JPH10137469A - Embroidering machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the using handiness while preventing an embroidery frame and a presser foot from colliding when the embroidery frame is moved in order to perform the setting of an embroidery forming location, etc. SOLUTION: When an 8-way moving key is operated by touching (Yes in S161), the length of a margin in the moving direction side of an embroidery pattern in a layout region, is calculated (S162), and when it is a specified length or longer, the embroidery frame is moved (Yes in S162), and when it is less than the specified length, the moving of the embroidery frame is prohibited (No in S162). In the meantime, when a moving key other than the 8-way moving key, is operated by touching (No in S161), if the presser foot is located at a descent position, the moving of the embroidery frame is prohibited, and at the same time, the prohibition is notified (Yes in S166, S167), and if the presser foot is located at an ascent position, the embroidery frame is moved (No in S166, S163).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technique for moving a embroidery frame holding a work cloth relative to a sewing needle,
The present invention relates to an embroidery sewing machine that forms an embroidery of a predetermined pattern such as a character.

[0002]

For example, some home sewing machines are capable of forming embroidery of a predetermined pattern on a work cloth based on embroidery data corresponding to a pattern such as a picture or a character. Have been offered. The embroidery data corresponding to a large number (many types) of patterns is stored in a built-in memory in advance, or externally provided by a storage medium such as a memory card. Then, for example, the microcomputer reads predetermined embroidery data, and controls the sewing needle driving mechanism and the embroidery frame moving mechanism based on the embroidery data to execute the embroidery sewing operation on the work cloth.

[0003] When such an embroidery sewing operation is performed, the needle drop portion of the work cloth held by the embroidery frame is appropriately pressed by the presser foot. The presser foot is positioned by a user's switching operation in one of a lower position for pressing the work cloth and an upper position for retreating so as not to be in the way when the work cloth is attached or detached. The embroidery frame has a plurality of sizes that can be exchanged. For example, when a relatively large embroidery pattern is formed, a large frame is attached and a relatively small embroidery pattern is formed. In such a case, a small frame is attached.

[0004] In such a sewing machine, when a user selects an embroidery pattern, the selected pattern is displayed on a display device such as an LCD provided on the front portion of the sewing machine main body to execute a sewing operation. The user can set or confirm the sewing position by looking at it.

In this case, on the screen of the display device, a sewable area of the work cloth, that is, a frame corresponding to the size of the embroidery frame (large frame) is displayed, and an embroidery pattern forming area is displayed within the frame. It is supposed to be. In the initial state (state without user operation), the formation position of the embroidery pattern is
It is set at the center of the sewable area (frame). And if you want to change the embroidery pattern formation position,
When the user operates the movement key while looking at the screen, the embroidery forming area moves with respect to the sewable area on the screen, and the embroidery frame also moves accordingly.

As described above, the embroidery frame has a large frame and a small frame. When the sewing key is operated to change the sewing position when the small frame is attached, the embroidery frame is held in the small frame. The embroidery formation area may move beyond the sewable area of the work cloth. If the presser foot is at the lowered position at this time, the presser foot will collide with the embroidery frame.
Therefore, conventionally, a limit switch or the like for detecting whether the presser foot is at the raised position or the lowered position is provided. The movement of the frame is prohibited, and the embroidery frame is moved on condition that the presser foot is located at the raised position.

However, when the embroidery frame moves only about several mm, such as when the embroidery formation position is slightly changed, there is no danger of collision with the embroidery frame even if the presser foot is at the lowered position. On the contrary, in the related art, when the presser foot is at the lowered position, all movements of the embroidery frame are prohibited. For this reason, it is necessary for the user to move the embroidery frame after raising the presser foot once, and then perform the sewing operation after lowering the presser foot again, which takes time and effort. Was inconvenient.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to prevent a collision between an embroidery frame and a presser foot when the embroidery frame is moved for setting an embroidery forming position or the like. Another object of the present invention is to provide an embroidery sewing machine capable of improving usability.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, an embroidery sewing machine according to the present invention comprises a position detecting means for detecting a height position of a presser foot, and an embroidery frame which is moved by a moving mechanism when the sewing operation is stopped. Movement instructing means for instructing relative movement with respect to the sewing needle by an arbitrary movement amount, determining means for determining the magnitude of the relative movement amount of the embroidery frame by the movement instructing means, and the position detecting means When it is detected that the presser foot is at the lowered position, and when the determination means determines that the relative movement amount is large, the relative movement of the embroidery frame is performed regardless of the instruction by the movement instruction means. A movement prohibiting means for prohibiting the movement (invention 1).

An embroidery sewing machine according to claim 2 of the present invention,
Instead of providing a determination means for determining the magnitude of the relative movement amount of the embroidery frame by the movement instruction means, a small movement mode in which the relative movement amount of the embroidery frame is small by the movement instruction means and a large movement in which the relative movement amount is large. A moving mode setting means for setting the presser foot to the lower position by the position detecting means, and when the large moving mode is set by the moving mode setting means, the moving mode is set. A movement inhibiting means is provided for inhibiting relative movement of the embroidery frame irrespective of an instruction from the instruction means.

In this case, when the position detecting means detects that the presser foot is at the descending position, and the determining means determines that the relative movement amount is large (the third aspect of the present invention), (Invention) or when the large movement mode is set by the movement mode setting means (Claim 4).
Invention), it may be configured to notify that the relative movement of the embroidery frame is impossible by the notification means.

Further, when a relative movement of the embroidery frame is instructed by the movement instructing means, a length corresponding to a distance between an inner peripheral edge of the embroidery frame and the presser foot in the moving direction is calculated. It is also possible to provide a calculation means for performing the relative movement of the embroidery frame when the calculated length by the calculation means is equal to or less than a predetermined length, regardless of the magnitude of the movement amount. The invention of claim 5).

In addition, in the embroidery sewing machine having the embroidery pattern selecting means for selecting the embroidery pattern, the relative movement of the embroidery frame by the moving mechanism is performed after the embroidery pattern is selected by the embroidery pattern selecting means. It is possible to configure so as to allow only (the invention of claim 6). Also, the present invention can be applied to an embroidery sewing machine capable of sewing a combination pattern composed of two or more embroidery patterns selected by the embroidery pattern selection means (the invention of claim 7).

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a first embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an embroidery sewing machine for home use will be described.
6 and 7) will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 schematically shows the appearance of the embroidery sewing machine according to the present embodiment. The sewing machine main body 1 is integrally formed with an arm 3 above a sewing bed 2. A needle bar 5 having a sewing needle 4 is provided at the distal end of the arm 3, and a ring-shaped presser foot 6 through which the sewing needle 4 passes is provided. The position of the presser foot 6 can be switched between a lowered position acting on the work cloth and a raised position retracted upward by operating a lever (not shown).

On the other hand, on the upper surface of the sewing machine bed 2, a needle plate 2a is provided corresponding to the needle bar 5, and the needle plate 2a is provided.
A shuttle mechanism (not shown) is provided at the lower surface of the hook. The needle bar 5, the shuttle mechanism, the presser foot 6, and the like are synchronously driven by a sewing machine motor 7 (see FIG. 4) via a drive mechanism, thereby executing a sewing operation.

An embroidery device 8 is detachably mounted on the left end of the sewing bed 2. This embroidery device 8
An embroidery frame 9 for holding a work cloth (not shown), and a moving mechanism for freely moving the embroidery frame 9 and thus the work cloth in the horizontal direction, in this case, an embroidery frame moving mechanism 10 are provided. . In this case, the embroidery frame 9 has a substantially rectangular frame shape, and is composed of an outer frame and an inner frame, and a work cloth is sandwiched between the outer frame and the inner frame. (Upper surface portion) so as to be stretched inside the frame.

The embroidery frame 9 includes a large frame embroidery frame 9 shown in FIG. 3 and a small frame used for forming embroidery on a small portion such as a pocket. On the other hand, it can be exchanged. When the presser foot 6 is at the lowered position, the work cloth is configured to be pressed from above by an appropriate force when the sewing needle 4 pierces the work cloth.

The embroidery frame moving mechanism 10 is adapted to
Is moved in the Y-axis (front-back) direction freely by a Y-direction drive motor 11 (shown only in FIG. 4). It is configured to move freely in the (left and right) direction. Thus, the work cloth held by the embroidery frame 9 is
The embroidery frame moving mechanism 10 moves the embroidery frame to an arbitrary position based on a unique XY coordinate system. In this manner, the embroidery sewing operation is performed by driving the needle bar 5 and the like by the drive mechanism while freely moving the work cloth with respect to the needle bar 5 by the embroidery frame moving mechanism 10.

A start / stop key 14 is provided on the front surface of the arm 3 on the front end side, and a power switch 15 is provided below the right wall surface of the sewing machine body 1. In addition, the embroidery sewing machine according to the present embodiment can execute not only embroidery but also various general sewings (linear sewing, zigzag sewing, overcasting, etc.). In this case, the presser foot 6 can be exchanged between the illustrated embroidery sewing and the practical sewing. Further, when the embroidery sewing is not performed, the embroidery device 8 can be removed from the sewing machine bed 2 and replaced with a flat table (not shown) for general sewing.

On the front surface of the arm 3, an LCD 16 is provided as display means for displaying various patterns, messages and the like on a screen. The LCD 16 displays a pattern type selection screen (see FIG. 5 and the like) and a layout editing screen (see FIG. 7 and the like) when the user performs embroidery as described later. On the surface of the LCD 16, a touch panel 17 (only shown in FIG. 4) constituting various operation keys is provided. As is well known, the touch panel 17 is configured by arranging transparent electrodes vertically and horizontally, and can detect a position where the user touches the touch panel 17 with a finger.

As shown in FIG. 4, a control device 18 for controlling each mechanism is provided in the sewing machine main body 1. The control device 18 is mainly configured by a microcomputer, and is configured by connecting an input interface 19, an output interface 20, a CPU 21, a ROM 22, and a RAM 23 to each other via a bus line 24.

The sewing machine motor 7 and the embroidery frame moving mechanism 10
The X-direction drive motor 13, the Y-direction drive motor 11, and the like, and the LCD 16 are connected to the output interface 20 and controlled by the control device 18.
The touch panel 17 and the start / stop key 14 are connected to the input interface 19. Further, the input interface 19 is connected to, for example, a limit switch 25 as position detecting means for detecting the height position of the presser foot 6 (whether the presser foot 6 is at the ascending position). The limit switch 25 is turned on, for example, when the presser foot 6 is at the raised position, and an output signal thereof is input to the input interface 19.

A control program for controlling the embroidery sewing operation and the practical sewing operation of the sewing machine is stored in the ROM 22.
A control program for controlling the display of the CD 16 and a data processing program for performing various data processing such as reading and editing of embroidery data are stored. LCD1
By executing the control program for display control of No. 6, the control device 18 functions as means for controlling various displays as described later.

At the same time, the ROM 22 stores pattern data for determining the shapes of a large number of patterns for embroidery sewing. In this case, the pattern data stored in the ROM 22 is a decorative pattern having a relatively simple shape or a pattern such as a pseudonym, an alphabet, a number, or a symbol.

In this embodiment, the pattern data is
LCD1 displays embroidery data and each pattern necessary for embroidery sewing operation
6 includes display data (bitmap data) necessary for display, and accompanying data (such as thread color data). In this case, the embroidery data is ultimately data indicating the amount of movement (needle drop position) of the work cloth in the X and Y directions for each stitch, but the stored embroidery data includes the outer shape of the pattern. The final data is created by calculation from the data when the embroidery sewing operation is executed. It is also possible to share the embroidery data and the display data, or store only one of the data and create the other data from the data.

Further, in this embodiment, an external ROM card 26 is detachably connected to the control device 18. The external ROM card 26 stores pattern data (embroidery data, display data, and accompanying data such as color separation) corresponding to a relatively large and complicated picture pattern.
A number of patterns are stored. This external ROM
As shown in FIG. 3, the connection of the card 26 to the control device 18 is performed by the user inserting the external ROM card 26 into a card insertion hole 27 provided on the right side wall of the sewing machine main body 1. ing.

Thus, the control device 18 stores in the ROM 2
Based on the program stored in 2 and the selection operation of the touch panel 17 by the user, each mechanism of the sewing machine is controlled to execute the embroidery sewing operation and general practical sewing. At this time, as will be apparent from the following description of the operation, in the mode in which the user selects a pattern for which embroidery is to be performed, the control device 18 selects various patterns for displaying a large number of patterns on the screen of the LCD 16. Screen (FIGS. 6 and 7)
Reference) is displayed. The user can select one or more patterns by performing a selection operation (touch operation on the touch panel 17) on the pattern selection screen. Therefore, the touch panel 17 functions as an embroidery pattern selecting unit according to the present invention.

When the pattern is selected and the mode is shifted to the layout editing mode, the control device 18
An arrangement editing screen is displayed on the screen of D16. In the layout editing screen, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, a layout area A, which is an image of the sewable area (embroidery frame 9) of the work cloth, is surrounded by a frame in almost the left half of the screen of the LCD 16 in the figure. In the layout area A, one or more selected embroidery patterns B are displayed by being surrounded by a square frame. This square frame is an embroidery occupation area. The layout area A is provided for confirming and setting the embroidery forming position with respect to the work cloth. In this case, the maximum sewable area when the embroidery sewing operation is performed is displayed. Therefore, regardless of the type of the embroidery frame 9 mounted, the layout area A corresponds to the sewable area in the large frame, and the size of each embroidery pattern B and the interval between the embroidery patterns B are relative to the sewable area. Corresponds to dimensions and distance.

In the initial state where the pattern is selected, the embroidery pattern B is set so as to come to the center of the layout area A (embroidery is formed at the center of the work cloth). Also,
In this state, the embroidery frame 9 is stopped in a state where the center thereof is directly below the needle bar 5, that is, the tip of the sewing needle 4 points to the center of the work cloth (the center of the embroidery forming position).

In the layout editing screen, the touch panel 17 is located on the right side of the layout area A.
Are displayed in various key displays C indicating the operation positions of the operation buttons as images of operation buttons. And the user
By performing a touch operation on the key display C portion of the touch panel 17, editing processing such as moving the embroidery pattern B in the layout area A or rotating the embroidery pattern 90 degrees can be performed. You will be moved. As a result, in the layout area A, a display corresponding to the image at the time when the embroidery is formed on the work cloth is made. A desired layout can be set.

In this case, a key for moving the embroidery pattern B is an octagonal movement key C1 for moving the embroidery pattern B in any of up, down, front, rear, left, right, and oblique four directions.
A center key C2 for moving the embroidery pattern B to the center is set. The embroidery pattern B is moved by a few mm in a direction corresponding to the direction of the key by performing a single pressing operation of the eight-way movement key C1. Has become. Also,
When the center key C2 is pressed once, the embroidery pattern B returns to the center of the layout area A.

At this time, when the movement of the position of the embroidery pattern B is instructed, the control device 18 changes the display position of the embroidery pattern B in the layout area A, and the embroidery frame is accordingly changed. 9 is moved. That is, the embroidery frame 9 is moved so that the tip of the sewing needle 4 always points to the center of the embroidery forming position in the work cloth. With this, the user
By looking at the display on the LCD 16 and the current positional relationship between the embroidery frame 9 and the sewing needle 4, it is possible to easily understand where the embroidery is formed on the work cloth. In this case, the sewing needle 4 can be positioned at the lower left corner of the embroidery forming position by changing the setting.

Further, a "trial" key C3 is set in the key display C of the touch panel 17. The "trial" key C3 is for the user to confirm the actual embroidery forming position on the work cloth. When a touch operation is performed, the controller 18 causes the position indicated by the tip of the sewing needle 6 to indicate the embroidery forming position. The embroidery frame 9 is sequentially moved so as to trace the outer shape of the position (corresponding to the displayed rectangular frame). Therefore, the key display C set on the touch panel 17 functions as a movement instruction unit in the present invention.

Although detailed description is omitted, other editing operations such as rotation and change (enlargement / reduction) of the embroidery pattern B can be performed by operating the touch panel 17, but in this case, the embroidery pattern B Since the center position of the embroidery frame 9 does not change, such editing processing does not involve the movement of the embroidery frame 9.

The control device 18 allows the user to set L
When an operation of editing processing involving movement of the embroidery frame 9 (touch operation of the touch panel 17), that is, a movement instruction is performed on the layout editing screen of the CD 16, the magnitude of the movement amount is determined. Here, the magnitude of the movement amount of the embroidery frame 9 is determined based on the key display C portion touched, and in the present embodiment, the key display C is determined.
Is determined to be small when the eight-way movement key C1 is touch-operated, and is determined to be large when the center key C2 and the "trial" key C3 are touch-operated. It is to be judged.

When it is determined that the amount of movement of the embroidery frame 9 is large, when the limit switch 25 detects that the presser foot 6 is at the lowered position, Embroidery frame 9 regardless of user's instructions
Movement is prohibited.

In addition, when it is determined that the amount of movement of the embroidery frame 9 is small, the control device 18 corresponds to the distance between the inner peripheral edge of the embroidery frame 9 and the presser foot 6 in the direction of movement. Length, in this case, corresponds to the margin on the moving direction side of embroidery pattern B (occupied area) in layout area A (direct proportion)
The movement of the embroidery frame 9 is prohibited even when the calculated distance is shorter than a predetermined length. In this case, the predetermined length may be set differently depending on the moving direction of the embroidery pattern, or may be set to the same length. Here, the distance of the margin in the moving direction side of the embroidery pattern B in the layout area A is calculated from the respective XY coordinates of the four corners of the layout area A and the four corners of the occupied area by a known method.

Note that the distance between the inner peripheral edge of the embroidery frame 9 and the presser foot 6 is not limited to the above-described margin distance, and the direct distance between the inner peripheral edge of the embroidery frame 9 and the presser foot 6 is not limited. The distance may be calculated, and in this case, the distance can be calculated in consideration of the size of the presser foot 6 (the width and length of the portion that presses the work cloth).

When the movement of the embroidery frame 9 is prohibited, the controller 18 controls the message display section D located below the layout area A and the key display section C on the layout editing screen of the LCD 16. In this case, it is impossible to move the embroidery frame 9, and in this case, "Please raise the presser foot."
Is displayed (see FIG. 9), and the movement of the embroidery frame 9 is prohibited. Therefore, the control device 18 functions as the determining means, the movement prohibiting means, and the calculating means in the present invention, and the LCD 16 functions as the notifying means. When the movement of the embroidery frame 9 is prohibited, the embroidery pattern B displayed on the layout editing screen of the LCD 16 is not moved correspondingly.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. The flowchart of FIG. 2 shows the procedure of the process executed by the control device 18 from the selection of the pattern to the sewing. First, the overall outline of the execution of the embroidery sewing will be described with reference to FIG.

First, when the power switch 15 of the sewing machine main body 1 is turned on, various initial operations are executed, and LC
At D16, a menu selection screen as an initial screen is displayed (step S1). In this menu selection screen, first, as shown in FIG. 5, a screen for selecting a pattern type or a practical sewing in which a large number of patterns are roughly classified into eight types (eight types) appears. When the user wants to execute the embroidery sewing operation, the user operates the touch panel 17 to select an item of a pattern (an item of a pattern other than “practical”) related to the embroidery sewing operation. Here, as shown in FIG. 8, a case where an embroidery pattern in which a picture pattern of "elephant" and a character pattern of "HAPPY" are embroidered on a work cloth will be described as a specific example.

When the user selects an upper pattern from the embroidery pattern items by touching the touch panel 17 (Yes in step S2), the control device 18 performs a pattern selection process based on the touched portion. The pattern discriminating process is performed, and the screen of the LCD 16 is switched to a pattern selection screen for selecting a picture pattern as shown in FIG. 6 (steps S3 to S3).
5). Here, based on the display data stored in the external ROM card 26, “panda”, “elephant”,
Many picture patterns such as "Kirin" are displayed.

The user looks at this pattern selection screen and selects a pattern (in this case, an "elephant" pattern) for which embroidery is to be formed (step S6). This selection is performed by directly touching a portion of the screen (the touch panel 17) of the LCD 16 on which the pattern to be selected is displayed with a finger.
It should be noted that the pattern selection screen for the picture pattern exists over a plurality of pages. If the desired pattern does not exist on the displayed page, the user performs a touch operation of page turning.

When the pattern is selected by the user (Yes in step S6), the embroidery data relating to the selected pattern is stored in the RAM 23 (step S6).
7) The pattern size data is read (step S)
8). The control device 18 determines whether or not the embroidery frame 9 fits in the large frame sewable area based on the pattern size data (step S9). Then, if the size of the selected pattern fits in the large-frame sewable area (Yes in step S9), and the selection of all the patterns has not been completed yet, the process waits for the selection of the next pattern. At this time, if the type of the pattern is different from the type of the pattern selection screen displayed on the LCD, the display returns to the initial screen of step S1 again (Yes in step S12) and returns to the LCD.
The display of 16 returns to that shown in FIG.

Next, when the user wants to select the "HAPPY" pattern, the user selects "ABC" (one of two types having different fonts) (step S2). Then L
A pattern selection screen as shown in FIG. 7 is displayed on the CD 16 (steps S3 to S5).
The character patterns "A", "P", "P", and "Y" are sequentially selected and designated (step S6). In this case, each time a character pattern is selected and designated, the size of the entire embroidery pattern, which is a combination of the already selected pattern and the newly selected pattern, is calculated each time, and whether or not it fits in the large frame sewable area is determined. Is determined. At this time, if the size of the selected pattern does not fit in the large area sewing area (No in step S9), the selection of the pattern selected immediately before is canceled (step S10), and the pattern size of the selected pattern is changed. Is displayed that the area is over (step S11).

As described above, the selection of the character pattern "HAPPY" is completed (No in step S12, No in step S6), and the touch panel 17 is touched to select the item "layout" (step S13). Ye
s), an arrangement edit screen is displayed on the LCD 16 in step S14. As shown in FIG. 8, in the layout editing screen, the “elephant” of the selected picture
Is displayed in a state where the occupied area B of the embroidery pattern in which the character pattern "HAPPY" is combined is surrounded by a frame.

The user touches the touch panel 17 based on the key display C while viewing the layout editing screen, thereby performing processing such as rotation of the embroidery pattern and movement of the sewing position. Layout area A according to operation
The occupied area B in the box moves or rotates.

Here, when the user performs a selection operation for a process involving movement of the embroidery frame 9 (Ye in step S15).
s) In step S16, the control device 18 determines the magnitude of the movement amount of the embroidery frame 9 corresponding to the operation, the height position of the presser foot 6, or the distance between the inner peripheral edge of the embroidery frame 9 and the presser foot 6. The editing process is executed based on the distance, and at the same time, the embroidery frame 9 is moved by driving the X and Y direction drive motors 13 and 11 of the embroidery device 8 (step S16).
Hereinafter, this processing will be described.

The flowchart of FIG. 1 shows the contents of the frame moving subroutine. Here, first, when any one of the eight-way moving keys C1 is touched by the user (Yes in step S161). , Control device 18
Is the embroidery pattern B of the embroidery pattern in the layout area A
(Square frame indicating occupied area) Among the margins around, the distance of the margin on the arrow direction side corresponding to the touched octagonal movement key C1 is calculated (step S162). Subsequently, when the calculated distance is equal to or longer than the predetermined length (Yes in step S162).
s) The control device 18 controls the drive of the X-direction drive motor 13 and the Y-direction drive motor 11 to move the embroidery frame 9 (step S163), and also changes the position of the embroidery pattern B in the layout area A of the layout edit screen. It is changed (step S164). On the other hand, if the calculated distance is smaller than the predetermined length (No in step S162), it is impossible to move the embroidery frame 9, so that the message is displayed on the message display section D of the LCD 16 screen (step S162). S16
5).

On the other hand, the "center" key C
2 or the “trial” key C3 is touched (No in step S161), the control device 18 determines whether or not the presser foot 6 is at the lowered position based on the detection signal from the limit switch 25. (Step S166) When the presser foot 6 is at the lowered position (Y in Step S166)
es), as shown in FIG.
A message "Please raise the presser foot" is displayed to inform that the embroidery frame 9 cannot be moved (step S167). At this time, since the embroidery pattern B is not moved, the embroidery pattern B is displayed on the screen of the LCD 16 with the embroidery pattern B arranged at the center of the layout area A (step S164).

Although detailed description is omitted, when the above-described pattern selection and layout editing are completed (step S1)
No. 5), the controller 18 generates final embroidery data based on the embroidery data, and the user sets the embroidery frame (large frame).
By operating the start / stop key 14 in a state where the work cloth is set at 9, the embroidery sewing operation is executed (Yes in step S18, step S19). At this time, the embroidery is formed on the work cloth according to the image displayed in the layout area A.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the editing process involving the movement of the embroidery frame 9 is selected by the user and the movement of the embroidery frame 9 is instructed, the movement of the embroidery frame 9 is performed. The amount of the embroidery frame 9 is determined, and the position of the presser foot 6 is detected. When the amount of movement of the embroidery frame 9 is large and the presser foot 6 is When the movement is prohibited and the amount of movement of the embroidery frame 9 is small, the embroidery frame 9 can be moved regardless of the position of the presser foot 6. Therefore, even when the user erroneously performs the editing process involving the movement of the embroidery frame 9 without knowing that the embroidery frame 9 is mounted, the presser foot 6 may collide with the embroidery frame 9. Can be prevented beforehand. In addition, when it is desired to delicately change the formation position of the embroidery pattern B with respect to the work cloth, even if the presser foot 6 is at the lowered position, the presser foot 6 is temporarily moved to the raised position and then moved. And it is not necessary to perform the troublesome work of setting the presser foot 6 to the lowered position again after the processing is completed, so that the usability is improved.

Further, in the present embodiment, when the user instructs to move the embroidery frame 9 having a large moving amount,
When the presser foot 6 is at the lowered position, a message "Please raise the presser foot" is displayed on the message display section D. Therefore, the user can surely know that the movement of the embroidery frame 9 is not possible, and what kind of operation can be performed to move the embroidery forming position by looking at the message. Can be determined.

In the present embodiment, when the embroidery frame 9 is instructed to be moved by the eight-way movement key C1, if the touch panel is touched only once, the embroidery frame 9 becomes several mm.
The embroidery frame 9 moves only when the touch operation is performed continuously, but the embroidery frame 9 is also moved continuously.
Basically, the moving speed of the embroidery frame 9 when the eight-way moving key C1 is touched is slow, and the movement is based on the user's intention of performing the touch operation. It is unlikely that the embroidery forming position is moved beyond the area, in other words, the presser foot 6 is moved to be located outside the embroidery frame 9. May be instructed to move beyond the limit. Further, when the movement of the embroidery frame 9 is instructed by the eight-way movement key C1, the embroidery frame 9 can be moved regardless of the position of the presser foot 6, so that the presser foot 6 is lowered in the above-described case. If it is in the position, the embroidery frame 9 and the presser foot 6 will collide.

However, in the present embodiment,
When the movement amount of the embroidery frame 9 is small, the embroidery pattern B is configured to calculate the distance of the margin in the moving direction side of the layout area A, and when the calculated distance is equal to or less than a predetermined length, the embroidery is performed. The movement of the frame 9 is prohibited and the fact is displayed. Therefore, the embroidery forming position is not moved beyond the sewable area of the embroidery frame 9 (large frame), and the embroidery frame 9 collides with the presser foot 6 even when the presser foot 6 is at the lowered position. Can be prevented.

In the above-described embodiment, when the embroidery frame 9 cannot be moved, the fact is displayed on the message display section D, but it is notified by a buzzer sound or voice. Is also good.

Next, a second embodiment (corresponding to claims 2 and 4) of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In the present embodiment, when the control device 18 shifts to the “layout” mode after the completion of the pattern selection, the control device 18 displays a plurality of types of edit mode screens on the LCD screen for each processing content. Has become. In this case, a layout area A is displayed in the left half of each edit mode screen as in the first embodiment, and a selected embroidery pattern B is displayed at the center of the layout area A. It is supposed to be. On the other hand, the key display C portion displayed on the right side of the layout area A is displayed corresponding to each editing mode.

For example, in the case of the editing processing mode in which the embroidery frame 9 is not moved, a rotation key, an enlargement / reduction key, and the like are displayed on the key display C (not shown). On the other hand, in the case of the edit processing mode involving movement of the embroidery frame 9, a small movement mode in which the movement amount is small and a large movement mode in which the movement amount is large are provided. In the case of the small movement mode,
As shown in FIG. 10, an eight-way movement key C1 is displayed in the key display C portion, and in the case of the large movement mode, as shown in FIG. "C" key C3 is displayed.
When changing the displayed edit mode,
The user performs a touch operation for page turning. Therefore, the touch panel 17 functions as the movement mode setting means in the present invention.

Then, in the present embodiment, the pattern selection is completed by the user, and the item “layout” is selected (corresponding to step S13 in FIG. 2 (step S13).
When the large movement mode screen (FIG. 11) of the layout editing screen is displayed on the LCD, the control device 18
The height position of the presser foot 6 is determined based on a detection signal from the limit switch 25. If the height position of the presser foot 6 is the descending position, a message "Please raise the presser foot" is displayed in the message display D, and the embroidery frame 9 is required unless the presser foot 6 is raised.
Of the embroidery pattern B and the embroidery frame 9 are not moved even when the key display C is touched by the user. On the other hand, when the presser foot 6 is at the raised position, the embroidery frame 9 is moved by touching the touch panel 17 based on the key display C, and at the same time, the arrangement of the embroidery pattern B in the layout area A is performed. Is changed.

When the small movement mode screen (FIG. 10) is displayed on the LCD 16, similarly to the first embodiment, the control device 18 controls the key display C of the touched touch panel 17 as in the first embodiment. The distance corresponding to the distance between the inner peripheral edge of the embroidery frame 9 and the presser foot 6 in the direction corresponding to (the eight-way movement key C1) is calculated. If the calculated distance is equal to or longer than a predetermined length, the embroidery frame 9 is moved. If the length is smaller than the predetermined length, the movement of the embroidery frame 9 is prohibited, and the fact is displayed on the message display section D of the LCD 16 screen.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the small movement mode in which the movement of the embroidery frame 9 is instructed by the eight-way movement key C1, and the movement of the embroidery frame 9 by the center key C2 and the "trial" key C3. When the movement of the embroidery frame 9 is instructed in the large movement mode, the controller 18 determines that the movement amount of the embroidery frame 9 is large, and performs the embroidery in the small movement mode. When the movement of the frame 9 is instructed, it is determined that the moving amount of the embroidery frame is small. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the same operation and effect as those of the first embodiment can be obtained.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above and shown in the drawings, but can be extended or modified as follows. In the above embodiment,
The amount of movement of the embroidery frame 9 accompanying the selection of the editing process by the center key C2 and the "trial" key C3 is set to a large movement, and when any one of these keys is touched, the presser foot 6 is lowered. , The movement of the embroidery frame 9 is prohibited. However, center key C
Since the movement of the embroidery frame 9 by 2 is a movement returning to the center of the layout area A, the embroidery frame 9 does not collide with the presser foot 6 even when the presser foot 6 is at the lowered position. Therefore, the embroidery frame 9 may be moved even when the editing process using the center key C2 is selected.

In the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to a household embroidery sewing machine.
The present invention can be applied to an industrial sewing machine as disclosed in JP-A-19981. The present invention is not limited to the embroidery frame that is moved by the moving mechanism, but is applied to an embroidery sewing machine that fixes the embroidery frame and moves the needle bar side, or moves both the embroidery frame and the needle bar. It is also possible.

[0064]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the embroidery sewing machine of the first aspect of the present invention, when the presser foot is at the lowered position and the relative movement amount of the embroidery frame is large, the embroidery Since the relative movement of the frame is prohibited, the collision between the embroidery frame and the presser foot can be prevented as much as possible, and when the relative movement amount is small even when the presser foot is in the lowered position. Since the embroidery frame can be relatively moved, for example, when the sewing position of the embroidery pattern is delicately moved so that the embroidery frame does not collide with the presser foot, it is necessary to temporarily raise the presser foot to the raised position. There is no convenience.

In the embroidery sewing machine according to the second aspect, the relative movement amount of the embroidery frame is determined by the movement mode set by the movement mode setting means instead of determining the magnitude of the relative movement amount of the embroidery frame by the determination means. I decided to judge the size.
Therefore, also in this case, the usability can be improved while preventing the collision between the embroidery frame and the presser foot.

At this time, if the presser foot is at the lowered position and the relative movement amount specified by the movement instructing means is large, it is notified by the notifying means that the relative movement of the embroidery frame is impossible. If the notification is made (the invention of claim 3 or 4), it is possible to surely notify the user that the relative movement of the embroidery frame is impossible.

Further, when the relative movement of the embroidery frame is instructed by the movement instructing means, the distance corresponding to the moving direction between the inner peripheral edge of the embroidery frame and the presser foot is equal to or less than a predetermined length. In this case, if the relative movement of the embroidery frame is prohibited regardless of the relative movement amount (the invention of claim 5), the presser foot exceeds the sewing area of the work cloth held by the embroidery frame. Unnecessary relative movement of the embroidery frame is not performed, and even when the relative movement amount of the embroidery frame specified by the movement instruction means is small and the presser foot is at the lowered position. Thus, the collision between the embroidery frame and the presser foot can be reliably prevented.

In this case, the embroidery sewing machine is provided with embroidery pattern selecting means for selecting an embroidery pattern. The relative movement of the embroidery frame by the moving mechanism is performed by the embroidery pattern selecting means. The present invention can be configured to be enabled only after an embroidery pattern is selected (the invention of claim 6). Further, the present invention can be applied to an embroidery sewing machine which can sew a combination pattern composed of two or more embroidery patterns selected by the embroidery pattern selection means.
Invention).

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of an embroidery frame moving process according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing control contents of a control device and showing a processing procedure of pattern selection and editing processing.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an appearance of the embroidery sewing machine.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration centering on a control device;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a pattern type selection screen.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a picture selection screen.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a character pattern selection screen.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a layout editing screen (part 1).

FIG. 9 is a view showing an example of a layout editing screen (part 2).

FIG. 10 is a view showing an example of a screen in a small movement mode according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a screen in a large movement mode.

[Explanation of symbols]

In the figure, 1 is a sewing machine main body, 4 is a sewing needle, 6 is a presser foot, 8 is an embroidery device, 9 is an embroidery frame, 10 is an embroidery frame moving mechanism (moving mechanism), 16 is an LCD (notifying means), and 17 is a touch panel ( Embroidery pattern selecting means, movement instructing means), 18 a control device (judging means, movement inhibiting means, calculating means), and 25 a limit switch (position detecting means).

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An embroidery sewing machine for performing a sewing operation on the work cloth while moving an embroidery frame holding the work cloth relative to a sewing needle by a moving mechanism, wherein a needle drop portion of the work cloth is provided. A presser foot that can move up and down between a lowering position for pressing the work cloth and a rising position that does not act on the work cloth; position detecting means for detecting the height position of the presser foot; and the moving mechanism when the sewing operation is stopped. Movement instructing means for instructing relative movement of the embroidery frame by an arbitrary movement amount; determining means for determining the relative movement amount of the embroidery frame by the movement instructing means; and the position detecting means When it is detected that the presser foot is at the lowered position, and when the determination means determines that the amount of movement is large, the relative position of the embroidery frame regardless of the instruction by the movement instruction means. Embroidery sewing machine, characterized by comprising a movement inhibition means for inhibiting movement. 2. An embroidery sewing machine for performing a sewing operation on the work cloth while moving an embroidery frame holding the work cloth relative to a sewing needle by a moving mechanism, wherein a needle drop portion of the work cloth is provided. A presser foot that can move up and down between a lowering position for pressing the work cloth and a rising position that does not act on the work cloth; position detecting means for detecting the height position of the presser foot; and the moving mechanism when the sewing operation is stopped. Movement instruction means for instructing relative movement of the embroidery frame; and a relative movement amount of the embroidery frame instructed by the movement instruction means in a small movement mode with a small movement amount and a large movement amount with a large movement amount. Movement mode setting means for setting to one of the movement modes; and the position detection means detecting that the presser foot is at the lowered position, and the movement mode setting means for large movement mode. If it is set, the embroidery sewing machine, characterized by comprising a moving inhibiting means for inhibiting relative movement regardless of the indication by the movement instructing means the embroidery frame. 3. A relative position of the embroidery frame when the determination unit determines that the amount of movement is large while the position detection unit detects that the presser foot is at the lowered position. 2. The embroidery sewing machine according to claim 1, further comprising a notifying means for notifying that the movement is impossible. 4. The relative movement of the embroidery frame when the large movement mode is set by the movement mode setting means while the position detecting means detects that the presser foot is at the lowered position. 3. An embroidery sewing machine according to claim 2, further comprising a notifying means for notifying that the operation is impossible. 5. When a relative movement of the embroidery frame is instructed by the movement instructing means, a length corresponding to a distance between an inner peripheral edge of the embroidery frame and the presser foot in the moving direction is calculated. The relative movement of the embroidery frame is prohibited when the length calculated by the calculation unit is equal to or less than a predetermined length, regardless of the amount of movement. The embroidery sewing machine according to any one of the above. 6. An embroidery pattern selecting means for selecting an embroidery pattern, wherein the relative movement of the embroidery frame by the moving mechanism is performed only after the embroidery pattern is selected by the embroidery pattern selecting means. The embroidery sewing machine according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the embroidery sewing machine is enabled. 7. The embroidery sewing machine according to claim 6, wherein a combination pattern composed of two or more embroidery patterns selected by said embroidery pattern selection means can be sewn.