JPS59186035A - Key device for cursor shifting - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify and quicken shifting of a cursor to objective position by giving controlling input of continuous moving of a cursor on a display section by operation of a key top and giving controlling input of moving of the cursor by one division by movement of the same key top. CONSTITUTION:A display section 2, a keyboard section 3, an RAM10 and an ROM11 are connected to the CPU9 of a personal computer provided with a key device for cursor shifting. A key 4 for cursor shifting is provided in the keyboard section 3, and spherical motion transmitting balls 5, 7 and leaf spring contacts 6, 8 are provided under the key 4 for shifting. When upper left part of the key 4 for shifting is depressed from above, the cursor on the display section 2 is moved continuously to upper left. By repeating action of pushing and returning the key 4 for moving as shown by the arrow B, the cursor is moved by one unit division. Thus, movement of the cursor to an objective position becomes simple and quick.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Technical Field The present invention relates to a key device for moving a cursor.

Prior Art Conventionally, the cursor on the display section was moved up and down and left and right:
,・Four keys indicating J - "↑", "↓".

It is necessary to perform this while operating "←" and "→" respectively.

Therefore, it is important to move the cursor smoothly.
Also, it takes a lot of time to set the cursor position. For this reason, various devices have been devised that allow the cursor on the display to be moved freely by operating a single key, but if the cursor can only be moved by one scale, it requires repeated operations to move the cursor over a long distance. It was often inconvenient because it took too much time to move without it, or it was difficult to get it to the desired position if it only moved continuously.

Purpose The present invention has been proposed in view of these problems in the prior art, and its purpose is to enable the cursor to be moved with a single key, and to allow the operator to move the cursor continuously and by a unit amount. The aim is to propose a key switch for moving the cursor that can be freely used to move the cursor.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Representative embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a personal computer equipped with a cursor moving key switch according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Inside the main body of this personal computer or computer, as shown in FIG.
1 is stored. Further, a display section 2 and a keyboard section 3 are provided externally. Note that FIG. 2 is a plan view showing details of the keyboard portion 3 including the cursor movement keys 4. As shown in FIG.

Next, a case will be described in which the cursor K on the display section 2 is moved to the upper left [point (a)] as shown in FIG. 3 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4(A), when the upper left part (point A) of the cursor movement key 4 is pressed from above, the cursor K starts to move continuously toward the upper left. When the cursor K comes close to the point (a), instead of pressing the point A from above, press the key 4 upward to the left (arrow B) and press it back again. For example, instead of moving one scale at a time, it is possible to accurately move to the position of point (a).

The structure of this cursor movement key 4 is shown in Figure 5 (A
), a spherical motion conduction ball 5 is placed under the key 4.
and a leaf spring contact 6 are provided, and when a force is applied to the key 4 from above, the leaf spring contact 6 comes into contact. Furthermore, information based on this contact is sensed by the CPU'9 to control continuous movement and movement direction of the cursor. Here, as shown in point (A) of FIG. 4, a leaf spring contact 6 is provided. ), when the key 4 is pressed down from above, force is applied to both the leaf spring contacts 6x and 6Y shown in FIG. This can be detected as a continuous movement of the cursor K to the upper left.

Similarly, a spherical motion-conducting pole 7 and a leaf spring contact 8 are provided around the key 4, and the leaf spring contact 8 comes into contact when a horizontal force is applied to the key 4. Further, information based on this contact is sensed by the CPU 9 to control the movement of the cursor by one scale and the direction of movement. Here, if the key 4 is pressed in a direction where the leaf spring contact 8 is not provided, such as direction B in FIG. 4(A), the leaf spring contacts 8x and 8 shown in FIG. 5(D)
When force is applied to both Y and both contacts come into contact, the CPU 9 can detect this contact information as information for moving the cursor K one scale up.

Next, the means for detecting opening and closing of the leaf spring contacts 6 and 8 will be explained with reference to FIG.

The leaf spring contact 6 includes leaf/brake contacts 6□ and 62 spaced apart by an insulator 12, as shown in FIG. 7(A'). These contacts 61 and 62 close as shown in FIG. 5(B) when a pressing blade is applied to the key top 4. Therefore, the terminal 6t2 is the grounded terminal 6
Since it is short-circuited to t, it outputs 0 volts. but,
If it is not closed (l/), the voltage is +5 volts due to the action of the pull-up resistor R.

Further, the leaf spring contact 8 includes leaf spring contacts 8□ and 82 which are spaced apart by an insulator 12, as shown in FIG. 7(B). These contacts 8 and 82 close as shown in FIG. 5(C) when a sliding force is applied to the key top 4. Therefore, the terminal 8t2 is short-circuited to the grounded terminal 8tI and outputs 0 volts. However, when it is not closed, the voltage is +5 volts due to the action of the pull-up resistor H.

The CPU 9 is configured to periodically check the terminals 6t2 and 8t2 of the leaf spring contacts 6 and 8. Alternatively, when at least one contact is closed, an interrupt is input to the CPU 9, thereby starting service to the key switch, and when all contacts are opened, an interrupt is input to the CPU 9 again. It may be configured to terminate the service to the key switch. In any of the above cases, contact information of the contacts is taken into the CPU 9 at predetermined intervals while the key switch is being serviced. Therefore, by monitoring the terminals 6t2 of the four sets of leaf spring contacts, it is possible to detect in which direction the cursor K is continuously moved, and in the same way, the terminals 8t of the other four sets of leaf spring contacts can be detected.
Move the cursor K in any direction by monitoring 2
It can detect whether the scale is moved.

In order to control the movement of the cursor as described above, FIG.
It shows the control procedure stored in the ROMII. First, in step 1, it is checked whether switch SW6 is turned on, and if it is turned off, step S
5, it is determined whether the switch SW8 is turned on, and if the switch SW8 is turned off, the loop returns to step S1. That is, in step S1, SW6 is set to O.
When it is determined that the result is N, the process proceeds to step S2.
The direction of movement is determined from the switch that is turned ON, and the cursor is moved by one scale in step S3. In step S4, it is determined whether SW6 is turned off, and if it is turned on, the cursor is continuously moved by repeating the loop of returning to step S3. Then, when it is determined in step S4 that the switch S6 is turned off, the cursor movement ends. When it is determined in step S5 that the switch SW8 is turned on, the direction of movement of the cursor is determined by the turned-on switch SW8, and in step S7 the cursor is moved by an amount equivalent to one scale, and the movement of this l scale is completed. Then, in step S8, it is determined that SW8 is turned off, and the process ends.

In addition, since the structure of the key switch is symmetrical, as if it were a double series, a signal for moving the cursor K by one scale is output in response to a selective press displacement of the key top 4 in the vertical direction. A second embodiment of the key switch is also proposed, which outputs a signal for continuously moving the cursor K in response to slide displacement in the horizontal direction. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4(B), when the cursor movement key 4 is first pressed upward to the left (arrow A), the cursor K begins to move continuously toward the upper left. And when cursor K comes close to point (a),
Instead of pressing the A direction, by repeatedly pressing down and returning the upper left part of the key 4 (point B), the cursor will move one scale at a time, and the point (a) will be displayed.
) can be moved accurately. The structure of this cursor movement key 4 is the same as that shown in FIG.

In the above explanation, even if the display unit 2 and the cursor movement keys 4 are configured in a separate housing from the main body of the device,
Also, the operating conduction poles 5 and 7 and the leaf spring contacts 6 and 8
Needless to say, a commercially available switch may be used instead.

Effects As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide control input for continuous movement of the cursor on the display section by operating a single key top, and moreover, by operating the same key top, it is possible to provide control input for the continuous movement of the same cursor. Since the cursor can be inputted to control the movement of the cursor, even beginners can move the cursor quickly and accurately with a blind touch while looking at the display, which is extremely efficient with little time loss. As described above, although the configuration of the present invention is simple, it can produce extremely large effects.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a personal computer equipped with a cursor movement key switch according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the keyboard section of FIG. 1, and FIGS. 3 and 4 ( A) and (B) are 1 operation explanatory diagram of the cursor movement key according to the present invention. Figs. 5(D) is a plan view, FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a personal reference computer equipped with a cursor moving key switch according to the present invention, and FIGS. 7(A) and (B) are , a circuit diagram showing an example of the terminal structure of the leaf spring contact, and FIG. 8 is a control flowchart for moving the cursor. Here, 4...key for moving the cursor, 5, 7...movement conduction ball, 6, 8...plate spring contact. Figure 1 2 4th cause 5th cause Figure 5 (D) Figure 6 7! jA 8th cause

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A key top, a $1 displacement detection means designed to form an electrical output in response to vertical displacement of the key top, and a $1 displacement detection means designed to generate an electrical output in response to horizontal displacement of the key top. and a second displacement detection means arranged to form an electrical output at the same time, and the two displacement detection means output an output signal for continuous movement of the cursor and an output signal for unit scale movement of the cursor. Features a key device for moving the cursor. (2) The first displacement detection means outputs an output signal for continuous cursor movement, and the second displacement detection means outputs an output signal for unit scale movement of the cursor. Key device for cursor movement as described in Section. (3) The first displacement detection means outputs an output signal for unit scale movement of the cursor, and the second displacement detection means outputs an output signal for continuous movement of the cursor. Key device for cursor movement as described in Section.