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US 2012/0055386 A1Published application
Method and system for freehand and realtime quilting with a computer-controlled quilting machine
OwnerArthur Bentleyinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A computer-controlled quilting machine uses a hand held stylus to create the patterns which are sewn into a quilt. The machine can quilt in real time, following the movement of the stylus as a user traces any desired object or design. The machine allows a user to easily sew a desired pattern into a quilt, and also provides greater access to quilting to those persons who are unable to operate other types of quilting machines, while retaining much of the appeal of hand quilting.
Claims24
A method of quilting comprising;
- a person selecting a computer-controlled quilting machine having:
- a sewing machine;
- a carriage connected to the sewing machine, the carriage holding a piece of cloth and positioning the cloth so as to enable the sewing machine to sew the cloth;
- a computer, the computer being disposed in communication with the sewing machine and the carriage so as to control the operation of the sewing machine and so as to control the operation of the carriage to cause the sewing machine to sew a pattern into cloth;
- a data entry device which allows a user to trace a pattern and thereby electronically transmit the pattern to the computer;
- the person using the data entry device to trace a pattern;
- the computer tracking the movement of the data entry device;
- and
- the computer creating and storing an electronic pattern sewing file on a computer storage medium for later access, the sewing file comprising two dimensional movement data of the data entry device created while tracing the pattern, and wherein the pattern file lacks stitch information
6 more elements
-7. (canceled)
(canceled)
(canceled)
A computer controlled quilting machine comprising:
- a sewing machine;
- a carriage configured for holding a piece of cloth, the carriage being connected to the sewing machine, the carriage being movable to change the position of the sewing machine relative to the cloth so as to sew pattern into the cloth;
- a computer connected to the sewing machine and the carriage so as to control the stitching of the sewing machine and to control the movement of the carriage to control the position of the sewing machine relative to the cloth;
- a user input device, the user input device being movable by the user to manually trace a pattern without moving the sewing machine and thereby automatically transfer the pattern to the computer electronically.
1 more element
(canceled)
A method of quilting comprising the steps of:
- a person selecting a computer-controlled quilting machine having:
- a sewing machine;
- a carriage connected to the sewing machine, the carriage holding a piece of cloth and positioning the cloth so as to enable the sewing machine to sew the cloth;
- a computer, the computer being disposed in communication with the sewing machine so as to control the operation of the sewing machine;
- the person selecting a desired stitch length;
- the computer storing stitch length information;
- moving the sewing machine relative to the cloth to sew a pattern into the cloth;
- the computer squaring a lateral movement of the cloth relative to the sewing machine from a last stitch position;
- the computer squaring a front to back movement of the cloth relative to the sewing machine from a last stitch position;
- the computer adding the square of the lateral movement and the square of the front to back movement;
- the computer indicating a stitch event when the sum of the square of the lateral movement and the square of the front to back movement is equal to a predetermined value;
- the computer tracking a predetermined number of the most recent stitch events;
- the computer determining an average frequency of stitch events for a predetermined number of the most recent stitch events;
- and
- the computer operating the sewing machine to create stitches at said stitch length based on said average frequency.
12 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.