JPH1055401A - Barcode printing system and its control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To print a large quantity of barcodes at high speed and also to judge the excellent barcode by not only separating the printing processing from barcode judging but also facilitating a processing at a printing processing side. SOLUTION: When a recording control circuit part 501 receives printing information including the barcode, information concerning the judgement of the barcode is transmitted to a barcode checker 601 before the printing. When a picture including the barcode is actually printed, an RD- TRG signal is outputted at the time of carrying the printed barcode to the position of the reading part 603 of the barcode checker 601 and the printed barcode is checked. When the signal is received, the barcode checker 601 reads the printed barcode plural times in the different positions and an error signal is transmitted to the recording control circuit part 501 when a rate for correct reading is low.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bar code printing system and a control method therefor, and more particularly to a bar code printing system for printing and judging a bar code and a control method therefor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ink jet printer is an apparatus that forms ink droplets by various methods and adheres them to a recording material such as recording paper for recording. Above all, an ink jet printer that uses heat as energy for forming droplets can easily arrange a plurality of discharge ports at high density, and this high density enables high resolution and high quality images. It has excellent features that it can be obtained at high speed and that it can be easily colored.

[0003] Of this type of ink jet printer,
Japanese Patent Application No. 05-196196, Japanese Patent Application No. 06-11009
The printing apparatus described in No. 7 has a plurality of full-line type ink jet printing heads and is applied as a label printer and a bar code printer capable of obtaining a high-quality color image at a high speed.

By the way, in this type of apparatus, bubbles are generated in the ink by thermal energy in the discharge port, and the ink is directly discharged from the discharge port of the recording head by the pressure of the bubbling to perform recording. It is desired to maintain a stable dischargeable state.

However, the ejection becomes unstable due to the effects of bubbles existing in the ink, drying of the ink from the ejection openings, and adhesion of paper powder to the surface of the recording head. There are cases. In order to suppress such non-ejection and displacement of ink droplets, in this type of apparatus, various measures have been taken for an ink recovery operation at regular time intervals, a recovery means, a recovery sequence, and the like.

[0006] However, it is impossible to eliminate such non-ejection and ink droplet deflection, and a sudden occurrence of non-ejection and ink droplet deflection may cause deterioration of a recorded image.

[0007] In particular, in the case where the recorded contents include a barcode, there may be a problem that the user cannot read the image with a barcode reader even if the print quality is not a problem in a normal image.

As a method for preventing the above-mentioned problem that the printed barcode cannot be read by the barcode reader, for example, a barcode reader is arranged directly downstream of the printer transport path, and the printed barcode is read. Thereafter, a method of comparing the read barcode data with the printed barcode data, determining whether the barcode is OK / NG, and performing error processing may be considered.

[0009]

However, in the method of comparing the bar code data printed using a bar code reader with the read bar code data, data transfer and data comparison between a control circuit of the printer and the bar code are performed. For example, it takes time to stop printing or check the printing speed during the barcode check, which hinders high-speed printing. Further, if data communication is to be performed at high speed, a dedicated high-speed I / F or the like is used between the barcode reader and the control circuit, and the control circuit itself is expensive, for example, using a high-speed CPU.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and not only separates the printing process from the determination of the bar code, but also simplifies the process on the printing process side to achieve high-speed and large-volume processing. It is an object of the present invention to provide a bar code printing system and a control method thereof, which make it possible to print a bar code and to judge a good bar code.

To solve this problem, for example, a barcode printing system according to the present invention has the following configuration.
That is, a barcode printing system including a printing unit that prints a barcode, and a determination unit that operates independently of the printing unit and determines a printed barcode, wherein the printing unit includes a bar. Prior to code printing, setting means for setting a condition of a barcode to be printed in the determination unit, and control means for performing error processing when a notification of a barcode reading failure is received from the determination unit, The unit reads the printed barcode a plurality of times from different positions according to the information set by the setting unit, and determines whether the barcode is good or bad by the determining unit. Notification means for notifying the printing unit of an error in the event of the error.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an ink jet printer according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view thereof.

In the figure, 102, 103, 104,
Reference numeral 105 denotes a full line type ink jet recording head having a length corresponding to the maximum width of the recording material. Black, cyan, magenta, and yellow inks are ejected from the ejection ports of the recording head toward the recording material 302 at predetermined timings from the recording heads 102, 103, 104, and 105, respectively. The recording material 3 is moved in accordance with the movement of the recording material according to the above-described timing.
02, a color image is recorded.

In this embodiment, the recording material 302 is a continuous label paper wound in a roll shape, and the label paper supplied from the roll supply unit 301 is supplied to a transport unit 402 disposed below the recording head. Is transported at a predetermined speed. Further, when barcode information is included in an image to be recorded, a reading unit 601 (hereinafter, a barcode checker) that reads the printed barcode information and determines whether the printed barcode is normal or not. Unit) is disposed between the recording head 105 and the discharge port of the recording material.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control system according to this embodiment. The recording control circuit 501 controls an I / F unit 503 that controls an interface with an external device, an operation unit control circuit 504, a roll supply control circuit 505, and controls the entire recording operation such as processing of a recorded image. The head / transport control circuit controls ejection of a plurality of recording heads, controls a transport unit, controls a recovery system unit (not shown), and the like.

The bar code checker unit 601 includes a bar code OK / NG discriminating circuit and a reading unit. The bar code checker unit 601 performs serial communication with the recording control circuit 501.
They are connected by an ATA signal, an RD_TRG signal indicating a barcode reading timing, and an ERROR signal output when the barcode is NG. The reading unit is a line-type reading device including an infrared light emitting LED, a CCD element, and an optical system.

In the above configuration, for example, the I / F unit 50
When print data (including a barcode print command and its barcode information) is received from a host computer (not shown) connected to the control unit 3, the print data designated by the control command in the print data is printed in accordance with the print data. Do.
At this time, regarding the bitmap data, character data and the like follow a well-known procedure. Here, a barcode print command and its barcode information will be described.

The barcode print command has several parameters, information such as the type, size, and position of the barcode. A bitmap image of a corresponding bar is created according to the information in the subsequent barcode. Print.

Next, the processing contents of the bar code checker and recording control circuit 501 in the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

First, the operation processing of the barcode checker 601 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Before and after the description, the barcode OK / NG determination circuit 602 in the barcode checker 601 includes a controller (microprocessor or the like) and a ROM storing the operation procedure, and furthermore, an OK shown below. A RAM for storing the counter is provided. In the following description, it is assumed that various initial data from the recording control circuit 501 has been read and set.

First, in step S1, the OK counter is reset, and in step S2, the reception of an RD_TRG signal, which is a barcode reading start signal, from the recording control circuit 501 is waited.

When the reception of this signal is detected, the process proceeds to step S3, in which the bar code is read by the reading unit 603, and in step S4, it is determined whether or not the bar code is normally read and can be decoded. If it is determined that the reading has been performed normally, the process proceeds to step S5, where the OK counter is incremented by "1", and the process proceeds to step S6.

Here, it is determined whether or not the predetermined number m of barcode readings has been completed. If not, the process returns to step S3 to repeat the reading of the barcode and the determination of whether the reading is normal.

Since the recording material is being conveyed at a constant speed during the above-described bar code reading, one bar code must be read across different positions as shown in FIG. 8 after all. Become. That is, the barcode reading unit may be fixed.

Thus, when m readings are completed,
This means that the number of times of reading successfully is set in the OK counter. Therefore, in step S7, it is determined whether the OK rate (= OK counter value / m) is greater than a predetermined threshold Th. If it is determined that the value is larger than the threshold value Th, the process proceeds to step S1 in preparation for reading the next barcode.
Return to If it is determined that the OK rate is equal to or less than the threshold value Th, it means that normal printing is not being performed by the recording control circuit 501 located upstream, so that the printing is performed via the ERROR signal line shown in FIG. An error signal is sent to the recording control circuit 501.

The number m of times of reading the same bar code is m
For example, if the printing speed is 150 mm / s, the minimum height of the barcode to be printed is 5 mm, and the reading speed of the reading unit is 500 scan / s, the maximum is 16 mm.
, And can be arbitrarily set within a range defined by the printing speed, the height of the printing barcode, and the reading speed. Of course, the number of readings m is changed according to the height of the barcode.

Next, an operation processing procedure of the recording control circuit unit 501 will be described. As in the barcode OK / NG discriminating circuit 602, the recording control circuit unit 501 includes a microprocessor (CPU) and a ROM storing an operation processing procedure, and a RAM specified as a work area, as shown in FIG. , And a timer for counting a clock (not shown).

When a predetermined number of clocks are counted by the timer and when an error signal is received from the bar code checker 601 located downstream, the respective interrupt processing is executed.

FIG. 5 shows the main processing of the recording control circuit 501, FIG. 6 shows the interrupt processing from the timer, and FIG.
Indicates interrupt processing when an error signal is received.

First, the main processing of FIG. 5 will be described.

When a print instruction for a print image including a bar code is issued, the print data development process starts in the print control circuit 501 (step S1). In the meantime, the recording control circuit 501 instructs the barcode checker 601 to print the type of barcode, the number of barcodes printed on the same line, the number of readings of the same barcode, the reading OK rate, and the time of decoding. The transfer process of the initial data of the barcode checker including the value of the above is performed through the serial DATA signal line (step S2).
Thereafter, the variable P is reset to "0" (step S1).
3) After all the pre-printing processes are completed, transport and printing are performed (step S14).

Here, the meaning of the variable P is as follows.

Now, when printing a barcode with black monochromatic ink, it takes some time until the barcode recorded by the actual recording head reaches the reading position by the barcode checker 601. In other words, there are a plurality of printed barcodes in the meantime. Therefore, if several barcodes are not printed on the recording material, the first printed barcode up to the reading position of the barcode checker 601 will be lost. Not transported. More specifically, the RD_TRG signal must not be output to the barcode checker 601 until the first printed barcode reaches the barcode checker 601. This variable P is for controlling this.

When printing of one barcode is completed, the process proceeds to step S15, in which the variable P is incremented by "1" and a timer is started.

Thereafter, the processes from step S14 are repeated until it is determined that the printing process for the set number of copies has been completed.

When it is determined that the printing process has been completed, the process waits for the variable P to become "0" in step S17, and when it becomes "0", a series of processes is terminated to convey in step S18. Driving of the system also stops.

The timer starts counting clocks in step S15. When the timer reaches the preset value,
An interrupt signal is output to the CPU.

This set value corresponds to the time during which the transfer material on which the barcode is printed is transported to the reading position of the barcode checker 601 at the next timing.

When the CPU receives this interrupt signal,
A timer interrupt process corresponding to the flowchart of FIG. 6 is performed.

Specifically, first, it is determined in step S20 whether or not the printing process has been completed. In the following cases, the process proceeds to step S21, in which it is determined whether or not the value of the variable P is greater than a predetermined value M. I do. This predetermined value M is the number of recorded transfer media that can exist between the recording head and the barcode checker 601 as described above.

If it is determined that the variable P.ltoreq.M, it means that the recorded barcode has not been conveyed to the barcode checker 601 yet, and this processing ends.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S21 that the variable P> M, it indicates that it is time to read the printed barcode, and in step S22, the RD_TRG signal is output to the barcode checker. The determination of the barcode described above is performed. After this, the variable P
Is decremented by "1", and this processing ends.

The meaning of step S20 is that when the printing process is completed, there is a recording medium that has not yet been checked up to the position where the bar code checker exists. That is, until the variable P becomes “0”,
The barcode check operation is continued, and the operation ends when all the barcode checks have been completed.

As described above, the printing of the barcode and the check processing thereof are performed by separate devices independently, and the above processing is continued if the printing is normal.

However, as described above, if printing is not performed correctly due to head ejection failure or the like, an error signal is sent from the barcode checker 601.

When this is received by the recording control circuit unit 501, an error signal interruption process shown in FIG. 7 is performed.

First, in step S31, an error is notified to the outside (for example, a buzzer is sounded).
Appropriate error processing such as stopping printing (stopping the transfer of the transfer material), circulating ink, and wiping the print head surface is performed. When it is determined that a series of error recovery processing has been completed (step S32), the processing ends. Note that the error recovery processing can be automated by mechanization to some extent, but if, for example, replacement of the head is required, manual work is required. Therefore, error notification is performed as described above.

In the above description, the case where one barcode is recorded on one recording material is described for convenience of explanation. However, in practice, a plurality of barcodes are recorded on one recording material. Is often present.

In this case, the RD_TRG signal continues to be output while one printed recording material passes through the reading unit of the bar code checker, and after reading and checking all printed bar codes, the OK / NG signal is output. In some cases, the determination is made, and each time the printed barcode reaches the reading position, the reading check and the OK / NG determination are performed.

In the above description, Th is a criterion for judging OK / NG of bar code reading, and this value is in accordance with an instruction from the recording control circuit unit 501.
The value may be fixed, or the recording control circuit 501 may set this value according to a predetermined command in print data from a print data source and its parameter. Alternatively, the setting may be made using an operation panel (not shown).

Further, an example has been described in which a line sensor is used as the barcode reading unit. However, it goes without saying that a reading device such as a laser scan type can be used.

In the embodiment, the recording control circuit 50
Although the process in No. 1 has been described as the interrupt process, the process can be realized by a series of processes.

Even if the present invention is applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), an apparatus (for example, a copier, a facsimile) composed of one device Device).

Another object of the present invention is to provide a storage medium storing a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus, and to provide a computer (or CPU) of the system or apparatus.
And MPU) read and execute the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD
-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (Operating System) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. ) May perform some or all of the actual processing, and the processing may realize the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided on a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instructions of the program code, It goes without saying that the CPU included in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

According to the present embodiment as described above,
Data communication required for bar code checking is completed before printing starts. During printing, an NG signal is output only when the bar code is determined to be NG, so that accurate bar code checking can be performed without reducing printing speed. It becomes possible. Further, since the reading OK rate can be set arbitrarily, a barcode check according to a barcode reader at the customer can be performed, and a barcode check level required by the customer can be set.

[0061]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to not only separate the printing process and the determination of the bar code, but also
This makes it possible to print a large number of barcodes at high speed while simplifying the processing on the print processing side, and to determine good barcodes.

[0062]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional structural view of a barcode printing apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a barcode printing apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a control system of the barcode printing apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a barcode checker according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a main processing procedure of a recording control circuit unit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a timer interrupt processing procedure of a recording control circuit unit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an error interrupt processing procedure of a recording control circuit unit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between the number of times of reading by a barcode checker and a reading position according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 501 Recording control circuit unit 502 Head / transport control circuit 503 I / F unit 504 Operation unit control circuit 505 Roll supply control circuit 601 Barcode checker 602 Barcode OK / NG discrimination circuit 602 Reading unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Takeshi Tamura 5540-11 Sakate-cho, Mizukaido-shi, Ibaraki Inside Canon Aptex Co., Ltd. Inside

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A barcode printing system comprising: a printing unit that prints a barcode; and a determination unit that operates independently of the printing unit and determines a printed barcode. Comprises a setting unit configured to set a condition of a barcode to be printed in the determination unit prior to barcode printing, and a control unit configured to perform an error process when a notification of a barcode reading failure is received from the determination unit. A determination unit configured to read the printed barcode a plurality of times from different positions according to the information set by the setting unit, and determine whether the barcode is good or bad; A bar code printing system comprising: a notifying unit that notifies the printing unit of an error when it is determined that there is a bar code. 2. The bar code printing system according to claim 1, wherein the print head in the printing unit is a head that discharges ink droplets. 3. The bar code printing system according to claim 2, wherein the print head is a head that ejects ink droplets by thermal energy. 4. The printing section includes a recording head having a width corresponding to the width of the recording material, and prints a bar code in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the recording material. The barcode printing system according to claim 1, wherein the barcode is read in a direction perpendicular to the barcode. 5. The barcode printing system according to claim 1, wherein the information set by the setting unit includes the number of times of reading by the determination unit. 6. The barcode printing system according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit of the determination unit determines based on whether a ratio of normal reading of the barcode to the number of times of reading is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. 7. A control method for a barcode printing system, comprising: a printing unit that prints a barcode; and a determination unit that operates independently of the printing unit and determines a printed barcode. The printing unit, prior to barcode printing, a setting step of setting a condition of a barcode to be printed in the determination unit; and a control step of performing error processing when a notification of a barcode reading failure is received from the determination unit. According to the information set in the setting step, the determining unit reads the printed barcode a plurality of times from different positions, and determines whether the barcode is good or bad, And a notifying step of notifying the printing section of an error when it is determined that the bar code is defective. 8. The control method according to claim 7, wherein the print head in the printing unit is a head that discharges ink liquid. 9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the print head is a head that ejects ink droplets by thermal energy. 10. The printing section includes a recording head having a width corresponding to a width of the recording material, and prints a barcode in a direction perpendicular to a conveying direction of the recording material. 8. The control method according to claim 7, wherein the bar code is read in a direction perpendicular to the image data. 11. The control method for a barcode printing system according to claim 7, wherein the information set in the setting step includes the number of times of reading in the determination unit. 12. The bar code printing system according to claim 7, wherein the determination step of the determination unit determines based on whether or not a ratio of the bar code normal reading to the number of times of reading is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. Control method.