CN101308403A - input device - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses an input device, comprising a main input device and a secondary input device, wherein the main input device is provided with a plurality of main keys, one of the main keys generates a menu corresponding to the main key when being pressed, the menu comprises a plurality of options, the secondary input device can communicate with the main input device to receive the menu, the secondary input device is provided with a plurality of secondary keys corresponding to the options of the menu, when one of the secondary keys is pressed, the secondary input device outputs the option corresponding to the pressed secondary key, thereby, the input action of the traditional keyboard with complicated keys can be replaced by a few keys, and when a command or a character is input through the mutual matching operation of the main input device and the secondary input device, the user can input the command or the character by only pressing one key respectively with two hands, therefore, the efficiency of data input can be improved.

Description

input device

technical field

The present invention relates to an input device, in particular to an input device corresponding to the position where the user's finger is placed to facilitate the user's operation.

Background technique

Traditional keyboards have up to hundreds of keys. Therefore, when users operate the keyboard, their fingers often need to move in a large range, which easily affects the efficiency of input. Moreover, since the keyboard has a large number of keys, it is not easy to be miniaturized, so it is inconvenient to carry.

And in order to set the keyboard on portable electronic devices such as mobile phones and PDAs for users to operate, the keys of the keyboard must be simplified and reduced, and the same key can be pressed repeatedly to select different symbols or characters for input. . Therefore, when operating the keyboard of the portable electronic device to input data, it is necessary to repeatedly press and select the same button, which makes the keyboard input efficiency of the portable electronic device not good.

In addition, as shown in Figure 1, it is a hand-held computer signal input device 1 in the past, which has a body 10, and a plurality of buttons 11 are arranged on the body 10, and each button 11 can be set by the user. set to correspond to the key functions of traditional computer keyboards. Although the number of keys of this hand-held input device 1 is very simplified, it also limits the keys 11 to only perform functions customized by the user for some specific keys of the keyboard, such as the Tab key shown in Figure 1, Functions such as space bar, Ctrl+F4, F1 and Ctrl+Q, that is, the hand-held computer signal input device 1 is only the derivative of the traditional keyboard for the convenience of some function operations. keyboard, but cannot completely replace the input function of the traditional keyboard.

Therefore, in order to solve the above problems, it is possible to provide a user with a convenient and fast input mechanism while effectively reducing the number of keys of the input device, which is the focus of the present invention.

Contents of the invention

The purpose of the present invention is to provide an input device which can be operated conveniently by a user and can improve input efficiency by only using a few keys.

Therefore, in order to achieve the above object, the input device of the present invention includes a main input device and a secondary input device. A plurality of main buttons are arranged on the surface of the main input device. When one of the main buttons is pressed, a menu corresponding to the main button will be generated, and the menu includes a plurality of options. The auxiliary input device can communicate with the main input device to receive the menu, and the surface of the auxiliary input device is provided with a plurality of auxiliary buttons corresponding to the options of the menu, when one of the auxiliary buttons is pressed, Then the option corresponding to the pressed secondary key is output.

Preferably, the main input device includes a memory and a processing unit, the memory stores a plurality of main menus corresponding to different main buttons, the processing unit is electrically connected with the memory and the main buttons, so that when the main buttons are activated When pressed, the main menu corresponding to the pressed main key is taken out from the memory.

Preferably, the auxiliary input device includes a memory and a processing unit, the memory temporarily stores the main menu transmitted from the main input device, and the processing unit sets the auxiliary buttons to correspond to the options in the main menu, so as to When one of the secondary keys is pressed, the option corresponding to the pressed secondary key is taken out from the memory and output.

Preferably, the input device further includes an independent display capable of communicating with the main input device to receive the main menu output by the main input device and display options in the main menu.

Preferably, the main input device and the auxiliary input device are separated from each other, the main input device has a body for the user to hold with one hand, and the main buttons are arranged on the surface of the body and held by the user Corresponding to the position of the fingers of the hand of the user, the secondary input device has a body held by the other hand of the user, and the secondary keys are arranged on the surface of the body and correspond to the positions of the fingers of the user's other hand holding the body.

Preferably, the bodies of the main input device and the auxiliary input device are generally cylindrical, and the surrounding walls of each body are respectively provided with 5 buttons corresponding to the placement positions of the five fingers of the user, and the top of each body is There are 5 buttons operated by the user's thumb respectively on the surface.

Preferably, the input device is set on a portable electronic device, and the main buttons of the main input device are set on one of the left and right sides of the portable electronic device to correspond to Where the fingers of the user's hand holding the portable electronic device are placed, the secondary buttons of the secondary input device are arranged on the other side surface of the left and right sides of the portable electronic device to correspond to the The finger placement position of the other hand of the user holding the portable electronic device.

Preferably, the input device is set on a portable electronic device, and the main buttons of the main input device are set on one of the left and right sides of the portable electronic device, and correspond to The position where the thumb is placed when the user holds the portable electronic device with one hand, the secondary buttons of the secondary input device are arranged on the other side surface of the left and right sides of the portable electronic device, And it corresponds to the positions where the other four fingers are placed when the user holds the portable electronic device with one hand.

Preferably, the input device is set on a keyboard, and the main keys of the main input device are set on the left area of the keyboard, and the secondary keys of the secondary input device are set on the right area of the keyboard , to correspond to the finger placement positions of the user's left and right hands respectively.

The input device of the present invention outputs an input menu corresponding to the pressed key to the auxiliary input device by setting a plurality of keys on the main input device for corresponding fingers to press, and makes the plurality of auxiliary keys set on the auxiliary input device Corresponding to multiple options in the input menu, so that when the sub-key is pressed, the option corresponding to the pressed sub-key can be selected to output, and the input action is completed, which effectively reduces the number of keys on the input device and is convenient for the user. input to improve input efficiency.

Description of drawings

Three preferred embodiments of the input device of the present invention will be described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional hand-held computer input device.

FIG. 2 is a main circuit block diagram of the first preferred embodiment of the input device of the present invention.

3 is a schematic perspective view of the appearance of the main input device and the auxiliary input device of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the operation of the main input device and the auxiliary input device of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic top perspective view of a second preferred embodiment of the input device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is another perspective view of the top surface of the second preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a schematic bottom perspective view of the second preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 8 is a schematic top plan view of a variant embodiment of the second preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic top plan view of a third preferred embodiment of the input device of the present invention.

Detailed ways

The aforementioned and other technical contents, features and effects of the present invention will be clearly presented in the following detailed description of three preferred embodiments with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIGS. 2 to 4 , they are the first preferred embodiment of the input device of the present invention. The input device 2 of this embodiment includes a main input device 3 and a secondary input device 4 that are separated from each other.

As shown in FIG. 3 , the main input device 3 includes a main body 31 that is generally cylindrical in shape to facilitate the user's hand holding, a plurality of main buttons 32 located on the outer surface of the main body 31, and a main button 32 located inside the main body 31. memory 33 and a processing unit 34 .

The main buttons 32 are properly distributed on the outer surface of the main body 31, so that when the user's hand (such as the left hand) holds the main body 31, the main buttons 32 are just corresponding to the positions where the fingers are placed, for example The surrounding wall of the main body 31 is respectively provided with the first to fifth keys corresponding to the five fingers (represented by English letters (A, F), (G, B), C, D, E respectively), and the top surface of the main body is provided with There are five buttons (represented by English letters H, I, J, K, L) for the thumb to operate, so when the user holds the main body 31 with the palm, the thumb can press the first button (E) and For the five buttons (H, I, J, K, L) on the top surface, the index finger can press the second button with two button areas (A and F), and the middle finger can press the second button with two button areas (G and the third button of B), the ring finger can press the fourth button (C) correspondingly, and the little finger can correspondingly press the fifth button (D).

There are multiple menus (not shown) corresponding to the main buttons 32 recorded in the memory 33, each menu contains multiple options, and for the convenience of users to intuitively select the options in the menu, each input menu preferably includes Five (or less than five) options correspond to five fingers.

The processing unit 34 is electrically connected to the main buttons 32 and the memory 33. When one of the main buttons 32 is pressed, the processing unit 34 takes out the corresponding main button from the memory 33 according to the pressed main button. The menu of the buttons is output to the auxiliary input device 4 .

The secondary input device 4 includes a main body 41 that is generally elongated cylindrical to be held by the palm of the user's hand, a plurality of secondary buttons 42 located on the outer surface of the main body 41, a memory 43 and a memory 43 located inside the main body 41. The processing unit 44, and the processing unit 44 is electrically connected to a host computer 5 through a connection interface (which can be connected in a wired (such as USB interface) or wireless (such as Bluetooth) manner, and FIG. 2 and FIG. 4 are wired connections as examples).

As shown in FIG. 3, the auxiliary buttons 42 are properly distributed on the outer surface of the main body 41, so that when the user's hand (such as the right hand) holds the main body 41, the auxiliary buttons 42 can be respectively located on the fingers of the right hand. For the placement position of the head, for example, the first key to the fifth key corresponding to five fingers (indicated by Arabic numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) are respectively provided on the peripheral wall of the main body 41, and the top surface of the main body 41 is provided with 5 buttons (represented by Arabic numerals 6, 7, 8, 9, 10), when the user holds the body 41 with his right hand, the thumb can press the first button (1) and the 5 buttons (6) on the top surface correspondingly. , 7, 8, 9, 10), the index finger can correspond to press the second button (2), the middle finger can correspond to press the third button (3), the ring finger can correspond to press the fourth button (4), and the little finger can correspond to press the fifth button (5).

In addition, the processing unit 44 of the auxiliary input device 4 can communicate with the processing unit 33 of the main input device 3 through wired (such as USB interface) or wireless (such as Bluetooth) (FIG. 2 and FIG. 4 are wired connections as examples). , to receive the menu output by the main input device 3, and temporarily store the menu in the memory 43, and at the same time, the processing unit 44 sets the sub-keys 42 according to the menu so as to correspond to the options in the menu.

Therefore, when one of the auxiliary buttons 42 corresponding to the options is pressed, the processing unit 43 takes out the option corresponding to the pressed auxiliary button from the memory 43 and outputs it to the computer host 5 according to the pressed auxiliary button. Make timely output options displayed on a display screen 50 to complete the input of instructions or data.

Moreover, in order to assist the user to use the input device 2, as shown in FIGS. (Fig. 2 and Fig. 4 are wired connection as an example) communicate with the processing unit 34 of the main input device 3, when the processing unit 34 of the main input device 3 sends the menu to the sub-input device 4, it will simultaneously send the menu to the independent display 20 , so that the options of the menu are displayed, so that the user can select the corresponding button conveniently.

Of course, in this embodiment, the independent display 20 can also be omitted, and the menu sent by the main input device 3 is directly displayed on the display screen 50 through the computer host 5 through the processing unit 34 of the auxiliary input device 4 .

The different operation modes of this embodiment will be described in detail below with examples.

First of all, in order to allow the input device 2 to have more input functions, the input device 2 is designed to have an input mode switching function in this embodiment, so as to meet the requirements of alphanumeric input, Chinese input, function key (F1-F12) input, and uppercase and lowercase input. Switching between ... and other modes increases the user's convenience.

And in order to realize the above functions, an input mode switching menu as shown in Table 1 is preset in the memory 33 of the main input device 3 .

Table 1

Therefore, when the input device 2 is in the input mode switching state and the main button of the main input device 3 is pressed, such as the main button (E), the processing unit 34 will take out a menu corresponding to the main button (E) from the memory 33. The menu includes four options from input mode 1 to input mode 4, which are sent to the processing unit 44 of the secondary input device 4 .

The processing unit 44 of the auxiliary input device 4 temporarily stores the received menu in the memory 43, and sets its auxiliary buttons (6, 7, 8, 9) to correspond to the four options in the menu (i.e. input mode 1 to input mode Four). Therefore, when one of the sub-keys (6, 7, 8, 9), such as the sub-key (6), is pressed, the processing unit 44 takes out the corresponding key from the memory 43 according to the pressed sub-key (6). The option (i.e. input mode one: function key input mode) is sent to the computer host 5, and the computer host 5 switches the input mode according to the control instruction (i.e. input mode) from the auxiliary input device to be the function key input. In this way, the input device 2 can perform function key input in the function key input mode. It can be seen that, by means of the above-mentioned operation method, the input device can switch modes among various modes such as alphanumeric input, Chinese input, function key (F1-F12) input, and case switching.

Therefore, when the input device 2 is to execute the function key input mode, the memory 33 of the main input device 3 will pre-store a function key menu corresponding to each main key as shown in Table 2. Therefore, when a main key of the main input device 3 For example, when the main key (F) is pressed, the processing unit 34 takes out the function key menu corresponding to the main key (F) from the memory 33 (including five function key options of F6-F10) and transmits it to the auxiliary input device 4 And sent to the independent display 20 display (as shown in Figure 4), meanwhile, the processing unit 44 of the auxiliary input device 4 temporarily stores the function key menu in the memory 43, and sets the auxiliary button (1) ~ auxiliary button (5) respectively Corresponding to the F6~F10 function key options in the function key menu.

Table 2

Therefore, when one of the sub-keys (1) to (5), such as the sub-key (2), is pressed, the processing unit 44 takes out the function key option F7 corresponding to the sub-key (2) from the memory 43 and outputs Give the host computer 5 to make the host computer 5 execute the function corresponding to the function key F7. Therefore, the user can output the desired function key signal to the computer host 5 only by cooperating with the main key and the auxiliary key as shown in Table 2.

Similarly, according to the above operation method, when the input device 2 is operating in the alphanumeric input mode, the memory 33 of the main input device 2 needs to pre-store an alphabetic character menu as shown in Table 3. In this way, as long as the main input is pressed first The main button 32 of the device 3 selects the desired alphanumeric character menu, and then presses the auxiliary button 42 of the auxiliary input device 4 to select the alphanumeric character in the menu, and then the alphanumeric character can be input into the computer host 5 and displayed on the display screen 50 superior.

table 3

Similarly, when the main input device 2's internal memory 33 pre-stores the phonetic symbol menu as shown in Table 4, the user can input the phonetic symbols through the input device 2, that is, first press the main button 32 of the main input device 3 to select the There is a menu of desired phonetic symbols, and then press the auxiliary button 43 of the auxiliary input device 4 to select the desired phonetic symbols in the phonetic symbol menu, and the input action of the phonetic symbols can be completed.

Table 4

As can be seen from the above description, by using the input operation method of the main input device 3 and the auxiliary input device 4, the user only needs to intuitively operate the main button 32 of the main input device 3 to send the menu to the auxiliary input device 4, and then operate the auxiliary input device The auxiliary button 42 of 4 directly selects the option in the menu, that is, the action of completing the input, and in the input process, the main and auxiliary buttons 32, 42 of the main and auxiliary input devices 3, 4 themselves only correspond to one option, so they do not need to be repeated Press to select or switch actions, so the efficiency of data input can be improved.

Referring again to Figures 5 to 7, it is the second preferred embodiment of the input device of the present invention, and its main difference from the first embodiment is that the input device 6 of this embodiment is located in a portable electronic device 100, such as on a mobile phone or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), wherein the main buttons 610 of the main input device 61 are arranged on one of the left and right sides of the portable electronic device 100 (for example, the left side surface) , to correspond to the finger placement position of the user's hand (left hand) holding the portable electronic device 100, and the secondary buttons 620 of the secondary input device 62 are arranged on the left and right sides of the portable electronic device 100. The other side surface (for example, the right side surface) corresponds to the finger placement position of the user's other hand (right hand) holding the portable electronic device 100 . In this way, the input device 6 can replace the keyboard on the conventional portable electronic device 100 , so that the portable electronic device 100 has more space to accommodate a larger display screen. In addition, in order to facilitate user input, the menu sent by the main input device 3 can be directly sent to the host of the portable electronic device 100 through the processing unit 34 of the auxiliary input device 4, and displayed on the bottom of the display screen 101 shown in FIG. 5 Area 102. The operation methods of the main input device 61 and the auxiliary input device 62 are the same as those of the first embodiment, and will not be repeated here.

In addition, the input device of the second embodiment can also be designed to be operated with one hand as shown in FIG. The main input device 71 of the device 7 is arranged on the left side surface of the portable electronic device 100' and is reduced to only four main keys (shown as A, B, C, D) for the thumb of the user's left hand. operation, and the auxiliary input device 72 is arranged on the right side surface of the portable electronic device 100' and is reduced to only four auxiliary keys (shown as 1, 2, 3, 4) to correspond to the other four fingers of the user's left hand head.

The input method is as shown in Table 5 below. The user first clicks one of the main buttons (A, B, C, or D) of the main input device with the left thumb. At this time, the menu corresponding to the pressed button will be displayed on the available The lower area 102' of the display screen 101' of the portable electronic device 100', and then the user selects the corresponding button (1, 2, 3, 4) with the index finger, middle finger, ring finger or little finger of the left hand to select the desired button in the menu. Want numbers.

table 5

Referring again to Fig. 9, it is the third preferred embodiment of the input device of the present invention, different from the second embodiment, the input device 8 of the present embodiment is located on a keyboard 200, and the keyboard 200 center has a The display 201, and the independent display 83 of the input device 8 is arranged below the display 201, and the main buttons 811 of the main input device 81 are arranged on the left side area of the keyboard 200 to correspond to the placement position of the user's left hand fingers, such as the main The keys (A, B, C, D) correspond to the index finger, middle finger, ring finger and little finger of the left hand respectively, and the main keys (E, F, G) correspond to the thumb of the left hand. On the right side of the keyboard, place the fingers of the user's right hand. For example, the sub-keys (1, 6, 7, 8) correspond to the index finger of the right hand, and the sub-keys (2, 3, 4) correspond to the middle finger and ring finger of the right hand respectively. And the little finger, the auxiliary button (5) corresponds to the thumb of the right hand, and the operation mode of the main input device 81 and the auxiliary input device 82 is the same as that of the foregoing embodiment, and will not be repeated here.

Of course, in this embodiment, the independent display 83 can also be omitted, and the menu sent by the main input device 3 is directly displayed on the display 201 of the keyboard 200 through the internal circuit of the keyboard 200 .

To sum up, the input device of the present invention outputs an input menu corresponding to the pressed key to the secondary input device by setting a plurality of keys on the main input device for the corresponding fingers to press, and makes the secondary input device set The multiple sub-buttons correspond to multiple options in the input menu, so that when the sub-key is pressed, the option corresponding to the pressed sub-key can be selected for output, so through the mutual cooperation between the main input device and the sub-input device When inputting an instruction or character, the user only needs to press a button with both hands to complete the input action. Therefore, while effectively reducing the number of keys on the input device, it is convenient for the user to quickly input and improve the input efficiency.

Claims (9)

1, a kind of input media is characterized in that:

This input media comprises:

One primary input device, its surface are provided with most main buttons, and these main buttons are when wherein a main button is pressed, and can produce a pair of menu that should main button, and this menu comprises most options;

One secondary input media, its can with this primary input device communication to receive this menu, and surface that should the pair input media is provided with most corresponding with the option of this menu respectively secondary buttons, and these secondary buttons are then exported and the corresponding option of this pair button that is pressed when wherein a secondary button is pressed.

2, input media as claimed in claim 1, it is characterized in that: this primary input device comprises an internal memory and a processing unit, the menu of most corresponding different main buttons of this memory storage, this processing unit is electrically connected with this internal memory and these main buttons, so that wherein a main button is pressed in these main buttons, by taking out and the corresponding menu of this main button that is pressed in this internal memory.

3, input media as claimed in claim 1, it is characterized in that: this pair input media comprises an internal memory and a processing unit, the temporary menu that transmits by this primary input device of this internal memory, this processing unit is set these secondary buttons to the option in should menu, so that wherein a secondary button is pressed in these secondary buttons, by taking out the option corresponding in this internal memory and exporting with this pair button that is pressed.

4, input media as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that: this input media more comprises a stand alone display, and it can carry out communication with this primary input device, with the primary option menu that receives the output of this primary input device and show option in this primary option menu.

5, input media as claimed in claim 1, it is characterized in that: this primary input device and this pair input media are separated from each other, this primary input device has one and supplies the body of user's proficiency gripping, and these main buttons are located at this body surface and to grip the finger position of hand of this body corresponding with the user, this pair input media has a body that grips for another hand of user, and these secondary buttons are located at this body surface and to grip the finger position of another hand of this body corresponding with the user.

6, input media as claimed in claim 5, it is characterized in that: the body of this primary input device and secondary input media generally is one cylindrical, and respectively the perisporium of this body is respectively equipped with 55 finger placement location corresponding key with the user, and respectively the end face of this body is respectively equipped with 5 buttons for users' thumb operation.

7, input media as claimed in claim 1, it is characterized in that: this input media is provided in a side of on the portable electronic devices, and the main button of these of this primary input device is provided in a side of a wherein side surface on the surface, the left and right sides of this portable electronic devices, hold the finger placement location of the proficiency of this portable electronic devices with corresponding user, the secondary button of these of this pair input media is provided in a side of the wherein opposite side surface on the surface, the left and right sides of this portable electronic devices, holds the finger placement location of another hand of this portable electronic devices with corresponding user.

8, input media as claimed in claim 1, it is characterized in that: this input media is provided in a side of on the portable electronic devices, and the main button of these of this primary input device is provided in a side of a wherein side surface on the surface, the left and right sides of this portable electronic devices, and corresponding user's one hand position that thumb is placed when holding this portable electronic devices, the secondary button of these of this pair input media is provided in a side of the wherein opposite side surface on the surface, the left and right sides of this portable electronic devices, and corresponding user's one hand position that all the other four fingers are placed when holding this portable electronic devices.

9, input media as claimed in claim 1, it is characterized in that: this input media is provided in a side of on the keyboard, and the main button of these of this primary input device is provided in a side of the left area of this keyboard, the secondary button of these of this pair input media is provided in a side of the zone, the right of this keyboard, with the corresponding user right-hand man's of difference finger placement location.

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