Typewriting machines – Sheet or web – For feeding web record-medium
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-20
2002-01-22
Hilten, John S. (Department: 2854)
Typewriting machines
Sheet or web
For feeding web record-medium
C400S076000, C400S070000, C400S061000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06340255
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a tape printing apparatus which is capable of producing a label by printing a print image on a tape and cutting off the printed portion from the tape and to a method of controlling the tape printing apparatus.
2. Prior Art
Conventionally, in a tape printing apparatus, an image formed e.g. by characters (letters, numerals, symbols, simple figures, etc.) (i.e. a character image) is printed as a main image on a tape having a predetermined ground color or a predetermined background pattern printed thereon, and then the printed portion is cut off from the tape at desired margins arranged forward and rearward of the printed portion, whereby a cut tape (i.e. a so-called label) having the ground color or background pattern of the tape as a background image for the main image can be produced. Therefore, if various tapes each having a different ground color or background pattern thereon are provided, and a main image is printed on the respective tapes, it is possible to produce labels having various ground colors or background patterns as their own background images. Alternatively, by employing a method of printing a print image including a main image and a background image on a tape to provide a ground image, such as a ground color or a background pattern, on the tape (to make the tape appear to have its own background image), and cutting the tape at respective leading and trailing edges of the printed portion, it is also possible to produce labels having various ground colors or background patterns as their own background images.
However, in the former method, it is required to provide as many kinds of tapes as the kinds of background images. On the other hand, in the latter method, it is only required to provide one kind of tape (e.g. of white color), but if the tape is not cut with accuracy at respective leading and trailing edges of the printed image, a ground color (e.g. white color) of the tape may remain on cut ends portions of a produced label, which takes a user an extra amount of time and labor for cutting the portions from the label e.g. by the use of scissors.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to provide a tape printing apparatus which is capable of printing a print image composed of a main image and a background image forming the background of the main image, on a tape , such that the background image makes the tape appear to have a ground image, such as a ground color of the tape and a background pattern, of its own, or otherwise reducing waste of the tape when no ground image is provided, and at the same time capable of forming labels which are printed beautifully up to cut edges, even if the accuracy of cutting position control is not so high, and a control method therefor.
To attain the above object, according to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of controlling a tape printing apparatus that prints a print image composed of a main image and a background image forming a background of the main image, on a tape which is a printing object, and cuts off a printed portion of the tape on which the print image is printed to thereby form a label.
The method is characterized by comprising the steps of:
selectively setting one of a blank image without any image to be printed, and a ground image providing at least one of a ground color of the tape and a background pattern of the tape, to the background image;
carrying out a leading end-cutting operation for cutting the tape at a leading edge of the print image;
printing the print image by a main printing operation; and
carrying out a trailing end-cutting operation for cutting the tape at a trailing edge of the print image,
wherein when the ground image was set to the background image of an immediately preceding label formed last time, the leading end-cutting operation for a present label to be formed this time is carried out by cutting the tape at a position located at least a predetermined extra print length LA rearward of a leading edge of the tape (LA=LAE+&agr;, wherein LAE represents a predetermined trailing extra print length defined as a length of a portion which extends from a trailing edge of the printed portion and on which the ground image continuing from the background image has been printed by an extra printing operation during preparation of the immediately preceding label, and &agr; represents a predetermined value of length equal to or larger than 0).
According to the method of controlling a tape printing apparatus, a print image composed of a main image and a background image is printed on a tape which is a printing object, and a leading end-cutting operation for cutting the tape at the leading edge of the print image and a trailing end-cutting operation for cutting the tape at the trailing edge of the print image are carried out to form a label on which the print image is printed. In addition to a blank image without any image to be printed, a ground image providing at least a ground color or a background pattern (to make the tape appear to have the ground color or the background pattern of its own) can be set to the background image. Therefore, one kind of tape (e.g. plain tape having white color) can serve the purpose of providing labels having various colors. Further, when the ground color is set to the background image, the ground image is printed from the trailing edge of the print image to a position the trailing extra print length LAE rearward of the trailing edge of the print image, by an extra printing operation, and then the trailing end-cutting operation is carried out at the trailing edge of the print image. That is, after printing an extra portion up to the position the railing extra print length LAE further rearward, the leading end-cutting operation is carried out. This makes it possible to obtain a label on which the ground color is neatly printed up to the very edge of the trailing cut end of the label even if the position of the trailing cut edge is not so accurate.
Further, according to this method, when the ground image was set to the background image of the immediately preceding label, for preparation of the present label, the leading end-cutting operation is carried out at a position the predetermined extra print length LA rearward of the leading edge of the tape (LA=LAE+&agr;, where &agr; is a predetermined value of length which is equal to or larger than “0”). This makes it possible to prevent the ground image printed by the immediately preceding label-forming process from remaining until after the leading end-cutting process in the present label-forming operation. It should be noted that the predetermined value a may be set, allowing for a tolerance (margin of error) of the cutting position. For instance, even if the cutting position Pc for the leading end-cutting operation is not so accurate, so long as the predetermined value &agr; is set to a value which is slightly larger than the tolerance of the cutting position Pc, it is possible to prevent the ground image printed by the immediately preceding label-forming process from remaining. In short, even when a blank image is set to the background image in the present label-forming process, it is possible to obtain a label which looks neat up to the leading cut edge thereof. Therefore, the method of controlling the tape printing apparatus is capable of printing the print image composed of the main image and the background image on the tape, and thereby providing the ground image, such as the ground color of the tape or the background pattern, on the tape, as well as obtaining a label which looks neat up to the cut edges thereof even if the cutting position is not so accurate.
Preferably, if the ground image is set to the background image of the present label, the ground image is printed from a position located leading extra print length LAS forward of the leading edge of the print image to the leading edge of the print image, in a manner continuing to the background image, by the extra pri
Hayama Hitoshi
Konishi Yoshiharu
Hilten John S.
Hogan & Hartson L.LP.
Nolan, Jr. Charles H.
Seiko Epson Corporation
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