Information processing device having acquiring section acquiring remaining tape length, tape printing device, tape printing system, method for controlling information processing device, and storage medium storing program for controlling information processing device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11780240-B2
Application number	US-202217707250-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 29, 2022
Priority date	Mar 30, 2021
Publication date	Oct 10, 2023
Grant date	Oct 10, 2023

Abstract

An information processing device is communicably connected to a tape printing device that performs printing on a tape. The information processing device includes an acquiring section that acquires a remaining tape length that is a length of an unprinted portion of the tape; an accepting section that accepts an operation of editing print data; a unit label length calculating section that calculates a unit label length that is a length per label to be created by printing, on the tape, the print data being edited; a printable sheet number calculating section that calculates, based on the remaining tape length and the unit label length, the number of printable sheets that indicates how many labels with the unit label length can be created using the tape with the remaining tape length; and a sheet number notifying section that notifies a user of the calculated number of printable sheets.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An information processing device that is communicably connected to a tape printing device that performs printing a tape, comprising:
an acquiring section that acquires a remaining tape length that is a length of an unprinted portion of the tape;
an accepting section that accepts an operation of editing print data and an instruction to print the print data;
a unit label length calculating section that calculates a unit label length that is a length per label to be created by printing, on the tape, the print data being edited;
a printable sheet number calculating section that calculates, based on the remaining tape length and the unit label length, the number of printable sheets that indicates how many labels with the unit label length can be created using the tape with the remaining tape length;
a first sheet number notifying section that notifies a user of the calculated number of printable sheets during the edition of the print data; and
a transmitter that transmits the print data to the tape printing device based on the instruction to print the print data.

2. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein
the tape is fed from a tape core of a tape cartridge attached to a cartridge attachment unit of the tape printing device or is fed from a tape roll disposed outside the tape printing device,
the information processing device further comprises a receiver that receives tape length information indicating an initial tape length that is a length of the tape in the tape cartridge in an unused state or a length of the tape in the tape roll in an unused state and a printed tape length that is a length of a printed portion of the tape, and
the acquiring section acquires the remaining tape length based on the initial tape length and the printed tape length that are indicated in the received tape length information.

3. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein
the accepting section can accept, as the instruction to print the print data, a repeated printing instruction indicating repeated printing to repeatedly print at least a portion of the print data and the number of labels to be printed in the repeated printing, and
the information processing device further comprises a second sheet number notifying section that notifies the user of a currently printed sheet number indicating the number of sheets printed in the repeated printing and a remaining number of printable sheets based on a value obtained by subtracting the currently printed sheet number from the number of printable sheets during execution of the printing of the print data in the tape printing device after the acceptance of the repeated printing instruction by the accepting section.

4. The information processing device according to claim 1 , further comprising a size notifying section that notifies the user of a size of the label to be created based on the print data during execution of the printing of the print data in the tape printing device.

5. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the unit label length calculating section calculates the unit label length every time the accepting section accepts an edition operation that changes the unit label length.

6. The information processing device according to claim 1 , further comprising a warning section that warns the user at least one of a time when the instruction to print the print data is given in a state in which the remaining tape length is equal to or smaller than a length threshold and a time when the number of printable sheets calculated by the printable sheet number calculating section is “0”.

7. A tape printing device comprising:
a printing unit that performs printing on a tape;
an acquiring section that acquires a remaining tape length that is a length of an unprinted portion of the tape;
an accepting section that accepts an operation of editing print data and an instruction to print the print data;
a unit label length calculating section that calculates a unit label length that is a length per label to be created by printing, on the tape, the print data being edited;
a printable sheet number calculating section that calculates, based on the remaining tape length and the unit label length, the number of printable sheets that indicates how many labels with the unit label length can be created using the tape with the remaining tape length; and
a first sheet number notifying section that notifies a user of the calculated number of printable sheets during the edition of the print data, wherein
the printing unit prints the print data on the tape based on the instruction to print the print data.

8. A tape printing system comprising:
a tape printing device that performs printing on a tape; and
an information processing device that is communicably connected to the tape printing device, wherein
the information processing device includes
an acquiring section that acquires a remaining tape length that is a length of an unprinted portion of the tape,
an accepting section that accepts an operation of editing print data and an instruction to print the print data,
a unit label length calculating section that calculates a unit label length that is a length per label to be created by printing, on the tape, the print data being edited,
a printable sheet number calculating section that calculates, based on the remaining tape length and the unit label length, the number of printable sheets that indicates how many labels with the unit label length can be created using the tape with the remaining label length,
a first sheet number notifying section that notifies a user of the calculated number of printable sheets during the edition of the print data, and
a transmitter that transmits the print data to the tape printing device based on the instruction to print the print data.

9. A method for controlling an information processing device that is communicably connected to a tape printing device that performs printing on a tape, the method comprising causing the information processing device to:
acquire a remaining tape length that is a length of an unprinted portion of the tape;
accept an operation of editing print data and an instruction to print the print data;
calculate a unit label length that is a length per label to be created by printing, on the tape, the print data being edited;
calculate, based on the remaining tape length and the unit label length, the number of printable sheets that indicates how many labels with the unit label length can be created using the tape with the remaining tape length;
notify a user of the calculated number of printable sheets during the edition of the print data; and
transmit the print data to the tape printing device based on the instruction to print the print data.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for controlling an information processing device that is communicably connected to a tape printing device that performs printing on a tape, the program comprising causing the information processing device to:
acquire a remaining tape length that is a length of an unprinted portion of the tape;
accept an operation of editing print data and an instruction to print the print data;
calculate a unit label length that is a length per label to be created by printing, on the tape, the print data being edited;
calculate the number of printable sheets that indicates how many labels with the unit label length can be created using the tape with the remaining tape length;
notify a user of the calculated number of printable sheets during the edition of the print data; and
transmit the print data to the tape printing device based on the ins

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Tsukuda Hideyuki

Classifications

• B41J3/4075 Primary

  Tape printers; Label printers · CPC title

• B41J11/0095

  Detecting means for copy material, e.g. for detecting or sensing presence of copy material or its leading or trailing end · CPC title

• B41J11/64

  Applications of scales or indicators · CPC title

• G06F3/121

  Facilitating exception or error detection and recovery, e.g. fault, media or consumables depleted · CPC title

• G06F3/1256

  User feedback, e.g. print preview, test print, proofing, pre-flight checks · CPC title