JP2002023928A - Input device for numeral and character - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to simply input characters also without expanding a panel surface. SOLUTION: A character input part 16 is constituted by arranging many X-directional electrodes in parallel and arranging many Y-directional electrodes oppositely to the X-directional electrodes at a slight interval and a printing sheet 18 on which respective keys are arrayed and displayed is arranged on the surface of the character input part 16. When one of the displayed keys is depressed by a finger, the character input part 16 corresponding to the depressed part is bent, a key top 28 is depressed and a numeral corresponding to the display is inputted. When a character is drawn on the surface of the sheet 18, contacts between X-directional electrodes and Y-directional electrodes corresponding to respective parts on the drawn line are successively inputted and two-dimensional dot input data are obtained. Thus the drawn character can be recognized by the data, i.e., the character can be inputted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a numeral and character input device which is applied to, for example, a portable telephone to input numbers and to input characters.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a case where a character is inputted to a portable telephone to transmit a sentence, for example. In this case, the character input is usually performed by Roman alphabet input while looking at the alphabet indicated on the numeric keypad.

[0003]

The above-described character input by Roman character input is troublesome due to the large number of key inputs per character. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a numeral and character input device capable of inputting numerals and further easily inputting characters.

[0004]

According to one aspect of the present invention, a ten-key input unit and a character input unit are provided so as to overlap with each other.
Numeric keypad input unit is used to input numbers when operated almost vertically on the panel surface, and character input unit is used to input characters as two-dimensional dots when drawing characters on the panel surface. It is.

[0005]

FIG. 1 shows an overview of a portable telephone to which the present invention is applied. One half of the front surface of the telephone housing 11 is provided with an operation surface (panel surface) of the numeral and character input device 12 according to the present invention, and the other half is provided with a display surface 13 of a display. FIG. 2 shows a cross section of an embodiment of the numeral and character input device of the present invention.

In this example, a concave portion 1
5 is formed, and the character input section 16 is accommodated and mounted in the recess 15. A numeric keypad input unit 17 is attached to the lower side. Print sheet 18 on character input section 16
Is affixed. As shown in FIG. 1, numeric keys are displayed in an array on the print sheet 18. The character input unit 16 is provided on the panel surface, that is, in this example, the print sheet 18.
When a character is drawn on the upper part, each part on the drawn line is input as a two-dimensional dot. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, a flexible sheet 21 and a flexible thin plate 22 are provided so as to be closely opposed to each other with a spacer 23 interposed therebetween.
A large number of X electrodes 24X parallel to each other are formed on the inner surface of the thin plate 22 in parallel with a narrow pitch, and a large number of Y electrodes 24Y are formed on the inner surface of the thin plate 22 in parallel with a narrow pitch. The X electrode 24X and the Y electrode 24Y are orthogonal to each other when viewed from the printing sheet 18 side. The intersections are arranged at the same narrow interval in the X and Y directions. Panel surface or printed sheet 18
When a character is drawn while lightly pressing the surface with a finger or a pen, the electrode 24X at each point on each drawn line contacts the electrode 24Y, and the point is input two-dimensionally. The character drawn from the input two-dimensional dot input data in this way can be recognized by the character recognition means, and the same character data as that input by the conventional Roman character input can be obtained. Although the character input unit 16 of this embodiment is also called a so-called touch panel, other various two-dimensional dot input units may be used.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
The key top sheet 27 is provided in contact with the lower surface of the bottom plate 26, that is, the surface opposite to the character input unit 16, and the key top sheet 27 is placed on a thin flexible sheet as shown in FIG. Are integrally formed so as to correspond to the respective key indications on the print sheet 18. At the positions corresponding to these key tops, holes 29 are formed in the bottom plate 26 as shown in FIG. 4B, and the key tops 28 are inserted into the respective holes 29 as shown in FIG. It is in contact with the character input unit 16. A switch wiring board 31 is provided in close proximity to the key top sheet 27. Although not shown, a pair of switch electrodes is provided on the surface of the key top sheet 27 of the switch wiring board 31, Necessary wiring for these switch electrodes is provided while being provided to face each other. Although not shown, a metal dome 32 is disposed on the switch wiring board 31 via an insulating sheet having a hole at a position facing the key top, and the top of each metal dome 32 is located at the center of the key top 28. Is in contact with

Therefore, when a display portion on the print sheet 18 is pressed with a finger, that is, when the display portion is operated almost vertically to the panel surface,
The character input section 16 is bent, the key top is pressed, and the shape of the metal dome 32 is inverted, so that the pair of switch electrodes are electrically connected to each other. When the user releases his / her finger from the printing sheet 18, the character input section 16 is elastically restored and the metal dome 3 is restored.
The shape of No. 2 is also elastically restored, and the key top 28 returns to the original position, and the connected pair of switch electrodes is electrically separated. In this manner, each number can be keyed. The numeric keypad input section 17 may have other various structures, and any keypad may be used as long as the keytop 28 can be operated and input via the character input section 16.

As described above, according to this embodiment, by drawing a character on the surface of the print sheet 18, the character input section 16 is drawn.
The two-dimensional dot input data is used to input the two-dimensional dot input data, and the two-dimensional dot input data is displayed on the display surface 13 of the display unit as shown in FIG.
Will be displayed. When one part of the key display on the print sheet 18 is pressed at a substantially right angle, a corresponding number is input to the numeric keypad input unit 17 and the number is displayed on the display surface 13.

In the above description, the input of the ten key input unit is transmitted to the input operator by a click feeling due to the reversal of the shape of the metal dome 32. When the pair of switch electrodes is turned on, an input sound is generated. You may tell it. As shown in FIG. 6, a hole is formed in the key top 28 of the character input unit 16 and a hole is further formed in the print sheet 18 so that the top surface of the key top 28 substantially matches the surface of the print sheet 18. It may be. In this case, the print sheet 18 may be omitted, a key display may be provided on the top surface of the key top 28, and the top surface of the key top 28 may substantially coincide with the surface of the character input unit 16. Or print sheet 18
The top surface of the key top 28 may be brought into contact with the printing sheet 18 without making a hole. Further, a membrane switch on dots may be provided around the key tops 28 as the character input section 16 so as to surround them. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, one of the key tops 28 is provided with an electrostatic sensor 36 around each of the key tops 28. When a character is drawn on the operation surface with, for example, a finger, an output of each electrostatic sensor on the locus is obtained. Character input may be performed by obtaining two-dimensional dot data.

As shown in FIG. 8, for example, a character input section 16 shown in FIG. 3 is provided, and a print sheet 18 is disposed thereon,
As shown in FIG. 9, when one of the key indications on the print sheet 18 is pressed with a finger, the character / number recognition unit 3 is operated based on the two-dimensional data.
Recognize the number pressed by 7 and display it on the display surface 13,
When a character is drawn on the print sheet 18, the character is recognized by the character / number recognizing unit 37 and the display surface 13
May be displayed. That is, the character input unit 16 in this example serves both for character input and numeric input.

[0012]

As described above, the panel surface (operation surface)
The user can input a numeric keypad by a pressing operation in the same manner as before, and furthermore, by drawing a character on the panel surface, a character can be input, without providing a separate input location for character input. In addition, characters can be input with a simpler operation than the conventional character input by key operation while maintaining a small size.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an overview of a mobile phone to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

3A is a plan view illustrating an example of an electrode arrangement of an example of a character input unit 16, and FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view of the character input unit 16.

4A is a perspective view showing a part of a key top sheet 28 in FIG. 2, and FIG. 4B is a perspective view showing a part of a part holding a character input unit 16. FIG.

FIG. 5 is a functional configuration diagram for displaying an input of a character input unit 16 and an input of a numeric keypad unit 17 on a display surface 13;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a part of the embodiment of the character input unit 16 of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a functional configuration diagram for displaying an input according to the embodiment of FIG. 8;

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Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A numeric keypad input section for inputting a number by being operated substantially vertically on a panel surface, and a character input for inputting a character on the panel surface as a two-dimensional dot when each part on the drawn line is input. A number and character input device, characterized in that: 2. The numeric keypad input unit according to claim 1, wherein the numeric keypad input unit is a numeric keyswitch, and includes means for transmitting an input to an input person, and the character input unit is located on the numeric keypad input unit. Numeric and character input devices. 3. The key operation section of the numeric keypad input section,
3. The numeral and character input device according to claim 2, wherein the character and the character are desired to be viewed outside from the hole formed in the character input portion. 4. Each key of a numeric keypad is displayed on the panel surface, and when a character is drawn on the panel surface, each part on the drawn line is input as a two-dimensional dot. A number and character input device, wherein a number corresponding to a key display is input.