Printing – Special article machines
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-05
2001-02-06
Hilten, John S. (Department: 2854)
Printing
Special article machines
C400S076000, C400S070000, C400S061000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06182565
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a label printer which prints by using data recorded in a recordable/reproducible disc and forms a label to be affixed to a cartridge of the disc.
BACKGROUND ART
Recently, recordable/reproducible disc systems have become commercially available one after another which store and reproduce main information stored therein and attribute information concerning the main information (which is formed of text data, and includes management information corresponding to the main information, a disc title entered by the user, and a main information title corresponding to the main information).
The disc system of this kind includes a magneto-optical (MO) disc for mainly storing and reproducing music/voice signals as the main information, a rewritable CD (CD-R, etc.) system, and a DVD system for mainly recording and reproducing movie data as the main information, and a mini disc (minidisc) (hereinafter referred to as “MD”) available from Sony Corporation as an applied system of the MO disc is a commercial product drawing attention of users.
Hereinafter, the recordable/reproducible disc system will be described by taking the MD system as an example. The MD records pieces of music or music information as the main information. Further, as the management information, when a music piece is recorded, a music number and a starting address of the music piece as well as an ending address and a date of recording of the music piece are automatically recorded, and when a disc title is recorded, a date of recording the disc title is automatically recorded. The disc title and the music title entered by the user are stored as text information. The MD system is disclosed e.g. in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) Nos. 6-325547 and 8-36868.
FIG. 18
shows an appearance of the mini disc (MD). Reference numeral
901
designates an MD cartridge accommodating a recordable/reproducible magneto-optical mini disc having a diameter of 64 mm (2.5 inches). To the front face of the MD cartridge, a main label
903
can be affixed, and to a side surface thereof, a side label
904
can be affixed. Reference numeral
902
designates an MD case for storing the MD cartridge
901
therein, and a case label
905
can be affixed thereto. The main label
903
to be affixed to the front face includes various types different in size, including the largest type having a size of approximately 36 mm×52 mm, and the smallest type having a size of approximately 36 mm×18 mm. The side label
904
has a size of approximately 4 mm×60 mm. Further, the case label
905
has a size of approximately 52 mm×72 mm. The side label
904
is also used by affixing the same to the side surface of the MD case
902
.
These labels are provided as accessories of each recordable/reproducible MD, and each user manually writes on these labels with reference to a disc title, music numbers, music titles, play times, recording dates, etc. displayed on a display block of a playback system when the MD is played back by the system, and then affix them to respective proper portions of the MD cartridge and the MD case.
As is clear from the above example of the conventional recordable/reproducible MD, in the case of the recordable/reproducible disc system, it is presupposed that the confirmation of contents of the disc is carried out by checking the disc title, the main information titles, etc. displayed on the display block of each playback system when the disc system is played back by the playback system. Therefore, to make labels to be affixed to the disc cartridge for use, the user takes the trouble of manually writing the disc title, the main information titles, etc. displayed on the display block of the playback system on various labels and then affixing them to the respective portions of the disc cartridge. The procedure of making labels is very troublesome, as described above, and it is almost impossible to manually write lots of letters within a small-sized label. What is more, to make several types of labels has the problem that it demands much patience.
In view of the above circumstances, it is an object of the invention to provide a label printer which automatically prints on labels to be affixed to a disc cartridge of a recordable/reproducible disc by using a disc title and main information titles written in the disc, and what is more, makes several kinds of labels at a time.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
A label printer according to the invention as claimed in claim
1
is characterized by comprising attribute information request means that, to a control block of a disc playback system which reads main information stored in a disc in response to a main information readout request generated by external operating means, and reads attribute information concerning the main information in response to an attribute information readout request generated by said external operating means, the attribute information being formed of text data and stored in a predetermined area in the disc or a main unit of the system, makes the attribute information readout request in place of the external operating means or in combination with the external operating means; print means for printing on a label to be affixed to a disc cartridge accommodating the disc: and print control means for causing the attribute information read out in response to the attribute information readout request made by the attribute information request means to be converted to dot pattern data for print and causing the print means to print the dot pattern data. According to this construction of the label printer, to the control block of the disc playback system which reads attribute information in response to a attribute information readout request made by the external operating means, the attribute information request means makes an attribute information readout request in place of or in combination of the external operating means, and the attribute information read in response thereto is converted to dot pattern data and printed. In this case, the reading function which the disc playback system originally has is utilized, and therefore, without additionally providing a new function, the attribute information can be read from the disc. Further, since the read information can be printed on a label after the conversion, it is no longer necessary to manually write data on the label. Therefore, according to the label printer, labels to be affixed to disc cartridges can be easily produced, and what is more, as beautiful labels.
Preferably, the external operating means includes a remote controller for externally operating the disc playback system, and the disc playback system includes remote control communication means for outputting attribute information in response to an attribute information readout request from the remote controller, to the remote controller, the attribute information request means transmitting the attribute information readout request via the remote control communication means, and the print control means converting the attribute information received via the remote control communication means to the dot pattern data. According to this construction of a preferred embodiment, the disc playback system has remote control communication means for outputting attribute information in response to the attribute information readout request made by the remote controller, and the system transmits the attribute information readout request via the remote control communication means and receives attribute information responsive thereto. That is, the printer makes use of the remote control communication means which the disc playback system originally has, and hence without additionally providing a new reading capability, the attribute information can be read and printed on a label, whereby a label to be affixed to a disc cartridge can be made with ease, and what is more, as a beautiful label.
Preferably, the remote control communication means comprises means for communicating with the remote controller by wire, and the label printer is
Akaiwa Masao
Sakano Hideki
Takayama Masayuki
Yanagisawa Shigekazu
Hilten John S.
Hogan & Hartson LLP
Nolan, Jr. Charles H.
Seiko Epson Corporation
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