JPH10323471A - Program type electronic sewing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a program type electronic sewing machine capable of temporarily storing the data of a sewing program or the like without using a magnetic recording medium. SOLUTION: A sewing machine main body and a programmer turned to separate body constitution are provided with respectively independent control systems 40 and 60 and the control systems 40 and 60 are communicably connected through communication parts 50 and 70 and a cable 24. The sewing program is prepared in a RAM 43 on a sewing machine main body side, however, it can be transmitted to a programmer side and preserved in the RAM 63 as needed. Also, the sewing program preserved in the RAM 63 can be read to the RAM 43.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a programmable electronic sewing machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a programmable electronic sewing machine which automatically controls the operations of a cloth feeding mechanism and a sewing needle driving mechanism in accordance with a sewing program prepared in advance. This type of programmable electronic sewing machine (hereinafter, also simply referred to as a sewing machine) has, as an operation mode, a program creation mode for creating a sewing program in addition to a sewing mode for actually performing sewing. In this program creation mode, for example, the user uses an input device for sewing program creation (hereinafter, referred to as a programmer) to select several types of sewing (for example, straight stitching, curve stitching, and zigzag stitching). Specifying various conditions required to specify the sewing path from the start point to the end point, such as the needle drop point (for example, the sewing start point and the sewing end point, and the intermediate point as necessary), or the stitch pitch, A sewing program required at the time of sewing is created based on these conditions.

[0003]

By the way, this type of sewing machine usually has an auxiliary storage device such as a flexible disk device, and it is not possible to store the sewing program in a magnetic storage medium such as a flexible disk cartridge. did it.

However, according to the above-mentioned conventional programmable electronic sewing machine, when it is desired to temporarily stop the work and turn off the sewing machine or to use a sewing program with another sewing machine, the magnetic storage medium must be used. Since the sewing program must be prepared and stored, there is a disadvantage that if the magnetic storage medium does not happen to be at hand, the work cannot be interrupted or the sewing program cannot be used with another sewing machine. Was.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and an object of the present invention is to temporarily store data such as a sewing program by another means without using a magnetic recording medium. It is an object of the present invention to provide a programmable electronic sewing machine.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, an operation at the time of sewing according to a sewing program stored in a built-in first memory is provided. Is controlled by a programmable electronic sewing machine, is configured separately from the sewing machine main body, is connected to the sewing machine main body only when necessary through a communication path, and when connected, sends a signal for controlling the operation of the sewing machine main body side. An input device capable of transmitting to the sewing machine main body in response to a user operation, and a second memory provided in the input device;
A data transmission means for transmitting data from one to the other between the first memory and the second memory is provided.

According to this programmable electronic sewing machine, the data transmission means transmits data from one to the other between the first memory built in the sewing machine main body and the second memory provided in the input device. Therefore, for example, the sewing program stored in the first memory can be transmitted to the second memory and stored, and conversely, the sewing program stored in the second memory can be read out to the first memory.

The input device incorporating the second memory is formed separately from the main body of the sewing machine, and is connected to the main body of the sewing machine via a communication path only when necessary. After the sewing program is stored in the second memory, if the input device is connected to another sewing machine having the same type of communication interface, the sewing program can be read by the sewing machine, and the same sewing program can be read by two or more sewing machines. Can be used.

Therefore, the second memory can be employed as an alternative to the magnetic storage medium. Even if the magnetic storage medium is not at hand, data such as a sewing program is temporarily stored in the second memory. If you save to
You can temporarily suspend work and turn off the sewing machine, or use the sewing program on another sewing machine.

The data to be transmitted by the data transmission means is not limited to a sewing program. In addition to the sewing program, for example, it is possible to consider setting data and the like arbitrarily set by the user in order to define the operation state and the like of each section of the programmable electronic sewing machine. Such setting data is stored in the second memory. If, for example, a third party changes the settings on the sewing machine itself, the settings can be quickly returned to the original settings, and if you want to change the setting data of many sewing machines to the same data In addition, the change operation can be performed quickly.

By the way, in the programmable electronic sewing machine of the present invention, since the second memory is mainly for storing data, it is desirable that the second memory does not easily lose the stored contents. Therefore, for example, as in a programmable electronic sewing machine according to a second aspect, the second memory is configured to be able to hold stored data regardless of whether a power switch of the input device is on or off. And desirable.

More specifically, for example, the second memory is
What is necessary is just to comprise a non-volatile memory like an EEPROM, or even if it is a volatile memory, a circuit configuration in which only the power for storage retention is supplied even when the power switch is turned off. Good.

With this configuration, even when the power switch of the input device is turned off, the sewing program stored in the second memory does not disappear. For example, the sewing program is stored in the second memory. The power switch can be turned off freely even in the state of being turned on.
If the power switch is turned off, power consumption at that time can be suppressed to a minimum.

[0014] In addition, if only the storage of the sewing program is considered as a main object, the input device can be used by the user when the sewing program is created, as in the programmable electronic sewing machine according to the third aspect. An input device for producing a sewing program to be operated, wherein the second memory includes a plurality of storage areas each capable of storing a sewing program, and the data transmission unit includes a plurality of storage areas in the second memory. It is preferable that a sewing program is transmitted from one to the other between a predetermined storage area selected from the above and the first memory.

With this configuration, a sewing program can be newly prepared, a sewing program can be stored, a sewing program can be distributed to a large number of sewing machines, and the like, by simply connecting the input device for preparing a sewing program to the sewing machine main body. Can perform all operations related to. Therefore, preparation work and the like for preparing a sewing program can be simplified as compared with a conventional sewing machine which requires a magnetic storage medium separately from the input device for preparing a sewing program when preparing the sewing program.

In particular, since the input device for producing a sewing program is always used during the production of the sewing program,
Problems such as magnetic storage media, which are not at hand, cannot occur.

[0017]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to an example. As shown in FIG. 1, the programmable electronic sewing machine 1 (hereinafter, also simply referred to as the sewing machine 1) includes a bed unit 5 and an arm unit 6 arranged on the upper surface of a sewing machine table 3.

A needle plate 7 is fixed to a front portion of the upper surface of the bed portion 5, and a cloth presser 8 is provided on the needle plate 7. The cloth presser 8 moves the cloth back and forth and left and right while holding the cloth to be sewn. As shown in detail in FIG. And a presser arm 11 provided on the feed plate 10, and a cloth presser plate 12 attached to the front end of the presser arm 11 so as to be able to move up and down. The presser foot plate 12 is normally urged by a spring to rise and is located at a position away from the feed plate 10, but comes into contact with the feed plate 10 when urged by a presser solenoid 14 attached to the arm portion 6. The cloth C can be held between the feed plate 10 and the lower position.

On the other hand, the arm 6 is provided with a needle bar 16 which reciprocates up and down.
8 is attached. As shown in FIG. 1, an operation panel 20 operated by a user is provided upright on the upper surface side of the sewing machine table 3.
Programmer 2 operated by user separately from 0
2 are connected via a cable 24.

The operation panel 20 is fixed to the sewing machine 1, and is operated mainly when inputting various commands to the sewing machine 1. On the other hand, the programmer 22 is detachable from the sewing machine 1 and can be attached to another sewing machine, and is operated mainly when performing an operation related to a sewing program. As shown in FIG. 3, the programmer 22 includes an operation unit 26 constituted by a key input device having a large number of keys, and among the keys of the operation unit 26, “?”, “F”,
Each of the “M”, “C”, and “LI” keys is also provided with an LED 27 that is lit when it is operable. The programmer 22 is provided with a liquid crystal display device 28 (hereinafter, referred to as LCD 28) capable of displaying an image of up to 248 × 60 dots in a dot matrix system. Can be displayed.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, on one side surface of the sewing machine table 3, a housing 30 containing a control device and the like is provided. The housing 30 is also provided with a flexible disk device 32 (hereinafter, referred to as FDD 32) and the like, and a sewing program created by a user can be recorded and stored in a magnetic storage medium. A pedal switch 34 is provided below the sewing machine table 3 to start / end the sewing operation and to perform a switching operation of raising / lowering the cloth presser plate 12.

Next, a control system of the programmable electronic sewing machine 1 will be described. This programmable electronic sewing machine 1
As shown in FIG. 4, the control system is composed of two independent control systems 40 and 60, and furthermore, both are configured to be able to communicate with each other.

One control system 40 is a control system on the sewing machine main body side.
2, RAM 43, operation unit 45, LED 47, communication unit 5
0, a buzzer 52, an X-axis motor 54, a Y-axis motor 55, a sewing machine motor 56, the FDD 32, and the like.

The CPU 41 controls the operation of the sewing machine 1 as a whole. The ROM 42 has a CPU
41 stores various control programs and the like executed by the
Various data and the like are temporarily stored in M43 when the CPU 41 operates. In the RAM 43, a storage area for storing a sewing program is secured in a part thereof. During a sewing operation, the CPU 41 refers to the sewing program stored in the RAM 43 to perform a sewing process.

The operation section 45 is constituted by a key input device having a large number of keys, and is arranged on the operation panel 20 together with the LEDs 47. The LED 47 is for displaying various states and warnings. The buzzer 52 notifies information such as during operation or occurrence of various errors by a buzzer sound. Further, the X-axis motor 54 and the Y-axis motor 55 are each provided with the above-described cloth presser 8 (see FIG. 2).
The sewing machine motor 56 drives a sewing mechanism including the above-described needle bar 16 and a shuttle (not shown).

The other control system 60 is a control system of the programmer 22. The ROM 62, the RAM 63, the operation unit 26, and the L
ED 27, communication unit 70, buzzer 72, LCD 28,
And a backlight 75 and the like.

The CPU 61 controls the operation of the programmer 22 as a whole. Various control programs executed by the CPU 61 are stored in the ROM 62, and various data are temporarily stored in the RAM 63 when the CPU 61 operates. The RAM 63 is also provided with a storage area for storing a sewing program in a part thereof. However, the storage area of the RAM 63 is reserved for temporarily storing the sewing program.
The PU 61 receives the sewing program transmitted from the control system 40 of the sewing machine main body via the communication unit 70 and
Although the sewing program stored in the AM 63 or, conversely, the sewing program stored in the RAM 63 can be read and transmitted to the control system 40 of the sewing machine main body via the communication unit 70,
The sewing process is not performed while referring to the sewing program stored in M63. The power is supplied to the RAM 63 even when the power switch of the programmer 22 is turned off. Therefore, even if the power switch of the programmer 22 is turned off, the RAM 63 is turned off.
The sewing program stored in the memory is not lost.

The buzzer 72 notifies information such as during operation or occurrence of various errors by a buzzer sound.
The backlight 75 irradiates light from the rear side of the LCD 28 in order to increase the difference in brightness between the LCD 28 and the LCD 28. Furthermore, the communication units 50 and 70 included in each control system
Is an interface device for serially transmitting data to each other. The control unit 40, 6 is connected between the communication unit 50 and the communication unit 70 by interposing the cable 24 described above.
0 are communicably connected to each other.

Although not explicitly shown in FIG.
42, a RAM 43, and a communication unit 50 are directly connected to the CPU 41 via a bus.
47, buzzer 52, X-axis motor 54, Y-axis motor 55,
Each of the sewing machine motor 56 and the FDD 32 is connected to a dedicated interface device (a driver circuit or the like), and these interface devices are connected to the CPU 41 via a bus. Also, ROM
The RAM 62, the RAM 63, and the communication unit 70 are directly connected to the CPU 61 via the bus, while the operation unit 26, the LED
27, buzzer 72, LCD 28, and backlight 7
5 are connected to dedicated interface devices, and these interface devices are connected to the CPU 61 via a bus.

Next, the temporary storage processing of the sewing program in the programmable electronic sewing machine 1 configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 5 and 6 are started when a predetermined operation is performed on the operation unit 26 of the programmer 22. More specifically, a data string corresponding to the predetermined operation is transmitted from the programmer 22 to the sewing machine main body. If the data string is a data string instructing temporary storage of the sewing program, the CPU 41 starts the processing shown in FIG. 5, and almost simultaneously, the CPU 61 starts the processing shown in FIG.

When the CPU 41 starts the processing shown in FIG. 5, it first checks whether or not the configuration data of the sewing program to be transmitted to the programmer 22 is in the RAM 43 (S102). (S102:
(YES), and waits until data can be transmitted to the programmer 22 (S104: NO). Here, whether or not data can be transmitted is determined based on whether or not the communication unit 50 has received a busy signal. When data can be transmitted to the programmer 22, the busy signal is not received.

When it becomes possible to transmit data to the programmer 22 (S104: YES), the RAM 4
3 is transmitted to the programmer 22 by a predetermined amount (S106), the address and size of the area from which the subsequent data is to be read are stored (S108), and the process returns to S102. Then, the processing of S102 to S108 is repeated, and in the processing of S102, when there is no more data to be transmitted (S102: NO), this processing ends.

On the other hand, when the CPU 61 starts the processing shown in FIG. 6, first, the number designated by the user in storing the sewing program is stored in the management table (S20).
2). The management table is a storage area secured on the RAM 63. In addition to the above numbers, the address of the storage area storing the sewing program indicated by this number, its size, and the like are stored in a later process.

Subsequently, the configuration data of the sewing program transmitted from the sewing machine body is received (S204).
More specifically, as the busy signal transmitted from the communication unit 70 is stopped, data is transmitted from the sewing machine main body in accordance with a predetermined protocol, so that the data is received and a predetermined amount of data is transmitted. Is received, the communication unit 70 transmits a busy signal again.

If there is received data (S206:
YES), based on the data amount of the received data, it is checked whether or not a storage area for storing the sewing program is sufficiently secured (S208), and if not enough (S208: NO), A storage area of a predetermined size is dynamically secured from unused storage areas as a storage area in which a sewing program is to be stored (S210). Then, the address and size of the secured storage area are stored in the management table (S212).

Subsequently, the received data is stored in the secured storage area (S214), the address and size of the area where the subsequent data is to be stored are stored in the management table (S216), and the process returns to S204. . This S204
As a result of repeating the processing of S216 to S216, if it is determined in the processing of S206 that there is no received data (S20
6: NO), and free the remaining storage area (S21)
8), end this processing.

The CPU 41 and the CPU 61 described above.
By the processing described above, the sewing program stored in the storage area on the RAM 43 is stored in the RAM 63. In addition,
Although not specified during the above processing, if the sewing program is already stored at the designated number, the previously stored sewing program is deleted and a new sewing program is stored.

Next, a description will be given, with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 7 and 8, of a reading process of the sewing program temporarily stored in the programmable electronic sewing machine 1 configured as described above. 7 and 8 are also started when a predetermined operation is performed on the operation unit 26 of the programmer 22. More specifically, a data string corresponding to the predetermined operation is transmitted from the programmer 22 to the sewing machine main body. If the data string is a data string instructing the reading of the sewing program temporarily stored, the CPU 41 starts the processing shown in FIG. 7, and almost simultaneously, the CPU 61 starts the processing shown in FIG. I do.

When the CPU 41 starts the processing shown in FIG. 7, first, it receives the configuration data of the sewing program transmitted from the programmer 22 (S302). More specifically, the CPU 41 transmits a busy signal from the communication unit 50, and when the busy signal is stopped, data is transmitted from the programmer 22 according to a predetermined protocol. When a predetermined amount of data is received, the communication unit 50 transmits a busy signal again.

Here, if there is received data (S304:
(YES), the received data is stored in a predetermined storage area (S3).
06), the address and size of the area where the subsequent data is to be stored are stored (S308), and the process returns to S302. Then, the processing of S302 to S308 is repeated, and if it is determined in the processing of S304 that there is no received data (S304: NO), this processing ends.

On the other hand, when the CPU 61 starts the processing shown in FIG. 7, first, the number specified by the user in reading the sewing program is searched from the management table (S
402), preparation is made so that the address, size, and the like of the storage area storing the sewing program indicated by the number can be referred to.

Subsequently, it is checked whether or not the configuration data of the sewing program to be transmitted to the sewing machine main body exists in the RAM 63 (S404).
4: YES), and waits until data can be transmitted to the sewing machine main body side (S406: NO). Here, whether or not data can be transmitted is determined based on whether or not the communication unit 70 has received a busy signal. When data can be transmitted to the sewing machine main body side, the busy signal is not received.

When data can be transmitted to the sewing machine main body (S406: YES), a predetermined amount of data on the RAM 63 is transmitted to the sewing machine main body with reference to the management table (S408). , And returns to the process of S404. Then, the processing of S404 to S408 is repeated, and in the processing of S404, when there is no more data to be transmitted (S404: NO), this processing ends.

CPU 41 and CPU 61 described above.
As a result, the sewing program stored in the storage area on the RAM 63 is read out to the RAM 43. As described above, according to the programmable electronic sewing machine 1, the sewing program stored in the RAM 43 of the sewing machine body can be stored in the RAM 63 of the programmer 22, and the RAM 6 of the programmer 22 can be stored.
The sewing program saved in the sewing machine 3 is stored in the RAM
If you want to temporarily suspend the work and turn off the sewing machine, or if you want to use a sewing program with another sewing machine, you need to save the sewing program on the magnetic storage medium with the FDD 32. You may. Especially,
Since the programmer 22 always uses the program during the creation of the sewing program, there is no possibility that a problem such as a magnetic storage medium that is not at hand can occur.

Further, since the power is supplied to the RAM 63 even when the power switch of the programmer 22 is turned off, the sewing program temporarily stored in the RAM 63 is used in accordance with the operation of the power switch. Not be lost. As described above, the embodiments of the present invention have been described. However, various specific embodiments other than those described above can be considered for the embodiments of the present invention.

For example, in the sewing machine 1, it is assumed that a sewing program has been created on the RAM 43.
Although the sewing program was transmitted to the programmer 22 side, a part of the data is sequentially transmitted to the programmer 22 side during the production of the sewing program, so that the sewing program is produced on the RAM 63 of the programmer 22. Can also be configured. With this configuration, only a minimum necessary storage area is secured as a work area in the RAM 43 of the sewing machine main body, and a storage area for storing the entire sewing program is secured in the RAM 63 of the programmer 22. Therefore, the cost of the sewing machine main body can be reduced. In particular, if the system is configured such that the number of programmers 22 is one per several sewing machine main bodies, the cost of the entire system can be reduced. be able to.

Although the sewing machine 1 has the FDD 32, the FDD 32 may be omitted if the sewing program can be stored in the programmer 22. By eliminating the FDD 32 as described above, the manufacturing cost of the sewing machine 1 can be further reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a programmable electronic sewing machine exemplified as an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the vicinity of a presser foot device of the programmable electronic sewing machine.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a programmer included in the programmable electronic sewing machine.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a control system of the programmable electronic sewing machine.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a sewing program temporary storage process on the sewing machine main body side.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a sewing program temporary saving process on the programmer side.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a sewing program reading process on the sewing machine main body side.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a sewing program reading process on the programmer side.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Program type electronic sewing machine 3 ... Sewing machine table 5 ... Bed part 6 ... Arm part 7 ...
Needle plate, 8: cloth presser, 10: feed plate, 11
..Presser arm, 12 ... Clamp presser plate, 14 ... Pressing solenoid, 16 ... Needle bar, 18 ... Sewing needle, 20 ...
Operation panel, 22: Programmer, 24: Cable, 26: Operation unit, 27: LED, 28,.
・ Liquid crystal display device, 30 ・ ・ ・ case, 32 ・ ・ ・
Flexible disk drive, 34: pedal switch, 40: control system on the sewing machine main body side, 60: control system on the programmer side, 41, 61 ... CPU, 42,
62 ... ROM, 43, 63 ... RAM, 45 ...
・ Operation unit, 47 ・ ・ ・ LED, 50, 70 ・ ・ ・ Communication unit, 52, 72 ・ ・ ・ Buzzer, 54 ・ ・ ・ X-axis motor,
55: Y-axis motor, 56: sewing machine motor, 75
···Backlight.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Minoru Yamaguchi 15-1 Naeshiro-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A programmable electronic sewing machine in which an operation at the time of sewing is controlled in accordance with a sewing program stored in a built-in first memory. An input device that is connected to the sewing machine main body and that is capable of transmitting a signal for controlling an operation of the sewing machine main body at the time of connection to the sewing machine main body in accordance with a user operation; and an input device provided in the input device. A programmable electronic sewing machine, comprising: a second memory; and data transmission means for transmitting data from one to the other between the first memory and the second memory. 2. The programmable electronic sewing machine according to claim 1, wherein the second memory is configured to be able to hold stored data regardless of whether a power switch of the input device is on or off. A programmable electronic sewing machine characterized by the following. 3. The sewing machine according to claim 1, wherein the input device is a sewing program production input device which is operated by a user when producing a sewing program. The memory includes a plurality of storage areas each capable of storing a sewing program, and the data transmission unit is configured to store a sewing program between the predetermined storage area selected from the plurality of storage areas of the second memory and the first memory. A programmable electronic sewing machine wherein a sewing program is transmitted from one side to another side.