Tape printing device

A tape printing device comprising:

• an input inputting character data, print data and size data;
• an editor editing character data and size data;
• a printer printing a plurality of lines of characters on a tape having a width;
• and
• a printing controller controlling spacing of the printed lines on the tape, including
• a memory storing character data including character height, print data including a number of lines in the print image and size data including print allowance data within the width of the tape;
• an image generator generating a print image from character data and size data;
• a spacer determining a blank space width adjacent the printed lines of characters based on the stored character data including the character height, the stored print data including the number of lines in the print image and the stored size data;
• and
• a positioner positioning the plurality of printed lines of characters evenly spaced within the print allowance area on the tape according to the blank space width.

A tape printing device comprising:

• printing means for printing a plurality of lines of characters on a tape having a width;
• memory means for storing a number of lines to be printed, a total character size to be printed, and a printing area width on the tape where the characters are to be printed;
• space setting means for setting a space width on the tape, the space width based on the number of lines to be printed and the printing area width minus the total character size;
• and
• positioning means for positioning the plurality of lines of characters on the tape with the set space width on both sides of each of the lines of characters so that the lines are evenly spaced within the printing area width on the tape.

A printing control system for controlling spacing of a plurality of printed lines of characters by a tape printing device to form a print image on a tape having a width defined between an upper tape edge and a lower tape edge, comprising:

• memory means for storing character data including character height, print data including number of lines in the print image and size data including print allowance area within the width of the tape;
• image generation means for generating dot pattern data from character data and size data;
• spacing means for determining a blank space width between each printed line of characters based on the stored character data including the character height, the stored print data including the number of lines in the print image and the stored size data;
• and
• positioning means for positioning the plurality of printed lines of characters so that the plurality of printed lines of characters are evenly spaced with respect to each other within the print allowance area on the tape according to the blank space width and so that an upper space width between the upper tape edge and an uppermost line of the plurality of lines is equal to a lower space width between the lowest tape edge and a lowermost line of the plurality of lines.