Patents by Inventor Satoru Makino

Satoru Makino has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8033232
    Abstract: An embroidery data processing apparatus which may be used to attach an IC tag to a work cloth without impairing a design of the work cloth. The embroidery data processing apparatus may determine an IC tag area based on a size and shape of the IC tag, and may determine whether the IC tag area can be included in an embroidery area that is determined on the basis of embroidery data. If the IC tag area can be included in the embroidery area, the positions of the embroidery area and the IC tag area may be set in an embroiderable area of a sewing machine in such a manner that the IC tag area is positioned in the embroidery area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2011
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Atsuya Hayakawa, Satoru Makino
  • Patent number: 7836838
    Abstract: A sewing machine includes a needle bar that is equipped with a sewing needle at a lower end of the needle bar, a presser bar that is equipped with a presser foot at a lower end of the presser bar, which holds down a work cloth, a sewing machine motor which is a driving source that drives the needle bar in an up and down direction, and a switching device that switches between a normal mode in which the needle bar is driven in the up and down direction to form stitches and a practice mode in which the sewing machine is operated in a condition where at least the needle bar is not driven.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2010
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Satoru Makino, Hirokazu Hirose, Yoshio Nishimura, Masaki Shimizu, Akie Ukai, Yoshinori Nakamura, Kazumi Sai
  • Publication number: 20100206204
    Abstract: An embroidery stitcher including an embroidery frame that holds a workpiece cloth and that is provided with a sewable area for sewing the held workpiece cloth; a transparent display device that has a display area that provides visibility behind thereof and that is capable of displaying embroidery pattern information of at least an embroidery pattern to be sewn; and an attachment mechanism that allows detachable attachment of the display device at a position that renders the display area and the sewable area to at least partially overlap.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2010
    Publication date: August 19, 2010
    Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Aki Shimizu, Atsuya Hayakawa, Masayuki Hori, Satoru Makino
  • Publication number: 20090205549
    Abstract: A sewing machine capable of sewing a manually moved workpiece cloth in free motion includes a carrier that carries the workpiece cloth and being manually moved to move the workpiece cloth; a support element that movably supports the carrier; a movement amount detector that detects an amount of carrier movement; a specifier that specifies a stitch pitch; a comparator that produces a comparison of the amount of carrier movement with the stitch pitch; a regulator provided at the support element and that regulates carrier movement; and a controller that controls the regulator such that the amount of carrier movement does not exceed the stitch pitch based on the comparison produced by the comparator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 12, 2009
    Publication date: August 20, 2009
    Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hirokazu Hirose, Akie Ukai, Yoshio Nishimura, Yoshinori Nakamura, Masaki Shimizu, Kazumi Sai, Satoru Makino
  • Publication number: 20090107374
    Abstract: A sewing machine capable of mode switching between a normal sewing mode and a free motion sewing mode including a feed dog switcher that switches a feed dog between an active state in which the feed dog is moved above and below a needle plate and an inactive state in which the feed dog is lowered below the needle plate, a first instruction issuer that instructs execution of fastening stitching at a beginning of pattern sewing sequence, a second instruction issuer that instructs execution of fastening stitching at an end of pattern sewing sequence, and a controller that, when in the free motion sewing mode, activates the feed dog by the feed dog switcher in response to an incoming instruction signal from the first or the second instruction issuer to execute fastening stitching through control of feed dog based on fastening stitching data to longitudinally feed a workpiece cloth.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 14, 2008
    Publication date: April 30, 2009
    Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Akie Ukai, Masaki Shimizu, Hirokazu Hirose, Yoshinori Nakamura, Yoshio Nishimura, Satoru Makino, Kazumi Sai
  • Publication number: 20090101053
    Abstract: A sewing machine including a main shaft; a motor driving the main shaft; a needle bar; a sewing needle attached to a lower end of the needle bar; a needle-bar drive mechanism driven by the main shaft and vertically moving the needle bar; a speed setter setting a rotational speed of the main shaft; a needle-position detector detecting a vertical position of the sewing needle or the needle bar; a main shaft speed detector; a motor controller; and a needle plate; wherein the motor controller executes at least either of a first control decelerating the main shaft below the set rotational speed when the lower end of the sewing needle is above the needle plate, or a second control accelerating the main shaft above the set speed when the lower end of the sewing needle is positioned below the needle plate based on detected results provided by the detectors.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 2, 2008
    Publication date: April 23, 2009
    Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yoshio Nishimura, Hirokazu Hirose, Akie Ukai, Yoshinori Nakamura, Masaki Shimizu, Satoru Makino, Kazumi Sai
  • Publication number: 20080229991
    Abstract: A sewing machine for a user to perform sewing while moving a work cloth includes: a detecting device that detects the work cloth; a movement calculating device that calculates, by two-dimensional coordinate data, a movement direction and a movement quantity of the work cloth between previous detection and current detection of the work cloth when the work cloth is detected; a movement data storage device that stores movement data serving as two-dimensional coordinate data indicative of the movement direction and the movement quantity; a movement data creating device that detects the work cloth on a one by one needle basis of sewing, calculates the movement data, and stores the calculated data in the movement data storage device; a cloth feed mechanism that moves the work cloth; and a reproduction sewing control device that performs sewing while moving the work cloth based on the movement data stored in the movement data storage device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 18, 2008
    Publication date: September 25, 2008
    Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Satoru Makino, Hirokazu Hirose, Yoshio Nishimura, Masaki Shimizu, Akie Ukai, Yoshinori Nakamura, Kazumi Sai
  • Publication number: 20080229992
    Abstract: A sewing machine that enables a user to perform sewing while moving a piece of work cloth, the sewing machine including: a main shaft that drives a needle bar equipped with a sewing needle, a sewing machine motor that rotary-drives the main shaft, a detection device that detects an actual movement distance of the piece of work cloth, a target pitch storage device that stores a predetermined length as a target pitch, which is a target value of stitch pitches of the piece of work cloth, an agreement degree calculation device that calculates an agreement degree between the target pitch and a stitch pitch in actual sewing that is to be determined based on the actual movement distance of the piece of work cloth which is detected by the detection device; and a notification device that notifies of the agreement degree calculated by the agreement degree calculation device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 20, 2008
    Publication date: September 25, 2008
    Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yoshinori Nakamura, Hirokazu Hirose, Yoshio Nishimura, Akie Ukai, Satoru Makino, Masaki Shimizu, Kazumi Sai
  • Publication number: 20080210147
    Abstract: A sewing machine that sews a work cloth being moved by a user includes a detection device that detects the work cloth, a movement calculation device that calculates movement data of the work cloth, a movement data storage device that stores the movement data, a movement data creation device that causes the detection device and the movement calculation device to respectively detect the work cloth and calculate the movement data for each stitch, and that stores the movement data into the movement data storage device, a line segment specification device that specifies a line segment based on the movement data, a determination device that determines whether a stitch to be formed next will overlap with an already formed stitch corresponding to the specified line segment, and an error control device that performs an error correction operation based on a determination result.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 20, 2008
    Publication date: September 4, 2008
    Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hirokazu Hirose, Yoshinori Nakamura, Akie Ukai, Masaki Shimizu, Yoshio Nishimura, Kazumi Sai, Satoru Makino
  • Publication number: 20080196646
    Abstract: A sewing machine includes a needle bar that is equipped with a sewing needle at a lower end of the needle bar, a presser bar that is equipped with a presser foot at a lower end of the presser bar, which holds down a work cloth, a sewing machine motor which is a driving source that drives the needle bar in an up and down direction, and a switching device that switches between a normal mode in which the needle bar is driven in the up and down direction to form stitches and a practice mode in which the sewing machine is operated in a condition where at least the needle bar is not driven.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 20, 2008
    Publication date: August 21, 2008
    Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Satoru Makino, Hirokazu Hirose, Yoshio Nishimura, Masaki Shimizu, Akie Ukai, Yoshinori Nakamura, Kazumi Sai
  • Publication number: 20080190339
    Abstract: A sewing data processing apparatus which may be used to attach an IC tag to a work cloth without impairing a design of the work cloth. The processing apparatus may acquire an IC tag area on the basis of a size and shape of the IC tag and subsequently may determine whether the IC tag area can be included in an applique pattern area which is determined on the basis of applique pattern data. If the IC tag area can be included in the applique pattern area, positions of the applique pattern area and the IC tag area may be set in such a manner that the IC tag area is positioned in the applique pattern area.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 26, 2007
    Publication date: August 14, 2008
    Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsuya Hayakawa, Satoru Makino
  • Publication number: 20080078312
    Abstract: An embroidery data processing apparatus which may be used to attach an IC tag to a work cloth without impairing a design of the work cloth. The embroidery data processing apparatus may determine an IC tag area based on a size and shape of the IC tag, and may determine whether the IC tag area can be included in an embroidery area that is determined on the basis of embroidery data. If the IC tag area can be included in the embroidery area, the positions of the embroidery area and the IC tag area may be set in an embroiderable area of a sewing machine in such a manner that the IC tag area is positioned in the embroidery area.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 26, 2007
    Publication date: April 3, 2008
    Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Atsuya Hayakawa, Satoru Makino
  • Publication number: 20070022074
    Abstract: An inference information creating device includes a measured value acquiring unit, a measured value acquiring unit, an inputting unit, a user input data acquiring unit, and an inferring unit. The measured value acquiring unit acquires a measured value from at least one sensor. A user inputs data on an inference target with the inputting unit. The user input data acquiring unit acquires user input data that the user inputs via the inputting unit. The inferring unit infers the degree of the inference target. The inferring unit includes an inference data creating unit and an inference information outputting unit. The inference data creating unit creates inference data, based on the measured value acquired by the measured value acquiring unit and the user input data acquired by the user input data acquiring unit. The inference data includes an index value different from the measured value that indicates a degree of the inference target.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 24, 2006
    Publication date: January 25, 2007
    Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kiyoji Muramatsu, Hiroaki Suzuki, Satoru Makino
  • Patent number: 6295480
    Abstract: A CPU selects a line segment, whose both endpoints constructing a part of a quilt design are on a periphery, and then selects a line segment, which separates a piece from the quilt design on a piece-by-piece basis so that the separated piece will not have a line segment to become a separation line, from the selected line segments, after separation. When the line segment can be selected, a piece is separated from the quilt design at the selected line segment on a piece-by-piece basis. Then, the CPU determines that the quilt design, whose one piece has been separated, is the object to be determined, and separates pieces from the quilt design on a piece-by-piece basis. When all line segments are used for the separation, an applicability determination flag is set, because all pieces in the quilt design are separated into pieces on the piece-by-piece basis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2001
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yoshihisa Kayanaka, Ryohei Komiya, Takeshi Kawaguchi, Toshihiko Ikeda, Michiyo Amano, Yumiko Takeda, Satoru Makino
  • Patent number: 6215506
    Abstract: A portrait drawing apparatus for storing for each facial part a plurality of attributes thereof (race, sex, age-group, specific shape such as snub or aquiline for nose, etc.) and for allowing the facial part candidates selected as per the designated attributes to be displayed preferentially over the candidates having other attributes so that the operator will determine the appropriate facial parts with ease and combine them into a portrait in the shortest possible time. The apparatus comprises an image display unit, an input unit and a memory unit that stores programs and data, i.e., a facial part attribute table, facial part pattern data and facial part candidate tables. The facial part attribute table includes pattern numbers, facial part patterns, attributes, and address pointers pointing to the facial part pattern data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 1993
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2001
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Satoru Makino, Yumiko Takeda, Mina Kawai
  • Patent number: 5517610
    Abstract: A portrait drawing apparatus having a facial part data table comprising data about the correspondence of component facial parts of portraits to different facial expressions. When it is desired to modify the previously drawn portrait of the same person with a different facial expression, the facial parts corresponding to the desired facial expression are determined to replace the applicable old facial parts. Substituting the newly selected facial parts for the old allows the portrait with the designated facial expression to be drawn with ease.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 1995
    Date of Patent: May 14, 1996
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yumiko Takeda, Satoru Makino, Mina Kawai