JPH0257290A - Data compressing method for one needle data - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To compress an information quantity in a state that the information of one-needle data for performing various kinds of embroidery is kept in an embroidery machine, and facilitates the control and storage of the data by computing a deviation between reference position data and the other position data continuing arbitrary position data, and by expressing the other position data with the reference position data and the deviation when the computed deviation is of a value equal to or less than a specified value. CONSTITUTION:The data compression of the one position data of respective position data groups H1, H2 is performed. On the other position data P4, P5,...conntinuing the position data P2, P3 of the completed data compression, the position data of the completed data compression is set to be new reference position data, and by expressing the X-coordinate value and Y-coordinate value of the deviation through the new reference position data, respectively as the informations of 4 bits, the data compression is performed in the same manner. Then, one-needle data for performing various kinds embroiery in an embroidery machine 10 is compressed to approx. half an information quantity, and is stored as the compression data in a pattern creating means 60. Accordingly, the effective use of memory or the like is achieved, and in an internal RAM 60F, many embroidery pattern compression data can be stored.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Purpose of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention provides a series of position data (hereinafter referred to as -needle data) that defines the relative position of the sewing needle of an embroidery machine and the embroidery frame.
This invention relates to a data compression method for single-stitch data.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, embroidery machines control the relative position of a sewing needle and an embroidery frame, and move the sewing needle downward in synchronization with the position control to obtain a desired embroidery pattern. .

Therefore, by preparing various types of single-stitch data, which is the data of the relative position, and manually inputting this to the embroidery machine as appropriate,
It becomes possible to cause the embroidery machine to perform various embroideries.

However, there are the following problems in describing various data for embroidery as one-stitch data.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) Normally, -needle data represents a two-dimensional plane with rectangular coordinates of X=Y, and each position is represented with an X coordinate value and a Y coordinate value. Furthermore, it is rare for successive position data to have a large deviation of approximately 12 mm or more, and a resolution of 0°1 mm is required for sufficient position control. For this reason, conventional one-stitch data expresses the above-mentioned X coordinate value and Y coordinate value with 8 bits (1 Byte), and ranges from 0.0 to 1
A range of 2.7 mm is defined with a resolution of 0.1 mm. For this reason, 2 Bytes of information is required to express one position (L/%).Embroidery pattern data has a huge amount of information.

Therefore, the paper tape on which the single stitch data of the embroidery pattern is preceded becomes large and inconvenient to handle and store. Furthermore, since it takes a long time to transmit the needle data to the embroidery machine, it is vulnerable to disturbances such as noise entering the line, which is a factor that hinders the improvement of work efficiency.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and improves workability and reliability by compressing the amount of information while maintaining the information contained in single-stitch data for making an embroidery machine perform various types of embroidery. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a data compression method for single-stitch data that can facilitate data management and storage.

Structure of the invention (means for solving the problem) The means configured by the present invention to solve the above problems are as follows:
As shown in the basic configuration diagram in FIG. Among the position data, set arbitrary position data as reference position data (Sl), calculate the deviation between the reference position data and other position data following the arbitrary position data (S2), and calculate the calculated deviation. is less than a predetermined value, the other position data is expressed by the reference position data and the deviation (S3).

(Function) The data compression method for single stitch data of the present invention converts a series of position data that defines the relative position of the sewing needle and the embroidery frame into two types of data: reference position data and deviation. and classify them. , 1 First, arbitrary position data among a series of position data is defined as reference position data (Sl).

Next, as described above, calculate the deviation between the reference position data defined as L and other position data following it (S2), and if the calculated deviation is less than a predetermined value, use the other position data as the reference position data. Expressed by and deviation (S3)
. Thereby, among the data expressing other position data, the portion that does not include the reference position data is regarded as a repeated portion of the reference position data, and can be compressed.

Hereinafter, in order to explain the present invention more specifically, actual examples will be given and explained.

(Embodiment) FIGS. 2 to 4 are explanatory diagrams of a system configuration of a multi-needle embroidery machine comprising a pattern creation device and a multi-needle embroidery machine that employ the data compression method for single-stitch data of the embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 2, the two-pronged multi-needle embroidery machine 10 manually inputs one-stitch data from the pattern creation device 60, analyzes the manually inputted one-stitch data using the driver unit 20, and selects one stitch from among a large number of needles. Driving a needle change motor that selects the needle to be used for sewing; rotationally driving a sewing motor that moves the selected sewing needle up and down; an X-axis motor that moves the embroidery frame 30 in the X-Y direction in synchronization with the rotation; Controls the drive of the Y-axis motor, etc.

First, the configuration of the pattern creation device 60 will be explained in detail.

As shown in FIG. 2, the pattern creation device 60 is constituted by a computer equipped with a CRT 60A for displaying a two-dimensional image as peripheral equipment, a keyboard 60B and a mouse 60C used for manual control. A detailed internal configuration block diagram is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, logic elements CPU60D, ROM60E,
CRT controller 60G and video RAM 60 for controlling CRT 60A, with RAM 60F as the core
interface (I/F) 60I, 60J that transmits human power from the keyboard BOB and mouse 60C to the CPU 60D at a predetermined timing; /F) 60K, as well as a built-in flexible magnetic disk drive (FDD) 60L and hard 81K disk drive (Hr) 60M as external storage devices for non-volatile storage of a large amount of information. There is.

The pattern creation device 60 configured in this manner handles one-stitch data of a reference pattern as illustrated in the schematic diagram of FIG.

The figure is an explanatory diagram of the one-stitch data of the standard pattern for embroidering the alphabet "A" as an example, and the position data of the needle drop point necessary for embroidering the standard pattern rAJ (in the figure, It is defined as a set of data representing the location. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the needle drop point of the starting point is the origin of the reference pattern (XO, YO) = (0, 0),
The position of each needle drop point (XI, Y
l), (X2. Y2), - (Xn, Yn),...
- This is data in a format in which (Xe, Ye) are written sequentially.

In order to efficiently retrieve and suck the one-stitch data, which is a set of a series of position data, the one-stitch data is compressed as follows and stored. Most of the one-stitch data shown in Fig. 4 is position data RHI that has extremely small deviation with respect to the direction in which embroidery is performed (the direction of the white arrow in the figure), as shown in the enlarged explanatory diagram of Fig. 5. , H2.

Moreover, the deviation between adjacent position data of these position data groups H1 and H2 is at most 1-2 mm in order to achieve Φ embroidery with tight stitches, and as described above, achieves good embroidery. The decomposition for this is 0°1 mm. That is, by expressing 0.0 to 1.2 mm in units of 0°1 mm, it is possible to specify each position data group F (1, H2), and the expression requires 4 bits. The amount of information is sufficient.

Therefore, in the horizontal pattern creating device 60 of this embodiment, -needle data is compressed data as shown in FIG. 6 (hereinafter referred to as
It is stored and handled as compressed data.

That is, the storage order of position data follows the sewing order, and the position data group 81. Position data PO (XPO, YPO) and PI (XPI,
YPI) are XPO, XPI and YJ of each X coordinate value
8 bits of YPO and YPI of m marker 1 direct each
It is stored as information. That is, one position data P
To store O, PI, 8 bits x 2 = 16 bits
It takes.

Then, these initial reference position data PO, P
2 with a slight deviation from 1. 3 position data P2 and P3
Regarding the data of the slight deviation, 2. 3 is stored in the position data P2. The data is converted to P3 data, that is, the data is compressed. For example, position data group H1
As the position data P2, the deviation is 2 from the reference position PO, that is, the X coordinate value (X [2)
and X coordinate value (Y k2) are each stored as 4-bit information, and one position data P is made up of 8-bit information in total.
Express 2. Similarly, the position data P3 of the position data group H2 is 8b in total, with the X coordinate value (3 for X) and the X coordinate value (Yk3) each having 4 bits of information.
Memorize it with IT.

As described above, data compression of one position data of each position data nH1, H2 is performed. Then, the position data P2. Other position data following P3 P4. P5. ...... is the position data whose data has already been compressed as the new reference position data, and the X coordinate value of the deviation from the new reference position data,
Data is similarly compressed by expressing each coordinate value as 4-bit information. Therefore, finally, the fifth
The one-stitch data shown in the figure is compressed into the format shown in FIG. 6, and stored and handled as compressed data.

Next, the driver unit 20 of the embroidery machine 10 connected to the pattern creation device 60 configured as described above will be explained.

When the driver unit 20 receives compressed data as shown in FIG.
It drives and controls the various motors that make up the system. As shown in the block diagram of FIG. 7, its configuration includes an encoder 34 for detecting the rotation angle of the sewing motor, which will be described later.
It is a digital logic circuit centered on a microcomputer equipped with sensors such as CPU, which executes logical operations.
2OA, ROM20 that stores various programs
B. It is equipped with a RAM 20C for temporarily storing information. The various motors that make up the embroidery machine 10 described above include an X-axis motor 36 that moves the embroidery frame 30 in the X-Y direction, a Y-axis motor 38, a sewing motor 4o that moves the sewing needle up and down, and the sewing motor 4o that moves the sewing needle up and down. This is a needle change motor 42 that selects the sewing needle that is moved up and down by the motor 40, and a motor controller 20G~ that outputs drive signals for each of these motors.
20I changes the excitation phase of the motor as appropriate in accordance with the control signal from the CPU 2OA to rotate the motor at a desired speed and by a desired rotation angle.

For the driver unit 2° configured in this way,
The pattern creation device 60 transmits compressed data one time as follows. When the driver unit 20 is instructed to transmit compressed data from the keyboard 60B, mouse 600, etc., the pattern creation device 60 transmits the stored compressed data (
(See Figure 6) in its original form.
Output via I/F)6C)I. As mentioned above,
The compressed data is data compressed to approximately half the amount of information per stitch data, and by outputting this data as is, the transmission time can be shortened.

The driver unit 20, to which the compressed data is sequentially transmitted, decodes the compressed data, reconverts it into -needle data, and controls the embroidery machine 10 in a known manner based on the reconverted one-stitch data to execute one stitch. Realize the embroidery pattern described by the data. Next, a method of reconverting compressed data into single stitch data executed by this driver unit 20 will be explained.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram for schematically explaining the reconversion method of this embodiment. When the compressed data shown in FIG. 6 is transmitted to the driver unit 20, the position data PO, P1, which is the initial reference position data, of the compressed data is transmitted to the driver unit 20.
, one position data PO9P1 is restored using 2 Bytes of information as in the conventional case. Then, among the compressed data that is continuously transmitted to these data, (deviation data) is divided into two (position data group E (1, H2 each)) and added to the immediately preceding reference position data. This restores the subsequent position data.For example, position data group H
The position data P2 belonging to 1 is restored by adding 2 to the deviation of the position specified by the previous reference position data PO. Further, the position data P4 is the same position data group H
The position data P2 determined immediately before 1 is restored by adding 4 to the deviation. Thereafter, similar processing is executed sequentially, and each position data of the position data group H1 is restored. Furthermore, regarding the position data iH2, the deviation data is similarly added to the immediately preceding position data to sequentially restore the position data.

After restoring the -handle data in this way, the driver unit 20 executes the same control as the conventional one.

That is, the sewing motor 40 is rotated based on the needle data, and the X-axis motor 36 and Y-axis motor 38 are driven while referring to the detected value of the encoder 34 that detects the rotation, and the embroidery frame is rotated. By controlling the relative positional relationship between 30 and the sewing needle, it is possible to sew the embroidery pattern shown in the restored one-stitch data. The operation of the driver unit 20 according to the one-stitch data is well known, and a more detailed explanation will be omitted here.

According to the pattern creation device 60 and driver unit 20 that perform data compression and data restoration of single stitch data as described above, the following effects are obvious.

The one-stitch data for causing the embroidery machine 10 to perform various types of embroidery is compressed to approximately half the amount of information, and is stored in the pattern creation means 60 as compressed data.

Therefore, effective use of memory and the like is achieved, and a large amount of compressed data of embroidery patterns can be stored in the internal RAM 60F. Furthermore, if the compressed data is stored in the magnetic disk in its original format, compressed data for a large number of embroidery patterns can be stored on a limited number of magnetic disks.

Furthermore, if this compressed data is punched into a paper tape, many embroidery patterns can be recorded on a small amount of paper tape.
Work efficiency is also greatly improved.

Further, information is exchanged between the pattern creating device 60 and the driver unit 20 in the compressed data format. Therefore, the time required to transmit the same amount of information is reduced by about half, and workability can be improved. In addition, reducing the transmission time reduces the possibility of noise mixing occurring during transmission, and thus can improve the reliability of work.

Effects of the Invention As described above in detail with reference to embodiments, the data compression method for one-stitch data of the present invention - By skillfully utilizing the characteristics of needle data, one-stitch data can be reduced to approximately half the amount of information. Can be compressed.

Therefore, the time required to handle information is shortened, and the workability of embroidery work is greatly improved.

Furthermore, it becomes possible to complete the transmission of information in a short time, reducing the possibility of noise being mixed in during transmission, improving reliability, and facilitating data management and storage.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the basic configuration of the data compression method for single stitch data of the present invention, and Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the basic configuration of the data compression method for single stitch data of the present invention. A schematic configuration diagram of the embroidery system, Fig. 3 is a block diagram of the pattern creation device, Fig. 4 is an explanatory diagram of one-stitch data, which is a collection of position data of the embroidery pattern, and Fig. 5 is a special effects explanation of the one-stitch data. 6 is an explanatory diagram of compressed data, FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a driver unit, and FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of restoring compressed data.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] In a data compression method for one-stitch data, which compresses one-stitch data consisting of a series of position data that defines the relative positions of a sewing needle and an embroidery frame, among the series of position data, , taking arbitrary position data as reference position data, calculating the deviation between the reference position data and other position data following the arbitrary position data, and when the calculated deviation is less than or equal to a predetermined value, calculating the deviation from the other position data. A data compression method for single stitch data, characterized in that the data is expressed by the reference position data and the deviation.