and the above "Cassette B" and "Cassette C" for which the printing is completed are grayed out.

[0090] Returning to Fig. 8, on the other hand, in S62 where S56 is determined to be Yes and the process proceeds, in response to the completion of printing the upper label LA using cassette A, a request display for mounting cassette C on the label printer 3 is performed on the display unit 14. When the user mounts cassette C on the label printer 3 in response to this display in S62, the lower label LC is printed in S150 via the above S130 and S140 in Fig. 9, and a completion notification of printing the lower label LC is transmitted and received by the operation terminal 2 in S160. As a result, S64 is determined to be Yes, and this flow ends.

[0091] In S72 where S26 is determined to be Yes and the process proceeds, in response to the completion of printing the lower label LC using cassette C, a request display for mounting cassette A or B on the label printer 3 is performed on the display unit 14. When the user mounts cassette A or B on the label printer 3 in response to this display in S72, the upper label LA or the middle label LB is printed in S150 via the above S130 and S140 in Fig. 9, and a completion notification of printing the upper label LA or the middle label LB is transmitted and received by the operation terminal 2 in S160.

[0092] If the received notification is the completion notification of printing the upper label LA, S74 is determined to be Yes and the process proceeds to S78 described later. If the received notification is the completion notification of printing the middle label LB, S76 is determined to be Yes and the process proceeds to S82 described later. If the received notification is neither the completion notification of printing the upper label LA nor the completion notification of printing the middle label LB, S76 is determined to be No and the process returns to the aforementioned S72.

[0093] In S78 where S74 is determined to be Yes and the process proceeds, in response to the completion of printing the upper label LA using cassette A, a request display for mounting cassette B on the label printer 3 is performed on the display unit 14. When the user mounts cassette B on the label printer 3 in response to this display in S78, the middle label LB is printed in S150 via the above S130 and S140 in Fig. 9, and a completion notification of printing the middle label LB is transmitted and received by the operation terminal 2 in S160. As a result, S80 is determined to be Yes, and this flow ends.

[0094] On the other hand, in S82 where the transition is made when S76 is determined to be Yes, corresponding to the completion of the printing of the middle label LB using the cassette B, a request display for mounting the cassette A on the label printer 3 is performed on the display unit 14. When the user mounts the cassette A on the label printer 3 in response to the display in this S82, the upper label LA is printed in S150 via the above S130 and S140 in FIG. 9, and a completion notification of the printing of the upper label LA is transmitted in S160 and received by the operation terminal 2. As a result, S84 is determined to be Yes, and this flow ends.

[0095] <Effects of the Embodiment> In the label printer 3 of the present embodiment, as described above, the print data for the upper label LA, the middle label LB, and the lower label LC are acquired in S110, and in S130, the type of the cassette 101 mounted on the cassette holder 22 at that time is determined. Then, in S150, printing on the cover film 104 is executed. At that time, based on all the acquired print data and the determination result, it is determined in what order to use the print data for the upper label LA, the print data for the middle label LB, and the print data for the lower label LC for printing. That is, when the cassette A is mounted on the cassette holder 22, printing is performed in the order of the print data for the upper label LA → the print data for the middle label LB or the print data for the lower label LC. When the cassette B is mounted on the cassette holder 22, printing is performed in the order of the print data for the middle label LB → the print data for the lower label LC or the print data for the upper label LA. Further, when the cassette C is mounted on the cassette holder 22, printing is performed in the order of the print data for the lower label LC → the print data for the upper label LA or the print data for the middle label LB.

[0096] That is, as described above with reference to FIGS. 6(a) to (c) and FIGS. 7(a) to (c), by printing the corresponding print label L first from the cassette 101 mounted on the cassette holder 22, as described in FIGS. 5(a) to (c) in the comparative example using the conventional method, it is possible to eliminate the trouble of remounting the cassette 101 on the cassette holder 22 according to the print data. As a result, the operation burden on the user can be reduced.

[0097] Note that the determination of the cassette type in S130 may be performed based on the detection result of the cassette sensor 31 as described above, or the user may manually input the type of the mounted cassette 101 via the operation unit 13, and the determination may be performed based on the input result.

[0098] Also, particularly in this embodiment, in S110, print data for the upper label LA, the middle label LB, and the lower label LC is acquired from the operation terminal 2 via the communication control unit 23. Even when printing a plurality of print images corresponding to a plurality of layers based on a plurality of print data from the operation terminal 2 using a plurality of types of cassettes 101, by changing the printing order according to the type of the cassette 101, the operation burden on the user can be reduced.

[0099] Also, particularly in this embodiment, each time the printing based on the print data for each label LA to LC is completed, a print completion notification is transmitted to the operation terminal 2 in S160. This print completion notification, in other words, functions as a medium replacement notification indicating that the cassette 101 to be mounted on the label printer 3 should be replaced. As a result, the user can easily identify the type of the cassette 101 that has not yet been used for printing. Further, since the transmission timing of this print completion notification represents the replacement timing of the cassette 101, there is also an effect that the user can be prevented from accidentally replacing the cassette 101 at an early timing by waiting for this print completion notification to be transmitted.

[0100] Also, in particular in this embodiment, the printing data for the upper label LA, the middle label LB, and the lower label LC are acquired together in S110, and printing is executed based on these printing data. In this way, by acquiring the plurality of printing data corresponding to all the plurality of layers at once, compared with the case where the printing data is acquired separately for each layer, the time required to finally complete the creation of all the upper label LA, the middle label LB, and the lower label LC can be shortened.

[0101] Also, in this embodiment, as described above, in each of the plurality of printing data, one cassette type to be printed using each printing data is associated in advance. The association at this time may include cassette type information in the printing data as described above, or each printing data or the printing image corresponding thereto may be associated in some form with the cassette type information existing as separate information from the printing data. Then, in this embodiment, after the plurality of printing data are acquired in S110, in S120, the plurality of cassette types associated with the plurality of printing data are identified respectively. Then, in S140, one cassette 101 corresponding to the cassette type determined in S130 is specified from the plurality of cassette types identified in S120. And in S150, printing using the specified one cassette 101 is executed earlier than printing using other cassettes 101. In this way, in particular in this embodiment, the printing order is changed according to the type of the cassette 101, and printing corresponding to one cassette type identified as being mounted on the label printer 3 is executed first. Thereby, the operation burden on the user can be surely reduced.

[0102] Also, in particular in this embodiment, the cassette sensor 31 detects the type of the cassette 101 mounted on the cassette holder 22. In S130, the type of the cassette 101 is determined based on this detection result, and in S140, one cassette 101 corresponding to the determined type of the cassette 101 is specified. In this way, by using the cassette sensor 31, it becomes easy to specify the cassette type. Then, in S150, after a plurality of print data are acquired in a batch in S110 as described above, when one cassette 101 is specified as described above, the corresponding printing is started. As a result, in this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 6(d) to (g) and FIGS. 7(d) to (g), when the user attaches and detaches and sequentially prints a plurality of cassettes 101 as described above, from the printing of the second cassette 101, printing can be started simply by the cassette 101 replacement operation. That is, each time the cassette 101 is replaced, there is no need to manually input the type of the mounted cassette 101 or perform any printing start operation.

[0103] <Modification Example of the First Embodiment> Note that this embodiment is not limited to the above-described aspect, and various modifications are possible without departing from the gist and technical idea thereof. Hereinafter, such modification examples will be described in order. The same reference numerals are given to the parts equivalent to those in the first embodiment described above, and the description will be omitted or simplified as appropriate.

[0104] (1-1) When Applied to the Standalone Type In the above embodiment, the operation terminal 2 and the label printer 3 are communicably connected, and the operation terminal 2 executes the flow shown in FIG. 8 and the label printer 3 executes the flow shown in FIG. 9 to realize the above-described method, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the present invention can also be applied to a so-called standalone type label printer 3 that is used without being connected to the operation terminal 2. This modification example is such an example. In this case, the label printer 3 is provided with an operation unit (not shown) that can be operated and input by the user as appropriate.

[0105] In this modification example, an example of the control procedure executed by the CPU 21c of the label printer 3 is shown in the flowchart of FIG. 11. The same reference numerals are given to the parts equivalent to those in FIGS. 8 and 9, and the description is omitted or simplified as appropriate.

[0106] In FIG. 11, first, at S2′ corresponding to S2 in FIG. 8, in the same manner as described above, through the operation unit of the label printer 3, an edit by the user to set the upper label LA as the above-described printing content is accepted, printing data for the upper label LA corresponding to the edit is generated, and is acquired by the CPU 21c. Similarly, at S4′ corresponding to S4 in FIG. 8, through the operation unit, an edit to set the middle label LB as the above-described printing content is accepted, printing data for the middle label LB is generated, and is acquired by the CPU 21c. Similarly, at S6′ corresponding to S6 in FIG. 8, through the operation unit 13, an edit to set the lower label LC as the above-described printing content is accepted, printing data for the lower label LC is generated, and is acquired by the CPU 21c. In this modification example, the processes executed at these S2′, S4′, and S6 are an example of data acquisition processing.

[0107] Then, at S8′ corresponding to S8 in FIG. 8, a print instruction for the upper label LA, the middle label LB, and the lower label LC is accepted by an appropriate operation through the operation unit of the user.

[0108] Thereafter, in S120 to S150, the same processes as those described in FIG. 9 above are performed. That is, in S120, the type information of the cassette 101 associated with each of the printing data generated in S2′, S4′, and S6′ as described above is identified. Thereafter, in the cassette detection process of S130, based on the detection result of the cassette sensor 31, the attachment of the cassettes A, B, and C is determined. Then, in S140, out of the types of the cassette 101 identified in S120 for each of the printing data generated in S2′, S4′, and S6′, one cassette type to be used corresponding to the determination result in S130 is specified. Thereafter, in S150, a printing process using the printing data corresponding to the one cassette type specified in S140 is executed.

[0109] And in this modified example, instead of S160 in FIG. 9 above, S165 is newly provided, and after S150, the process proceeds to S165. At S165, the type of the cassette 101 that is not yet loaded at this point, in other words, the cassette type other than the cassette 101 used in the printing at S150, is printed and indicated on the printed label L created at S150. Particularly in this example, the cassette type that should be used in the next order after the cassette 101 used at the time of creating the printed label L in the immediately preceding S150 is indicated.

[0110] That is, in the above embodiment, as described above with reference to FIG. 10 and as shown in S32, S38, S52, S58, S72, S78 in FIG. 8, when the creation of one corresponding printed label L is completed using one cassette 101, the name of the cassette 101 to be used in the next order is displayed on the display unit 14. Instead of this, in this modified example, when creating one printed label L, the name of the cassette 101 to be used in the next order is printed and formed on the margin portion of the label tape 110 for the printed label L of the said printed label L.

[0111] After S160, the process proceeds to S170 similar to FIG. 9 above, and it is determined whether the printing of all print data is completed. If the printing of all print data is completed at this point, S170 is determined to be Yes and this flow ends. If there is remaining print data that has not been printed, S170 is determined to be No, and the process returns to S130 and the same procedure is repeated. Thus, similar to the above embodiment, for example, when cassette A is first loaded, in the first executed S150, the printing of the upper label LA corresponding to that cassette A is executed earlier than the printing of the middle label LB and the lower label LC corresponding to the other cassettes B and C. Also, when cassette B is loaded later, in the S150 executed the second time by the above repetition, the printing of the middle label LB corresponding to that cassette B is executed earlier than the printing of the lower label LC corresponding to the remaining cassette C.

[0112] <Appearance example of printed label> Examples of the upper label LA, middle label LB, and lower label LC created in this modification example will be described with reference to FIGS. 12(a) to 12(d).

[0113] As shown in FIG. 12(a), in this modification example, when the upper label LA similar to the above-described embodiment is printed, the unmounted cassette notation portions LAb and Lac are formed following the upper label LA. The unmounted cassette notation portions LAb and Lac correspond to the fact that the printing of the upper label LA was performed using cassette A, and represent the fact that cassettes B and C are in the unmounted state and have not been used yet.

[0114] In the unmounted cassette notation portion LAb, “Unmounted Cassette B” indicating the type of unmounted cassette, the tape color “transparent” of the printing label tape 110 for the cassette B, and the character color “blue” by the ink ribbon 106 are indicated on the printing label tape 110 continuous with the upper label LA. These notations such as “Unmounted Cassette B”, “transparent”, and “blue” are examples of a predetermined image. In the unmounted cassette notation portion Lac, “Unmounted Cassette C” indicating the type of unmounted cassette, the tape color “white” of the printing label tape 110 for the cassette C, and the character color “black” by the ink ribbon 106 are indicated on the printing label tape 110 continuous with the unmounted cassette notation portion LAb. These notations such as “Unmounted Cassette C”, “white”, and “black” are other examples of a predetermined image.

[0115] Thereafter, in this modification example, when the middle label LB similar to the above-described embodiment is printed, as shown in FIG. 12(b), the unmounted cassette notation portion LBc is formed following the middle label LB. The unmounted cassette notation portion LBc corresponds to the fact that after the printing of the upper label LA was performed using cassette A, the printing of the middle label LB was performed using cassette B, and represents the fact that cassette C is in the unmounted state and has not been used yet.

[0116] In the non-loaded cassette notation section LBc, on the printing label tape 110 continuous with the middle label LB, "Non-loaded cassette C" indicating the type of non-loaded cassette, the tape color "white" of the printing label tape 110 for the cassette C, and the character color "black" by the ink ribbon 106 are noted. These notations such as "Non-loaded cassette C", "white", and "black" are further other examples of the predetermined image.

[0117] Regarding the lower label LC created after the upper label LA and the middle label LB, as shown in Fig. 12(c), the non-loaded cassette notation section as described above is not provided, and it has the same appearance as that shown in Fig. 4(c) in the above embodiment. The same applies to the overlapping label LL shown in Fig. 12(d) where the upper label LA, the middle label LB, and the lower label LC are laminated.

[0118] <Effect of the modification example> Also in the label printer 3 of this modification example described above, the same effects as those in the above embodiment are obtained. That is, as described above, the print data for the upper label LA, the middle label LB, and the lower label LC are acquired at S2′, S4′, and S6′ respectively, and at S130, the type of the cassette 101 mounted on the cassette holder 22 at that time is discriminated. Then, printing on the cover film 104 is executed at S150. At that time, based on all the acquired print data and the discrimination result, it is determined in what order to use the print data for the upper label LA, the print data for the middle label LB, and the print data for the lower label LC for printing. That is, when cassette A is mounted on the cassette holder 22, printing is performed in the order of the print data for the upper label LA → the print data for the middle label LB or the print data for the lower label LC. When cassette B is mounted on the cassette holder 22, printing is performed in the order of the print data for the middle label LB → the print data for the lower label LC or the print data for the upper label LA. Further, when cassette C is mounted on the cassette holder 22, printing is performed in the order of the print data for the lower label LC → the print data for the upper label LA or the print data for the middle label LB.

[0119] In this way, since the corresponding printing label L is printed prior to the cassette 101 mounted on the cassette holder 22, it is possible to eliminate the labor of remounting the cassette 101 on the cassette holder 22 according to the print data, and the operation burden on the user can be reduced.

[0120] Also in this modified example, as in the above-described embodiment, after a plurality of print data are acquired in S2′, S4′, and S6′, in S120, a plurality of cassette types respectively associated with the plurality of print data are identified. Then, in S140, one cassette 101 corresponding to the cassette type determined in S130 is specified from the plurality of cassette types identified in S120. And in S150, printing using the one specified cassette 101 is executed prior to printing using other cassettes 101. In this way, also in this modified example, the printing order is changed according to the type of the cassette 101, and printing corresponding to one cassette type specified as being mounted on the label printer 3 is executed first. Thereby, the operation burden on the user can be surely reduced.

[0121] Furthermore, also in this modified example, as in the above-described embodiment, the type of the cassette 101 mounted on the cassette holder 22 is detected by the cassette sensor 31. In S130, the type of the cassette 101 is determined based on this detection result, and in S140, one cassette 101 corresponding to the determined type of the cassette 101 is specified. In this way, by using the cassette sensor 31, it becomes easy to specify the cassette type. And in S150, after a plurality of print data are acquired in S2′, S4′, and S6′ as described above, when one cassette 101 is specified as described above, the corresponding printing is started. As a result, also in this modified example, when the user sequentially performs printing by detaching and replacing a plurality of cassettes 101, from the printing of the second cassette 101, printing can be started simply by performing the cassette replacement operation. That is, each time the cassette 101 is replaced, there is no need to manually input the type of the mounted cassette 101 or perform any printing start operation.

[0122] Also, particularly in this modification example, in the processes at S150 and subsequent S165 based on the print data for the upper label LA, middle label LB, and lower label LC respectively, the creation of the printed label L corresponding to any one of the print data and the printing of a predetermined image are executed. At this time, the predetermined image is the type of cassette 101 corresponding to the printing using print data other than the one print data. In the above example, the type of cassette 101 to be used in the following order is printed. As a result, after the user generates the printed label L using the first loaded cassette 101, the user can recognize the type of the cassette 101 to be loaded next from the notations of the non-loaded cassette notation portions LAb, LAc, LBc, which are the margin portions attached to the printed label L. Such notation by printing on the margin portion is particularly effective when the display function of the label printer 3 is not so high and cannot display as much as the display content of the display portion 14 of the operation terminal 2 shown in FIG. 10.

[0123] Furthermore, two modes may be provided: a mode for performing printing on the margin portion as described above and a mode for not performing printing on such a margin portion, and the user may be able to set as desired which mode to use.

[0124] (1-2) When transmitting data from a plurality of operation terminals to one label printer That is, in this modification example, as shown in FIG. 1(b), two operation terminals 2A and 2B are connected to one label printer 3 via an appropriate network so as to be able to mutually transmit and receive information. The operation terminal 2A is an example of the first terminal device, and the operation terminal 2B is an example of the second terminal device. In this modification example, one overlapping label is created in the label printer 3 from the data transmission from the operation terminal 2A, and another overlapping label is created in the label printer 3 by the data transmission from the operation terminal 2B. The details of these two overlapping labels will be described with reference to FIG. 13.

[0125] <Configuration of the overlapping label> First, the overlapping label LL1 created from data transmission from the operation terminal 2A will be described with reference to FIGS. 13(a) to (d). As shown in the figures, the overlapping label LL1 is generated by laminating different upper label LA1, middle label LB1, and lower label LC1 in this order, similar to the aforementioned overlapping label LL.

[0126] In this example, the upper label LA1 shown in FIG. 13(a) has the same configuration as the upper label LA shown in FIG. 4 above and is provided with red prohibition marks M1, M1. The middle label LB1 shown in FIG. 13(b) has the same configuration as the middle label LB shown in FIG. 4 above and is provided with blue tobacco marks M2, M2. The lower label LC1 shown in FIG. 13(c) has the same configuration as the lower label LC shown in FIG. 4 above and is provided with black text characters T1 of "NO SMOKING". As a result, in the overlapping label LL, synthetic prohibition marks M12, M12 for no smoking are arranged at both ends in the length direction of the tape portion, and black text characters T1 are arranged between them.

[0127] In other words, similar to the above, for the overlapping label LL1, the print data for creating the upper label LA1, middle label LB1, and lower label LC1 respectively are used as three layers, and three print images corresponding to these three layers are formed. That is, the print data for the upper label LA1 with prohibition marks M1, M1 at both ends is the first layer, the print data for the middle label LB1 with tobacco marks M2 closer to the center is the second layer, and the print data for the lower label LC1 with text characters T1 of "NO SMOKING" is the third layer. On the upper label LA1, prohibition marks M1, M1 are formed as the first-layer print image by the first-layer print data, on the middle label LB1, tobacco marks M2, M2 are formed as the second-layer print image by the second-layer print data, and on the lower label LC1, text characters T1 are formed as the third-layer print image by the third-layer print data.

[0128] Next, the overlapping label LL2 created from the data transmission from the operation terminal 2B will be described with reference to FIGS. 13(e) to (h). As shown in the figures, the overlapping label LL2 is generated by laminating different upper label LA2, middle label LD2, and lower label LC2 in this order, as before.

[0129] The upper label LA2 shown in FIG. 13(e) is, in this example, a transparent printing label tape 110 cut to a predetermined length, with red recycle marks M6, M6 in the shape of three arrows that bend and draw an equilateral triangle formed at both ends in the length direction. The middle label LD2 shown in FIG. 13(f) is, in this example, a transparent printing label tape 110 cut to a predetermined length, with a star-shaped frame green emphasis mark M7 formed near the center in the length direction. The lower label LC2 shown in FIG. 13(g) is, in this example, a white printing label tape 110 cut to a predetermined length, with black text characters T2 of "PLASTIC" formed near the center in the length direction.

[0130] As a result of the above lamination, in the overlapping label LL2, the above red recycle marks M6, M6 are arranged at both ends in the length direction of the tape portion. Also, between these recycle marks M6, M6, a surprise character MT formed by overlapping and synthesizing the green emphasis mark M7 and the black text characters T2 is arranged.

[0131] In other words, in the overlapping label LL2, the print data for creating the upper label LA2, middle label LD2, and lower label LC2 respectively are in multiple layers, in this example, three layers, and three print images corresponding to those three layers are formed. That is, among the three layers, the printing data for the upper label LA2 with recycling marks M6, M6 at both ends is the first layer, which is the topmost layer. The printing data for the middle label LD2 with an emphasis mark M7 closer to the center is the second layer, which is the middle layer. The printing data for the lower label LC2 with the text characters T1 of "PLASTIC" is the third layer, which is the bottommost layer. On the upper label LA2, the recycling marks M6, M6 are formed as the printing image of the first layer by the printing data of the first layer. On the middle label LD2, the emphasis mark M7 is formed as the printing image of the second layer by the printing data of the second layer. On the lower label LC2, the text characters T2 are formed as the printing image of the third layer by the printing data of the third layer.

[0132] <The method of this modification example> In this modification example, when creating the overlapping labels LL1, LL2 based on the printing data respectively transmitted from the operation terminals 2A, 2B, by devising the printing order based on the commonality of the printing data, more efficient label creation is performed. An example of such a method according to this modification example will be described with reference to FIGS. 14 and 15.

[0133] As shown in FIG. 14(a), first, all of the printing data for the upper label LA1 including the prohibition mark M1, the printing data for the middle label LB1 including the tobacco mark M2, and the printing data for the lower label LC1 including the text characters T1 are collectively transmitted from the operation terminal 2A to the label printer 3. At the label printer 3, these three pieces of printing data are received and acquired collectively. Also at this time, all of the printing data for the upper label LA2 including the recycling mark M6, the printing data for the middle label LD2 including the emphasis mark M7, and the printing data for the lower label LC2 including the text characters T2 are collectively transmitted from the operation terminal 2B to the label printer 3. At the label printer 3, these three pieces of printing data are received and acquired collectively.

[0134] At this time, as described above, type information of each cassette 101 is associated with each piece of print data. In the label printer 3, after the batch acquisition of the above print data, the type information of the cassette 101 associated with each is identified. That is, when printing using the print data for the upper label LA1, the label printer 3 identifies that cassette A with a printing color of red and a tape color of transparent should be used. Similarly, when printing using the print data for the middle label LB1, the label printer 3 identifies that cassette B with a printing color of blue and a tape color of transparent should be used, and when printing using the print data for the lower label LC1, the label printer 3 identifies that cassette C with a printing color of black and a tape color of white should be used. Similarly, when printing using the print data for the upper label LA2, the label printer 3 identifies that cassette A with a printing color of red and a tape color of transparent should be used. Also, when printing using the print data for the middle label LD2, the label printer 3 identifies that cassette D with a printing color of green and a tape color of transparent should be used, and when printing using the print data for the lower label LC2, the label printer 3 identifies that cassette C with a printing color of black and a tape color of white should be used.

[0135] Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 14(b), when the user mounts cassette A on the label printer 3, based on the detection result of the cassette sensor 31, the mounting of the cassette A is determined by the label printer 3. First, among cassette A, cassette B, and cassette C associated with the print data for the upper label LA1, the print data for the middle label LB1, and the print data for the lower label LC1 acquired in batch from the operation terminal 2A, respectively, the one that should be used corresponding to the above detection result is identified as cassette A. Then, based on the above identification, as shown in FIG. 14(c), the upper label LA1 is created using the print data for the upper label LA1.

[0136] Next, for the print data for the upper label LA2, the middle label LD2, and the lower label LC2 obtained in a batch from the operation terminal 2B, among the cassettes A, D, and C associated therewith respectively, the one to be used corresponding to the detection result is identified as cassette A. Then, based on the identification, as shown in FIG. 14(d), the upper label LA2 is created using the print data for the upper label LA2.

[0137] That is, in this case, the printing of the upper labels LA1 and LA2 corresponding to the installed cassette A is executed prior to the printing of the middle label LB1 corresponding to the other cassettes B, C, and D, the lower labels LC1 and LC2, and the middle label LD2, which will be described later.

[0138] In this case, the cassette A used first is an example of the third medium type, the print data for the upper label LA1 is an example of the third print data, and the prohibition marks M1 and M1 related to the upper label LA1 are examples of the third print images. Also, the print data for the upper label LA2 is an example of the fifth print data, and the recycling marks M6 and M6 related to the upper label LA2 are examples of the fifth print images. Also, the cassette B used subsequently is an example of the fourth medium type, the print data for the middle label LB1 is an example of the fourth print data, and the tobacco marks M2 and M2 related to the middle label LB1 are examples of the fourth print images. Furthermore, the cassette D used subsequently is an example of the fifth medium type, the print data for the middle label LD2 is an example of the sixth print data, and the emphasis mark M7 related to the middle label LD2 is an example of the sixth print image.

[0139] Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 15(a), when the user removes cassette A and installs cassette B instead, the installation of the cassette B is determined in the same manner as described above, and the print data for the middle label LB1 is identified as the one to be used in printing. Then, based on the identification, as shown in FIG. 15(b), the middle label LB1 is created using the print data for the middle label LB1.

[0140] Then, as shown in FIG. 15(c), when the cassette B is removed by the user and the cassette C is mounted instead, the mounting of the cassette C is determined as described above, and it is specified that what should be used in printing is the print data for the lower label LC1 and the print data for the lower label LC2. Then, based on the specification, first, as shown in FIG. 15(d), the lower label LC1 is created using the print data for the lower label LC1, and then, as shown in FIG. 15(e), the lower label LC2 is created using the print data for the lower label LC2.

[0141] After that, as shown in FIG. 15(f), when the cassette C is removed by the user and the cassette D is mounted instead, the mounting of the cassette D is determined as described above, and it is specified that what should be used in printing is the print data for the middle label LD2. Then, based on the specification, as shown in FIG. 15(g), the middle label LD2 is created using the print data for the middle label LD2.

[0142] Note that the above method is realized by the CPU 21c executing the flowchart of FIG. 9 above. However, in this modification, in S150, there may be a case where label generation based on print data from the operation terminal 2A and label generation based on print data from the operation terminal 2B are performed together. In the above example, it is the generation of the upper labels LA1 and LA2 when the cassette A is mounted and the generation of the upper labels LC1 and LC2 when the cassette C is mounted.

[0143] <Effect of the modification example> In this modification example, in the process of S110 in FIG. 9, a plurality of print data are acquired from a plurality of terminal devices, in this example, the operation terminals 2A and 2B. In the above example, the print data for the upper label LA1, the middle label LB1, and the lower label LC1 are acquired from the operation terminal 2A, and the print data for the upper label LA2, the middle label LD2, and the lower label LD1 are acquired from the operation terminal 2B. And in this modified example, as described above, when the same cassette type is associated with the print data obtained from the separate operation terminals 2A and 2B, printing using the same cassette 101 is preferentially executed over others. That is, in the above example, when cassette A is loaded, printing of the upper label LA1 based on the print data for the upper label LA1 and printing of the upper label LA2 based on the print data for the upper label LA2 are executed in a consecutive order. And later than that, printing of the middle label LB1 based on the print data for the middle label LB1 and printing of the middle label LD2 based on the print data for the middle label LD2 are executed.

[0144] Thereby, for example, compared to the case of performing printing collectively for the print data of each of the operation terminals 2A and 2B, the labor of the user can be reduced. That is, for example, when printing the upper label LA1 with the print data for the upper label LA1 → printing the middle label LB1 with the print data for the middle label LB1 → printing the lower label LC1 with the print data for the lower label LC1 → printing the upper label LA2 with the print data for the upper label LA2 → printing the middle label LD2 with the print data for the middle label LD2 → printing the lower label LC2 with the print data for the lower label LC2, the cassette replacement is five times. That is, because it is to load cassette A → replace with cassette B → replace with cassette C → replace with cassette A → replace with cassette D → replace with cassette C.

[0145] In contrast, in this modified example, as described above, if printing the upper label LA1 with the print data for the upper label LA1 using cassette A → subsequently printing the upper label LA2 with the print data for the upper label LA2 using cassette A → replacing with cassette B and printing the middle label LB1 with the print data for the middle label LB1 → replacing with cassette C and printing the lower label LC1 with the print data for the lower label LC1 → subsequently printing the lower label LC2 with the print data for the lower label LC2 using cassette C → replacing with cassette D and printing the middle label LD2 with the print data for the middle label LD2, the cassette replacement can be three times. According to the present embodiment, when common cassette types 101 are respectively associated with the print data acquired from a plurality of operation terminals 2, the number of cassette replacements can be reduced by devising the print order, thereby reducing the user's effort.

[0146] Note that the above-described method according to this modification example can also be applied when creating a plurality of sheets of one type of overlapping label from the print data from one operation terminal 2. For example, when creating two sheets of the overlapping label LL composed of the upper label LA, the middle label LB, and the lower label LC described above with reference to FIGS. 4(a) to (c). In this case, if the first upper label LA is printed using cassette A → subsequently the second upper label LA is printed using cassette A → cassette A is replaced with cassette B and the middle label LB is printed → subsequently the second middle label LB is printed using cassette B → cassette B is replaced with cassette C and the lower label LC is printed → subsequently the second lower label LC is printed using cassette C, the cassette replacement can be limited to two times.

[0147] <Second Embodiment> Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, instead of collectively transmitting a plurality of print data from the operation terminal 2 to the label printer 3 as in the first embodiment, the corresponding print data is transmitted according to the type of cassette 101 mounted on the label printer 3. The same reference numerals are given to the parts equivalent to those in the first embodiment and its modification example, and the description will be omitted or simplified as appropriate.

[0148] The configuration of the entire printing system according to this embodiment is the same as that shown in FIG. 1(a) described above. In this printing system of this modification example, an example of creating an overlapping label by laminating two different types of printed labels L will be described with reference to FIGS. 16(a) to (c) corresponding to FIGS. 4(a) to (d) above.

[0149] Fig. 16(a) shows an example of one printed label LA that is laminated on the upper layer when the two types of printed labels are overlapped. This printed label LA is the same as the one shown in Fig. 4(a) above. At both ends in the length direction of the printed label LA made of a transparent printed label tape 110 cut to a predetermined length, red prohibition marks M1, M1 in the shape of a slanted line within a circular frame are respectively formed.

[0150] Fig. 16(b) shows an example of one printed label LE that is laminated on the lower layer when the two types of printed labels are overlapped. In this example, at both ends in the length direction of the printed label LE made of a white printed label tape 110 cut to a predetermined length, blue tobacco marks M2, M2 that emit smoke similar to those in Fig. 4(a) above are formed. Also, near the center in the length direction of the printed label LE, black text characters T1 of "NO SMOKING" similar to those in Fig. 4(c) are formed.

[0151] As a result of the above, as described above, by overlapping the printed label LA and the printed label LB in this order, the printed label LL shown in Fig. 16(c) is generated. Note that the printed label LA and the printed label LB in this example are each configured to have the same width and the same length. In this embodiment, hereinafter, as appropriate, the printed label LL is referred to as the "overlapped label LL" in the same manner as in the first embodiment above. Also, the printed label LA is referred to as the "upper label LA" and the printed label LE is referred to as the "lower label LE".

[0152] As a result of the above overlapping, in the overlapped label LL, similar to the first embodiment above, at both ends in the length direction of the tape portion, smoking prohibition composite marks M12, M12, which are formed by the overlapping and combination of the above red prohibition mark M1 and blue tobacco mark M2, are arranged. Also, black text characters T1 are arranged between those composite marks M12, M12.

[0153] In other words, in the present embodiment, the overlapping label LL has print data for creating the upper label LA and the lower label LE, respectively, as a plurality of layers, in this example, two layers, and two print images corresponding to the two layers are formed thereon. That is, among the two layers, the print data for the upper label LA having the prohibition marks M1, M1 at both ends is the first layer which is the upper layer, and the print data for the lower label LE having the tobacco marks M2, M2 at both ends and the text character T1 of "NO SMOKING" is the second layer which is the lower layer. The prohibition marks M1, M1 are formed as the print image of the first layer on the upper label LA by the print data of the first layer, and the tobacco marks M2, M2 and the text character T1 are formed as the print image of the second layer on the lower label LE by the print data of the second layer.

[0154] <Features of the Embodiment> Also in the present embodiment having the above configuration, similar to the first embodiment, there is a feature in the method of determining the creation order of each printed label L when forming print images based on a plurality of print data as described above and creating a plurality of printed labels L with the label printer 3. Further, in the present embodiment, in particular, according to the type of cassette 101 mounted on the label printer 3 each time, the corresponding print data is individually transmitted from the operation terminal 2 to the label printer 3. Hereinafter, taking the case of creating the above-described upper label LA and lower label LE as a plurality of different types of printed labels L with the label printer 3 as an example, the details will be described step by step. Note that hereinafter, the upper label LA and the lower label LE are collectively referred to as "labels LA, LE" as appropriate.

[0155] <Control Procedure> In this embodiment, an example of the control procedure executed in cooperation by the CPU 11 of the operation terminal 2 and the CPU 21c of the label printer 3 will be described with reference to the sequence diagrams of FIGS. 17 and 18. At this time, the control procedure in FIG. 17 is executed by the printing control program according to this embodiment included in a plurality of programs stored in the ROM 12b in the operation terminal 2, and the following printing control method is realized by this execution. Also, in the label printer 3, it is executed by a printing program included in a plurality of programs stored in the ROM 21a, and the following printing method is realized by this execution.

[0156] In FIG. 17, first, in S201, via the operation unit 13, editing by the user to use the upper label LA as the above-described printing content is accepted, and corresponding to this editing, printing data for the upper label LA having the red prohibition marks M1, M1 at both ends in the above example is generated. Similarly, in S4, via the operation unit 13, editing to use the lower label LE as the above-described printing content is accepted, and corresponding to this editing, printing data for the lower label LE having the blue tobacco marks M2, M2 at both ends and the black text character T1 of "NO SMOKING" near the center in the above example is generated.

[0157] Thereafter, in S205, in the operation terminal 2, an operation of instructing printing via the operation unit 13 is accepted by the CPU 11. The process executed in S5 is an example of an instruction reception process.

[0158] Thereafter, in S210, in the operation terminal 2, an inquiry about the model of the label printer 3, in other words, an inquiry about the specifications and performance of the label printer 3 is transmitted to the label printer 3. In the label printer 3 that has received this model inquiry, in S215 thereafter, its own model information is transmitted to the operation terminal 2.

[0159] And in S220, in the operation terminal 2, corresponding to the generation of the printing data for the upper label LA and the printing data for the lower label LE in S201 above, the cassette 101 to be installed in the label printer 3 is identified. That is, as described above, the type information of the cassette 101 corresponding to each printing data is associated therewith. In the operation terminal 2, after the generation of the above printing data, the type information of the cassette 101 associated therewith is identified. That is, corresponding to the printing data for the upper label LA, it is identified in the operation terminal 2 that the cassette A should be used when printing using the printing data, and that the cassette C should be used when printing using the printing data for the lower label LE. And in this S220, according to the above identification result, on the display unit 14, a display such as "Please install cassette A or cassette C in the label printer" is performed. In this example, the above "cassette A" and "cassette C" are examples of medium information, and the process executed in this S220 is an example of the first display process.

[0160] After that, in the operation terminal 2, in S225, a cassette inquiry for inquiring about the type of the cassette 101 installed in the cassette holder 22 of the label printer 3 is transmitted to the label printer 3. Corresponding to the reception of this cassette inquiry, in the label printer 3, a cassette detection process similar to the above S130 is performed. That is, corresponding to the display on the display unit 14 in the above S220 in the operation terminal 2, when the user installs either cassette A or C in the cassette holder 22 of the label printer 3, based on the detection result of the cassette sensor 31, the installation of the cassette A or C is determined by the label printer 3. The process executed in this S225 is an example of a determination process. Note that, as described above, the determination of the cassette type in this S225 may be performed based on the detection result of the cassette sensor 31 as described above, but the user may manually input the type of the installed cassette 101 via the operation unit 13 of the operation terminal 2, and it may be performed based on the input result.

[0161] Thereafter, in S235, the cassette information of the mounted cassette 101, which was determined in S230, is transmitted from the label printer 3 and received and acquired by the operation terminal 2. The cassette information at this time is an example of the type information of the printing medium, and this process executed in S235 is an example of the type acquisition process.

[0162] Then, in the operation terminal 2, in S240, the type of the cassette 101 mounted on the label printer 3 at this time, represented by the cassette information acquired in S235, is specified, and it is determined whether the specific result is cassette A or cassette C. As described above, when the user manually inputs the type of the cassette 101 via the operation unit 13, the type of the cassette 101 is specified based on the input result, and it is determined whether it is cassette A or cassette C based on the specific result. If it is neither cassette A nor cassette C, the process returns to S220, and the same procedure as above is repeated. If it is cassette C, the process proceeds to S305 in FIG. 18 described later. If it is cassette A, the process proceeds to S245.

[0163] In S245, the print data for the upper label LA generated in S201 is transmitted from the operation terminal 2 to the label printer 3. That is, in this case, the transmission of the print data for the upper label LA corresponding to the mounted cassette A and the printing of the upper label LA are executed prior to the transmission of the print data for the lower label LE corresponding to the other cassette C and the printing of the lower label LE, which will be described later. In this case, the cassette A used first is an example of the first medium type, the print data for the upper label LA is an example of the first print data, and the prohibited marks M1, M1 related to the upper label LA are an example of the first print image. Also, the cassette C used subsequently is an example of the second medium type, the print data for the lower label LE is an example of the second print data, and the tobacco marks M2, M2 and the text characters T1 related to the lower label LE are an example of the second print image.

[0164] Note that in the figure, the print data for the upper label LA to be transmitted is abbreviated as "print data LA" as shown. The same applies to each of the following figures. The print data for the transmitted upper label LA is received and acquired by the label printer 3. Instead of acquiring the print data transmitted from the operation terminal 2 corresponding to the transmission of the mounting cassette information from the label printer 3 in S235 as described above, the label printer 3 may request the operation terminal 2 to transmit the print data for the upper label LA according to the determination result in S230. In this case, the operation terminal 2 transmits the print data for the upper label LA to the label printer 3 in response to this transmission request.

[0165] Thereafter, in S250, in the label printer 3, using the print data for the upper label LA acquired in S245, the printing process of the upper label LA is executed. Then, in S255 after S250, corresponding to the completion of the printing execution in S250, a print completion notification of the upper label LA printed in S250 is transmitted from the label printer 3 to the operation terminal 2. This print completion notification is an example of a predetermined notification, and the process executed in S255 is an example of a notification transmission process.

[0166] Then, in the operation terminal 2, when the above print completion notification is received, in S260, corresponding to the completion of the printing of the upper label LA using the cassette A, next, it is identified that printing using the print data for the lower label LE should be performed using the above cassette C. Then, in this S260, according to the above identification result, a display such as "Please mount cassette C on the label printer" is performed on the display unit 14. In this example, the prohibition marks M1, M1 formed on the upper label LA are an example of a predetermined print image, and the print data for the upper label LA is an example of a predetermined print data. Also, as described above, the "cassette A" displayed is an example of the media information of the print medium corresponding to the predetermined print data, and "cassette C" is an example of the remaining media information excluding the media information of the print medium corresponding to the predetermined print data. And the process executed in this S260 is an example of a second display process.

[0167] After that, in the operation terminal 2, in S265, the same cassette inquiry as described above is transmitted to the label printer 3. Similar to the above, when the user mounts the cassette C on the label printer 3 corresponding to the display in S260 in the operation terminal 2, based on the detection result of the cassette sensor 31, in S270, the mounting of the cassette C is determined by the label printer 3. The process executed in this S270 is also an example of a determination process. Note that, similar to the above, it may be determined based on the manual input result via the operation unit 13 of the user.

[0168] After that, in S275, similar to the above, the cassette information of the mounted cassette 101 determined in S270 is transmitted from the label printer 3 and received and acquired in the operation terminal 2. The cassette information at this time is also an example of the type information of the printing medium, and this process executed in S275 is also an example of a type acquisition process.

[0169] Then, in the operation terminal 2, in S280, the type of the cassette 101 represented by the cassette information acquired in S275 is specified, and it is determined whether or not the specified result is the cassette C. As described above, at the time of the user's manual input, it is specified based on the input result, and based on the specified result, it is determined whether or not it is the cassette C. Note that the processes executed in this S280 and the above-mentioned S240 are examples of a specifying process. If it is not the cassette C, a No determination is made and the process returns to S260, and the same procedure as above is repeated. If it is the cassette C, a Yes determination is made and the process proceeds to S285 described later.

[0170] In S285, the print data for the lower label LE generated in the above S201 is transmitted from the operation terminal 2 to the label printer 3. The transmitted print data for the lower label LE is received and acquired by the label printer 3. In the figure, the print data for the lower label LE to be transmitted is abbreviated as "print data LE" as shown. The same applies to each of the following figures. Note that the process of transmitting the print data executed by the operation terminal 2 in this S285 and the aforementioned S245 is an example of data transmission processing, and the process of receiving the print data executed by the label printer 3 is an example of data acquisition processing.

[0171] After that, in S290, in the label printer 3, using the print data for the lower label LE acquired in S285, the printing process of the lower label LE is executed. Note that the processes executed in this S290 and the aforementioned S250 are examples of print control processing.

[0172] Then, in S295 after S290, corresponding to the completion of the printing execution in S290, a print completion notification of the lower label LE printed in S290 is transmitted from the label printer 3 to the operation terminal 2. This print completion notification is also an example of a predetermined notification, and the process executed in S295 is also an example of notification transmission processing. After that, this sequence ends.

[0173] On the other hand, in the aforementioned S240, when the specified cassette is cassette C, the process proceeds to S305 in FIG. 18.

[0174] In S305 of FIG. 18, the print data for the above-mentioned S201 is transmitted from the operation terminal 2 to the label printer 3. That is, in this case, the transmission of the lower label LE print data corresponding to the installed cassette C and the printing of the lower label LE are executed earlier than the transmission of the upper label LA print data corresponding to the other cassette A and the printing of the upper label LA, which will be described later. In this case, the cassette C used first is an example of the first medium type, the print data for the lower label LE is an example of the first print data, and the tobacco marks M2, M2 and the text character T1 related to the lower label LE are examples of the first print image. Also, the cassette A used subsequently is an example of the second medium type, the print data for the upper label LA is an example of the second print data, and the prohibition marks M1, M1 related to the upper label LA are examples of the second print image.

[0175] The transmitted print data of the lower label LE is received and acquired by the label printer 3. Note that, as described above, the label printer 3 may request the operation terminal 2 to transmit the print data for the lower label LE according to the determination result in S230. In this case, the operation terminal 2 transmits the print data for the lower label LE to the label printer 3 in response to this transmission request.

[0176] Thereafter, in S310, in the label printer 3, using the print data for the lower label LE acquired in S305, the printing process of the lower label LE is executed. Then, in S315 after that, corresponding to the completion of the printing execution in S310, the print completion notification of the lower label LE printed in S310 is transmitted from the label printer 3 to the operation terminal 2. This print completion notification is an example of a predetermined notification, and the process executed in S315 is an example of a notification transmission process.

[0177] Then, in the operation terminal 2, when the above printing completion notification is received, in S320, in response to the completion of printing the lower label LE using the cassette C, next, it is identified that printing using the printing data for the upper label LA should be performed using the above cassette A. And in this S320, according to the above identification result, in the display unit 14, a display such as "Please install cassette A in the label printer" is performed. In this example, the tobacco marks M2, M2 and the text character T1 formed on the lower label LE are an example of a predetermined printed image, and the printing data for the lower label LE is an example of a predetermined printing data. Also, the "cassette C" displayed as described above is an example of the media information of the printing medium corresponding to the predetermined printing data, and "cassette A" is an example of the remaining media information excluding the media information of the printing medium corresponding to the predetermined printing data. And the process executed in this S320 is an example of the second display process.

[0178] After that, in the operation terminal 2, in S325, the same cassette inquiry as above is transmitted to the label printer 3. Similar to the above, in response to the display in S320 on the operation terminal 2, when the user installs cassette A in the label printer 3, based on the detection result of the cassette sensor 31, in S330, the installation of the cassette A is determined by the label printer 3. The process executed in this S330 is also an example of a determination process. Note that, similar to the above, it may be determined based on the manual input result via the operation unit 13 of the user.

[0179] After that, in S335, similar to the above, the cassette information of the installed cassette 101 determined in S330 is transmitted from the label printer 3 and received and acquired by the operation terminal 2. The cassette information at this time is also an example of the type information of the printing medium, and this process executed in S335 is also an example of a type acquisition process.

[0180] Then, in the operation terminal 2, in S340, the type of the cassette 101 represented by the cassette information acquired in S335 is specified, and it is determined whether the specified result is the cassette A or not. As described above, at the time of manual input by the user, it is specified based on the input result, and it is determined whether it is the cassette A or not based on the specified result. Note that, in this case, the processes executed in S340 and the aforementioned S240 are examples of the specifying process. If it is not the cassette A, a No determination is made and the process returns to S320, and the same procedure as described above is repeated. If it is the cassette A, a Yes determination is made and the process proceeds to S345 described below.

[0181] In S345, the print data for the upper label LA generated in S201 is transmitted from the operation terminal 2 to the label printer 3. The transmitted print data for the upper label LA is received and acquired by the label printer 3. Note that, in this case, the process of transmitting the print data executed by the operation terminal 2 in this S345 and the aforementioned S245 is an example of the data transmission process, and the process of receiving the print data executed by the label printer 3 is an example of the data acquisition process.

[0182] Thereafter, in S350, in the label printer 3, using the print data for the upper label LA acquired in S345, the printing process of the upper label LA is executed. Note that the processes executed in this S350 and the aforementioned S250 are examples of the print control process.

[0183] Then, in S355 after S350, corresponding to the completion of the printing execution in S350, a print completion notification of the upper label LA printed in S350 is transmitted from the label printer 3 to the operation terminal 2. This print completion notification is also an example of a predetermined notification, and the process executed in S355 is also an example of the notification transmission process. Thereafter, this sequence ends.

[0184] <Effects of the Embodiment> Also in this embodiment, the same effects as those in the first embodiment are obtained. That is, in the label printer 3, as described above, in S240 and S280 or S340, the type of the cassette 101 mounted on the cassette holder 22 at that time is discriminated. Also, in S245, S285 or S305, S335, the print data for the upper label LA and the lower label LE are acquired respectively. Then, printing on the cover film 104 is executed in S250, S290 or S310, S350. At that time, based on the discrimination result and the acquired print data for the upper label LA and the lower label LE, it is determined in what order to use the print data for the upper label LA and the print data for the lower label LE for printing. That is, when cassette A is mounted on the cassette holder 22, printing is performed in the order of print data for the upper label LA → print data for the lower label LE. Also, when cassette C is mounted on the cassette holder 22, printing is performed in the order of print data for the lower label LE → print data for the upper label LA. In this way, by printing the corresponding printed label L first from the cassette 101 mounted on the cassette holder 22, as described above with reference to FIGS. 5(a) to 5(c) in the comparative example using the conventional method, the trouble of remounting the cassette 101 in the cassette holder 22 according to the print data can be eliminated. As a result, the operation burden on the user can be reduced.

[0185] Also in this embodiment, in S245, S285 or S305, S335, as in the first embodiment, the print data for the upper label LA and the lower label LE are acquired from the operation terminal 2 via the communication control unit 23. Thus, even when printing a plurality of printed images corresponding to a plurality of layers based on a plurality of print data from the operation terminal 2 using a plurality of types of cassettes 101, the operation burden on the user can be reduced by changing the printing order according to the type of the cassette 101.

[0186] Also, in this embodiment, each time printing based on the print data for each label LA, LE is completed, a print completion notification is sent to the operation terminal 2 at S255, S295 or S315, S355. As a result, the user can easily identify the types of the cassettes 101 that have not yet been used for printing. Further, since the transmission timing of this print completion notification represents the replacement timing of the cassette 101, there is also an effect that the user can be prevented from erroneously replacing the cassette 101 at an early timing by waiting for this print completion notification to be sent.

[0187] Also, particularly in this embodiment, at the operation terminal 2, at S240 and S280 or S320 in FIG. 17, the type of the cassette 101 mounted on the label printer 3 at that time is specified. Then, by sending the print data to the label printer 3 at S245, S285 or S305, S335, the corresponding printing is executed. At that time, based on the above specified result, it is determined in what order to send the print data for the upper label LA and the print data for the lower label LE. That is, when the cassette A for the upper label LA is mounted on the label printer 3, the data is sent in the order of print data for the upper label LA → print data for the lower label LE, and when the cassette C for the lower label LE is mounted on the label printer 3, the data is sent in the order of print data for the lower label LE → print data for the upper label LA.

[0188] Therefore, when the cassette A is mounted on the label printer 3, thereafter, the user can simply perform the removal of the cassette A → the mounting of the cassette C, and can perform the printing of the upper label LA and the lower label LE respectively. Also, when the cassette C is mounted on the printing device, thereafter, the user can simply perform the removal of the cassette C → the mounting of the cassette A, and can perform the printing of the lower label LE and the upper label LA respectively. In this way, by performing printing first from the cassette 101 mounted on the label printer 3, it is possible to eliminate the trouble of remounting the cassette 101 in the cassette holder 22 according to the print data as in the conventional method described above.

[0189] As described above, according to the present embodiment, by changing the transmission order of print data according to the type of the cassette 101 attached to the label printer 3, when printing a plurality of print images corresponding to each layer using different types of cassettes 101, the operation burden on the user can be reduced.

[0190] In particular, in the present embodiment, first, after receiving the user's print instruction in S205, in S220, "Cassette A" and "Cassette C" corresponding to the print data for the upper label LA and the print data for the lower label LE are displayed respectively. Then, triggered by the completion of the transmission of any one of the above print data, among the cassettes A and C, the remaining cassettes 101 excluding the cassette 101 corresponding to the above one print data are displayed. Thereby, for example, after the print data for the upper label LA is transmitted to the label printer 3, only "Cassette C" related to the print data for the lower label LE to be transmitted second, excluding it, is displayed. In this way, by displaying only the information of the cassette 101 related to the print data remaining without being transmitted on the display unit 14, the user can easily identify the type of the cassette 101 to be attached to the label printer 3 thereafter.

[0191] In particular, in the present embodiment, in S260 or S320, when the print completion notification of the printed label L based on the print data transmitted immediately before is received from the label printer 3 in S255 or S315, the cassette information related to the print data remaining without being transmitted at that time is displayed. Thereby, it is possible to avoid the situation where the user mistakenly starts to replace the cassette 101 related to the next printed label L while the previous printed label L is still being printed. At this time, the display of the cassette information may be performed at a timing earlier than that without waiting for the print completion notification of the printed label L based on the print data transmitted immediately before in S255 or S315. In this case, there is an effect that the user can quickly identify the cassette 101 that must be prepared next.

[0192] In particular, in this embodiment, the label printer 3 provided with the cassette sensor 31 capable of detecting the type of the cassette 101 is the object to which the present invention is applied. In this case, based on the detection result of the cassette sensor 31, at S235 and S275 or S335, the type information of the cassette 101 mounted on and detected by the label printer 3 is acquired. Then, at S240 and S280 or S340, based on the acquired cassette type information, the type of the cassette 101 mounted on the label printer 3 is specified. Then, based on the specified result, at S245, S285 or S305, S335, the print data is transmitted to the label printer 3. Accordingly, based on the detection ability of the type of the cassette 101 in the label printer 3, the appropriate print data can be reliably transmitted from the operation terminal 2 to the label printer 3.

[0193] <Modification Example of the Second Embodiment> Note that the present embodiment is not limited to the above-described aspect, 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 those in the first and second embodiments above, and the description will be omitted or simplified as appropriate.

[0194] (2-1) When Applied to a Label Printer Incapable of Detecting Tape Color and Printing Color In the above embodiment, by the cassette sensor 31 provided in the label printer 3, the tape width of the printing label tape 110, the tape color of the printing label tape 110, and the printing color by the ink ribbon 106 in each cassette 101 could be detected. However, depending on the model of the label printer 3, the cassette sensor 31 may be able to detect the tape width of the printing label tape 110 in each cassette 101, but may not be able to detect the tape color of the printing label tape 110 and the printing color by the ink ribbon 106. This modification example is an example corresponding to such a model.

[0195] In this modification example, an example of the control procedure executed in cooperation by the CPU 11 of the operation terminal 2 and the CPU 21c of the label printer 3 will be described with reference to the sequence diagrams of FIGS. 19 to 21 corresponding to FIGS. 17 and 18. As described above, the control procedures of FIGS. 19 to 21 are executed by the above-described printing control program in the operation terminal 2, and the following printing control method is realized by this execution. Further, in the label printer 3, it is executed by the above-described printing program, and the following printing method is realized by this execution.

[0196] Each procedure shown in FIGS. 19 and 20 corresponds to each of the procedures of S201 to S280 and S285 to S295 shown in FIG. 17, respectively, and each procedure shown in FIG. 21 corresponds to each procedure shown in FIG. 18. In addition, in FIG. 19, new S242 and S244 are provided between S240 and S245, and new S257 and S259 are provided between S255 and S260. Further, in FIG. 20, new S282 and S284 are provided between S280 and S285, and new S297 and S299 are provided after S295. Furthermore, in FIG. 21, new S302 and S304 are provided between S300 and S305, new S317 and S319 are provided between S315 and S320, new S342 and S344 are provided between S340 and S345, and new S357 and S359 are provided after S355.

[0197] First, in FIG. 19, S201 to S240 similar to those in FIG. 17 are executed. If the cassette information received at S235 represents "Cassette A", the operation terminal 2 proceeds to newly provided S242.

[0198] At S242, a display such as "Is the installed cassette Cassette A?" is performed on the display unit 14. This is because the cassette sensor 31 cannot detect the tape color and the printing color, and it is impossible to identify whether the installed cassette is Cassette A or another cassette 101 that has a printing label tape 110 with the same tape width as Cassette A but a different tape color or printing color.

[0199] When the user who has viewed the above display makes an appropriate input via the operation unit 13 indicating that it is not cassette A, the newly provided next S244 becomes a No determination, and the process returns to the above S220 and the above-described procedure is executed again. When an appropriate input indicating that it is cassette A is made, S244 becomes a Yes determination, and the process proceeds to S245 similar to the above, and further, by executing S250 and S255, printing of the upper label LA based on the printing data for the upper label LA is executed. Thereafter, the process proceeds to newly provided S257.

[0200] In S257, on the display unit 14, a display such as "Was it printed correctly?" is made. This is to have the user confirm whether cassette A was correctly installed and the upper label LA was properly printed based on the non-detection of the tape color and printing color described above.

[0201] When the user who has viewed the above display makes an appropriate input via the operation unit 13 indicating that it was not printed correctly, the newly provided next S259 becomes a No determination, and the process returns to the above S220 and the above-described procedure is executed again. When an appropriate input indicating that it was printed correctly is made, S259 becomes a Yes determination, and the process proceeds to S260 similar to the above. Thereafter, by further executing S265 to S280, a cassette inquiry and a response thereto are made. If the cassette information received at S280 represents "cassette C", on the operation terminal 2, the process proceeds to newly provided S282 in FIG. 20.

[0202] In S282, on the display unit 14, a display such as "Is the installed cassette C?" is made. Similar to the above S242, it is because it is impossible to distinguish whether the installed cassette is cassette C or another cassette 101 that has a printing label tape 110 with the same tape width as cassette C but a different tape color or printing color.

[0203] When the user who has viewed the above display makes an appropriate input via the operation unit 13 indicating that it is not the cassette C, the newly provided next S284 becomes a No determination, and the process returns to the above S260 and the above-described procedure is executed again. When an appropriate input indicating that it is the cassette C is made, the above S284 becomes a Yes determination, and the process proceeds to the same S285 as described above, and further S290 and S295 are executed, whereby printing of the lower label LE based on the printing data for the lower label LE is executed. Thereafter, the process proceeds to the newly provided S297.

[0204] In S297, on the display unit 14, a display such as "Was it printed correctly?" is made. This is to have the user confirm on the user side whether the cassette C is correctly installed and the lower label LE is properly printed, similar to the above S257.

[0205] When the user who has viewed the above display makes an appropriate input via the operation unit 13 indicating that it was not printed correctly, the newly provided next S299 becomes a No determination, and the process returns to the above S260 and the above-described procedure is executed again. When an appropriate input indicating that it was printed correctly is made, the above S299 becomes a Yes determination, and this sequence ends.

[0206] On the other hand, in the above S240, if the identified cassette is the cassette C, the process proceeds to the newly provided S302 in FIG. 21.

[0207] In FIG. 21, in S302, similar to the above, on the display unit 14, a display such as "Is the installed cassette the cassette C?" is made. When the user who has viewed the above display makes an appropriate input via the operation unit 13 indicating that it is not the cassette C, the newly provided next S304 becomes a No determination, and the process returns to the above S260 and the above-described procedure is executed again. When an appropriate input indicating that it is the cassette C is made, the above S304 becomes a Yes determination, and the process proceeds to the same S305 as described above, and further S310 and S315 are executed, whereby printing of the lower label LE based on the printing data for the lower label LE is executed. Thereafter, the process proceeds to the newly provided S317.

[0208] In S317, similar to the above, on the display unit 14, a display such as "Was it printed correctly?" is made. This is to have the user confirm whether the cassette C is correctly installed and the lower label LE is properly printed. When the user who has viewed the above display makes an appropriate input via the operation unit 13 indicating that it was not printed correctly, the newly provided next S319 becomes a No determination, and it returns to the above S260 and the above-described procedure is executed again. When an appropriate input indicating that it was printed correctly is made, S319 becomes a Yes determination, and it proceeds to S320 similar to the above. Thereafter, by further executing S325 to S335, a cassette inquiry and a response thereto are made. If the cassette information received in S340 represents "Cassette A", on the operation terminal 2, it proceeds to the newly provided S342.

[0209] In S342, similar to the above, on the display unit 14, a display such as "Is the installed cassette A?" is made. When the user who has viewed the above display makes an appropriate input via the operation unit 13 indicating that it is not cassette A, the newly provided next S344 becomes a No determination, and it returns to the above S320 and the above-described procedure is executed again. When an appropriate input indicating that it is cassette A is made, S344 becomes a Yes determination, and it proceeds to S345 similar to the above. Further, by executing S350 and S355, printing of the upper label LA based on the print data for the upper label LA is executed. Thereafter, it proceeds to the newly provided S357.

[0210] In S357, similar to the above, on the display unit 14, a display such as "Was it printed correctly?" is made. When the user who has viewed the above display makes an appropriate input via the operation unit 13 indicating that it was not printed correctly, the newly provided next S359 becomes a No determination, and it returns to the above S320 and the above-described procedure is executed again. When an appropriate input indicating that it was printed correctly is made, S359 becomes a Yes determination, and this sequence ends.

[0211] Also in this modification example, the same effects as those of the above second embodiment are obtained.

[0212] Note that in the above S242, S282, and S342, in response to the cassette sensor 31 being unable to detect the above tape color and printing color, a display asking whether the mounted cassette 101 is cassette A or cassette C is performed, and the user is requested to confirm. However, this is not the only case. That is, instead of the above respective procedures, for example, the user may set and input the above tape color and printing color corresponding to cassette A or cassette C through an appropriate operation of the operation unit 13. The operation terminal 2 determines whether the set and input tape color and printing color match the contents of cassette A or C, and only when they match, the print data for the upper label LA or the lower label LE is transmitted to the label printer 3, and the upper label LA or the lower label LE is printed.

[0213] Also, the content of this modified example and the content of the above first embodiment may be combined. That is, in the flows shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, at an appropriate timing, a model inquiry from the operation terminal 2 and the transmission of model information from the label printer 3 corresponding thereto, similar to S210 and S215, may be performed, and the subsequent processing may be changed according to the model information.

[0214] That is, based on the model information, when the cassette sensor 31 of the label printer 3 is able to detect the printing color and the tape color as described above, each procedure shown in FIG. 8 is executed as it is. On the other hand, when the cassette sensor 31 is unable to detect the printing color and the tape color, after the cassette mounting request in S32, S38, S42, S52, S58, S62, S72, S78, S82, a confirmation request display for the mounted cassette similar to S242, S282, S302, S342 may be performed. Furthermore, after receiving the print completion notification in S34, S36, S40, S44, S54, S56, S60, S64, S74, S76, S80, S84, a confirmation request display similar to S257, S297 asking whether the printing was performed correctly may be performed.

[0215] (2-2) When applied to a label printer without a cassette type detection function This modified example corresponds to a model in which the aforementioned cassette sensor 31 is omitted and it is impossible to detect all of the tape width and tape color of the printing label tape 110, the printing color by the ink ribbon 106, etc. in the mounted cassette 101. Therefore, the label printer 3 in this modified example is an example of a second printing device.

[0216] In this modified example, an example of the control procedure executed in cooperation by the CPU 11 of the operation terminal 2 and the CPU 21c of the label printer 3 will be described with reference to the sequence diagrams of FIGS. 22 and 23 corresponding to FIGS. 19 to 21 above. Similar to the above, the control procedures of FIGS. 22 and 23 are executed by the above printing control program in the operation terminal 2 and by the above printing program in the label printer 3, and the following printing method is realized by their execution.

[0217] Each procedure shown in FIGS. 22 and 23 corresponds to each of the procedures S201 to S299 shown in FIGS. 19 and 20 and each of the procedures S302 to S359 shown in FIG. 21. In FIG. 22, S220' and S260' are provided instead of S220 and S260, and S225 to S235, S242, S244, S270 to S284 are omitted. In FIG. 23, S320' is provided instead of S320, and S302, S304, S325 to S344 are omitted.

[0218] First, in FIG. 22, the same S201 to S215 as in FIG. 19 are executed. When cassette information is received from the label printer 3 at S215, the operation terminal 2 proceeds to S220' which replaces S220.

[0219] In S220′, on the display unit 14, type information of a plurality of cassettes 101 is displayed so as to be selectable, together with a display such as "Please select a loaded cassette". This display process in S220′ is an example of a type display process. And by this display, a user's selection via the operation unit 13 is received. This is because, as described above, in the label printer 3 of this modification example, the cassette sensor 31 is not provided, and thus the type of the loaded cassette 101 cannot be specified as it is. This reception process in S220′ is an example of a selection reception process. Also, in the operation terminal 2, since the type of the cassette 101 loaded on the label printer 3 is substantially specified based on the received result, this reception process in S220′ is also an example of a specification process.

[0220] When the user who has visually recognized the above display makes an appropriate input via the operation unit 13 indicating that the cassette 101 loaded on the label printer 3 is Cassette A, S240′ which replaces S240 is determined as Yes, and the process proceeds to S245 similar to FIG. 19. Further, by executing S250 and S255, printing of the upper label LA based on the printing data for the upper label LA is executed.

[0221] Thereafter, after S257 and S259 similar to FIG. 19 are executed to determine the success or failure of correct printing execution, the process proceeds to S260′ which replaces S260.

[0222] In S260′, similar to the above S220′, on the display unit 14, type information of a plurality of cassettes 101 is displayed so as to be selectable, together with a display such as "Please select a loaded cassette". This display process in S260′ is also an example of a type display process. And by this display, a user's selection via the operation unit 13 is received. This reception process executed in S260′ is also an example of a selection reception process. Also, similar to the above, in the operation terminal 2, since the type of the cassette 101 loaded on the label printer 3 is substantially specified based on the received result, this reception process in S260′ is also an example of a specification process.

[0223] When the user who has viewed the above display makes an appropriate input via the operation unit 13 indicating that the cassette 101 attached to the label printer 3 is the cassette C, the process proceeds to S285 similar to FIG. 19, and further, by executing S290 and S295, printing of the lower label LE based on the printing data for the lower label LE is executed.

[0224] Thereafter, S297 and S299 similar to FIG. 19 are executed to determine the success or failure of correct printing execution. If S299 is determined to be Yes, this sequence ends.

[0225] On the other hand, in the aforementioned S240′, when the user makes an appropriate input via the operation unit 13 indicating that the cassette 101 attached to the label printer 3 is the cassette C, S240′ is determined to be No, and the process proceeds to S305 in FIG. 23 similar to FIG. 21. Further, by executing S310 and S315, printing of the lower label LE based on the printing data for the lower label LE is executed.

[0226] Thereafter, after S317 and S319 similar to FIG. 21 are executed to determine the success or failure of correct printing execution, the process proceeds to S320′ instead of S320.

[0227] In S320′, as described above, in the display unit 14, together with a display such as "Please select the attached cassette", type information of a plurality of cassettes 101 is displayed so as to be selectable. This display process in S320′ is also an example of a type display process. And by this display, the selection by the user via the operation unit 13 is received. This reception process executed in this S320′ is also an example of a selection reception process. Also, similar to the above, in the operation terminal 2, since the type of the cassette 101 attached to the label printer 3 is substantially specified based on the received result, this reception process in S320′ is also an example of a specification process.

[0228] When the user who has viewed the above display makes an appropriate input via the operation unit 13 indicating that the cassette 101 attached to the label printer 3 is cassette A, the process proceeds to S345 similar to that in FIG. 21, and further, S350 and S355 are executed, whereby printing of the upper label LA based on the printing data for the upper label LA is performed.

[0229] Thereafter, S357 and S359 similar to those in FIG. 21 are executed to determine the success or failure of correct printing execution. If S359 is determined to be Yes, this sequence ends.

[0230] <Effect of the modified example> Also in this modified example, the same effects as those in the above-described second embodiment are obtained.

[0231] In addition, in this modified example, in particular, a label printer 3 that is not provided with a cassette sensor 31 and cannot detect the cassette type is used as the application target. In this case, at S220′, S260′, and S320′, the type information of the cassette 101 attached to the label printer 3 is received via an operation by the user, and based on the received result, the type of the attached cassette 101 is specified. Then, based on the specified result, printing data is transmitted to the label printer 3 at S245, S285, S315, and S345. Thus, in this modified example, even when the label printer 3 cannot detect the type of the cassette 101, the operation terminal 2 can surely transmit appropriate printing data to the label printer 3.

[0232] Note that the content of this modified example and the content of the above-described first embodiment may be combined. That is, in the flows shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, an inquiry about the model from the operation terminal 2 and transmission of model information from the corresponding label printer 3 similar to S210 and S215 may be performed at an appropriate timing, and subsequent processing may be changed according to the model information.

[0233] That is, based on the model information, it is determined whether the label printer 3 can detect the cassette type by the cassette sensor 31. When the label printer 3 is configured to include the cassette sensor 31 as described above, each procedure shown in FIG. 8 is executed as it is. In other words, in this case, among all the procedures of S2 to S12 and S22 to S84 in FIG. 8, at some timing before S22, the model inquiry from the operation terminal 2 and the transmission of the model information from the corresponding label printer 3, and the above determination are performed.

[0234] On the other hand, when the configuration does not include the cassette sensor 31, a different process is performed. That is, after the above determination, after the cassette mounting request at S32, S38, S42, S52, S58, S62, S72, S78, S82 in FIG. 8, similar to S220′, S260′, S320′, the type information of a plurality of cassettes is displayed in a list so that it can be selected, and a selection from among them is accepted. Then, after accepting the selection, at an appropriate timing, a print instruction for instructing the printing of the selected print data among the print data already transmitted at S10 is transmitted from the operation terminal 2 to the label printer 3, whereby the corresponding printed label L is printed.

[0235] In the above process, the process of determining whether the label printer 3 includes the cassette sensor 31, which is executed by the CPU 11 of the operation terminal 2, is an example of a determination process, the process of displaying the type information of a plurality of cassettes in a list so that it can be selected is an example of a type display process in this case, and the process of accepting a selection from among them is an example of a selection acceptance process in this case. Further, the process of transmitting a print instruction for the selected print data is an example of an instruction transmission process.

[0236] In this case, as described above, after transmitting a plurality of print data from the operation terminal 2 to the label printer 3 in S10, it is determined whether the label printer 3 can detect the type of the cassette 101 by the cassette sensor 31. If the label printer 3 is unable to detect the cassette type, the cassette information attached to the label printer 3 is received via an operation by the user, and a print instruction for the print data associated with the cassette 101 corresponding to the reception result is transmitted. In the label printer 3, the type of the attached cassette 101 is specified as the cassette type associated with the received print data, and printing based on the print data is performed on the cassette 101. By the above method, in this modification, as in the previous case, when printing a plurality of print images corresponding to each layer using different types of cassettes 101 respectively, the operation burden on the user can be reduced. In particular, even when the label printer 3 cannot detect the cassette type, proper printing based on the print data transmitted from the operation terminal 2 to the label printer 3 can be surely executed.

[0237] Furthermore, in the above determination process, when it is determined that the label printer 3 can detect the type of the cassette 101, before S22 as described above, it is not limited to simply performing the model inquiry and receiving the transmitted model information, and then performing the above determination, and executing all the procedures shown in FIG. 8 as they are. That is, in this case, all the procedures after S22 in FIG. 8 may be omitted, and the information transmission and reception between the operation terminal 2 and the label printer 3 may not be performed thereafter. That is, when S2 to S12 including the above model inquiry, model information reception, and the above determination are completed, all the print data has been received by the label printer 3, and the cassette type can be detected. Thus, this label printer 3 can appropriately create the corresponding printed label L by using the print data corresponding to the type of the attached cassette 101, even without information transmission and reception with the operation terminal 2.

[0238] (3) Others In the above description, when there are descriptions such as "identical", "equal", or "different" regarding the dimensions and sizes in appearance, these descriptions do not have a strict meaning. That is, these "identical", "equal", or "different" mean that tolerances and errors in design and manufacturing are allowed, and it means "substantially identical", "substantially equal", or "substantially different".

[0239] Also, the flowcharts and sequence diagrams shown in FIGS. 8, 9, 11, 17 to 23, etc. do not limit the present invention to the procedures shown in each figure, 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.

[0240] In addition to what has already been described above, the methods according to the above embodiments and each modification example may be appropriately combined and used.

[0241] Although not exemplified one by one, the present invention can be implemented with various changes within the scope not departing from its gist.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0242] 2 Operation terminal (an example of a terminal device) 2A Operation terminal (an example of a first terminal device) 2B Operation terminal (an example of a second terminal device) 3 Label printer (an example of a printing device, a first printing device, and a second printing device) 11 CPU (an example of an arithmetic unit) 13 Operation unit 14 Display unit 22 Cassette holder (an example of a mounting part) 29 Printing head (an example of a printing part) 31 Cassette sensor (an example of a detection part) 101 Cassette 104 Cover film (an example of a printing target medium) 106 Ink ribbon (an example of a printing target medium) L Printed label (an example of a printing device) LA Upper label LA1, LA2 Upper labels Label in LB, LB1 Lower label LC Lower labels LC1, LC2 Label in LD2 Lower label LE Overlapping label LL Prohibition mark M1 Tobacco mark M2 Text character T1

Claims

1. A mounting section capable of mounting a print medium; a printing unit that prints a plurality of print images corresponding to the plurality of layers using a plurality of different types of the print media; A control unit; A communication unit capable of communicating with a terminal device via a network; having The control unit is A discrimination process for discriminating the type of the print medium loaded in the loading section; a data acquisition process for acquiring a plurality of pieces of print data respectively representing the plurality of print images from the terminal device via the network by the communication unit, the data acquisition process including a process for acquiring first print data for printing a first print image associated with a first medium type, and a process for acquiring second print data for printing a second print image associated with a second medium type; a print control process for controlling the printing unit according to the plurality of print data acquired in the data acquisition process and a determination result in the determination process, after information about the print medium of the first medium type and the print medium of the second medium type is displayed on the terminal device and information prompting the user to load either the print medium of the first medium type or the print medium of the second medium type into the loading unit is notified, so that, when the print medium of the first medium type is loaded, the first print image is printed based on the first print data and then the second print image is printed based on the second print data, and, when the print medium of the second medium type is loaded, the second print image is printed based on the second print data and then the first print image is printed based on the first print data; A printing device that executes the above.

2. The control unit further includes: A notification transmission process is executed to transmit a predetermined notification to the terminal device each time printing of the plurality of print images based on the plurality of print data is completed in the print control process.

2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1.

3. In the data acquisition process, Acquire the plurality of print data corresponding to the plurality of medium types at once; In the print control process, Executing printing based on the plurality of print data collectively acquired in the data acquisition process.

3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first and second printing units are arranged in a first direction.

4. The control unit further includes: a type identification process for identifying a plurality of medium types corresponding to the plurality of print data acquired in the data acquisition process; a type identification process for identifying one medium type corresponding to the type of the print medium identified in the discrimination process from the plurality of medium types identified in the type identification process; Run In the print control process, The printing unit prints the print image corresponding to the one medium type identified in the type identification process before printing images corresponding to medium types other than the one medium type.

4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first and second printing units are arranged in a first direction.

5. In the print control process, Printing the print image corresponding to one of the plurality of print data and a predetermined image representing one of the medium types corresponding to print data other than the one of the plurality of print data.

5. The printing apparatus according to claim 4.

6. a detection unit that detects the type of the print medium that is loaded in the loading unit; In the determination process, determining a type of the print medium based on a detection result by the detection unit; In the type identification process, Identifying one medium type from the plurality of medium types identified in the type identification process, the medium type corresponding to the type of the print medium identified in the discrimination process based on the detection result; In the print control process, When the one medium type corresponding to the type of the print medium determined based on the detection result in the type identification process is identified, printing of the print image corresponding to the one identified medium type is started.

6. The printing apparatus according to claim 4 or 5.

7. A device capable of communicating with a plurality of terminal devices including a first terminal device and a second terminal device via a network; obtain, from the first terminal device, third print data associating a third print image with a third medium type on which the third print image is to be printed, and fourth print data associating a fourth print image with a fourth medium type on which the fourth print image is to be printed; acquiring, from the second terminal device, fifth print data associating a fifth print image with a third medium type on which the fifth print image is to be printed, and sixth print data associating a sixth print image with a fifth medium type on which the sixth print image is to be printed; In the print control process, According to the plurality of print data acquired in the data acquisition process and the discrimination result in the discrimination process, when the print medium of the third medium type is loaded, the third print image corresponding to the third print data and the fifth print image corresponding to the fifth print data are printed on the print medium of the third medium type, and then the fourth print image based on the fourth print data and the sixth print image based on the sixth print data are printed on the print medium of the medium type corresponding to each print data.

7. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first and second printing units are arranged in a first direction.

8. a calculation unit provided in a terminal device connected to a printing device which prints a plurality of print images corresponding to a plurality of layers using different types of printing media, the print images being represented by a plurality of print data including first print data in which a first print image and a first medium type on which the first print image is to be printed are associated with each other, and second print data in which a second print image and a second medium type on which the second print image is to be printed are associated with each other, a process of identifying the type of the print medium loaded in the printing device after information on the print medium of the first medium type and the print medium of the second medium type is displayed on the terminal device and information prompting the user to load either the print medium of the first medium type or the print medium of the second medium type into a loading section of the printing device is notified; a data transmission process for transmitting first print data to the printing device and then transmitting second print data to the printing device when the identification process identifies that the printing medium of the first medium type is loaded, and transmitting the second print data to the printing device and then transmitting the first print data to the printing device when the identification process identifies that the printing medium of the second medium type is loaded; A printing control program for executing the above.

9. The calculation unit further includes: An instruction receiving process for receiving a print instruction for the plurality of print images via an operation unit; a first display process for displaying, on a display unit, medium information of each of the plurality of print media corresponding to each of the plurality of print data when the print command is received in the command receiving process; a second display process for displaying remaining medium information of the plurality of print media, excluding medium information of the print medium corresponding to the predetermined print data, on the display unit when transmission of the predetermined print data corresponding to a predetermined print image among the plurality of print images is completed; 9. The print control program according to claim 8, further comprising:

10. In the second display process, When a printing completion notification of the predetermined print image based on the predetermined print data is received from the printing device, the remaining medium information is displayed on the display unit.

10. The print control program according to claim 9.

11. The printing device includes: a first printing device capable of detecting a type of the print medium; The calculation unit further includes: executes a type acquisition process for acquiring type information of the print medium detected by the first printing device and loaded in the first printing device; In the specific processing, Identifying the type of the print medium loaded in the printing device based on the type information acquired in the type acquisition process; In the data transmission process, The print data is transmitted based on a result of the identification process corresponding to a result of the type acquisition process.

11. The print control program according to claim 8, wherein the print control program is a program for performing a print process.

12. The printing device includes: a second printing device that is incapable of detecting the type of print medium; The calculation unit further includes: a type display process for selectively displaying a plurality of types of information related to the print medium on a display unit; a selection receiving process of receiving a selection of one of the type information items via an operation unit from among the plurality of type information items displayed in the type display process; Run the command, In the specific processing, Identifying the type of the print medium loaded in the printing device based on one piece of type information accepted in the selection acceptance process; In the data transmission process, The print data is transmitted based on a result of the specification process corresponding to a result of the selection specification process.

12. The print control program according to claim 8, wherein the print control program is a program for performing a print process.

13. a calculation unit provided in a terminal device connected to a printing device which prints a plurality of print images corresponding to a plurality of layers using different types of printing media, the print images being represented by a plurality of print data including first print data in which a first print image and a first medium type on which the first print image is to be printed are associated with each other, and second print data in which a second print image and a second medium type on which the second print image is to be printed are associated with each other, a data transmission process for transmitting the plurality of print data to the printing device; a determination process for determining whether the printing device can detect the type of the print medium; a type display process in which, when the printing device determines by the determination process that the type of the print medium cannot be detected, information on the print medium of the first medium type and the print medium of the second medium type is displayed, and the printing device is prompted to mount either the print medium of the first medium type or the print medium of the second medium type in a mounting section of the printing device, and a plurality of type information related to the print medium is selectably displayed on a display section; a selection receiving process of receiving a selection of one of the type information items via an operation unit from among the plurality of type information items displayed in the type display process; an instruction transmission process for transmitting a print instruction for print data associated with a medium type corresponding to a result of the selection reception process; A printing control program for executing the above.

14. A mounting section capable of mounting a print medium; a printing unit that prints a plurality of print images corresponding to the plurality of layers using a plurality of different types of the print media; A control unit; having The control unit is A discrimination process for discriminating the type of the print medium loaded in the loading section; a data acquisition process for acquiring a plurality of print data respectively representing the plurality of print images, the data acquisition process including a process for acquiring first print data for printing a first print image associated with a first medium type, and a process for acquiring second print data for printing a second print image associated with a second medium type; a type identification process for identifying a plurality of medium types corresponding to the plurality of print data acquired in the data acquisition process; a type identification process for identifying one medium type corresponding to the type of the print medium identified in the discrimination process from the plurality of medium types identified in the type identification process; a print control process that controls the printing unit according to the plurality of print data acquired in the data acquisition process and the determination result in the determination process, so that when the print medium of the first medium type is loaded, the first print image is printed based on the first print data and then the second print image is printed based on the second print data, and when the print medium of the second medium type is loaded, the second print image is printed based on the second print data and then the first print image is printed based on the first print data; Run In the print control process, The printing unit prints the print image corresponding to the one medium type identified in the type identification process before the print image corresponding to a medium type other than the one medium type, and prints the print image corresponding to one print data of the plurality of print data and a predetermined image representing one of the medium types corresponding to the print data other than the one print data of the plurality of print data. A printing device comprising:

15. A mounting section capable of mounting a print medium; a printing unit that prints a plurality of print images corresponding to the plurality of layers using a plurality of different types of the print media; A control unit; having The control unit is A discrimination process for discriminating the type of the print medium loaded in the loading section; a data acquisition process for acquiring a plurality of print data respectively representing the plurality of print images, the data acquisition process including a process for acquiring first print data for printing a first print image associated with a first medium type, and a process for acquiring second print data for printing a second print image associated with a second medium type; a print control process that controls the printing unit according to the plurality of print data acquired in the data acquisition process and the determination result in the determination process, so that when the print medium of the first medium type is loaded, the first print image is printed based on the first print data and then the second print image is printed based on the second print data, and when the print medium of the second medium type is loaded, the second print image is printed based on the second print data and then the first print image is printed based on the first print data; A printing device that executes A device capable of communicating with a plurality of terminal devices including a first terminal device and a second terminal device via a network; obtain, from the first terminal device, third print data associating a third print image with a third medium type on which the third print image is to be printed, and fourth print data associating a fourth print image with a fourth medium type on which the fourth print image is to be printed; acquiring, from the second terminal device, fifth print data associating a fifth print image with a third medium type on which the fifth print image is to be printed, and sixth print data associating a sixth print image with a fifth medium type on which the sixth print image is to be printed; In the print control process, According to the plurality of print data acquired in the data acquisition process and the discrimination result in the discrimination process, when the print medium of the third medium type is loaded, the third print image corresponding to the third print data and the fifth print image corresponding to the fifth print data are printed on the print medium of the third medium type, and then the fourth print image based on the fourth print data and the sixth print image based on the sixth print data are printed on the print medium of the medium type corresponding to each print data. A printing device comprising:

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