JPS6338723B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a kana input device in which kana characters such as katakana and hiragana can be input and displayed on a display or made into a hard copy using a printer or the like. The configuration and layout of the keyboard for operating the computer has been simplified to allow easy and accurate operation.

Conventionally, many types of electronic devices have been designed to provide input information to those devices using kana characters, but keyboards for inputting information using kana characters are difficult to use because there are so many types of kana characters. However, it is necessary to arrange a large number of operation keys on the panel surface, resulting in a large keyboard or a small operation surface for the keys, resulting in a narrow pitch and a significant decrease in operability.

Various proposals have been made in the past to improve operability by reducing the number of operation keys that must be arranged on the keyboard of this type of kana input device used in various electronic devices. , the 50 syllabary kana characters are arranged in a matrix of rows of 5 characters and columns of 10 characters, and a key is provided to represent each row and each column. There is a system in which each kana character is selected and input by a combination of . That is, for example, as a kana character matrix of 50 sounds, kana characters representing each line are arranged vertically as "A, Ka, Sa, Ta, Na...", and "A, I, U, E,
Kana characters representing each column are arranged next to ``o'', and for example, the kana character ``ki'' is expressed by a combination of rows and columns called ``ka rows''. Therefore, the actual character keys to be arranged are only 15 in total, 10 types of kana character keys representing each row and 5 types of kana character keys representing each column. To input the kana character ``Ki'', the kana character keys ``KA'' and ``I'' are pressed.

However, according to the above-mentioned conventional proposal, compared to a keyboard equipped with character keys marked with all of the 50 syllabary kana characters, key operations for inputting desired kana characters are certainly easier and more reliable. Although the conventional method of searching for a desired kana character according to a kana character matrix has the remarkable effect of allowing faster operation and significantly reducing the required area of the keyboard, Since the input method is significantly different from that of the previous method, it takes a considerable amount of time for the operator to become familiar with the method, or the operator must select and press two character keys located in different positions. Because of the inconvenience, there was a drawback that the speed of key operations for inputting a single kana character inevitably decreased.

It is an object of the present invention to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, to further reduce the number of character keys that must actually be arranged on a keyboard, and to provide a desired An object of the present invention is to provide a kana input device which is extremely easy to operate and allows selecting and inputting kana characters.

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides a kana input device capable of inputting kana characters, including a plurality of representative character keys, each of which is defined with a kana character representing each line of the Japanese syllabary, and a plurality of representative character keys. A storage means for storing data corresponding to a representative character key operated among the character keys, and in response to operations of a plurality of representative character keys, sequentially displaying kana characters in a line defined by the representative character key operated. a display means for
a detection means for detecting an operation of a plurality of representative character keys in a state where kana characters are sequentially displayed on a display means; a determining means that refers to and determines whether or not the operated representative character key is the same as the previously operated representative character key;
The present invention is characterized by comprising a determining means for determining the kana characters displayed on the display means when a match is obtained by the determining means.

That is, in the kana input device of the present invention, a desired kana is searched and inputted according to the 50-syllabary kana matrix, as in the conventional proposal described above, but the character keys to be actually arranged are In order to further reduce the number of characters, only the 10 types of kana character keys "A, KA, SA, TA, NA,..." representing each line in the 50-syllabary kana matrix are arranged. When entering characters, press the kana character key "KA" representing the row containing the kana "KI", and the display will display each kana character in the "KA" row in sequence as "KA, KI, KU," ke, ko, ka,
``Ki, ku,...'' is displayed repeatedly, and when the desired kana character ``ki'' is displayed, if you press the originally pressed kana character key for ``ka'' again, the key that was displayed at that time will be displayed. The kana character "ki" is fixedly displayed and input.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the number of character keys actually arranged is only 10, which is much fewer than in the past, and the key operation is extremely simple and easy by pressing the same character key twice. You can quickly input the desired kana characters by
Operability will be significantly improved compared to the past.

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

In addition, in the following explanation, for convenience of explanation,
It is assumed that each kana character in each line is displayed one by one on the display, but in reality, a conventional multi-digit display is often used, in which case only the number of digits that can be displayed is displayed. For example, “Ka, ki, ku, ke, ko,
``Ka'' and 6-digit kana characters are displayed at the same time, and the character string is sequentially moved to the left, and when the desired kana character, for example ``ki'' is displayed at the leftmost position, the ``ka'' row representative Of course, the present invention can be practiced by appropriately changing the display and key operation modes, such as by pressing a character key again.

First, an example of the circuit configuration of the kana input device of the present invention is shown in FIG. 1, and then the combination of the code of each line representative kana character key and the code of each kana character of each line in the character generator CG is explained. An example is shown in Figure 2.

In the illustrated configuration, when a row representative kana character key on the keyboard KB is pressed, the key code of the row represented by the pressed kana character key in the code comparison table shown in the second diagram is temporarily stored in the key register K. At this time, a flag "1" is set in the key flag KF to indicate that the key code has been input. In addition, the above-mentioned key register K, excluding the above-mentioned keyboard KB and the below-mentioned display DSP,
The central processing unit CPU, which includes all other components including the key flag KF, is provided with three registers A, B, and C for storing various information, as will be described later. display
The DSP is provided with a timer register TR and a timer flag that control and manage the period of time for sequentially displaying each kana character. It is assumed that information signals are exchanged between these components within the central processing unit CPU via the bus line BS. However, the central processing unit
The CPU is equipped with a calculation unit ALU and two latches L1 and L2 for accumulating the number of key operations, character displays, etc. Also, the kana character display signal is sent to the display register DR and the character generator CG.
is supplied to the display DSP to display each kana character. Furthermore, in order to control the functions of each of these components, a fixed storage device ROM is provided in which predetermined arithmetic instructions are programmed. When each code signal is supplied, a kana character signal corresponding to each code is generated and supplied to the display device DSP.

Further, the code comparison table shown in the second figure is structured as follows. In other words, for the key code, the kana characters marked on each key, i.e.
The kana characters “A,” representing each row of the 50-sound matrix
``0, 1, ka, sa, ta, na,...''
Numerical values such as "2, 3, 4,..." are assigned as codes. On the other hand, the character code attached to each kana character signal generated by the character generator CG, that is, the CG
Regarding the code, the value obtained by multiplying the value of the key code attached to the representative kana character in each line by 5 is used as the CG code of the first kana character in each line, and the value obtained by sequentially adding 1 to that value is used as the CG code for subsequent kana characters in the same line. It is a CG code for kana characters. For example, for the "Sa" line, for the key code "2" of the "Sa" line,
Each kana character in the "sa" line "sa, shi, su, se, so,"
Then, ``10'', which is ``2'' multiplied by 5, is placed first.
11, 12, 13, 14'' are assigned as their respective CG codes. Therefore, the keyboard
When you press the representative kana character key for the "sa" line on the KB and enter the key code "2" into the central processing unit, each kana character in the "sa" line "sa, shi, su, se,
"10, 11, 12, 13, 14" attached sequentially to "G"
The CG code will be generated repeatedly to generate a kana character signal to be displayed on the display DSP.

Through the above-described process, each kana character in the line containing the desired kana character is sequentially displayed, and when the desired kana character is displayed, the display is fixed and the desired kana character signal is inputted. FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of the kana input operation in the kana input device of the present invention which operates according to the configuration described above. According to the illustrated flowchart, first, the key flag KF is set to "1" and a standby state of waiting for a key operation is maintained until KF=1. Then, as the key flag KF becomes KF=1, the keyboard
When it is determined that a KB key operation has been performed, the key flag KF is reset to KF = 0 by applying a clear signal CL, and the key code selected by the key operation on the keyboard KB is read from the key register K and stored in register A. and temporarily store it. Next, the memory contents of register C, which is used to count and sequentially add the number of times characters are displayed, are set to zero, and the contents are placed in a counting standby state. The key code that has been stored is transferred and stored, and a key code with a numerical value that is five times the numerical value represented by the key code is temporarily stored in register B. At that time, in order to multiply the value of the key code by 5, the former key code once stored in register B is transferred to latches L1 and L2, and the value of the key code supplied alternately from each latch is sent to calculation unit ALU. By repeating the addition five times, the calculation is multiplied by five.
In this way, the latter key code consisting of the numerical value multiplied by 5 is temporarily stored in register B from the calculation unit ALU, and then transferred to the display register DR, and the character generator CG is driven by the key code.
The kana character signals of the lines corresponding to the key codes are sequentially generated and sequentially displayed on the display device DSP.

As described above, in order to sequentially display the kana characters in the line corresponding to the key code for a fixed period of time, the following flowchart for scanning the line characters sequentially is performed. That is, first, in order to measure the display time, the timer flag TF, which sets the flag to "1" when a predetermined display time has elapsed, is set to "0".
For example, a predetermined display time set to 1 second is stored in the timer register TR, and when the set display time has elapsed, the timer flag TF is set to "1" and the process moves to the next step. If it is within the set display time, the process returns to the initial key operation standby state as will be described later.

As described above, when the set display time for the first kana character in the line specified by key operation has elapsed, in order to display the next kana character in that line,
Add "1" to the quintuple value represented by the latter key code temporarily stored in register B, and also add "1" to the stored contents of register C, which is used to manage the number of additions of "1". By adding, it is stored that "1" has been added once to the numerical value of the latter key code, that is, the CG code. To sequentially display the kana characters in the line specified by key operation, adding "1" to the numerical value of the CG code is repeated four times, so until the addition of "1" to the contents of register C is performed four times,
A character generator CG generates a kana character signal corresponding to a new numeric CG code resulting from the addition of "1" each time the "1" is added, and sequentially displays the signal on the display DSP for a predetermined display time. After repeating this display and displaying the kana characters in the final "O" column, when the addition of "1" that is performed at that time causes the stored contents of register C to become "5", the kana characters in the first "A" column will be displayed. Return to the step of generating characters,
The above-described sequential display of line characters is repeated. As mentioned above, in order to add "1" to the numerical value of each memory content in registers B and C, temporarily store the numerical value and "1" of the memory content of each register in latches L1 and L2, and then Then, the calculation unit ALU performs the addition of both.

Next, for the line specified by the selective operation of the line representative character key on the keyboard KB, the above-mentioned sequential display of kana characters is repeated, and when the desired kana character is displayed, the desired character is displayed. To stop the display sequentially to fix the display, only when the row representative character key is pressed again during the set display time when kana characters are displayed on the display DSP, the current In order to keep the character display state continuous, in the routine process of measuring the setting display time, it is necessary to check whether or not the key flag KF is set to "1" during the time measurement, that is, if any key operation is performed. It is determined whether or not the keyboard KB is used. Based on that judgment, the key flag KF is set to KF=1
If so, after returning KF to 0, the key code of the row representative character key pressed at that time is set to the row representative character key pressed first, that is,
It is determined whether the key code matches the key code temporarily stored in register A, and if it is determined that the same row representative character key has been pressed again, the characters are displayed sequentially in the character display state at that time. The device stops, inputs the kana characters displayed at that time into the device, and returns to the initial key operation standby state. Also, if the second key pressed is different from the first pressed key, regardless of the second key operation, the process returns to the process of measuring the display time and waits until the predetermined display time has elapsed. The character display continues, and the above-described sequential display is repeated thereafter.

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, there are 10 types of character keys that are arranged on the keyboard to input each kana character of the 50 syllabies in the kana input device, representing each line of the 50 syllabaries. To enter the desired kana character among the 50 syllabaries by placing only the kana character keys "A, KA, SA, TA, NA,...",
By pressing the kana character key representing the line containing the desired kana character, the display unit will repeatedly display the kana characters in that line in sequence, and when the desired kana character is displayed, press the same representative character key. By pressing the button again, the display of the desired kana character is fixed and the kana character can be input into the device. Therefore, in conventional kana input devices, the number of kana character keys that must be arranged on the keyboard is extremely large, and the area occupied by them is large, or it takes time to search for a desired kana character key. In contrast to various drawbacks such as slow operation and a high risk of erroneous operation, the present invention significantly reduces the number of kana character keys arranged on the keyboard. Furthermore, the desired kana character can be entered easily and reliably by the extremely simple and easy key operation of pressing the same kana character key twice, minimizing the space occupied by the kana character keys on the keyboard. In addition to being able to reduce the size, the speed of key operations can be significantly reduced, erroneous operations can be minimized, and operability is significantly improved.

In short, the present invention stores the data of the first operated key in the storage means, and then compares the operation key operated during the kana sequential display with the data of the previous operation key stored in the storage means. By using a method, the corresponding kana data is displayed with the first key operation, and the next time the same key is operated, the kana data displayed at that time is confirmed.
There is no need to hold down the operation keys one by one until the desired kana is displayed, and when the desired kana is displayed, you only need to operate the same key again, so it is possible to keep pressing the keys. This has the effect of preventing erroneous operations. In other words, even if you hold down a key, your finger may accidentally come off the key, but you can press the key at exactly the right time.

Furthermore, in the present invention, the keys used to confirm the sequentially displayed kana data are limited to the keys operated first, which has the remarkable effect of preventing malfunctions caused by pressing other keys. can get.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the kana input device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of how the kana character code is stored, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the mode of operation. It's a chat. KB...Keyboard, CPU...Central processing unit, ROM...Fixed storage device, K, A, B, C,
TR, DR...Register, KF, TF...Flag,
CG... Character generator, DSP... Display, L1, L
2...Latch, ALU...Calculation unit, BS...
bus line.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A kana input device capable of inputting kana characters, comprising: a plurality of representative character keys, each of which is defined with a kana character representing each line of the Japanese syllabary; and one of the plurality of representative character keys. a storage means for storing data corresponding to an operated representative character key; and a display for sequentially displaying kana characters in a row defined by the operated representative character key in response to the operation of the plurality of representative character keys. means for detecting an operation of the plurality of representative character keys while kana characters are sequentially displayed on the display means; a determining means for determining whether or not the operated representative character key is the same as a previously operated representative character key by referring to data stored in the storage means; A kana input device comprising: determining means for determining the kana characters displayed on the display means when the kana characters are displayed on the display means.