JPH0367436B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Object of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a sewing machine having a function of visually confirming the sewing position and size of a stitch pattern prior to sewing.

(Prior art and problems to be solved by the invention) Conventionally, as this type of sewing machine, for example,
There is one described in Publication No. 60-22956.

In this conventional sewing machine, a movement area in which the work cloth holding device does not collide with the needle is set in advance, and the lengths of the stitch pattern to be sewn in the vertical and horizontal directions are calculated, and the two are compared. The results are displayed on a display device.

However, in this conventional sewing machine, in order to confirm the area occupied by the stitch pattern to be sewn, the workpiece cloth holding device is not actually operated in a free feed operation with the needle removed from the workpiece cloth prior to sewing. Because there is no
There is a problem in that it is not possible to specifically confirm the size and formation position of the stitch pattern.

This invention was made to solve the above problems, and its purpose is to adjust the size and formation position of the stitch pattern for each stitch pattern based on the relative movement of the needle and the work cloth holding device. To provide a sewing machine equipped with a sewing position confirmation function that allows confirmation of sewing positions.

Structure of the Invention (Means for Solving Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a needle that moves up and down, and as the needle moves up and down, stitches are formed on the work cloth. a seam forming means for holding the work cloth; a work cloth holding means for holding the work cloth;
a driving means connected to either the stitch forming means or the work cloth holding means, and a relative position between the needle and the work cloth holding means, for changing the relative position of the work cloth holding means and the needle; a storage means for storing stitch pattern data consisting of a large number of relative position data indicating the stitch pattern data, and calculating an occupied range for each stitch pattern formed based on the stitch pattern data based on the stitch pattern data. a calculating means for controlling the driving means based on occupied range data calculated by the calculating means when the needle is removed from the work cloth, and controlling the driving means to follow the outline of the occupied range for each stitch pattern. A control means for relatively moving the needle and the work cloth holding means is provided.

(Operation) Therefore, the calculating means calculates the occupied range for each stitch pattern formed based on the stitch pattern data, and calculates the occupied range based on the calculated occupied range data. By controlling the driving means, the control means moves the needle and the work cloth holding means relative to each other along the outline of the area occupied by each stitch pattern with the needle removed from the work cloth prior to sewing. Therefore, the operator can visually confirm the formation position and size of each stitch pattern for each stitch pattern prior to actual sewing.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example embodying the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Now, as shown in FIG. 2, the sewing machine arm 1 is arranged on a table 2, and a needle bar support case 3 is supported at its front end so as to be slidable left and right. The five needle bars 4 are supported by the support case 3 so as to be movable up and down, and each has a needle 5 at its lower end. Threads of different types (colors) are supplied to each needle 5 from a thread supply source (not shown) via a thread tension device 6 and thread take-up 7 on the needle bar support case 3.
A needle selection motor 8 is arranged on the sewing machine arm 1,
It is drivingly connected to the needle bar support case 3. When a predetermined needle selection signal is input to the needle selection motor 8, the needle selection motor 8 slides the needle bar support case 3 to select and arrange one needle 5 at a predetermined use position. It's getting old.

The sewing machine motor 9 is disposed at the rear of the sewing machine arm 1, and its power is transmitted to the needle bar 4 in the use position through a power transmission mechanism (not shown) in the sewing machine arm 1.
The needle bar 4 is moved up and down. A sewing machine bed 10 is provided protrudingly from the table 2 facing the needle bar 4 disposed in the use position, and has a thread ring catcher (not shown) for forming stitches on the workpiece cloth W in cooperation with the needle bar 4. ) is built-in.

A pair of Y-direction moving frames 11 (only one shown) is disposed on both left and right edges of the table 2 so as to be able to reciprocate in the Y-direction, and is driven by a Y-direction drive motor (not shown). Further, a support rod 12 is installed between both moving frames 11. The X-direction moving frame 13 is disposed at its base end so as to be able to reciprocate in the X-direction along the support rod 12, and is driven by an X-direction drive motor (not shown). Work cloth holding frame 14
is attached to the X-direction moving frame 13 to detachably hold the work cloth W.

Note that the work cloth holding hand frame 14 and the needle 5 are moved in synchronization with the vertical movement of the needle 5 by the Y- and X-direction moving frames 11 and 13, the support rod 12, and the Y- and X-direction drive motors.
A work cloth feeding device 15 is configured as a driving means for changing the relative position between the work cloth holding frame 14 and the needle 5, and a stitch pattern such as embroidery is formed on the work cloth W by relative movement between the work cloth holding frame 14 and the needle 5. Ru.

Next, the electrical configuration of the sewing machine in this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG. Eye pattern data is stored. Each stitch pattern data is composed of a large number of relative position data indicating the relative position of the needle 5 and the work cloth holding frame 14, that is, the coordinates of the needle drop position.

A CPU (central processing unit) 21 includes a calculation means 22 and a control means 23. Operation keyboard 24
On the top are a mode changeover switch 25, a pattern selection key 26, various editing keys 28 for inputting the enlargement rate of the stitch pattern or creating spaces between each stitch pattern, and keys for starting the sewing machine. A start switch 29, a needle selection key 30 for selecting the needle 5, and the like are provided.

Then, by operating the needle selection key 30, a needle selection signal is sent to the CPU 2 via the interface 31.
1, the CPU 21 controls the needle selection motor 8 via the interface 32 and drive circuit 33.
to drive. Also, when the mode changeover switch 25 is operated, a mode designation signal is input to the CPU 21 via the interface 31, the CPU 21 sets the sewing position confirmation mode or sewing mode, and selects various stitches by operating the pattern selection key 26. When the code data corresponding to the pattern is input, the CPU
21 reads the stitch pattern data corresponding to the code data from the external storage device 20 and stores it in the RAM.
(random access memory) 27 temporarily. Further, when additional editing information such as the enlargement ratio for each stitch pattern and the space between each stitch pattern is input by operating the edit key 28, the CPU 21 stores the data in the RAM 27.

Further, when the start switch 29 is operated with the sewing mode set, the control means 23 of the CPU 21 operates based on the relative position data and
According to the control program stored in the ROM (read only memory) 34, the interface 32
The operation of the sewing machine motor 9 and the workpiece cloth feeding device 15 is controlled via the respective drive circuits 35 and 36.
Also, when the start switch 29 is operated with the sewing position confirmation mode set, the CPU 21
The calculation means 22 calculates the occupied range (usually referred to as a mask) of each stitch pattern formed based on each stitch pattern data inputted in advance, that is, the maximum length of the stitch pattern in the X and Y directions. Based on the calculated mask data, the control means 23 of the CPU 21 controls the operation of only the workpiece cloth feeding device 15 while the sewing machine motor 9 is stopped.

Next, the operation of the sewing machine constructed as described above will be explained according to the flow chart shown in FIGS. 3a to 3c. First, in step 40 shown in FIG. 3A, when code data corresponding to one stitch pattern is input by operating the pattern selection key 26, the CPU 21 selects the stitch pattern corresponding to the code data in step 41. The data is transferred to RAM 27 and stored. Next, in step 42, when additional information such as the enlargement rate and the space between stitch patterns is input by operating the edit key 28, the input data is transferred to the RAM 2 in step 43.
7 and stored.

At step 44, the CPU 21 determines whether input of the stitch pattern code data has been completed, and if the result is NO, steps 40 to 43 are repeated. Based on the above operation, when the input of the stitch pattern combination consisting of "A", "B", and "C" is completed, as shown in FIG. 4, for example, the step
The determination result in step 44 becomes YES, and the process proceeds to the next step 45.

In this step 45, the mode changeover switch 25
It is determined by the operation whether the sewing position confirmation mode is designated or not, and if the determination result is YES, the CPU 21 sets the sewing position confirmation mode in step 46. Continue with step 47.
The CPU 21 waits for the start switch 29 to be operated.
When the start switch 29 is operated, the step
At step 48, the stitch pattern data and additional information are read from the RAM 27, converted into coordinate data for each stitch indicating the relative position between the needle 5 and the workpiece cloth feeding device 15, and then stored in another storage area of the RAM 27. Remember.

Then, in step 49, the CPU 21 calculates the maximum values in the X and Y directions of each stitch pattern from the coordinate data, and creates mask data representing the occupied range of each stitch pattern. Next, in step 50,
The CPU 21 operates only the workpiece cloth feeding device 15 based on the mask data and the space data in the additional information while the operation of the sewing machine motor 9 is stopped.

Next, the process proceeds to step 51, where it is determined whether or not the sewing position confirmation operation for one stitch pattern has been completed, and the process of step 50 is performed until the determination result becomes YES. And the steps
In step 52, it is determined whether or not the sewing position confirmation operation for all input stitch patterns has been completed, and steps 48 to 48 are repeated until the determination result becomes YES.
The process in step 51 is repeated, and when the answer is YES, the process returns to step 45.

The above sewing position confirmation operation will be explained using stitch patterns "A", "B", and "C" shown in FIG. 4 as examples. In FIGS. 4 and 5, if the coordinates of point a at the lower left corner of the mask with stitch pattern "A" are expressed as (x, y) with respect to the sewing origin (not shown), the workpiece cloth feeding device 15 The relative movement between the needle 5 and the needle 5 is performed in the order shown in FIG. This is the point a
Expressing the change in coordinates from the base point is as follows.

(x, y) (x+D1x, y) (x+D1x, y+D1y) (x, y+D1y) (x, y) (x+D1x, y) (x+D1x+S1, y) (x+D1x+S1+D2x, y) (x+D1x+S1+D2x, y+D2y) ... ... (x+D1x+S1+D2x+S2, y+D3y) (x+D1x+S1+D2x+S2, y) (x+D1x+S1+D2x+S2+D3x, y) (x, y) Here, D1x, D2x, and D3x indicate the maximum length of each stitch pattern mask in the X direction, and D1y, D2y, and D3y indicate the maximum length in the Y direction. It shows the length, and S1 and S2 show the spaces between each stitch pattern.

Next, in step 45, the mode changeover switch 25 is turned on.
If you specify the sewing mode by
The CPU 21 sets the sewing mode. Therefore, if you operate the start switch 29 in step 54,
Similar to step 48, coordinate data for each stitch is created in step 55 based on the stitch pattern data and additional information and stored in the RAM 27. and,
In step 56, the coordinate data is read out for each stitch, and in step 57, the needle 5 and workpiece cloth feeding device 15 are operated based on the data.

In step 58, it is determined whether or not the sewing of one stitch pattern has been completed, and the result is displayed.
Steps 56 and 57 are repeated until YES. When the determination result in step 58 becomes YES, it is determined in step 59 whether or not sewing has been completed for all stitch patterns, and steps 55 to 3 are repeated until the result becomes YES.
58 processes are executed repeatedly and the determination result is YES
At this point, the operations of the needle 5 and workpiece cloth feeding device 15 are stopped, and the creation of the stitch pattern is completed.

As described above, in this embodiment, the workpiece cloth feeding device 15 is moved relative to the needle 5 for each stitch pattern along the area occupied by the stitch pattern to be actually sewn. The size of the pattern and the sewing position can be visually checked concretely and reliably.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and for example, the needle 5 is
It is also possible to arbitrarily change the configuration of each part without departing from the spirit of the present invention, such as configuring it to move relatively.

Effects of the Invention As detailed above, the present invention has an excellent effect in that the size and formation position of each stitch pattern can be reliably visually checked for each stitch pattern prior to actual sewing.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of a sewing machine embodying the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the sewing machine, Figs. 3 a to c are flow charts, and Fig. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a stitch pattern. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of confirming the sewing position of the stitch pattern. In the figure, 5 is a needle (seam formation means is constituted by the above-mentioned 5 and the like), 14 is a work cloth holding frame as a work cloth holding means, 15 is a work cloth feeding device as a driving means, and 20 is a storage means. 22 is an arithmetic means, 23 is a control means, and W is a work cloth.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Stitch forming means that includes a needle 5 that moves up and down and forms stitches on the work cloth W as the needle 5 moves up and down, and a process that holds the work cloth W. Cloth holding means 14
and a drive means 15 connected to either the stitch forming means or the work cloth holding means 14 in order to change the relative position between the work cloth holding means 14 and the needle 5; a storage means 20 for storing stitch pattern data consisting of a large number of relative position data indicating the relative position with respect to the cloth holding means 14; and an occupied range for each stitch pattern formed based on the stitch pattern data; a calculating means 22 that performs calculations based on the stitch pattern data; and controlling the driving means 15 based on occupied range data calculated by the calculating means 22 when the needle 5 is removed from the work cloth W. and a control means 2 for relatively moving the needle 5 and the work cloth holding means 14 along the outline of the occupied range for each stitch pattern.
3. A sewing machine equipped with a sewing position confirmation function.