JPH09258886A - Data entry method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: In a data input device for transmitting data to be set to a control device that constitutes a control system, an input work at the time of inputting data is facilitated and reliability at the time of input is improved. A data input device A1 has a function of detecting a position of a finger in contact with one of virtual keys K0, K1 of a virtual keyboard IKB displayed on a display screen of the display device. To do. On the display screen DPA, the input field IF1 or the input field IF2 for specifying the input position of the data DT1 or the data DT2 is displayed, and the input field IF is displayed.
1 or the cursor C is displayed inside the input field IF2, and the virtual keyboard IKB is displayed on the condition that the input from the virtual keys K0, K1 of the virtual keyboard IKB is accepted and the accepted input is moved to the cursor. Process as an input to the area indicated by the input field in which C is displayed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data input method in a data input device for transmitting data to be set to a control device which constitutes a control system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 6 shows a control system CS as an example of a control system. As shown, the control system CS is L
It is composed of control devices CA1, CA2, CA3 connected by an AN (Local Area Network) LN and a data input device A. The control devices CA1, CA2, CA3 refer to the data input from the data input device A, and control the devices and devices of the control system CS based on the control programs of the control devices CA1, CA2, CA3. .

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the inside of the data input device A shown in FIG. The data input device A is
It comprises a control calculation means 1, a program storage means 2, a data storage means 3, an input device 4 equipped with a keyboard and a mouse MS, a display device 5, and an input / output unit 6 connected to LANLN. The control calculation means 1 executes the program stored in the program storage means 2 to realize the function of the data input device A. Hereinafter, the function realized by the control operation means 1 executing the program will be described as being realized by the program. The display device 5 includes graphic data storage means having a graphic data area D3 for storing graphic data D3 and display means having a display screen DP, and displays the graphic data D3 stored in the graphic data storage means on the display screen DP. The device has a function of In the following description, the area for storing data in the data storage means and the data stored in this area are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The data storage means 3 has a RAM (Ra) capable of reading and writing data from the control operation means 1 in address units.
ndom Access Memory).
The data storage unit 3 stores data referred to when the control operation unit 1 executes a program, data generated by the control operation unit 1, data input / output via the input / output unit 6, and the like. The data storage means 3 includes an input device 4, an input data area ID that is an area for storing data input via the input / output unit 6, a setting data area D1 that is a storage area of the setting data D1, and a display device 5. A display data area D2, which is a storage area for storing display data D2 that is data to be displayed on the screen, is secured, and a cursor register CSR, which is a register for storing the display position of the cursor, is provided.

The program storage means 2 stores a basic program P0, a display program P1, and a data setting program P2. The basic program P0 is a program for inputting operation signals from the input device 4, controlling input / output of signals performed via the input / output unit 6, and basic processing for displaying data. It consists of a program group that realizes the basic functions of the data input device A. The display program P1 is composed of a program group having a function of transferring the contents of the display data area D2 to the display device 5 and controlling a window displayed on the display screen of the display device 5. The data transferred to the display device 5 is converted into graphic data by the function of the display device 5 and stored in the graphic data area D3, and the graphic data D3 stored in the figure data area D3 is displayed by the function of the display device 5. Displayed on screen DP. The data setting program P2 is a code that is input from the input device 4 and that stores numbers, characters, symbols, etc. stored in the input data area ID (in the following description, codes that represent numbers, characters, symbols, etc. are referred to as character codes From the array having a group of meanings (this array is referred to as a character string in the following description), the control device CS1, which constitutes the system CS (see FIG. 6),
Generate setting data D1 for CS2, CS3, etc. and set data area D1
And a set of programs for storing the setting data D1 in a predetermined area of the display data area D2. Further, the data setting program P2 has a function of transmitting the updated setting data to the designated control device each time the setting data is updated, using the function of the basic program P0.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing a procedure for inputting data to the control device A shown in FIG. In the figure, A
Is a data input device, 5 is a display device of the data input device, DP
Is a display screen of the display device 5, and is the same as that shown with the same reference numerals in the data input device A shown in FIG. KB is the input device 4 of the data input device A
The keyboard is for inputting data provided in (see FIG. 7), and MS is a mouse.

A data input procedure will be described with reference to an example in which a numerical value "0123" is input as the data DT1 which is setting data. First, when a window for data input is designated using the keyboard KB or the mouse MS, a window W1 for designating the input method of the data DT1 or data DT2 is displayed at a predetermined position on the display screen DP as shown in the figure. In the window W1, a title "data setting" indicating that it is a window for assisting data setting and a frame of input fields IF1 and IF2 indicating a place to set the data DT1 and DT2 are shown. C is a cursor indicating an input position such as a number, a character, or a symbol (in the following description, the number, the character, or the symbol is representatively referred to as a character) forming data, and the display position of the cursor C is the display screen DP. Only exists in one place above. The keyboard KB key for moving the cursor C moves the cursor to the beginning of the input field IF1 for designating the input position of the data DT1 as shown in the figure, and the character string "01232" which composes the data DT1 from this state. Enter one by one from the keyboard KB.
The cursor C moves to the right each time one character is input, and specifies the input position of a new character. The character sequentially input at the position of the cursor C is the input data area ID (see FIG. 7).
It is stored in the address corresponding to the position of the cursor C. At the position where the input of the value "0123" of data DT1 is completed, the keyboard
When the data entry completion key provided in the KB is pressed, the data setting program P2 converts the character string "0123" stored in the input data area ID into the numerical value "0123", and the setting data area of the data storage means 3 The data is stored in D1 (see FIG. 7), and this data is transmitted to the control device at the transmission destination indicated by the separately input transmission destination data.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a setting data area D1 and a display data area D2 provided in the data storage means 3. As shown in FIG. The setting data area D1 is an address (S
The display data area D2 is an area of continuous addresses starting from D + 0), and the display data area D2 is an area of continuous addresses starting from the address (DSM + 0) of the data storage means 3. The area of the setting data DT1 is the address (SD + 0) and the address (SD + 1), and in the illustrated example, the setting value "01234567" is stored. Address (SD + 2) and address (SD +
3) is the area of the setting data DT2.
9012345 "is stored. The first address of the display data area D2 is (DSM + 0), and one address of the display data area D2 stores one of the codes representing characters. Value "0123" of setting data DT1 stored in area D1
Is stored starting with the address (DSM + J) of the display data area D2, the ASCII code "O0110000" representing the number 0 is stored in the address (DSM + J).

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of the relationship between the display data area D2 shown in FIG. 9 and the display screen DP shown in FIG. In the figure, DP is a display screen, W1 is a window, IF1 is an input field for setting data DT1, and IF2 is an input field for setting data DT2, which are the same as the displays with the same symbols shown in FIG. X0, X1 ~, Y0, Y1 ~ are coordinates indicating the display position of one character on the display screen DP, and arbitrary coordinates Xj, Yk
One character is displayed at the position (j, k are the numerical values 1, 2, etc. representing the coordinates).

The character code which is the contents of the display data area D2 (see FIGS. 7 and 9) of the display program P1 (see FIG. 7) is sequentially read from the start address (DSM + 0) of the display data area D2.
When transferred to the display device 5, when the character represented by the transferred character code is displayed on the display screen DS, the display device 5 moves to the right from the coordinates (X0, Y0) in the transfer order, and when the line is full, the next The transferred character codes are converted into data of a figure represented as a set of points in the order from the left end of the line to the right and stored in the figure data area D3. The graphic data D3 stored in the graphic data area D3 is read out at a constant cycle by the function of the display device 5 and displayed on the display screen DS. Therefore, the character represented by the character code stored in the first address (DSM + 0) of the display data area D2 is the coordinates (X0, Y0) of the display screen DP.
, The character represented by the character code stored in the next address (DSM + 1) is displayed at the coordinates (X1, Y0) of the display screen DP, and the character codes stored in the display data area D2 are in the order of address. From left to right column of the same row, when the row is full, the next row is displayed.

The window W1 is a display screen of the window W1.
The position on DP is specified as the position of coordinates (Xj, Yk) from the mouse MS or keyboard KB (see Fig. 8), and the window W1
When a signal to display is input, the display program P1 is activated, and the display program P1 displays the upper right corner of the window W1 at the coordinates (Xj, Yk) on the display screen DP. The coordinates at which the first character of the input field IF1 is displayed correspond to the coordinates (p, q) based on the first coordinates (Xj, Yk) of the window W1, so the coordinates (((j + p), (k + q)). Similarly, the coordinates of the first character of the input field IF2 are the coordinates of the display screen DP.
It is (X (j + p), Y (k + t)).

As shown in the figure, the number of characters in one line of the display screen DP is m because it is the number of characters arranged in the coordinates X0 to X (m-1). Therefore, the display data area D21 of the setting data area DT1 (see FIG. 9) corresponding to the input field IF1
Start address (DSM + J) and the display data area D2 of the setting data area DT2 (see Fig. 9) corresponding to the input field IF2
The leading address (DSM + K) of 2 is given by the following mathematical formulas, Formula 1 and Formula 2, respectively.

[0013]

[Equation 1] (DSM + J) = DSM + (k + q) * m + (j + p)

[0014]

[Formula 2] (DSM + K) = DSM + (k + t) * m + (j + p) In FIG. 11,
FIG. 8 shows an explanatory diagram of the cursor register CSR shown in FIG. 7. As shown in the figure, the address of the display data area D2 is stored in the cursor register CSR, and the display program P1 displays the cursor C on the display screen DS (see FIGS. 7 and 8) corresponding to the contents of the cursor register CSR. . Cursor register CSR
Is rewritten by an operation from the keyboard KB, and this rewriting changes the display position of the cursor C on the display screen DS.

Data setting program P2 (see FIG. 7)
Detects that the cursor C is inside the input field IF1 or IF2 from the contents of the cursor register CSR, and when the cursor C is inside the input field IF1 or IF2, the keyboard KB
The character code input from is stored in the area corresponding to the contents of the cursor register CSR of the input data area ID in a fixed relationship. Further, the data setting program P2 stores the input code in the display data area D2 corresponding to the contents of the cursor register CSR, and displays the input character at the position where the cursor C was displayed. Next, the data setting program P2 adds 1 to the contents of the cursor register SCR and advances the position of the cursor C to the right by one character. When a signal indicating that the input of the character string input according to the cursor C displayed in the input field IF1 or the input field IF2 has been input from the input device 4 (FIG. 7), the data setting program P2 causes the input data The character string stored in the area ID is converted into setting data and stored in the setting data area D1 (see FIGS. 7 and 9). Further, the data setting program P2 transmits the same data as the stored data to the target control device in accordance with the separately input data designating the control device to which the setting data should be transmitted.

[0016]

As described above, when data is set in the control device constituting the control system from the conventional data input device connected to this system, the input data field of the data input device is set. The setting value was input from the keyboard while displaying it on the display screen of the data input device and watching the input result displayed in this input field. However, according to this method, the display of the input set value displayed in the input field on the display screen,
Since the position for inputting the set value is far from the keyboard, the input value is not sufficiently confirmed, and it takes time to confirm the input value.

In view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides
It is an object of the present invention to provide a data input method that enables easy data setting without error.

[0018]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, according to the present invention, a program storage means, a control calculation means for executing a program stored in the program storage means, a data storage means, and an input device. In a data input method in a data input device, which is a device that comprises a display device and sends input data to a control device that constitutes a control system, the display device is a virtual keyboard displayed on a display screen of the display device. When any one of the virtual keys is pressed, it has a function of generating and outputting a code corresponding to the pressed virtual key, and the setting data displayed on the display screen of the display input device is displayed. Input is made from the virtual keyboard, provided that the cursor is displayed inside the input field, which is the partition that indicates the input area. It is characterized in that data to be transmitted to the control device is generated from a numeral or character or symbol or a character string consisting of two or more of numbers, characters and symbols, and the generated data is transmitted to the control device. .

That is, in the data input device to which the method of the present invention is applied, the display device has a function of inputting numbers, characters and symbols from the virtual keyboard displayed on the display screen of the display device. Then, when the virtual key of the virtual keyboard is pressed while the cursor is displayed inside the input field of the display screen, the display device outputs a code corresponding to the pressed virtual key. The code output from the display device is input by the control calculation means that functions according to the program stored in the program storage means, and the input code or code string is converted into a data format suitable for the control device and transmitted to the control device. To be done.

Further, in the present invention, it is preferable that the input field is displayed inside the window displayed on the display screen. Furthermore, it is preferable that the virtual keyboard is displayed by designating a reduced graphic of the virtual keyboard displayed on the display screen with a pointer whose display position is operated by a mouse.

[0021]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a data input device A1 to which the method of the present invention is applied, which is an example of an embodiment of the present invention. The data input device A1 includes a control calculation means 1, a program storage means 2A, a data storage means 3, an input device 4, a display device 5A, and an input / output unit 6. Among the components of the data input device A1, the data input device A shown in FIG.
The components denoted by the same reference numerals as those of the above-mentioned components are components having the same functions as those of the data input device A, and therefore description thereof will be omitted. The display device 5A includes the same functions as the display device 5 (see FIG. 7), and further includes a display screen of the display device 5A.
It has a function of outputting a code of a character or a symbol (in the following description, the character and the symbol are referred to as a character) represented by the pressed virtual key of the virtual keyboard displayed on the DPA. The program storage means 2A stores a basic program P0, a display program P1, and a data setting program P2A. Among these programs, the programs designated by the same reference numerals as those shown in FIG. It has the same function as the program shown in. The program storage means 2A is a program storage means having the same function as the program storage means 2 except that it has a data setting program P2A instead of the data setting program P2.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a display screen at the time of data input, which is displayed on the display screen DPA of the data input device 5A shown in FIG. In the figure, W1 is a window that displays the input position when inputting the data to be transmitted to the control device displayed on the display screen DPA, and has the same meaning as the window W1 shown in FIG. . IKB is a virtual keyboard displayed on the display screen DPA. The virtual keyboard IKB displays virtual keys K0, K1, etc. arranged in a matrix.When the virtual keyboard IKB is displayed, the virtual key Ki (i is a number indicating the virtual key array position, 1, 2, etc.) is the display device
The function of 5A scans at regular intervals, detects a change in the electrical state caused by the finger touching the virtual key Ki, and specifies the position of the virtual key Ki in contact with the finger. The display device 5A generates a character code represented by the virtual key Ki according to the determined position, and outputs the generated character code. Data setting program P2A (see Figure 1)
On the display screen DPA window W1 and virtual keyboard IKB
Is started, and the cursor C
Cursor register SCR (see FIG. 1) that determines the display position of the cursor C of the data storage means 3 for the character code output from the display device 5A on the condition that is inside the input field IF1 or the input field IF2. It is stored in the area of the input data area ID (see FIG. 1) having a fixed relationship with the address indicated by the content of. Data setting program P2
A stores the character code output from the display device 5A in the area of the display data area D2 indicated by the contents of the cursor register SCR, and displays the character code input from the virtual keyboard IKB at the position where the cursor C was. , Cursor register
Add 1 to the contents of CSR (see Figure 1) and move the cursor to the right. When the signal indicating that the input is completed is input, the data setting program P2A causes the input field IF1 or the input field IF of the updated input data area ID to be input.
The setting data is generated from the contents of the area corresponding to 2, the generated data is stored in the setting data area D1, and is included in the input data or is set in advance according to the data indicating the transfer destination control device. The contents of the updated setting data area D1 are transmitted to the designated control device (not shown). The contents of the cursor register CSR are changed by the virtual key for operating the cursor C on the virtual keyboard IKB in the same manner as the operation by the key of the keyboard KB (see FIG. 8).

FIG. 3 shows a display in a state before the window W1 is displayed on the same display screen DPA as the display screen DPA shown in FIG. 2 and the virtual keyboard IKB is displayed. The virtual keyboard is an iconized figure IKB1 which is a reduced virtual keyboard that should be selected as one function.
It is displayed next to other iconified figures on the bottom side of. Graphic IK to make the virtual keyboard IKB work
Point B1 with the mouse MS (see Fig. 1) with the pointer that operates the position on the display screen DPA, and when the signal at this position is input from the mouse MS, the input signal is input by the basic program P0. After being processed and passed to the display program P1, the display program P1 displays the virtual keyboard IKB1 as shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the processing by the data setting program P2A shown in FIG. When the data setting program P2A is started, the data setting program P2A determines in process F1 whether the window W1 is displayed and the virtual keyboard IKB1 (see FIG. 2) is displayed, and both windows are displayed. If so, the process proceeds to process F2. The data setting program P2A reads the contents of the cursor register CSR (see FIG. 1) in process F2, and the cursor C (see FIG. 2) in process F3.
Is inside either input field IF1 or input field IF2, and if it is inside either input field, proceed to process F4 and display device 5A.
Receives the character code of the pressed virtual key of the virtual keyboard IKB1 (see FIG. 2) output by. When the data input program P2A receives the character code in process F4, the process advances to process F5 and the input data area ID corresponding to the input field specified from the contents of the cursor register CSR.
The received character code is stored in (see Fig. 1), and the received character code is stored in the display data area D2 specified by the contents of the cursor register CSR to display the character at the position of the cursor C. The process proceeds to step F6, 1 is added to the contents of the cursor register CSR, the display position of the cursor register C is advanced to the right, and the area in the input data area ID of the character code to be stored next is prepared. Next, in the process F7, the data setting program P2A determines whether or not the signal indicating that the data input is completed is input, and if the signal of the input completion is received, the process proceeds to the process F8, and the input is performed. Convert the character string that consists of the character code stored in the data area to the format of the input data represented by this character string,
In step F9, the converted data is stored in the setting data area D1 (see FIG. 1). Next, the data setting program P2
A transmits the contents of the setting data area D1 to the control device specified by the data represented by the input character string or the data indicating the destination that is input in advance by the function of the basic program P0 (see FIG. 1). To do. In the process F1, when it is determined that the condition that the window W1 is displayed and the virtual keyboard IKB1 is displayed is not satisfied, the data setting program P2A does not perform any process. In the process F7, when the setting completion signal is not received, the process returns from the process F1 and the character code is continuously input to the previously input character code.

FIG. 5 shows a case where two windows W2 and W3 are displayed in the data input device A1 shown in FIG. 1 and input is made from the same virtual keyboard IKB as shown in FIG. Show the screen. Data DT for window W2
2, DT3 Each input field or window W3
Data DT4, DT5 When the cursor C is in one of the input fields, input data from the virtual keyboard IKB in the same way as when one window is displayed. You can Input from the virtual keyboard IKB when multiple windows are displayed is also performed only for the input data area corresponding to the position of only one cursor C on the display screen DPA. Since the same mechanism as the input from the virtual keyboard IKB when is displayed, the explanation of the mechanism of data input is omitted.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, the program storage means, the control calculation means for executing the program stored in the program storage means, the data storage means, the input device and the display device are input. In the data input method in the data input device, which is a device for transmitting the data to the control device that constitutes the control system, the display device is a virtual keyboard of any one of the virtual keyboards displayed on the display screen of the display device. When a key is pressed, it has a function of generating and outputting a code corresponding to the pressed virtual key. Then, on the condition that the cursor is displayed inside the input field, which is a section showing the input area of the setting data displayed on the display screen of the display input device, the number or the character or the symbol input from the virtual keyboard is provided. Or numbers, letters,
Data to be transmitted to the control device is generated from a character string composed of two or more of the symbols, and the generated data is transmitted to the control device.

Therefore, as a result that the cursor in the input field indicating the data input position and the virtual keyboard are displayed on the same display screen, the position where the input operation is performed and the position where the input character or symbol is displayed. Are close to each other, the data to be input can be easily input without error. Further, according to the invention of claim 2, in the present invention, since the input field is displayed inside the window displayed on the display screen, the window can be displayed at an appropriate position on the display screen, Data can be input while displaying a plurality of windows and referring to data to be input at a plurality of locations.

Further, according to the invention of claim 3, in the virtual keyboard according to the present invention, the virtual keyboard displayed on the display screen is designated by a pointer whose display position is operated by a mouse. Since it is displayed, a special operation for setting the virtual keyboard is not required, and the virtual keyboard can be easily set.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a data input device to which a method of the present invention is applied, which is an example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen at the time of data input in the data input device shown in FIG.

3 is a diagram showing an example of a display before data input in the data input device shown in FIG.

4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the data input device shown in FIG.

5 is a diagram showing another example of a display screen at the time of data input in the data input device shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a control system including a control device and a data input device for inputting data to the control device.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an example of a conventional data input device.

8 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen at the time of data input of the data input device shown in FIG.

9 is a diagram showing a setting data area and a display area of the data input device shown in FIG.

[Figure 10] Illustration of input fields

[Figure 11] Illustration of cursor register

[Explanation of symbols]

 A1 Data input device DPA Display screen W1 Window IF1, IF2 Input field IKB Virtual keyboard KO, K1 Virtual key

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A control device comprising a program storage means, a control calculation means for executing a program stored in the program storage means, a data storage means, an input device and a display device, and the input data constituting a control system. In the data input method in the data input device which is a device for transmitting to the display device, the display device is pressed by pressing any one virtual key of the virtual keyboard displayed on the display screen of the display device. It has a function to generate and output a code corresponding to the virtual key, and the cursor is displayed inside the input field which is a section showing the input area of the setting data displayed on the display screen of the display input device. Of the numbers, letters, or symbols entered from the virtual keyboard, or among numbers, letters, or symbols. A data input method, wherein data to be transmitted to a control device is generated from a character string composed of two or more, and the generated data is transmitted to the control device. 2. The data input method according to claim 1, wherein the input field is displayed inside the window displayed on the display screen. 3. The data input method according to claim 1, wherein the virtual keyboard designates a figure obtained by reducing the virtual keyboard displayed on the display screen by a pointer whose display position is operated by a mouse. A data input method characterized by displaying on a display screen.