JPH06296777A - Embroidery data generating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce a thread breakage caused during the embroidery sewing by a sewing machine, more easily compose a plurality of designs together, provide a pattern of more various designs, and further improve the quality of the finished embroidery. CONSTITUTION:A design memory 12 stores the data for designs embroidered into one distinctively for every embroidery yarn. A duplicate area calculating part 14 detects duplications between the patterns of the designs and also calculates the duplicate area for every duplicate area. A duplicate error judging part 16 compares the calculated duplicate area with a prescribed threshold for every duplicate position and judges a duplicate error. A duplicate position eliminating part 18 generates the data for the design to be embroidered from which the duplicate position judged as the duplicate error by the duplicate error judging part 16 is eliminated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an embroidery data generation device for generating a single embroidery data by combining a plurality of rough sketches in a sewing machine having an embroidery function, and in particular, an embroidery by a sewing machine. The present invention relates to an embroidery data generation device capable of reducing thread breakage that occurs during actual sewing and 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.

For example, in a conventional embroidery data generator for an industrial sewing machine, for example, a design of a rough sketch to be embroidered is directly generated by using a computer system. For example, while confirming 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.

For example, 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.

Further, when it is desired to embroider four colors by 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 using 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 embroidery threads. 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.

[0007]

According to the observation made while performing many embroidery, such thread breakage is prepared for each embroidery thread (for each thread type such as color or thickness of each embroidery thread). It has been found that it occurs more frequently in the overlapping parts of the sketches.

In the embroidery data generating device using a handy scanner or the like, such a duplication of the designs of a plurality of rough pictures is apt to cause a relative positional deviation between the rough pictures, and thus a plurality of rough pictures as described above are generated. However, there is a high possibility that overlapping patterns will occur. 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 a 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.

In addition to solving the problem of thread breakage as described above and improving the quality of finished embroidery, the present invention provides
This was done by examining the point of efficiently obtaining more diverse designs. The designs of the designs of the rough drawings to be embroidered are often simplified and often abstracted from people, animals and the like. Therefore, the inventor can obtain various designs by disassembling the design of the design of the sketch to be embroidered into several design elements or freely combining such disassembled design elements. Is paying attention to. For example, by selecting and synthesizing various hat design elements, various clothing design elements, and the like as design elements of characters of humans and animals, it is possible to obtain designs of various designs of embroidery. .

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and reduces thread breakage that occurs during actual sewing of embroidery by a sewing machine, and further improves the quality of the finished embroidery. (EN) An embroidery data generation device capable of obtaining a design of a variety of designs by combining a plurality of rough sketches, by making it possible to easily synthesize a plurality of rough sketches. And

[0012]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, in an embroidery data generation device for generating embroidery data of a sewing machine which performs multicolor sewing while changing different threads, data of a plurality of different embroidery rough patterns are An overlap area for calculating each overlap area while detecting an overlap between the patterns of these sketches when combining a sketch memory for separately storing each sketch and at least two different sketches A duplication error determination unit that determines a duplication error by comparing the calculated duplication area with a predetermined threshold for each duplication location of the duplication area and a duplication location that is determined as a duplication error by the duplication error determination unit is deleted. The above-mentioned problem is achieved by including an overlapping portion deleting unit that generates the generated rough sketch data.

In the embroidery data generator of the first aspect of the invention, the rough sketch memory stores data of each rough sketch.
Each of the sketches is provided with priority order information in which the priority order becomes higher as the order of embroidery becomes later, and the overlapping point deleting unit uses the priority order information when deleting overlapping points between different sketches. The above-mentioned problem is achieved by deleting the overlapping portion of the lower sketch having the lower priority.

A second aspect of the present invention is an embroidery data generation apparatus for generating embroidery data of a sewing machine that performs embroidery sewing while changing threads of different types, and distinguishes the data of a rough image to be embroidered for each thread. An overlap area calculating unit that calculates an overlap area for each overlap position while detecting an overlap between the designs of the rough picture memory to be stored and the rough sketch of at least two different types of threads And comparing the calculated overlapping area with a predetermined threshold value for each overlapping portion, and deleting an overlapping error determining unit that determines an overlapping error, and an overlapping portion that is determined to be an overlapping error by the overlapping error determining unit. The above-mentioned problem is achieved by including an overlapping portion deleting unit that generates rough sketch data.

In the embroidery data generation device of the second aspect of the present invention, with respect to the data of the rough sketch to be embroidered which is distinguished for each embroidery thread in the rough sketch memory, the later the order of embroidery by each embroidery thread becomes, Each of the embroidery threads is provided with priority order information having a higher priority order, and the overlapping point deleting unit uses the priority order information when deleting an overlapping point between sketches embroidered by different embroidery threads. By deleting the overlapping portion of the rough sketch having the lower priority, the above-mentioned problem is achieved.

[0016]

In both the first and second inventions of the present application, a problem relating to the overlapping portion of the above-mentioned pattern, which has not been found or noticed in the past, has been found, and its importance is noted. It was made by. 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, each of the embroidery data generation devices of the first invention and the second invention has at least a sketch memory 12, an overlapping area calculation section 14, and
The duplication error determination unit 16 and the duplication location deletion unit 18 are provided. Further, if necessary, the first threshold value setting unit 22 and the second threshold value setting unit 22
And a threshold setting unit 24.

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 No. 2, a storage area for storing the rough sketch data for each embroidery thread is provided for each rough sketch data as indicated by symbols D1 to Dn. These rough sketch data correspond, for example, to each embroidery thread. Since these storage areas are independent, each rough sketch data can be written and read independently. 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
The overlapping area is calculated for each overlapping portion while detecting the overlap between the patterns of the different rough sketches when the two different rough sketches are combined. The overlapping area calculation unit 14
When the rough sketch data stored in the rough sketch memory 12 stores the pattern as the pixel data of the bitmap type, the number of pixels of the sewn pixels of the overlapping embroidery is determined as the planar continuity of the overlapping. It may be one that counts while making a determination. 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.

The overlapping portion deleting section 18 is for generating the sketch data in which the overlapping portion judged to be an overlapping error by the overlapping error judging section 16 is deleted. For example, even if a portion with a design of a certain sketch overlaps a portion with a design of a certain sketch, the overlapping portion not determined by the duplication error determination unit 16 as having an duplication error is the duplication position. It is not deleted by the deleting unit 18. On the other hand, the overlapping part deletion unit 18 deletes an overlapping part that is judged by the overlapping error judgment unit 16 to have an overlapping error, thereby improving the overall design taste. You can For example, when a plurality of design elements are arbitrarily combined as described above by combining a plurality of different rough sketches to obtain rough sketches of various designs, the user can expect more effectively. be able to.

As described above, according to the present invention, by effectively using the respective constitutions having the above-mentioned characteristics, there is a possibility that the cause of thread breakage may actually 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.

Further, according to the present invention, the design of the design of the sketch to be embroidered is decomposed into some design elements,
Also, various designs can be obtained more easily by freely combining such disassembled design elements. For example, by selecting and synthesizing various hat design elements, various clothing design elements, etc., into the design elements of the characters of humans and animals, it is possible to more easily create the designs of various designs of embroidery. Obtainable.

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, in the overlapping area calculating unit 14, when the overlapping area is calculated, as shown in FIG. 2, for the overlapping reduced diameter portion whose width is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, it is assumed that the overlapping reduced diameter portion does not overlap. The above-mentioned overlap area calculation is performed.

In FIG. 2, a portion in which the patterns of two different rough drawings overlap with each other, that is, an overlapping portion W0 of a design Da of a certain rough sketch and a pattern Db of a different rough sketch is an overlapping portion 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.

Accordingly, in the case where 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 has 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, for example, a first threshold value setting unit 22 or a second threshold value setting unit 24 may be provided. 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 overlap error determination in the overlap error determination section 16 is influenced by the embroidery stitching pitch when embroidering with a sewing machine. . 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. It is possible to judge the duplication error according to the size of the duplication area according to the degree of.

Also, in the case where the overlapping area calculating 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.

Although the present invention is not limited to this, when the overlapping portion is deleted between the sketches embroidered by different embroidery threads, the overlapping portion deleting portion 18 gives predetermined priority order information. It is also possible to delete the overlapping portion of the rough sketch having the lower priority. In this case, the priority information is such that the priority of the data of the rough sketch to be embroidered for each embroidery thread becomes higher as the order of embroidery by each embroidery thread becomes later. . In this case, the priority information may be stored in the rough sketch memory 12 or held in some form together with the data of the rough sketch to be embroidered for each embroidery thread. For example, the sketch memory 12
Draft data areas D1 to Dn corresponding to each embroidery thread inside
The relationship of mutual priority may be assigned to each in advance.

It should be noted that the output destination of the duplication part deleting unit 18 of the present invention, that is, the output of the data of the embroidery sketch generated by the duplication part deleting unit 18 in which the duplication position determined to be the duplication error is deleted. The destination is not particularly limited,
As shown in FIG. 1, the final output may be output to another processing device, for example, another processing device that generates sewing data based on the final output. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 3, the duplication point deletion unit 18 updates (rewrites) the rough sketch data D1 to Dn in the rough sketch memory 12 to determine these rough sketch data D1 to Dn as a duplication error. The data may be data of a sketch to be embroidered with the deleted overlapping portions deleted.

[0035]

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

FIG. 4 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. 4, the embroidery data generation device 10 of the present embodiment handyes a pattern D of a plurality of rough pictures 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 generating device 10 mainly comprises a handy scanner 40 and an embroidery data generating device 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 constant direction and at a constant speed to read the pattern 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. 5 is a time chart of signals output from the handy scanner 40.

In FIG. 5, 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. 5, 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. 6 is performed in this embodiment. It is a flow chart of embroidery data generation processing.

The embroidery data generation process shown in FIG. 6 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. 6, first, in steps 102 and 104, the hand-held scanner 40 is used for each embroidery thread of the pattern D of the sketch P to be embroidered corresponding to 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 an overlap between the designs of a plurality of sketches to which the present invention is applied. This duplication check is performed by the program described later with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. The duplication check corresponds to the configuration of FIG. 1 or FIG.
It is realized as a program written in the ROM 48 and executed by the PU 46. Further, the result of the duplication check in step 106 is set as the duplication flag Fe.

Subsequently, in step 107, 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 107 that there is no overlap, the process proceeds to the front of step 109.
On the other hand, if it is determined that there is duplication, the next step 1
Go to 08.

In the step 108, the step 10
6 and the data of the sketch to be embroidered in which the overlapping portion determined to be the overlapping error in step 107 is deleted is generated. In the case where the present embodiment implements, for example, the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the step 108 corresponding to the one performed by the duplication point deleting unit 18 is performed.
The process in (1) is to generate the data of the sketch to be embroidered in which the overlapping portion determined to be the overlapping error is deleted and sequentially output the data. On the other hand, when the present embodiment implements, for example, the configuration shown in FIG. 3, the processing in step 108 corresponding to that performed by the duplication point deletion unit 18 is The corresponding data of the sketch data D1 to Dn stored in the sketch memory 12 is deleted (or updated to delete) the data corresponding to the overlap portion determined to be the overlap error.

In the following step 109, with respect to the combination of any two of the required rough sketch data D1 to Dn, the determination of the overlapping portion and the deletion of the overlapping portion by the above steps 106 to 108 are performed. Determine if it is finished. In the step 109, when it is determined that the check is not completed, that is, the rough sketch data D
If it is determined that there is still a need to determine the overlapping portion or delete the overlapping portion for any combination of two of 1 to Dn, the process branches to the front of step 106. On the other hand, if it is determined in step 109 that such a check has been completed, the process proceeds to step 110.

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.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a first example of duplication check performed in the embroidery data generation process of this embodiment. FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the second example of the duplication check. The processes shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 7 and 8 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. 7, first, at step 132, the overlapping area between the designs of a plurality of rough patterns 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, the duplication flag F is set in the following step 136.
Set e. After the step 136 is completed, the process returns to the step where the duplication check process shown in FIG. 7 is read out, that is, the step 106. On the other hand, if it is not determined in step 134 that there is a duplication error, after step 134, the process returns to the step where the duplication check shown in the flowchart of FIG.

Next, in the overlap check of the second example shown in FIG. 8, first in step 160, the overlap 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 an overlapping area 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 168. After step 168, or when it is not determined in step 166 that there is a duplication error, the step of reading the duplication check processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 8, that is, the step 106 of FIG. Return.

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

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a rough sketch which is the subject of this embodiment.

In this FIG. 9, the sketches S1 and S2 are
Each of the drawings is a sketch for embroidery in which multicolor sewing is performed while changing different embroidery threads. On the sketch S1, a pattern P1 to be embroidered with a yellow embroidery thread is drawn. The picture P1 is, in particular, the face portion of the picture to be embroidered. Further, a pattern P2 to be embroidered with a red embroidery thread is drawn on the sketch S2. The picture P2 is a picture of the hat.

FIGS. 10 and 11 are diagrams showing an example of a combination of the rough sketches of this embodiment in which multicolor sewing is performed while changing different embroidery threads.

First, in FIG. 10, the rough sketch S3 and the rough sketch S4 are both the rough sketch S shown in FIG.
1 and the sketch S2. That is, the design P3a in FIG. 10 is based on the design P1. The design P3b is based on the design P2.
The design P4a is based on the design P1. Picture P
4b is based on the pattern P2.

The two sketches S1 and S2 thus synthesized are different from each other in the sketch S3 and the sketch S4. That is, the sketch S3
In the above, the pattern P1 of the sketch S1 and the sketch S
Regarding the overlapping portion of 2 with the design P2, the design P1
The side of has been deleted. Therefore, the design P3a is designed to cover the cap of the design P3b.

On the other hand, for the sketch S4, when the picture P1 of the sketch S1 and the picture P2 of the sketch S2 are combined, the overlapping portion of the picture P1 and the picture P2 remains unchanged. Therefore, the design is different from that of the sketch S3. Further, with respect to such an overlapping portion, there is a possibility that thread breakage may occur during the actual sewing of embroidery by the sewing machine.

Further, the sketch S5 shown in FIG.
The rough sketch S1 shown in FIG. 9 is a combination of a rough sketch corresponding to the one to be embroidered with a blue embroidery thread, that is, a rough sketch with a pattern P5b drawn. This sketch S
As shown in FIG. 5, according to this embodiment, even if the same face pattern P1 as the combined rough sketch S3 is combined, it is possible to easily obtain different zadein by combining different pattern P5b of the hat part. You can Also in this case, the overlapping portion on the face side is deleted from the overlapping portion, and the pattern P on the face portion is deleted.
5a has a preferable design in which the hat pattern P5b is covered. Further, by deleting the overlapping portion in this way, it is possible to reduce the thread breakage that occurs during the actual sewing of the embroidery by the sewing machine.

Also in the combined sketch S6 of FIG. 11, the pattern P2 of the sketch S2 corresponding to the red embroidery thread is different from the face portion of the pattern P1 of the sketch S1. A design P6a of a certain rough picture is synthesized. Also in this synthesized sketch S6, the overlapping portion is deleted in the present embodiment, and it has a preferable design.

As described above, in this embodiment, when embroidery data for embroidery for performing multicolor sewing while changing different embroidery threads is generated, when a plurality of rough sketches corresponding to each embroidery thread are combined, , The overlapping portion generated due to the combination is shown in the combined sketch S of FIG.
3 and the combined sketch S5 of FIG. 11 and the combined sketch S6 of FIG. 11, it is possible to appropriately delete the overlapping portions. Therefore, it is possible to reduce that the overlapping portion is embroidered with the two embroidery threads and the design becomes unfavorable, or the thread breaks during sewing.

For example, when the present invention is not applied, in the synthesized sketch S4 of FIG. 10, different embroidery threads are mixed with each other in the overlapping portion, or thread breakage occurs during actual sewing. There is a risk that Even if the color mixture or the thread breakage does not occur in this way, a step is generated in the finish of the embroidery sewing at the overlapping portions, which is not aesthetically preferable.

Further, in this embodiment, when the overlapping area is calculated in step 132 of FIG. 7 or step 164 of FIG. 8, 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, the overlapping area of the outline portion of the pattern is calculated assuming that there is no overlap. This is because it is assumed that, after the embroidery of a certain rough design, the pattern of another rough sketch is embroidered by overlapping only the outline of the pattern. In such a case, for the lower pattern where the outline part overlaps above it,
It is generally unnecessary to delete the duplicated portion for this duplication.

In this embodiment, by doing so, it is possible to perform a higher quality overlap error determination according to the degree of actual thread breakage, the degree of influence of the quality of the finished embroidery, and the like. 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 nothing to do. 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,
It is possible to further reduce the risk of yarn breakage.

In using the embroidery data generating apparatus of this embodiment, for example, even if a duplication error is determined, the duplication portion is not deleted by a predetermined operation of the user, Of the sewing data and writing of the generated sewing data into the memory card 68 may be continued. This is because, for example, like the edge of a patch, it may be necessary to deliberately overlap without deleting the overlapping portion by a predetermined operation of the user. Therefore, the user may be allowed to select whether or not to use the duplicate error determination function of this embodiment.

[0078]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By reducing the thread breakage that occurs during the actual sewing of embroidery by the sewing machine and further improving the quality of the finished embroidery, it is possible to combine multiple sketches more easily. It is possible to obtain an excellent effect that it is possible to obtain a design of various designs by combining the rough sketches.

[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 second block diagram showing the gist of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embroidery data generation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 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. 6 is a flowchart showing an embroidery data generation process performed in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a first example of a duplication check performed during the embroidery data generation process.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a second example of the duplication check.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a rough sketch for embroidery in which multicolor sewing is performed while changing different embroidery threads, which is a target of the present embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a first example in which a rough sketch for each embroidery thread, which is the target of the present embodiment, is combined.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a second example in which a rough sketch for each embroidery thread that is the target of the present embodiment is combined.

[Explanation of symbols]

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 ... Duplicate area calculation unit 16 ... Duplicate error determination unit 18 ... Duplicate portion deletion unit 22 ... 1 threshold setting unit 24 ... second threshold setting unit 40 ... handy scanner 40a ... reading 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 (4)

[Claims] An embroidery data generation device for generating embroidery data of a sewing machine that performs multicolor sewing while changing different threads, and a rough sketch memory for separately storing data of a plurality of different rough sketches to be embroidered. An overlapping area calculation unit that calculates the overlapping area for each overlapping position while detecting the overlap between the designs of the at least two different rough drawings when combining the different rough drawings; An overlap error determination unit that determines an overlap error by comparing each overlap point with a predetermined threshold, and a duplicate point deletion that generates rough sketch data in which the overlap point determined by the overlap error determination unit is deleted An embroidery data generation device comprising: 2. The draft memory according to claim 1, wherein the draft memory is provided with priority information for each draft in which the priority of the draft data becomes higher as the embroidery order becomes later. An embroidery data generation device characterized in that, when deleting a duplicated portion between different sketches, the deletion unit uses the priority order information to delete the duplicated portion of the sketch having a lower priority. . 3. An embroidery data generation device for generating embroidery data of a sewing machine that performs embroidery sewing while changing different types of threads, and a rough sketch memory for storing the data of a rough sketch to be embroidered for each thread. An overlapping area calculation unit that calculates the overlapping area for each overlapping position while detecting the overlap between the patterns of the rough drawings when the rough drawings of two different types of threads are combined, and the calculated overlapping A duplication error determination unit that compares an area with a predetermined threshold value for each duplication position and determines duplication error, and a duplication that generates a draft data in which the duplication position determined by the duplication error determination unit is deleted. An embroidery data generation device comprising a location deletion unit. 4. The priority of the data for the embroidery rough sketch which is distinguished for each embroidery thread in the rough sketch memory becomes higher as the order of embroidery by each embroidery thread becomes later. Priority information is provided for each embroidery thread, and when the overlapping point deletion unit deletes an overlapping point between sketches embroidered by different embroidery threads, the priority information is used to determine the priority level. An embroidery data generation device for deleting an overlapping portion of a lower sketch.