JPH08861A - Embroidery data preparing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily confirm the existence of an embroidery area for which coloring or marking can be performed and its shape or the existence of a newly colored embroidery area on a screen. CONSTITUTION:First of all, an original image composed of only lines is read by an image scanner (S1) and a boundary line to be the boundary between the line of a pattern and the others is extracted based on the data of the read original image (S2). Then, a checker pattern is displayed only in the closed area surrounded by the boundary line (S4). Thus, the closed area to be colored or marked can visually be confirmed on the screen.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to embroidery data for inputting a contour line of a pattern and embroidering the closed region based on color painting or marking corresponding to the closed region surrounded by the contour line. The present invention relates to an embroidery data creation device that creates a.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in the field of industrial embroidery sewing machines, for example, there has been provided an embroidery data creating apparatus which can create highly accurate embroidery data in a short time by utilizing a microcomputer. Such an embroidery data creating apparatus is configured by connecting an image scanner, a keyboard, a hard disk drive, a CRT display, etc. to a general-purpose personal computer system main body, for example, and embroidering multicolored stitches from an original image of an arbitrary pattern. The data can be easily created.

By the way, in recent years, in the background of circumstances such as diversification of tastes of consumers, high quality, improvement of performance of the embroidery sewing machine, even a domestic embroidery sewing machine has previously stored embroidery data. There is a demand for a relatively inexpensive and easy-to-operate embroidery data creation device that can form not only a pattern based on a pattern, but also a pattern desired by a user. In particular, it is desired to be able to create embroidery data having a multicolor pattern using embroidery threads of a plurality of colors.

In order to meet such a demand, an embroidery data creation device as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-1746999 has been devised. This embroidery data creation apparatus is configured by connecting a monochrome binary image scanner to a compact main body having a microcomputer, a small display and several operation keys. With the embroidery data creation device described in this publication, when creating embroidery data of a multicolor pattern, the embroidery data is created as described below.

For example, areas A1 and A of a pattern A shown in FIG.
When three embroidery areas A3 and A4 are to be embroidered in different colors, the operator uses the pattern A shown in FIG. 4 for each of the three colors in which each area is drawn separately as shown in FIG. The divided original images B1 to B3 are created on different sheets. After that, the divided original images B1 to B3 are separately read by using an image scanner, and after confirming on the display that the original image read in each reading is in a desired form, if all the displayed contents are good, the Embroidery data that matches the display is created. That is, this reading operation is performed by dividing original images B1 to B
The embroidery data for embroidering the pattern A with the threads of three colors is created by repeating the number of 3 times three times in total.

In the embroidery data creating apparatus of the above publication, the operator has to create the divided original images separately in advance for the number of colors, which requires a lot of time and labor for the preparation work for reading the original image, and the cost is also high. There is a problem called. In order to avoid this inconvenience, the present applicant previously filed Japanese Patent Application No. 6-2
No. 7734 is filed. In the embroidery data creation apparatus by the present applicant, after reading the initial original image C (see FIG. 5) drawn by a contour line or the like, a part of the initial original image C is color-painted or marked stepwise. Original picture (see Figure 9)
By sequentially reading, the embroidery data is created from one sheet. When creating the embroidery data, after automatically extracting the boundary line between the part where the read image exists (corresponding to the outline drawn on the original image) and the part where the image does not exist, Embroidery data for sewing the area surrounded by the boundary is created (see FIG. 10). Hereinafter, the area surrounded by the boundary line is referred to as a closed area.

[0007]

However, in the embroidery data creation apparatus by the applicant as described above, the paper is colored or marked, so that if the pattern is a finely intricate pattern, Since it is difficult to grasp the range of the closed area to be painted or marked, for example, it takes time to correctly grasp the range of the closed area, which may reduce work efficiency or cause a mistake in painting. is there. In particular,
In the data creation method in which color painting or marking is sequentially added to one sheet of paper, if the part that is not scheduled to be colored this time is colored or marked with a pen etc. The operator may want to grasp the shape of the closed region and accurately paint or mark it, because it may be necessary to re-input all including the part.

Further, in the embroidery data creating apparatus which extracts the above-mentioned boundary line from the read contour line or the like, a gap is generated in the contour line surrounding the closed region D1 due to faintness of the drawn line ( 11 (b)), the operator is in the closed area D
When scanning is performed with the intention of embroidering 1, the closed area D
Only the contour line portion surrounding 1 (the portion drawn by the operator as a part of the pattern A) is recognized by the internal processing device as an embroidery area to be embroidered. As a result of this reading, as described in the above-mentioned publication, only by displaying the read image (including a portion roughly painted by the operator later), the operator can draw a line surrounding the closed region D4. Since it is not noticed that only the portion is recognized as the embroidery area by the internal processing device, unlike the embroidery data for sewing the closed area D1, the embroidery data for sewing a part of the outer circumference of the closed area D1 is created. I will end up.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of claim 1 is to provide an embroidery data creating apparatus capable of visually recognizing where a closed region for color painting or marking is. To provide.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an embroidery data creation device capable of visually recognizing the relationship between the closed region recognized inside the device this time and other parts.

A third object of the present invention is to provide an embroidery data creating apparatus capable of visually recognizing what the inside and outside of the closed area based on the extracted contour line is.

[0012]

In order to overcome such a problem, an embroidery data creating apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention is a closed area defining means for defining a closed area surrounded by an input contour line. And display data creating means for creating closed area display data for displaying the closed area differently from the outside of the closed area, and display means for displaying the inside of the closed area based on the closed area display data. .

The embroidery data creation device according to a second aspect of the present invention includes means for displaying the outside of the closed region and periodically changing the display state within the closed region that is displayed differently from the outside of the closed region. There is.

Further, the embroidery data creation apparatus according to the third aspect comprises means for recognizing the inside and outside of the closed region by extracting the contour line from the original image which is the source of the embroidery.

[0015]

In the embroidery data creating apparatus having the above structure according to the first aspect of the present invention, the closed area defining means defines a closed area surrounded by the input contour line, and the closed area defines the embroidery data creating apparatus. Be recognized by. The display data creation means creates closed region display data for displaying the inside of the closed region differently from the outside of the closed region, and makes it possible to display the inside of the closed region and the outside of the closed region differently. The display means displays the inside of the closed region and the outside of the closed region differently based on the closed region display data.

Further, in the embroidery data creation device according to the second aspect, the display state in the closed area displayed differently from the outside of the closed area is automatically changed periodically, and the inside of the closed area is otherwise changed. It is displayed differently from the part.

Further, in the embroidery data creating apparatus according to the third aspect, the contour line of the closed area is extracted from the original image which is the source of the embroidery, and the inside and outside of the closed area are processed in the embroidery data creating apparatus based on the contour line. Be recognized by.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an embroidery data creation device for a domestic embroidery sewing machine will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, although not shown, a domestic embroidery sewing machine will be briefly described. The embroidery sewing machine moves the embroidery frame, which is arranged on the sewing machine bed and holds the work cloth, to a predetermined position indicated by the X and Y coordinate system peculiar to the apparatus by the horizontal movement mechanism, while performing the sewing operation by the sewing needle and the hook mechanism. By doing so, the work cloth is embroidered with a predetermined pattern.

In this case, the horizontal moving mechanism and the needle bar are controlled by a control device composed of a microcomputer, and therefore, the work cloth is moved in the X and Y directions for each needle. When the embroidery data (stitch data) indicating the amount (needle drop position) is given, the control device can automatically execute the embroidery operation. Further, in this embodiment, a flash memory device is provided in the embroidery sewing machine, and the embroidery data is given from the outside by a flash memory (card memory) described later. The embroidery data creation device according to this embodiment has a function of creating such embroidery data.

Next, the overall structure of the embroidery data creating apparatus according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

The production apparatus main body 1 is mainly composed of a microcomputer, and comprises a CPU 2, a ROM 3, a RAM 4, a flash memory device (FMD) 5, and an input / output interface 6 which are mutually connected via a bus. As shown in FIG. 2, a liquid crystal display (LCD) 7 for displaying a pattern or the like on a screen 7a is provided on the upper surface of the production apparatus main body 1. The liquid crystal display 7 is controlled by a display control device (LCDC) 8, and a display storage device 9 is connected to the display control device 8.

The flash memory device 5 includes:
The flash memory 10 as a storage medium is detachably attached. In addition, an operation key 11 for an operator to give various instructions and an image scanner 12 for reading an original image are connected to the CPU 2 via the input / output interface 6 in the creation apparatus main body 1.

The image scanner 12 is composed of a so-called handy scanner capable of reading a monochrome original image as binary bit map image data, and an operator holds the upper portion by hand and directs the lower reading portion onto the original image. The original image is read by moving it in one direction while tracing along the original image while pressing the button. The line drawing image data read from the original drawing is
Each pixel is represented by bit data having a value of “0” for white and “1” for black, and is stored in the RAM 4.

By the software configuration of the creating apparatus body 1, the embroidery data is automatically created based on the initial original image C of the pattern A as shown in FIG. 5, for example. This software is C in ROM3
It is stored as program code for controlling PU2.

Next, the process for creating embroidery data will be described in detail below with reference to FIG.

When creating the embroidery data, the operator first creates an initial original image C in which the pattern A is represented by a contour line, as shown in FIG. The initial original image C is the outline of the pattern A drawn on a white original paper with a black pen that can be read by the image scanner 12. The embroidery data creation device of this embodiment is the same as the Japanese Patent Application No. 6-27 filed by the present applicant.
As described in the specification and drawings of No. 734, the above-described boundary line is extracted from the drawn contour line and the like, and hereinafter, the area surrounded by the boundary line is referred to as a closed area.

When the operator moves the image scanner 12 on the initial original image C, line drawing image data representing the initial original image C is stored in the RAM 4 in step 1. In step 2, based on the line drawing image data of the initial original image C stored in the RAM 4, the periphery of the image is surrounded by a valid connecting figure (a group of figures in which black pixels are connected to each other). Boundary line extraction processing is first performed to individually extract such closed regions. This boundary line extraction is realized, for example, by applying a well-known boundary line tracking algorithm as an image figure processing technique, and the connectivity determination at that time is
Either four-connection or eight-connection can be used, but the detailed description thereof is omitted because it is not an essential part of the present invention.

Regarding the boundary lines extracted by the boundary line extraction processing in this image data, when the closed and drawn lines forming the closed area are regarded as the image area, two lines inside and outside are extracted and the inside line is closed. It is a boundary line that defines a region (see FIG. 10). In this way, the region surrounded by the contour drawn by the operator is surrounded by the extracted inclusion boundary line and can be identified, that is, the closed regions A1, A3, A4.
However, in the subsequent steps, it is recognized by the CPU 2 as an embroidery area that can be colored or marked.

Next, in step 3, each closed region A
The embroidery area display data is generated by drawing a polygon (polygon) such that 1, A3 and A4 are filled with arbitrary pattern patterns and displayed. As the pattern pattern to be filled up, the simplest is to simply fill the entire surface uniformly, but here a checkerboard pattern in which every other display dot is alternately arranged is adopted. The display data creation is performed by specifically drawing the graphic data on the display storage device 9. However, since these are generally widely used methods, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In step 4, the display control device 8 controls the liquid crystal display 7 based on the line drawing image data and the embroidery area display data to display the boundary line extracted by simple filling and to close the closed area as shown in FIG. A1, A3, A
A checkerboard pattern is displayed in the portion corresponding to 4.

In this way, the closed areas A1, A3, A4 corresponding to the embroidery area are displayed differently from the area outside the non-embroidered area, so that the operator looks at the screen 7a and colors or marks the area. It is possible to visually confirm in advance whether or not the shape and the shape of the embroidery area that can be used are correct, and to know the shapes of these closed areas A1, A3, A4. It can be used as a reference when creating a processed original image that has been colored or marked.

When the operator judges that the boundary lines and the closed areas A1, A3 and A4 are displayed properly and performs an operation corresponding thereto (step 5: YES), the boundary line is determined in the next step 6. After the embroidery data of the corresponding portion (outline of the pattern A) is created, it is stored in the flash memory 10. The embroidery data is created so that the line drawing image data is subjected to graphic data processing such as thinning or vectorization as necessary, and then the contour lines thereof are formed by zigzag stitches.

Subsequently, in step 7, the closed area A1 sewn with the thread of the first color is roughly painted black, and the operator then paints the initial original image C (hereinafter referred to as a processed original image: not shown). ) When the image scanner 12 is moved above, image data representing a processed original image is stored in the RAM 4.

Next, in step 8, the difference between the read original image data and the line image image data of the initial original image C stored in the RAM 4 is determined, and the color-painted area becomes the closed area A1. The CPU 2 recognizes that the embroidery area to be sewn for the first color is the closed area A1. Further, the embroidery area display data is created so that the portion corresponding to the closed area A1 is filled and displayed. Subsequently, in step 9, the display control device 8 controls the liquid crystal display 7 based on the embroidery area display data to display the portion corresponding to the closed area A1 in the same manner as the boundary line. The areas corresponding to the area A2 and the closed areas A3 and A4 are displayed in white. Then, as shown in FIG. 7, the display control device 8 has a fixed interval cycle (for example, every 0.5 seconds),
Only the closed area A1 read this time is alternately switched between the solid color and the blank area, and the blinking display is controlled. In this way, since the original image (embroidery area) newly recognized by the CPU 2 this time is emphasized by the blinking display, the operator looks at the screen 7a and newly colored or marked embroidery. It is possible to easily visually recognize the existence of the region and whether or not the shape is correct.

Next, when the operator judges that this new embroidery area display (closed area A1) is good and performs the corresponding operation (step 10: YES), step 11 is subsequently executed.
At this time, embroidery data is created for the closed area A1 so that the inside of the closed area A1 is sewn with a large number of stitches, and is stored in the flash memory 10. Then, the operator operates to read the next area (step 12: NO).

Then, as shown in FIG. 9, the remaining closed areas A3 and A4 are colored or marked stepwise, and steps 7 to 11 described above are repeated several times as necessary. In step 9, at the time of reading, only the display corresponding to the newly colored or marked closed area is blinked and the closed area corresponding to the already colored or marked embroidery area is filled. Is always displayed. By mounting the flash memory 10 for storing the embroidery data created in this manner on the embroidery sewing machine, it is possible to form an embroidery sewing pattern corresponding to the pattern A.

As described above in detail, according to the embroidery data creation apparatus of this embodiment, the operator looks at the screen and paints or marks as shown in steps 4 and 9 described above. It is possible to visually recognize the existence and shape and number of the embroidery areas that can be processed, and the newly colored or marked embroidery area, and which part is recognized by the CPU 2 as the embroidery area. Therefore, during the work of creating the embroidery data, it is possible to easily determine whether or not the recognition by the CPU 2 for the visually recognized embroidery area is correct.
Alternatively, since the work can be performed while referring to those displays, it is possible to obtain an excellent effect that an incorrect coloring, marking, and oversight are unlikely to occur, and an accurate creation work can be easily performed.

Further, in the embroidery data creating apparatus for creating the embroidery data for the closed area surrounded by the boundary line after extracting the boundary line from the data of the original image read as described above, it is recognized by the CPU 2 of the main body. Since the closed area is displayed on the screen together with the border line, even if the CPU 2 may recognize only the portion corresponding to the border line as the embroidery area due to the blurring of the original image, the operator is expected to make a prediction due to the blurring. It is possible to easily notice the outer embroidery area and prevent incorrect embroidery data from being created.

Particularly, in order to simplify the color painting work, in the method of marking only a part of the closed area of the original image, when the original image with complicated lines is drawn, which part is colored this time It's hard to know what I did, and I'm confused about which part to mark next. However, as described above, if the portion corresponding to the embroidery area can be confirmed on the screen, the work can be performed quickly. In the above-described embodiment, the closed area newly recognized by the CPU 2 is emphasized by switching between filling and whitening, so that even a black and white display device is newly recognized. The closed area can be displayed conspicuously.

Although the embroidery data creating apparatus according to the present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described here. For example, a line drawing image showing a contour line of a pattern. The data may be data obtained by directly inputting the figure shape of the pattern using a set of coordinate values using a digitizer. Also, the embroidery area may be displayed in a multicolored color display with good visibility, and other The hardware configuration of the main body can be appropriately changed and implemented without departing from the scope of the invention, such as the adoption of a general-purpose personal computer.

In the above embodiment, the closed area A1,
Although A3 and A4 are displayed by being filled with the same pattern pattern, they may be displayed by different pattern patterns, or the colors may be changed in the case of a color display screen. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the pattern pattern is displayed only once before the reading in the closed area where color painting or marking is possible. The area may be referred to when deciding whether to color-paint or mark the area. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the white closed region is displayed together with the blinking closed region, but it is possible to display the pattern pattern in the closed region other than the blinking closed region, and still color paint. Alternatively, the closed area where marking is not completed is displayed on the screen 7a.
You may be able to confirm it above.

In the above-described embodiment, the closed area newly recognized by the CPU 2 is emphasized by switching between filling and whitening. However, if a color display device is used, this new area is newly added. Only the recognized closed area may be displayed in a prominent color.

[0044]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the embroidery data creation apparatus of the first aspect of the present invention, the inside of the closed area and the outside of the closed area are displayed differently. It is easily visible and anyone can easily and accurately color or mark it.

According to the embroidery data creation device of the second aspect, the outside of the closed region is displayed and the display state within the closed region that is displayed differently from the outside of the closed region is periodically changed, Since the inside of the closed area newly recognized by the processing inside the device this time is displayed differently from the other parts,
The relationship between the newly recognized closed region and other parts can be confirmed, and it can be easily determined whether or not the input this time is correct.

Further, according to the embroidery data creation apparatus of the third aspect, the contour line of the closed region is extracted from the original image which is the source of the embroidery to recognize the inside and outside of the closed region. When determining whether or not is correct, the operator can visually recognize the recognized closed region on the screen.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an example of an embroidery data creation procedure by an embroidery data creation device of the present invention.

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

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of an embroidery data creation device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a completed state of a pattern.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an original image in which a contour line of the pattern is drawn.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a screen displaying a closed region of a pattern in the embroidery data creation device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating switching of display states in the embroidery data creation device.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an original image created by being divided into regions for each thread color of the pattern.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an original image in which regions of each thread color of the pattern are color-painted stepwise.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining drawn contour lines and extracted boundary lines.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining a case where a contour line of a pattern is faint.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Creating Device Main Body 2 CPU 3 RAM 4 ROM 5 Flash Memory Device 7 Liquid Crystal Display 10 Flash Memory 12 Image Scanner

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An embroidery data creation for inputting a contour line of a design and creating embroidery data for embroidering the closed region based on color painting or marking corresponding to the closed region surrounded by the contour line. In the device, a closed area defining means for defining the closed area, a display data creating means for creating closed area display data for displaying the inside of the closed area differently from the outside of the closed area, and the closed area display data And a display means for displaying the inside of the closed region based on the above. 2. The embroidery data creation device according to claim 1, wherein the display state outside the closed area is changed and the display state inside the closed area displayed differently from the outside of the closed area is periodically changed. . 3. The embroidery data creation according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a contour line surrounding the closed area is extracted from an original image which is a basis of embroidery to recognize the inside and outside of the closed area. apparatus.