Embroidery data processing system and method
AssigneeBrother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsAtsuya Hayakawa, Kyoji Komuro
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Contour data representing the contour of an embroidering area to be covered up with stitches formed by an embroidery machine is read from a contour data storage means and the contour of the embroidering area is displayed on a display on the basis of the contour data. A desired stitching direction for at least one point in the embroidering area is specified by the operator. The embroidering area is divided into a plurality of embroidering sections by dividing line segments parallel to the specified desired stitching direction. A reference point is set for each embroidering section. Each embroidering section is divided into blocks so that the respective contours of all the blocks are convex, and then embroidery data is produced.
Claims20
An embroidery sewing apparatus with a data processing system, comprising:
- contour data storage means for storing contour data representing the contour of an embroidering area to be covered with a plurality of stitches formed by a sewing machine;
- embroidering area display means for displaying the embroidering area on the basis of the contour data;
- representative desired stitch setting means for permitting an operator to set the position and direction in the embroidering area of at least one representative desired stitch among a plurality of stitches to be formed by the sewing machine in the embroidering area;
- embroidery data producing means for producing embroidery data necessary for covering the embroidering area with stitches on the basis of representative desired stitch data representing the at least one representative desired stitch and the contour data;
- embroidery data storage means for storing the embroidery data;
- and
- sewing means for using the stored embroidery data to sew stitches in the embroidery area.
A method for establishing and using a stitching pattern with an embroidering machine, comprising the steps of:
- reading pattern contour data from an external storage device;
- storing the pattern contour data in a contour data storage area;
- displaying a contour on the basis of the pattern contour data on a display device;
- setting at least one desired stitching line segment to establish a stitching direction;
- dividing an embroidering area defined by the pattern contour data into first embroidering sections using stitch dividing line segments corresponding to desired stitching line segments;
- determining a reference point for each of the first embroidering sections;
- subdividing each first embroidering section into second embroidering sections having no externally concave points;
- producing embroidery sewing data from the second embroidering sections;
- storing the embroidery sewing data in the external storage device;
- and
- sewing the stitching pattern in accordance with the stored embroidery sewing data.
A method for producing embroidery data for use in an embroidering machine, comprising the steps of:
- displaying an embroidering area to be covered with a plurality of stitches formed by the embroidering machine, the embroidering area being defined by contour data representing a contour;
- inputting by an operator of a position and direction in the embroidering area of at least one representative desired stitch among a plurality of stitches to be formed by the embroidering machine in the embroidering area;
- producing embroidery data necessary for covering the embroidering area with stitches on the basis of representative desired stitch data representing the at least one representative desired stitch and the contour data;
- storing the embroidery data produced;
- and
- using the embroidery data to stitch the embroidering area.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.