Colour printer

Abstract: A printer comprising a key-in unit (11), a cartridge detecting unit (12), a data storage (13), a ROM (14), a font memory (15), a display control unit (16), a display (17), a print control unit (18), a printing unit (19), and a controller (20). When a cartridge which contains a printing medium is placed in the printing unit (19), the color of the printing medium is then determined through the cartridge detecting unit (12). The user inputs character data, etc., without specifying any print colors from the key-in unit (11). The input character data is then stored in the data storage (13). When such input character data is printed, the controller (20) automatically sets the color of a character printing pattern at a color predetermined in correspondence to the color of the printing medium determined through the cartridge detecting unit (12). The printing unit (19) prints the character data, etc., in the color set by the controller (20).

Description: The present invention relates to printers capable of performing color printing, and more particularly to a printer capable of performing color printing appropriately in a simple operation. Conventionally, tape printers are known which produce a label by printing input character, symbol, and figure data on a tape-like printing medium and cutting the printed tape portion. One of the conventional tape printers produces a label by setting a tape cartridge which contains a printing tape and an ink tape in the printer and transferring ink in the ink tape to the printing tape. Thus, the printing colors transferred to the label tape are limited to the color of the ink tape contained in the tape cartridge. Thus, the characters, character ornaments, etc., are all printed in the same color and hence the expression force can be insufficient (See i.a. EP-A- 0 656 594). Since a combination of colors of label and ink tapes is fixed for each tape cartridge, a tape cartridge is required to be prepared for each combination of colors of a label and characters to be printed on the label and to be replaced with another, if required. Thus, operation is complicated. In order to solve such problems, the use of a printing tape cartridge which contains a multi-color printing ink tape could be considered. In this case, even when any one of monochromatic and color printing tape cartridges is set, it is desired to print characters, symbols, etc., appropriately. It is not preferable to specify a print color when data, for example, on characters to be printed are input with a monochromatic printing tape cartridge having been set because only monochromatic printing can be performed on the tape of the cartridge. In some cases, data having no color information input in a state where a monochromatic printing tape cartridge is set can be printed in a state where a color printing tape cartridge is set. In this case, there are two possible measures to be taken, one displaying an error message and then stopping the printing, and another printing all the data in black. When the printing is stopped, it is required to cause the user either to specify newly a print color or to exchange the set tape cartridge with a conventional one, which is troublesome for the user. The measure to taken to print all data in black nullifies the meaning of using a color printing tape cartridge and only produces the same result of printing as the conventional method. It is desired that the tape printer should be small and lightweight so as to be easy to carry and inexpensive from a standpoint of its character. Thus, a portable tape printer is only capable of mounting thereon a display having a small display screen in which the number or quantity of data to be displayed is limited. Thus, even when the user tries to set print colors, using this small display screen, it is difficult for the user to finely set the colors of data to be printed and hence the color setting work is troublesome. Therefore, it is difficult to produce a label with an ideal combination of colors. As the case may be, characters and their background can be specified in the same color, which can lead to a failure in which a label on which characters can not be discriminated could be produced. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a printer capable of printing input data in appropriate colors even when no print color of the data is specified. In order to achieve the above objects, according to the present invention, there is provided a printer comprising: a cartridge received in a cartridge receiving space in a printer body, the cartridge having therein a printing medium and a color printing ink ribbon containing a plurality of different color inks; printing means for printing data on the printing medium with the ink ribbon; input means for inputting to the printer printing data for which no print color is specified; storage means for storing the printing data input by the input means; setting means for automatically setting at a predetermined color a print color in which the input printing data is printed; and print control means for causing the printing means to operate to print on the printing medium the printing data stored in the storage means in the predetermined color set by the setting means. In the present invention, the input printing data is printed in the predetermined color even when the print color is not specified. Thus, color printing is easily achieved. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a printer according to the present invention; FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C show a standard, an outline, and a shadowed font, respectively, used in the embodiment; FIGS. 3A and 3B show the internal structure of a tape cartridge set in the printer and the structure of an ink tape for color printing, respectively; FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate a monochromatic and a color printing tape cartridge, respectively, set in the printer, and FIG. 4C illustrates detection of the color of a label tape of a cartridge; FIG. 5 illustrates the relationship between colors used in printing; FIG. 6 is a flow chart indicative of a character inputting process performed in the embodiment; FIG. 7 is a flow chart indicative of a printing process performed in the embodiment, and FIGS. 8A, 8B and 8C show a standard, an outline and a shadowed font, respectively, printed in color on a label tape by the tape printer in the embodiment. An embodiment of a tape printer according to the present invention which prints any characters, symbols, etc., on a tape-like printing medium will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. First Embodiment: FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the inventive tape printer which is provided with a key-in unit 11, a cartridge detecting unit 12, a data storage (RAM) 13, a ROM 14, a font memory 15, a display control unit 16, a display 17, a print control unit 18, a printing unit 19 and a controller 20. The key-in unit 11 is provided with character keys 11a, a font specifying key 11b, a print key 11c, and a print color specifying key 11d used to input information on characters, symbols, etc., to be printed. The character keys 11a include alphabetical keys, and a ten-key unit for inputting data, for example, on characters, symbols, numerals, to be printed. The font specifying key 11b is used to specify a font of input characters to be printed. In the embodiment, the font to be specified is a standard one of FIG. 2A, an outline one of FIG. 2B, and a shadowed one of FIG. 2C. The print key 11c is used to command print starting. The print color specifying key lid is used to specify a print color. The cartridge detecting unit 12 is composed of switches SW1 and SW2 in which the corresponding actuators (not shown) are actuated depending on the shape of the tape cartridge 31 to output detection signals and an information encoder (not shown) which encodes the output detection signals from the switches SW1 and SW2 and outputs the result as detected color information to the controller 20. As shown in FIG. 3A, the tape cartridge contains a tape 32 on which a label is printed (hereinafter referred to as a label tape) as a printing medium and an ink tape 33 the ink of which is transferred to the label tape to print data on the label tape 32. The label tape 32 has an adhesive on its back covered with an peelable paper strip. In the embodiment, a monochromatic printing tape cartridge 31M which contains a monochromatic printing ink tape 33 and a color printing tape cartridge 31C which contains a color printing ink tape 33 are prepared. If there is no need to discriminate cartridges or their tapes from each other, reference symbol 31 is used while if necessary, reference symbol 31M or 31C is used. A label tape 32 contained in the monochromatic printing tape cartridge 31M is either white or red while a label tape 32 contained in the cartridge 31C is white. As shown in FIG. 3B, the color printing ink tape 33 has Y (yellow), M (Magenta) and C (cyan) ink areas arranged repeatedly in this order. By a combination of those three color inks, superimposed multi-color printing is achieved. The data storage 13 stores data input from the key-in unit 11 and data set by the controller 20. The data storage 13 is composed of a character data storage area 13a which stores in the form of a character code character data input by the key-in unit 11, a font data storage area 13b which stores font data to be set for the character data stored in the character data storage area 13a, and a print color data storage area 13c which stores print color data for the character data stored in the character data storage area 13a. As described later, the print color data storage 13c further stores data on the background color of a label tape. The data storage 13 further includes a whole background data storage area 13d, a partial background data storage area 13e, a character color data storage area 13f, a frame data storage area 13g, and an ornament data storage area 13h. In FIG. 1, ROM 14 contains programs in accordance with which the controller 20 which may be composed of a microprocessor controls the whole operation of the printer. ROM 14 also contains various Table data to be described later. A font memory 15 contains pattern data of characters and symbols such as a standard, an outline and a shadowed font and thick fonts. The display 17 is composed of a liquid crystal display which displays data to be printed. The display control unit 16 controls the display 17 under the control of the controller 20 to display data on the display 17. The printing unit 19 is provided with a cartridge accommodating space 41 (FIG. 4) in which the tape cartridge 31 is set or received, a thermal head which melts and transfers ink on the ink tape 33 to the label tape 32, a tape conveyance mechanism which conveys the ink tape 33 and label tape 32, and prints data under control of the print control unit 18. The print control unit 18 controls the printing unit 19 to print data fed from the controller 20 and has a print pattern memory 18a in which the data is spread as a print dot pattern. The controller 20 may be composed of a microprocessor to control the operation of the whole printer, for example, the character inputting operation, font specifying operation, the printing operation and the display operation. A method of detecting the kind of the tape cartridge 31 by the cartridge detecting unit 12 will be described next specifically with reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B and Table 1 below. Kind of tape cartridge Switch SW1 Switch SW2 A monochromatic on on B color on on C unset off off Although not shown, the printer includes a cutter mechanism which is operated by an external operating lever provided in the printer to cut from an unprinted label tape portion that portion of the label tape 32 which was printed by the printing unit 19. In the state where the tape cartridge 31 is set in the cartridge accommodating space 41 of the tape printer with the cover 42 being closed, as shown in FIG. 4A, B, the tape cartridge 31 is biased by a spring 43 with a switch SW1 being pressed by the cartridge to be on. In the case of the cartridge being a monochromatic one, both switches SW1 and SW2 are on, as shown in FIG. 4A. In the case of the printing tape cartridge being a color one, a recess 34 is provided which receives the switch SW2 to avoid its operation to thereby keep the switch SW2 in an off state, as shown in FIG. 4B. Table 1 indicates the on/off state of the switch SW1 caused depending on the setting/non-setting of the tape cartridge 31 in the cartridge receiving space 41 and the on/off state of the switch SW2 caused depending on the kind of the tape cartridge 31. When the two switches are on, they output corresponding signals of a predetermined voltage whereas when they are off, they output no signals. Table 1 which shows the "on" and "off" states of the switches therein is contained as having corresponding "1" and "0" data, respectively, in ROM 14. The controller 20 determines the presence/absence of the tape cartridge 31 in the receiving space 41 and the kind of the tape cartridge by referring to Table 1 in accordance with the detected color information which was obtained by encoding the detection signals output from the switches SW1 and SW2 of the cartridge detecting unit 12. Print colors in which data are printed in the tape printer will be described next. In the embodiment, the print colors are white, orange, red, purple, black, blue, green and yellow; that is, the three primary colors, their intermediate colors, white and black, as shown in FIG. 6, in which the colors are arranged so that adjacent colors except white and black belong to the same color system. In FIG. 5, any opposing colors are in opponent color relationship. These colors are given corresponding numbers "0"-"7" as shown in Table 2 below. Color white orange red purple black blue green yellow No. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 The colors having numbers which are in ±1 relationship belong to the same system while the colors having numbers which are in ±4 relationship are opponent ones. Of course, the number of colors is not limited to eight, but nine or more colors may be used. In addition, the color numbers may be changed. The operation of the tape printer as the embodiment will be described next. In the printer, the tape cartridge 31 is replaceable. If no print colors are set for data such as characters to be printed, a monochromatic cartridge may be used for printing purpose or data may be printed in monochrome. As described above with reference to the conventional techniques, such technique is inefficient and difficult to produce a multi-colored impressive label. When data which has no specified print color is printed in color in the present embodiment, appropriate colors are set for the data in accordance with a predetermined standard and the data is then printed to thereby produce a multi-colored impressive label efficiently. A method of inputting character data to be printed will be described with reference to a flow chart of FIG. 8. First, the user operates the character keys 11a of the key-in unit 11 to input printing character and symbol data (step S1). The input data are sequentially stored via the controller 20 into the character data storage area 13a of the data storage 13. The user then operates the font specifying key 11b of the key-in unit 11b to specify font data of input characters (step S2). The specified font data is stored via the controller 20 into the font data storage area 13b of the data storage 13. Thereafter, the controller 20 determines whether the set tape cartridge 31 is for monochromatic or color printing in accordance with a signal from the cartridge detecting unit 12 (step S3). When the color printing tape cartridge 31C is set, the controller 20 displays a print color setting screen which specifies print colors of the respective portions of a printing pattern. The user operates the print color specifying key 11d to specify print colors of the respective characters in accordance with the screen display. For example, the user specifies the color of the background of the label tape 32 (hereinafter referred to also as "label color"). In addition, (1) when a standard font is specified as the font of printing character data, the user specifies the color of its characters, (2) when an outline font is specified, the user specifies the respective colors of the outline and inside of its outline characters, and (3) when a shadowed font is specified, the user specifies the respective colors of the body and shadow of its shadowed characters(step S4). The controller 20 stores the specified print color data in the print color data storage area 13c of in the data storage 13. If the set cartridge 31 is monochromatic, no print colors are specified. The controller 20 then determines whether the inputting process has ended (step S5). If not, control returns to the process at step S1 to continue the inputting process. Data printing will be described next with reference to a flow chart of FIG. 7. When the character data have been input and are to be printed, the user presses the print key 11c. In response to this operation, the controller 20 starts the data printing process of FIG. 7. The controller 20 determines on the basis of a signal from the cartridge detecting unit 12 whether any tape cartridge 31 has been set (step S11). If not, the controller 20 displays a message which requests the setting of a cartridge 31 via the display control unit 16 on the display 17 (step S12) and terminates the printing process. If a cartridge 31 has been set, the controller 20 determines whether printing character data have been stored in the character data storage area 13a of the data storage 13 (step S13). If not, the controller 20 performs a print nullifying process (step S14) and terminates the printing operation. When character data has been stored in the character data storage area 13a, the controller 20 determines in accordance with a signal from the cartridge detecting unit 12 whether the set tape cartridge 31 is for monochromatic printing or color printing (step S15). If the set tape cartridge tape 31 is for monochromatic printing, the controller 20 controls the printing unit 19 via the print control unit 18 to print the character data in monochrome (in the color of the ink tape 33 contained in the tape set cartridge 31) irrespective of whether a print color was set or not (step S16). If the tape cartridge 31 is for color printing, the controller 20 determines on the basis of the print color data stored in the print data storage area 13c of the data storage 13 whether the color of printing character data is specified (step S17). If so, the printing unit 19 prints the character data in the specified color (step S18). In order to set a print color when no print color has been specified, the controller 20 reads Nth font data with the character number N being set as "1" from the font data storage area 13b of the data storage 13 (step S19) and determines whether the font involved in the read font data is a standard one (step S20). If so, the controller 20 determines the color of the characters to be printed, as follows. First, the controller 20 sets the background color of the label tape 32 at a number C (one of "0"-"7"), and the character color at a number (C + 4) (step S21). However, since the background color of the color printing label tape 32 is fixed at white (No. 0) in this embodiment, as described above, the character color is set at black (No. 4), as shown in FIG. 8A. When the color number is not less than 8, it is set at a number minus 8. The controller 20 then stores data on the set print color in the print color data storage area 13c of the data storage 13. When the font data specifies any other than the standard one, the controller 20 determines whether the font is an outline one or not (step S24). If so, the controller 20 sets a print color as follows. A character of the outline font is composed of an outline and its inside. When the controller 20 sets the background color of the label tape 32 at No. C (one of "0"-"7"), it also sets the inside color of the outline character at No. (C + 2) and the outline color at No. (C + 4) (step S25). Since in this embodiment the background color of the color printing label tape 32 is white (No. 0), the inside color and the outline color of the outline characters are set at red (No. 2) and black (No. 4), respectively, as shown in FIG. 8B. The controller 20 stores data on the set print colors in the print color data area 13c of the data storage 13. When the controller 20 determines that the font is not an outline one at step S24, it determines whether the font is a shadowed one (step S26). If so, the controller 20 sets a print color as follows. The shadowed character is composed of a character portion and its shadow portion. When the background color of the label tape 32 is C (one of "0"-"7"), the character color is set at No. (C + 2) and the shadow color is set at (C + 4) (step S27). Since in the embodiment the background color of the color printing label tape 32 is white (No. 0), the character color and the shadow color are set at red (No. 2) and black (No. 4), respectively, as shown in FIG. 8C. The controller 20 stores data on the set print colors in the print color data storage area 13c of the data storage 13. When the controller 20 determines at step S26 that the font is not a shadowed one, it performs an other process (step S28). When the processing at steps S21, S25, S27 and S28 ends, the controller 20 determines whether the character number N coincides with the end character number K, that is, whether print colors have been set for all the character data (step S22). If not, the controller 20 updates the character number and reads font data (step S23) and its control returns to the determination process at step S20. When the controller 20 determines at step S22 that the print colors have been set for all the character data, it reads from the data storage 13 printing character data and font data and feeds them to the print control unit 18, which reads from the font memory 15 font pattern data corresponding to the character data (codes) and character font data read from the data storage 13, writes font pattern data in the print pattern memory 18a, spreads data on a Y (yellow) print dot pattern in the print pattern memory 18a in accordance with the print color data and prints a Y pattern on the label tape 32 with the Y ink of the ink tape 33. Subsequently, the print control unit 18 spreads data on an M (Magenta) print dot pattern in the print pattern memory 16a, rewinds the label tape 32, and prints an M pattern on the label tape 32 so as to be superimposed on the Y pattern with the M ink of the ink tape 33. Similarly, the print control unit 18 also prints a C (cyan) pattern on the tape in a superimposing manner. Thus, the printing process (step S29) is terminated. As described above, according to the tape printer of the embodiment, when the user inputs characters, etc., without specifying the print color and commands printing in the state where a color printing tape cartridge 31C has been set, the printer determines the print color and performs a printing operation. Thus, even when the respective print colors are not specified, a color label is produced. The printing is achieved efficiently without the need for exchanging tape cartridges. If the user specifies a print color, the printing is performed in the specified color. Thus, the user can produce a label which satisfies the user's preference. While in the above description the color of the label tape 32 contained in the color printing tape cartridge 31C is fixed at white, a plurality of different-color printing tape cartridges 31C, for example, for white, yellow and red, may be prepared so that any one of them is selectable. For example, when a red label tape 32 is used and an outline font is specified, its outline color becomes green (No. 2 + 4) and its inside color becomes black (No. (2 + 2). In this case, it is required to determine the background color of the label tape 32 set in the tape cartridge 31 which is received in the cartridge receiving space 41. This determination may be achieved by a mechanism of FIG. 4C similar to that of FIG. 4A and B. The mechanism of FIG. 4C has four switches SW1, SW2, SW3, and SW4 which are two switches more than those of the mechanism of FIGS. 4A and 4B. The switch SW1 is used to detect the presence/absence of a tape cartridge 31 set in the cartridge receiving space 41. The switches SW2-SW4 are used to detect the color of the label tape 32 of the color printing cartridge 31C when same is set and to detect the setting of a monochromatic printing cartridge 31M. The cartridge 31 has thereon one, two or three recesses 34 at corresponding one, two or three of the positions of the switches SW2-SW4. The switches positioned at the positions of the recesses 34 extend and are received in those corresponding recesses so as to be off whereas the switches which are not positioned at the recesses 34 are pressed by the wall of the cartridge to be on. The number and positions of recesses change depending on the color of a label tape 31 contained in the cartridge. The detected signals from the switches SW1-SW4 are encoded into 4-bit information by an information encoder (not shown) which cooperates with the switches SW1-SW4 to compose the cartridge detecting unit 12 and the 4-bit information is then output to the controller 20. Table 3 below shows the operated/unoperated states of the switches SW1-SW4 occurring when seven kinds of color printing cartridges 31C and a monochromatic printing cartridge are respectively set in the tape printer and the operated/unoperated state of the switches SW1-SW4 occurring when no cartridge is set. Label tape color/set SW1 SW2 SW3 SW4 white (set) on off off off orange (set) on off off on red (set) on off on off purple (set) on off on on black (set) on on off off blue (set) on on off on yellow (set) on on on off mono-chromatic (set) on on on on unset off off off off Table 3 is stored in ROM 14 in which Table 3 contains "switch on" and "switch off" as "1" and "0" data, respectively. When a color printing cartridge 31C is set, the controller 20 determines the color of the label tape 31 by referring to Table 3 on the basis of the detected color information from the cartridge detecting unit 12. The cartridge 31C of FIG. 4C has recesses 34 at the positions corresponding to the switches SW2 and SW4 and no recess at the position corresponding to the switches SW3. Thus, the switches SW2, SW3 and SW4 are operated so as to be off, on and off, respectively. As will be obvious from Table 3, the cartridge 31C of FIG. 4C contains a red label tape 31. While in the above description the automatic setting of the print colors of the respective portions of a printing pattern has been illustrated, the print color(s) of an ornamental pattern(s) of a halftone, underlines and/or frame for a character (s) may be set on the basis of the background color of the label tape and the character color. For example, when the label color or character color is C, the print color of the ornament may be set at No. (C + 6). While in FIG. 6 the data inputting process has been illustrated in order of character data inputting, font data specifying and print color data specifying, arrangement may be such that the colors of the respective portions of the printing pattern are set, for example, beforehand for each font and only character data are input in the data inputting process. When characters for which no print colors are specified are printed using a color printing tape cartridge, the display 17 may display a screen which requests the user to select any one of the replacement of the tape cartridge with a monochromatic printing tape cartridge, the whole printing in black, and automatic setting of a print color such that the printing process is performed in accordance with the user's choice. In the embodiment , the inventive tape printer has been illustrated. However, the invention is not limited to it, but is applicable widely to printers and document creating devices in which multi-color and monochromatic printing ink tapes, ink cartridges, etc., are exchangeable as required.

Claims: A printer which color-prints a character on a printing medium (32) contained in a cartridge (31) set in a cartridge receiving space (41) of a printer body, using an ink ribbon (33) which contains a plurality of color inks contained in the cartridge (31), characterized by : character input means (11a) for inputting a character to be printed on the printing medium; font specifying means (11b) for specifying a shadowed font for the character input by said character input means (11a); print color setting means (20) for setting a first print color and a second print color for the font proper and its shadow, respectively, of the font specified by said font specifying means, the first and second print colors being in predetermined relationship to a predetermined color of the printing medium (32); and printing means (19) for color-printing on the printing medium (32) the font proper and its shadow of the specified font in the first and second print colors, respectively, using the ink ribbon (33) to thereby color-print the input character on the printing medium (32). The printer according to claim 1, wherein said cartridge receiving space (41) is capable of receiving a cartridge (31) which contains a printing medium (32) of a predetermined color, and said print color setting means (20) comprises: operating means (20) for obtaining the first and second print colors on the basis of the predetermined color of the printing medium (32) contained in said cartridge (31). The printer according to claim 1, wherein said cartridge receiving space (41) is capable of receiving a cartridge (31) selected from a plurality of cartridges (31) each of which contains a printing medium (32) of a different color, and said print color setting means (20) comprises: detecting means (SW2-SW4) for detecting the color of the printing medium (32), contained in the cartridge (31) set in the cartridge receiving space (41), on the basis of an outer shape of the cartridge (31); and operating means (20) for obtaining the first and second print colors on the basis of the color of the printing medium (32) detected by said detecting means (SW2-SW4). The printer according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein said printing medium (32) comprises a tape for producing a label.

Inventors: HANDA YUJI, HANDA, YUJI, Handa, Yuji, c/o Casio Computer Co.,Ltd. Intellec.
Applicants: CASIO COMPUTER CO LTD, CASIO COMPUTER CO., LTD.
Application year: 1996
Main classification: B41J3
IPC codes: B41J3, B41J35