Facsimile and static presentation processing – Static presentation processing – Character or font
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-19
2002-08-27
Evans, Arthur G. (Department: 2622)
Facsimile and static presentation processing
Static presentation processing
Character or font
C358S001100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06441912
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a character display apparatus and to a character input apparatus. The present invention is applicable to an apparatus having a display unit in which each of the number of lines and a number of characters in each line is limited to a small value, such as a tape printing apparatus and a seal making apparatus.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In a tape printing apparatus, inputted characters (the term “character” includes letter, symbol, pictograph, pattern, and the like throughout the specification and the appended claims) are printed on a tape in the form of a string (hereinafter a string of characters will be referred to as “character string”, an inputted character as “input character”, and inputted character string as “input character string”) , and the tape carrying such a printed character string is discharged and then cut into several portions. Each of the portions of the tape thus obtained is called “label”.
Unlike in an ordinary word processor, in such a tape printing apparatus, since the printed resultant is a label and printing is performed on a tape in which limitation is imposed on the dimension in the transversal direction, the number of printed lines is limited by the apparatus itself. Further, in such a tape printing apparatus, since the number of characters in each line depends on cases, it is not realistic to constitute a display unit capable of displaying all the characters of a possible maximum allowable number at one time with respect to each line.
In view of the foregoing, in a tape printing apparatus, as a display unit for displaying input character string, a small-size display unit (e.g., a small-size liquid crystal display) which is adapted to display a small number of lines and a small number of characters in each line has been employed. In such a conventional small-size display unit, it is common that the number of display lines is determined to a value smaller than the maximum printable line number (e.g., four lines and eight lines) within the maximum tape width and that the number of characters in each line is determined to a value around five (e.g., six).
Accordingly, in the conventional display unit, in some cases, the number of input character string becomes larger than that of the number of lines which the display apparatus can display. In such cases, it is necessary to indicate which lines of the input character string is currently displayed. In the conventional apparatus, such indication is conducted by the following manner.
FIG. 2
shows a display surface
1
of a display unit in a tape printing apparatus in which print allowable maximum line number (the term “print allowable maximum line number” as used herein means the maximum number of lines which can be printed) is four, and the display allowable line number is one. As shown in
FIG. 2
, the display surface
1
has a character display area
2
which is adapted to display an input character string, and line number indicators
3
-
1
to
3
-
4
disposed at the left side portion of the display surface
1
along the top-to-bottom direction.
Each of the indicators
3
-
1
to
3
-
4
carries thereon a numeral representing a line number in the input character string, and shows an input state and/or a display state of each line constituting the character string by assuming a blinking display state, a light-on display state, or a light-off display state.
More particularly, when an indicator assumes the blinking state (hereinafter, an indicator assuming a blinking state will be often referred to as “a blinking indicator”), the blinking indicator indicates that the line of the line number denoted by the numeral applied on the blinking indicator is currently displayed in the character display area
2
. If the character display area
2
is of the type that two or more lines are displayed, only an indicator carrying the numeral indicative of the line number of the line at which the cursor stays among the display lines assumes a blinking state.
When an indicator assumes the light-on display state (hereinafter, an indicator assuming a light-on display state will be often referred to as “light-on indicator”), the light-on indicator indicates that the line of the line number denoted by the numeral applied on the light-on indicator exists in the input character string. It should be noted that, among the lines existing in the input character string, the cursor attached display line is denoted by a blinking indicator as described above, and therefore the cursor attached display line is excluded from the object to be displayed in the lighting-on display state. This implies that, when the character display area is of the type that two or more lines are displayed, only the line (or lines) which is (or are) not attached with the cursor is (or are) indicated by a light-on indicator. It should be noted that the line indicated by the light-on indicator includes not only a substantial line but also a null line, both of which will be defined later.
When an indicator assumes the light-off display state (hereinafter, an indicator assuming a light-off display state will be often referred to as “light-off indicator”), the light-off indicator indicates that the line indicated by the light-off indicator does not exist in the input character string. That is, the line indicated by the light-off indicator is neither the substantial line nor the null line.
The character display area
2
is an area for displaying characters. As the display method for the character display area
2
, the dot display method (which is often called as “dot representation” or “matrix method”) is employed in which a character is displayed by turning on or off each of the dot segments arranged vertically and laterally. In contrast, each of the line number indicators
3
-
1
to
3
-
4
is adapted to display a specific fixed numeral, and is constituted by approximately one or two segments each of which is turned on or off so as to display a predetermined fixed number. As is known from the above description, the indicator of this type is different in constitution and function from a general numeral displaying indicator which is constituted by seven segments arranged in the shape of a numeral “
8
”.
In
FIG. 2
, the outline character “
1
” displayed in the character display area
2
is a line head mark
2
M representing that the character displayed subsequent to the line head mark
2
M is the head of the display line. The line head mark
2
M is not displayed when the forefront character (in the case of the present embodiment, the leftmost character in the display area) of the displayed characters is not the forefront character of the display line. For example, assuming that the allowable display character number is five and the number of the input characters is seven, if the five characters displayed in the character display area are the second to sixth characters, the line head mark
2
M is not displayed because the forefront character displayed in the character display area is not the forefront character of the display line.
As described above, in the conventional tape printing apparatus, since the line number indicator is provided, the user can know, even when the number of lines of the input character is larger than the display allowable line number, which line is present or absent and which line is currently inputted.
Meanwhile, if the tape printing apparatus is so constituted as to be capable of providing information which cannot be read from the displayed manner of the characters of the input character string as much as possible, the usability of the character printing apparatus is enhanced.
For example, there is an attribute indicative of whether the line is a substantial line or a null line. The term “substantial line” as used herein refers to a line which substantially constitutes a character regardless of whether or not the line contains a character. The term “null line” as used herein refers to a line meeting conditions that no character is inputted and the sle
Kanda Miwa
Kobayashi Hiroshi
Kurebayashi Shigeyuki
Ogawa Kiyoshi
Suetani Takuya
Evans Arthur G.
King Jim Co. Ltd.
Lorusso & Loud
LandOfFree
Character display apparatus and character input apparatus does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Character display apparatus and character input apparatus, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Character display apparatus and character input apparatus will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2950005