JP2003225483A - Sewing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To raise an attention on sewing work for a worker and to make the worker hardly erroneously select a sewing data file containing sewing data before or during the sewing work. <P>SOLUTION: An FD21 or an HD39 is equipped with a basic data storage part storing sewing conditions or information for management, a sewing data storage part for storing the sewing data and a comment storage part storing the sewing data themselves or one or a plurality of comments concerning the sewing work based on these sewing data, and a multi-head sewing machine M is provided with a comment display control means for displaying the various kinds of the comments stored in the comment storage part on a display 19 and a difficulty operating means for operating a sewing difficulty in the case of sewing a sewing object while using the sewing condition information and the sewing data, and storing the difficulty in the comment storage part. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a sewing machine,
The present invention relates to a sewing data itself or a device capable of displaying a comment regarding a sewing work based on the sewing data before or during the sewing work.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in various sewing machines such as an embroidery sewing machine, a basic data storage unit that stores sewing conditions such as a sewing speed (the number of revolutions of a sewing machine motor), a material of an upper thread, a material of a sewing material, and the like. And a plurality of sewing data files each having a sewing data storage unit that stores sewing data such as stitch data indicating the X and Y movement amounts of the sewing material,
One is selected and read, and the sewing operation is performed based on the sewing conditions and the sewing data of the selected sewing data file.

Here, in the sewing operation based on the selected sewing data file, the upper thread is easily cut, such as when there are many stitches with a small pitch, when the sewing material is hard, or when the upper thread is a material that is difficult to slip. If it is difficult to do so, the sewing work is carried out with care so that the upper thread is not broken, for example, by lowering the sewing speed based on the experience of the operator (so-called know-how or tips).

On the other hand, the sewing data file read by the sewing machine also stores data of a name (file name) to the extent that the operator can recognize the contents of the sewing operation based on the file to some extent. When selecting one of the sewing data files of, the file names of these sewing data files are displayed on the display provided on the operation panel, etc. You will be selecting a file.

In some cases, as a sewing data file, a plurality of pieces of sewing data separated by pause data and combined into one file (this is called a name drop) is read to perform a sewing operation (Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-216).
778). This name drop has the advantage that the sewing data need only be read once when embroidering a series of embroidery patterns based on a plurality of pieces of sewing data, thus improving efficiency.

[0006]

However, as described above, under the current circumstances where the sewing work is performed based on the experience of the operator, for example, the number of small stitches is large, the sewing material is hard, and the upper thread is broken. When sewing work that is easy and difficult to sew, when a worker who has little experience with the sewing work is replaced, the new worker cannot immediately understand in what way the sewing work is difficult. It took time until the embroidery could be sewn at a high speed so as not to cause a break, resulting in a decrease in work efficiency.

Further, when a predetermined one sewing data file is read from a plurality of sewing data files, if there are a plurality of files having similar names, different files may be mistakenly read. In such a case, I sometimes noticed that the file I read was incorrect only after the sewing operation started. Further, when the sewing data file is a name drop, there is a problem that the content of the embroidery pattern to be sewn next is not known during the series of sewing operations. An object of the present invention is to call an operator's attention to the sewing work before or during the sewing work and to make a mistake in selecting the sewing data file.

[0008]

Means for Solving the Problems A sewing machine according to claim 1 is
In a sewing machine that has a display unit including a display and a storage unit that stores sewing data, and that performs a sewing operation based on the sewing data read from the storage unit, the sewing data itself and the sewing operation based on the sewing data 1
Alternatively, it is characterized by comprising a comment storage unit for storing a plurality of comments and a comment display control unit for displaying the comments stored in the comment storage unit on the display of the display unit.

The sewing data is stored in a storage means such as a flexible disk (FD) as a sewing data file for each sewing operation, and the sewing data such as stitch data is read from the storage means into the sewing machine and based on the sewing data. Sewing work is performed. The storage unit stores a comment storage unit that stores one or a plurality of comments. The comment storage unit may be provided in the sewing data storage unit that stores the sewing data in the sewing data file,
It may be provided separately from the sewing data storage section. Furthermore, the comment storage section can be provided in a file different from the sewing data file.

The comment storage section stores comments on the sewing data itself, comments on the sewing work based on the sewing data, and the like. For the comment on the sewing data itself, the data creator, data creation date,
It includes a comment (hereinafter, referred to as a file specifying comment) that can specify the content of the sewing work based on the sewing data file, such as the sewing target. As a comment on the sewing work based on the sewing data, a comment on the sewing target, a comment on the difficulty of sewing such as a hard sewing material, bad slippage of the upper thread, and a large number of small pitch stitches.
Furthermore, comments and the like on how to deal with the difficulty of sewing (for example, lowering the sewing speed) (hereinafter, these comments are collectively referred to as sewing-related comments).
And the degree of difficulty of sewing in the sewing work calculated from various sewing conditions.

The comment display control means can display the comment stored in the comment storage section on the display. For example, when selecting one of a plurality of sewing data files, the operator can select which file by displaying a file-specific comment with the file names of the plurality of sewing data files. You can easily determine whether or not to do it.

Further, before the start of sewing or during the sewing, comments relating to the sewing and the degree of difficulty of sewing are appropriately displayed on the display, and the operator confirms these comments. It becomes possible to efficiently perform the sewing work by grasping whether it is difficult or not, and appropriately setting various conditions.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sewing machine which has a display means including a display, is connected to a storage means for storing sewing data, and performs a sewing operation based on the sewing data read from the storage means. A comment storage unit that stores one or a plurality of comments relating to the sewing operation based on itself or the sewing data, and a comment display control unit that displays the comment stored in the comment storage unit on the display of the display unit are provided. It is a feature.

A sewing data file containing sewing data is
The data is stored in a storage means such as a hard disk (HD) of a data processing device (for example, a personal computer) connected to the sewing machine with a communication cable or the like, and sewing data such as stitch data is read from the storage means into the sewing machine and the sewing is performed. Sewing work is performed based on the data. The other operation is the same as that of claim 1, and the description thereof is omitted.

A sewing machine according to a third aspect of the present invention is the sewing machine according to the first or second aspect, wherein the storage means includes a basic data storage section for storing sewing conditions and management information, and a sewing data storage section.
The comment storage unit is provided. The sewing condition information stored in the basic data storage unit includes, for example, the number of times the upper thread has been broken in the past, the sewing speed (for example, the maximum number of revolutions of the sewing machine motor), the material of the upper thread (for example, slippage of the upper thread). The material of the sewing material (for example,
Information such as the hardness of the sewing material) is included. Information for management includes information such as address data of the top sewing data (start of sewing) in the sewing data storage unit.

The sewing data storage section stores sewing data such as stitch data and color numbers when changing colors. The comment storage section stores file-specific comments, sewing-related comments, and the like. However, in order to display the sewing-related comments by the comment display control means when the sewing work has progressed to a certain degree, one of the sewing-related comments is displayed. The part may be stored in the sewing data storage part.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the invention of the third aspect, the sewing condition information stored in the basic data storage section of the storage means includes past number of upper thread breaks, upper thread material, sewing material, It is characterized by including information on at least one of the sewing speeds. The information regarding the material of the upper thread is, for example, the slip resistance of the upper thread, and the information regarding the material of the sewing material is, for example, the hardness of the sewing material. Number of past needle thread breaks, needle thread material, sewing material,
By storing information relating to at least one of the sewing speeds in the basic data storage section as sewing condition information, this information can be displayed on the display, or the sewing target can be sewn based on these information. It is possible to judge the difficulty of sewing.

A sewing machine according to a fifth aspect of the present invention is the sewing machine according to the third or fourth aspect of the present invention, wherein at least the degree of difficulty in sewing when sewing an object to be sewn using the sewing condition information and the sewing data stored in the basic data storage section. A difficulty level calculating means for calculating and storing the comment in the comment storage section is provided. Therefore, conditions such as the number of upper thread breaks in the past, the material of the upper thread, the material of the sewing material, the sewing speed, and the number of stitches in which the pitch obtained from the stitch data of the sewing data is less than or equal to a predetermined value are calculated by the difficulty calculation means. From this, the degree of sewing difficulty is calculated. This sewing difficulty level is stored in the comment storage unit and displayed on the display by the comment display control means, so that the operator can confirm the difficulty of the sewing work before the sewing work.

A sewing machine according to a sixth aspect of the present invention is the sewing machine according to the fifth aspect of the invention, wherein the difficulty level calculating means calculates a sewing difficulty level index for each of a plurality of items of sewing condition items included in the sewing condition information.
It is characterized in that a sewing difficulty, which is a total value of a plurality of items of the sewing difficulty index, is calculated. Since the sewing difficulty index is calculated for each sewing condition item, for example, the sewing difficulty index of the sewing condition item that causes the largest thread breakage is made particularly large, and the effect of this item is used to calculate the sewing difficulty level. Can be reflected.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, the comment display control means displays the comment stored in the comment storage section during a predetermined sewing operation. It is characterized in that it is displayed on the display of the means. Therefore, when the sewing data file stored in the storage means is a name drop, the contents of the sewing work based on the next sewing data can be confirmed.

The sewing machine according to an eighth aspect is the sewing machine according to any one of the first to seventh aspects, wherein an address for reading a comment stored in the comment storage section is provided in the middle of the sewing data stored in the sewing data storage section. It is characterized by storing data. Therefore, during sewing, the comment corresponding to the address data can be read from the comment storage unit and the comment can be displayed on the display by the comment display control means.

[0022]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to a multi-head sewing machine including three embroidery sewing machines. First,
The multi-head sewing machine M will be described. As shown in Figure 1,
A sewing machine support plate 2 having a predetermined length in the left-right direction is provided on the rear side of the upper surface of the base frame 1 extending in the left-right direction, and a support frame extending in the left-right direction is provided at the rear end of the sewing machine support plate 2. 3 are erected. Multi-head sewing machine M
, Three multi-needle type embroidery sewing machines M1 to M3 are arranged in parallel in the left-right direction at predetermined intervals.

Each of the three embroidery sewing machines M1 to M3 has a cylindrical shape in which head portions 4 to 6 arranged side by side at predetermined intervals on the support frame 3 and a thread cutting mechanism (not shown) are incorporated. And bed portions 7 to 9 of each. The rear ends of the beds 7 to 9 are respectively supported by the base frame 1 at the positions of the front ends of the sewing machine support plates 2.
Needle bar cases 20 are respectively supported at the front ends of the head sections 4 to 6 so as to be movable in the left-right direction.
At 0, twelve needle bars (not shown) are vertically movable and supported in one row in the left-right direction, and sewing needles 21 are attached to the lower ends of the needle bars. Twelve balances 22 are swingably supported on each needle bar case 20. Each needle bar case 20
Is a needle bar changing motor when changing the needle thread (see Fig. 2).
Are driven to move in the left-right direction all at once. Each head part 4
Each of ~ 6 is also provided with a needle bar jump mechanism (not shown) for forcibly jumping the needle bar to the upper limit position.

A work table 13 is horizontally arranged in front of the sewing machine support plate 2, and a pair of auxiliary tables 14 and 15 are also provided on both left and right sides of the work table 13. On the upper surfaces of the work table 13 and the auxiliary tables 14 and 15, an embroidery frame 16 having a rectangular frame shape in plan view extending in the left-right direction.
3 embroidery sewing machines M are mounted on the embroidery frame 16.
Sewing material holding frame 17 for holding the sewing material corresponding to 1 to M3
Are detachably attached.

A drive frame portion 16a is provided at the right end of the embroidery frame 16, and the embroidery frame 16 is moved in the X axis direction (left and right direction) by the X axis drive motor 56 (see FIG. 2) via the drive frame portion 16a. It is driven to move. A drive frame portion 16b is also provided at the left end of the embroidery frame 16, and the embroidery frame 16 is moved and driven in the Y axis direction (front-back direction) by the Y axis drive motor 58 (see FIG. 2) via the drive frame portion 16b. It Therefore, the embroidery frame 16 is configured to be movable on the XY plane.
6, the origin position on the XY plane is the X-axis origin sensor 60, Y
It is detected by the axis origin sensor 61 (see FIG. 2). still,
Each of the X-axis drive motor 56 and the Y-axis drive motor 58 is a stepping motor.

An operation panel 18 is provided on the rear side of the auxiliary table 15. The operation panel 18 includes a display 19 which can display a sewing data file itself and a plurality of comments regarding the sewing, which will be described later, and a display (not shown). Various keys such as ten keys and cursor keys for inputting various commands, a start key for starting sewing, a stop key for stopping sewing, and a flexible disk for reading a flexible disk (FD) 21 storing a sewing data file. The disk drive 20 (FDD) and the like are provided.

Next, regarding the control system of the multi-head sewing machine M,
This will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG. The control device 30 that controls the entire multi-head sewing machine M includes a CPU 32 and a ROM 3
3, RAM 34, rewritable flash memory 35,
A microcomputer including a communication interface 36 (communication I / F) and the like, and an input / output interface (not shown) connected to the microcomputer via a bus are provided.

The controller 30 includes a needle bar jump solenoid 40 of a needle bar jump mechanism for each head section 4-6.
A drive circuit 41 for driving the presser foot, a drive circuit 43 for a presser foot drive solenoid 42 for retracting the presser foot, and an upper thread breakage sensor 44 for detecting thread breakage of the upper thread are connected to each other. Further, the control device 30 includes a drive circuit 51 for the sewing machine motor 50 and a pulse generator that outputs an encoder signal composed of 1000 pulse signals per revolution of a disk encoder provided on a sewing machine spindle (not shown). 52
And a spindle origin sensor 53 that outputs one spindle synchronization signal per revolution of the disk encoder.

Further, a drive circuit 55 for the needle bar changing motor 54, an X-axis drive motor 56, and a Y-axis drive motor 58.
Drive circuits 57 and 59, and X-axis origin sensor 60 and Y
A shaft origin sensor 61, a drive circuit 63 for a thread cutting motor 62 for a thread cutting mechanism that simultaneously cuts an upper thread and a lower thread,
The operation panel 18 is also connected. An embroidery data processing device 37 is connected to the communication I / F 36. The embroidery data processing device 37 is mainly composed of a personal computer 38. The sewing data file created and edited by the embroidery data processing device 37 is FD21.
Or the hard disk of the personal computer 38 (H
D) 39 to R via FDD 20 or communication I / F 36
Read into AM34.

The ROM 33 stores a program for controlling the rotation of the sewing machine motor 50 based on a sewing speed change command from the operation panel 18, an encoder signal from the pulse generator 52, and a spindle synchronization signal from the spindle origin sensor 53. A drive control program for driving the motors 54, 56, 68, 62 based on the above is stored. Furthermore, ROM3
3 also stores a comment display control program that causes the display 19 to display various comments to be described later.

The RAM 34 is stored in the FD via the FDD 20.
21 or a sewing data memory 34a for storing data such as sewing condition information (described later), sewing data, and comments of the sewing data file read from the HD 39 of the embroidery data processing device 37 via the communication I / F 36, Various memories are provided. As will be described later in detail, in the flash memory 35, the sewing condition information and the sewing data of the read sewing data file are used to calculate the degree of difficulty in sewing when sewing the sewing target. The reference values (Nc
st, Nst1, Nst2, Pst, Nsp1, Nsp2) and increment (Inc1 ~ Inc
The table of 7) is stored.

Next, the data structure of the sewing data file will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, FD21 and HD3
The sewing data file stored in 9 includes a basic data storage unit that stores sewing conditions and management information, a sewing data storage unit that stores sewing data, the sewing data itself and the sewing operation based on the sewing data. Or a comment storage unit that stores a plurality of comments. The sewing condition information stored in the basic data storage section includes information such as the number of times of needle thread breakage in the past, the maximum number of revolutions of the sewing machine motor (sewing speed), the slipperiness of the upper thread, and the hardness of the sewing material. Has been. Information for management includes information such as address data of the top sewing data (start of sewing) in the sewing data storage unit.

Among the comments stored in the comment storage section, the comment relating to the sewing data itself is a comment (file that can specify the content of the sewing data file such as the data creator, the date of data creation, the explanation of the embroidery pattern, etc.). Specific comments) are included. This file-specific comment is read together with the data of the file name and displayed on the display 19 in the comment display control described later.
It becomes easy for the operator to select a necessary sewing data file from the plurality of sewing data files, and the different files will not be read.

The comments on the sewing work based on the sewing data include comments on the embroidery pattern and conditions under which the upper thread breakage easily occurs, such as the sewing material is hard, the upper thread is not slippery, and the number of small-pitch stitches is large. comment,
Includes comments (hereinafter, these comments will be collectively referred to as sewing-related comments) regarding measures to be taken when sewing is difficult (for example, to reduce the sewing speed). The sewing difficulty level calculated by the difficulty level calculation process described below using the stored sewing condition information and sewing data and stored in the comment storage unit is also included. These sewing-related comments and the degree of difficulty of sewing are also displayed on the display 19 by the comment display control described later.

Therefore, the operator can recognize the degree of difficulty of the sewing work and the points to be noted in the sewing work by confirming these comments before or during the sewing, and it is appropriate based on those comments. Various conditions can be set to perform sewing work.

As shown in FIG. 4, in the embroidery data storage section, a stitch for moving the embroidery frame 16 in the X and Y directions to drop the sewing needle 21, a feed for moving the embroidery frame 16 only,
The embroidery data corresponding to the four commands for driving the needle bar changing motor 54 to change the needle thread to a different color and for displaying various comments to be described later on the display 19 are stored.

When the command is stitch or feed, the movement amounts of the embroidery frame 16 in the X and Y directions are stored in correspondence with the commands. When the command is color change, the color number corresponding to the color to be changed is stored. When the command is the comment display, the address data indicating the start address in the comment storage section of the sewing-related comment to be displayed is stored. On the other hand, by storing code data indicating the end of the corresponding sewing-related comment data in the comment storage unit, the length of the sewing-related comment data can be specified. Alternatively, the length of the sewing-related comment can be specified by storing the number of data (the number of bytes) from the head address of the sewing-related comment in the command storage section next to the address data in the sewing data storage section. May be.

Next, comment display control for displaying comments on the display 19 will be described with reference to FIGS. Si (i = 10, 11, 12, ...
・) Indicates the step number. As shown in FIG. 5, when the comment display control is executed, a file selection menu is displayed (S10), and when the FD21 or the HD39 of the personal computer 38 is selected as a selection destination in the file selection menu, the file is stored in the FD21 or HD39. The file-specific comments are read out from the comment storage unit together with the file names of the plurality of sewing data files thus created, and the file names and the file-specific comments are displayed on the display 19 (S11). When the operator refers to the file name and the file specific comment and selects the sewing data file corresponding to the planned sewing work, the sewing data file is RA-converted from the FD 21 or HD 39.
The data is read into the sewing data memory 34a of M34 (S12).

Next, in S13, the total number of stitches Nst is calculated. Here, most of the commands in the sewing data storage section shown in FIG. 4 are stitches, and these stitch data are command data and X and Y movement amounts, respectively. Since it is composed of three pieces of data, the size of the sewing data storage section Fsize is divided by 3 to be regarded as the total stitch number Nst.
That is, actually, the total number of stitches Nst includes the number of commands for each of feed, color change, and comment.

Next, after the temporary stop flag Fts is cleared (S14), a comment display setting process for setting whether or not to display a sewing-related comment and a later-described sewing difficulty level is performed (S15). As shown in FIG. 7, in the comment display setting processing, after the sewing related comment display flag Fd1 and the difficulty level display flag Fd2 are cleared (S50), the display enable / disable selection menu of the sewing related comment is displayed on the display 19. (S51). Here, for example, when the operator presses the cursor key of the operation panel 18 to select the display permission (S52: Yes), the flag Fd1 is set to 1 (S5:
3), shift to S56. On the other hand, when the operator selects the display disapproval (S54: Yes), the flag Fd1 is set to 0 (S55), and the process proceeds to S56.

Similarly, also in the sewing difficulty level, a display permission / non-permission selection menu for displaying the sewing difficulty level is displayed on the display 19.
Is displayed (S56), and when the display permission is selected (S57: Ye
s), the flag Fd2 is set to 1 (S58), and the process returns.
On the other hand, if the display disapproval is selected (S59: Yes), the flag Fd2 is set to 0 (S60), and the process returns.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5, if the sewing-related comment display flag Fd1 is 1 (S16: Yes), the sewing material is hard, the upper thread is not slippery, and the overall Display comments about the entire sewing work, such as comments about conditions where needle thread breakage is likely to occur, such as a large number of small-pitch stitches, or comments on how to deal with difficult sewing (S17). Shift to difficulty calculation processing. Sewing related comment display flag Fd1
Is not 1, that is, when it is 0 (S16: No), the sewing-related comment is not displayed on the display 19 and the process proceeds to S18.

In the difficulty calculation process shown in FIG. 8, the sewing condition information stored in the basic data storage unit is the number Nc of needle thread breaks in the past, the slipperiness of the upper thread, the hardness of the sewing material, and the sewing machine. The maximum number of revolutions Nmax of the motor 50 and the stitch data in the sewing data storage section, that is, the sewing condition when the sewing target is sewn from the predetermined condition regarding the sewing pitch P of each stitch obtained by the X and Y movement amount of each stitch. Calculate the difficulty level Nd.

First, when Nd is cleared (S70) and the number Nc of needle thread breaks in the past is larger than the reference number Ncst of upper thread breaks shown in FIG. 9 (S71: Yes), needle thread breakage may occur. The increase amount Inc1 is added to Nd on the assumption that is high (S72). Further, the higher the maximum rotation speed Nmax of the sewing machine motor 50, the more easily the upper thread breakage occurs. Therefore, if Nmax is larger than the first reference maximum rotation speed Nst1 shown in FIG. 9 (S73: Yes), the increase amount Nd is increased to Nd. Is added (S74), and if Nmax is larger than the second reference maximum rotation speed Nst2 (> Nst1) shown in FIG. 9 (S75: Yes), the increase amount Inc3 is added to Nd (S7).
6). For example, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, Nst1 = 90
When 0, Nst2 = 1000, Inc2 = Inc2 = 1 and the maximum rotation speed Nmax of the sewing conditions is 950 rpm, the difficulty increment amount related to the maximum rotation speed becomes 1, and the maximum rotation speed Nm
If ax is 1100 rpm, the difficulty increment is 2.

Furthermore, when the slip of the upper thread is bad (S77:
Yes), if the sewing material is hard (S78: Yes), the upper thread is also likely to break, so the increments Inc4 and Inc5 are added to Nd (S78, S80). Next, in S81 to S93 below, the sewing pitch P of each stitch is obtained from the X and Y movement amounts of the stitch data, and the number of stitches in which the sewing pitch P is less than the predetermined small pitch reference value Pst (small pitch number ) From Nsp, calculate the increment of difficulty for sewing pitch P.

First, the initial value of the counter I is set to 1 (S8
1) Clear the small pitch number Nsp (S82). If I is less than the total stitch number Nst (S83: No), the I-th command is read (S84). If the I-th command is a stitch (S85: Yes), the sewing pitch P is calculated from the X and Y movement amounts, and if P is smaller than the small pitch reference value Pst (S86: Yes), the small pitch number is calculated. Nsp is incremented by 1 (S87), and the process proceeds to S88. If the I-th command is not a stitch (S85: No), or if the sewing pitch P is equal to or larger than the small pitch reference value Pst (S86: No) even if the command is a stitch (S86: No), the process directly proceeds to S88. S88
The counter I is incremented at and I is the total stitch number Nst
Repeat steps S83 to S88 until
Find the small pitch number Nsp.

When I becomes larger than the total stitch number Nst (S83: Yes), the calculation of the small pitch number Nsp is completed. The smaller the small pitch number Nsp, the easier the upper thread is to break, so this small pitch number Nsp is
If it is larger than the standard small pitch number Nsp1 (S90: Yes),
Increasing amount Inc6 is added to sewing difficulty Nd (S91), and
The small pitch number Nsp is the second reference small pitch number Nsp2 shown in FIG.
If it is larger than (> Nsp1) (S92: Yes), the increase amount Inc7 is added to the sewing difficulty Nd (S93).

As described above, the number of times the upper thread is broken in the past is S71, S72, the maximum number of revolutions is S73 to S76, the slipping of the upper thread is S77, S78, and the hardness of the sewing material is S79, S80. Regarding the number of small pitches, in S90 to S93, the degree of difficulty increase (corresponding to the degree of sewing difficulty index) is calculated for each item, and the degree of sewing difficulty Nd which is the total value of the degree of difficulty increase is calculated. This calculated sewing difficulty is R
It is stored in the comment storage section of the sewing data file stored in the sewing data memory 34a of the AM 34.

The tables for the reference values (Ncst, Nst1, Nst2, Pst, Nsp1, Nsp2) and the increments (Inc1 to Inc7) in the difficulty calculation processing shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 are as described above. Since these values are stored in the flash memory 35, these values can be changed arbitrarily. Therefore, regarding specific items that are considered to be a major factor of needle thread breakage,
It is possible to make the judgment criteria strict and to increase the increment of the sewing difficulty level due to the judgment.

As shown in FIG. 5, when the sewing difficulty level is calculated in S18, the process proceeds to S19 and the difficulty level display process is executed. As shown in FIG. 11, in the difficulty display processing,
First, four sewing conditions including past needle thread breakage frequency Nc, maximum rotation speed Nmax of the sewing machine motor 50, needle thread slippage, and sewing material hardness, and the small pitch number Nsp calculated in the difficulty calculation processing. And are displayed on the display 19 (S100).
Here, when the difficulty level display flag Fd2 is not 1, that is, when the difficulty level display is not permitted (S101: No), the process directly returns. If the display of the difficulty level is permitted (S101: Yes), if the sewing difficulty level is higher than 5 (S101: Yes)
102: Yes), displaying that the difficulty level is high on the display 19 and generating a warning sound (S103). Here, the display of the display 19 may be blinked to call attention to the operator.

Further, the small stitch number Nsp is the second value shown in FIG.
If it is larger than the standard small stitch number Nsp2 (S104: Yes
), That the number of small-pitch stitches is large is displayed on the display 19 (S105). Further, if the slip of the upper thread is bad (S106: Yes), the fact that the slip of the upper thread is bad is displayed on the display 19 (S107), and if the sewing material is hard (S108: Yes), the sewing material is It is displayed on the display 19 that it is hard (S109).

After the difficulty level display processing is executed, as shown in FIG. 6, when the operator presses the start key of the operation panel 18 to start sewing (S20: Yes), the counter I is set to the initial value. It is set to 1 (S21) and I is the total number of stitches.
Until it becomes larger than Nst (S22: Yes) and the multi-head sewing machine M stops (S23), steps S24 to S43 are repeated as follows.

Immediately after the start of sewing, the temporary stop flag Fts is 0 (S24: Yes), and if the operator presses the stop key of the operation panel 18 at this time (S25: Ye
s), the process proceeds to S36, and if not (S25: No), the I-th command of the sewing data is read (S26). If the I-th command is stitch or feed (S27: Ye
s), the X and Y movement amounts are read (S28), and the embroidery frame is moved within the XY plane (S29). Further, if the I-th command is stitch (S30: Yes), the needle is dropped (S30: Yes).
31), the counter I is incremented by 1 (S32), and the process returns to S22.

On the other hand, when the I-th command is the comment display (S33: Yes), the sewing-related comment display flag is displayed.
When Fd1 is 1, that is, when the display of the sewing-related comment is permitted (S34: Yes), the sewing-related comment at the position specified by the address data is read out in the comment storage unit and the comment is displayed on the display 19. Display (S35) and move to S36. here,
The multi-head sewing machine M is paused and the pause flag is displayed so that the operator can check the displayed comment.
Fts is set to 1 (S36), and the process returns to S24.

The sewing-related comment displayed here is a comment for calling the operator's attention such as that there are many small-pitch stitches in the sewing work after the comment. If the sewing data file is a name drop, the content of the embroidery pattern to be sewn next is displayed as a sewing-related comment. When the sewing-related comment display flag Fd1 is not 1, that is, when the display is not permitted (S34: No), the process directly proceeds to S36. In this case, if it is not necessary to temporarily stop the multi-head sewing machine M, the process may proceed to S32 without proceeding to S36.

If the command is neither a stitch nor a feed (S27: No) and is not a comment display (S33:
No), in reality, other command processing such as color change is performed and then the process proceeds to S32. However, since the process is not related to the essence of the present invention, its description is omitted.

When the I-th command is a comment display or the stop key is pressed and the multi-head sewing machine M is temporarily stopped, that is, when the temporary stop flag Fts is 1 (S24: No), Operation panel 18 by the operator
When a command to skip to the next comment is input (S37: Yes) by pressing the cursor key of (S37) or the like, the comment progress processing is executed (S38).

The comment progressing process shown in FIG. 12 is a process for checking the next sewing-related comment during sewing and skipping the sewing work during that time. First, until the next sewing-related comment is displayed, X of the embroidery frame 16
The Y-direction cumulative movement amounts Xtot and Ytot are cleared (S110
), The counter I is incremented by 1 (S111), and the I-th command is read (S112). If the command is stitch or feed (S113: Yes), the movement amounts (Xi, Yi) in the X and Y directions are read (S114) and added to the accumulated movement amounts Xtot and Ytot (S115). Here, if the counter I is more than the total number of stitches (S116:
Yes), the I-th command is the last command of the sewing data, so the process moves to S120, and the cumulative movement amount Xtot,
The embroidery frame 16 is moved in the X and Y directions by Ytot (S120) and the process returns.

If the counter I is less than the total number of stitches Nst (S116: No) and the I-th command is not a comment display (S117: No), the process returns to S117 and the accumulated movement amount X is returned.
Repeat the calculation of tot and Ytot. If the I-th command is the comment display (S117: Yes) and the sewing-related comment display flag Fd1 is 1 and the display is permitted (S117: Yes),
118: Yes), the corresponding sewing-related comment is displayed on the display 19 (S119), and the cumulative movement amount Xtot
, Ytot, the embroidery frame 16 is moved in the X and Y directions (S120), and the process returns. If Fd1 is 0 and the display is not permitted (S118: No), the accumulated movement amount X is displayed without displaying the corresponding sewing-related comment on the display 19.
The embroidery frame is moved in the X and Y directions by tot and Ytot respectively (S120), and the process returns.

On the other hand, in FIG. 6, when the operator presses the cursor key of the operation panel 18 in the temporary stop state of the multi-head sewing machine M and inputs a command to skip to the previous comment (S39: Yes). The comment backward processing is executed (S38). In the comment retreat processing shown in FIG. 13, the previous sewing-related comment can be confirmed during sewing,
This is processing for skipping to the comment display command for the next sewing-related comment by the comment progress processing and then returning to the comment display command for the original sewing-related comment.

First, cumulative movement amounts Xtot, Y of the embroidery frame 16 in the X and Y directions until the previous sewing-related comment is displayed.
Tot is cleared (S130), the counter I is decremented by 1 (S131), and the I-th command is read (S132).
). If the command is stitch or feed (S133
: Yes), the X and Y movement amounts (Xi, Yi) are read (S134), and they are subtracted from the cumulative movement amounts Xtot and Ytot, respectively (S135). If the counter I is 0 or less (S136: Yes), the I-th command is the first command of the sewing data, and therefore the accumulated movement amount Xtot, Y
Move the embroidery frame in the X and Y directions by tot respectively (S140
), Return.

The counter I is larger than 0 (S136: N
o), if the I-th command is not a comment display (S1
37: No), returning to S131, cumulative movement amount Xtot, Ytot
Is repeated. When the I-th command is the comment display (S137: Yes), if the sewing-related comment display flag Fd1 is 1 and the display of the corresponding sewing-related comment is permitted (S138: Yes), the comment is displayed. (S139), the embroidery frame 16 is moved in the X and Y directions by the cumulative movement amounts Xtot and Ytot (S140), and the process returns. If Fd1 is 0 and the display is not permitted (S138: No), the accumulated movement amount Xto is not displayed on the display 19 without displaying the corresponding sewing-related comment.
The embroidery frame 16 is moved in the X and Y directions by t and Ytot (S140), and the process is returned.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6, when the operator presses the start key of the operation panel 18 to restart sewing (S41), the temporary stop flag Fts is cleared (S42), and the display is displayed. The sewing-related comment displayed in 19 is erased (S43), and the process returns to S24. This S
The processing from 24 to S43 is repeatedly executed until the processing of the last command of the sewing data is completed, and when the counter I becomes larger than the stitch number Nst (S22: Yes), the multi-head sewing machine M is stopped (S23).

In the above description, the operation panel 18
Corresponds to the display means, and the FD 21 or HD 39 corresponds to the storage means. In addition, a microcomputer and FIGS.
The flow chart of the comment display control corresponds to the comment display control means, and the flow chart of the microcomputer and the difficulty calculation processing of FIG. 8 corresponds to the difficulty calculation means.

According to the multi-head sewing machine M described above, the following effects can be obtained. 1) By the comment display control of FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, it is possible to display the file specific comment, the sewing-related comment, and the sewing difficulty level stored in the comment storage section of the sewing data file stored in the FD 21 or the HD 39 on the display 19. . Therefore, when selecting one of the plurality of sewing data files, the file specific comment is displayed on the display 19 together with the file names of the plurality of sewing data files, so that the operator selects which file. It is possible to easily determine whether or not to do so, and there is no mistake in selecting the sewing data file.

Before the start of sewing, the sewing-related comments and the degree of difficulty of sewing are displayed on the display 19. Therefore, the operator should be careful when sewing the sewing object based on these sewing-related comments and the degree of difficulty of sewing. You can check the points. Therefore, even if the worker changes, these comments allow the new worker to grasp the degree of difficulty of sewing and the points to be noted when sewing, and to set various conditions in the sewing work appropriately, and promptly Since the upper thread is not broken and the sewing work can be performed at high speed, the sewing work can be continuously and efficiently performed.

Further, since the comment display command for displaying the comment stored in the comment storage unit and the address data for reading the comment are stored in the middle of the sewing data stored in the sewing data storage unit, the sewing process is completed. In, the sewing-related comment corresponding to the address data can be read from the comment storage unit and the comment can be displayed on the display 19. Therefore, for example, by displaying the sewing-related comment that the number of small stitches is large in the subsequent sewing work in front of the sewing data with many stitches with small pitches, and alerting the operator, Reduces the sewing speed, etc.
Appropriate measures can be taken.

2) By the comment display setting process of FIG.
Since it is possible to set permission / non-permission of the sewing related comments and the degree of difficulty of sewing, when an unskilled worker performs the sewing work, the display of the comment is permitted, while the skilled worker performs the sewing work. In that case, the comment can be prevented from being displayed.

3) In the difficulty calculation process of FIG. 8, each of the plurality of sewing condition items contained in the sewing condition information, such as the number of upper thread breaks and the maximum number of revolutions of the sewing machine motor 50, and the number of small pitch stitches. The degree of difficulty increase (sewing difficulty index) is calculated for each item, and the degree of sewing difficulty that is the total value of the degree of difficulty increase is calculated. Furthermore, the standard value (Nc
st, Nst1, Nst2, Pst, Nsp1, Nsp2) and increment (Inc1 ~ Inc
Since the table for 7) is stored in the flash memory 35 as described above, these values can be arbitrarily changed. Therefore, for certain items that are considered to be a major factor of needle thread breakage, the judgment criteria are tightened, and the increment of the sewing difficulty due to the judgment is increased, so that the effect of the item on the sewing difficulty is large. This can be reflected in the calculation of the sewing difficulty level.

4) According to the difficulty level display processing of FIG. 11, it is difficult to sew when the degree of sewing difficulty is higher than a predetermined level or when the predetermined items (the number of small pitches, the slipperiness of the upper thread, the hardness of the sewing material) are sewn. Only when it is determined that the warning can be displayed on the display 19 or the warning sound can be generated, the warning is not unnecessarily issued and the operator is not bothered.

5) When a certain sewing-related comment is displayed and the multi-head sewing machine M is temporarily stopped, the next sewing-related comment or the previous sewing is executed by the comment advancing process of FIG. 12 and the comment backward process of FIG. Since the related comment can be displayed, it is possible to confirm the next sewing work or return to the original sewing work state after checking the comment. When the next sewing-related comment or the previous sewing-related comment is displayed, the X- and Y-direction cumulative movement amounts Xtot, Ytot of the embroidery frame 16 are calculated from the sewing data in the meantime.
Is calculated and the embroidery frame 16 is moved by the cumulative movement amounts Xtot and Ytot, it is possible to skip the sewing work by the sewing data during that time and start the next sewing work.

Next, a description will be given of a modified form in which various modifications are made to the above embodiment. 1) The comment storage unit may be provided in a file different from the sewing data file, and the sewing data file may store address data for designating addresses of the respective comments in the comment storage unit. Alternatively, the basic data storage unit, the sewing data storage unit, and the comment storage unit may be provided in separate files, and the data may be read from each file as appropriate. In addition, among the sewing-related comments,
The comment displayed during sewing may be stored in the sewing data storage unit together with the comment display command.

2] The reference value and increment table of each item shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 may be stored in another rewritable memory such as an EEPROM, or may be read from the FD 21 or HD 39 to the RAM 34. You may comprise. 3) The present invention can be applied to a single-head type embroidery sewing machine and various other sewing machines. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to various modifications of the above embodiment without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0074]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the comment display control means includes the comment regarding the sewing data itself including the file-specific comment stored in the comment storage unit stored in the storage means such as the FD and the sewing-related. Comments and comments such as the degree of difficulty of sewing can be displayed on the display. Therefore, for example, when selecting one of a plurality of sewing data files, by displaying a file-specific comment for the plurality of sewing data files together with their file names on the display,
The operator can easily determine which file to select, and does not make a mistake in selecting the sewing data file.

By appropriately displaying the sewing-related comments, the degree of difficulty of sewing, and the like on the display before or during the start of sewing, the operator should pay attention to the points to be noted when sewing the sewing target from these comments. You can check. Therefore, even if the operator is replaced, the new operator can easily grasp the precautions at the time of sewing from these comments and appropriately set various conditions in the sewing work, and the upper thread will not break. Since the sewing work can be performed at high speed, the sewing work can be continuously and efficiently performed.

According to the invention of claim 2, the comment stored in the comment storage section stored in the storage means such as the HD of the personal computer connected to the sewing machine can be displayed on the display. An effect similar to is obtained.

According to the invention of claim 3, the storage means includes:
Since the sewing machine is provided with the basic data storage unit that stores sewing conditions and management information, the sewing data storage unit, and the comment storage unit, the number of times the upper thread is cut in the past, the sewing speed, the material of the upper thread, and the sewing material. Information such as the material of the can be stored in the basic data storage unit. In addition, the same effect as that of claim 1 or 2 can be obtained.

According to the invention of claim 4, the sewing condition information stored in the basic data storage section stored in the storage means includes:
Since information about at least one of the number of times the upper thread has been cut, the material of the upper thread, the material of the sewing material, and the sewing speed is included, it is possible to display this information on the display or to perform sewing based on this information. It is possible to judge the difficulty of sewing when sewing. Others, claim 3
The same effect as can be obtained.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, at least the sewing difficulty level when the sewing target is sewn is calculated using the sewing condition information and the sewing data stored in the basic data storage section to calculate the comment storage section. Since the difficulty calculating means for storing the sewing difficulty is provided, the difficulty calculating means calculates the sewing difficulty from the sewing condition information and the sewing data and stores it in the comment storage section, and the sewing difficulty is calculated by the comment display control means. By displaying it on the display, the operator can confirm the difficulty level at the time of sewing on the display.
In addition, the same effect as that of claim 3 or 4 can be obtained.

According to the invention of claim 6, the difficulty calculation means calculates the sewing difficulty index for each of the plurality of items of sewing condition items included in the sewing condition information, and calculates the total value of the plurality of items of sewing difficulty index. Calculate a certain sewing difficulty level. Therefore, for example, the sewing difficulty index of the predetermined sewing condition item that is the largest factor of needle thread breakage can be made particularly large, and the effect can be reflected in the calculation of the sewing difficulty. In addition, the same effect as in claim 5 is obtained.

According to the invention of claim 7, the comment display control means causes the display of the display means to display the comment stored in the comment storage portion during a predetermined part of the sewing work. When the created sewing data file is a name drop, the contents of the sewing work based on the next sewing data can be confirmed.

According to the invention of claim 8, the address data for reading the comment stored in the comment storage section is stored in the middle of the sewing data stored in the sewing data storage section. It is possible to read the sewing-related comment corresponding to the address data from the comment storage unit and display the sewing-related comment on the display by the comment display control means.
Before the sewing data with many stitches with small pitches, a sewing-related comment that there are many stitches with small pitches in the subsequent sewing work can be displayed to call the operator's attention. In addition, the same effect as that of any one of claims 1 to 7 can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a multi-head sewing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control system of a multi-head sewing machine.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data structure of a sewing data file.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a data structure of a sewing data storage unit.

FIG. 5 is a part of a flowchart of a main routine of comment display control.

FIG. 6 is the remainder of the flowchart of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a comment display setting process.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a difficulty level calculation process.

FIG. 9 is a table of reference values for sewing difficulty index calculation.

FIG. 10 is a table of increments for calculating a sewing difficulty index.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a difficulty level display process.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of comment progress processing.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of comment backward processing.

[Explanation of symbols]

M multi-head sewing machine 18 Operation panel 19 display 21 FD 32 CPU 33 ROM 34 RAM 39 HD

Continued front page    F term (reference) 3B150 AA15 AA18 AA21 CB04 CE23                       CE29 EB03 EB09 EH01 GD01                       GD14 GD22 GF09 GG04 GG06                       JA02 JA03 JA07 JA11 LA26                       LA29 LA32 LA52 LA84 LA85                       LA88 MA00 MA03 NA10 NA25                       NA28 NA31 NA71 NA72 NA80                       NB09 NB13 NB18 NC02 NC03                       NC06 NC11 QA06 QA07

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A sewing machine having display means including a display and storage means for storing sewing data, wherein the sewing data is read based on the sewing data read from the storage means. A sewing machine comprising: a comment storage unit that stores one or a plurality of comments relating to the sewing work based on the sewing operation; and a comment display control unit that displays the comment stored in the comment storage unit on a display of a display unit. 2. A sewing machine which has a display means including a display, is connected to a storage means for storing sewing data, and performs a sewing operation based on the sewing data read from the storage means, the sewing data itself and the sewing data thereof. A sewing machine, comprising: a comment storage unit that stores one or a plurality of comments related to sewing work based on the above; and a comment display control unit that displays the comment stored in the comment storage unit on a display of a display unit. . 3. The storage means comprises a basic data storage section for storing sewing conditions and management information, a sewing data storage section, and the comment storage section. Sewing machine described in. 4. The sewing condition information stored in the basic data storage section of the storage means includes information on at least one of the number of times the upper thread is cut, the material of the upper thread, the material of the sewing material, and the sewing speed. The sewing machine according to claim 3, wherein: 5. A difficulty level calculation means for calculating at least a sewing difficulty level when sewing an object to be sewn using the sewing condition information and the sewing data stored in the basic data storage section and storing it in the comment storage section. The sewing machine according to claim 3 or 4, further comprising: 6. The difficulty calculating means calculates a sewing difficulty index for each of a plurality of items of sewing condition items included in the sewing condition information, and calculates a sewing difficulty which is a total value of the plurality of items of sewing difficulty index. The sewing machine according to claim 5, wherein: 7. The comment display control means displays the comment stored in the comment storage section on the display of the display means during a predetermined sewing operation. The sewing machine according to any one of claims. 8. The address data for reading the comment stored in the comment storage unit is stored in the middle of the sewing data stored in the sewing data storage unit. Sewing machine described in.