This application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-057938, filed Mar. 8, 2007, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The present disclosure generally relates to technical fields including a sewing machine, a sewing mark, and a computer-readable recording medium storing a sewing machine control program. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a sewing machine that controls sewing by utilizing a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag, a sewing mark used during sewing by the sewing machine, and a computer-readable recording medium storing a sewing machine control program for controlling the sewing machine.
Conventionally, before sewing a work cloth (a sewing object) with a sewing machine, sewing positions on the work cloth may generally be marked with an erasable sewing pen, a basting thread, dress pins, etc. A user may sew the work cloth using the marks as a guide by following the marks. If necessary, the user of the sewing machine manually changes a sewing speed and a sewing method during sewing, while the user moves the work cloth using the marks on the work cloth as a guide.
Recently, an RFID technology has become widely known, in which an integrated circuit (IC chip) equipped with an antenna is employed. The IC chip with the antenna may be referred to as an “RFID tag”, and may be shaped like a tag, a label, or the like. The RFID tag may be added to a variety of products so that information stored in the RFID tag may be read out from the RFID tag or information may be written into the RFID tag, with an apparatus referred to as an “RFID reader/writer”. The RFID technology is also utilized in various fields to identify and control individuals. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Publication No. 2005-160936 discloses an RFID tag that is attached to a work cloth as a sewing object and that stores information to identify the type of the work cloth. It also discloses that a control device of an eyelet buttonholing sewing machine determines whether a pressing pressure and a tension set for the sewing machine are suitable for the type of the work cloth indicated by the identification information of the work cloth read out by an RFID reader/writer of the sewing machine.
However, in Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Publication No. 2005-160936, the RFID tag attached to the work cloth stores only the identification information about the type of the work cloth. Therefore, although the type of the work cloth may be identified and the accompanying setting of some conditions may be appropriately carried out, the user still needs to select a sewing pattern, change the sewing speed, etc., manually. In particular, a beginner who is not skilled in sewing with a sewing machine may find it difficult to form desired stitches while moving around a work cloth.
Exemplary implementations of the broad principles described herein provide a sewing machine with which a user does not need to change a sewing speed or a sewing setting while sewing so that the user may easily form desired stitches.
Exemplary implementations provide a sewing machine that includes a needle bar to which a sewing needle is attached, a sewing machine motor that drives a needle bar mechanism for vertically driving the needle bar via a drive shaft, an information reading device and a control device. The information reading device is disposed in the vicinity of a needle drop position of the sewing needle and reads out sewing information related to sewing conditions for the sewing machine each time a mark attached to a work cloth enters into a communication range as the work cloth is moved. The sewing information is stored in an RFID tag included in the mark. The control device controls sewing based on the sewing information read out by the information reading device from the RFID tag.
Exemplary implementations also provide a computer-readable recording medium storing a sewing machine control program for a sewing machine. The sewing machine includes a needle bar to which a sewing needle is attached and a sewing machine motor that drives via a drive shaft a needle bar mechanism for vertically driving the needle bar. The program includes instructions for reading out sewing information relating to sewing conditions for the sewing machine each time a mark attached to a work cloth enters into a communication range as the work cloth is moved. The sewing information is stored in an RFID tag included in the mark, and instructions for controlling the sewing based on the sewing information is read out from the RFID tag.
Exemplary implementations further provide a sewing mark that is used for sewing. The sewing machine includes a sewing information reading device that is disposed in the vicinity of a needle drop position of a sewing needle and that reads out sewing information stored in an RFID tag in a communication range and a control device that controls sewing based on the sewing information read out by the sewing information reading device. The sewing mark includes an attachment member that may be attached to and detached from a work cloth to be sewn, and an RFID tag that stores at least the sewing information related to sewing conditions for the sewing machine.
Exemplary implementations will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
An example of a sewing machine 1 and a dress pin 50 according to the present disclosure with reference to the drawings is described below. The drawings are a description of technical features that may be employed. The configuration of an apparatus and flowcharts of various processing illustrated in the drawings are not intended to limit the scope of the invention, but are just examples for explanation, unless otherwise specified.
First, the physical configuration of the sewing machine 1 will be described below with reference to
The bed 2 may be equipped with a needle plate 11. Under the needle plate 11, a shuttle mechanism (not shown) may be provided. The bed 2 may also be equipped with a slide cover 12. A bobbin (not shown) for a lower thread may be attached to and detached from the shuttle mechanism when the slide cover 12 is slided to open. A feed dog 34, a feeding mechanism (not shown), and a feed adjustment motor 76 (see
Under the pillar 3, a sewing machine motor 77 (see
As shown in
The arm 4 may be provided with a cover 6 at its upper part along its whole length in the longitudinal direction. The cover 6 may be pivotally supported at the upper rear part of the arm 4 so that it may be opened and closed around an axis along the longitudinal direction of the arm 4. As shown in
A needle bar mechanism (not shown), a needle bar swinging motor 78 (see
Further, on the front surface of the end portion of the arm 4, a thread guide groove 7 may be formed. The thread guide groove 7 may guide a needle thread pulled out from the thread spool 21 to the sewing needle via a tension mechanism, a thread take-up spring, and a thread take-up lever (all of which are not shown).
On the front surface of the arm 4, a plurality of operation keys 9 may be provided. The operations keys 9 may be used for entering instructions for various sewing operations. The operation keys 9 may include a start/stop key 91, a reverse stitch key 92, a needle up/down key 93, and a speed control lever 94. The sewing start/stop key 91 may be used to start or stop sewing. The reverse stitch key 92 may be used to form a reverse stitch. The needle up/down key 93 may be used to switch the position of the sewing needle between an upper position and a lower position. The speed control lever 94 may be used to set a sewing speed. The speed control lever 94 may also be used to adjust a needle bar swinging amount of a zigzag stitch, for example, when it is set as the needle bar swinging amount adjustment lever by setting key displayed on the LCD 10.
Next, the electrical configuration of the sewing machine 1 will be described below with reference to
The CPU 101 in the control section 100 may handle main control of the sewing machine 1 and may perform various computations and processing in accordance with instructions of various programs stored in the ROM 102. The ROM 102, which is a read only memory, may have a program storage area (not shown) for storing the various programs. The RAM 103, which is a random access memory, may have storage areas (not shown) for temporarily storing various kinds of data.
The RFID reader 30 may be any known RFID reader that may perform wireless communication with an RFID tag 800 (see
Next, the dress pin 50, which may be attached to a work cloth, will be described below with reference to
Next, the electrical configuration of the RFID tag 800 will be described below with reference to
Now, the sewing information stored in the memory section 826 of the RFID tag 800 will be described below with reference to
The operator who intends to sew may prepare a required number of the dress pins 50, each of which stores desired sewing information. As described above, the sewing information has been stored beforehand in the memory section 826 of the RFID tag 800. For example, in order to form a straight stitch (left baseline) at a low speed, then form a zigzag stitch (middle baseline) with a needle bar swinging amount (stitch width) of 3.5 m at a high speed, and finally form a straight stitch (left baseline) at a low speed again and stop sewing, the operator may prepare a total of four dress pins 50, that is, two with identification number “0011”, one with identification number “0023”, and one with identification number “0000”. By marking the surface of the head portion 51 of the dress pin 50 with the corresponding identification number, for example, the operator may easily identify the dress pin 50 that stores the desired sewing information. It may be identified even more easily by coloring the head portion 51 of the dress pin 50 differently for each of the sewing pattern, the needle bar swinging amount, the cloth feed distance, and the sewing speed. It may also be identified easily by differentiating the shape of the head portion 51 for each of the sewing pattern. The shape may be a polygon, a flower, a star, a sphere, etc. In order to store the sewing information into the memory section 826, writing processing may be performed by a known RFID writer or RFID reader/writer having a configuration similar to that of the above-described RFID reader 30.
Next, a procedure for sewing a work cloth with the sewing machine 1 and dress pins 50 will be described below with reference to
First, main processing for sewing by the sewing machine 1 will be described below with reference to
On the other hand, if the power switch is not turned OFF (NO at S2), the CPU 101 may determine whether the RFID tag 800 is recognized by the RFID reader 30 built in the needle plate 11 (S3). In an exemplary implementation, the communication range of the RFID reader 30 may be limited to cover only an area of roughly equal size of the RFID reader 30 as viewed in ground plan. Consequently, when the head portion 51 (the RFID tag 800) of the dress pin 50 is placed on the RFID reader 30, as shown in
If the RFID tag 800 is recognized by the RFID reader 30 (YES at S3), the CPU 101 may determine whether it is instructed to start sewing (S4). Determination may be made on the basis of whether the sewing start/stop key 91 is pressed. If it is not instructed to start sewing (NO at S4), the CPU 101 may continue monitoring until it is instructed to start sewing (NO at S4). When the CPU 101 is instructed to start sewing (YES at S4), the CPU 101 may proceed to sewing control processing based on the RFID tag information (S5). The sewing control processing based on the RFID tag information will be described in detail later. After the sewing control processing based on the RFID tag information (S5) is started, the CPU 101 may determine whether it is instructed to end sewing (S6). Specifically, the CPU 101 may determine that it is instructed to end sewing (YES at S6) when any one of the following three cases applies. The first case is when the sewing start/stop key 91 is pressed again. The second case is when the sewing pattern included in the sewing information stored in the RAM 103 is data that indicates “stop”. The third case is when an end flag has been set to “ON” in the sewing control processing based on the RFID tag information (S5). If the CPU 101 determines that it is instructed to end sewing (YES at S6), the process may return to the step of acquiring various kinds of setting information, to prepare for next sewing operations (S1). If the CPU 101 determines that it is not instructed to end sewing (NO at S6), the processing may return to the step of determining whether the RFID tag 800 is recognized (S3).
If the RFID tag 800 is not recognized by the RFID reader 30 (NO at S3), the CPU 101 may determine whether it is instructed to start sewing (S7). If the CPU 101 is not instructed to start sewing (NO at S7), the CPU 101 may continue monitoring until it is instructed to start sewing (NO at S7). If it is instructed to start sewing (YES at S7), the CPU 101 may perform sewing processing based on the setting information stored in the setting information storage area of the RAM 103 (S8). After the sewing processing, the CPU 101 may determine whether it is instructed to end sewing (S6). If the sewing start/stop key 91 is pressed again, the CPU 101 may determine that it is instructed to end sewing (YES At S6). Accordingly, to prepare for next sewing operations, the process may return to the step of acquiring the various kinds of setting information (S1). If the sewing start/stop key 91 is not pressed, the CPU 101 may determine that it is not instructed to end sewing (NO at S6) and the processing may return to the step of determining whether the RFID tag 800 is recognized (S3).
Next, sewing control processing based on RFID tag information, which is performed at S5 of the main processing shown in
If the sewing pattern “stop” is not stored in the tag information storage area of the RAM 103 (NO at S12), the process may advance to S13. At S13, the CPU 101 may determine whether the sewing information stored in the tag information storage area of the RAM 103 complies with the operation specifications of the sewing machine 1 (S13). The operation specifications of the sewing machine 1 may be stored as basic information of the sewing machine 1 in a basic information storage area (not shown) of the ROM 102. The basic information may be referenced by the CPU 101 to make the determination. In an exemplary implementation, at S13, the CPU 101 may determine whether any information piece among the sewing pattern, the needle bar swinging amount, the cloth feed distance, and the sewing speed, which constitute the sewing information stored in the tag information storage area of the RAM 103, does not comply with the operation specifications of the sewing machine 1. For example, if a maximum value of the needle bar swinging amount is stored as “5 mm” in the basic information storage area of the ROM 102, and the needle bar swinging amount is stored as “7 mm” in the tag information storage area of the RAM 103, the CPU 101 may determine that the sewing information does not comply with the operation specifications (NO at S13). In this example, the CPU 101 may display an error message on the LCD 10 (S21). The error message may be, for example, “This sewing machine cannot perform sewing with a stitch width of 7 mm”. Then, the CPU 101 may set the end flag stored in the predetermined area of the RAM 103 to “ON” (S22) and the process may return to the main processing shown in
If it is determined at S 13 that the sewing information stored in the tag information storage area of the RAM 103 complies with the operation specifications of the sewing machine 1 (YES at S13), the process may advance to S14. At S14, the CPU 101 may determine whether the sewing speed included in the sewing information stored in the tag information storage area of the RAM 103 is different from a currently set sewing speed (S14). The “currently set sewing speed” may refer to a sewing speed stored in the setting information storage area of the RAM 103. When the sewing control processing based on the RFID tag information shown in
If the sewing speed read out from the RFID tag 800 is the same with the currently set sewing speed (NO at S14), the process may advance to S15 without changing the setting of the rotation speed of the sewing machine motor 77. At S15, the CPU 101 may determine whether the needle bar swinging amount included in the sewing information stored in the tag information storage area is different from a currently set needle bar swinging amount stored in the setting information storage area (S15). A default value of the needle bar swinging amount may vary with the pattern to be sewn. The default values for respective patterns may be stored as basic information in the basic information storage area of the ROM 102. In the sewing machine 1, a pattern may be selected from the stored patterns via the touch panel 111 of the LCD 10. When the operator selects a desired pattern, the CPU 101 may reference the basic information storage area of the ROM 102 to acquire the default value of the needle bar swinging amount corresponding to the selected pattern, and may store it in the setting information storage area of the RAM 103 (S 1). In addition, when a zigzag stitch is selected, the setting key displayed on the LCD 10 may be used to set the speed control lever 94 to operate as a swinging width adjustment lever, as described above. Then, the operator may set a desired needle bar swinging amount with the speed control lever 94. In such a case, the needle bar swinging amount set with the speed control lever 94 may be stored in the setting information storage area. Further, a driving amount for the needle bar swinging motor 78 (see
If it is determined that the currently set needle bar swinging amount is the same with the needle bar swinging amount read out from the RFID tag and stored (NO at S15), the process may advance to S16 without changing the driving amount for the needle bar swinging motor 78. At S 16, the CPU 101 may determine whether the cloth feed distance included in the sewing information stored in the tag information storage area is different from the cloth feed distance stored in the setting information storage area (S16). A default value of the cloth feed distance may vary with the pattern to be sewn. The default values for the respective patterns may be stored as basic information in the basic information storage area of the ROM 102. If the operator selects a desired pattern via the touch panel 111 of the LCD 10, the CPU 101 may reference the basic information stored in the basic information storage area of the ROM 102 to acquire the needle bar swinging amount default value corresponding to the selected pattern, and may store it into the setting information storage area of the RAM 103 (S1). Further, a driving amount of the feed adjustment motor 76 (see
As described above, corresponding to the sewing information read out from the RFID tag 800, the rotation speed of the sewing machine 77, the driving amount for the needle bar swinging motor 78, and the driving amount for the feed adjustment motor 76 may be set appropriately. Then, the CPU 101 may control those motors to perform the sewing operation in accordance with thus set sewing information pieces (S17), and the process may return to the main processing shown in
An example of the sewing procedure will be described below with reference to
Then, the operator places the pair of work cloths 60, into which the dress pins 501-503 are stuck, on the needle plate 11 of the bed 2. At this time, the head portion 51 of the dress pin 501 is located on the RFID reader 30. If power for the sewing machine 1 is ON (NO at S2 in
As described above, by utilizing a dress pin 50 having an RFID tag 800 storing sewing information in its head portion 51, it is possible for an operator to temporarily secure a pair of work cloths 60 to be sewn and also specify a sewing start position and a sewing end position under desired sewing conditions. Then, in the sewing machine 1, sewing operation is controlled in accordance with the sewing information read out from the RFID tag 800 by the RFID reader 30. Therefore, even if the sewing operator is a beginner who is not skilled in sewing, the operator may easily form desired stitches by simply feeding the work cloths 60 along the dress pins 50. Furthermore, changing the sewing speed and stopping sewing at an appropriate timing, which may be difficult for a beginner, may be enabled by simply sticking the dress pins 50 storing the corresponding sewing information to desired positions.
The sewing machine of the present disclosure is not limited to the sewing machine 1 in the above-described implementations, and various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. For example, in the above example, the RFID tag 800, from which the sewing information is read out by the RFID reader 30 of the sewing machine 1, may be provided in the dress pin 50. The mark or the sewing mark may also be formed as a seal. The following will describe sewing control processing by use of a seal 55 according to an alternative implementation with reference to
As shown in
In the above examples, the RFID reader 30 may be fitted in the needle plate 11. Other than that, the RFID reader 30 may be disposed at another position as far as sewing may be controlled by sequentially communicating with the RFID tags 800 provided to the respective dress pins 50 in the vicinity of the needle hole 16, where the sewing needle drops (a needle drop position). For example, the RFID reader 30 may be placed on the upper surface of the bed 2, attached to the presser foot 13 or the presser bar 14, etc.
The above-described exemplary and alternative implementations may respectively employ the dress pin 50 and the seal 55 as an example of the mark having the RFID tag 800. The mark, however, is not limited to these forms. For example, a safety pin, etc., may be employed as the mark as far as it may be attached to a work cloth as an eyemark. Further, in the above implementation, the head portion 51 of the dress pin 50 and the seal 55 may be shaped roughly circular as viewed in plan view. The shape of the mark, however, is not limited to a particular shape and may be any shape as long as the mark may include the RFID tag 800. For example, a polygon, a flower, or a star may be employed for both the dress pin 50 and the seal 55. A sphere may be employed for the dress pin 50. The head portions 51 of the dress pins 50 and the seals 55 may be colored differently with the different sewing patterns, needle bar swinging amounts, cloth feed distances, and sewing speeds, so that they may be identified easily.
As described above, the sewing machine of the present disclosure may sequentially communicate with an RFID tag in a mark, which is attached beforehand to a work cloth to be sewn, read out sewing information stored in the RFID tag, and control sewing based on the read out sewing information. Therefore, a person engaged in sewing may attach the marks that have the RFID tag storing the desired sewing conditions to a sewing position where a stitch is to be formed on the work cloth, to thereby perform sewing in accordance with the desired sewing conditions by simply feeding the work cloth following the marks. Therefore, even a beginner unfamiliar with sewing with the sewing machine may form a desired stitch without having to stop sewing halfway, for example, to change the sewing conditions. Further, by storing sewing information that indicates stoppage of sewing in the RFID tag, sewing may be stopped at an appropriate timing.
According to the sewing machine control program of the present disclosure, the sewing information stored in the RFID tag in a mark attached to a work cloth may be read out, and sewing may be controlled based on the sewing information read out from the RFID tag. Therefore, a person engaged in sewing may attach the marks having the RFID tag storing desired sewing conditions to sewing positions of the work cloth, to thereby perform sewing in accordance with the desired sewing conditions by simply feeding the work cloth following the marks. Therefore, even a beginner of the sewing machine unfamiliar with sewing with the sewing machine may easily form desired stitches without having to stop sewing halfway, for example, to change the sewing conditions. Further, by storing sewing information that indicates stoppage of sewing in the RFID tag, sewing may easily stopped at an appropriate timing.
The sewing mark of the present disclosure may easily used for a sewing machine that includes an information reading device that reads out information stored in the RFID tag and a control device that controls sewing based on the information read out by the information reading device. The sewing mark of the present disclosure may include an attachment member and an RFID tag. The attachment member may be attached to and detached from a work cloth to be sewn. The RFID tag stores at least sewing information. Therefore, a person engaged in sewing may attach the sewing marks having desired sewing information stored in its RFID tag as an eyemark of a sewing position, to thereby perform sewing in accordance with the desired sewing conditions with the sewing machine by simple feeding the work cloth following the sewing marks. Therefore, even a beginner unfamiliar with sewing with the sewing machine may be form desired stitches without having to stop sewing halfway, for example, to change the sewing conditions. Further, by storing sewing information that indicates stoppage of sewing in the RFID tag, sewing may be stopped at an appropriate timing.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2007-057938 | Mar 2007 | JP | national |