JP2004118416A - Wireless keyboard device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wireless keyboard device which improves reliability in transmission of key input data. <P>SOLUTION: In the wireless keyboard device which processes key input information following an key operation on a keyboard into wireless signals and transmits them to a terminal device, a plurality of antennas are provided, and a first transmission means makes one of the antennas transmit the key input information corresponding to each key operation every time the transmission is executed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a wireless device such as a wireless keyboard device, and more particularly, to a wireless device that can improve the reliability of key data transmission.
[0002]
[Prior art]
There are two types of keyboards for personal computers (= abbreviated as “PC”) that are currently in wide use: wired keyboards that are connected to the PC by a cable, and so-called cordless (= wireless) types that are not connected by a cable. There is. In the case of a wireless keyboard, the data of the pressed key (button) is transmitted to the personal computer through infrared rays, radio waves, etc. Usually, the above signal is transmitted multiple times through one antenna mounted in the wireless keyboard. It is to be sent.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As described above, in the related art, key data is transmitted a plurality of times through one antenna mounted in the wireless keyboard. However, there is a problem that a place where reception is difficult due to the directivity of the antenna occurs.
[0004]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a wireless keyboard device that can improve the reliability of key input data transmission.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention provides a wireless keyboard device that converts key input information accompanying a key operation on a keyboard into a radio signal and transmits the signal to a terminal device, as described in claim 1, provided with a plurality of antennas. And a first transmitting means for transmitting the key input information corresponding to each key operation by any one of the plurality of antennas each time the key input information is transmitted.
[0006]
The present invention according to claim 2, wherein in the wireless keyboard device, the first transmitting means transmits the key input information from a different antenna each time the key input information corresponding to each key operation is transmitted. And
[0007]
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the wireless keyboard device, the first transmitting unit transmits key input information corresponding to each of the key operations from different antennas at predetermined time intervals. .
[0008]
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in a wireless keyboard device for converting key input information accompanying a key operation on a keyboard into a radio signal and transmitting the signal to a terminal device, a plurality of antennas are provided, and the key input information corresponding to each of the key operations is provided. And a second transmitting means for transmitting the signal using any of the plurality of antennas based on an instruction from the terminal device.
[0009]
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the wireless keyboard device, the plurality of antennas are different in arrangement or characteristics.
[0010]
Further, according to the present invention, as described in claim 6, in a wireless device that converts input information into a radio signal and transmits it to a terminal device, a plurality of antennas are provided, and each time the input information is transmitted, the plurality of antennas are provided. It is characterized by comprising a transmitting means for transmitting by any of the antennas.
[0011]
According to the configuration of the present invention, since a plurality of antennas are provided and the same data is transmitted from antennas having different directivities, a dead zone in a reception environment can be eliminated, and the position of the wireless keyboard and the terminal device-wireless keyboard device It is possible to realize a wireless keyboard device that is hardly affected by the distance between the keyboards.
[0012]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0013]
FIG. 1 shows a basic configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0014]
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes a terminal device (eg, a personal computer), and reference numeral 200 denotes a wireless keyboard device according to the present invention. The wireless keyboard device 200 is provided with various function keys in addition to the alphanumeric keys and the execute / send key, similarly to a normal keyboard, and data corresponding to key operations (hereinafter referred to as key input data) is transmitted in a wireless section. It is sent to the terminal device 100 via the terminal. In the terminal device 100, the key input data transmitted from the wireless keyboard device is received by a dedicated receiver, and the terminal device 100 performs processing, display, and the like according to the data content. Further, the wireless keyboard device 200 of the present invention is provided with a plurality of antennas for transmitting key input data (in this example, it is assumed that two antennas, antennas A and B, are mounted). The data is transmitted by one of the antennas A and B every transmission (solid line, dotted line).
[0015]
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the wireless keyboard device 200 shown in FIG. In this figure, the wireless keyboard device 200 includes antennas A11 and 12B, a wireless transmission / reception unit 13, a control unit 14, and a key input unit 15. Key input data operated by the key input unit 15 is transmitted to the wireless transmission / reception unit 13 via the control unit 14, and then subjected to processing such as modulation and frequency conversion. Thereafter, every time the key input data is transmitted, the key input data converted into the radio frequency signal is spatially radiated from one of the antennas A11 and B12 and transmitted to the terminal device 100 side. As the directional characteristics formed by the one antenna, for example, a figure-eight pattern is formed as shown in FIG. In the present invention, two antennas (in this example, antennas A11 and B12) that form such a figure-eight pattern are provided, and the antennas are arranged with their directions changed. Thereby, the directivity characteristics as shown in FIG. 3 are obtained. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing directional characteristics when two antennas having a figure-eight pattern are arranged in different directions. This example shows the directional characteristics when the antenna 1 is arranged at a direction of 30 degrees and the antenna 2 is arranged at a direction of 330 degrees. Usually, key input data is transmitted a plurality of times. In the present embodiment, each time key input data is transmitted, the transmission antenna is switched, and transmission is performed from a different antenna. That is, the key input data is equivalent to that transmitted from an antenna having a directional characteristic obtained by combining the antennas 1 and 2 as shown in FIG. 4 (having a constant directional characteristic in all directions), as in the related art. On the other hand, with only one antenna, the receiving side can compensate for an area that becomes a blind zone, and the reliability of key input data transmission can be improved. Note that, when receiving the same data continuously, the receiving-side terminal device 100 regards the data as being transmitted a plurality of times from the wireless keyboard device and ignores it.
[0016]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, a plurality of antennas are provided, and the same data is transmitted from antennas having different directivities. -It is possible to realize a wireless keyboard device which is hardly affected by a distance between the wireless keyboard devices.
[0017]
In the above embodiment, by changing the directions of two antennas having the same directional characteristics,
Although the pattern is formed to eliminate the dead zone in the receiving environment, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. For example, if two antennas having different directional characteristics are used, the directional characteristics shown in FIG. 4 can be easily formed. In this case, the conditions relating to the arrangement (direction) of the antennas are relaxed, and as a result, both antennas can be mounted in a small space. As a result, there is an advantage that the size of the device can be reduced.
[0018]
In the above embodiment, the key input data is transmitted alternately from the antennas 1 and 2. Alternatively, the antennas 1 and 2 may be switched at a certain time interval and the key input data may be transmitted. May be transmitted. In this case, a time diversity effect can be obtained. Further, the antennas 1 and 2 may be switched based on an antenna switching command from the terminal device 100 and key input data may be transmitted. In this case, the terminal device 100 measures the radio quality of the signal of the key input data transmitted from the wireless keyboard device 200, and determines from which antenna to transmit a good sensitivity based on the measurement result. The determination is made and the result is transmitted to the wireless keyboard device 200. Thus, key input data can be transmitted according to the current propagation environment between the wireless keyboard device 200 and the terminal device 100, and the reliability of key input data transmission can be improved.
[0019]
Further, in the above embodiment, the wireless keyboard device has been described as an example of the wireless input device. However, the present invention can be applied to other input devices other than the wireless keyboard device without departing from the gist of the present invention. It is possible. For example, the present invention can be applied to a wireless mouse, a remote controller, a pad, a game controller, and the like.
[0020]
In the above example, the transmission signal control function of the control unit corresponds to the first transmission unit and the second transmission unit. Further, a transmission signal transmission controller of a wireless device other than the wireless keyboard device corresponds to the transmission means.
[0021]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of antennas are provided, and the same data is transmitted from antennas having different directivities. A wireless keyboard device that is not easily affected by the distance between the device and the wireless keyboard device can be realized.
[0022]
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a basic configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the wireless keyboard device shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a directivity characteristic of one antenna mounted on the wireless keyboard device.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of directivity characteristics when the antenna 1 is arranged in a direction of 30 degrees and the antenna 2 is arranged in a direction of 330 degrees.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a directional characteristic obtained by combining the directional characteristics shown in FIG. 4;
[Explanation of symbols]
11 Antenna A
12 Antenna B
13 wireless transmission / reception unit 14 control unit 15 key input unit 100 terminal device 200 wireless keyboard device

Claims (6)

In a wireless keyboard device that converts key input information accompanying a key operation on a keyboard into a radio signal and transmits the signal to a terminal device,
Provide multiple antennas,
A wireless keyboard device, comprising: a first transmitting unit that transmits key input information corresponding to each key operation by any one of the plurality of antennas each time the key input information is transmitted. The wireless keyboard device according to claim 1,
The wireless keyboard device according to claim 1, wherein said first transmitting means transmits said key input information from a different antenna every time key input information corresponding to each key operation is transmitted. The wireless keyboard device according to claim 2,
The wireless keyboard device, wherein the first transmitting means transmits key input information corresponding to each key operation from different antennas at predetermined time intervals. In a wireless keyboard device that converts key input information accompanying a key operation on a keyboard into a radio signal and transmits the signal to a terminal device,
Provide multiple antennas,
A wireless keyboard device comprising: a second transmitting unit that transmits key input information corresponding to each of the key operations by using any one of the plurality of antennas based on an instruction from the terminal device. The wireless keyboard device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The wireless keyboard device, wherein the plurality of antennas have different arrangements or characteristics. In a wireless device that converts input information into a radio signal and transmits it to a terminal device,
Provide multiple antennas,
A wireless device comprising transmitting means for transmitting any of the plurality of antennas each time the input information is transmitted.

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