The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 15, 2011
Filed:
Mar. 22, 2007
Chikahisa Noguchi, Nagoya, JP;
Toshihiro Hanai, Nagoya, JP;
Eiichi Hamajima, Kasugai, JP;
Yoshio Nishimura, Nagoya, JP;
Eiichi Ito, Kasugai, JP;
Chikahisa Noguchi, Nagoya, JP;
Toshihiro Hanai, Nagoya, JP;
Eiichi Hamajima, Kasugai, JP;
Yoshio Nishimura, Nagoya, JP;
Eiichi Ito, Kasugai, JP;
Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Nagoya, JP;
Abstract
A sewing machine including a needle bar that has a sewing needle attached in a lower end thereof; a needle-bar vertical drive mechanism that vertically moves the needle bar by a sewing machine motor via a sewing machine motor main shaft; an imaging unit that captures image of at least the sewing needle and a moving object that is in close proximity of the sewing needle; a distance calculating portion that calculates a distance between the sewing needle and the moving object based on image data captured by the imaging unit; a judging portion that makes a judgment that the distance calculated by the distance calculating portion is equal to or less than a predetermined distance; and a control portion that controls execution of a predetermined safety operation based on a judgment result of the judging portion.