JP2007323541A - Five key input device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve problems of a QWERTY type keyboard requiring a keyboard space because of a number of keys, and a matrix type key arrangement of a cellular phone, in which a large number of keys require complicated character selection and a small size of a keyboard makes key pressing difficult, and a keyboard with a small number of key buttons requires increase in the number of key hitting operations and training and proficiency for memorizing a key arrangement. <P>SOLUTION: The key features of this input device having five key buttons, a shift button, and a conversion button are as follows: different five types of signal input switches are allocated to the five buttons individually, one of the five key buttons is adjacently surrounded by the rest of four buttons, and according to permutations and combinations of two buttons in the five buttons, a character is inputted. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for inputting characters to a computer or a mobile phone.

  Conventionally, a keyboard is used as a manual input device of a computer. In general, a keyboard is a device for inputting one character with a single keystroke, or by selecting one character from two characters by switching by pressing the shift key, and has a key layout type known as a QWERTY formula. is there. In the character arrangement of the standard QWERTY type keyboard shown in FIG. 1, 26 keys corresponding to 26 letters of the alphabet are arranged. Further, a keyboard for character input of a cellular phone having a built-in computer function is generally a matrix type key arrangement represented by FIG. 2, and a target character is displayed by pressing one key several times. A method of selecting and inputting is used.

  The QWERTY keyboard can input one character per stroke, but it has the inconvenience of irregularly arranged memory and space. On the other hand, the keyboard for mobile phones uses characters with fewer keys and smaller spaces. There were drawbacks such as the complexity of having to select and input from multiple, and the difficulty of pressing because the keys were small. As an improvement, a one-handed keyboard device has been filed in which five fingers are arranged on five keys and input can be performed with one hand. (Japanese Patent Application No. 11-331738)

  However, the one-hand keyboard device described in the previous section is a method in which five keys are pressed at the same time and characters are associated with the combinations. At least 26 alphabets are stored in 26 combinations and reflected on five fingers. In addition, it was difficult to operate a very similar method of pressing a finger, and it was difficult to input smoothly.

  Furthermore, there is an apparatus for inputting characters by assigning Morse codes to a plurality of keys, which has already been applied for by the present applicant. (Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-84342)

The patent application described in the preceding paragraph is an input device configured by mounting a plurality of code buttons and one or more push buttons, and the plurality of code buttons include a single short signal and a plurality of short signals in the Morse code, The most important feature is that a plurality of code buttons are selected and arranged from each code button to which a switch for inputting a single length signal, a plurality of long signals, and a combination of a short signal and a long signal is assigned. It is said.

However, the selection of a plurality of code buttons can be as long as three strokes, and the relationship with the corresponding character depends solely on the memory of the operator, and anyone needs training and skill to input There were still challenges.
Japanese Patent Application No. 11-331738 Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-84342

  The problem to be solved is that the keys such as the QWERTY type keyboard are irregularly arranged and require a space for the board, and what is the case of the matrix type key arrangement for the cellular phone? It is necessary to select characters by pressing again and again, and the number of keys is large. On the other hand, the keyboard is too small to be pressed, or in the case of a keyboard with few key buttons, the number of strokes increases and the key layout is stored. It requires training and proficiency.

  The present invention is an input device constructed by mounting five key buttons, a shift button, and a conversion button. Five different types of signal input switches are assigned to the five key buttons. An arrangement is made in which four key buttons are adjacently surrounded around each key button.

  When one key button is pressed once and the shift button is turned off with the shift button turned on, one signal corresponding to one key button is input. Since five key buttons can be used in this method, five different signals can be input. Next, when one key button is pressed twice continuously and the shift button is turned off with the shift button turned on, one signal corresponding to two consecutive key presses of one key button is input. With this method, five different signals corresponding to the method of two consecutive keystrokes of five key buttons can be input. Further, when the shift button is turned on, two of the five key buttons are selected, the keys are sequentially pressed once and the shift button is turned off, so that one corresponding signal can be input. By this method, a permutation combination in which two of five are selected and arranged is established, so that it is possible to input 20 different signals corresponding to 20 types of keystrokes. That is, an input device having a key arrangement for inputting a total of 30 different signals can be configured. The purpose of turning on / off the shift button is to determine whether the key is pressed once or twice, and to transmit the determined input signal to the character conversion processing unit of the computer.

  The apparatus of the present invention will be described. 30 characters and symbols including 26 alphabets and 4 symbols frequently appearing at the time of writing are divided into 5 groups centering on the vowels of AEIOU and used as input signals for 5 key buttons. Assign each. Four key buttons are surrounded and surrounded by one key button, and each key button is adjacent to or touching the center key button. However, it can be easily done with sequential keystrokes. As a result, it is possible to input texts with five keys, both in English and in Japanese romaji. The reason for the 5 keys is that the 5 permutations are the minimum number of keys that can handle 30 characters and symbols with a maximum of 2 keystrokes, and 5 vowels that are used very frequently in Japanese. Derived from the advantage of being.

  There are several possible rational combinations of character arrangements. As an example, five character symbol groups are assigned to five key buttons as follows. A, B, C, D, R, comma for the first key, E, F, G, H, S,-for the second key, I, J, K, L, T for the third key , Period, O, M, N, P, Q, slash for the 4th key, U, V, W, X, Y, Z for the 5th key. In particular, A, E, I, O, and U, which are frequently used as vowels, are followed by one stroke, followed by R, S, T, and N, which are frequently used, and two adjacent characters are adjacent to each other. The key is 2 strokes in order, and the symbol is 2 strokes in sequence with the 5th key. Table 1 shows the positional relationship between characters and symbols. In the items (key stroke order) in the table, for example, 1 right arrow 4 indicates that the character B is input if the 1st key and the 4th key are sequentially pressed. Regarding the frequency of use, there is a difference between English and Japanese romanization. For example, the vowel U is relatively low in English but often high in Japanese, but you must enter both English and Japanese. Considering this, this example employs a method of arranging vowels in alphabetical order. A combination of Roman alphabet arrangement “AKSTN” order corresponding to Japanese “Akasana” order is also a powerful character arrangement.

Table 2 compares the number of keystrokes of three types of input devices, a QWERTY type keyboard, the five-key input device according to the present invention, and a mobile phone keyboard. The number of keystrokes is calculated by multiplying the appearance frequency of the alphabet extracted from 1000 randomly selected English newspapers by the number of keystrokes. Further, in order to make a comparison under the same conditions, even if the number of keystrokes is the same, even if the same position is continuous, a correction value according to the difficulty level is used, such as 1.5 strokes when the same position is continuous. According to this, assuming that the equivalent number of keystrokes of the QWERTY type keyboard is 100, the number of the five-key input device is 145 and the number of the cellular phone keyboard is 176. In other words, the 5-key input device has 1.45 times the number of keystrokes compared to a QWERTY keyboard, but the number of keys is 1/5, 18% less than the mobile phone keyboard, and 40% fewer keys. It can be said that this is a new input device with fewer keys, less space, and fewer keystrokes than the number of keys.

From the permutation combination in which 2 keys are selected from 5 keys, 20 different signals corresponding to 20 keys can be input, and 30 signals can be input in combination with 1 key and 2 keys, so there are few. Despite the number of keys, it is easy to store the stroke order. In addition, there are 60 permutation combinations to select and arrange 3 out of 5 keys, and 120 permutation combinations to select and arrange 4 out of 5 keys, so if you increase the number of keys you can assign more characters and symbols. be able to. Also, by registering spelling such as KYA, which often appears in Japanese romaji notation, with a combination of three strokes, the number of input keys can be reduced, and input efficiency can be improved.

  Shift buttons and conversion buttons are installed as input devices, and five character / symbol groups are assigned to five key buttons as follows. A, B, C, D, R, comma for the first key, E, F, G, H, S,-for the second key, I, J, K, L, T for the third key , Period, O, M, N, P, Q, slash for the 4th key, U, V, W, X, Y, Z for the 5th key. In particular, A, E, I, O, and U, which are frequently used as vowels, are followed by one stroke, followed by R, S, T, and N, which are frequently used, and two adjacent characters are adjacent to each other. The key is 2 strokes in order, and the symbol is 2 strokes in sequence with the 5th key. Characters and symbols are arranged in the positional relationship shown in Table 1.

  FIG. 3 shows an embodiment in which the device of the present invention is used as a computer mouse. On the mouse (6), the key No. 5 (5), which constitutes the input device, is centered on the No. 1 key (1) to the No. 2 key (2), No. 3 key (3), No. 4 Four key buttons up to key (4) are adjacently arranged counterclockwise. When the right hand is placed on the mouse (6), the shift button (7) and the conversion button (8) are arranged at a position corresponding to the thumb. The mouse (6) is connected to the computer body. The first to fifth keys are assigned the five character / symbol groups described in the best mode for carrying out the invention, and are arranged in the positional relationship shown in Table 1. The alphabet characters and symbols written on the key buttons in FIG. 3 are written to facilitate visual keying. The characters in each group are basically arranged clockwise in alphabetical order. However, because of the relationship with the vowels, it is easy to type the key group No. 4 and the relatively frequently used R, S, and T. It is placed in the key and an exception to the alphabetical ordering.

  In FIG. 3, for example, when the user wants to input the character C, when the key is pressed in order of the first key (1) and the fifth key (5) with the shift button (7) turned on, a signal corresponding to the key pressing is obtained. When the click signal detection unit (20) in FIG. 4 detects the group, the group is stored in the click signal group storage register (21), and the shift button (7) is turned off, the character conversion processing unit passes through the transmission control unit (22). The character C is displayed in the character display section (24) after being processed in (23). For example, when the user wants to input the character O, the user presses the fourth key (4) once. Alternatively, in order to input the letter J, the third key (3) and the second key (2) are sequentially pressed. In this case, O and J are input and displayed through the same processing as that for the character C, respectively. The arrangement relationship between the characters and symbols to be arranged and the key buttons is as shown in Table 1. Further, as described in the means for solving the problem, it is determined whether the shift button is turned on / off once or twice, and the determined input signal is transmitted to the computer character. It is intended to be sent to the conversion processing unit. The conversion button (8) is used when, for example, converting a character string displayed on the display unit of the computer into Japanese.

  Each key from No. 1 to No. 5 can also be used as a normal mouse by combining it with the left and right click keys in the settings.

    FIG. 5 shows an embodiment in which the device of the present invention is used for a keyboard of a mobile phone. In the mobile phone (16), the first key (11) to the second key (12), the third key (13), 4 with a focus on the fifth key (15) constituting the input device. Four key buttons up to the number key (14) are arranged counterclockwise adjacently. When the mobile phone (16) is held with the right hand, the shift button (17) and the conversion button (18) are arranged at a position corresponding to the middle finger or the ring finger. The cellular phone (16) has a built-in character processing computer. The first to fifth keys are assigned the five character / symbol groups described in the best mode for carrying out the invention, and are arranged in the positional relationship shown in Table 1. The alphabet characters and symbols written on the key buttons in FIG. 5 are written to facilitate visual keying. The characters in each group are basically arranged clockwise in alphabetical order. However, because of the relationship with the vowels, it is easy to type the key group No. 4 and the relatively frequently used R, S, and T. An exception to the alphabetical ordering is placed on the key.

  In FIG. 5, as in the first embodiment, for example, when it is desired to input the character C, the key No. 1 (11) and the key No. 5 (15) are sequentially pressed with the shift button (17) turned on. Then, the click signal detection unit of the computer built in the mobile phone detects the signal group corresponding to the keystroke and stores it in the click signal group storage register. When the shift button (17) is turned off, the transmission control unit passes through the character conversion. The character C is displayed on the character display unit after being processed by the processing unit. The signal path and the configuration of the built-in computer are the same as those in FIG. For example, when the user wants to input the character O, the user presses the fourth key (14) once. Alternatively, in order to input the letter J, the third key (13) and the second key (12) are sequentially pressed. In this case, O and J are input and displayed through the same processing as that for the character C, respectively. The arrangement relationship between the characters and symbols to be arranged and the key buttons is as shown in the keystroke order of Table 1. Further, as described in the means for solving the problem, it is determined whether the shift button is turned on / off once or twice, and the determined input signal is transmitted to the mobile phone. It is intended to be sent to the character conversion processor of the built-in computer. The conversion button (18) is used when, for example, converting a character string displayed on the display unit of the computer into Japanese.

  It is also a feature of the 5-key input device of the present invention with a small number of keys that the 5-key buttons constituting the input device according to the present invention are arranged on the back side of the display (19) and can be operated from the back side. .

  The key positions are different between the first embodiment and the second embodiment because it is assumed in the first embodiment that the character key is pressed with the index finger and the middle finger, and in the second embodiment, the character key is pressed with the thumb. However, the key position and arrangement are not necessarily fixed, and can be changed according to the implementation method.

  FIG. 6 shows an embodiment in which the device of the present invention is implemented using a numeric keyboard for numeric input in a mobile phone. Of the numeric keys that make up the numeric keypad, the first key is the numeric keypad 2 (31), the second key is the numeric keypad 4 (32), the third key is the numeric keypad 8 (33), and the numeric keypad No. 6 (34) and No. 4 key are used for the numeric keypad 5 (35). For example, a method of inputting the letter A will be described. When the numeric key “2” on the numeric keypad is pressed with the shift button (17) turned on, this becomes a numerical code 2, and a signal group corresponding to the key input is built in the mobile phone. Is detected by the click signal detection unit of the computer, stored in the click signal group storage register, and when the shift button (17) is turned off, the transmission control unit passes through the character conversion processing unit and the character A is displayed on the character display unit. Is displayed. In addition, Table 1 shows the relationship between the numerical codes entered with the numeric keypad and the corresponding characters. In addition, as the keys No. 1 to No. 5, the number keys 2, 4, 8, 6, 5 are used in order, but the numbers 5, 7, 0, 9, 8 can also be used in order. . This embodiment has an advantage that numeric input can be easily performed together with character input.

  By using the method and apparatus according to the present invention, it is not necessary to use a large number of keys and spaces like a QWERTY-type keyboard, and character input that has been performed with a keyboard as in the past can be performed only with a mouse, which is complicated. It has the advantage of being freed from keyboard restrictions and keyboard location restrictions, and can be applied to game machines and the like. In addition, the input operation is facilitated for a person who is difficult to lie down or for a disabled person of the upper limb. In addition, if applied to a mobile phone, the conventional keyboard can be replaced with five keys, so the display can be designed larger, input can be made with a feeling touch, and the mobile phone itself can be made smaller and lighter. Useful applications are possible.

It is a layout view of a QWERTY type keyboard. It is a keyboard layout for character input of a mobile phone. FIG. 3 is a plan view for explaining an implementation method of the present invention according to Example 1. It is a block diagram explaining the implementation method of this invention by Example 1. FIG. It is a top view explaining the implementation method of this invention by Example 2. FIG. FIG. 6 is a plan view for explaining a method for carrying out the present invention according to a third embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

1 1st key 2 2nd key 3 3rd key 4 4th key 5 5th key 6 Mouse 7 Shift button 8 Conversion button 11 1st key 12 2nd key 13 3rd key 14 4 Number key 15 Number 5 key 16 Mobile phone 17 Shift button 18 Conversion button 19 Display 20 Click signal detection unit 21 Click signal group storage register 22 Transmission control unit 23 Character conversion processing unit 24 Character display unit 31 2 of the numeric keypad
32 4 on the numeric keypad
33 8 on the numeric keypad
34 Numeric keypad 6
35 5 on the numeric keypad

Claims (3)

  An input device using five key buttons, wherein five key buttons are arranged with one of the five in the center and the other four adjacent to the central one. An input device having means for inputting a character or a symbol corresponding to each of the permutation combinations arranged and selecting one or two or three or four from five.   An input device using five key buttons and at least one shift button, wherein a character or a symbol is added to each permutation combination in which one to two, three, or four are selected and arranged from the five. Correspondingly, an input device having means for inputting by turning on and off the shift button.   An input device using five key buttons, and the arrangement of the five key buttons is one of the five, using the center key of the matrix-like numeric input keyboard, and the other four Uses a key adjacent to the center key of a matrix-like numeric input keyboard to select a character or a symbol for each permutation combination in which 1 to 2 or 3 or 4 are selected and arranged An input device having means for inputting correspondingly.

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