Embroidery quilting apparatus, method, and computer-readable medium

An apparatus for stitching, the apparatus comprising:

• an examiner operable to examine an embroidery design to determine a needle drop location of each stitch of the embroidery design and movement instructions of the sewing head relative to the work piece, the examiner is further operable to divide the examined embroidery design into a plurality of separate sections, the examiner operable to maintain the embroidery design and the plurality of separate sections in an examiner memory;
• a sewing head including a reciprocating needle, the sewing head operable to stitch a work piece;
• and
• a controller having a memory capacity and operably coupled to the examiner and the sewing head, the controller operable to cause the sewing head to move relative to the work piece and to stitch the work piece, the controller operable to receive the plurality of separate sections from the examiner at a plurality of different times based on the capacity such that the plurality of separate sections do not exceed the memory capacity at any one of the plurality of different times,
• wherein the sewing head is operable to stitch, in response to the controller, the plurality of separate sections into the work piece based on the determined needle drop location, and wherein the embroidery design comprises computer program instructions for needle drop locations of stitches and movement instructions of a work piece relative to a sewing head.