JPH05197466A - Keyboard - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a keyboard in which one specific key can be used for both a normal function and a pointing device emulation function, and a switching operation at the time of mutually using both the functions can be easily attained. CONSTITUTION:In a keyboard 10 which inputs data to a processor equipped with a display device, at least one key 12c of plural cursor keys 12a-12d for designating the position of a cursor on the display device is a variable cursor key 13 having both the first function as a normal cursor key, and the second function as a pointing device emulation key which can be selected. Then, the keyboard 10 includes a switching means 14 which switches over the variable cursor key between the first function and the second function.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a keyboard, and more particularly to a keyboard used as an input device of a processing device having a display device such as a personal computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A keyboard used as a data input device of a processing device having a display device such as a personal computer has a plurality of ordinary cursor keys for specifying a cursor position, as well as pointing device emulation, that is, Some have keys to perform similar functions to pointing devices such as mice and trackballs. As keys for this emulation, there are a key arranged exclusively for emulation in the keyboard and a key also used as a specific key. Among them, as the one also used as a specific key, for example, as disclosed in US Patent No. 4,680,577, the home position keys among the character keys in the Qwerty array, that is, "J" and "F". One of them, for example, the "J" key is also used, which is usually used as an ASCII character key and is used as an emulation key by operating a predetermined control key. Since such a keyboard requires a small number of keys,
The device can be miniaturized, which is convenient.

[0003]

However, in such a keyboard, since the character key of the home position is also used for pointing device emulation, the position of the display device can be specified by the usual cursor keys and the pointing device emulation function can be used. When alternately using the position specification with the character key as
There is a problem that the operation is complicated because the key positions of both are considerably separated.

The object of the present invention is to solve the above problems by
When one specific key is used as both the normal function and the pointing device emulation function, and the position specification of the display device by the normal cursor key and the position specification by using the specific key as the pointing device emulation function are alternately performed It is to provide a keyboard with a simple switching operation.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a keyboard for inputting data to a processing device equipped with a display device of the present invention comprises a plurality of cursors for designating the position of the cursor on the display device. Key and at least one of the plurality of cursor keys has a variable cursor key having two selectable functions: a first function as a normal cursor key and a second function as a pointing device emulation key. The variable cursor key is configured to include switching means for switching between the first function and the second function.

[0006]

Since the keyboard of the present invention uses at least one of the plurality of cursor keys by switching between the pointing device emulation function and the function as the normal cursor key, the keyboard is displayed by any one of the normal cursor keys. It is possible to easily perform the switching operation between the position designation of the device and the position designation by using at least one specific cursor key of the cursor keys as the pointing device emulation function.

Further, in the usual position specification by the cursor key, by pressing the cursor key, the cursor is slowly moved in the right or left horizontal direction or the up or down vertical direction specified by the cursor key. However, when using the cursor key switched to the pointing device emulation function, the position display index such as the cursor or pointer can be moved in any direction depending on the direction in which the key is tilted. The position display index can be moved directly and at high speed to the desired position in one step as in the case of specifying the position by the pointing device.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a keyboard used in a notebook personal computer. The keyboard 10 includes cursor keys 12a, 12b, 12c and 12d for moving the cursor in the upward, downward, left and right directions, respectively.
A control key 14 for controlling the function of the one key 12c is provided. The plurality of cursor keys are normally shown in FIG.
Since the keys are arranged on the lower right side of the keyboard as shown in, it is convenient to use the leftmost and lowermost keys of the keyboard as the control keys. The cursor key 12c is configured as a variable cursor key 13 that can be changed between a normal cursor key function and a pointing device emulation function by the control of the control key 14. As the variable cursor key 13, the same key as that described in US Pat. No. 4,680,577 can be used. Further, it is known from the above-mentioned U.S. Patent to switch and use the function of one specific key by the control key, and the detailed description of the configuration will be omitted. The contents of US Pat. No. 4,680,577 are incorporated herein by reference.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a personal computer using the keyboard 10 of the present invention.
RAM 21 and ROM to the CPU 20 via the bus 23
22, peripheral device interface controller PIC2
4, a keyboard controller KBC25, and a video controller VC26 are connected. The peripheral device interface controller PIC24 includes a printer, an HDD,
A recording device 28 such as an FDD, a keyboard 10 is connected to the keyboard controller KBC 25, and a display device 27 such as a liquid crystal display device LCD or CRT is connected to the video controller VC 26.

In this configuration, the coarse movement of the position display index such as the cursor or the pointer on the display device 27 is obtained by tilting the variable cursor key 13 in the direction in which the cursor or the pointer is moved while pressing the control key 14. Be done. This variable cursor key 13
A signal indicating the shift state including the tilt angle and the tilt direction is transmitted to the CPU 20. The CPU 20 moves the position display index on the display device according to the signal.
To finely move the position display index, one cursor key for the upward, downward, rightward or leftward direction selected according to the moving direction is operated. When the variable cursor key 13 is used as a normal cursor key 12c, the control key is not operated. Incidentally, it is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-209514 that the moving direction and speed of the cursor are controlled according to the angle and direction of the tilt of the cursor key.
No.

In the above embodiment, one of the cursor keys is changed to a variable cursor key by operating the control key,
It is possible to switch between the normal cursor key function and the pointing device emulation function. Thereby, the normal cursor key is used for fine movement of the position display index on the display device, and the variable cursor key whose function is switched by the control key is used for coarse movement. Since one of the ordinary cursor keys is used as the variable cursor key, it is easy to switch between the fine movement and the coarse movement of the cursor, and the desired position on the display device can be quickly specified by the position display index. You can

In the above embodiment, the cursor key 1
Although one is used as a variable cursor key, two or more cursor keys may be used as a variable cursor key.

The operation of another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, when the variable cursor key 13 is used as a key of the pointing device emulation function, the moving speed of the position display index can be switched between two steps, high speed and low speed, and the first and second buttons of the mouse can be used. The instruction function similar to the function can be added.

In order to switch the cursor movement between two steps, high speed and low speed, the key (normal shift key) 15 immediately above the first control key 14 in the keyboard of FIG. 1 is used as the second control key. The switching of the functions of the variable cursor keys by the first and second control keys is executed by the software of the CPU. The operation will be described with reference to FIG. First, it is determined whether or not the first control key is pressed (step 30). If the first control key is pressed, then it is determined whether or not the second control key is pressed (step 31). When the first control key and the second control key are both pressed, the variable cursor key 13 (the cursor key 12c used for downward movement) is used as a key for the pointing device emulation function to move the cursor at high speed. (Step 32). When the first control key is pressed and the second control key is not pressed, the variable cursor key 13 is used as a key for the pointing device emulation function to move the cursor at low speed (step 33). ..
When the first control key is not pressed in step 30, each cursor key is used as a normal cursor key (step 34). When the first and second control keys are both pressed, the right and left direction moving keys 12b and 12d, which are different from the keys used as the variable cursor keys of the cursor keys, are respectively the first and second keys. 2 Used as key for mouse button function (Step 3)
5).

The variable cursor key 13 (12c) is used as a key for the pointing device emulation function by switching between high speed and low speed, and the cursor keys 12b, 12d are used as keys for the first and second mouse button functions. Since the structure for doing so is publicly known, detailed description thereof will be omitted. Further, the cursor key 12a used for moving the cursor upward can be used as a key of the function of the third button of the mouse.

Further, in the above embodiment, when the variable cursor key 13 (12c) is used as a key of the pointing device emulation function, switching between the high speed mode and the low speed mode is performed by the shift key directly above the first control key. However, the cursor keys 12a and 12c for upward and downward movement are variable cursor keys that can be switched to the pointing device emulation function, the cursor key 12a for upward movement is a high speed mode key, and 12c is a low speed mode key. It can also be used as a key.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, since at least one of the plurality of cursor keys is used by switching between the pointing device emulation function and the function as the normal cursor key, the normal cursor key is used. It is possible to easily perform the switching operation between the position designation of the display device by any one of the above and the position designation by using at least one specific cursor key as the pointing device emulation function. It is possible to provide a keyboard that can directly and rapidly move the position display index to a desired position in one step as in the case of specifying a position by a pointing device such as a mouse.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a key arrangement of a keyboard according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a personal computer using the keyboard of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a keyboard operation according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 keyboards 12a to 12d cursor keys 13 variable cursor keys 14 control keys 20 CPU 27 display device

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A processing device (2) comprising a display device (27).
The keyboard for inputting data to 0) includes a plurality of cursor keys (12a, 12b, 12c, 12d) for specifying the position of the cursor on the display device, and at least one of the plurality of cursor keys (12c).
Is a variable cursor key (13) having two selectable functions, a first function as a normal cursor key and a second function for designating a display position on the display device as a pointing device emulation key. And a switching means (14) for switching the variable cursor key between the first function and the second function. 2. The keyboard according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of cursor keys are provided on the lower right side of the keyboard, and the switching means includes a leftmost and lowermost control key (14) on the keyboard. While pressing the key, the variable cursor key (13) is used as a key of the second function. 3. The keyboard according to claim 2, further comprising: when the variable cursor key is used as a key for the second function, the moving speed of the position display index by operating the variable cursor key is set to high and low. It includes a second control key (15) for switching. 4. The keyboard according to claim 3, wherein the second control key (15) is the first control key (1).
This is the key just above 4). 5. The keyboard according to claim 1, wherein when the variable cursor key is used as a key for the second function, a pointing function is added to a position specifying function on the display device by the second function. Means (12b, 12d)
Is provided. 6. The keyboard according to claim 1, wherein two keys (12a, 12c) of the plurality of cursor keys are provided.
Is a variable cursor key selectable between the first function and the second function, and one of the two variable cursor keys (12
a) is a key for high speed mode, other variable cursor keys (1
2c) is used as a key for the low speed mode.