JP2010099989A - Print control method, print control program, and printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a print control method, a print control program, and a printer in which a user of a printer can easily identify the last coupon and a coupon which is not the last coupon in performing a print job for printing a plurality of coupons. <P>SOLUTION: The printer 100 which can print a plurality of coupons by one print job includes: an identifier storing part 170 for storing identifiers showing that coupons are intermediate coupons and/or an identifier showing that a coupon is the last coupon; a command determining part 140 for determining that a FF command for instructing to turn a page and a job end command for finishing the print job are received, a print control part 150 which obtains an identifier showing that the coupon is an intermediate coupon from the identifier storing part 170 when the command determining part 140 receives a FF command, obtains the identifier showing that the coupon is the last coupon from the identifier storing part 170 when receiving a job end command, and controls so as to print the identifier in a predetermined part of the coupon. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printer print control method, a print control program, and a printer, and more particularly to a printer print control method, a print control program, and a printer that print and issue coupons according to customers at a cash register in a store such as a supermarket.

  When accounting at a cash register of a store such as a supermarket, a coupon such as a discount privilege for a product may be printed together with a receipt for the accounting. Coupons are expected to be effective as sales promotion tools, and receipt printers equipped with a function for printing coupons have also been developed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In recent years, instead of issuing the same coupon to all customers, coupons effective for sales promotion have been issued according to the customer's purchase history, etc. In some cases, for one customer A plurality of coupons may be issued in succession.

JP 2006-146547 A

  The type and number of coupons issued will vary depending on the region and season (season), the type and amount of the purchased product, the gender / age of the customer, whether the member is a non-member, and so on. The store clerk cannot grasp in advance the type and number of coupons to be distributed for each customer. In other words, the conventional printer has a problem that it is difficult for the store clerk to determine whether or not printing of all coupons to be distributed to the customer who is currently accounting is completed.

  For this reason, the store clerk tries to forcibly pull the paper (roll paper or the like) before the remaining coupons are printed, and as a result, a paper jam (paper jam or the like) may occur. Also, even with a printer that automatically cuts and issues each coupon, the clerk does not know whether the issued coupon is the last one of the customer, so before the remaining coupons are printed There is a risk of returning customers.

  An object of the present invention is to solve the above problem, and when executing a print job for printing a plurality of coupons, a printer user can easily identify the last coupon and a coupon that is not the last coupon. A printer print control method, a print control program, and a printer are provided.

In order to achieve the above object, a printing control method for a printer according to the present invention is a printing control method for a printer that prints a plurality of coupons by one print job,
Among the plurality of coupons, an identifier is determined as an intermediate coupon that is not the last coupon and / or a predetermined one of the last coupon so that the last coupon to be printed can be identified as the last coupon printed by the print job. It prints in the location of this.
According to the above control method, when a plurality of coupons are issued in one print job, it is possible to easily identify the coupon that is issued last and the coupon that is not the last coupon.
Preferably, the predetermined portion is a last line of the intermediate coupon and / or the last coupon.
According to the said control method, the said identifier can be printed so that it may overlap with the character and image of a coupon as much as possible, and the last coupon can be easily recognized, without impairing the external appearance of a coupon.
Preferably, the print job includes a job start command for starting the print job, an FF command for instructing a page break for printing execution of the next coupon, and a job end command for ending printing of the last coupon. Including,
If it is determined that the received command is the FF command, printing an identifier that can identify that the coupon is halfway;
If it is determined that the received command is the job end command, printing an identifier that identifies the last coupon;
It is characterized by including.
According to the above control method, when a plurality of coupons are issued in one print job using an existing FF command and a job end command without creating a new command, the coupon issued at the end And a coupon that is not the last coupon can be easily identified.
Preferably, the identifier that can identify the coupon on the way is a serial number in the order of printing the coupon,
The identifier that can identify the last coupon is the serial number and the total number of coupons.
According to the above control method, when a plurality of coupons are issued in one print job, it is possible to easily identify the coupon that is issued last and the coupon that is not the last coupon and is issued. It is possible to easily grasp the number of coupons.
Preferably, the identifier that can identify the coupon on the way is a predetermined mark,
The identifier that can identify the last coupon is blank data.
According to the above control method, when a plurality of coupons are issued in one print job because there is no predetermined mark on the coupon that is issued last, the coupon that is issued last and the middle that is not the last coupon Can be easily identified.
Preferably, the identifier that can identify the coupon on the way is a predetermined mark,
The identifier that can identify the last coupon is a mark different from the predetermined mark.
According to the above control method, when a plurality of coupons are issued in one print job by printing a mark different from a predetermined mark printed on a coupon on the way on the coupon issued last. The coupon that is issued last and the coupon that is not the last coupon can be easily identified.
Preferably, the identifier that can identify the coupon on the way is blank data,
The identifier that can identify the last coupon is a predetermined mark.
According to the above control method, when a mark is not printed on a coupon on the way and only a mark is printed on the last coupon, a plurality of coupons are issued in one print job. The coupon and the coupon that is not the last coupon can be easily identified.

In order to achieve the above object, a printing control program for a printer according to the present invention executes each procedure of the printing control method for a printer described in one of the above printing control methods on a computer mounted on the printer. It is characterized by making it.
By causing the computer mounted on the inkjet printer to execute the control program, when a plurality of coupons are issued in one print job, a coupon that is issued last and a coupon that is not the last coupon are issued. It can be easily identified.

In order to achieve the above object, a printer according to the present invention is a printer capable of printing a plurality of coupons by one print job,
An identifier storage unit that stores an identifier indicating that the coupon is an intermediate coupon and / or an identifier indicating that the coupon is the last coupon;
A command determination unit for determining that an FF command for instructing a page break for printing execution of the next coupon and a job end command for ending the print job;
When the command determination unit receives the FF command, an identifier indicating that the coupon is an intermediate coupon is acquired from the identifier storage unit, and when the job end command is received, the identifier is stored from the identifier storage unit. A print control unit that acquires an identifier indicating that the coupon is the last coupon, and controls the identifier to be printed on a predetermined portion of the coupon;
It is characterized by providing.
With the above configuration, when a plurality of coupons are issued by one printer with a printer, it is possible to easily identify a coupon that is issued last and a coupon that is not the last coupon.

  Hereinafter, a printer control method and a printer according to embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. The printer 100 is communicably connected to the host computer 200 via various interfaces such as serial, parallel, and USB, and operates according to various commands transmitted from the host computer 200. In printing, the host computer 200 transmits a print job including commands for instructing various operations necessary for printing and print data corresponding to an image to be printed. The printer 100 executes an operation corresponding to the print job.

  The printer 100 is mainly provided with a receiving unit 110 that receives various commands and print data transmitted from the host computer 200, and a reception buffer 120 that temporarily stores various commands and print data received by the receiving unit 110. Yes.

  Various commands and data received by the reception buffer 120 are sequentially read and analyzed by the command analysis unit 130, various commands are sent to the command determination unit 140, and print data is sent to the print control unit 150.

  Then, the command determined by the command determination unit 140 is sent to the mechanical control unit 160.

  When printing a plurality of coupons by one print job, the command determination unit 140 determines an identifier when the command is an FF (form feed: page break) command for instructing a page break for executing printing of the next coupon. An identifier (mark, number, etc.) that can be identified as a coupon on the way is acquired from the storage unit 170 and sent to the print control unit 150.

  In addition, when the command is a job end command for ending printing of the last coupon, the command determination unit 140 acquires an identifier (mark, number, or the like) that can identify the last coupon from the identifier storage unit 170. To the print control unit 150.

  In other words, the identifier storage unit 170 stores various marks and numbers as identifiers. Then, an identifier is set in advance, and a mark or number as an identifier that can be identified as a mid-course coupon and a mark or number as an identifier that can be identified as the last coupon are set. One of the identifiers may be set to blank (nothing is actually printed). When the identifier is a number, it may be a serial number in the coupon printing order, and the last coupon may be “serial number / total number of coupons”.

  The print data sent to the print control unit 150 is subjected to data expansion processing, converted into data, and print image data is generated and stored in the print buffer 180. At this time, if an “identifier that can be identified as a midway coupon” or “an identifier that can be identified as the last coupon” is sent from the identifier storage unit 170, the final print image data of one coupon Write the above identifier in a line. Then, the print control unit 150 drives the print head based on the print image data stored in the print buffer 180 to print the coupon characters and images on the roll paper.

  On the other hand, for various commands read by the mechanical control unit 160, various processes such as paper feeding and paper cutting are executed in accordance with the instructed contents.

  The host computer 200 mainly transmits a coupon print data registration unit 210 that stores coupon print data, a coupon print job generation unit 220 that generates a print job that combines a plurality of coupons, and a transmission that transmits the generated print job to the printer 100. A section 230 is provided. Note that the coupon print job generation unit 220 determines the combination and number of coupons according to customer information such as a purchase history that the host computer 200 has inside.

Next, a printer control method according to this embodiment will be described.
First, Example 1 of the printer control method of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a flow of coupon issuing processing of the control method in the printer according to the first embodiment, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram conceptually showing the configuration of a coupon print job, and FIG. 4 is printing a number as a coupon identifying means. It is a schematic diagram which shows the example of printing in the case of doing.

Example 1
In the first embodiment, a serial number in the printing order is printed on each of a plurality of coupons printed in one print job, and the last printed coupon is identified to be printed in one print job with this coupon. This is an example of printing the total number of coupons and serial numbers so that they can be made.

  The host computer 200 refers to the accounting information, customer user information, and other incidental information (step S11), selects a coupon registered in the coupon print data registration unit 210 (step S12), and collects coupon print data. (Step S13).

Next, the coupon print job generation unit 220 generates a print job (coupon print job) related to the selected coupons (step S14).
As shown in FIG. 3, a job start command and a job end command are included at the beginning and end of the coupon print job. In addition, an FF command for distinguishing from other coupons is given to the separator between the print data and the print data in the coupon print job.

  When the host computer 200 transmits a job start command to the printer 100 via the transmission unit 230 (step S15), the print control unit 150 of the printer 100 starts a coupon printing operation (step S16).

  When the print data of the first coupon is transmitted from the host computer 200 following the job start command (step S17), the print control unit 150 prints the first coupon (step S18). After the print data for the first sheet, an FF command is transmitted as a break from the second coupon (step S19). Since this command is determined by the command determination unit 140 to be an FF command, the command determination unit 140 notifies the identifier storage unit 170 that the FF command has been received.

  In the first embodiment, the identifier storage unit 170 is set with a serial number in the order of coupon printing as “an identifier that can be identified as a midway coupon”. The number “1” is sent to the print control unit 150 as an identifier. The print control unit 150 prints the serial number “1” sent from the identifier storage unit 170 on the last line of the coupon (step S20).

  The procedure from step S17 to step S20 is repeated to print a plurality of coupons. At this time, for each coupon, the serial number is counted up in the order of printing. For example, “2” is printed on the last line of the second coupon.

  When printing of the last coupon is completed (steps S21 and S22), the host computer 200 transmits a job end command (step S23). At this time, since the command determination unit 140 determines that the job end command is received, the command determination unit 140 notifies the identifier storage unit 170 that the job end command has been received.

  The identifier storage unit 170 receives the above notification, and “identifier that can identify that it is the last coupon”, the identifier storage unit 170 sets the serial number of the last coupon as the total number of coupons, “serial number / total number of coupons” As an identifier to the print control unit 150.

  The print control unit 150 prints “serial number / total number of coupons” sent from the identifier storage unit 170 (the total number of coupons in the example of FIG. 4 is “3/3”) on the last line of the coupon. The printing operation is finished and the printing operation is finished (step S24).

  As shown in FIG. 4, the coupon in the middle is printed with only the serial number, but only the last coupon is printed with the total number of coupons in the denominator, such as “3/3”. Therefore, the clerk who is the user of the printer can easily recognize that this coupon is the last coupon among the coupons issued a plurality of times.

  Next, Example 2 of the printer control method of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of coupon issuing processing of the control method in the printer according to the second embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a printing example when a mark is printed as a coupon identifying means.

(Example 2)
Example 2 is an example in which a predetermined mark is printed on an intermediate coupon so that the last coupon and the intermediate coupon can be identified.

  The host computer 200 refers to the accounting information, customer user information, and other incidental information (step S31), selects a coupon registered in the coupon print data registration unit 210 (step S32), and collects coupon print data. (Step S33).

  Next, the coupon print job generation unit 220 generates a print job related to the selected coupons (step S34). When the host computer 200 transmits a job start command to the printer 100 via the transmission unit 230 (step S35), the print control unit 150 of the printer 100 starts a coupon printing operation (step S36).

  When the print data of the first coupon is transmitted from the host computer 200 following the job start command (step S37), the print control unit 150 prints the first coupon (step S38). After the first print data, an FF command is transmitted as a break from the second coupon (step S39). Since this command is determined by the command determination unit 140 to be an FF command, the command determination unit 140 notifies the identifier storage unit 170 that the FF command has been received.

  In the second embodiment, the identifier storage unit 170 is set with a predetermined mark (“◯” in the example of FIG. 6) as an “identifier that can be identified as a midway coupon”. The identifier storage unit 170 sends the first number “◯” to the print control unit 150 as an identifier. The print control unit 150 prints the mark “◯” sent from the identifier storage unit 170 on the last line of the coupon (step S40).

  The procedure from step S37 to step S40 is repeated to print a plurality of coupons. Then, after the print data of the last coupon (step S41 and step S42), the host computer 200 transmits a job end command (step S43). At this time, since the command determination unit 140 determines that the job end command is received, the command determination unit 140 notifies the identifier storage unit 170 that the job end command has been received.

  Upon receipt of the notification, the identifier storage unit 170 sends blank data as an identifier to the print control unit 150 as “an identifier that can be identified as the last coupon”.

  Since the identifier sent from the identifier storage unit 170 is blank data, the print control unit 150 ends the printing operation without printing anything on the last line of the coupon (step S44).

  As shown in FIG. 6, the mark “◯” is printed on the coupon up to the middle, but only the last coupon is not printed with the mark. Therefore, the clerk who is the user of the printer can easily recognize that this coupon is the last coupon among the coupons issued a plurality of times.

The mark is not limited to “◯”, and other marks may be used. In addition, a different mark may be printed for each coupon, a mark is also printed on the last coupon, but a mark different from the coupon until the middle is printed, and the `` different mark '' that the last coupon is May be identified.
In contrast to the above, nothing may be printed on the middle coupon, and the mark may be printed only on the last coupon.

  In the first and second embodiments, when the last coupon is printed, the end of a series of prints by the same job may be notified by voice or buzzer.

As described above, according to the printer 100 and the control method thereof according to the present embodiment, when printing a plurality of coupons by one print job, the coupon to be printed last among the plurality of coupons is the print job. It can be printed so that it can be identified that it is the last coupon to be printed.
Thereby, according to the printer 100 of the present embodiment, the user can easily recognize the last coupon among the coupons to be issued.
Therefore, when the printer 100 according to the present embodiment is to be checked out at a cash register such as a supermarket, the store clerk returns the customer by mistake even though the last coupon has not yet been issued, or rushes to tear the paper. It is possible to reliably distribute the issued coupons to customers without any trouble.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of coupon issuing processing of the control method in the printer according to the first embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows notionally the structure of a coupon print job. It is a schematic diagram which shows the example of a print in the case of printing a number as a coupon identification means. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of coupon issuing processing of a control method in a printer according to a second embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows the example of a print in the case of printing a mark as a coupon identification means.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Printer, 110 ... Reception part, 120 ... Reception buffer, 130 ... Command analysis part, 140 ... Command determination part, 150 ... Print control part, 160 ... Mechanical control part, 170 ... Identifier storage part, 180 ... Print buffer, 200 ... host computer, 210 ... coupon print data registration unit, 220 ... coupon print job generation unit, 230 ... transmission unit

Claims (9)

A printing control method for a printer that prints a plurality of coupons by one print job,
Among the plurality of coupons, an identifier is determined as an intermediate coupon that is not the last coupon and / or a predetermined one of the last coupon so that the last coupon to be printed can be identified as the last coupon printed by the print job. A printing control method for a printer, characterized in that printing is performed at a location.   The printer control method according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined portion is a final row of the midway coupon and / or the last coupon. The print job includes a job start command for starting the print job, an FF command for instructing a page break for printing execution of the next coupon, and a job end command for ending printing of the last coupon,
If it is determined that the received command is the FF command, printing an identifier that can identify that the coupon is halfway;
If it is determined that the received command is the job end command, printing an identifier that identifies the last coupon;
The printer print control method according to claim 1, further comprising: The identifier that can be identified as a coupon on the way is a serial number in the order of printing coupons,
The printer control method according to claim 1, wherein the identifier that can identify the last coupon is the serial number and the total number of coupons. The identifier that can be identified as a coupon on the way is a predetermined mark,
The printer control method according to claim 1, wherein the identifier that can identify the last coupon is blank data. The identifier that can be identified as a coupon on the way is a predetermined mark,
The printer control method according to claim 1, wherein the identifier that can identify the last coupon is a mark different from the predetermined mark. The identifier that can be identified as a coupon on the way is blank data,
The printer control method according to claim 1, wherein the identifier that can be identified as the last coupon is a predetermined mark.   A printer print control program that causes a computer installed in the printer to execute each procedure of the printer print control method according to any one of claims 1 to 7. A printer capable of printing a plurality of coupons by one print job,
An identifier storage unit that stores an identifier indicating that the coupon is an intermediate coupon and / or an identifier indicating that the coupon is the last coupon;
A command determination unit for determining that an FF command for instructing a page break for printing execution of the next coupon and a job end command for ending the print job;
When the command determination unit receives the FF command, an identifier indicating that the coupon is an intermediate coupon is acquired from the identifier storage unit, and when the job end command is received, the identifier is stored from the identifier storage unit. A print control unit that acquires an identifier indicating that the coupon is the last coupon, and controls the identifier to be printed on a predetermined portion of the coupon;
A printer comprising:

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