Computerized sewing machine

A computerized sewing machine comprising:

• first control means for controlling reciprocal axial movement of a sewing needle for penetrating a material to be sewn and a loop pick-up device for cooperating with the needle for forming a sewing stitch;
• second control means for controlling relative displacement of the needle and the material in two orthogonal directions with a specific amplitude in each direction;
• at least one electronic memory in which computerized sewing instructions are stored, said instructions corresponding to a plurality of different designs or patterns, said designs or patterns comprising letters and signs belonging to at least two different styles of alphabet, sewing instructions for the letters and signs of each alphabet being embodied in a specific memory bank, the reference address for the beginning of the memory bank for each alphabet being different;
• first selection means for selecting the letter or the sign to be sewn;
• microprocessor means for reading from said electronic memory sewing instructions corresponding to the design or pattern selected by said first selection means and for controlling the second control means in accordance with said instructions so as to sew the selected design or pattern on said material;
• second selection means for selecting the style of alphabet in which the letter or the sign selected with said first selection means is to be sewn;
• each memory bank comprising an address section for locating, within the memory bank, instructions for a particular letter or sign, address information being disposed within said address section in a predetermined order, said address information being individual to each letter or sign and identical for each alphabet;
• said first selection means comprising a keyboard for selecting a particular letter or signal by inputting a code corresponding to the address information assigned to that letter or sign in the address section of the memory bank of a default alphabet of said alphabets;
• said second selection means comprising a memory element containing at least a first value corresponding to the address of the beginning of the memory bank containing data for the letters and signs of the default alphabet, and at least a second value corresponding to the space in the memory element separating the beginning of the memory bank for the default alphabet from the beginning of the memory bank containing data for the letters and signs of the second alphabet style;
• indicator means for indicating to the microprocessor the alphabet style selected by said second selection means;
• means for forming a composite address value by adding at least said first value to the value of the code selected by the first keyboard selecting means, said composite address identifying the portion of memory containing specific instructions for controlling said second control means so that the design or pattern corresponding to the letter or sign selected and the alphabet style selected is sewn on the material.