JPH0659352B2 - Embroidery sewing machine data creation device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data creating device for an embroidery sewing machine, and more specifically, when a character such as a character, a symbol, or a pattern is embroidered on a work cloth, the selected character is desired. The present invention relates to a data creation device capable of performing embroidery along a curved line.

(Prior Art) It is well known that an embroidery sewing machine embroiders characters such as characters and symbols on a work cloth. In this case, the worker first selects the character to be embroidered. Based on this selection, the sewing machine controller reads the pattern data of the character selected by the operator from the pattern data for embroidery of each character stored in the storage device in advance, and holds the work cloth based on the pattern data. This is done by moving the means relative to the sewing needle.

As a conventional technique of the sewing position of the character to be embroidered in this way, there is an invention described in Japanese Patent Application No. 58-22090 (Japanese Patent Application No. 57-71655) of Melco Industries Inc. The present invention simply embroiders a character along a predetermined arc curve. Then, the operator himself selected the radius in order to determine the arc.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) However, in the above case, it is only possible to embroider a character along an arc, and it is not possible to embroider a desired character along a variety of curved lines. There has been a problem that the application range of the embroidery is limited.

(Object of the invention) It is an object of the present invention to provide an embroidery sewing machine data creating apparatus which can obtain an embroidery pattern along any curve other than a circular arc and has a wide range of applications.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention, as shown in FIG. Basic data indicating the length of each side of a rectangular basic block having sides extending in the axial direction and pattern data indicating the embroidery pattern according to the relative coordinate position with respect to the basic data are stored for each embroidery pattern. A data creating device for an embroidery sewing machine, which has a pattern data storage circuit (44), and reads out an arbitrary embroidery pattern from the original pattern data storage circuit (44) and arranges the embroidery pattern along a predetermined reference line. The point on the reference line selected by is stored, and based on the point, the X-axis direction or Y of the basic data is stored.
Positioning means 106 for indexing and storing two points on a reference line defining a distance equal to the axial length, a straight line connecting the two points indexed by the positioning means 106, and X
Angle calculation means 107 for calculating the angle formed by the axis or the Y axis
And pattern data calculation means 108 for performing a coordinate conversion of the basic block based on the angle calculated by the angle calculation means 107 to rotate the pattern data of the embroidery pattern contained in the basic block. The gist is a data creating device of an embroidery sewing machine.

(Operation) When the operator selects a point on the reference line, the positioning unit 106 stores the point and defines a distance equal to the length of the basic data in the X-axis direction or the Y-axis direction based on the point. The two points on the reference line are calculated and stored. The angle calculation means 107 calculates the angle formed by the X-axis or the Y-axis with the straight line connecting the two points, which is determined by the positioning means 106. Then, the pattern data calculation means 108
Performs the coordinate conversion of the basic block based on the angle calculated by the angle calculation means 107 to rotate the pattern data of the embroidery pattern included in the basic block. Therefore, no matter what curve the reference line is, pattern data of the embroidery pattern along the curve can be obtained.

Embodiment An embodiment in which the present invention is embodied in an automatic embroidery sewing machine will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 2, the sewing machine main body 1 is placed on a sewing machine table 2, a needle plate 3 is attached on a bed portion 1a thereof, and a needle hole 3a is formed at a substantially central position thereof. On the other hand, a needle bar 5 connected to the swing lever 4 is attached to the lower end of the arm portion 1b of the sewing machine body 1, and a needle 7 is attached to the needle bar 5 via a needle bar holder 6. An adjusting mechanism 8 for adjusting the amount of swing of the swing lever 4 and a swing pulse motor 9 operatively connected to the adjusting mechanism 8 for setting the swing amount are provided on the front surface of the arm portion 1b. There is.

Then, based on the vertical movement of the needle bar 5 and the swing motion of the swing lever 4 accompanying the rotation of the sewing machine main shaft (not shown), the needle 7 cooperates with a shuttle (not shown) in the sewing machine main body 1 in the left-right direction on the work cloth 10. Zigzag lock stitches are formed in the (X-axis direction).

A pair of left and right mounting frames 1 are provided on the rear side of the sewing machine table 2.
Both frames 1 and 12 are fixedly installed at a predetermined interval.
A feed screw 13 and a rotation transmission shaft 14 are rotatably arranged between the Nos. 1 and 12. An X-axis pulse motor 15 for rotating the feed screw 13 via a gear mechanism is attached to one mounting frame 11, and a Y-axis pulse motor for rotating the rotation transmission shaft 14 is attached to the other mounting frame 12. 16 are attached.

An X-axis moving base 17 that is movable in the axial direction is fitted and supported on the feed screw 13, and the X-axis moving base 17 extends in a direction orthogonal to the feed screw 13 and the rotation shaft 14. Eighteen. A front support 19 is attached to the tip of the guide pipe 18.

A Y-axis moving base 20 is movably mounted on the guide pipe 18 so as to be movable in the axial direction thereof.
Is a pair of connecting wires 2 connected to the rotation transmitting shaft 14.
It is fixed to a part of 1. The Y-axis moving table 20 is provided with an embroidery frame 22 as a work cloth holding means, and the work cloth 10 is held by the embroidery inner frame 23.

Therefore, the embroidery frame 22 that holds the work cloth 10 is rotated by the X-axis pulse motor 15 and is driven by the feed screw 13.
Is moved in the X-axis direction via the Y-axis pulse motor 1
Based on the rotational driving of 6, the rotation transmission shaft 14, the connecting wire 21, and the Y-axis moving base 20 are moved in the Y-axis direction orthogonal to the X-axis direction.

As shown in FIG. 3, the automatic embroidery sewing machine has a data creating device 3
1, a keyboard 32, a display device 33, and a digitizer 34 are provided side by side, and the swing pulse motor 9, the X-axis pulse motor 15, and the Y-axis pulse motor 16 are provided.
Is controlled to generate data for forming a desired embroidery pattern on the work cloth 10.

Next, the electrical configuration of the data creating device 31 will be described with reference to FIG.

The microcomputer 40 is a central processing unit (hereinafter,
Program memory 4 including a CPU 41) and a read-only memory (ROM) for storing a control program
2. A working memory 43 including a readable and rewritable memory (RAM) for temporarily storing the calculation result of the CPU 41 and the like, and the CPU 41 creates various embroidery patterns according to the control program stored in the program memory 42. Processing operations such as creating sewing data for forming on the work cloth 10 are performed.

The CPU 41 is connected to the keyboard 32 and the digitizer 34, and inputs a key input signal based on each key operation of the keyboard 32 and a coordinate reading signal based on a pen operation of the digitizer 34.

Further, the CPU 41 is connected to an original pattern data memory 44 and a sewing data memory 45 as an original pattern data storage circuit. The original pattern data memory 44 stores pattern data of each embroidery pattern and basic data provided for each embroidery pattern.

The pattern data is, for example, “A”, “N”,
Regarding embroidery of each alpha solid character such as "I" and "Y", each needle drop point when embroidering the character is set based on the origin P0n set in advance as shown in FIGS. 5 (a) to (d). The relative coordinate position data of Pn is a data group in a form gathered into one in the sewing order, and the pattern data group is provided for each pattern and stored in the original pattern data memory 44.

Further, when the respective embroidery patterns are embroidered on the work cloth 10, the basic data is the range occupied by the pattern on the work cloth 10, that is, as shown in FIGS. 5 (a) to 5 (d). A rectangular area U as a basic block including each needle drop point of the pattern data represented by relative coordinate position data, and data indicating the size in the X-axis direction starting from the sewing origin Pn. (Hereinafter referred to as horizontal data) H
It is composed of D and data VD indicating the size in the Y-axis direction (hereinafter referred to as vertical data). The basic data consisting of the horizontal and vertical data HD and VD is provided corresponding to each pattern data and stored in the original pattern data memory 44.

The details of the pattern data and basic data can be easily understood by referring to Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-22956 (Japanese Patent Application No. 55-37266) filed previously by the present applicant.

The sewing data memory 45 is the data creating device 3
Sewing data for forming various embroidery patterns on the work cloth 10 created by No. 1 is stored. Then, the CPU 41 outputs a drive control signal to each of the pulse motor drive circuits 47 to 49 via the input / output interface 46 based on the sewing data, and drives and controls each of the pulse motors 9, 15 and 16. There is.

Further, the CPU 41 outputs a display control signal to the display drive circuit 50 through the interface 46 to display the display device 33.

Next, the sewing data creating function of the data creating device 31 will be described.

First, as shown in FIG. 6, the paper 51 on which the curve L for embroidering the embroidery pattern along a desired curve is drawn is set on the digitizer 34. Then, at least three arbitrary points (six points Z 1 to Z 6 in this embodiment) on the curved line L are designated by the pen 34 a of the digitizer 34 and output to the CPU 41. At this time, the CPU 41 temporarily stores the coordinate data of the designated points Z1 to Z6 designated based on the pen operation in the work memory 43 (step 1).

When the designation of the designated points Z 1 to Z 6 is completed, the CPU 41 draws a curve smoothly passing through these 6 designated points Z 1 to Z 6 based on the position data of the 6 designated points Z 1 to Z 6. In this embodiment, calculation is performed using the spline function, and the curve is determined as the reference line Ls as shown in FIG. 7 (a) (step 2). Reference line Ls obtained using this spline function
Is substantially the same as the curve L drawn on the paper 51, though it depends on the number of designated points.

Next, in order to store the determined reference line Ls, the CPU 41 makes a fine point sequence Lp divided into the minimum movement units of the embroidery frame 22 as shown in FIG. The data is stored in the working memory 43 (step 3).

Next, a plurality of embroidery patterns to be embroidered are printed on the keyboard 3
It is designated by the key operation on the 2 and output to the CPU 41. CPU
Reference numeral 41 is data of the embroidery pattern designated based on this key operation (in the present embodiment, the above-mentioned "A", "N", "I",
The four characters "Y" are selected and the embroidery pattern data) are temporarily stored in the working memory 43 in the specified order (step 4).

Next, the CPU 41 determines the area of each embroidery pattern (basic block).
In order to position the two vertices defining the lower sides of U1 to U4 on the reference line Ls and arrange each embroidery pattern laterally along the reference line Ls, the start end Qs of the reference line Ls is first set. After the start point Qs1 of the lower side of the area U1 of the embroidery pattern "A" is determined (step 5), the embroidery pattern data conversion processing operation is performed (step 6).

In this embroidery pattern data conversion processing operation, as shown in FIG. 8A, the CPU 41 first reads basic data corresponding to the data of the designated embroidery pattern from the original pattern memory 44, and from the starting point Qs1 to the basic data. The point in the point sequence Lp that is at the same distance as the horizontal data HD indicating the length of the data in the X-axis direction is determined, and that point is determined as the end point Qe1.
(Step a).

Next, the CPU 41 obtains a straight line connecting the determined start point Qs1 and end point Qe1 and obtains the angle θ 1 formed by the obtained straight line Lx1 and the X-axis direction (step b).

Next, the CPU 41 reads the pattern data corresponding to the data of the embroidery pattern of "A", that is, the relative coordinate position data group of each needle drop point from the original pattern data memory 44, and obtains each relative coordinate position data. Angle θ 1
Coordinate conversion for rotation is executed (step c). next,
In order to determine the sewing origin P01 of the embroidery pattern and the remaining vertices of the area U1, the CPU 41 sets a point on the straight line orthogonal to the straight line Lx1 and at a distance equal to the vertical data VD from the starting point Qs1. Similarly, the point at the same distance from the end point Qe1 as the vertical data VD is determined as the remaining vertex (step d). Therefore, the converted pattern data of the embroidery pattern represents the relative position from the sewing origin P01 and is the data rotated by the angle θ 1 with respect to the X-axis direction.

Next, the CPU 41 stores the pattern data and the coordinate position data of the sewing origin P01 in the sewing data memory 45, and the creation of the sewing data for the first embroidery pattern "A" is completed (step 7).

Next, the CPU 41 sets the determined end point Qe1 to the next start point Qe.
After setting s2 (step 8), the next "N" to be embroidered
The same embroidery pattern data conversion processing operation (steps a to d) is executed based on the embroidery pattern data of (step 9). Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8 (b), the pattern data of the "N" embroidery pattern to be embroidered next is subjected to coordinate conversion at the angle .theta.2 formed with the X-axis direction at that time to determine the sewing origin P02. .

At this time, the CPU 41 determines whether or not the coordinate position data of the determined sewing origin P02 is in the area U1 of the embroidery pattern previously determined and stored in the sewing data memory 45 (step 10). When the origin P02 is not within the area U1, the CPU 41 performs the coordinate conversion of the angle θ2 and the pattern data of the embroidery pattern to be embroidered next and the sewing origin P02.
The coordinate position data is stored in the sewing data memory 45, and it is checked whether or not there is data for the next embroidery pattern (steps 11 and 12). Then, the sewing data creation processing operation based on the data for the next embroidery pattern is performed as described above. The same operation is performed (steps 8 to 12).

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8 (c), the subsequent "I",
The pattern data of the "Y" embroidery pattern is also coordinate-converted along the point sequence Lp, that is, along the reference line Ls, and sequentially stored in the sewing data memory 45, and the sewing origin P
03 and P04 are determined and sequentially stored in the sewing data memory 45. The positioning means 106 is configured by the functions of the CPU 41 shown in steps 5, 8 and a. The function shown in step b of the CPU 41 constitutes the angle calculation means 107. Furthermore, CPU4
The function shown in step c of 1 constitutes the pattern calculation means 108.

In step 10, as shown in FIG. 9 (a), the coordinate position data of the sewing origin P0n is previously determined and the area Un-1 of the embroidery pattern stored in the sewing data memory 45 is stored.
If it is determined that the sewing start point P0n does not enter the area Un-1, the CPU 41 moves the position of the starting point Qsn to the rear end side of the point sequence Lp so that the sewing origin P0n does not enter the area Un-1. The predetermined distance D is shifted (step 13), and the embroidery pattern data conversion processing operation is executed again (step 9).

When the pattern data of all selected embroidery patterns and their sewing origins P01 to P04 are created and stored in the sewing data memory 45, the CPU 41 ends the sewing data creation processing operation.

After that, if the operator starts the automatic embroidery sewing machine based on the sewing data stored in the sewing data memory 45, the pulse motors 9, 15,
16 is driven and controlled, and the embroidery having the arrangement of the embroidery pattern along the reference line Ls is formed on the work cloth 10.

As described above, according to this embodiment, a desired curve, that is, the reference line Ls can be easily set only by designating an arbitrary number of designated points, and a desired curve can be set along the reference line Ls. It is very easy to embroider an array of embroidery patterns.
Can be formed to 0.

In the above embodiment, the embroidery patterns are arranged within the range of the reference line Ls set by the operator with respect to the reference line Ls. For example, as shown in FIG.
When the embroidery pattern has already reached the reference line Ls, that is, the trailing edge QE of the point sequence Lp, and the next "Y" embroidery pattern protrudes from the point sequence Lp, the CPU 41 determines the next "Y" embroidery pattern. For the data creation, the coordinates are converted at the same angle as the above-mentioned "I" embroidery pattern so that the "I" embroidery pattern and the "Y" embroidery pattern are continuously connected.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the data is created in the order of the embroidery pattern selected from the starting end of the point sequence Lp.
It is of course possible to create data in the order of the embroidery pattern selected from any point on p.

For example, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the embroidery pattern "N" is the seventh
As shown in FIG. 5A, a point M on the lower side of the region U in “N” shown in FIG. 5B comes to the position of an arbitrary point Qx on the reference line Ls, and each embroidery is made with this as a reference. The pattern is the reference line Ls
Follow the procedure below to create data according to.

First, the CPU 41 obtains the distance D1 between the point M on the lower side of the area U and the point M 0 at the left end of the lower side, and as shown in FIG. 7A, the distance is from the point Qx to the distance D1. The point is determined as the start point Qs2 of the "N" embroidery pattern. Based on this starting point Qs2, sewing data of the embroidery pattern is created in the same manner as described above. That is, the method of determining the starting point Qs2 by the CPU 41 (positioning means 106) is different from that of the above embodiment.

Then, the CPU 41 causes "I" and "Y" following the "N".
The data of the embroidery pattern is created in the same manner as above. on the other hand,
The CPU 41 determines the start point Qs2 of the "N" embroidery pattern for the "A" embroidery pattern before the "N" as the end point Qe1 of the "A" embroidery pattern. Then, by obtaining the starting point Qs1 with reference to this ending point Qe1, "A"
The data of the embroidery pattern is created.

Thus, the embroidery can be performed with the center of the embroidery pattern aligned with the center of the reference line Ls.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the embroidery patterns are formed in the horizontal direction along the reference line Ls has been described. However, the embroidery patterns may be arranged in the vertical direction with respect to the reference line Ls. May be implemented.

In this case, for example, as shown in FIGS. 13 and 14,
In the basic data of the embroidery pattern "A", the intersection point Pt between the center line Lt that bisects the area U and the upper side that determines the area U is aligned with the starting point Qs1 on the point sequence Ls. And
From the start point Qs1, the length of the center line Lt, that is, the point in the point sequence Lp that is at a distance equal to the vertical data VD indicating the length of the basic data in the Y-axis direction is determined, and the end point Q is determined.
e1

Next, the CPU 41 obtains a straight line connecting the determined start point Qs1 and end point Qe1 and obtains the angle θ 1 formed by the obtained straight line Ly1 and the Y-axis direction.

Then, the coordinate conversion of the pattern data is performed based on the angle θ1, and the sewing origin P01 and the remaining vertices of the region U1 are determined to create the sewing data, so that the embroidery patterns are vertically aligned with respect to the reference line Ls. An array of embroidery patterns can be formed.

Further, although the digitizer 34 is used to set the reference line Ls in the above embodiment, the digitizer 34 is not limited to this, and may be set by a key operation from the light pen or the keyboard 32, for example.

(Effects of the Invention) As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an embroidery pattern along any curved line other than a circular arc, and to make the embroidery sewing machine extremely versatile. You can

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram corresponding to claims for explaining the technical gist of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an overall perspective view of an automatic embroidery sewing machine that embodies the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a data creating device.
FIG. 5 is an electric block circuit diagram of the data generating device, FIGS. 5 (a) to 5 (d) are explanatory views for explaining the data aspect of each embroidery pattern, and FIG. 6 is a reference line from a curve drawn on paper. Front view of the paper for explaining the method for setting
FIG. 7A is a diagram for explaining the reference line, FIG. 7B is a diagram for explaining a point sequence of the reference line, and FIGS.
FIG. 9C is a diagram for explaining the data creation of the embroidery pattern, FIGS. 9A and 9B are diagrams for explaining the data creation of the embroidery pattern, and FIGS. 10 and 11 are the central operations. FIG. 12 is a flow chart for explaining the arithmetic processing operation of the processing unit (CPU), FIG. 12 is a view for explaining the data creation of the embroidery pattern when the embroidery pattern is out of the reference line, and FIGS. 13 and 14 are It is a figure for demonstrating the data creation when arranging an embroidery pattern vertically. In the figure, 1 is a sewing machine main body, 7 is a needle, 9 is a swing pulse motor, 10 is a work cloth, 15 is an X-axis pulse motor, and 16 is Y.
Axial pulse motor, 22 is an embroidery frame, 23 is an inner embroidery frame, 31
Is a data creating device, 32 is a keyboard, 34 is a digitizer, 40 is a microcomputer, 41 is a central processing unit (CPU), 42 is a program memory, 44 is an original pattern data memory, 45 is a sewing data memory, and 47-
49 is a pulse motor drive circuit, HD is horizontal data, VD is vertical data, Ls is a reference line, and Lp is a dot sequence.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Koji Hayashi 9-35 Hotta-dori, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture Brother Industries, Ltd. (56) References JP-A-60-246785 (JP, A) JP 60-57358 (JP, B2) Japanese Patent Publication 3-65994 (JP, B2)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Basic data indicating the length of each side of a quadrangular basic block composed of sides that extend in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction so as to include an embroidery pattern at a predetermined internal position. The original pattern data storage circuit (44) stores, for each embroidery pattern, pattern data indicating the embroidery pattern according to the relative coordinate position with respect to the basic data, and an arbitrary embroidery pattern is stored in the original pattern data storage circuit (44). A data creating device for an embroidery sewing machine which reads out patterns and arranges them along a predetermined reference line (Ls), and stores points on the reference line (Ls) selected by an operator. Positioning means for calculating and storing two points (Qs1, Qe1) on the reference line (Ls) that define a distance equal to the length of the basic data in the X-axis direction or the Y-axis direction based on that point ( 06) and a straight line (Lx1) connecting the two points (Qs1, Qe1) indexed by the positioning means (106) and the angle (θ1) formed by the X axis or the Y axis. )
And the angle (θ calculated by the angle calculation means (107).
Data of an embroidery sewing machine, which comprises: based on 1), coordinate conversion of a basic block to perform a calculation for rotating pattern data of an embroidery pattern included in the basic block. Creation device.