Article information printer having means to measure print media size

Claim 1

An article information printer comprising: a feeding mechanism for feeding continuous paper in which a series of predetermined regions are provided; a volatile memory for storing size data representing a length of the predetermined region, wherein said size data is supplied from an external device to the printer; printing means for printing article information on the continuous paper fed by said feeding mechanism; and control means for controlling said feeding mechanism on the basis of the size data stored in said volatile memory to print the article information in the predetermined region of the continuous paper; wherein said control means includes: sensing means for sensing a distinguishable feature of the predetermined region from the continuous paper fed by the feeding mechanism, and processing means, responsive to power supply which is resumed after a size data has been erased from the volatile memory due to an interruption of power supply, for driving said feeding mechanism, measuring the length of the predetermined region on the basis of a sensing signal from the sensing means which is obtained, as a result of sensing by said sensing means, each time the continuous paper is fed by a preset distance, and setting size data indicating the measured length of the predetermined region in said volatile memory to recover the erased size data.