JP5739697B2 - Printing apparatus and printing apparatus control method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus capable of executing borderless printing at least in the longitudinal direction of a long sheet, and a control method for the printing apparatus.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of printing apparatus generally performs printing by protruding from a desired printing area of paper, and then cuts the protruding portion from the desired printing area by a subsequent cutting process (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this type of cutting process, the printing apparatus described in Patent Document 1 first cuts a boundary between a protruding portion printed at the rear end in the longitudinal direction of a sheet and a desired printing area. In this cutting process, the printing apparatus obtains the protruding amount of the trailing edge from the paper size and the image size to be printed, and determines the cutting position in consideration of the protruding amount. Note that the printing apparatus realizes borderless printing by printing the front end outside the paper.

JP 2003-341161 A

  In the above-described printing apparatus, in order to determine the cutting position in the post-cut process, the amount of protrusion of the protruding portion is obtained from the paper size and the image size to be printed. The amount of protrusion is considered to be the length of the protruding portion in the direction orthogonal to the cutting direction. However, the above printing device calculates the length of the protruding portion each time borderless printing is performed. This complicates the processing of the printing apparatus. Even if the length of the protruding portion is calculated, if the cutting position is the rear end of the protruding portion, there is a possibility that the protruding portion slightly remains on the paper in the apparatus. Also, borderless printing at the front edge of the paper requires a reverse conveyance of the paper when the printing starts from a state where the front edge has already passed through the print head, and the conveyance operation becomes complicated.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above, the present invention provides a printing apparatus and a printing apparatus control method capable of performing printing and paper cutting without leaving any protruding portion by simple processing in borderless printing in the paper longitudinal direction. It is an issue to provide.

A printing apparatus according to the present invention is a printing apparatus capable of executing borderless printing on a long sheet in at least a longitudinal direction thereof, and a printing unit that performs printing in a printing region set based on print data; A cut section for cutting the paper in the width direction intersecting the longitudinal direction, a printing / cut control section for controlling the printing section and the cutting section, and a position within the predetermined length of the printing area from the front end in the longitudinal direction of the printing area Set the front cutting position, set the main cutting position by being located a predetermined length inside the printing area from the trailing edge in the longitudinal direction of the printing area, and outside the area adjacent to the trailing edge in the longitudinal direction of the printing area. sets the post-cut position to exist a margin area in the rear end of the blank area, and the cut position setting unit, when borderless printing run, in a first mode and a rear cutting position to perform a cut at the rear cut position A second mode which does not execute the Tsu bets, a mode switching unit for switching the mode to either, provided, the print-cut control unit, when executing the marginless printing, the switching by the mode switching unit results and the cut position setting Based on the setting result by the section, the cutting by the cutting section is executed.

Method for controlling the printing apparatus of the present invention, performs printing to the printing area set on the basis of the print data to the elongated sheet, printing device for cutting in a width direction crossing the sheet in the longitudinal direction And a pre-cut step of cutting a position inside the print area by a predetermined length from the front end in the longitudinal direction of the print area when performing borderless printing whose mode is switched to the first mode, and printing A main cutting step of cutting a position inside the print region by a predetermined length from the rear end in the longitudinal direction of the region, and a margin region on the outer side adjacent to the rear end in the longitudinal direction of the print region. running, and cutting step after cutting the rear end, during the second mode to the mode switching has been borderless printing run, without performing a post-cut process, before executing the cutting process and the cutting process Characterized in that that.

According to these configurations, since each cut position is determined based on the distance from each end of the print area, the cut position can be determined by a simple processing method. Further, since the inside of the printing area is cut in the front cutting step and the main cutting step, borderless printing can be reliably performed at the front end and the rear end of the paper. Further, in the post-cutting step, a blank area is provided from the rear end of the print area and the rear end of the blank area is cut, so that the outside of the print area can be reliably cut. That is, it is possible to cut the paper without reliably leaving a protruding portion of printing.
In addition, it is possible to select whether or not to execute a post-cutting process for generating an unnecessary portion of the printed paper according to the user's preference.

In this case, when normal printing that cuts at least the trailing edge of the printing area is possible and the mode is the second mode, the cut position setting unit is adjacent to the leading edge in the longitudinal direction of the printing area when the normal printing is performed. It is preferable that a margin area exists outside and a pre-cut position is set at the rear end of the margin area, and the print / cut control unit executes the cut at the pre-cut position at the time of normal printing .

According to this configuration, by performing the precut process, when the protruding portion is generated by the previous printing, the protruding portion can be separated.

Another printing apparatus of the present invention is a printing apparatus capable of performing borderless printing on a long sheet with release paper at least in the longitudinal direction thereof, and in a printing region set based on print data. A printing section that performs printing, a cutting section that cuts the paper in the width direction intersecting the longitudinal direction, a printing / cutting control section that controls the printing section and the cutting section, and a predetermined printing area from the front end in the longitudinal direction of the printing area Set the front cutting position inside the length, set the front cutting position from the rear edge in the longitudinal direction of the printing area, set the actual cutting position inside the printing area by the predetermined length, and then follow the printing area in the longitudinal direction. A cut position setting section for setting a rear cut position at the rear end of the margin area, and a cut section, a half cut section for half-cutting the sheet, and the sheet The full-cut part for full-cutting, and the print / cut control part performs the cut by the cut part based on the setting result by the cut position setting part at the time of execution of borderless printing, and the actual cut position and / or A full cut is performed at the post-cut position, and a half cut is performed at a cut position other than the cut position at which the full cut is performed.

According to another printing apparatus control method of the present invention, a long sheet with release paper is printed on a print area set based on print data, and the sheet is crossed in the longitudinal direction. to a method of controlling a printing apparatus for cutting, at the time of borderless printing execution, the cutting step before cutting the predetermined length position inside the printing area from the front end in the longitudinal direction of the print area, the print area A main cutting step for cutting a position inside the print area by a predetermined length from the rear end in the longitudinal direction, and a rear end of the margin area with a margin area on the outer side adjacent to the rear end in the longitudinal direction of the print area. and executes and a cutting step after cutting, and performs a full cut in the cutting step and / or post-cut process, to perform half-cut in the steps other than step of executing the full-cut It is characterized in.

According to these configurations, since each cut position is determined based on the distance from each end of the print area, the cut position can be determined by a simple processing method. Further, since the inside of the printing area is cut in the front cutting step and the main cutting step, borderless printing can be reliably performed at the front end and the rear end of the paper. Further, in the post-cutting step, a blank area is provided from the rear end of the print area and the rear end of the blank area is cut, so that the outside of the print area can be reliably cut. That is, it is possible to cut the paper without reliably leaving a protruding portion of printing.
In addition, since the printed portion can be cut in a state of being continuous with the paper by half-cutting, the length of the blank area affected by the distance between the cut portion and, for example, the discharge port of the apparatus can be shortened. Therefore, the unnecessary part of the printed paper can be reduced as a whole.

Further, it is preferable that the cut position setting unit sets a blank area outside the print area adjacent to the front end in the longitudinal direction when setting the front cut position .

According to this configuration, it is possible to surely print on the paper from the front end of the printing area, so that the inside of the apparatus is not soiled by printing outside the paper.

1 is an external perspective view of a tape printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is the block diagram which showed the control structure of the tape printer. FIG. 5A schematically shows a print area and a label to be created when normal printing is executed in the first mode, and a print area and creation which are set when borderless printing is executed. It is the figure (b) which showed the label to be performed typically. After normal printing is executed in the second mode, a diagram (a) schematically showing a print area and a label to be created when normal printing is executed, and borderless printing are executed. It is the figure (b) which showed typically the printing area | region set at the time, and the label produced. After the borderless printing is executed in the second mode, a diagram (a) schematically showing a print area and a label to be created when normal printing is executed, and borderless printing are executed. It is the figure (b) which showed typically the printing area | region set at the time, and the label produced. It is the flowchart which showed the printing process.

  Hereinafter, a printing apparatus and a control method for the printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the present embodiment, the present invention will be described by applying the present invention to a tape printing apparatus that prints and cuts a tape (paper) to create a label. The tape printing apparatus can execute “normal printing” in which a margin is provided on the printed surface of the created label and “borderless printing” in which a margin is not provided on the printed surface of the created label.

  FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of the tape printer 1 according to the present embodiment with the open / close lid 21 opened. As shown in the figure, the tape printer 1 has an outer case formed by a device case 2, and a keyboard 3 having various input keys is disposed on the upper surface of the front of the device case 2, and the left portion of the upper surface of the rear portion of the tape printer 1. An opening / closing lid 21 is attached to the display screen 41 on the right side.

  A cartridge mounting portion 6 for mounting the tape cartridge TC is recessed inside the opening / closing lid 21, and the tape cartridge TC is detachably mounted on the cartridge mounting portion 6 with the opening / closing lid 21 opened. The In addition, the open / close lid 21 is formed with a viewing window 21a for visually confirming whether the tape cartridge TC is mounted or not mounted with the lid 21 closed.

  On the keyboard 3, a character key group 3a and a function key group 3b for designating various operation modes are arranged. The character key group 3a has a full key configuration based on the JIS layout, and is similar to a general word processor or the like including a shift key for suppressing an increase in the number of keys to be operated. The function key group 3b includes a [cursor] key, a [select] key, a [delete] key, a [print] key, a [continuous] key, a [format setting] key, an [environment setting] key, and the like. .

  The [cursor] key is made up of up / down / left / right keys ([↑], [↓], [←], [→]), and is used for cursor movement and scrolling operations. In addition to the [cursor] key, the [select] key and the [delete] key are keys used for information input and various settings. The [Print] key is a key for instructing execution of printing.

  The [Continuous] key is a key for performing continuous printing for printing a plurality of the same labels. In the present embodiment, continuous printing can be set by pressing the [continuous] key. In addition, it is good also as a structure which performs the serial number printing which prints the several label from which only parts, such as a number, differ continuously by pressing the [continuous] key.

  The [Format Setting] key is a key for performing various settings relating to editing of print data. In the present embodiment, margin setting can be performed by pressing the [format setting] key. The margin setting determines the length of a margin (hereinafter referred to as label margin C) provided at both ends of a single label to be created. In other words, the label to be created has a total length of the label image P edited by the user and the label margin C provided at both ends of the label image P in the tape length direction (see FIGS. 3 to 5). In the margin setting of the present embodiment, by pressing the [Format Setting] key, “no margin (label margin C: 0 mm)”, “very small (label margin C: 1 mm)”, “less (label margin C: 9 mm), “normal (label margin C: 12 mm)” and “large (label margin C: 18 mm)” can be selected. If “no margin (label margin C: 0 mm)” is selected, the tape printer 1 executes “borderless printing” in which no margin is provided on the printing surface of the label (details will be described later). . In the present embodiment, when “minimal (label margin C: 1 mm)” is selected, the tape printing apparatus 1 cuts the front end of the label margin C provided outside the front end of the label image P. . This is because the length of the label margin C (1 mm) is shorter than the distance between the cutter and the head of the tape printer 1, but the tape printer 1 does not have the tape T reverse feed function. .

  The “environment setting” key is a key for performing various environment settings. In the present embodiment, the mode switching and the cutting method can be set by pressing the [environment setting] key. This mode switching includes a first mode in which front cut, main cut, and post cut are executed in borderless printing, and a second mode in which front cut (pre-cut) and main cut are executed regardless of borderless printing and normal printing. The mode is switched to one of the above (details will be described later). The setting of the cutting method is to select whether to perform full cutting or half cutting at the cutting position. The “mode switching unit” in the claims includes an [Environment setting] key and a CPU 81 described later.

  The display screen 41 is a liquid crystal display, and is used when confirming an editing result based on input information input by the user using the keyboard 3 and print data generated based on the editing result.

  A tape discharge port 22 is formed on the left side of the apparatus case 2 to communicate the cartridge mounting portion 6 with the outside. The tape discharge port 22 is a tape (tape-like member) fed out by a tape transport mechanism (not shown). A tape cutter 23 for cutting T faces. Then, the printed tape T is fed out from the tape discharge port 22 by a predetermined length, and after the feeding is temporarily stopped, the printed tape T is cut by the tape cutter 23 to create a strip-shaped label. To do.

  On the other hand, the cartridge mounting portion 6 has a head unit 61 in which a thermal type print head 7 is built in a head cover 61a, a platen drive shaft 62 facing the print head 7, and a winding for winding an ink ribbon R described later. A drive shaft 63 and a positioning projection 64 of the tape reel 17 described later are provided. In addition, a tape feed motor 26 (see FIG. 2) for rotating the platen drive shaft 62 and the take-up drive shaft 63 serving as a tape transport mechanism is incorporated below the cartridge mounting portion 6.

  The tape cartridge TC includes a tape reel 17 in which a tape T having a certain width (about 4 mm to 48 mm) is wound at an upper center portion inside the cartridge case 51, and a ribbon reel 19 in which an ink ribbon R is wound on a lower right portion. The tape T and the ink ribbon R have the same width. A through hole 55 for inserting a head cover 61 a covering the head unit 61 is formed in the lower left portion of the tape reel 17. Furthermore, the head unit 61 inserted into the through-hole 55 and the platen roller 53 fitted to the platen drive shaft 62 and driven to rotate are arranged corresponding to the portion where the tape T and the ink ribbon R overlap. . On the other hand, a ribbon take-up reel 54 is disposed in the vicinity of the ribbon reel 19, and the ink ribbon R fed out from the ribbon reel 19 is taken up by the ribbon take-up reel 54 so as to go around the head cover 61a. ing. That is, the ribbon is wound around the ribbon take-up reel 54 via the ribbon running path on the peripheral wall of the through hole 55.

  When the tape cartridge TC is mounted in the cartridge mounting portion 6, the through hole 55 is formed in the head cover 61a, the center hole of the tape reel 17 is positioned in the positioning projection 64, and the center hole of the ribbon take-up reel 54 is positioned in the winding drive shaft 63. Then, the print head 7 is brought into contact with the platen roller 53 with the tape T and the ink ribbon R interposed therebetween, and printing becomes possible. Thereafter, the user inputs desired text (characters such as letters, numbers, symbols, and simple figures) and images (label image P) using the keyboard 3 while checking the editing result of the display screen 41, and presses the [Print] key. When printing is instructed by (in the case of normal printing in the first mode), the tape printer 1 feeds out the tape T from the tape cartridge TC by the tape feed motor 26 and selectively generates heat from the heating elements of the print head 7. Desired printing is performed on the tape T by the printing operation. The printed portion of the tape T is sent to the outside from the tape discharge port 22 as needed, and when printing is completed, the tape feed motor 26 feeds the tape T to the position of the tape length including the label margin C and stops. Thereafter, the tape cutter 23 (full cutter 31 or half cutter 32) is driven by the cutter motor 25 (full cutter motor 33 or half cutter motor 34, see FIG. 2), and the tape T is cut in the width direction.

  Note that “print data” in the claims refers to information based on input desired text (characters such as letters, numbers, symbols, simple figures, etc.), image editing results, and margin settings. Consists of a label image P and a label margin C (see FIGS. 3 to 5).

  On the other hand, the tape T includes a recording tape Ta having a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer formed on the back surface and a release tape Tb attached to the recording tape Ta by the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer. The tape T is wound in a roll shape with the recording tape Ta on the outside and the release tape Tb on the inside, and is accommodated in the cartridge case 51. Further, a plurality of tapes T having different tape types (tape width, tape ground color, ground pattern, material, etc.) are prepared, and each of the cartridge cases 51 has one type of tape T ( And an ink ribbon R). The back surface of the cartridge case 51 is provided with a plurality of holes (not shown) for specifying the type of the tape cartridge TC. A plurality of tape identification sensors (such as microswitches) 27 (see FIG. 2) for detecting these are provided in the cartridge mounting portion 6 corresponding to the plurality of holes. By detecting the state of the hole, the tape type can be determined.

  Next, the control configuration of the tape printer 1 will be described with reference to the control block diagram of FIG. The tape printer 1 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 81, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 82, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 83, a display screen 41, a keyboard 3, a cutter motor 25, a tape cutter 23, a tape feed motor 26, A print head 7 and a tape identification sensor 27 are provided. Among these, the RAM 82 and the ROM 83 are connected to the CPU 81 via the bus 85, and the other components are directly connected to the CPU 81.

  The CPU 81 is a central processing unit and forms the main part of the “print / cut control unit” in the claims. The RAM 82 is directly connected to the CPU 81 and is used as a work area when the CPU 81 performs various controls. The ROM 83 stores a control program and control information for the CPU 81 to perform various controls. Specifically, the control program stores a printing / cutting processing program for performing printing / cutting processing (not shown).

  The display screen 41 functions as a display unit for displaying the editing result and the print layout. The keyboard 3 functions as an input unit for a user to input information, an editing unit for performing editing processing, a setting unit for performing various settings, and the like.

  The cutter motor 25 is connected to the tape cutter 23 and functions as a cutting part (cut part). The tape cutter 23 includes a full cutter 31 that fully cuts the printing tape T and a half cutter 32 that half-cuts the printing tape T. The cutter motor 25 includes a full cutter motor 33 that drives the full cutter 31 and a half cutter motor 34 that drives the half cutter 32. The half-cut means that only the recording tape Ta is cut out of the printing tape T, and the tape T after the half-cut is applied to the release tape Tb where the tape piece of the cut recording tape Ta is uncut. It will be in the state.

  The tape feed motor 26 and the print head 7 function as a printing unit that performs printing on the tape T while transporting the tape T. In addition, as described above, the print head 7 and the tape identification sensor 27 are provided in the cartridge mounting unit 6, and the tape identification sensor 27 detects the type of the tape T accommodated in the tape cartridge TC. Based on the detection result of the tape identification sensor 27 (based on the tape material, width, etc.), the CPU 81 limits the number of lines and characters that can be input as text, determines whether or not cutting is possible, and the like. Then, the drive control of the print head 7, the cutter motor 25, and the tape feed motor 26 is performed in accordance with the print instruction.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 3 to FIG. 5, the normal printing and the borderless printing of this embodiment will be described in detail. FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing a print area, a cut position, and a label to be created when normal printing and borderless printing are executed in the first mode.

  As shown in FIG. 3A, when normal printing is executed in the first mode, a label margin C based on the above margin setting is provided outside the front end and the rear end of the label image P, and the label image P The printing area A is set from the two label margins C. The cut position is set to the rear end position of the printing area A. The tape printer 1 performs printing based on the print data and cuts the rear end of the print area A (normal printing / cutting process). As shown in the figure, a label having a margin is created by the main printing, and a blank tape T is left in the tape printer 1.

  As shown in FIG. 3B, when borderless printing is executed in the first mode, the margin setting is set to “margin: 0 mm” as described above, so that the label image P is printed in the print area. A. Further, margin areas B are provided outside the front end and the rear end of the print area A, respectively. The length of the blank area B is a length exceeding the distance from the tape cutter 23 to the discharge port 22 of the apparatus. This is to prevent the discharged label pieces from remaining in the apparatus. The cutting positions are set at three positions: a position that is a predetermined length from the front end and the rear end of the printing area A, and a rear end position of the blank area B that is provided outside the rear end of the printing area A. The The tape printer 1 performs printing by providing a blank area B outside the front end of the print area A, and cuts a position a predetermined length from the front end of the print area A (pre-cut process). Then, printing proceeds based on the print data, and a position inside by a predetermined length from the rear end of the printing area A (in this embodiment, 3 mm inside, but this predetermined length is arbitrary) is cut. (This cut process). Then, a margin area B is provided outside the rear end of the print area A, and the rear end of the margin area B is cut (post-cut process). As shown in the drawing, a borderless label having no margin (border) is created by the main printing, and the two label pieces on which a part of the printing area A is printed are discharged out of the apparatus. On the other hand, a blank tape T is left in the tape printer 1.

  On the other hand, FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing a print area, a cut position, and a label to be created when normal printing and borderless printing are executed in the second mode. The figure shows a case where each printing is executed after normal printing is executed in the same mode.

  As shown in FIG. 4A, when normal printing is executed after normal printing is executed in the second mode, a label margin C based on the above margin setting is provided outside the front and rear ends of the label image P. And a print area A is set from the label image P and the two label margins C. Further, a blank area B is provided outside the front end of the print area A. The cut positions are set at two positions, that is, the boundary position between the margin area B and the print area A and the rear end position of the print area A. The tape printer 1 performs printing by providing a blank area B outside the front end of the print area A, and cuts the boundary position between the blank area B and the print area A (pre-cut process). Then, printing is advanced based on the print data, and the trailing edge of the printing area A is cut (normal printing / cutting process). As shown in the figure, a label having a margin is created by the main printing, and a blank label piece is discharged out of the apparatus. On the other hand, a blank tape T is left in the tape printer 1.

  As shown in FIG. 4B, when borderless printing is executed after normal printing is executed in the second mode, the margin setting is set to “margin: 0 mm” as described above. The label image P becomes the printing area A. Further, a blank area B is provided outside the front end of the print area A. Then, the cutting positions are set at two locations that are a predetermined length inside from the front end and the rear end of the printing area A. The tape printer 1 performs printing by providing a blank area B outside the front end of the print area A, and cuts a position a predetermined length from the front end of the print area A (pre-cut process). Then, printing is performed based on the print data, and a position inside by a predetermined length from the rear end of the printing area A is cut (main cutting step). As shown in the drawing, a borderless label having no margin is created by the main printing, and a label piece on which a part of the printing area A is printed is discharged out of the apparatus. On the other hand, in the tape printer 1, the tape T on which a part of the printing area A is printed is left at the front end.

  FIG. 5 shows a case where each printing is executed after borderless printing is executed in the same mode. The print area to be set, the cut position, and the label to be created are the same as those shown in FIG. 4, but a part of the print area A set at the front end of the tape T in the borderless printing previously executed is Since printing is performed, the pre-cut process in normal printing can be performed to separate the protruding portion from the previous printing from the label to be created. In this mode, when performing borderless printing, the post-cut process in borderless printing in the first mode is not executed, and therefore, when continuous borderless printing is performed, the discharge of unnecessary label pieces is suppressed. Can do. That is, the label pieces between the labels can be shared.

  Next, the printing process of the tape printer 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When the tape printer 1 receives the [print] key press signal (S01), the mode is the first mode (S02: first mode), and the margin setting is not “margin: 0 mm”. If this is the case (S03: No (normal printing)), the normal printing / cutting step is executed (S04). On the other hand, if “margin: 0 mm” (S03: Yes (borderless printing)), the pre-cut process (S05), the main cut process (S06), and the post-cut process (S07) are executed.

  On the other hand, when the mode is the second mode (S02: second mode) and the margin setting is not “margin: 0 mm” (S08: No (normal printing)), after executing the precut process (S09) A normal printing / cutting process is executed (S10). On the other hand, if it is “margin: 0 mm” (S08: Yes (borderless printing)), the previous cutting step (S11) and the main cutting step (S12) are executed.

  According to the tape printer 1 described above, in borderless printing, the cutting position in the post-cutting process is determined based on the distance from the printing area A, so that the cutting position can be determined by a simple method. . Further, since the rear end of the blank area B provided outside the rear end of the print area A is cut, the rear cut can be surely executed outside the print area A. In addition, since the second mode can suppress the discharge of the label pieces that become dust, the consumption of the tape T can be saved.

  The cutting of the tape T executed at the cutting position set in each printing may be a half cut or a full cut. In this case, the cut that cuts between the labels (the cut in the normal printing / cutting process, the cutting in the main cutting process and / or the post-cutting process) is preferably a full cut. In addition, since the label piece that becomes dust is attached to the mount (peeling tape Tb) by cutting the half-cut, the label piece is not left in the apparatus independently. The piece can be as short as possible. Therefore, consumption of the tape T can be saved. The cutting performed in the half cut may be a perforation cut.

  Further, in borderless printing, a dot discrimination target area is provided in a portion including each cut position from the front end and the rear end of the print area A, and the presence or absence of a print dot in the dot discrimination target area is determined from the print data. Only when it is determined as “present”, the pre-cut process and / or the post-cut process may be executed. According to this, an unnecessary pre-cut process and / or post-cut process is performed to remove an unnecessary label piece even though no print dot actually exists in the vicinity of the front end and the rear end of the print area A. It can be prevented from being generated.

  Further, the present invention is not limited to the above-described thermal type printing apparatus, and can be applied to, for example, an ink jet type printing apparatus. Further, the paper used for printing is not limited to the tape T, but may be a long one. Alternatively, the print data may be generated by an external device such as a PC, and the tape printer 1 may acquire the print data. In this case, the length of the margin is also set on the external device side.

  Further, each component of the tape printer 1 described above can be provided as a program. It is also possible to provide the program stored in a storage medium (not shown). As the recording medium, a CD-ROM, a flash ROM, a memory card (compact flash (registered trademark), smart media, memory stick, etc.), a compact disk, a magneto-optical disk, a digital versatile disk, a flexible disk, and the like can be used.

  Further, regardless of the above-described embodiments, the device configuration, processing steps, and the like of the tape printer 1 can be changed as appropriate without departing from the scope of the present invention.

  1: Tape printing device 7: Print head 23: Tape cutter 25: Cutter motor 31: Full cutter 32: Half cutter 33: Full cutter motor 34: Half cutter motor 81: CPU A: Printing area B: Margin area C: Label margin T: Tape

Claims (6)

A printing apparatus capable of performing borderless printing at least in the longitudinal direction of a long sheet,
A print unit that prints in a print area set based on print data;
A cut portion for cutting the paper in the width direction intersecting the longitudinal direction;
A printing / cutting control unit for controlling the printing unit and the cutting unit;
A front cut position is set inside the print area from the front end in the longitudinal direction by a predetermined length, and a front cut position is set from the rear end in the longitudinal direction of the print area by a predetermined length. A cut position setting in which a main cut position is set at a position , a margin area is provided outside the print area in the longitudinal direction adjacent to the rear end, and a rear cut position is set at the rear end of the margin area. And
A mode switching unit for switching the mode to one of a first mode in which the cut is performed at the rear cut position and a second mode in which the cut is not performed at the rear cut position when the borderless printing is performed; , Prepare,
The printing / cutting control unit performs the cutting by the cutting unit based on a switching result by the mode switching unit and a setting result by the cut position setting unit when executing the borderless printing. Printing device. It is possible to perform normal printing that cuts at least the trailing edge of the printing area,
When the mode is the second mode,
The cut position setting unit, when the normal printing is performed, the margin area on the outside adjacent to the front end in the longitudinal direction of the print area, and set a pre-cut position at the rear end of the margin area ,
The printing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the printing / cutting control unit performs the cutting at the precut position when the normal printing is performed . A printing apparatus capable of performing borderless printing on a long sheet with release paper at least in its longitudinal direction,
A print unit that prints in a print area set based on print data;
A cut portion for cutting the paper in the width direction intersecting the longitudinal direction;
A printing / cutting control unit for controlling the printing unit and the cutting unit;
A front cut position is set inside the print area from the front end in the longitudinal direction by a predetermined length, and a front cut position is set from the rear end in the longitudinal direction of the print area by a predetermined length. A cut position setting in which a main cut position is set at a position , a margin area is provided outside the print area in the longitudinal direction adjacent to the rear end, and a rear cut position is set at the rear end of the margin area. And comprising
The cut portion has a half cut portion for half-cutting the paper, and a full cut portion for full-cutting the paper,
The printing / cutting control unit
When performing the borderless printing , based on the setting result by the cut position setting unit , executing the cut by the cut unit ,
A printing apparatus that performs a full cut at the main cut position and / or the post-cut position, and performs a half cut at a cut position other than the cut position at which the full cut is performed . The cut position setting unit
4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the front cut position is set , a blank area is set outside the print area adjacent to a front end in the longitudinal direction. 5. Performs printing on the printing area set on the basis of the print data to the elongated sheet, said sheet A method of controlling a printing device for cutting in the width direction intersecting the longitudinal direction,
When executing borderless printing whose mode has been switched to the first mode,
A pre-cut step of cutting a position inside the print area by a predetermined length from the front end in the longitudinal direction of the print area; and a predetermined length of the print area from the rear end in the longitudinal direction of the print area A main cutting step of cutting an inner position, and a post-cutting step of cutting a trailing edge of the margin area on the outer side adjacent to the trailing edge in the longitudinal direction of the printing area. ,
When executing the borderless printing that has been switched to the second mode,
A control method for a printing apparatus , wherein the pre-cut process and the main-cut process are executed without executing the post-cut process . With release paper with printing on the printing area set on the basis of the print data to the elongated sheet, there the paper in a controlled method of printing device for cutting in the width direction intersecting the longitudinal direction thereof And
When executing borderless printing,
A pre-cut step of cutting a position inside the print area by a predetermined length from the front end in the longitudinal direction of the print area; and a predetermined length of the print area from the rear end in the longitudinal direction of the print area A main cutting step of cutting an inner position, and a post-cutting step of cutting a rear end of the margin area by leaving a margin area on the outer side adjacent to the rear end in the longitudinal direction of the printing area are executed. With
A method for controlling a printing apparatus , comprising: performing a full cut in the main cutting step and / or the post-cutting step, and performing a half cut in a step other than the step of performing the full cut .

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