JPH06285281A - Device for generating embroidery data - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the quality of a finished embroidery by reducing cuts of thread generated during the sewing of embroidery by means of a sewing machine. CONSTITUTION:A design memory 12 classifies the data of design for embroidery which is embroidered into one embroidery for each embroidery thread to store it. An overlapped area computing element 14 senses overlapping between a plurality of designs for embroidery to compute the overlapped areas for each overlapped position. An overlapped error judging element 16 compares the computed overlapped area with a predetermined threshold for each overlapped position to judge overlapped errors.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sewing machine having an embroidery function, and more particularly, to an embroidery data generation device for generating embroidery data of a sewing machine that uses different embroidery threads, for example, to perform multicolor sewing while changing different embroidery threads. In particular, it reduces the thread breakage that occurs during the actual sewing of embroidery by the sewing machine,
Further, the present invention relates to an embroidery data generation device capable of further improving the quality of finished embroidery.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Industrial sewing machines have various functions such as various forms of sewing, thread cutting, and various automation of sewing. For example, some embroidery is performed according to prestored embroidery data. Furthermore,
A conventional embroidery data generator for an industrial sewing machine
The design of the sketch to be embroidered is directly generated by using a computer system. For example, while checking the display on a graphic CRT (cathode ray tube) of a computer system, a pattern of an embroidery sketch is drawn and input using a digitizer or the like. Further, a handy scanner or the like is not used, and in the industrial one, a stationary scanner that can be provided while scanning a two-dimensional image with high accuracy is used.

On the other hand, some household sewing machines can also perform relatively complicated embroidery. In order to generate the embroidery pattern sewing data used for a sewing machine having such an embroidery function, for example, an embroidery sketch drawn on a paper with a felt-tip pen or the like is read as a two-dimensional image with a handy scanner or the like, and based on this. There is also provided an embroidery sketch reading device capable of embroidering a desired object. With such a sewing machine or an embroidery sketch reading device, the design to be embroidered can be easily designed by writing on paper.

When it is desired to perform embroidery of four-color sewing, for example, by using the conventional embroidery sketch reading device as described above, the embroidery sketch is generally read by a handy scanner or the like as described above. Are to be performed a total of 4 times for each color. For example, first, a total of four embroidery sketches for each color are drawn on paper with a felt-tip pen or the like. Thereafter, each of the embroidery sketches drawn in this way is individually read by the handy scanner or the like as described above.
In addition, when reading with the handy scanner or the like for each color, the color of the embroidery thread to be used to embroider the two-dimensional image obtained is designated and input.

As described above, the embroidery pattern sewing data used for embroidery with a plurality of colors of embroidery threads can theoretically be obtained by reading the embroidery rough pattern as many times as the necessary number of colors to theoretically determine the number of colors of the embroidery thread. It is possible to support even embroidery using. That is, as many embroidery sketches as necessary are created, and each of them is read as a monochrome two-dimensional image by a handy scanner or the like as described above, whereby embroidery pattern sewing data used for embroidery with a plurality of colors of embroidery threads is obtained. It is possible to generate.

[0006]

According to the observation made while performing many embroidery, a single color embroidery in which many thread breaks occur during embroidery by the multi-color sewing machine as described above and the embroidery thread is not replaced. Found that thread breakage is unlikely to occur,
Further, it has been found that such thread breakage occurs more frequently in the overlapping portion of the design of the rough picture prepared for each embroidery thread (for each color of each embroidery thread).

Such duplication of the designs of a plurality of rough sketches is unlikely to occur in the case of the conventional embroidery data generator for an industrial sewing machine as described above. This is because, even when a plurality of sketches are prepared for each embroidery thread, mutual positioning accuracy is high in industrial use. In comparison, in an embroidery data generation device using a handy scanner or the like which has been used in recent years, such a relative displacement between the rough pictures is likely to occur, and the pattern between a plurality of rough pictures as described above is likely to occur. There is a high risk of duplication of. Further, if such a pattern overlaps among a plurality of rough drawings, the quality of the finished embroidery may be deteriorated depending on the degree.

If thread breakage occurs at the overlapping portion of the picture pattern during the actual embroidery using the sewing machine, a new embroidery thread is used instead of the broken embroidery thread. It is extremely difficult to continue the embroidery even if it is replaced with. In addition, even if the embroidery that is once thread-cut as described above can be continued after the embroidery thread is replaced, the quality of the finished product will be low. For example,
Unevenness will occur. Further, the overlapping portion of the patterns between the plurality of rough patterns as described above may deteriorate the quality of the finished embroidery even if the thread breakage does not occur during the embroidery. For example, the overlapping portion becomes higher than the surrounding area, and unevenness occurs. When the thread breakage occurs as described above or the quality of the overlapping portion of the pattern of the embroidery thread is not preferable, it is very difficult to loosen the thread from the cloth. Therefore, the dough must generally be discarded. This becomes a big problem when embroidering on an important handkerchief or clothes. Also, once an important item fails, the user may never use it again.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and reduces thread breakage that occurs during the actual sewing of embroidery by a sewing machine, and further improves the quality of the finished embroidery. It is an object of the present invention to provide an embroidery data generation device that can be used.

[0010]

According to the present invention, in an embroidery data generator for generating embroidery data of a sewing machine that performs multicolor sewing with different embroidery threads, the data of the rough sketch to be embroidered is distinguished for each embroidery thread. When a rough sketch memory to be stored and the rough sketch of at least two different embroidery threads are combined,
While detecting the overlap between the designs of these sketches, the overlap area is calculated for each overlap point, and the calculated overlap area is compared with a predetermined threshold value for each overlap point to check for an overlap error. The above-mentioned problem is achieved by including a duplication error determination unit for determining.

Further, in the embroidery data generating device, the overlapping area calculating unit determines that there is no overlap in the overlapping reduced diameter portion whose width is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value when calculating the overlapping area. By calculating the overlapping area,
In addition to achieving the above object, the determination accuracy of the duplication error determination unit is further improved.

Further, the embroidery data generation apparatus further includes a threshold value setting unit that presets the predetermined threshold value used in at least one of the overlap area calculation unit and the overlap error determination unit according to the embroidery stitching pitch. In addition to achieving the above object, the determination accuracy of the duplication error determination unit is further improved.

[0013]

The present invention has been made by focusing on its importance by finding out a problem relating to the overlapping portion of the above-mentioned picture which has not been found or noticed in the past.
Further, the present invention has been made by finding a configuration capable of detecting such an overlapping portion of patterns more effectively and more accurately.

For example, the overlapping portion of the pattern as described above is
While displaying the embroidery rough sketch on the liquid crystal display etc.,
It is also possible to confirm it visually. However, if the overlapping portion is small, it is difficult to visually confirm in this way. For example, if the ratio of the size of the overlapping portion, that is, the ratio of the rough sketch to the entire embroidery pattern is relatively small and the thread breakage as described above may occur, find this. It is difficult. It is also conceivable to increase the display magnification and check in order to find even small overlapping patterns. However, in this case, since the displayed range is limited, it is necessary to sequentially check the target sketch, which requires a lot of labor and a lot of time.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the gist of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the embroidery data generating device of the present invention comprises at least a sketch memory 12, an overlapping area calculating section 14, and an overlapping error determining section 16.
Furthermore, the 1st threshold value setting part 22 and the 2nd threshold value setting part 24 are provided as needed.

First, the sketch memory 12 can store the data of a sketch to be embroidered for each embroidery thread.

For example, the sketch memory 1 shown in FIG.
In 2, the storage area for storing the sketch data for each embroidery thread is provided for each sketch data for each embroidery thread. Since these storage areas are independent, the sketch data for each embroidery thread can be independently written and read. However, the present invention does not limit the specific configuration of such a sketch memory 12.

The overlapping area calculation unit 14 has at least 2
When the rough sketches of three different embroidery threads are combined, the overlapping area between the patterns of the rough sketches is detected, and the overlapping area is calculated for each overlapping portion. When the rough sketch data stored in the rough sketch memory 12 stores the pattern as pixel data of the bitmap type, the overlapping area calculation unit 14 determines the number of pixels of the stitched pixels of the overlapping embroidery as follows. The counting may be performed while determining the planar continuity of the overlap. The present invention does not specifically limit the overlapping area calculating unit 14 as long as such an overlapping area is calculated according to the adjacency or continuity of the overlapping portion of each sewn product. Good.

The duplication error determination unit 16 compares the duplication area calculated by the duplication area calculation unit 14 with a predetermined threshold value for each duplication location, and determines duplication error by this. For example, even if the overlapping area between a certain design and a certain design is relatively large, if the overlapping portion is divided into small ones, the present invention compares each of the overlapping portions with the predetermined threshold value. So
In some cases, it is not judged as a duplicate error.

As described above, according to the present invention, by effectively using the respective configurations having the above-mentioned characteristics, the possibility of actually causing a thread breakage depends on the size of the possibility that the thread breakage may occur. It is possible to detect the overlapping portion of the pattern between the rough drawings according to the degree of possibility of degrading the quality.

Although the present invention is not limited to this, the inventor has found a superior one of the overlapping area calculating section 14. That is, when the overlapping area calculation unit 14 calculates the overlapping area, as shown in FIG. 2, for the overlapping reduced diameter portion whose width is equal to or smaller than a predetermined threshold value, the overlapping area calculation is performed without the scale. Is to do.

In FIG. 2, the portions where the patterns of the two different rough drawings overlap with each other, that is, the overlapping portion W0 between the pattern Da of a certain rough sketch and the pattern Db of a different rough sketch, which is different from this, overlaps with the overlapping portion W1. W2 and the overlapping reduced diameter portion N connecting these overlapping portions W1 and W2 can be considered separately. Further, the width of the overlapping reduced diameter portion N is narrower than that of the overlapping portions W1 and W2. As described above, the inventor has found that the overlapping reduced diameter portion N having a narrow overlapping portion is unlikely to cause the above-mentioned problems such as thread breakage and deterioration of embroidery quality even when the area is large. There is. For example, when the width of the overlapping reduced diameter portion N is relatively narrow with respect to the embroidery stitching pitch,
Thread breakage and deterioration of embroidery quality tend to be less. Therefore, regarding the overlapping reduced diameter portion N, it is assumed that there is no overlap, and the overlapping area calculation unit 14 calculates the overlapping area as described above.

Therefore, when the overlapping reduced diameter portion N and the like are ignored in the present invention as described above, for example, in FIG. 2, the overlapping portion W0 is divided into two portions, that is, the overlapping portion W1a and the overlapping portion W2a. It is treated as a portion, and the area of the overlapping reduced diameter portion N is ignored.

Although the present invention is not limited to this, as shown in FIG. 1, it may be provided with, for example, the first threshold value setting section 22 or the second threshold value setting section 24. The first threshold value setting unit 22 sets a threshold value used in the duplication error determination unit 16 and used in determining an duplication error based on the duplication area. On the other hand, the second threshold value setting unit 24 sets the predetermined threshold value when the overlapping area calculation unit 14 compares the width of the overlapping reduced diameter portion with the predetermined threshold value as described above. Is. Both of the first threshold value setting unit 22 and the second threshold value setting unit 24 perform the threshold value set by them according to the embroidery stitch pitch input.

The inventors have found that, for example, the value of the predetermined threshold value used for the duplication error decision by the duplication error decision unit 16 is
It has been found that the embroidery stitching pitch when embroidering with a sewing machine is affected. For example, it has been found that if the embroidery stitching pitch is coarse, the thread breakage as described above is unlikely to occur even if there is a relatively large overlap between the designs. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to this, but when the predetermined threshold value of the overlapping area calculation unit 14 is determined according to the size of the embroidery stitching pitch, the possibility of actual thread breakage may occur. More suitable for the degree of
It is possible to determine an overlap error according to the size of the overlap area.

Also, in the case where the overlapping area calculation unit 14 compares the width of the overlapping reduced diameter portion with the predetermined threshold value as described above, the predetermined threshold value used for this is determined according to the embroidery stitch pitch input. The inventor has found that it is preferable to set by setting. That is, when the embroidery sewing pitch at the time of actual embroidery on the sewing machine is rough, it is possible to determine that the overlapping reduced diameter portion has no overlap even if the width thereof becomes wider. ing.

[0028]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of an embroidery data generating device to which the present invention is applied.

In FIG. 3, the embroidery data generation device 10 of the present embodiment is designed to handy a pattern D of a plurality of rough sketches P drawn corresponding to each embroidery thread of multicolor sewing performed while changing different embroidery threads. The scanner 40 reads the data and performs a series of internal processes to generate embroidery data used in a sewing machine having an embroidery function. The generated embroidery data is written in the memory card 68. The embroidery data written in the memory card 68 is read by a predetermined memory card I / F (interface) built in the sewing machine, not shown. The sewing machine embroiders the pattern D of the rough sketch P by multicolor sewing based on the thus read embroidery data.

The embroidery data generator 10 is mainly composed of a handy scanner 40 and an embroidery data generator main body 11. The main body 11 of the embroidery data generator mainly includes a scanner control circuit 44 and a CPU.
46, ROM 48, RAM 52, liquid crystal display controller 54, VRAM (video random access memory)
y) 56, liquid crystal display device 58, and key switch 62
, Memory card I / F 64, connectors 42 and 6
6 and the system bus 60. The system bus 60 is used for transferring data and the like among the scanner control circuit 44, the CPU 46, the ROM 48, the RAM 52, the liquid crystal display controller 54, the key switch 62 and the memory card I / F 64. Used.

The handy scanner 40 is controlled by the scanner control circuit 44, and manually scans the sketch P in a fixed direction and at a fixed speed to read the design D of the sketch P. is there. In such manual reading, after setting the degree of resolution with the setting switch 40b, scanning is performed manually while pressing the reading switch 40a. The reading range of the sketch P by the handy scanner 40 is a range of 50 mm × 50 mm, and this is read as an image of 100 pixels × 100 pixels. That is, one pixel is
The size is 0.5 mm x 0.5 mm. Each read pixel is "1 (black or predetermined color)" or "0 (white)"
There are two gradations. The image read in this way is stored in the RAM for each reading corresponding to each embroidery thread.
52 is read. In the RAM 52, the CPU
The values used in the program executed at 46 may be changed, for example, threshold values are also stored.

On the other hand, referring to FIG.
Stores a program executed by the CPU 46 for realizing the functions to which the present invention is applied. Further, the ROM 48 also stores various threshold values used in such a program.

The key switch 62 is the CPU
The operation state is read out by the program executed at 46. The liquid crystal display controller 5
4 is accessed from the CPU 46 via the system bus 60. Further, the CPU 46 writes an image to be displayed on the liquid crystal display device 58 into the VRAM 56 via the liquid crystal display controller 54. The liquid crystal display controller 54 uses the VRAM 56 to perform the display in the bit map system.
Control eight.

FIG. 4 is a time chart of signals output from the handy scanner 40.

In FIG. 4, there is shown a time chart of signals output from the handy scanner 40 to the scanner control circuit 44 via the connector 42. That is, a time chart of the reference clock WG, the sub-scanning synchronization signal ST, the main scanning synchronization signal AU, and the image signal VD is shown. Each of these signals
From the handy scanner 40 to the scanner control circuit 4
4 is a signal output to the No. 4.

First, the reference clock WG is a clock signal having a constant cycle (constant frequency). The cycle of the reference clock WG corresponds to the maximum scanning speed when manually scanning with the handy scanner. In particular, the period is the same as the main scanning period for one line corresponding to the maximum scanning speed.

The sub-scanning synchronization signal ST is a signal for synchronizing the sub-scanning when the handy scanner 40 is manually scanned. That is, it is a signal that is sequentially output according to manual scanning and is output each time main scanning of an image of one line is started. On the other hand, the main scanning synchronization signal AU is a signal for synchronizing the image signal VD of each pixel to be main scanned when the handy scanner 40 manually scans. Therefore, the main scanning synchronization signal AU is output for each pixel of the image signal VD.

In FIG. 4, the reference clock WG
The periods between the times t ₁ , t ₂ , t ₄ , and t ₅ at which is input are all the same. Also, from time t ₁ to t ₃
The manual reading speed of the handy scanner 40 during the period from time t ₃ to t ₆ is slower than that during the period up to. Therefore, from time t ₁ to time t
Compared to the time period of up to _three, more of the time period from the time t ₃ to t ₆ is longer.

Further, in the interval at which the sub-scanning synchronization signal ST is output, for example, in the period from time t ₁ to t ₃ or the period from time t ₃ to t ₆ shown in FIG. The image signal VD is output. Therefore, the image signal VD for 100 pixels is output, and 100 main scanning synchronization signals AU for synchronizing the image signal VD are output.

FIG. 5 is performed in this embodiment. It is a flow chart of embroidery data generation processing.

The embroidery data generation process shown in FIG. 5 is realized by the CPU 46 executing a program stored in the ROM 48.
Further, the threshold value used in the embroidery data generation process is set in the RAM 52 in advance.

In the flow chart of FIG. 5, first, in steps 102 and 104, the hand-held scanner 40 makes the embroidery pattern P of the sketch P created corresponding to each embroidery thread for each embroidery thread. read. Further, the data of the sketch P for each embroidery thread read in this way is stored in the RAM 52 separately for each embroidery thread. That is, after the rough sketch P corresponding to one embroidery thread is read in the step 102, the next step 104 is performed.
Then, it is determined whether or not another sketch P of the embroidery thread is read.
In step 104, when further reading is performed, the process branches to the front of step 102, and when it is determined that the reading of all the sketches P is completed, the process proceeds to the next step 106.

Next, at step 106, it is checked whether or not there is overlap between the designs of a plurality of sketches to which the present invention is applied. This duplication check is performed by a program described later with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. The duplication check implements the one corresponding to the configuration of FIG. 1 as a program written in the ROM 48 which is executed by the CPU 46. Further, the result of the duplication check in step 106 is set as the duplication flag Fe.

Then, in step 108, the result of the duplication check in step 106, that is, the presence or absence of duplication is determined. This depends on whether or not the duplication flag Fe is set. If it is determined in step 108 that there is no overlap, the process proceeds to the next step 110. On the other hand, if it is determined that there is overlap, the process proceeds to step 114.

In the step 110, the step 1
Sewing data for multicolor sewing embroidery is generated based on the rough sketch P read in 02 and 104. Further, in the following step 112, the sewing data generated in step 110 is written in the memory card 68.

On the other hand, when the process branches from step 108 to step 114, in step 114, first, "duplicate error occurs. Do you want to read again?"
Error display. Further, in the following step 118, the user who confirms the above-mentioned error display inputs and determines whether or not to perform rereading. Step 1
If it is input to read again at 18, the process branches to the front of step 102. On the other hand, if it is input that re-reading is not to be performed, the process ends abnormally and all processing is completed.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a first example of the duplication check performed in the embroidery data generation process of this embodiment. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the second example of the duplication check. The processes shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 6 and 7 are all performed in the step 10 of FIG.
6 is performed.

First, as a first example of the duplication check,
In the flowchart of FIG. 6, first, at step 132, the overlapping area between the designs of a plurality of rough pictures corresponding to the embroidery threads is calculated. This is to select two rough sketches in sequence from a plurality of rough sketches corresponding to each embroidery thread, and calculate the overlapping area of the patterns between the selected rough sketches. or,
The calculation of the overlapping area is performed by the RA method using a bitmap method.
Corresponding pixels between the patterns of the target rough picture stored in M52 are compared, and if the corresponding pixels are both "1 (things to embroider)", it is determined as overlapping, and the overlapping is performed at each successive overlapping portion. The area is calculated sequentially. In such overlapping area calculation, regarding the overlapping reduced diameter portion whose width is equal to or smaller than the overlapping area calculation threshold value, it is assumed that there is no overlapping, and the overlapping area is detected while detecting the overlapping between the two patterns of the rough sketch. The calculation is performed for each overlapping portion. The overlapping area calculation threshold value is stored in advance in the ROM 48 in the overlapping check of the first example.

Subsequently, in step 134, the overlapping area calculated for each overlapping portion in step 132 is
The overlap error is determined by comparing each overlap point with a predetermined threshold value. The threshold used at this time is a duplication determination threshold, and in the duplication check of the first example, the ROM 4 is used.
8 is stored in advance. In this embodiment, at least 1
When it is determined that the overlapping area of one overlapping portion is equal to or more than the predetermined threshold value, it is determined that there is an overlapping error between the target sketches.

If it is determined in step 134 that a duplication error has occurred, in the following step 136, the duplication flag F
Set e. After completion of step 136, the process returns to the step where the duplication check process shown in FIG. 6 is read out, that is, step 106. On the other hand, if it is not determined in step 134 that there is a duplication error, the process returns to step 106 after reading the duplication check shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6, that is, step 106 after step 134.

Next, in the duplication check of the second example shown in FIG. 7, first, at step 160, the duplication area calculation threshold value is set. The overlapping area calculation threshold value corresponds to that set by the second threshold value setting unit 24 in FIG. Further, in step 162, an overlap determination threshold value is set. The overlap determination threshold value corresponds to that set by the first threshold value setting unit 22 in FIG. The overlap area calculation threshold and the overlap determination threshold that have been set are stored in the RAM 52 in the overlap check of the second example.

After such setting, in step 164, two rough sketches are sequentially taken out from among a plurality of rough sketches corresponding to each embroidery thread, and the overlapping area of the patterns of the two rough sketches is calculated. In this overlapping area calculation, regarding the overlapping reduced diameter portion whose width is equal to or smaller than the overlapping area calculation threshold value, it is assumed that there is no overlapping, and the overlapping area is detected while detecting the overlapping between the two patterns of the rough sketch. The calculation is performed for each overlapping point.

Subsequently, in step 166, the overlap area determined for each overlap point in step 164 is compared with the overlap determination threshold value for each overlap point to determine an overlap error. In this embodiment, when the overlapping area of at least one overlapping portion is equal to or larger than the overlapping judgment threshold value, the rough sketch is judged to be an overlapping error.

If it is determined in step 166 that a duplication error occurs, the duplication flag Fe is set in the following step 108. After step 108, or when it is not determined in step 166 that there is a duplication error, the duplication check processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7 is read out, that is, to step 106 of FIG. Return.

The operation of the embroidery data generator of this embodiment will be described below with reference to a concrete example of a sketch.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a rough sketch which is the subject of this embodiment.

In FIG. 8, the illustration picture D0 of the dragonfly is drawn on the rough picture P0. The body part of the dragonfly having the pattern D0 is embroidered with a black embroidery thread including the contour thereof. On the other hand, the wing portion of the register mark, including its contour, is embroidered with blue embroidery thread. Since the body portion and the wing portion are embroidered with different embroidery threads in this way, they are drawn as separate sketches and then individually read by the handy scanner 40.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a sketch of an illustration of the body portion of the dragonfly in the sketch of the embroidery. On the other hand, in FIG.
It is a diagram showing a sketch of an illustration of the wing part of the dragonfly.

First, in the sketch P1 shown in FIG. 9, a pattern to be embroidered with a black embroidery thread, that is, the body portion of the register mark is drawn as the pattern D1. On the other hand, the sketch P of FIG.
2 are patterns D2a and D that are embroidered with blue embroidery thread.
2b, that is, the wings of the dragonfly are drawn.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the embroidery of the register marks at the finishing stage which are embroidered in this embodiment.

In the embroidery finished with the register marks shown in FIG. 11, the patterns D2a and D2b made of blue embroidery threads are shifted to the right with respect to the pattern D1 made of black embroidery threads. In particular, the wing design D2a overlaps the black body design D1.

FIG. 12 is an enlarged view of the overlapping portion. If there is such an overlapping portion, the finish quality of the embroidery will be deteriorated. Further, if such an overlap occurs, thread breakage may occur during the actual sewing of embroidery by the sewing machine.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the overlap between the designs of the two sketches extracted in this embodiment.

FIG. 13 is drawn corresponding to FIG. 11 and FIG. In the present embodiment, for example, the steps 132 and 134 of FIG.
In Steps 164 and 166, the overlapping area regarding the overlapping portion W shown in FIG. 13 is calculated for each overlapping portion. Further, the overlapping area for each of the overlapping portions calculated in this way is compared with the overlapping determination threshold value for each of the overlapping portions, and thereby the overlapping error is determined.

Further, in this embodiment, when calculating the overlapping area in step 132 of FIG. 6 or step 164 of FIG. 7, the width is the overlapping area calculation threshold value as described above with reference to FIG. For the overlapping reduced diameter portion below, the overlapping area is calculated assuming that there is no overlap. Therefore, even in the actual overlapping state, as shown in FIGS. 11 to 13, the overlapping area is calculated for the outline portion of the pattern as if there is no overlap. For example, in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 13, in particular, as indicated by a broken line in FIG. 13, a part of the contour of the pattern D2a of the left wing portion overlaps with the pattern D1 of the body portion. However, the outline portion shown by the broken line in FIG. 13 having such a narrow width is excluded when calculating the overlapping area when determining the presence or absence of the overlapping.

As a result, according to the degree of actual thread breakage, the degree of influence of the quality of the finished embroidery, etc.,
Higher quality duplicate error determination is possible. In particular,
In the present embodiment, as described above, the outline portion of the pattern is excluded from the overlap error range, so it is determined as an overlap error due to the intentional overlap required in the design of the actual sketch. There is no end. Further, even if such an intentional overlap in design, for example, it is possible to determine an overlap error in an overlapping portion having a relatively large area other than the contour portion, thereby further reducing the risk of yarn breakage. It is possible.

In using the embroidery data generation device of this embodiment, for example, even if it is determined that there is an overlap error, subsequent sewing data is generated and the generated sewing data is stored in the memory card 68. Writing may be continued. This is like the edge of a patch,
This is because it may be necessary to intentionally overlap. Therefore, the user may be allowed to select whether or not to use the duplicate error determination function of this embodiment.

[0069]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to obtain an excellent effect that thread breakage that occurs during the actual sewing of embroidery by the sewing machine can be reduced and the quality of the finished embroidery can be further improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the gist of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of overlapping area calculation performed in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embroidery data generation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a time chart of signals at a connecting portion between the handy scanner 40 and the main body of the embroidery data generating device in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an embroidery data generation process performed in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a first example of a duplication check performed during the embroidery data generation process.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a second example of the duplication check.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a dragonfly pattern as an example of an embroidery pattern targeted by the present embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a sketch of a design of a body corresponding to the design of the dragonfly.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a rough sketch of a wing pattern corresponding to the dragonfly pattern.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of overlapping a design of the body part and a design of the wing part with the design of the dragonfly.

FIG. 12 is an enlarged view of an overlapping portion of the design of the dragonfly.

FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining calculation of an overlapping area of the overlapping portion of the design of the dragonfly.

[Explanation of reference numerals] 10 ... Embroidery data generation device 11 ... Embroidery data generation device main body 12 ... Draft memory 12a ... Draft data (each storage area of draft data) 14 ... Overlap area calculation unit 16 ... Overlap error determination unit 22 ... First Threshold setting section 24 ... Second threshold setting section 40 ... Handy scanner 40a ... Read switch 40b ... Setting switch 42, 66 ... Connector 44 ... Scanner control circuit 46 ... CPU 48 ... ROM 52 ... RAM 54 ... Liquid crystal display controller 56 ... VRAM 58 ... Liquid crystal display device 60 ... System bus 62 ... Key switch 64 ... Memory card I / F 68 ... Memory card P, P0-P3 ... Draft D, Da, Db, D0, D1, D2a, D2b ... Design W0, W1, W1a , W2, W2a, W3 ... the overlapped portions N ... overlapping the reduced diameter portion t ₁ ~ t ₆ ... time

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An embroidery data generation device for generating embroidery data of a sewing machine that performs multicolor sewing with different embroidery threads, and a rough sketch memory for separately storing data of a rough sketch to be embroidered for each embroidery thread. An overlapping area calculation unit that calculates the overlapping area for each overlapping position while detecting the overlapping between the designs of these drawings when combining the different drawings of three different embroidery threads, and the calculated overlapping area. An embroidery data generation device comprising: an overlap error determination unit that compares an overlap error with a predetermined threshold value and determines an overlap error. 2. The overlapping area calculation unit according to claim 1, wherein the overlapping area reduction unit whose width is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value does not have an overlap when calculating the overlapping area. An embroidery data generation device characterized by performing calculation. 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
The embroidery data generation device further comprises a threshold value setting unit that presets the predetermined threshold value used in at least one of the overlap area calculation unit and the overlap error determination unit according to an embroidery stitching pitch.