JP2002175145A - Input system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To increase the efficiency in input work by structurally prohibiting operation of key, etc. SOLUTION: When a key 12 corresponding to, for example, 'H' is pushed down by an operator for inputting a Japanese alphabet character by a Roman character, the key generates a corresponding signal, and outputs the signal to a key push-down prohibiting mechanism control part 8. The key push-down prohibiting mechanism control part 8 specifies the pushed-down key 12 by this signal, outputs a code signal of the specified key 12 to a personal computer, and acquires information for expressing the key 12 having the possibility of being operated in succession to the key by a Roman character database 10. As a result, the key push-down prohibiting mechanism control part 8 outputs a control signal 32 to a key push-down prohibiting mechanism 6 corresponding to the key 12 other than 'A', 'I', 'U', 'E', 'O', and 'Y', checks displacement of the key 12, and prohibits operation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an input system such as a keyboard and a mouse of a computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a main part of an example of a conventional input system. This input system 102
Input device 104 and personal computer 106
(Personal computer 106), the input device 104 is, for example, a keyboard, and the input operation mechanism 10 using a number of keys.
The personal computer 106 includes a CPU and a memory (not shown).
Control program 110 and application program 11
2 (also referred to as application software) and the like, and the CPU operates based on these programs.

Assuming that the control program 110 functions as a kana-kanji conversion program as an example, the control program 110 operates an English character key on a keyboard and converts, for example, Roman characters into kana characters when the characters are input. Furthermore, the character code of the kanji is converted to kanji and output to the application program 112.

By the way, when inputting kana in Roman characters, the English characters following a certain English character are limited. For example, if you first enter "H" to enter kana on a line, the English characters that follow will always be "A", "I", "U", "E", "O", and "Y". Either. Therefore, if an English character other than these English characters is erroneously input following "H", the control program 110 does not convert the character to Kana characters, and displays it on the screen of the display device (not shown) of the personal computer. For example, English characters are displayed as they are. The operator sees this and recognizes an erroneous input, deletes the input character once, and inputs a correct character again.

When a certain kind of application program is operated on a computer and a keyboard is operated to input information, only a numeral is entered in a column such as an amount or a date. In such a case, if an English character or the like is erroneously input, it will not be accepted by the application program, and an operation for correction will be required.

A mouse is widely used as an input device in a personal computer or the like. When a mouse is used to input information or execute a command, a button or a button to be operated is displayed on a screen of a display device of the personal computer. , Check boxes, graphics, etc. are usually arranged in a limited area, and it is often not necessary to move the mouse cursor outside that area. Therefore, in such a situation, when the mouse cursor is moved out of the above-mentioned area for some reason, an operation of returning the cursor to the above-mentioned area must be performed, and there is room for improvement in terms of operation efficiency. is there.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a problem. A first object of the present invention is to mechanically operate keys that should not be operated and keys that need not be operated. An object of the present invention is to provide an input system in which the input operation is made more efficient by preventing the input operation. A second object of the present invention is to provide an input system in which input operations are made more efficient by mechanically restricting mouse operations.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an input device having a plurality of input operation mechanisms for generating a signal indicating that an operation has been performed by being displaced in response to an operation by an operator. An operation inhibiting mechanism for individually preventing displacement of the input operating mechanism according to a control signal, and outputting the control signal to the operation inhibiting mechanism to selectively inhibit displacement of some of the input operating mechanisms. And an operation prohibition mechanism control unit.

Further, the present invention provides a horizontal moving distance detecting section for detecting a horizontal moving distance of a mouse and outputting an electric signal indicating the moving distance, and detecting a vertical moving distance of the mouse for the same movement. A mouse system comprising: a vertical movement distance detection unit that outputs an electric signal representing a distance; and a button press detection unit that detects that a mouse button has been pressed and outputs an electric signal. A lateral braking mechanism for inhibiting the movement of the mouse, a vertical braking mechanism for inhibiting the vertical movement of the mouse, a button pressing inhibiting mechanism for inhibiting the downward displacement of the mouse button, and outputting a control signal. A mouse control means for controlling the operation of the lateral braking mechanism, the vertical braking mechanism, and the depression prevention mechanism is provided.

In the input system of the present invention, an operation prohibition mechanism is provided to individually prevent the displacement of the input operation mechanism in accordance with the control signal, and the operation prohibition mechanism control section outputs a control signal to the operation prohibition mechanism to output the control signal. The displacement of the input operation mechanism of the section is selectively prevented. Therefore, for example, when the input operation mechanism is a key to which an English character is associated, and a key is operated to input a Kana character in Roman characters, an English character key that does not continue with the input English character Can be controlled by the operation prohibition mechanism control unit to prevent displacement by the operation prohibition mechanism. As a result, erroneous input can be prevented, and input operation can be performed efficiently.
Further, even if an erroneous key operation is attempted, the operation itself cannot be performed, so that the operator can recognize the erroneous operation without looking at the screen of the display device or the keyboard. Therefore, the input system of the present invention can be easily operated even by a visually impaired person or the like.

In the input system of the present invention, the mouse control means outputs a control signal to control the operation of the lateral braking mechanism, the longitudinal braking mechanism, and the depression preventing mechanism, so that the mouse can be moved in the horizontal and vertical directions. Braking the movement of
Prevents downward movement of the mouse button. Therefore,
For example, in a personal computer including the input system and the display device of the present invention, if the mouse control means controls the lateral braking mechanism and the vertical braking mechanism based on the position of the mouse cursor on the screen of the display device, When operated, for example, when the mouse cursor comes out of a specific area on the screen, the movement of the mouse can be braked to suppress the mouse from moving further. As a result, it is possible to prevent the mouse cursor from being unnecessarily largely moved out of the above-mentioned area, and it is not necessary to uselessly perform a mouse operation such as returning a cursor outside the area to the inside of the area. It is possible to do well.

Further, in the input system of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the operation of the mouse button by operating the pressing prevention mechanism through the mouse control means as required. As a result, the mouse button is pressed unnecessarily when working without using the mouse button, or when working using only a specific mouse button among multiple mouse buttons. Can be prevented, and a drop in the efficiency of the input operation due to an erroneous operation can be avoided.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the input system according to the present invention. The input system 2 shown in FIG. 1 includes a keyboard 4, a key press prohibition mechanism 6,
A key press prohibition mechanism control unit 8 and a Roman character database 10 are provided. Keyboard 4 has multiple keys 1
2 (input operation mechanism), and each key 12 generates a signal indicating that the key 12 has been operated by being displaced in response to an operation by the operator. In this embodiment, different English characters are associated with each key 12.

The key press prohibition mechanism 6 (operation prohibition mechanism)
It is provided for each key 12 and individually blocks displacement of each key 12 in accordance with a given control signal. FIG. 2 is a side view around the key 12 showing an example of the key press prohibition mechanism 6.
As shown in FIG. 2, the key 12 includes a support shaft 14 and a head 16 fixed to the top of the support shaft 14. The support shaft 14 is inserted into a support hole 22 It is displaceably supported and urged upward by a coil spring 24. An electrode 26 is mounted on the side of the support shaft 14,
On the other hand, an electrode 28 is attached to the substrate 18 side.
The electrode 28 is formed by a leaf spring and is urged to the side surface of the support shaft 14. Then, when the head 16 is pressed by a finger, the electrodes 26 and 28 come into contact with each other to be in a conductive state, and the electrode 2
The flow of the current through 6, 28 generates a signal indicating that the key 12 is pressed.

In this embodiment, a solenoid 30 is mounted on the substrate 18 near the lower end of the support shaft 14. When the solenoid 30 is energized based on the control signal, the iron core 30A of the solenoid 30 moves in the direction of arrow A. To protrude below the support shaft 14, and the shaft 14 is prevented from being displaced downward, so that the key 12 is prevented from being pressed.
The solenoid 30 has a coil spring (not shown), and the iron core 30A is always supported by the coil spring.
It is urged away from

In the present embodiment, the Roman character database 10 (input necessity condition storage unit) holds information on English characters that may be successively input for each English character. More specifically, it is assumed that the English characters that are likely to be continuously input are English characters that are likely to follow each English character when the Kana characters are represented in Roman characters.

The key press prohibition mechanism control section 8 (operation prohibition mechanism control section) replaces the operated key 12 with the key
Identified on the basis of the signal generated by the
Is generated and output to, for example, a personal computer (not shown). At the same time, the key press prohibition mechanism control unit 8
Obtains from the Roman character database 10 information indicating a key 12 that may be operated following the specified key 12, and sends a control signal 3 to the key press prohibition mechanism 6.
2 is output to control the key press prohibition mechanism 6, and the key 12 which may be operated following the specified key 12
Other keys 12 and therefore keys 12 that should not be operated
To prevent displacement.

Next, the operation of the input system 2 configured as described above will be described. For example, assuming that the operator inputs kana characters in Roman characters to perform kana-kanji conversion, for example, first presses the key 12 corresponding to "H" to input kana characters in a line. Generates a corresponding signal and outputs it to the key press prohibition mechanism control unit 8. The key press prohibition mechanism control unit 8 specifies the key 12 pressed by this signal, outputs a code signal of the specified key 12 to a personal computer (not shown), and sets a key that may be operated following the key. The information representing 12 is obtained from the Roman character database 10.

Here, since the English character following "H" is always any one of "A", "I", "U", "E", "O", and "Y", the Roman character database 10 The key press prohibition mechanism control unit 8 holds the information of these English characters as English characters that may be input after "H", and obtains the information of "A",
Key 1 other than "I", "U", "E", "O", "Y"
The control signal 32 is output to the key press prohibition mechanism 6 corresponding to 2 to prevent the key 12 from being displaced.

As a result, when the operator inputs an English character following "H", "A", "I", "U",
When a key 12 other than "E", "O", and "Y" is operated, the key 12 is not displaced and does not generate a corresponding signal. It will not be done.

Next, when the operator presses the "Y" key 12, the key generates a corresponding signal and outputs it to the key press prohibition mechanism control unit 8. The key press prohibition mechanism control unit 8 specifies the pressed key 12 based on this signal, outputs a code signal of the specified key 12 to the personal computer, and operates the key 12 that may be operated following the key.
Is obtained from the Roman character database 10.

Here, since the English character following "Y" is always any one of "A", "U", and "O", there is a possibility that the Roman character database 10 is input after "Y". As a certain English character, the information of these English characters is held, and the key press prohibition mechanism control unit 8 acquires the information and corresponds to the keys 12 other than “A”, “U”, and “O”. The control signal 32 is output to the key press prohibition mechanism 6 to prevent the key 12 from being displaced. As a result, the operator is "Y"
When entering the English character following ",""A","U",
When a key 12 other than "O" is operated, the key 12 is not displaced and does not generate a corresponding signal, so that no code signal is output from the key press prohibition mechanism control unit 8 to the personal computer.

Next, if the operator presses the "U" key 12, the key generates a corresponding signal and outputs it to the key press prohibition mechanism control unit 8. The key press prohibition mechanism control unit 8 specifies the key 12 pressed by this signal, and outputs a code signal of the specified key 12 to the personal computer. Then, "hu" has been input through the above series of input operations.

The key press prohibition mechanism control unit 8
Information representing the key 12 that may be operated following the “U” key 12 is obtained from the Roman character database 10. Here, English characters that may be followed by "U" are "A", "I", "U", "E", "O", "K",
"S", "T", "N", "H", "M", "Y",
"R", "W", "G", "Z", "D", "B",
"P" and "N", and the key press prohibition mechanism control section 8 acquires these information and outputs the control signal 32 to the key press prohibition mechanism 6 corresponding to the key 12 other than the key 12 represented by the information. Then, the displacement of the key 12 is prevented. As a result, when the operator inputs an English character following "U", even if the wrong key 12 is operated, the key 12 is not displaced and does not generate a corresponding signal. 8 does not output a code signal to the personal computer. As described above, in the input system according to the present embodiment, when the kana character is input in Roman characters, even if the operator operates the wrong key 12, the key 12 is not displaced and cannot be operated. Thus, the input operation can be performed efficiently.

Further, in the present embodiment, even if an erroneous operation is attempted, the operation itself cannot be performed, so that the operator can recognize the erroneous operation without looking at the screen of the display device of the personal computer or the keyboard 4, for example. Therefore, even a visually impaired person or the like can easily operate the keyboard 4.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an input system according to the second embodiment. The input system 34 shown in FIG. 3 is composed of a keyboard 36 and a personal computer 38. The keys (input operation mechanism) of the keyboard 36 are alphabetic keys 40, numeric keys 42, symbol keys 44, and four of function keys 46. It consists of a group of different keys. The function key 46 is also called a function key, and is often used to execute a specific function of software running on the personal computer by one key operation.

An operation prohibition mechanism 48 is provided for each key group, and the operation prohibition mechanism prevents displacement of each key group in accordance with a control signal. Operation prohibition mechanism 4
The specific structure of 8 can be the same as the above-described operation prohibition mechanism described with reference to FIG.

The function control unit 50 (operation prohibition mechanism control unit according to the present invention) outputs a control signal 32 to the operation prohibition mechanism based on the given selection signal to prevent the key of the group represented by the selection signal from being displaced. When each key is operated, a signal representing a code such as an alphabetic character or a number is generated based on the signal from the key, and supplied to the personal computer 38.
The personal computer 38 includes a CPU and a memory (not shown),
The memory is loaded with a keyboard control program 52, an application program 54, and the like, and the CPU operates based on these programs.

Next, the operation of the input system 34 configured as described above will be described. Application program 54
Is a program for performing, for example, accounting-related processing. The program acquires a kana character or the like representing a product name based on an operation on the keyboard 36, and acquires information on an amount and a date. The acquired information is displayed on the screen of the display device 56 of the personal computer 38 and stored in a storage device (not shown).

When the application program 54 acquires the information of the amount and the date, the display device 56
Screen for inputting an amount and a date to prompt the operator to input, and at the same time, an alphabetic key 40, a symbol key 44, and a function key 4 as a key group for invalidating the operation.
6 is specified to the keyboard control program 52. As a result, the keyboard control program 52 generates a selection signal representing the designated key, and outputs the selection signal to the function control unit 50 of the keyboard 36 through a predetermined interface circuit (not shown) of the personal computer 38. The function control unit 50 receives this selection signal and, based on the given selection signal, operates the operation inhibiting mechanism 4.
8 to output a control signal 32 to prevent displacement of the key of the group represented by the selection signal.

Therefore, in this state, even if the operator tries to operate keys other than the numeric keys 42 by mistake, those keys cannot be operated because the operation inhibition mechanism prevents the keys from being displaced. An erroneous input can be reliably prevented, and an input operation can be performed efficiently.

Further, even if an attempt is made to operate the wrong key 12, the operation itself cannot be performed, so that the operator can recognize the erroneous operation without looking at the screen of the display device 56 of the personal computer 38 or the keyboard 36, for example. Therefore, a visually impaired person can easily operate the keyboard 36.

In this embodiment, the keyboard control program 52 is incorporated in the personal computer 38 as a program different from the application program 54. However, the application program 54 itself has the function of the keyboard control program 52. , The keyboard control program 52 may not be used.

Next, a third embodiment will be described. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a mouse system as a third embodiment of the present invention. The mouse system 58 shown in FIG. 4 includes a mouse 60 and a personal computer 62 to which the mouse is connected. The mouse 60 detects a lateral movement distance of the mouse 60 as a basic component as a mouse. A horizontal movement distance detector 64 that outputs an electric signal indicating the same movement distance, a vertical movement distance detector 66 that detects a vertical movement distance of the mouse 60 and outputs an electric signal indicating the same movement distance, And a first mouse for detecting that each of the second mouse buttons is pressed and outputting an electric signal.
And second button press detection sections 68 and 70.

Then, the mouse 60 of the present embodiment is
A lateral braking mechanism 72 for inhibiting the lateral movement of the mouse 60 and a longitudinal braking mechanism 74 for inhibiting the vertical movement of the mouse 60 are provided, and further below the first and second mouse buttons. And second button press restricting mechanisms 76 and 78 (press-preventing mechanisms) for respectively preventing displacement to
It has.

FIG. 5 is a perspective plan view showing the horizontal braking mechanism 72 and the vertical braking mechanism 74 in detail. As shown in FIG. 5, the mouse 60 includes a roller 80 that forms a lateral movement distance detection unit 64, and the roller 80 is rotatably supported on a roller shaft 80A that extends in the vertical movement direction of the mouse 60, The roller surface is in contact with a sphere 82 for detecting the amount of movement of the mouse 60, and is urged toward the sphere 82 by a spring (not shown). An optical encoder (not shown) is connected to the roller shaft 80A. When the roller 80 is rotated by the movement of the mouse 60, an electric signal indicating the amount of rotation is transmitted from the encoder to a signal indicating the amount of movement of the mouse in the horizontal direction. Is output as

The lateral braking mechanism 72 is constituted by a solenoid 84, and the solenoid 84 is fixed to the mouse case in a state where the iron core 86 extends in a direction to separate and approach the roller surface of the roller 80. The iron core 86 is normally urged away from the roller 80 by a spring (not shown). When the solenoid 84 is energized based on a control signal, the iron core protrudes from the solenoid body, and a felt portion 88 at the tip of the iron core protrudes from the roller. Abuts against the surface, so that the rotation of the roller 80 is suppressed.

The mouse 60 also has a vertical movement distance detection unit 66.
The roller 90 comprises a mouse 6
0 is rotatably supported on a roller shaft 90A extending in the lateral movement direction, and the roller surface is
And is urged toward the sphere 82 by a spring (not shown). An optical encoder (not shown) is connected to the roller shaft 90A.
When 0 rotates, an electric signal indicating the amount of rotation is output from the encoder as a signal indicating the amount of movement of the mouse 60 in the horizontal direction.

The longitudinal braking mechanism 74 is constituted by a solenoid 92, and the solenoid 92 has an iron core 94.
Are fixed to the mouse case in a state of extending in the direction approaching and separating from the roller surface of the roller 90. The iron core 94 is normally urged in a direction away from the roller 90 by a spring (not shown). When the solenoid 92 is energized based on a control signal, the iron core projects from the solenoid main body, and a felt portion 88 at the tip of the iron core projects from the roller. Abuts against the surface, so that the rotation of the roller 90 is suppressed.

First and second button press restricting mechanism 7
6 and 78 can be realized basically in the same manner as the above-described key press prohibition mechanism 6, and the first mouse button and the second mouse button can be displaced downward and rocked downward, for example, by changing the iron core of the solenoid as necessary. What is necessary is just to make it the structure etc. which block by making it protrude.

The personal computer 62 includes a CPU and a memory (not shown), into which a mouse control program 96 and an application program 98 are loaded.
U operates based on these programs. The above C
In particular, the PU is operated by a mouse control program 96 to constitute a mouse control means according to the present invention. The mouse control means outputs a control signal 32 to output a lateral braking mechanism 72, a vertical braking mechanism 74, and a pressing restriction. The operation of the mechanisms 76 and 78 is controlled.

Next, the operation of the thus configured mouse system 58 will be described. First, basic operations related to mouse operation are as follows. The application program 98 displays a dialog box in a partial rectangular area of a screen of a display device (not shown) of the personal computer 62, displays various push buttons and check boxes in the dialog box, and displays a mouse cursor. Then, it is assumed that the operator is prompted to perform a click operation using the mouse 60.

For example, when the operator moves the mouse 60 to place the mouse cursor at the position of a specific push button, the horizontal movement distance detection unit 64 and the vertical movement distance detection unit 66 operate the mouse 60 by operating the encoder. A signal indicating the moving distance is output to the personal computer 62. The mouse control program 96 acquires the information of the moving distance represented by the signal through a predetermined interface (not shown) of the personal computer 62,
A new position (coordinate value) is calculated based on the original position (coordinate value) of the mouse cursor on the screen of the display device.

On the other hand, the operator moves the mouse cursor and places the mouse cursor at the position of the button,
For example, the first mouse button is pressed. The first button press detection unit 68 detects this and outputs a signal indicating that the button has been pressed to the personal computer 62.

The mouse control program 96 compares the new position of the mouse cursor on the screen calculated as described above with the position of the push button on the screen, and places the mouse cursor at the position of the push button. If the push button on the screen is clicked when the button press detection signal is sent from the first button press detection unit 68 as described above, the application program 9
Notify 8. As a result, the application program 98 executes a predetermined process corresponding to the push button.

When the mouse 60 is operated as described above,
In the present embodiment, the application program 98 issues an instruction to the mouse control program 96 so that the moving range of the mouse cursor is within the above-described dialog box.
The information representing the area on the screen of the dialog box is supplied to the mouse control program 96.

As a result, the mouse control program 96
Based on the signals from the horizontal movement distance detection unit 64 and the vertical movement distance detection unit 66, the position of the mouse cursor on the screen is calculated as described above, and it is constantly monitored whether or not the position is within the area. When it is out of the area, the control signal 32 is output to one or both of the horizontal braking mechanism 72 and the vertical braking mechanism 74 to activate these braking mechanisms, and the movement of the mouse 60 is braked.

For example, when the mouse cursor moves out of the left boundary of the dialog box, the mouse control program 96 outputs the control signal 32 to suppress the mouse cursor from moving further to the left. The direction braking mechanism 72 is operated. As a result, the solenoid 84
(FIG. 5) is energized, the iron core 86 protrudes, and the rotation of the roller 80 is suppressed. As a result, the rotation of the sphere 82 in the horizontal direction is suppressed, so that the lateral movement of the mouse 60 is braked.

For example, when the mouse cursor goes out of the upper boundary of the dialog box,
The mouse control program 96 outputs the control signal 32 to prevent the mouse cursor from moving further upward and activates the vertical braking mechanism 76. As a result, the solenoid 92 is energized, the iron core 94 protrudes, and the rotation of the roller 90 is suppressed. As a result, the vertical rotation of the sphere 82 is suppressed, so that the vertical movement of the mouse 60 is braked.

As described above, since the movement of the mouse 60 is braked, further movement of the mouse cursor is suppressed, and it is possible to prevent the mouse cursor from largely falling out of the dialog box. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform an unnecessary operation such as returning a cursor that is unnecessarily large out of the area to the original area as in the past,
The input operation using the mouse 60 can be performed efficiently.

In the present embodiment, when only the pressing operation of the first mouse button 60A (FIG. 5) needs to be performed as the mouse button operation, for example, the application program 98 is replaced with the mouse control program 96. To the second mouse button 60B. Accordingly, the mouse control program 96 activates the second button press restricting mechanism 78 to prevent the second mouse button 60B from being displaced downward.

Thus, even if the operator attempts to press the second mouse button by mistake, the second mouse button cannot be pressed, and therefore, a malfunction of the application program 98 due to an incorrect operation of the mouse button is prevented. And the efficiency of the input operation can be prevented from lowering. In this embodiment, the second mouse button 60B is invalidated. However, the first mouse button 60A can be invalidated or the first and second mouse buttons 60A,
It is, of course, possible to invalidate both OBs.

[0053]

As described above, in the input system of the present invention, an operation prohibition mechanism is provided to individually prevent the displacement of the input operation mechanism in accordance with the control signal, and the operation prohibition mechanism control unit controls the operation prohibition mechanism. A control signal is output to selectively prevent displacement of some input operation mechanisms. Therefore, for example, when the input operation mechanism is a key to which an English character is associated, and a key is operated to input a Kana character in Roman characters, an English character key that does not continue with the input English character Can be controlled by the operation prohibition mechanism control unit to prevent displacement by the operation prohibition mechanism. As a result, erroneous input can be prevented, and input operation can be performed efficiently. Further, even if an erroneous key operation is attempted, the operation itself cannot be performed, so that the operator can recognize the erroneous operation without looking at the screen of the display device or the keyboard. Therefore, the input system of the present invention can be easily operated even by a visually impaired person or the like.

Further, in the input system of the present invention, the mouse control means outputs a control signal to control the operation of the lateral braking mechanism, the longitudinal braking mechanism, and the depression preventing mechanism, so that the mouse is moved in the horizontal and vertical directions. Braking the movement of
Prevents downward movement of the mouse button. Therefore,
For example, in a personal computer including the input system and the display device of the present invention, if the mouse control means controls the lateral braking mechanism and the vertical braking mechanism based on the position of the mouse cursor on the screen of the display device, When operated, for example, when the mouse cursor comes out of a specific area on the screen, the movement of the mouse can be braked to suppress the mouse from moving further. As a result, it is possible to prevent the mouse cursor from being unnecessarily largely moved out of the above-mentioned area, and it is not necessary to uselessly perform a mouse operation such as returning a cursor outside the area to the inside of the area. It is possible to do well.

Further, in the input system of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the operation of the mouse button by operating the pressing prevention mechanism through the mouse control means as required. As a result, the mouse button is pressed unnecessarily when working without using the mouse button, or when working using only a specific mouse button among multiple mouse buttons. Can be prevented, and a drop in the efficiency of the input operation due to an erroneous operation can be avoided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an input system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view around a key showing an example of a key press prohibition mechanism.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an input system according to a second embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a mouse system according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a perspective plan view showing a lateral braking mechanism and a vertical braking mechanism of the mouse system in detail.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a conventional input system.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... input system, 4 ... keyboard, 6 ... key press prohibition mechanism, 8 ... key press prohibition mechanism control unit, 10 ...
Roman character database, 12 ... key, 14 ... support shaft, 16 ... head, 18 ... board, 20 ... support means,
22 ... Support hole, 24 ... Coil spring, 26 ...
Electrode, 28 ... Electrode, 30 ... Solenoid, 32 ... Control signal, 34 ... Input system, 36 ... Keyboard
38 ... PC, 40 ... English character key, 42 ... Numeric key, 44 ... Symbol key, 46 ... Function key, 48 ...
Operation prohibition mechanism, 50: Function control unit, 52: Keyboard control program, 54: Application program, 56
... Display device 58 mouse system 60 mouse 62 personal computer 64 lateral movement distance detector 6
6 Vertical movement distance detecting section 68 First button pressing detecting section 70 Second button pressing detecting section 72 Horizontal braking mechanism 74 Vertical braking mechanism 76 First button press restricting mechanism, 78 Second button press restricting mechanism, 80 Roller, Sphere, 84 Solenoid, 86 Iron core, 88 Felt part, 90 Roller 92: Solenoid, 94: Iron core, 96:
Mouse control program, 98 application program,
102 input system 104 input device 106
…… Personal computer (PC), 108 ……
Input operation mechanism, 110 Control program, 112
Application program.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An input system comprising a plurality of input operation mechanisms for respectively generating a signal indicating that an operation has been performed by being displaced in response to an operation by an operator, wherein the input operation mechanism is displaced in accordance with a control signal. And an operation prohibition mechanism control unit that outputs the control signal to the operation prohibition mechanism to selectively prevent displacement of some of the input operation mechanisms. Input system. 2. An input necessary / unnecessary condition storage unit which holds information on English characters which may be successively input for each English character, wherein each of the input operation mechanisms is associated with a different English character. A key, and the operation prohibition mechanism control unit specifies the operated key based on a signal generated by the key, and outputs information related to the key that may be operated following the specified key. Acquiring from the input necessity condition storage unit, outputting the control signal to the operation inhibiting mechanism based on the acquired information, controlling the operation inhibiting mechanism, and preventing displacement of the key that should not be operated. The input system according to claim 1, wherein 3. The English character that may be continuously input is an English character that may follow each English character when a Kana character is expressed in Roman characters. Input system. 4. The input according to claim 2, wherein the keys are arranged on a substrate and displaced downward by a pressing operation by an operator, and the operation prohibition mechanism prevents the keys from being displaced downward. system. 5. The input operation mechanism includes keys, the keys are divided into a plurality of groups, and the operation prohibition mechanism prevents displacement of each group of the keys according to the control signal. 2. The operation prohibition mechanism control section outputs the control signal to the operation prohibition mechanism based on a given selection signal to prevent displacement of the keys of a group represented by the selection signal.
Input system as described. 6. The input system according to claim 5, wherein one of an alphabetic character, a number, a symbol, and a specific function is associated with the key of each group. 7. A horizontal movement distance detecting unit which detects a horizontal movement distance of a mouse and outputs an electric signal indicating the same, and an electric device which detects a vertical movement distance of the mouse and indicates the same movement distance. A mouse system that includes a vertical movement distance detection unit that outputs a signal and a button press detection unit that outputs an electric signal when a mouse button is pressed, and suppresses horizontal movement of the mouse. A lateral braking mechanism, a vertical braking mechanism for inhibiting the mouse from moving in the vertical direction, a button pressing inhibiting mechanism for inhibiting the downward movement of the mouse button, and a control signal output to output the lateral braking. A mouse system comprising: a mechanism; a vertical braking mechanism; and mouse control means for controlling operation of the press-prevention mechanism.