JPH07108091A - Embroidery data forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To set a thread density suitable to an area, and efficiently form a embroidery data with a good appearance suitable to the form of the area by providing a thread density arithmetic method memory means and a thread density arithmetic method setting means. CONSTITUTION:A control device C is formed of a CPU 21, an input and output interface 20 connected to the CPU 21 through a bus 24, a ROM 22, and a RAM 30. In the ROM 22, a thread density operation expression table in which the content of a thread density arithmetic method is conformed to its arithmetic method number is stored to calculate the thread density used for determining the stitch data for embroidering a block. The RAM 30 has an embroidery area data memory 31 for storing the embroidery area data read from an external memory device 12; an embroidery block data memory 32 for storing he data related to plurally divided blocks; a stitch data memory 33 for storing the stitch data expanded to needle location data; and a thread color memory 32.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an embroidery data creating apparatus, and more particularly, to set a thread density for obtaining stitch data to be used for embroidery sewing in an area obtained by dividing an embroidery area in accordance with the shape of the area. Regarding things.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the applicant of the present application has been able to store embroidery data for embroidery patterns with a storage capacity as small as possible, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-42740. The area of the embroidery pattern such as is divided into a plurality of blocks, block data indicating a plurality of contour line elements for defining the contours of these blocks, and a thread that defines the number of stitches formed in the block by the embroidery thread. The embroidery area data including the density data is automatically obtained and stored, and based on these block data and thread density data,
An embroidery pattern storage / reproduction device was proposed in which the position data of the needle drop point for each block was obtained and the embroidery pattern was sewn using this needle drop position data.

In this embroidery pattern storage / reproduction device, the thread density data for obtaining the needle drop point position data for each of the divided blocks is basically the middle of a pair of sub-edges forming the block. The distance between the midpoints of so-called sub sides connecting the points is divided by a standard pitch (for example, 4 to 5 lines / mm) to obtain the distance. Further, when a pair of sub-sides forming a block are substantially parallel to each other, the distance between the sub-sides is divided by the standard pitch to obtain the distance.

[0004]

As described above, in the embroidery pattern storage / reproduction apparatus proposed by the applicant of the present application, thread density data for obtaining position data of needle drop points of blocks obtained by dividing the embroidery pattern area. Is basically calculated by dividing the distance between the midpoints of the sub-sides or the distance between the two sub-sides by the standard pitch, so if the embroidery pattern area has a complicated shape, it is divided. The blocks have various shapes such as triangles, trapezoids, and fan shapes.For blocks of these shapes, the thread density becomes extremely coarse on the longer main side, while the thread density becomes extremely fine on the shorter main side. Becomes
The yarn density becomes uneven. Therefore, in order to improve the appearance of the embroidery pattern, the shape of the block is changed or the value of the thread density is changed for each block in which the thread density is uneven. Therefore, there is a problem that the stitch data creation work becomes complicated and requires a lot of labor and work time.

It is an object of the present invention to appropriately set the thread density of a divided area of an embroidery area regardless of the shape of the area, and to efficiently generate embroidery data suitable for the shape of the area and having good appearance. An object is to provide an embroidery data creation device that can be created.

[0006]

As shown in the functional block diagram of FIG. 1, an embroidery data creating apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention is arranged so as to be synchronized with a needle that moves up and down within a certain plane in a sewing machine capable of embroidery sewing. The embroidery area to be embroidered is divided into one or more areas in order to drive the cloth moving means which is position-controlled.
In each of the one or more areas, in a device for creating embroidery data, which calculates block data capable of embroidery sewing or stitch data indicating needle drop points of embroidery sewing, a plurality of thread density calculation methods are preset and stored. One of a plurality of yarn density calculation methods stored in the yarn density calculation method storage means, which is suitable for the area, is set by receiving the data of the calculation method storage means and the data of each area or by a manual input operation, and setting thereof. And a yarn density calculation method setting means for storing the calculation method specification data for specifying the selected thread density calculation method in association with the area data.

[0007]

In the embroidery data creating apparatus according to the present invention, the thread density calculation method storage means has a plurality of thread density calculation methods preset and stored therein. Of the plurality of thread density calculation methods stored in the thread density calculation method storage means by receiving the data of the above, or one of the plurality of thread density calculation methods stored in the storage means is set, and the set thread density calculation method is designated. The calculation method designation data to be stored is stored in association with the data of the area.

As described above, one of the plurality of yarn density calculation methods is set as the yarn density suitable for the divided areas. Even if the shape is various shapes such as triangle, trapezoid, fan, etc., the thread density value suitable for these shapes is calculated, and it is possible to efficiently create good-looking embroidery data without causing unevenness in the thread density. You can

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, the embroidery area data (outline data) read by a scanner or the like is divided into a plurality of blocks, and stitch data (needle drop position data) for applying embroidery stitches to each of these blocks is created. This is a case where the present invention is applied to an embroidery data creation device. As shown in FIG. 2, the embroidery data creation device 1 basically has a CRT display 10 for displaying characters and images.
A keyboard 11, an external storage device 12 including a hard disk drive device, and a coordinate input device (mouse) 13 for inputting coordinates of defined points defining an embroidery area.
And a control box 14 to which they are connected. The control box 14 incorporates a control device C and a floppy disk drive device 16 (see FIG. 3) described later.

Next, the control system of the embroidery data creating apparatus 1
It is configured as shown in the block diagram of FIG. The input / output interface 20 of the controller C has a keyboard 1
1, external storage device 12, coordinate input device 13, CR
A display drive circuit 15 for the T display 10 and a floppy disk controller (FDC) 17 for a floppy disk drive device (FDD) 16 are connected to each other.

The keyboard 11 is used for inputting embroidery patterns and stitch densities to be applied to the work cloth, and for inputting keys and data for instructing embroidery patterns such as alphabet letters, numbers and symbols. The various keys required are provided. Further, the external storage device 12 is provided with an embroidery data memory for storing embroidery area data relating to a plurality of types of embroidery patterns such as characters and figures in association with embroidery numbers.

Here, the embroidery data memory stores a plurality of defined coordinates that define an embroidery area (outline) read by a scanner (not shown). For example, as shown in FIG. 9, for each of the three embroidery areas 50 to 52, a plurality of defined points defining the embroidery area are stored in advance in the embroidery data memory as embroidery area data.

The control device C includes a CPU 21 and this CPU
21, an input / output interface 20, a ROM 22, and a RAM 30, which are connected to a bus 21 such as a data bus.
It consists of and. The ROM 22 stores a control program for stitch data development control, which will be described later, peculiar to the present application. The stitch data expansion control program includes an existing block division processing control subroutine that divides into a plurality of blocks based on the embroidery area data, and stitch data that expands into stitch data based on the block data and thread density data. It includes a subroutine for expansion processing control.

In the ROM 22, as shown in FIG.
A thread density calculation method table TB in which the content of the thread density calculation method and the calculation method number are associated with each other is stored in order to calculate the thread density used when obtaining the stitch data for embroidering on the block. The RAM 30 is expanded into an embroidery area data memory 31 for storing the embroidery area data read from the external storage device 12, an embroidery block data memory 32 for storing data regarding blocks divided into a plurality of blocks, and needle drop position data. Stitch data memory 33, thread color memory 34, thread density memory 35, work memory, CPU 21
Various memories for temporarily storing the calculation result calculated in 1. and memories such as a counter and a pointer are provided.

Next, a stitch data development control routine executed by the control device C of the embroidery data creation device will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.
In the figure, reference numeral Si (i = 10, 11, 12, ...) Indicates each step. When the embroidery area number for embroidery sewing is selected and the stitch data development start is instructed on the keyboard 11, this control is started, and the area pointer value P and the block pointer value Q are first cleared and the number of areas is set. The count value N and the block count value M are each cleared (S10), and the embroidery area data of the selected embroidery area is read from the embroidery data memory of the external storage device 12 and stored in the embroidery area data memory 31 of the RAM 30. Then, it is displayed on the CRT display 10 (S12) (S12). For example, as shown in FIG. 8, three embroidery areas 50 to 52 read from the embroidery data memory.
Is displayed on the CRT display 10.

Next, based on this embroidery area data, the total number of embroidery areas is searched, this total number of embroidery areas is stored as an area number count value N (S13), and the initial value "1" is set in the area pointer P. It is set (S14). Next, block division processing control for dividing the embroidery area into a plurality of rectangular blocks is executed based on the embroidery area data, and the data regarding each block is displayed on the CRT display 10 and the embroidery block data in the RAM 30. Memory 32
(S15).

For example, as shown in FIG. 9, each embroidery area 5
A plurality of divided blocks for 0 to 52 are displayed on the CRT display 10 by a chain double-dashed line. Further, for example, regarding the embroidery area number “51”, as shown in FIG. For the block, block numbers “1”, “2”, ..., As data contents for each block number, thread color number data, four defined points (rectification points 1 to 4 for defining rectangular shape) are defined. The data of the block coordinates consisting of (number coordinates), the data of “no block correction” as to whether or not the block is corrected, and the like are stored in the embroidery block data memory 32. Here, the block coordinate data will be briefly described. The side connecting the 1st point and the 3rd point among the four prescribed points is the first main side, the 2nd point and the 4th point.
The side opposite to the first main side connecting the number is the second main side, the side connecting the number 1 and the number 2 is the first sub-side, the side connecting the number 3 and the number 4 is the first side. The side opposite to the first sub-side is the second sub-side.

Next, when the shapes of the blocks of these plural blocks are modified in order to form the embroidery stitches more beautifully (S16: Yes), for example, the coordinate input device 13 is used to display on the CRT display 10. The desired one or a plurality of displayed block shapes are modified by the mouse pointer, the modified block is redisplayed, and the modification process control ends the modification process control (S17). For example, as shown in FIG.
The subdivided and modified blocks are identified by broken lines. Next, for each modified block, data indicating that the block has been modified is stored in association with the data of that block (S18). For example, as shown in FIG.
In the embroidery block data memory 32, the embroidery area number “5
For “1”, the data “with block correction” is changed and stored instead of the data “without block correction”.

Next, the area pointer value P is incremented by 1 (S19), and when the area pointer value P is less than or equal to the area number count value N (S20: No), the process returns to S15 and S.
15 to S20 are repeatedly executed.

When all the embroidery areas stored in the embroidery area memory 31 are expanded into blocks and the area pointer value P is larger than the area count value N (S20: Yes), the embroidery block data memory 32 stores the embroidery area data. The total number of blocks is searched based on the data (S2
1) The total number of blocks is stored as a block number count value M (S22), and the yarn density calculation method setting process control (see FIG. 6) is executed (S23).

When this control is started, first an initial value "1" is set as the block pointer value Q (S35),
Data concerning the block designated by the block pointer value Q is read from the embroidery block data memory 32 (S36). Then, when the data regarding this block is accompanied by the data "with block correction" (S37: Yes), the yarn density calculation method number "5" is stored within the data regarding that block (S44). Next, the block pointer value Q is incremented by 1 (S42), and when this block pointer value Q is less than or equal to the block number count value M (S43: No), the process returns to S36 and S
36 to S43 are repeatedly executed.

By the way, in the data regarding the block,
When the data of "no block correction" is stored together (S36, S37: No), the ratio of the lengths of the first and second main sides is calculated, and the ratio of these two main sides is 1. : S3: Yes (S38: Yes), and when the first and second sub-sides are substantially parallel (S39: Yes), the yarn density calculation method number "2" is stored in the data regarding the block (S40). ), Through S42, when the block pointer value Q is less than or equal to the block number count value M (S43: No), the process returns to S36.

On the other hand, when the data regarding the block is stored together with the data "no block correction" (S36, S37: No), the ratio of the lengths of the first and second main sides is , Larger than 1: 3 and smaller than 1: 5 (S38: No, S45: Yes), yarn density calculation method number "3"
Is stored in the data related to the block (S45), S
It returns to S36 through 42 and S43. However, when the data about the block is stored together with the data of "no block correction" (S36, S37: No), the ratio of the lengths of the first and second main sides is 1: 5. When larger than (S
38.S45: No), the yarn density calculation method number "4" is stored in the data regarding the block (S47), and the process returns to S36 through S42 and S43. Then, when the thread density calculation method numbers are stored for all the data regarding the blocks stored in the embroidery block data memory 32 and the block pointer value Q is larger than the block number count value M (S43: Yes), this control is performed. Upon completion, the process returns to S24 for stitch data development processing control.

Next, in the stitch data development processing control, the initial value "1" is set again for the block pointer value Q (S24), and the block designated by the block pointer value Q is selected from the data in the embroidery block data memory 32. Data is read out, and the plurality of divided blocks and the yarn density calculation method number set in each block are displayed on the CRT display 10. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, with respect to each of the embroidery areas 50 to 52, the thread density calculation method number is displayed in a circle on the CRT display 10 for each of the plurality of blocks divided by the two-dot chain line.

Next, the thread density calculation method number change setting processing for changing the thread density calculation method number displayed for each block is executed (S25). That is, in this process, the coordinate input device 13 is used to set the yarn density calculation method number of the block designated by the mouse pointer,
It is changed to the desired calculation method number input from the keyboard 11. As a result, the changed thread density calculation method number is changed and set in the embroidery block data memory 32 in correspondence with the data regarding the corresponding block, and the changed thread density calculation method number is newly displayed.

Next, based on the data in the embroidery block data memory 32, the needle drop on both the first and second main sides is performed using the block data and the operation method designated by the thread density operation method number. A stitch data expansion process is performed in which the coordinates of points are sequentially calculated for all blocks.
The stitches obtained by sequentially connecting the obtained stitch data are displayed on the CRT display 10 (S26), and a plurality of these stitch data are managed for each embroidery area to be stored in the external storage device 12.
(S27), the control is terminated and the process returns to the main routine. Then, based on the stitch data, the cloth moving operation is driven within a certain plane of the sewing machine (not shown) capable of embroidery sewing.

For example, as shown in FIG. 11, stitches based on the obtained stitch data for each of the embroidery areas 50 to 52 are displayed on the CRT display 10. With this stitch display, at the stitches of each embroidery area 50-52,
Good-looking embroidery data is created without causing unevenness in thread density. Here, in particular, with respect to the embroidery area 51, the four small blocks modified using the coordinate input device 13 are calculated with a thread density smaller than the thread densities of the other blocks, so that the coarseness is as intended by the operator. A seam is formed.

As described above, the thread density suitable for each automatically divided block is calculated based on the distance between the midpoints of the sub sides of the block, the parallelism, and the length of the main side. Since one of a plurality of yarn density calculation methods set in advance in the method table TB is set, even if the divided blocks have various shapes such as a triangle, a trapezoid, and a fan, they are suitable for these shapes. The value of the thread density is calculated, and it is possible to efficiently create good-looking embroidery data without causing unevenness in the thread density. Furthermore, since the set thread density calculation method can be changed and set to any other thread density calculation method by manual operation using the coordinate input device 13, it is possible to create more suitable stitch data for the embroidery pattern. You can

Here, the correspondence relationship between each means described in the claims and the configuration in the above embodiment will be described. The thread density calculation system storage means corresponds to the ROM.
The thread density calculation method table TB stored in advance in 22 and corresponding to the thread density calculation method setting means is thread density calculation method setting processing control.

The content of the thread density calculation method stored in advance in the thread density calculation method table TB is merely an example, and the distance between the midpoints of the pair of sub-sides, the parallelism, and the pair of sub-sides. You may make it set the thread density calculation method which uses various elements as parameters, such as the length of the main side, and other graphical features obtained from a series of continuous block shapes. For example, in the case of graphical features of consecutive blocks, for example,
When a pair of blocks whose main side ratio is a predetermined value (for example, 1: 3) or less continues for a predetermined number of times (for example, three times) or more,
Even if it is thinned out, it may still be clogged inside, so in order to alleviate this, the yarn density should be 2 as shown in No. 4 in Fig. 4.
It is possible to think of a method of making it three times lower.
It should be noted that, within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention, various modifications may be made to the control of the above-described embodiment based on existing technology or technology obvious to those skilled in the art. It is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to various embroidery data creation devices that create embroidery data for driving the cloth moving device provided in the sewing machine capable of embroidery sewing.

[0031]

As described above, according to the embroidery data creation apparatus of the first aspect, the thread density calculation method storage means and the thread density calculation method setting means are provided, and the thread density suitable for the area is plural. One of the above thread density calculation methods is set. Therefore, even if the divided blocks have various shapes such as a triangle, a trapezoid, and a fan, depending on the setting of the plurality of thread density calculation methods, A thread density value suitable for the shape is calculated, and it is possible to efficiently create good-looking embroidery data without causing unevenness in the thread density.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of claim 1.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of an embroidery data creation device.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control system of the embroidery data creation device.

FIG. 4 is a table showing setting contents of a yarn density calculation method table TB.

FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart of a routine for stitch data expansion control.

FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart of a routine of a yarn density calculation method setting process control.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating data in an embroidery block data memory.

FIG. 8 is a view showing an example of three displayed embroidery areas.

FIG. 9 is a view showing an example of a displayed embroidery area and divided blocks.

FIG. 10 is a view showing an example of yarn density calculation method numbers displayed corresponding to each block.

FIG. 11 is a view showing an example of stitches obtained for each embroidery area.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Embroidery Data Creation Device 13 Coordinate Input Device 21 CPU 22 ROM 30 RAM 32 Embroidery Block Data Memory C Control Device

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An embroidery area to be sewn in order to drive a cloth moving means whose position is relatively controlled in synchronization with a needle that moves up and down within a certain plane in an embroidery sewing machine.
In the embroidery data creation device that divides into the above areas, and calculates the block data capable of embroidery sewing or the stitch data indicating the needle drop points of the embroidery sewing for each of these one or more areas, a plurality of thread density calculation methods are set in advance. The set and stored yarn density calculation method storage means and the plurality of yarn density calculation methods stored in the yarn density calculation method storage means by receiving the data of each area or by manual input operation are suitable for the area. Set one to
An embroidery data creation device comprising: a thread density calculation method setting means for storing the calculation method specification data for specifying the set thread density calculation method in association with the data of the area.