A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the reproduction of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present disclosure relates, in general, to apparatuses, systems, and methods for operating a sewing machine, and more particularly, to apparatuses, systems, and methods for guiding a sewing operation of a sewing machine.
Current models of sewing machines are used to form stitches in a variety of materials. A sewing machine may perform a variety of sewing operations, including (without limitation): forming stitches in a workpiece (e.g., fabric), attaching decorative features to a workpiece, cutting or hemming an edge of a workpiece, embellishing designs on a workpiece, and folding, rolling, or otherwise manipulating a workpiece. Each of these sewing operations are performed as the workpiece is moved and rotated underneath a needle housed within a sewing head, where the needle is configured to pass through the workpiece by cyclical movement. For each sewing operation, a user, or operator, of the sewing machine accounts for various parameters, including a size and shape of a stitch to be made on the workpiece, and by extension, a number of rotations or re-alignments to the workpiece that must be made to effectuate the stitch. Moreover, the user must consider other tools available with the sewing machine, whether such tools are removably engaged to the sewing machine or otherwise disposed or contained therein.
It is known that current models of sewing machines comprise complex mechanical structure (and movements) accompanied by computing elements related thereto. Sewing machines carry processors configured to execute instructions residing on a storage medium. Such storage medium may contain a variety of selectable designs for applicable stitchwork. A user may select a design, which enables the processor to execute a sewing operation to generate the selected design. Thereafter, the user may move a workpiece relative to the needle of the sewing machine, such movement being made in accordance with the data underlying the selectable design. In this way, a desired stitch is produced on the workpiece at least in part by computerized function.
In other current models of sewing machines, the sewing machines have a projector and/or camera housed within the sewing head, from which the needle extends downward therefrom. The camera may provide a user with a top-perspective view, or top plan view, of the workpiece, so as to visually convey, in enlarged or focused detail, a quality of the stitch. The projector, on the other hand, may project a design on the workpiece, serving as a blueprint of the sewing operation and stitchwork for the user of the sewing machine. Despite these capabilities, use of these sewing machines may be slow and cumbersome, and each of these capabilities cannot replicate a sewing operation performed by a human user of the sewing machine.
Given the number of drawbacks associated with current models of sewing machines, there is a need to provide a sewing machine that overcomes the foregoing limitations. Current sewing machines, and the computing elements and other tools contained therein (e.g., camera and/or projector), lead to inefficient and imprecise stitchwork in a sewing operation. While current sewing machines have moved away from innovations supporting free-motion stitching, what is needed is a system and method for guiding a sewing operation of the sewing machine by leveraging the computing elements and tools contained therein, so as to produce stitchwork efficiently and in a manner qualitatively similar to free-motion stitchwork.
The present disclosure addresses and/or provides advantages over the problems identified above, amongst others. Implementations consistent with the present disclosure provide systems, methods, and apparatuses for guiding a sewing operation of a sewing machine. Guiding the sewing operation of the sewing machine, as disclosed herein, may yield efficient stitchwork, and such stitchwork may have an aesthetic quality akin to stitchwork performed by free-motion (or free-hand) stitching.
The present disclosure provides a system and method for sewing thread onto a workpiece (or fabric) by using guidelines projected from a light source, which is housed within a sewing head of the sewing machine. To the extent a user desires to sew a particular shape or design onto the workpiece, a user may select, via a user interface of the sewing machine's onboard computing device, a stitch object. A storage medium (e.g., memory) of the onboarding computing device may have a number of stitch objects stored thereon, allowing for the user to select from a menu or list of stitch objects vis-à-vis the user interface. Each of these stitch objects may have geometries associated therewith, and each of these geometries may be comprised of one or more lines. The process may be in an exemplary embodiment conducted in a number of steps. The machine may, through a user interface, instruct the user to start sewing a first line. After, or upon, sewing an initial portion of the geometry that corresponds to a first line of the geometry, the light source may project a guideline to indicate a direction of subsequent sewing operation, thereby guiding the user to sew successive lines of the geometry. The guideline may be configured to guide the user to move the fabric, e.g., by rotation, into the new position, by aligning the previously sewn first line with the guideline. The machine may instruct the user, through the user interface, to conduct said alignment. After each line is sewn, a processor of the sewing machine's onboard computing device may terminate a sewing action, instructing or directing the user to align a needle of the sewing machine in accordance with a successive line of the geometry. This process is repeated, in sequence, until the thread is sewn onto the workpiece to generate the whole geometry of the stitch object.
The sewing machine may have a processor configured to execute instructions residing on a memory, the memory of which may have stitch data stored thereon. By retrieving the stitch data in response to a selection of one or more stitch objects, one or more lines forming a geometric pattern may be identified. Upon sewing a portion of sewing material onto a workpiece, a primary light source, such as a projector, may be projected onto the workpiece. The primary light source may project a guideline onto the workpiece, which indicates a successive (or subsequent) line of the geometric pattern. For each line of the geometric pattern that is sewn, the primary light source may project further guidelines onto the workpiece for the successive line of the geometric pattern, which relates the successive line of the geometric pattern with the prior line. This sewing operation may be performed in sequence until all lines forming the geometric pattern are sewn onto workpiece.
In the context of guiding a sewing operation of a sewing machine, a method is provided herein. The sewing machine may have a needle configured to pass through a workpiece by reciprocal movement. The method may commence with selecting one of one or more stitch objects having stitch data associated therewith. Each of the one or more stitch objects may be defined by a geometric pattern. The method may continue by analyzing the stitch data of the one of the one or more stitch objects to identify one or more lines forming the geometric pattern. The method may continue by sewing, onto the workpiece with the needle, at least a portion of a sewing material in a direction defined by a first of the one or more lines forming the geometric pattern. The method may further continue with activating a primary light source to project a first of one or more guidelines onto the workpiece. The first of the one or more guidelines may be aligned with the first of the one or more lines to provide a direction of a second of the one or more lines forming the geometric pattern.
In the context of operating a sewing machine, a method is provided herein. The sewing machine may have a processor configured to execute instructions residing on a memory, wherein the memory may have stitch data stored thereon. The sewing machine may have a needle configured to periodically pass through a workpiece by reciprocal movement. The method may commence by selectively retrieving the stitch data in response to a selection of one of one or more stitch objects. Each of the one or more stitch objects may be defined by a geometric pattern. The method may continue with identifying one or more lines forming the geometric pattern of the one of the one or more stitch objects. Upon sewing, onto the workpiece with the needle, at least a portion of a sewing material in accordance with a direction defined by one of the one or more lines forming the geometric pattern, the method may further continue with projecting, from a primary light source, a guideline onto the workpiece. The guideline may indicate a direction of a successive second or more of the one or more lines forming the geometric pattern, and the second or more of the one or more lines may be connected to the one of the one or more lines on which the at least a portion of the sewing material was sewn.
In the context of guiding a sewing operation of a sewing machine, a system is provided herein. The system may include a sewing head, a primary light source, a processor, and a memory. The sewing head may be arranged above a workpiece. The sewing head may include a needle configured to periodically pass through a workpiece by reciprocal movement. The primary light source may be configured to project one or more guidelines onto the workpiece. The processor may be configured to execute instructions residing on a memory, wherein the memory may have stitch data stored thereon. The processor may be configured to receive a selection of one of one or more stitch objects. Each of the one or more stitch objects may be defined by a geometric pattern. The processor may be further configured to analyze the stitch data of the one of the one or more stitch objects to identify one or more lines associated with the geometric pattern. The processor may yet be further configured to direct the primary light source to project a guideline onto the workpiece. The guideline may be generated relative to a direction defined by sewing material sewn onto the workpiece in accordance with one of the one or more lines associated with the geometric pattern. The guideline may be aligned with the one of the one or more lines to provide a direction of a successive, connecting one of the one or more lines associated with the geometric pattern.
In a particular embodiment, a method for guiding a sewing operation for a sewing machine is disclosed. The sewing machine has a needle configured to periodically pas through a workpiece by reciprocal movement. The method commences with an operation of selecting one of one or more stitch objects having stitch data associated therewith. Each of the one or more stitch objects are defined by a geometric pattern. The method continues with an operation of analyzing the stitch data of the one of the one or more stitch objects to identify one or more lines forming the geometric pattern. The method continues with an operation of sewing, onto the workpiece with the needle, at least a portion of a sewing material in a direction defined by a first of the one or more lines forming the geometric pattern. The method continues with an operation of activating a primary light source to project a first of one or more guidelines onto the workpiece. The first of the one or more guidelines are aligned with the first of the one or more lines to provide a direction of a second of the one or more lines forming the geometric pattern.
In one aspect according to the above-referenced embodiment, the operation of activating the primary light source may further comprise an operation of activating a secondary light source to project a reference line onto the workpiece. The reference line may indicate a direction in which the at least a portion of the sewing material is configured to be sewn on the workpiece.
In another aspect according to the above-referenced embodiment, after the operation of activating the primary light source, the at least a portion of the sewing material may be sewn, onto the workpiece with the needle, in accordance with the second of the one or more lines forming the geometric pattern.
As an exemplary aspect according to the above-referenced embodiment, the method may further comprise an operation of projecting, via the primary light source, a second of one or more guidelines onto the workpiece. The second of the one or more guidelines may be aligned with the second of the one or more lines to provide a direction of a third of the one or more lines forming the geometric pattern.
In another aspect according to the above-referenced embodiment, the method may further comprise an operation of rotating the workpiece to sew, onto the workpiece with the needle, the at least a portion of the sewing material in a direction aligned with the second of the one or more lines forming the geometric pattern.
In another aspect according to the above-referenced embodiment, the one or more lines forming the geometric pattern may be defined as two-dimensional vectors in an x-y coordinate space.
In another aspect according to the above-referenced embodiment, the operation of analyzing the stitch data of the one of the one or more stitch objects may further include to identify an angle of a connecting pair of the one or more lines forming the geometric pattern. A direction of the first of one or more guidelines may be determined by the angle connecting the first of the one or more guidelines with the at least a portion of the sewing material sewn on the workpiece in a direction defined by the first of the one or more lines forming the geometric pattern.
In another aspect according to the above-referenced embodiment, the operation of analyzing the stitch data of the one of the one or more stitch objects may further include to identify a length of each of the one or more lines forming the geometric pattern. A direction of the first of one or more guidelines may be determined by the length of the at least portion of the sewing material sewn onto the workpiece in a direction defined by the first of the one or more lines forming the geometric pattern.
In another particular embodiment, a method of operating a sewing machine is disclosed. The sewing machine has a processor configured to execute instructions residing on a memory, the memory of which has stitch data stored thereon. The sewing machine has a needle configured to periodically pass through a workpiece by reciprocal movement. The method commences with an operation of selectively retrieving the stitch data in response to a selection of one of one or more stitch objects. Each of the one or more stitch objects are defined by a geometric pattern. The method continues with an operation of identifying one or more lines forming the geometric pattern of the one of the one or more stitch objects. Upon sewing, onto the workpiece with the needle, at least a portion of a sewing material in accordance with a direction defined by one of the one or more lines forming the geometric pattern, the method continues with an operation of projecting, from a primary light source, a guideline onto the workpiece. The guideline indicates a direction of a successive second or more of the one or more lines forming the geometric pattern. The second or more of the one or more lines is connected to the one of the one or more lines on which the at least a portion of the sewing material was sewn.
In one aspect according to the above-referenced embodiment, the method may further comprise an operation of activating a secondary light source to project a reference line onto the workpiece. The reference line may indicate a direction in which the at least a portion of the sewing material is configured to be sewn on the workpiece.
In another aspect according to the above-referenced embodiment, the method may further comprise an operation of rotating the workpiece to sew, onto the workpiece with the needle, the at least a portion of the sewing material in a direction aligned with the successive second or more of the one or more lines forming the geometric pattern.
In another aspect according to the above-referenced embodiment, the one or more lines forming the geometric pattern may be defined as two-dimensional vectors in an x-y coordinate space.
As an exemplary aspect according to the above-referenced embodiment, two-dimensional vectors in the x-y coordinate space may be correlated with a two-dimensional plane defined by a surface of the workpiece.
In another aspect according to the above-referenced embodiment, the operation of identifying the one or more lines may further include analyzing the stitch data to determine an angle of a connecting pair of the one or more lines forming the geometric pattern of the one of the one or more stitch objects. A direction of the guideline may be determined by the angle connecting the guideline with the at least a portion of the sewing material sewn on the workpiece in a direction defined by the one of the one or more lines forming the geometric pattern.
In another aspect according to the above-referenced embodiment, the operation of identifying the one or more lines may further include analyzing the stitch data to determine a length of each of the one or more lines forming the geometric pattern of the one of the one or more stitch objects. A direction of the guideline may be determined by the length of the at least portion of the sewing material sewn onto the workpiece in a direction defined by the one of the one or more lines forming the geometric pattern.
In yet another particular embodiment, a system for guiding a sewing operation a sewing machine is disclosed. The system includes a sewing head, a needle, a primary light source, a processor, and a memory. The sewing head is arranged above a workpiece, and the sewing head comprises the needle configured to periodically pass through a workpiece by reciprocal movement. The primary light source is configured to project one or more guidelines onto the workpiece. The processor is configured to execute instructions residing on a memory. The memory has stitch data stored thereon. The processor is configured to receive a selection of one of one or more stitch objects. Each of the one or more stitch objects is defined by a geometric pattern. The processor is further configured to analyze the stitch data of the one of the one or more stitch objects to identify one or more lines associated with the geometric pattern. The processor is yet further configured to direct the primary light source to project a guideline onto the workpiece. The guideline is generated relative to a direction defined by sewing material sewn onto the workpiece in accordance with one of the one or more lines associated with the geometric pattern. The guideline is aligned with the one of the one or more lines to provide a direction of a successive, connecting one of the one or more lines associated with the geometric pattern.
In one aspect according to the above-referenced embodiment, the system may further comprise a secondary light source configured to project a reference line onto the workpiece. The reference line indicates a direction in which the sewing material is configured to be sewn onto the workpiece.
In another aspect according to the above-referenced embodiment, the one or more lines associated with the geometric pattern may be defined as two-dimensional vectors in an x-y coordinate space.
In another aspect according to the above-referenced embodiment, the processor may further be configured to analyze the stitch data to identify an angle of a connecting pair of the one or more lines associated with the geometric pattern of the one of the one or more stitch objects.
In another aspect according to the above-referenced embodiment, the processor may further be configured to analyze the stitch data to determine a length of each of the one or more lines associated with the geometric pattern of the one of the one or more stitch objects.
Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. The present disclosure may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and it is therefore desired that the embodiments of the disclosure be considered in all aspects as illustrative and not restrictive. Any headings utilized in the description are for convenience only and no legal or limiting effect. Numerous objects, features, and advantages of the embodiments set forth herein will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading of the following disclosure when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Hereinafter, various exemplary embodiments of the disclosure are illustrated in more detail with reference to the drawings.
Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present disclosure, one or more drawings of which are set forth herein. Each drawing is provided by way of explanation of the present disclosure and is not a limitation. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the teachings of the present disclosure without departing from the scope of the disclosure. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used with another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment.
While the inventive subject matter is susceptible of various modifications and alternative embodiments, certain illustrated embodiments thereof are shown in the drawings and will be described below in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit the disclosure to any specific form disclosed, but on the contrary, the inventive subject matter is to cover all modifications, alternative embodiments, and equivalents falling within the scope of any appended claims. The specific embodiments discussed herein are merely illustrative of specific ways to make and use the invention and do not delimit the scope of the disclosure.
Thus, it is intended that the present disclosure covers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. Other objects, features, and aspects of the present disclosure are disclosed in, or are obvious from, the following detailed description. It is to be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the present discussion is a description of exemplary embodiments only and is not intended as limiting the broader aspects of the present disclosure. Referring generally to
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Extending downward from the sewing head 28 may also be a presser bar 36 having a presser foot 38 formed at a distal end thereof. The presser foot 38, by way of the presser bar 36, is arranged to press the workpiece 40 against the worktable 22, and, in optional embodiments of the sewing machine 10, against feed dogs 39 that move the workpiece 40 on the worktable 22 either from back to front or side to side. The feed dogs 39 may manipulate the workpiece 40 in coordination with the presser foot 38 at a speed of which may be fixed or variably controlled by a user of the sewing machine 10, as discussed further in connection with the system 100. In optional embodiments of the sewing machine 10, an accessory mount (not shown) may extend below the sewing head 28 for a holding a tool on or above the worktable 22.
In some embodiments of the sewing machine 10, including those embodiments of the sewing machine 10 that constitute an embroidery machine, a hoop (not shown), or a frame (not shown), may be attached to the worktable 22 and/or the base 20 by a holder (not shown), or a mount (not shown). The holder (not shown) may move the hoop (not shown) by actuation of the holder (not shown) from at least one actuator (not shown), the at least one actuator (not shown) configured to move the hoop (not shown) from left-to-right and back-to-front, thereby providing two-axis control of a position of the hoop (not shown).
The mechanical components of the sewing machine 10, such as the needle 32, the bobbin (not shown), spools (not shown), loopers (not shown), thread tensioning devices (not shown), and feed mechanisms (not shown), and the like (e.g., hooks) cooperate to form stitches in one or more pieces of the workpiece 40. By reciprocal (or cyclical) movement of each of the foregoing mechanical movements, one repetition of this movement may form one stitch, or a pattern of stitches, in the workpiece 40.
Referring
The computing device 110 may be a standalone device or may be used in combination with at least one external component, such as at least one server 140, either locally or remotely communicatively couplable with the computing device 110—for example via a network 102. The communication module 116 of the computing device 110 may be configured to permit communication, via the network 102, with a communication module 146 of the at least one server 140, which may be performed by wired interface, wireless interface (e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, near-field communication, radio-frequency identification (RFID), or the like), or a combination thereof. The at least one server 140 may constitute one or more devices configured to store data, such as stitch data 130, in a volatile and/or non-volatile storage medium 142, or the memory 142. A processor 144 may be configured to operate upon one or more sets of instructions residing in the memory 142, and to perform at least one action described herein, including to initiate transmission, via the communication module 146, of stitch data 130 to the computing device 110. A network interface can be used to form the network 102, as between the computing device 110 and the at least one server 140 to facilitate distributed and/or remote computing, such as cloud-based computing—commonly referred to as “cloud computing.”
It is understood that various operations, steps, or algorithms, including the method 300, as described in connection with the computing device 110 and the server 140, or alternative devices, can be embodied directly in hardware, in a computer program product such as a software module executed by the processor 114 or the processor 144, or in a combination of the foregoing. The computer program product can reside in a computer-readable medium, such as the memory 112 and/or the storage medium 142, comprising RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, or any other form of computer-readable medium known in the art.
The processor 114 or the processor 144 may be a generic hardware processor, a special-purpose hardware processor, or a combination thereof. In embodiments having a generic hardware processor (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU) available from manufacturers such as Intel and AMD), the generic hardware processor is configured to be converted to a special-purpose processor by means of being programmed to execute and/or by executing a particular algorithm in the manner discussed herein for providing a specific operation or result, such as the logic 120. It should be appreciated that the processor 114 or the processor 144 may be any type of hardware and/or software processor and is not strictly limited to a microprocessor or any operation(s) only capable of execution by a microprocessor, in whole or in part. Examples of other processors may include microcontrollers, graphics processing units (GPUs), floating point units (FPUs), reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc. One or more cores of a single microprocessor and/or multiple microprocessor each having one or more cores can be used to perform the operations described as being executed by a processor herein, including the method 300. The processor 114 and/or the processor 144 can also be a processor dedicated to the training of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, including AI systems practicing machine learning and deep learning.
The logic 120 may refer to the hardware, firmware, or software, and combination thereof, having instructions that are to be performed by the processor 114 or the processor 144. The instructions may be embodied in various forms such as routines, algorithms, modules, or programs including separate applications or code from dynamically linked libraries (DLLs). By way of example, the logic 120 may require a software-controlled embodiment of the processor 114 or the processor 144, such as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), programmed logic device, or other processor.
The user interface 118 may encompass a means of inputting information to be processed by the processor 114, and the user interface 118 may be associated with a display configured to graphically present, to a user of the sewing machine 10, conditions of a sewing operation for the sewing machine 10. In some embodiments, the means of inputting information may include a broad gamut of input devices, such as buttons, knobs, switches, keyboards, and the like. In embodiments where the user interface 118 features a touch-screen display, a user may interact with the touch-screen display through touch-sensitive overlay, which is configured to detect a location of a user's hand and/or fingers. In this embodiment, the user can interact with the user interface 118 by touching the screen in particular locations, and/or by performing various hand-or finger-based gestures against the touch-sensitive overlay, such as touch, touch and hold, pinch or spread, and touch and move (e.g., like a cursor).
The computing device 110 may be associated with other electro-mechanical components of the sewing machine 10. Such electro-mechanical components may include actuators (not shown) and motors (not shown), and other general mechanical components that may be controlled by the system 100, as to cause the movement of the various moving parts of the sewing machine, such as the needle 32, by way of the needle bar 30, the feed dogs 39, the bobbin (not shown), loopers (not shown), and the like. As an example, a speed of the actuators (not shown) and/or motors (not shown) can be controlled directly by input from a foot pedal (not shown) that is actuated by the user, or can otherwise be controlled via the computing device 110 that receives and interprets the foot pedal input before sending a signal to one or more controllers (not shown) that control the motors (no shown) of the sewing machine 10. Such actuators (not shown) and/or motors (not shown) may also be controlled through inputs made vis-à-vis the user interface 118.
As another example, the speed and frequency by which the needle bar 30 reciprocally moves up and down may be controlled by the user vis-à-vis the user interface 118. A type and pitch of a stitch can be selected by the user's input to the user interface 118, including conventional cyclical motion to form stitches longitudinally and side-to-side motion to form stitches in a zig-zag or tapered manner. As yet another example, the user interface 118 may provide a user with input control of a stitch rate—i.e., the period of time between successive, iterative stitches. The user may provide various inputs via-a-vis the user interface 118, such as increasing or decreasing the stitch rate, and/or entering a desired stitch rate. Input of these stitch rates may thereby automatically generate stitches based upon the period of time between the stitches—often referred to as “stitch time points.” Other inputs to the user interface 118 may include other controls, such as selection of a color of the thread 50, a size setting of the hoop (not shown) in case of an embroidery being sewn, selection of a type of stitch, and other stitching-editing functions.
Various sensors 150, or data-gathering devices 150, may be associated with the computing device 110 of the sewing machine 10. The computing device 119 may be operably connected to the one or more sensors 150, each of which may be configured to measure various aspects related to the sewing machine 10 and a sewing operation thereof, including digital sensors, analog sensors, passive sensors, or active sensors, and the like, and to generate sense-based feedback to the computing device 110. For example, a tension sensor (not shown) may be arranged to measure a tension of the thread 50, so as to determine if the thread 50 is too loose or too tight, or to otherwise generate feedback indicating that a tension of the thread 50 is outside of an acceptable threshold for a sewing operation. Other sensors may include (but are not limited) to optical sensors, such as a camera 160 (as discussed further below), sensors configured to measure vibrational perturbations of the sewing machine 10, color-space sensors configured to measure RGB, CMYK, or greyscale color of the thread 50 or the workpiece 40, and other sensors, such as acoustic sensors, chemical sensors, fatigue-detection sensors, tilt or motion sensors (e.g., inertial measurement units), and magnetic-field sensors, and others known to a person having ordinary skill in the art of the sewing machine 10 and/or control systems thereof.
Referring to
The computing device 100 may further be associated a primary light source 162 (or primary projector 162) and a secondary light source 164 (or secondary projector 164), each of which may be mounted within the arm 26 at, or proximate to, the sewing head 28 of the sewing machine 10. Each of the primary light source 162 and the secondary light source 164 may be housed within the same light-emitting system, as shown in
The stitch data 130 may be retrieved by an operation 304 of selecting one of one or more stitch objects 200, an exemplary embodiment of the one of the one or more stitch objects 200 depicted in
As in
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The method 300 may continue by an operation 312 of providing the workpiece 40 to the sewing machine 10, by placing the workpiece 40 atop the worktable 22, as shown in
Referring to
Upon sewing the sewing material 50 onto the workpiece 40, an operation 316 of activating the primary light source 162 may follow, where the primary light source 162 projects a guideline 70 onto the workpiece 40. The primary light source 162 may be directed to activate by the processor 114 of the sewing machine 10, such activation triggered by a user input into the user interface 118 or other means. As shown in
In embodiments of the method 300 where the stitch data 130 is analyzed to identify the angle 206 of a connecting pair of one or more lines 202, such as in the operation 308, the processor 114 of the sewing machine 10 may direct the primary light source 162 to project the first of the one or more guidelines 70a onto the workpiece 40. The first one of the one or more guidelines 70a may be projected onto the workpiece 40 in accordance with a direction defined by the first one of the one or more lines 202a forming the geometric pattern 204, such direction being determined by the angle 206 of the first of the one more lines 202a against the successive line (e.g., 202b) forming the geometric pattern 204. In embodiments of the method 300 where the stitch data 130 is analyzed to identify the length 208 of the one or more lines 202 forming the geometric pattern 204, such as in the operation 310, the processor 114 of the sewing machine 10 may direct the primary light source 162 to project the first one of the one or more guidelines 70a onto the workpiece 40. The first one of the one more guidelines 70a may be projected onto the workpiece 40, so as to provide a direction based on a relationship between a previous line, a first of the one or more lines 202a, and a successive line, a second of the one or more lines 202b. Such direction may be determined by the processor 114 reading, from the stitch data 130, a length 208 of the previous line, the first one or more lines 202a, as with respect to a length 208 of the successive line, the second of the one or more lines 202b.
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It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that many more modifications besides those already described are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. The inventive subject matter, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims. Moreover, in interpreting both the specification and the claims, all terms should be interpreted in the broadest possible manner consistent with the context. In particular, the terms “comprises” and “comprising” should be interpreted as referring to elements, components, or steps in a non-exclusive manner, indicating that the referenced elements, components, or steps may be present, or utilized, or combined with other elements, components, or steps that are not expressly referenced. Where the specification claims refers to at least one of something selected from the group consisting of A, B, C . . . and N, the text should be interpreted as requiring only one element from the group, not A plus N, or B plus N, etc.
To facilitate the understanding of the embodiments described herein, a number of terms have been defined above (and below). The terms defined herein have meanings as commonly understood by a person of ordinary skill in the areas relevant to the present disclosure. The terminology herein is used to describe specific embodiments of the disclosure, but their usage does not delimit the disclosure, except as set forth in the claims.
In the context of the mechanical components of the sewing machine 10, such as, e.g., the base 20, the sewing bed 22, the pillar 24, the arm 26, the sewing head 28, and various components associated with the needle 32 and needle plate 34, the terms “attached,” “mounted,” and “engaged,” and the like, or any variation thereof, should generally be interpreted to mean any manner of joining two objects including, but not limited to, the use of any fasteners such as screws, nuts and bolts, bolts, pin and clevis, and the like allowing for a stationary, translatable, or pivotable relationship; welding of any kind such as traditional MIG welding, TIG welding, friction welding, brazing, soldering, ultrasonic welding, torch welding, inductive welding, and the like; using any resin, glue, epoxy, and the like; being integrally formed as a single part together; any mechanical fit such as a friction fit, interference fit, slidable fit, rotatable fit, pivotable fit, and the like; any combination thereof; and the like.
The term “user” as used herein unless otherwise stated may refer to an operator, or any other person or entity as may be, e.g., associated with the sewing machine 10 and the computing device 110 therein, for providing features and steps as disclosed herein.
Throughout the specification and claims, the following terms take at least the meanings explicitly associated herein, unless the context dictates otherwise. The meanings identified below do not necessarily limit the terms, but merely provide illustrative examples for the terms. The meaning of “a,” “an,” and “the” may include plural references, and the meaning of “in” may include “in” and “on.” Further, ordinal indicators—such as “first,” “second,” “third,” etc.—for identified elements are used to distinguish between the elements, and do not indicate or imply a required or limited number of such elements, and do not indicate a particular position or order of such elements unless otherwise specifically stated.
As used herein, the phrases “one or more,” “at least one,” and “one or more of,” or variations thereof, when used with a list of items, means that different combinations of one or more of the items may be used and only one of each item in the list may be needed. For example, “one or more of”' item A, item B, and item C may include, for example, item A or item A and item B. This example also may include item A, item B, and item C, or item B and item C.
The phrase “in one embodiment,” “in optional embodiments,” or “in another embodiment,” and variations thereof, as used herein, do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, although it may.
Conditional language used herein, such as, among others, “can,” “might,” “may,” “e.g.,” and the like, unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements and/or states. The conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements, and/or states are in any way required for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without author input or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or states are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements, and/or states are in any way required for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without author input or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or states are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.
To the extent used herein, the term “about”, or the like, is used to mean approximately, roughly, around, or in the region of. When the term “about” is used in conjunction with a numerical range, it modifies that range by extending the boundaries above and below the numerical values set forth. In general, the term “about” is used herein to modify a numerical value above and below the stated value by a variance of twenty-five percent (25%) up or down (higher or lower), unless stated otherwise in the disclosure. Unless the context dictates the contrary, all ranges set forth herein should be interpreted as being inclusive of their endpoints and open-ended ranges should be interpreted to include only commercially practical values. The recitation of numerical ranges of values herein is merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range. Unless otherwise indicated herein, each individual value of a numerical range is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. Similarly, all lists of values should be considered as inclusive of intermediate values unless the context indicates the contrary.
The previous detailed description has been provided for the purposes of illustration and description. Thus, although there have been described particular embodiments of a new and useful SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND APPARATUSES FOR GUIDING A SEWING OPERATION OF A SEWING MACHINE, it is not intended that such references be construed as limitations upon the scope of this disclosure except as set forth in the following claims. Thus, it is seen that the apparatus, methods, and/or systems of the present disclosure readily achieve the ends and advantages mentioned as well as those inherent therein. While certain preferred embodiments of the disclosure have been illustrated and described for present purposes, numerous changes in the arrangement and construction of parts and steps may be made by those skilled in the art, which changes are encompassed within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims.