Printer device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9740969-B2
Application number	US-201615261130-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 9, 2016
Priority date	Sep 11, 2015
Publication date	Aug 22, 2017
Grant date	Aug 22, 2017

Abstract

The present invention is to provide a printer device capable of obtaining a print result having a good balance between characters in a predetermined print area and thus having good appearance. When the print length of an input character string is to be corrected, a comparison is first made in terms of the length of blank in each character and/or clearance between characters. In a case where minus correction is performed to reduce the print length, the blank or clearance is deleted by one column at a time preferentially from the area where the length of the blank and/or clearance is larger; while in a case where plus correction is performed to increase the print length, the clearance is added by one column at a time preferentially to the area where the length of the blank and/or clearance is smaller.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A printer device that prints a character string on a recording medium having a predetermined area, comprising:
a character string acquisition unit that acquires the character string to be printed;
a correction value acquisition unit that acquires a correction value for use in correction of a print length of the character string;
a blank column part acquisition unit that detects or reads out a blank column part existing in each character data in the character string;
a control unit that corrects the print length of the character string based on the correction value; and
a print unit that prints the character string corrected by the control unit, wherein
the control unit makes a comparison in terms of the length of the blank column part in each character data acquired by the blank column part acquisition unit and performs the correction so as to increase or decrease the print length of the character string based on the comparison result.

2. The printer device according to claim 1 , wherein
the character data is represented in a specified number of rows and columns of dots and constituted of a valid dot column part in which one or more dot data are included in each column and a blank column part positioned on one side or both sides of the valid dot column part, in which no dot data is included in each column, and
the blank column part acquisition unit acquires the blank column part in the character data.

3. The printer device according to claim 1 , wherein
the correction value is a value for reducing the print length, and
the control unit deletes the blank column part by a predetermined number of columns at a time preferentially from the blank column part having a larger length to correct the print length.

4. The printer device according to claim 3 , wherein
the control unit makes a comparison in terms of the length of the blank column part between the valid dot column parts of adjacent charter data in the character string and deletes the blank column part by a predetermined number of columns at a time preferentially from the blank column part between the valid dot parts having a larger length to correct the print length.

5. The printer device according to claim 1 , wherein
the correction value is a value for increasing the print length, and
the control unit adds the blank column part by a predetermined number of columns at a time preferentially to the blank column part having a smaller length to correct the print length.

6. A printer device that prints a character string on a recording medium having a predetermined area, comprising:
a character string acquisition unit that acquires the character string to be printed;
a correction value acquisition unit that acquires a correction value for use in correction of a print length of the character string;
a blank column part/clearance column part acquisition unit that detects or reads out a blank column part in each character data and a clearance column part between adjacent character data in the character string;
a control unit that corrects the print length of the character string based on the correction value; and
a print unit that prints the character string corrected by the control unit, wherein
the control unit makes a comparison in terms of the total length of the blank column part and clearance column part between one character data and another character data acquired by the blank column part/clearance column part acquisition unit and performs the correction so as to increase or decrease the print length of the character string based on the comparison result.

7. The printer device according to claim 6 , wherein
the character data is represented in a specified number of rows and columns of dots and constituted of a valid dot column part in which one or more dot data are included in each column and a blank column part positioned on both sides of the valid dot column part, in which no dot data is included in each column, and
the blank column part/clearance column part acquisition unit acquires the blank column part and clearance column part in the character data.

8. The printer device according to claim 6 , wherein
the correction value is a value for reducing the print length, and
the control unit deletes the clearance column part by a predetermined number of columns at a time preferentially from the clearance column part included in the area where the total length of the blank column part and clearance column part is larger to correct the print length.

9. The printer device according to claim 8 , wherein
the control unit makes a comparison in terms of the total length of the blank column part and clearance column part between the valid dot column parts of adjacent charter data in the character string and deletes the clearance column part by a predetermined number of columns at a time preferentially from the clearance column part included in the area where the total length of the blank column part and clearance column part between the valid dot column parts is larger to correct the print length.

10. The printer device according to claim 8 , wherein
based on the correction value, the control unit deletes first the clearance column part and then deletes the blank column part.

11. The printer device according to claim 6 , the correction value is a value for increasing the print length, and
the control unit adds the blank column part or clearance column part by a predetermined number of columns at a time preferentially to the blank column part and clearance column part included in the area where the total length of the blank column part and clearance column part is smaller to correct the print length.

12. A printer device that prints a character string on a recording medium having a predetermined area, comprising:
a character string acquisition unit that acquires the character string to be printed;
a correction value acquisition unit that acquires a correction value for use in correction of a print length of the character string;
a clearance column part acquisition unit that detects or reads out a clearance column part between adjacent character data in the character string;
a control unit that corrects the print length of the character string based on the correction value; and
a print unit that prints the character string corrected by the control unit, wherein
the control unit makes a comparison in terms of the length of the clearance column part between the adjacent character data acquired by the clearance column part acquisition unit and performs the correction so as to increase or decrease the print length of the character string based on the comparison result.

13. The printer device according to claim 12 , wherein
the correction value is a value for reducing the print length, and
the control unit deletes the clearance column part by a predetermined number of columns at a time preferentially from the clearance column part having a larger length to correct the print length.

14. The printer device according to claim 12 , wherein
the correction value is a value for increasing the print length, and
the control unit adds the clearance column part by a predetermined number of columns at a time preferentially to the clearance column part having a smaller length to correct the print length.

Assignees

• Kasai Motoki
• Nisca Corp

Inventors

• Kasai Motoki

Classifications

• G06K2215/0097

  Printing on special media, e.g. labels, envelopes · CPC title

• G06K15/022

  for printing on continuous media, e.g. tapes · CPC title

• G06K15/028 Primary

  by thermal printers · CPC title

• G06K2215/0057

  Sizing and resolution changes · CPC title

• G06K15/1843

  Changing size or raster resolution · CPC title