JP2002314661A - Character input device for portable phone - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To quickly and easily perform Japanese-language input on a portable phone. SOLUTION: A character input device is connected to a portable phone 10 by a connection terminal 4a of a connection cable 4. At Japanese-language input, consonants are inputted by numeric keys 11 of the portable phone 10, and vowels are inputted by auxiliary input keys 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a character input device for a portable telephone which performs Japanese input by connecting to a portable telephone.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, multifunctional mobile telephones have been developed, and not only a wireless communication function for making a call to another telephone via radio waves, but also an e-mail function for enabling transmission and reception of e-mail, for example. Also, a web browsing function that enables arbitrary information existing on the Internet (web) to be acquired and browsed (browsed) on a display screen has been installed. When using such email and web browsing features,
Various types of character input including Japanese input are frequently used.

[0003] In a conventional portable telephone, for example, character input using numeric keys for inputting a telephone number is performed in order to avoid an increase in the size of the device due to mounting a large number of input keys. Specifically, for example, a numeric key for inputting the numeral “1” is assigned to the Japanese syllabary “A line”, and when the Japanese input mode is set, the numeric key “1” is entered. Pressing once will input Hiragana "A", and pressing the numeric key "1" twice and three times in succession will input Hiragana "I" and "U" respectively. ing.

In order to quickly and easily input characters on a mobile phone, for example, a so-called mobile phone keyboard 100 as shown in FIG. 3 has been proposed. The mobile phone keyboard 100 has a plurality of input keys 101 corresponding to a key arrangement on a keyboard of a computer device.
And each input key 101 is assigned an English character (alphabet) or Japanese syllabary. The mobile phone keyboard 100 is connected to a mobile phone 110 via a dedicated cable 102 and is used to input characters to the mobile phone 110 by pressing each input key 101 in accordance with a character to be input. It has been.

[0005]

However, as described above, in the case of performing Japanese input by pressing the numeric key of the mobile phone a plurality of times, for example, in the case of inputting "O" of Hiragana, etc. It is necessary to press the numeric key up to five times. For this reason, when relatively long Japanese sentences are input, for example, when creating an electronic mail, not only the operation becomes extremely complicated, but also it is difficult to input characters quickly.

The above-described keyboard 10 for a cellular phone
When using 0 connected to a mobile phone, although it is possible to input characters quickly, it is necessary to carry the mobile phone keyboard 100 with the mobile phone 110 at all times. The mobile phone keyboard 100 has a problem in that since many input keys 101 are provided corresponding to characters to be input, miniaturization is limited and bulky and inconvenient to carry.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, and it is easy to reduce the size of the portable telephone, and it is possible to perform Japanese input with a quick and simple operation. It is an object to provide a character input device.

[0008]

A character input device for a portable telephone according to the present invention includes a connection terminal connected to the portable telephone, and a plurality of auxiliary input keys respectively corresponding to a consonant or a vowel. When performing Japanese input on a mobile phone, one of a consonant or a vowel is input by a plurality of input keys provided on the mobile phone, and the other of a consonant or a vowel is input by the auxiliary input key. Is used to input characters.

The character input device for a portable telephone according to the present invention comprises a connection terminal connected to the portable telephone, a plurality of auxiliary input keys respectively corresponding to one of a consonant and a vowel.
A dial switch for inputting the other of consonants or vowels, when performing Japanese input with the mobile phone,
Character input is performed by inputting one of a consonant or a vowel using the auxiliary input key, and inputting the other of the consonant or the vowel using the dial switch.

The character input device for a cellular phone according to the present invention having the above-described structure is provided with a number corresponding to either a consonant or a vowel as auxiliary input keys. The size of the apparatus can be reduced as compared with the case where input keys are provided in a number corresponding to all of the sounds. In addition, the character input device for a mobile phone according to the present invention combines the auxiliary input key with an input key provided on the mobile phone or a dial switch provided on the device to obtain “consonant” + The Japanese syllabary can be input by two input operations of "vowels", and the Japanese input can be performed quickly and easily.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. Hereinafter, an auxiliary keyboard 1 for a mobile phone as shown in FIG. 1 will be described as a configuration example of a character input device for a mobile phone according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile phone auxiliary keyboard 1 includes a plurality of auxiliary input keys 3 provided on a main surface of a keyboard body 2 and a connection cable 4 for connecting to a mobile phone 10. Have. Further, the keyboard body 2 is provided with a control circuit (not shown) for processing an input request when the auxiliary input key 3 is pressed and transmitting and receiving various signals to and from the mobile phone 10. . When the mobile phone 10 has a function of controlling the operation of the mobile phone auxiliary keyboard 1, it is not necessary to dispose a control circuit on the mobile phone auxiliary keyboard 1 side. it can.

Auxiliary input keys 3 are used for Japanese syllabary vowels,
That is, 5 corresponding to “a” “i” “u” “e” “o”
Are arranged. A connection terminal 4 a for connecting to a terminal of the mobile phone 10 is provided at an end of the connection cable 4.
Is attached. Auxiliary keyboard 1 for mobile phones
Can be freely connected to or detached from the mobile phone 10 by the connection terminal 4a.

In the mobile phone auxiliary keyboard 1 configured as described above, while being connected to the mobile phone 10, a "consonant" is inputted by a plurality of numeric keys 11 arranged on the mobile phone 10. By inputting "vowel" with the auxiliary input key 3, Japanese input is performed.

In the following, a case where the word "recommended" is input when creating an e-mail using the e-mail function mounted on the mobile phone 10 will be described.

In this case, first, the mobile phone 10 is set to the Japanese input mode, and the numeric key 11 (for example, the "3" key) of the mobile phone 10 corresponding to "Sa" is depressed. "S" is input. Next, among the auxiliary input keys 3 of the mobile phone auxiliary keyboard 1, "u"
Press the key assigned to. As a result, “su” is input to the mobile phone 10 and “su” is displayed on the display screen 12. Similarly, by pressing the numeric key 11 (for example, the “7” key) corresponding to “ma” and then pressing the “e” key of the auxiliary input key 3, “me” is input, and “sa” is entered. Is pressed by pressing the "i" key of the auxiliary input key 3 after pressing the numeric key 11 (for example, the "3" key) corresponding to "".

In the auxiliary keyboard 1 for a mobile phone, as described above, a consonant is input by the numeric keys 11 of the mobile phone 10 and a vowel is input by the auxiliary input key 3.
With each input operation, each character of the Japanese syllabary can be input.

That is, the mobile phone auxiliary keyboard 1
Does not need to arrange input keys by the number corresponding to all of the Japanese syllabary, and realizes Japanese input by effectively using the numeric keys arranged on the mobile phone 10. Compared with the telephone keyboard 100, the size and cost of the device can be reduced. Therefore, it can be obtained at low cost, and can be easily carried together with the mobile phone 10 in a pocket of clothes.

Further, in the auxiliary keyboard 1 for a mobile phone,
By sequentially depressing the numeric key 11 and the auxiliary input key 3 arranged on the mobile phone 10 side, it is possible to input the Japanese syllabary with two input operations of “consonant” + “vowel” Since the number of times the key is pressed can be reduced as compared with the case where the input is performed using only the numeric keys 11 of the mobile phone 10, the Japanese input can be performed quickly and easily.

In the above description, the mobile phone auxiliary keyboard 1 and the mobile phone 10 are connected using the connection cable 4. However, the connection cable 4 is omitted and the mobile phone auxiliary keyboard 1 is connected. 1 may be directly connected to the mobile phone 10 and used integrally. By using the mobile phone 10 integrally connected to the mobile phone 10 as described above, it is not necessary to hold a plurality of devices when inputting Japanese. For example, both devices can be held and Japanese input can be performed with one hand.

The mobile phone auxiliary keyboard 1 has
In addition to the auxiliary input key 3, at least one symbol input key corresponding to input of various symbols such as, for example, a voiced or semi-voiced voice, a modification symbol, and a pictogram may be further provided. Thus, it becomes possible to input such various symbols on the mobile phone auxiliary keyboard 1 side.

In the above description, the number keys 11 of the mobile phone 10 and the auxiliary keyboard 1 for the mobile phone have been described.
In this case, a "consonant" and a "vowel" are sequentially inputted by combining with the auxiliary input key 3 of the mobile phone. For example, as shown in FIG.
Is arranged, and the dial switch 5 and the auxiliary input key 3 are combined to sequentially input "consonants" + "vowels", thereby enabling character input using the mobile phone auxiliary keyboard 1 alone. Is also good. Even in this case, character input can be performed quickly and easily with a maximum of two input operations.

In the above description, a consonant is input using the numeric key 11 or the dial switch 5 of the mobile phone 10 and a vowel is input using the auxiliary input key 3 of the auxiliary keyboard 1 for the mobile phone. The dial switch 5 and the auxiliary input key 3 may be used to input "consonants" and "vowels", respectively. However, since the number of vowels is smaller than the number of consonants in Japanese, the number of vowels can be reduced by using the auxiliary input keys 3 to reduce the number of vowels. The size and cost can be further reduced.

[0024]

The character input device for a portable telephone according to the present invention is provided with a number corresponding to either a consonant or a vowel as an auxiliary input key. It is possible to reduce the size of the device as compared with the case where the input keys are provided by the number corresponding to the number. In addition, the character input device for a mobile phone according to the present invention combines the auxiliary input key with an input key provided on the mobile phone or a dial switch provided on the device to obtain “consonant” + The Japanese syllabary can be input by two input operations of "vowels", and the Japanese input can be performed quickly and easily.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a mobile phone auxiliary keyboard shown as one configuration example to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a mobile phone auxiliary keyboard shown as another configuration example to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a conventional mobile phone keyboard.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Auxiliary keyboard for mobile phones 2 Keyboard body 3 Auxiliary input key 4 Connection cable 4a Connection terminal 5 Dial switch 10 Mobile phone 11 Numeric keys 12 Display screen

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Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A mobile phone, comprising: a connection terminal connected to a mobile phone; and a plurality of auxiliary input keys respectively corresponding to a consonant or a vowel. Inputting one of a consonant or a vowel with the plurality of input keys and inputting the other of the consonant or the vowel with the auxiliary input key, thereby performing character input. apparatus. 2. The character input device for a mobile phone according to claim 1, further comprising a symbol input key corresponding to input of various symbols such as a cloud point or a semi-voice point. 3. A mobile phone comprising: a connection terminal connected to a mobile phone; a plurality of auxiliary input keys respectively corresponding to one of a consonant or a vowel; and a dial switch for inputting the other of a consonant or a vowel. When performing Japanese input by telephone, character input is performed by inputting one of a consonant or a vowel with the auxiliary input key and inputting the other of a consonant or a vowel with the dial switch. Character input device for mobile phones. 4. The character input device for a mobile phone according to claim 3, further comprising a symbol input key corresponding to input of various symbols such as a cloud point or a semi-voice point.