Sewing machine and sewing machine capable of embroidery sewing

Abstract

A sewing machine including a needle-swing mechanism that swings a needle bar; a cloth-feed mechanism that feeds a workpiece cloth by a feed dog; an imaging unit that captures an image of a baseline drawn on a surface of the workpiece cloth; a baseline-color detection portion that detects a baseline color of the baseline based on an image data of the baseline captured by the imaging unit; a first storage portion storing a mapping of a plurality of baseline colors to stitch data of a plurality of normal patterns; and a control portion that forms normal pattern stitches along the baseline by reading stitch data corresponding to the baseline color detected by the baseline-color detection portion from the first storage portion and controlling the needle-swing mechanism and the cloth-feed mechanism based on the stitch data read.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become clear upon reviewing the following description of the illustrative aspects with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which,

FIG. 1 is a front view of a lockstitch sewing machine in its entirety in accordance with a first illustrative aspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a cloth-feed mechanism;

FIG. 3 is a front view of a needle-swing mechanism;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a control system of the lockstitch sewing machine;

FIG. 5 indicates a data configuration of a baseline-color table;

FIG. 6 indicates a data configuration of a baseline-width table;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a baseline trace sewing control;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a trace sewing process;

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a workpiece cloth having a baseline drawn thereto;

FIG. 10 illustrates a captured image data;

FIG. 11 is a plan view of a workpiece cloth having a normal pattern corresponding to the baseline sewn thereto;

FIG. 12 corresponds to FIG. 6 illustrating a modified illustrative aspect;

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of a sewing machine capable of embroidery sewing in its entirety in accordance with a second illustrative aspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 is plan view of a cloth-retaining frame and a carriage drive mechanism;

FIG. 15 is a block diagram of a control system of the sewing machine capable of embroidery sewing;

FIG. 16 indicates a data configuration of a needle bar table;

FIG. 17 indicates a data configuration of a baseline-width table;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart of a baseline trace sewing control;

FIG. 19 is a flowchart of an embroidery data generating process;

FIG. 20 is a plan view of a workpiece cloth having a thin baseline drawn thereon and an embroidery frame;

FIG. 21 corresponds to FIG. 20 and has embroidery stitches formed along the thin baseline;

FIG. 22 is a plan view of a workpiece cloth having a medium-thickness baseline drawn thereon and the embroidery frame;

FIG. 23 corresponds to FIG. 22 and has an embroidery stitch formed along the medium-thickness baseline;

FIG. 24 is a plan view of a workpiece cloth having a large-thickness baseline drawn thereon and the embroidery frame; and

FIG. 25 corresponds to FIG. 24 and has embroidery stitches formed along the large-thickness baseline.

Claims

1. A sewing machine, comprising: a needle-swing mechanism that swings a needle bar;a cloth-feed mechanism that feeds a workpiece cloth by a feed dog;an imaging unit that captures an image of a baseline drawn on a surface of the workpiece cloth;a baseline-color detection portion that detects a baseline color of the baseline based on an image data of the baseline captured by the imaging unit;a first storage portion that stores a mapping of a plurality of baseline colors to stitch data of a plurality of normal patterns; anda control portion that forms normal pattern stitches along the baseline by reading stitch data corresponding to the baseline color detected by the baseline-color detection portion from the first storage portion and controlling the needle-swing mechanism and the cloth-feed mechanism based on the stitch data read.

2. The sewing machine of claim 1, further comprising a baseline-width detection portion that detects a baseline width of the baseline based on the image data of the baseline captured by the imaging unit, and a second storage portion that stores a mapping of each of a plurality of baseline widths to needle-swing amount data of the needle bar and cloth-feed amount data of the feed dog, wherein the control portion controls the needle-swing mechanism and the cloth-feed mechanism by reading the needle-swing amount data and the cloth-feed amount data corresponding to the baseline width detected by the baseline-detection portion from the second data storage portion.

3. The sewing machine of claim 1, wherein the imaging unit is composed of a CCD image sensor or a CMOS image sensor.

4. A sewing machine capable of embroidery sewing, comprising: a carriage to which an embroidery frame retaining a workpiece cloth is attachably/detachably attached;a carriage drive mechanism that drives the carriage independently in an X-direction and a Y-direction perpendicular to the other respectively;an imaging unit that captures an image of a baseline drawn on a surface of the workpiece cloth; anda control portion that controls the carriage drive mechanism so as to form an embroidery stitch along the baseline based on the image data of the baseline captured by the imaging unit.

5. The sewing machine of claim 4, further comprising a plurality of needle bars, a needle-bar switch mechanism that selectively switches the plurality of needle bars, a third storage portion that stores a mapping of the plurality of needle bars to thread colors of needle threads set to the needle bars, a baseline-color detection portion that detects a baseline color of the baseline based on the image data of the baseline captured by the imaging unit; a needle-bar determining portion that determines a needle bar to be used for sewing based on the baseline color of the baseline detected by the baseline-color detection portion and data stored in the third storage portion, wherein the control portion controls the needle-bar switch mechanism so as to make a switch to the needle bar determined in the needle-bar determining portion.

6. The sewing machine of claim 4, further comprising a baseline-width detection portion that detects a baseline width of the baseline based on the image data of the baseline captured by the imaging unit, and a fourth storage portion that stores a mapping of each of a plurality of baseline widths to each type of embroidery stitch data, wherein the control portion reads embroidery stitch data corresponding to a baseline width detected by the baseline detection portion from the fourth data storage portion and controls the carriage drive mechanism based on the embroidery stitch data.

7. The sewing machine of claim 4, wherein the imaging unit is composed of a CCD image sensor or a CMOS image sensor.