Claims

1.

A system for displaying a sequence of indicia, the system comprising: indicia selection means (13,14; 113,114); and output means (3,4,5,6; 103a, 103b, 105,106) for producing command signals for a display apparatus (1,2), characterised in that the indicia selection means (13,14; 113,114) includes a list (15,16,17,18, 19) whose members each define an indicium and is configured to perform a process for selecting a member of said list (15,16,17,18,19) in dependence on a supplied index value derived from an ordinal value related to a display region in which an indicium in said list (15,16,17,18,19) is to be displayed, and the output means (3,4,5,6; 103a, 103b, 105,106) is configured for generating and supplying said values to said process for selecting list members and generating display apparatus control signals for displaying the indicia defined by the selected list members.

2.	A system according to claim 1, wherein the display apparatus control signals are printer control signals.

3.	A system according to claim 1, wherein the display apparatus control signals are display screen control signals.

4.	A system according to claim 1,2 or 3, wherein the indicia selection means comprises a software object (13,14; 113,114) including said list (15,16,17,18,19) and a method for obtaining a position in said list (15,16,17,18,19) in dependence on said supplied value.

5.

A system according to claim 4, wherein the indicia selection means comprises a further list (15,16,17,18,19), whose members each define an indicium, and the selection means is configured to perform said process for obtaining a position in said further list in dependence on a supplied value, said lists being arranged in an ordered manner.

6.	A system according to claim 5, wherein said lists have different numbers of members.

7.

A system according to claim 5 or 6, wherein said process comprises, for each list until the list before that from which position is required, assigning the result of N div the length of the current list to N and then obtaining the result of N mod the length of the list from which the position is required as the required position, where N is initially the supplied value.

8.	A system according to any preceding claim, wherein the ordinal value is the position of a display region in an array of display regions.

9.	A system according to claim 2, wherein the display region is a label.

10.	A system according to claim 3, wherein the display region is a representation of a label.

11.

A system according to claim 9 or 10, including means storing step and repeat values associated with a label group, wherein the output means is configured to generate said supplied values using the stored step and repeat values associated with the group of the label being displayed and said ordinal value.

12.

A method of producing a display of an indicium in a sequence of indicia, the method comprising: selecting an indicium definition from a list (15,16,17,18,19) of indicium definitions in dependence on a supplied index value derived from an ordinal value related to a display region in which the indicium is to be displayed; and producing display apparatus control signals for causing a display device to display the indicia defined by the selected definition.

13.	A method according to claim 12, wherein the display apparatus control signals are printer control signals.

14.	A method according to claim 12, wherein the display apparatus control signals are display screen control signals.

15.	A method according to claim 12,13 or 14, the indicium definition is selected by invoking a method of a software object instance having a property comprising said list, said object's method obtaining a position in said list in dependence on said supplied value.

16.	A method according to claim 15, wherein said object has a further list of variables, each defining an indicium, said lists of variables are ordered, and the object's method selectively obtains a position in said further list in dependence on a supplied value.

17.	A method according to claim 16, wherein said lists have different numbers of members.

18.

A method according to claim 16 or 17, wherein said object's method comprises, for each list until the list before that from which position is required, assigning the result of N div the length of the current list to N and then obtaining the result of N mod the length of the list from which the position is required as the required position, where N is initially the supplied value.

19.	A method according to any one of claim 12 to 18, wherein the ordinal value is the position of a display region in an array of display regions.

20.	A method according to claim 13, wherein the display region is a label.

21.	A system according to claim 14, wherein the display region is a representation of a label.

22.	A method according to claim 20 or 21, including storing step and repeat values associated with a group of labels and generating said supplied values using the stored step and repeat values associated with the group of the label being displayed and said ordinal value.

23.	A manifestation of a signal representing a computer program for controlling a computer to operate according to a method of any one of claims 12 to 22.

24.	A manifestation of a signal according to claim 23, comprising an electromagnetic wave.

25.	A manifestation of a signal according to claim 23, comprising a spatial variation in a physical property.

26.	A manifestation of a signal according to claim 25, wherein said physical property is magnetic field direction.

27.	A manifestation of a signal according to claim 25, wherein said physical property is reflectance.