JP2867715B2 - Embroidery sewing data creation method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for creating embroidery sewing data for an embroidery sewing machine that performs embroidery sewing based on embroidery sewing data. It is about the creation method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to create embroidery sewing data from contour data, an apparatus called a punching machine composed of a personal computer and a digitizer is used. Assuming a plurality of blocks for dividing the pattern, the vertices of each block are plotted with markers, and the position data is stored in a memory, and then the thread density data is set. Based on the position data (block data) and the yarn density data, a needle position that alternately connects two opposing sides of the block is calculated.

The applicant of the present invention has proposed a data processing apparatus for an embroidery sewing machine which has been filed in Japanese Patent Application No. 1-297381 as an alternative to a punching machine. This processing device reads an outline of a closed area to be embroidered by outline reading means, divides the closed area into a plurality of blocks based on the outline data, and determines a sewing order for each block by a sewing order determining means. It is automatically calculated. On the other hand, yarn density data is set in advance for each closed region. According to the calculated sewing order, actual needle position data is calculated for each block based on the thread density data and the block data.

[0004] Here, embroidery is performed on two opposing blocks.
The stitching is performed by alternately connecting the contour line elements of a book to form a stitch. The embroidery progressing direction is a direction in which the pattern is filled with the stitch. For example, the coordinates of the vertexes are designated by numbers.

When the pattern to be embroidered is a trapezoid 88 shown in FIG. 8A, a starting point is set for every four contour line elements 90,
Data for designating the coordinates of the end point and the straight line are created, the numbers of the coordinates of the four vertices are assigned, and the embroidery traveling direction is designated. No. 1 is the start point, No. 4 is the end point, and the embroidery proceeds in the direction indicated by the arrow by connecting the points on the sides 1-3 and 2-4 alternately.

When the pattern to be embroidered is a triangle 92 as shown in FIG. 9A, two numbers are assigned to one of the three vertices. The reason why these numbers are two is that the stitches are formed by alternately connecting the opposite sides during embroidery. Further, in the case of the sector shape, data is formed similarly to the trapezoid 88. Note that the trapezoid includes one defined by four contour line elements and one defined by three contour line elements in which one side of a triangle forms an arc. When the pattern to be embroidered is an alphabet, a character, a symbol, a figure, or the like, the pattern may be divided into a plurality of triangles, squares, or sectors, and pattern data may be created for each block. In this case, the pattern includes a plurality of pattern data,
It has data indicating the number of pattern data. When a triangle, a quadrangle, and a sector form one pattern independently, the number of embroidery data is one. A block in which pattern data is created in this way is called a basic block.

Now, needle drop position data (stitch data) for satin sewing the basic blocks shown in FIGS. 8 (a) and 9 (a) is calculated based on the block data and predetermined thread density data. Then, the calculated hand positions are shown in FIGS. 8B and 9B, respectively. Here, the side (contour line element) 1-3 and the side (contour line element)
The needle positions are alternately determined at fixed intervals on 2-4. When the length of the side (contour line element) is zero (when it is a point), the needle position is determined intensively at that point.

If the thread density is given by the number of stitches for each block, FIG. 8 shows 11 and FIG. 9 shows 13, but usually the middle point of the side 1-2 and the side 3-4 By setting the value obtained by dividing the length connecting the middle points by a predetermined value as the thread density of the block, the seam density of the entire block group can be made substantially constant.

[0009]

However, the conventional method is inefficient because the operator manually specifies the embroidery method one by one according to the situation. Further, if all the embroidery methods are determined in advance and the whole is sewn, the sewn method according to the situation is not performed, so that the appearance of the finished sewn is eventually deteriorated. This is a problem, especially when the sewing is performed with overlapping.

Generally, once embroidery sewing is performed, the fabric tends to be hard. When the seam forming portion of the fabric is sewn again (in the case of double stitching), it is difficult to immediately close the hole formed by the needle when the needle once pierced into the fabric comes out. If the needle drop interval when sewing twice, the stitch length for satin stitching, and the pitch of tatami for tatami sewing are fine, the amount of lower thread pulled out does not decrease to a certain extent compared to the amount of upper thread pulled out, It becomes relatively large, and the lower thread easily appears on the surface of the fabric. In particular, when sewn with tatami, the thread is sewn to the cloth at a fixed short interval compared to satin sewing, so the degree of hardening of the cloth is remarkable, so if you sew it there twice, Further, the lower thread is easily exposed.

Further, if the interval between the needle drops at the time of the second sewing is small, the number of needle drops per unit area itself becomes large, which leads to the hardening of the fabric.

[0012] By these actions, the lower thread is easily exposed to the outside, and the appearance of the finished sewing is deteriorated. And this becomes remarkable when the bottom is sewn. This phenomenon occurs not only when the same stitch forming area is sewn twice, but also when
This also occurs when sewing three or four times, and the lower the thread, the more likely it is to appear on the surface of the fabric as the number of times of sewing is increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and an object of the present invention is to change the embroidery method of an area to be sewn so that the lower thread can be displayed even when sewn. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for efficiently creating data that can prevent stitching and provide good-looking embroidery sewing.

[0014]

In order to achieve this object, an embroidery sewing data creating method according to the present invention is based on contour data indicating contours of a plurality of closed areas, and based on the contour data for each closed area. Storing the embroidery method data indicating the embroidery method at the time of embroidering in the storage means in association with the sewing order of the closed area. Determining a closed area that overlaps the previous closed area; correcting the embroidery method data stored in the storage means for the closed area determined to overlap; And generating embroidery sewing data for performing embroidery sewing on each of the closed regions based on corrected or uncorrected embroidery method data.

[0015]

According to the present invention having the above structure, the contour data indicating the contours of a plurality of closed areas and the embroidery method data indicating the embroidery method when embroidering based on the contour data are closed for each closed area. The storage means is stored in the storage means in association with the sewing order of the areas, and from the storage means, it is determined that the sewing order is a closed area in which the sewing order is later than the closed area and which overlaps the previous closed area. Correcting the embroidery method stored in the storage means corresponding to the closed area determined to overlap, and embroidering each closed area based on the contour data and the corrected or uncorrected embroidery method data. Embroidery sewing data for the embroidery.

Thus, based on the overlap between the closed areas,
By changing the embroidery method of the closed area to be sewn later to an embroidery method in which the lower thread is hard to appear on the surface of the cloth, the lower thread is hardly exposed to the front side when sewing the upper area. As a result, even if there is an area to be sewn in an overlapped manner, the lower thread is not exposed, and embroidery sewing data that can be sewn with good appearance can be efficiently created.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 2, a sewing machine frame 14 is provided on the sewing machine table 10. The sewing machine frame 14 is
It comprises a pillar 16 rising from the bed 12 and an upper arm 18 extending cantilevered from the upper end of the pillar 16 and substantially parallel to the bed 12. This sewing machine frame 14
, A needle bar 22 is attached via a needle bar base (not shown) so as to be vertically movable, and a sewing needle 24 is fixed to a lower end thereof. The needle bar 22 is connected to a main shaft rotated by a sewing machine motor 26 (see FIG. 3) via a needle bar holder, a needle bar crank, or the like, and the needle bar 22 and the sewing needle 24 are vertically reciprocated by the driving of the sewing machine motor 26. Let me do.
An opening is formed in the upper surface of the bed 12. This opening is closed by a needle plate 30, and the needle plate 30 has a needle hole 3.
8 are formed.

An embroidery frame 42 is mounted on the sewing machine table 10 and the bed 12 so as to be movable in the X-axis direction which is the left-right direction of the sewing machine and the Y-axis direction which is the front-back direction. The embroidery frame 42 includes an annular outer frame 44 and an outer frame 44.
And an inner frame 46 fitted inside the
The work cloth is held by 46. The outer frame 44 is formed with a slide portion 48 extending in a direction away from the sewing machine frame 16 in the X-axis direction, and is slidably fitted to a pair of guide pipes 50 provided on the sewing machine table 10 in the Y-axis direction. Have been. Both ends of the guide pipe 50 are supported by support tables 52 and 54. One support 52
Is moved in the X-axis direction by a feed screw 56 and an X-axis feed motor 58, and the other support 54 is
Are spaced apart from the upper surface. These slide parts 4
8, a pair of endless wires 60 are engaged with the support bases 52 and 54, and the slide portion 48 is moved in the Y-axis direction by the wires 60 being moved by the rotation transmitting shaft 62 and the feed motor 64. Can be The embroidery frame 42 is moved to an arbitrary position in the horizontal plane by the movement of the support base 52 in the X-axis direction and the movement of the slide portion 48 in the Y-axis direction. The fabric is embroidered.

The sewing machine is controlled by a control device 70. The control device 70, as shown in FIG.
2. A computer mainly including a ROM 74, a RAM 76, a bus 78, and the like. An input interface 80 is connected to the bus 78, and a keyboard 82 and an external storage device 84 are connected to the input interface 80. The keyboard 82 is used to input an embroidery pattern to be applied to a work cloth, a pattern formation interval, a seam density, and the like. The keys include keys for designating embroidery patterns such as alphabets, numbers, symbols, and kana. Various necessary keys are provided. Further, the external storage device 84 stores data relating to a pattern to be embroidered.

As shown in FIG. 5A, the external storage device 84 stores outline data indicating the outline of each of a plurality of closed areas P1 to P7 constituting a pattern (design P0) to be embroidered. Have been. Here, the contour data of the closed region is set as position data of a plurality of dot sequences set on the contour in order to define the contour (one closed contour). Points on this outline are referred to as constituent points. Note that, as the contour data, in addition to the data representing the point sequence on the outline, a free curve is formed by a start point, an end point (the position of the start point and the end point is the same because of one closed contour), and a control point. It may show a Bezier curve to be expressed. Further, an embroidery sewing start point and an end point are stored for each closed area.

The bus 78 also has an output interface 10.
0, and the output interface 100 is connected to the motor drive circuits 104, 106, and 108 and the display drive circuit 11
0, sewing machine motor 26, X-axis feed motor 58, Y
The axis feed motor 64 and the display device 112 are connected. The display device 112 displays a pattern to be embroidered on a screen based on the pattern data. Also, RAM7
In FIG. 6, as shown in FIG. 4, an outline memory, an embroidery method data memory, a positional relationship memory, a sewing order memory, a needle drop pitch memory, a satin selection memory, a counter and the like are provided together with a working area. In addition, RO
A program for creating embroidery stitching data shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6 is stored in M74.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described by taking as an example a case where the thread density in the embroidery area is changed for the pattern P0 shown in FIG.

The symbol P0 includes seven closed areas P1 to P7 as shown in FIG. 2A, and the outline (outer shape) data is stored in the external storage device 84. The pattern P0 is roughly as shown in FIG.
The closed area P1 is supposed to be sewn, and the others are satin sewn, and the thread density is all specified to a predetermined standard value.

The operator inputs a command to start the program from the keyboard 82. Then, the CPU transfers the outline information of the closed area P0 from the external storage device 84 to the RAM 7.
6 (step S80 in FIG. 6).
1, hereinafter simply referred to as S801. Others are the same). Next, the closed area P1 is designated for tatami sewing, and the tatami pitch and the like are also designated. Satin sewing is performed for the other closed areas P2 to P7. The yarn densities for these closed regions P2 to P7 are not specified because they are standard. The sewing order is area P
Make sure that 1 is first. The selection data indicating whether the sewing is sewn or satin is stored in a satin selection memory area of the RAM 76 for each closed area. The tatami pitch is stored in the needle drop pitch memory area of the RAM 76, and the standard value of the thread density is stored for each area in the thread density memory area of the RAM 76 when the thread density is standard.

Then, block data is automatically calculated based on the outline data of the area (S802). Since the automatic calculation from the contour data to the block data is described in Japanese Patent Application No. 1-297381 filed earlier by the present applicant, the details are omitted. FIG. 5B shows a state where each of the closed areas P1 to P7 is blocked.

The process advances to step S803 to store the thread density, the position coordinates, the sewing order, the embroidery method, and the needle drop pitch for the block in the RAM 76 in association with the closed area for each block. Here, the sewing order is stored in the sewing order area of the RAM 76, and the embroidery method is stored in the embroidery method data memory area of the RAM 76. The embroidery method indicates which sewing method is selected from the sewing methods such as satin sewing, tatami sewing, contour running sewing, and contour zigzag sewing. Note that the contour running stitching is to perform running stitching at a predetermined pitch along a contour line of a closed region including the block based on the block data. The zigzag stitch of a predetermined width is performed along the contour of the closed area including the block based on the staggered stitch.

At the stage of conversion from block data to single stitch data, satin sewing is performed unless otherwise specified, and data of the specified sewing method is automatically calculated if specified.

Next, the total number of outlines is substituted for a variable N. Here, the total number is 7 in the closed areas P1 to P7 (S80).
4). Then, the variable C is initialized to 1 (S805). C
Indicates the number of the area currently being processed.

Next, it is checked whether there is another area to be sewn before the area under the C-th area (S806). The overlap determination routine S806 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

Here, for the sake of simplicity, if the upper region slightly departs from the lower region, it is assumed that the regions do not overlap. Of course, it is possible to determine the overlap if the area is overlapped by a certain area, for example, 50% or more, or to determine the overlap for each block when the area is made up of a plurality of blocks.

When entering this routine, the number of constituent points of the C-th area is substituted for a variable D (S901). Here, the constituent point is a point defining the outer shape of the area. If the outer shape line is a straight line, the constituent point itself is used. If the outer shape line is a curve, it is assumed that points on the curve are at sufficiently fine intervals. Next, a variable E representing a point in the area C and a F representing a closed area are initialized to 1 (S902, S903). Then, it is determined whether the E-th point of the area C is in the F-th closed area (S90).
4). This determination can be made by examining whether the point E is on the right side or the left side on any of the constituent sides in the area F or the like. Here, if it is determined that the area is within the area, the result is YES, the process proceeds to S905, and the variable E indicating the constituent point of the C closed area is incremented. Determine whether If NO, the process returns to S904, and it is determined whether the next constituent point is in the closed area F. If all the constituent points continue to be within the region F, YES is determined in S906, and the process proceeds to S907.
NO is determined in 904 and the process proceeds to S910. In S910, the overlap flag of the closed area F is cleared. This indicates that the closed area C is not included in the closed area F. After this, the CPU
In step S908, the process proceeds to step S908.

If the determination in S906 is YES, C
The PU 72 proceeds to the process of S907, and sets the overlap flag of the closed area F. This indicates that the closed area C is included in the closed area F. Thereafter, the CPU 72 proceeds to the processing of S908. In S908, the CPU 72 increments the variable F representing the closed area, proceeds to S909, and determines whether all the closed areas from the beginning to the Cth have been checked.
If it is O, the process returns to S904 to check for the next area, and Y
If it is ES, this routine ends.

In the overlap determination routine S806, C
After determining whether or not there is another closed area to be sewn before the second closed area, the CPU 72 proceeds to the process of S807. Here, as a result of the check in S806, it is determined whether or not there is a closed area to be sewn with the tatami below. If there is, the process proceeds to S808, and if not, the process proceeds to S808.
Proceed to the process of 809. Here, the closed area P1 is NO because it is the first time, and the process proceeds to S809. Then, the variable C representing the closed area is incremented, and the process proceeds to S810 to determine whether the processing has been performed for all the closed areas, that is, whether C is greater than N. Since the variable N is 7 and the variable C is 2, the result is NO, and the process returns to S806.

In step S806, it is checked whether or not the closed area P2 is sewn before the closed area P2. Since the closed area P1 overlaps the closed area P2 by sewing, the determination in S807 is YES this time and the process proceeds to S808. Here, it is determined whether or not the separate closed area under the sewing is tatami sewing.If the satin sewing is used, the work cloth is not so hard, so the lower thread does not appear much on the surface of the work cloth, but if it is tatami, This is because the work cloth becomes hard, and some correction is required so that the lower thread does not come out of the work cloth. Further, if the closed area P1 is contour running or the like, nothing is sewn inside the closed area P1, so that correction of the area P2 is not necessary.

In step S808, the embroidery method for the C-th closed area is changed from satin sewing to contour running sewing and stored in the embroidery method data memory area of the RAM 76. The needle drop pitch of the contour running needs to be longer than a certain length so that the lower thread pull-out amount does not become larger than the upper thread pull-out amount. For example, a pitch of about 2 mm is specified. This contour running stitching is performed at a needle drop pitch set along the contour line of the closed area. In this method, the points constituting the outline of the closed area are connected in order and connected by running sewing.

Then, the flow advances to S809, where the variable C is incremented, and the flow advances to S810. In S810, it is determined whether or not the processing has been completed for all the closed areas, and S806 to S809 are repeated as long as the closed areas remain. When the processing is completed for all the closed areas, the process proceeds to S811 to perform a single stitch calculation for obtaining needle drop data based on the changed data (S811), and stores the single stitch data in a storage medium such as a floppy disk. To end the processing.

FIG. 5D shows the result of embroidering based on the calculated needle drop data. Here, for easy understanding, the closed area P1 and the other closed areas P2 to P7 are shown separately. As shown in FIG. 5C, the closed areas P2 to P7 are initially set to satin stitching, but are changed to contour running stitching by the processing of this embodiment.

The operator operates the symbol P0 from the keyboard 82.
Is issued, the data processed by the control device 70 is read out, sent to the sewing machine, and the sewing machine sewes the pattern P0.

As is apparent from the above description, in the present embodiment, S801 to S801 except for S802 of the CPU 72 are executed.
The processing up to 803 constitutes the contour, embroidery method, and sewing order storage steps shown in FIG. 1, and S806, that is, the routine of FIG. 7 constitutes the overlap determination step of FIG.
The steps S804 to S810 except for the step S804 constitute the embroidery method correcting step of FIG. 1, and the steps S802 and S811 constitute the step of creating the embroidery data of FIG.

According to the present invention, the state of overlap is checked for each closed area, and if they overlap, the embroidery method of the portion to be sewn later is changed to a method in which the lower thread hardly appears on the surface of the work cloth according to the situation. By doing so, there is an effect that the lower thread can be prevented from coming out to the front side of the work cloth when the already sewn area is sewn again.

In the above embodiment, whether the embroidery method of the closed area sewn on the upper side is changed or not is determined according to whether the closed area sewn on the lower side is the tatami stitch. If it is coarse, the cloth does not become so hard, so that the tatami needle drop pitch in the closed area to be sewn below may be added to the judgment material for changing the embroidery method in the sewn area.

In the above embodiment, needle drop data (needle position data) is created as embroidery data. However, block-shaped embroidery data consisting of block data, thread density data, and tatami pitch data is created. Is also good. At this time, the embroidery sewing machine calculates needle drop data (needle position data) from block-shaped embroidery data, and based on the needle drop data, drives the X and Y axis feed motors 58 and 64 to control the embroidery sewing. Done.

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the overlapped lower closed region is sewn is taken as an example. However, when the lower closed region is satin sewn, the degree is smaller than that of tatami sewn. However, since the lower thread tends to come out easily, the present invention can be applied to a case where the lower closed region is a satin stitch.

Further, in the above embodiment, it is determined only whether or not there is an overlap. However, if there is an overlap, it is also possible to check how many times there is an overlap and reflect the number of times in the embroidery method change.

Further, in the above embodiment, the embroidery method of the closed area overlapping the upper part is automatically corrected. However, these correction processings are not performed automatically. It may be displayed to allow the operator to make a correction or to specify a parameter or the like for the correction.

Further, in the above embodiment, the hardness of the fabric to be sewn and the thickness and quality of the thread are not taken into consideration. It may be used to determine whether or not to change the embroidery method of the area to be sewn on taking into consideration.

In addition, without departing from the scope of the claims, the present invention can be implemented in various modified and improved forms based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art.

[0049]

As is clear from the above description,
According to the present invention, the embroidery method of the closed area to be sewn later is corrected based on the overlap between the closed areas, so that the lower thread does not come out to the front side of the work cloth when re-sewing the previously sewn portion. And the embroidery method of the closed area to be sewn later is changed, so that the embroidery can be performed with good appearance.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing steps of an embroidery sewing data creation method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a data creating machine according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of a storage unit.

FIG. 5A is an explanatory view showing a pattern P0 to be embroidered according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3B is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which closed areas P1 to P7 forming the symbol P0 are divided into blocks based on contour data. (C) is an explanatory diagram showing needle drop positions calculated from needle drop data in the closed areas P1 to P7 by a conventional method. (D) is an explanatory view showing needle drop data calculated from needle drop data and needle drop data in the closed areas P1 to P7 by the method according to the present invention based on contour data.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an overall flow of a process according to the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing of an overlap determination routine according to the embodiment.

FIG. 8A is an explanatory diagram showing a rectangular block. (B) is an explanatory view showing the actual needle drop position calculated based on the block data of the square block.

FIG. 9A is an explanatory diagram showing a triangular block. (B) is an explanatory view showing an actual needle drop position calculated based on block data of a triangular block.

[Explanation of symbols]

 70 control device 72 CPU (central processing unit) 74 ROM (read only memory) 76 RAM (random access memory) 78 bus 80 input interface 82 keyboard 84 external storage device

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An embroidery method data indicating an embroidery method at the time of performing embroidery based on the outline data for each of the plurality of closed areas and an embroidery method data indicating an embroidery method for each of the plurality of closed areas in association with the sewing order of the closed areas. The storage means is stored, and the sewing order is determined to be a closed area in which the sewing order is a later closed area with respect to the previous closed area and overlap with the previous closed area.
Correcting the embroidery method data stored in the storage means for the closed area determined to overlap, and embroidering each of the closed areas based on the contour data and the corrected or uncorrected embroidery method data; Embroidery data creating method, characterized in that embroidery sewing data is created.