Patent ID: 8659789

Claim:
A printer comprising: a receiving unit that receives from an external device, instruction information including at least a printing instruction or a cutting instruction concerning a long recording medium; a conveying unit that conveys the recording medium in a forward direction from an upstream-side to a downstream-side and in a reverse direction from the downstream-side to the upstream-side along a conveyance path of the recording medium, based on instruction information received by the receiving unit; a printing unit that based on instruction information concerning a printing instruction received by the receiving unit, prints onto the recording medium conveyed in the forward direction by the conveying unit, information that is based on the instruction information; a cutting unit that cuts the recording medium at a prescribed position further downstream than a print position for printing by the printing unit, based on instruction information concerning a cutting instruction received by the receiving unit; a control unit that controls the conveying unit, printing unit, and the cutting unit; and a time counting unit that counts time from a point of time at which the receiving unit receives instruction information concerning a cutting instruction to a point of time at which the receiving unit receives instruction information concerning a printing instruction subsequent to receipt of the instruction information concerning the cutting instruction, wherein the control unit, if the time counted by the time counting unit is at least a prescribed period, causes the cutting unit to cut the recording medium, causes the conveying unit to convey the recording medium in a reverse direction by a prescribed distance, and then causes the printing unit to start new printing, and the control unit, if the time counted by the time counting unit is less than the prescribed period, causes the cutting unit to cut the recording medium and then causes the printing unit to start new printing without causing the conveying unit to convey the recording medium in the reverse direction.