JP2002248291A - Sewing machine with bobbin thread requirement operating function - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sewing machine with a bobbin thread requirement operating function capable of predicting the bobbin thread requirement necessary for sewing a pattern not only on the basis of the number of stitches but also under the considera tion of various conditions such as a thickness of a thread, and the thickness and stiffness of a sewing material. SOLUTION: This sewing machine providing patterned stitches with a needle thread and a bobbin thread, comprises a pattern data storing means for storing plural pattern data, a pattern selecting means for selecting a desired pattern from the storing means, a means for reading out the standard bobbin thread requirement corresponding to the pattern selected from the storing means, a means for detecting the actual consumption of the bobbin thread actually consumed in every formation of the pattern, a means for determining a bobbin thread consumption correction coefficient on the basis of the necessary bobbin thread requirement corresponding to the pattern and the actual bobbin thread consumption, and a means for correcting the standard necessary bobbin thread requirement corresponding to the pattern on a newly selected pattern element on the basis of the bobbin thread consumption correction coefficient, and whether a bobbin thread remaining amount in a bobbin will run short or not to the determined bobbin thread requirement is automatically determined.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sewing machine having a function of calculating a required amount of bobbin thread, and more particularly to the formation of a stitch such as an embroidery stitch. The present invention relates to a sewing machine having a function of calculating a required amount of a lower thread, which can correct and calculate a required amount of a lower thread for each pattern element according to various conditions.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, data of a plurality of embroidery patterns is stored in a storage means of a sewing machine, and one of the patterns is selected from the patterns, or a plurality of patterns are selected and combined, and a needle thread is formed. 2. Description of the Related Art There is known a sewing machine in which an embroidery pattern is formed on a cloth by using a thread and a lower thread. In such a sewing machine, in recent years, with the increase in the capacity of the storage means, a complicated pattern requiring a large number of stitches has been stored in the storage means, and in order to sew such a pattern, Many upper and lower threads are needed.

Generally, when the bobbin thread runs out during sewing of a pattern, the bobbin thread is replaced in the middle of pattern formation and sewing is continued. At this time, it is necessary to reversely read the pattern data and perform resewing, which complicates the operation. Also,
It is practically extremely difficult to finish embroidery stitches uniformly.

Conventionally, the remaining amount of bobbin thread remaining in the bobbin thread holding means mounted on the sewing machine is detected, and a warning is issued when the remaining amount is less than a predetermined amount. There has been proposed a sewing machine that reports a shortage of the amount.

[0005]

However, in the above-described conventional sewing machine, only the absolute amount of the remaining amount of the lower thread is detected, and a warning is issued when the amount becomes less than a predetermined amount. No warning was issued in connection with the number of stitches in the middle pattern.

[0006] In addition to the number of stitches in the pattern,
Although it depends on conditions such as the thickness of the thread and the thickness and hardness of the sewing object, no consideration has been given to these.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, in which not only the number of stitches required for sewing a pattern but also the thickness of the thread, the sewing It is an object of the present invention to provide a sewing machine having a function of calculating a required amount of lower thread, which can be predicted in consideration of various conditions such as thickness and hardness of the sewing machine. Another object of the present invention is to provide a pattern stitch sewing machine which can display a warning when the actual remaining amount of the lower thread becomes smaller than the corrected required lower thread amount.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a sewing machine having a function of calculating a required amount of a lower thread. Pattern data storage means for storing pattern data, pattern selection means for selecting a desired pattern from the storage means, means for reading a standard required lower thread amount corresponding to the selected pattern from the storage means, Means for detecting the actual lower thread consumption actually consumed for each pattern formation;
Means for calculating a lower thread consumption correction coefficient from the required lower thread amount corresponding to the pattern and the actual lower thread consumption, and the standard required lower thread amount corresponding to the pattern for the newly selected pattern element. Means for correcting with a lower thread consumption correction coefficient, and automatically determining whether or not the remaining amount of the lower thread of the bobbin is sufficient for the determined required amount of the lower thread. Is adopted.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a sewing machine having a function of calculating a required amount of lower thread according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes pattern data storage means for storing a plurality of preset pattern data.
The pattern data storage unit 1 stores, for example,
A large number of pattern data of various pattern elements such as B, C,..., Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4,.

2 is a pattern selecting means, 3 is the pattern selecting means 2
Is a selected pattern storage unit in which pattern data is stored in a selected order for one or a plurality of selected pattern elements from the pattern data storage unit 1. When a plurality of pattern elements are selected, the order of the selected pattern elements may be arbitrarily changed by an editing operation means (not shown).

Numeral 4 is a lower thread required amount calculation program storage means in which a program for calculating a required amount of lower thread is stored by a correction coefficient which varies depending on various conditions such as a type of cloth and a type of thread.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a display data storage means in which display data of a pattern stored in advance is stored. Reference numeral 6 denotes a lower thread remaining amount detecting means for detecting the remaining amount of the lower thread wound on the lower thread holding means (bobbin or the like). Here, several known lower thread remaining amount detecting means 6 are known. For example, a "lower thread remaining amount detecting device for sewing machine" disclosed in JP-A-1-126996 is known. Can be used.

7 is for obtaining a lower thread consumption correction coefficient α (α = lower thread consumption / lower thread required) from the lower thread consumption actually consumed for forming the pattern element and the lower thread required amount of the pattern. This is a lower thread consumption correction coefficient storage means. Numeral 8 denotes various condition input operation means for inputting different correction coefficients depending on various conditions such as the type of cloth and the type of yarn into the required amount calculation program 4 for lower thread.

Reference numeral 9 denotes a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as a CPU).
It is. Numeral 10 is a liquid crystal display for displaying a plurality of pattern data and various data stored in advance.
The liquid crystal display means 10 may be another display means other than the liquid crystal. Reference numeral 12 denotes a warning display unit that displays a warning indicating that the remaining amount of the lower thread is insufficient based on the result of comparison by the lower thread amount comparing unit 14 described later.

Reference numeral 13 denotes a sewing machine drive system for forming a sewing pattern. 13a is a motor drive control means for driving the drive motor, and 13b is a drive motor for driving the sewing machine needle. 13c is a stepping motor drive control means for driving a stepping motor for moving the sewing point of the sewing machine in two directions (for example, XY directions), and 13d is for moving the sewing point of the sewing machine in a first direction (for example, X direction). The amplitude stepping motor 13e for moving the sewing machine is a feed stepping motor for moving the sewing point of the sewing machine in the second direction (for example, the Y direction).

Numeral 14 is a lower thread amount comparing means for comparing the lower thread remaining quantity detected by the lower thread remaining quantity detecting means 6 with a lower thread quantity necessary for a selected pattern.

Numeral 15 denotes a required amount of lower thread storing means for storing the required amount of lower thread required for the pattern selected by the pattern selecting means 2 in correspondence with the pattern pattern.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining definitions of patterns and pattern elements or pattern patterns. As shown in the figure, the pattern 30 is a pattern element or a pattern (hereinafter simply referred to as a pattern element) 31, 32, selected by the pattern selecting means 2.
33 and 34 as a whole.

Next, the operation of the control device according to the present embodiment will be specifically described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
First, in step S1, one or a plurality of pattern elements are arbitrarily selected from among a large number of pattern elements stored in advance in the pattern data storage means 1 by using the pattern selection means 2. The displayed pattern is displayed on the liquid crystal display means 10.

In step S2, the pattern selected by the pattern selecting means 2 is stored in the selected pattern storing means 3. When a plurality of pattern elements are selected, they are stored in the order of selection, and the number L of the selected pattern elements is set. However, the order may be arbitrarily changed by editing operation means (not shown). Here, the description will be made assuming that four patterns are selected, that is, the number of selected pattern elements L = 4.

In step S3, the number N of selected pattern elements is initialized to "1".

In step S4, various conditions, such as the type of cloth and the type of thread, for the selected first pattern element are inputted by the various condition input operation means 8.

In step S5, a correction coefficient of the first pattern element is determined based on the input conditions.

In step S6, based on the determined correction coefficient, the required amount of lower thread for each pattern element is calculated by the CPU 9 according to the required lower thread calculation program stored in the required lower thread calculation program storage means 4. The required amount of standard lower thread is determined. That is, the required amount of the lower thread under the various conditions is predicted. Here, first, the required amount of the lower thread is calculated for the first pattern element, and the standard required amount of the lower thread is sequentially obtained.

In step S7, the standard required amount of lower thread is stored in the required lower thread storage means 15. Here, the required amount of the lower thread is Yn (n = 1, 2, 3,..., N).
The lower thread amount of the first pattern element is Y1, and the lower thread amount of the n-th pattern element is Yn.

In step S8, the lower thread remaining amount detecting means 6 detects the lower thread remaining amount Xn (n = 1, 2, 3,..., N). Here, X1 is before starting sewing and X2 is after forming the first pattern element, that is, before forming the second pattern element.

In step S9, it is determined whether the lower thread remaining amount Xn is larger than the standard lower thread required amount Yn. X
If n> Yn, this determination is affirmative and the process proceeds to step S10, while if Xn <Yn, the process proceeds to step S10.
Proceed to 20.

Now, a determination is made for the first pattern element, and if the lower thread remaining amount X1 is larger than the required lower thread amount Y1 of the pattern element, it is determined that X1> Y1.

In step S10, the sewing machine drive system 13 shown in FIG. 1 is driven to perform embroidery sewing of the selected N-th pattern element. Here, the embroidery sewing of the first pattern element is performed.

In step S11, the actual lower thread consumption is detected. For example, using the lower thread remaining amount detecting means 6,
The actual lower thread consumption is detected from the difference between the lower thread remaining amount X1 and the lower thread remaining amount X2 after the pattern of the first pattern element is formed.

In step S12, a lower thread consumption correction coefficient α is calculated from the actual lower thread consumption and the first lower thread requirement of the first pattern element (α = lower thread consumption / lower thread required). And stores it in the lower thread consumption correction coefficient storage means 7.

In step S13, N is counted up by "1". Here, N = 2.

In step S14, it is determined whether or not N incremented by "1" is greater than the number L of selected pattern elements. If N> L, there is no remaining pattern element, and the processing ends. If N ≦ L, the process proceeds to step S15. Here, N = 2, L = 4, and N <L, so that the determination is negative, and the process proceeds to step S15.

In step S15, it is determined whether or not the embroidery thread has been replaced. If the embroidery thread has been exchanged, it is determined that the embroidery thread is affirmative, and the process returns to step S4 to re-input various conditions. This is because there is a possibility that the thread may be changed to a thin thread or a thick thread. After returning to step S4, the above processing is repeated until there are no remaining pattern elements. If the embroidery thread is not replaced, there is no change in the condition, so the determination is negative and the process returns to step S6.

At this time, in step S6, the correction coefficient already determined in step S5, the lower thread required amount of the second pattern element read from the lower thread required amount storage means 15, and The CPU 9 calculates the required amount of lower thread using the correction coefficient α calculated in step S12 by the CPU 9.

Thereafter, the same operation as described above is repeated, and N
= 5 and the judgment in step S14 becomes affirmative, the above-described processing ends.

Next, the operation when the judgment in step S9 is negative will be described.

In step S20, a warning is displayed on the lower thread remaining amount warning display means 12 that the lower thread remaining amount is insufficient. Further, a warning by sound or the like may be simultaneously performed by a warning sound generating device (not shown).

In step S21, it is determined whether the lower thread has been replaced in accordance with the warning. If the lower thread has been replaced, the process returns to step S4, and the above-described operation is repeatedly performed. On the other hand, if the lower thread has not been replaced, the process proceeds to step S22.

In step S22, the sewing operation is forcibly stopped.

In the above-described embodiment, the correction coefficient is obtained from the first pattern element to estimate the required amount of the lower thread (see step S12). However, the present invention is not limited to this. You may make it predict.

In this embodiment, when the number of selected pattern elements is one, if it is determined in step S9 that the remaining amount of the lower thread is sufficient for the required amount of the lower thread, embroidery sewing is executed in step S10. After that, the operation may be stopped and terminated. Further, in the present embodiment, the embroidery sewing of the pattern has been described, but other sewing may be used.

[0044]

As is clear from the above description,
According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. Cloth type,
Taking into account various conditions such as the type of thread, the standard required lower thread amount required for pattern formation is determined, and the required lower thread amount is corrected from the actual lower thread consumption. The quantity can be more accurately predicted.

Since the shortage of the remaining amount of the bobbin thread can be accurately notified, there is an effect that the problem that the bobbin thread runs out during the sewing of one pattern element or the entire pattern can be prevented. Therefore, there is no need to reversely read the pattern data and perform re-sewing, which eliminates the need for complicated work and has an effect of improving the finish of the sewn pattern.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a sewing machine having a function of calculating a required amount of a lower thread according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a pattern and a pattern element.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Pattern data storage means 2 Pattern selection means 3 Selected pattern storage means 4 Lower thread required amount calculation program storage means 5 Display data storage means 6 Lower thread remaining amount detection means 7 Lower thread consumption correction coefficient storage means 8 Various condition input operation means Reference Signs List 9 central processing unit (CPU) 10 liquid crystal display means 12 warning display means 13 sewing machine drive system 14 lower thread amount comparing means 15 lower thread required amount storage means 30 patterns 31, 32, 33, 34 pattern elements

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 3B150 AA15 CB03 CB04 CC04 CD00 CE03 CE09 CE23 CE27 GG04 JA07 LA10 LA40 LA48 LA55 LA72 LB02 MA15 NA51 NA52 NA80 NB18 NC06 QA06 QA07

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A sewing machine for forming a pattern seam with an upper thread and a lower thread, a pattern data storage means for storing a plurality of pattern data, a pattern selection means for selecting a desired pattern from the storage means, A means for reading a standard required amount of lower thread corresponding to the selected pattern from the storage means; a means for detecting an actual lower thread consumption actually consumed for each formation of the pattern; Means for calculating a lower thread consumption correction coefficient from the lower thread amount and the actual lower thread consumption; and a standard required lower thread amount corresponding to the newly selected pattern element and the lower thread consumption correction coefficient. Means for compensating for the required amount of the lower thread, and automatically determining whether the remaining amount of the lower thread of the bobbin is sufficient for the determined required amount of the lower thread. Sewing machine equipped.