JPH086692A - Keyboard and data processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] An object of the present invention is to provide a technique for enabling function selection of a key to which a plurality of functions are assigned, by a single operation of the key. [Structure] Counter 1 for the time when key 10 is pressed
2 and count the D / A conversion output voltage Vke of the counting result.
By comparing y with the reference voltage Vref by the comparison circuit 14, a plurality of functions assigned to the key 10 can be discriminated, and a shift key or the like can be eliminated to improve the operability of the key and the keyboard. Aim for miniaturization.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plurality of key switch (abbreviated as "key") keyboards and a data processing apparatus including the same, and to a technique effective when applied to, for example, a personal computer system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a personal computer system, a keyboard as an input means for giving various kinds of information to a computer body is a combination of a first key group for directly giving instructions to the computer body and the first key group. Is arranged with a second key group for inputting characters such as English characters, katakana, and symbols. The first key group includes a function key, a delete key, a backspace key, a return key, a cursor movement key, a shift key, a space bar, a control key, an escape key and the like. Also, for the keys belonging to the second key group, do not make it difficult to use because there are too many keys.
Several kinds of characters and symbols are assigned to one key, and by combining with a shift key, for example, different characters and symbols can be input. For example, for a key that can independently input the number "4", "$" can be input while the shift key is pressed.

Incidentally, as an example of a document describing a personal computer, on December 25, 1985,
There is a "Microcomputer Handbook (Page 376-)" issued by Ohm Co., Ltd.

[0004]

However, as described above, several kinds of characters and symbols are assigned to one key, and different characters and symbols are input by combining with a shift key, for example. When the inventor of the present application examined the function, it was found that the operation of pressing the shift key was added, resulting in two operations, which made the operation troublesome. In particular, in consideration of the key operation by the handicapped person, there is a possibility that the two operations in combination with the shift key or the like may make the key operation unreasonable. If one character is assigned to one key, the operation of the shift key or the like can be eliminated, but this will increase the number of keys on the keyboard and hinder the downsizing of the keyboard.

An object of the present invention is to provide a technique for enabling the function selection of a key to which a plurality of functions are assigned by a single operation of the key.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

[0007]

The outline of the representative one of the inventions disclosed in the present application will be briefly described as follows.

That is, based on the detection means for detecting the touch time of the key and the detection result of this detection means,
A discriminating means for discriminating a plurality of functions assigned to the keys is provided. At this time, display control means for visualizing the discrimination result of the discrimination means and beep sound generating means for generating a beep sound based on the discrimination result of the discrimination means can be provided.

[0009]

According to the above-mentioned means, the discriminating means discriminates a plurality of functions assigned to the keys based on the detection result of the detecting means. This makes it possible to select the function of a key to which a plurality of functions are assigned, by operating the key alone.

[0010]

FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of a personal computer system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the personal computer system
An arithmetic processing unit 22 for performing arithmetic processing according to a predetermined program, an input means 21 for giving various instructions to the arithmetic control unit 22, a program executed in the arithmetic processing unit 22, and a processing target. Storage unit 23 used as a temporary storage unit for data to be stored, a display unit 25 for displaying the calculation processing result, and the like, and a display control unit 24 for controlling information display on the display unit 25. Including and A keyboard formed by arranging a plurality of keys is applied to the input unit 21. Further, a beep sound generator 2 for generating a beep sound at the time of an error or the like.
6 is provided.

Usually, the keyboard is provided with a first key group for directly giving instructions to the arithmetic processing section 22 and a second key group for inputting characters such as English characters, katakana, and symbols by a combination of the first key group. In this embodiment, the keys included in the first key group are arranged by selecting the functions of the keys to which a plurality of functions are assigned by a single operation of the keys. The number of is smaller than the conventional keyboard. For example, in the prior art, the number "4" is input independently and the shift key is also used to input "$", whereas in the present embodiment, according to the time when one key is pressed. , The number "4" or the symbol "$" can be input. As such, the function selection of the key to which the two functions are assigned can be performed by the single operation of the key, and the one equivalent to the conventional shift key is unnecessary.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the main configuration of the input section 21. Although a plurality of keys are arranged in the input unit 21, one of them is representatively shown in FIG. The key 10 that is representatively shown is not particularly limited, but when one key is pressed for a short time, the numeral “4” can be input, and when the key is continuously pressed for a reference time or longer. In, it is possible to input "$".

On / off information of the key 10 is input to the encoder 15 and the counter 12. The clock signal CK generated by the clock generation circuit 11 is input to the counter 12. The counter 12 counts the clock signal CK transmitted from the clock generation circuit 11 while the key 10 is being pressed. The counting result of this counter is
The signal is converted into an analog signal in the D / A (digital / analog) conversion circuit 13 in the subsequent stage and then input to the comparison circuit 14. The comparison circuit 14 includes a D / A conversion circuit 13
Of the output voltage Vkey and the reference voltage Vref transmitted from the reference voltage generation circuit 17 are compared. Reference voltage V generated by the reference voltage generation circuit 17
The level of ref can be arbitrarily adjusted by the adjusting circuit 16. Although not particularly limited, the adjusting circuit 16 includes a dip switch, a variable resistor, or the like. The DIP switch and variable resistor are mounted so that they can be operated from outside the keyboard. The comparison result of the comparison circuit 14 is transmitted to the encoder 15 in the subsequent stage. The encoder 15 has a function of encoding a signal by pressing the key 10 and a comparison result of the comparison circuit 14. This encoded output is transmitted to the arithmetic processing unit 22 shown in FIG. 2 as an output signal from the keyboard.

In the above structure, when the key 10 is pressed, the clock signal CK is counted by the counter 12, and the level of the output voltage Vkey of the D / A conversion circuit 13 is determined according to the counting result. The comparison circuit 14 compares the level of the output voltage Vkey resulting from the depression of the key 10 with the level of the reference voltage Vref output from the reference voltage generation circuit 17. In this comparison, although not particularly limited, when the output voltage Vkey is equal to or lower than the level of the reference voltage Vref, the output logic of the comparison circuit 14 is set to the low level, and conversely, the output voltage Vkey exceeds the reference voltage Vref. If so, the output logic of the comparison circuit 14 is set to the high level.

When the function assigned to the key 10 is the input of the numeral "4" and the symbol "$", when the output logic of the comparison circuit 14 is at the low level, it is output from the encoder 15. The code to be generated is a code predetermined as a code corresponding to the numeral "4". In other words, when the time for pressing the key 10 is shorter than the reference time determined in relation to the reference voltage Vref, the output logic of the comparison circuit 14 is set to the low level,
The encoder 15 outputs a code corresponding to the numeral “4”.

On the other hand, when the output logic of the comparison circuit 14 is at a high level, a code corresponding to the case where the shift key is also used when the key 10 is pressed in the conventional keyboard is output. That is, when the time for pressing the key 10 exceeds the reference time determined by the relationship with the reference voltage Vref, the output logic of the comparison circuit 14 is set to the high level, and the encoder 15 outputs the symbol. "$"
The code corresponding to is output.

The reference time can be changed by operating the adjusting circuit 16 to change the level of the reference voltage Vref. Therefore, the reference time can be adjusted appropriately according to the preference of the operator who operates this keyboard. You can

In this embodiment, the detection means for detecting the touch time of the key (meaning the time the key is on) is formed by the counter 12 which counts the clock signal CK in response to the depression of the key 10. To be done. Further, the discrimination means for discriminating the plurality of functions assigned to the keys is formed by the comparison circuit 14 for comparing the output voltage Vkey of the D / A conversion circuit 13 and the reference voltage Vref.

Although the key 10 shown as a representative has been described, key operation is also possible for other keys to which a plurality of functions are assigned by combining the same building blocks as those shown in FIG. The code corresponding to is output.

According to the above embodiment, the following operational effects can be obtained. (1) When the key 10 is pressed, the clock signal CK is counted by the counter 12 and D is counted according to the count result.
The level of the output voltage Vkey of the A / A conversion circuit 13 is determined, the level of the output voltage Vkey and the reference voltage Vref are compared by the comparison circuit 14, and a plurality of functions assigned to the key 10 are determined according to the comparison result. Since the key is discriminated, the shift key, which is indispensable in the conventional keyboard, is unnecessary, and the operability of the key can be improved. Further, since the shift key can be omitted, the keyboard can be downsized accordingly. (2) Further, as described above, the function selection of the key to which a plurality of functions are assigned can be performed by the single operation of the key, so that the operability of the key especially by the handicapped person is dramatically improved.

Next, another embodiment will be described. In the above-described embodiment, the means for enabling the function selection of the key to which a plurality of functions are assigned by the single operation of the key is realized by hardware, but this can be realized by software.

3 and 4 show the flow of the key function discrimination processing. As in the case of the above-described embodiment, this key function discrimination processing enables function selection of a key to which a plurality of functions are assigned by a single operation of the key, and is executed by the arithmetic processing unit 22 of FIG. It Therefore, the detecting means for detecting the touch time of the key and the judging means for judging the plurality of functions assigned to the key based on the detecting means are functionally realized by the arithmetic processing unit 22 in this embodiment. It As shown in FIG. 3, first, a variable n is initialized to 0 (step 31), and this variable n is incremented (step 32). Next, it is determined whether or not the key is pressed (step 33). In this determination, when it is determined that the key is pressed (Y), the process returns to the execution of step 32, and the variable n is updated by incrementing. This updating of the variable n is performed by the above step 3
In the determination of 3, the process is repeated until it is determined that the key is not pressed (N). If it is determined in the determination in step 33 that the key is not pressed (N), the variable n is compared with the reference value m (step 34). Here, the reference value m is a value set at the time of setting up the computer system of this embodiment, which means the reference time in the key function determination, and corresponds to the reference voltage Vref in FIG. When it is determined in step 34 that the variable n is equal to or smaller than the reference value m, the shift key in the conventional system is not used together, that is, according to the above example, the key input is a numeral. As an input of “4” of
(Step 36). Step 3 above
When it is determined that the variable n exceeds the reference value m in the determination of 4, the state in which the shift key in the conventional system is used together, that is, according to the above example, the symbol "$" The input is recognized by the arithmetic processing unit 22 (step 35).

As described above, by incrementing the variable n according to the pressed state of the key and comparing the result with the reference value m, the key to which a plurality of functions are assigned is similar to the case of the above embodiment. Since it is possible to determine the function of, it is possible to obtain the same effect. In this case, the keyboard used as the input unit 21 may be a conventional keyboard as it is, or may be omitted because the operation of the shift key is not necessary.

Further, as described above, when the function of the key to which a plurality of functions are assigned is determined, the determined state is sequentially displayed at the cursor position of the display section 25 by the control of the display control section 24. . At this time, in order to make it easier to see the discriminated state, the function discriminated state of the key may be displayed in color under the control of the display control unit 24. FIG. 4 shows the flow of the key function discrimination processing in this case.

First, as in the case of the above processing, the variable n
Is initially set to 0 (step 41), and this variable n is incremented (step 42). Next, the variable n is compared with the reference value m (step 43). In this comparison, if the variable n is determined to be the reference value m or less, the shift key in the conventional system is not used together. The state is made equal, and if the key is pressed, the input character is displayed in red. That is, according to the above example, the number "4" is input, but the number "4" is input.
The display color is set to red under the control of the display controller 24 (step 44). Then, the key input is recognized by the arithmetic processing unit 22 as the input of the numeral "4" (step 45), and the red display of the numeral "4" is indicated by the arithmetic processing unit 22.
After a certain period of time after being recognized by, the standard character color such as white is switched. A determination is made as to whether or not the key is pressed (step 46), and the above process is repeated unless it is determined in this determination that the key is not pressed (N). Further, in the comparison of step 43, when it is determined that the variable n exceeds the reference value m, it is as in the state where the shift key is used in the conventional system. Is input as "$" of
In this case, the character display color is blue (step 4).
7) Then, the key input is recognized by the arithmetic processing unit 22 as the input of the symbol "$" (step 48), and the blue display of the symbol "$" is constant after being recognized by the arithmetic processing unit 22. After a while, it is switched to a standard character color such as white.

In this way, by displaying the function discrimination state of the keys in color, it becomes easy to confirm the discrimination state.
This is effective in selectively inputting a desired character by operating the key alone as described above.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited thereto, and it goes without saying that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Yes.

For example, when the function of the key to which a plurality of functions are assigned is determined, it can be toggled. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, when realized by hardware, the second reference voltage Vref2 set to a level higher than the reference voltage Vref is formed to output the output voltage Vke of the D / A conversion circuit 13.
The counter 12 may be reset when the level of y exceeds the second reference voltage Vref2. Thus, according to the above example, by continuing to press the key 10, the number "4" is switched first, then the symbol "$", and then again the number "4". . Further, in the processing shown in FIG.
The second reference value m2 set to a value larger than the reference value m
And a step of determining whether or not the variable n exceeds the second reference value m2 is inserted between, for example, step 42 and step 43, and if the variable n exceeds the second reference value m2. In this case, if the variable n is reset to 0, toggle switching can be realized when the function of the key is determined, as in the above case.

Further, in order to facilitate selection of a function of a key to which a plurality of functions are assigned, generation of a beep sound may be controlled in the case of key input. For example, the generation control of the beep sound is realized by controlling the beep sound generation unit 26 by the arithmetic processing unit 22. FIG.
In the case of the configuration shown in (1), when the output logic of the comparison circuit 14 is low level, one beep sound is emitted, and when the output logic of the comparison circuit 14 is high level, the beep sound is emitted twice. The function selection can be confirmed auditorily. Also,
In the case of the example of FIG. 4, the auditory confirmation can be similarly performed by adding the step of controlling the generation of the beep sound immediately after the step 48 and the step 45.

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the shift key is omitted has been described. However, depending on the function assigned to one key, not only the shift key but also the key operation using the control key and the graph key is not necessary. It is possible that It should be noted that the keys that are not required to be operated in this way may be omitted, but if not omitted, an input method that uses a shift key and the like (conventional method)
And a method of inputting by a single key operation without using a shift key or the like can be appropriately selected according to the operator's preference.

In the above description, the case where the invention made by the present inventor is mainly applied to the personal computer system which is the field of application which is the background of the invention has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this and the word processor is not limited thereto. Widely applicable to calculator, electronic organizer, etc.

The present invention can be applied on condition that it has at least a key.

[0033]

The effects obtained by the typical ones of the inventions disclosed in the present application will be briefly described as follows.

That is, the detection means for detecting the time during which the key is continuously turned on, and the discrimination means for discriminating the plurality of functions assigned to the key based on the detection result of this detection means. By providing the above, since it is possible to determine a plurality of functions assigned to the key based on the detection result of the detection means, it is possible to select the function of the key to which the plurality of functions are assigned by a single operation of the key. To be done.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a configuration example of a main part of an input unit in a personal computer system that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an overall configuration example of a personal computer system that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of key function determination processing in the system of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of key function determination processing in the system of another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 key 11 clock generation circuit 12 counter 13 D / A conversion circuit 14 comparison circuit 15 encoder 16 adjustment circuit 17 reference voltage generation circuit 21 input unit 22 arithmetic processing unit 23 storage unit 24 display control unit 25 display unit 26 beep sound generation unit

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Masashi Ozeki 5-20-1 Kamimizuhonmachi, Kodaira-shi, Tokyo Inside Hiritsu Cho-LS Engineering Co., Ltd.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A keyboard having a plurality of functions assigned to a single key, based on a detection means for detecting a time during which the key is continuously turned on, and a detection result of the detection means. A keyboard comprising: a discriminating means for discriminating a plurality of functions assigned to the keys. 2. A data processing apparatus comprising: an input means having a plurality of functions assigned to a single key; and a data processing section for performing predetermined data processing in response to an input from the input means, Detecting means for detecting the time when the key is continuously turned on, and judging means for judging a plurality of functions assigned to the key based on the detection result of the detecting means. A data processing device characterized by: 3. The data processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising display control means for visualizing the discrimination result of the discrimination means. 4. The data processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a beep sound generating means for generating a beep sound according to the discrimination result of the discrimination means.