Mark cutting apparatus and method of controlling same

An apparatus for cutting marks out of a mark sheet, comprising:

• a housing having a base for supporting a mark sheet thereon;
• a thermal cutter for thermally cutting marks out of the mark sheet supported on said base;
• a first mechanism for moving said thermal cutter between an upper position in which said thermal cutter is lifted off the mark sheet supported on said base and a lower position in which said thermal cutter is lowered in contact with the mark sheet supported on said base;
• a second mechanism for moving said thermal cutter two-dimensionally over said base;
• first storage means for storing pattern data of a plurality of mark patterns to be cut out of the mark sheet, said pattern data comprising mark pattern data indicative of the mark patterns themselves and profile data indicative of uncut areas around the mark patterns;
• a first key for selecting certain desired mark patterns from said plurality of mark patterns;
• range selecting means for selecting a range in which said desired mark patterns are to be cut out of the mark sheet;
• a second key for confirming that said range selected by said range selecting means is a desired range;
• second storage means for storing a sequence of said desired mark patterns within the selected range, using said profile data of the selected mark patterns;
• and
• control means for controlling said thermal cutter to be held in said upper position and to trace the selected range in response to depression of said second key.