JP2019074941A - keyboard - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a keyboard allowing for blind touch without completely remembering an arrangement of principal keys required for blind touch and correct typing with keys even where there is a difficulty in visually recognizing the arrangement of keys.SOLUTION: A keyboard includes a key 1 having a top face 2 on which an input matter of each key is formed as discriminable letter-formed projections 3 by continuing projections or a plurality of projections. By a tactual sense upon contact of a finger with the letter-formed projections 3, the input matter of each key becomes discriminable so that correct typing with keys is possible without completely remembering the key arrangement.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to the shape of a keyboard for inputting letters, numbers, symbols and the like.

  The conventional keyboard is provided with horizontal line-like projections on the upper surface of the alphabetic "F" and "J" keys as a mark for searching for the home position of both hands.

Joukai 1-14928

  According to the above configuration, in order to be able to perform blind touch using the home position of both hands, it corresponds to the index finger of the left hand among two keys provided with a horizontal linear protrusion on the upper surface of the key. It is necessary to remember that the key to be used is the letter “F” and that the key corresponding to the index finger of the right hand is also “J”.

  In addition, arrays need to be stored for key keys other than "F" and "J".

  Therefore, there is a problem that accurate blind touch can not be performed until you remember the home position of both hands and the arrangement of the main keys.

  In addition, if you do a blind touch without completely remembering the arrangement of the main keys, there is a problem that touch mistakes occur frequently, and it takes a long time to remake the keys.

  The object of the present invention is to provide blind touch without completely learning the arrangement of primary keys necessary for blind touch, for example, when the surrounding environment is dark and the arrangement of keys is difficult to visually recognize, or like presbyopia It is an object of the present invention to provide a keyboard capable of correctly typing keys even when the print on the upper surface of the key is small and hard to see due to problems with visual acuity etc.

  The keyboard according to the present invention has on the upper surface of each key, a letter-like protrusion whose input matter can be determined by touching with a fingertip without directly looking at the key. The entry items for each key are letters, numbers, symbols, enter, space, arrows, etc.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, the upper surface of the key is provided with a letter-like protrusion capable of determining the input items of each key.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the character projections on the upper surface of the key are provided with a plurality of projections arranged side by side.

  In a third aspect of the present invention, the tip of the protrusion is sharpened by narrowing the protrusion width of the character-like protrusion from the lower end to the upper end of the protrusion.

  According to a fourth aspect of the invention, a character projection is provided on the upper surface of the key integrally with the key.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the character projection member is provided on the upper surface of the key by adhesion.

  According to a sixth aspect of the invention, print information is displayed in an empty area on the upper surface of the key other than the character projection.

  According to the first aspect of the invention, since the character projection capable of determining the input items of each key is provided on the upper surface of the key, the input item of the key can be determined simply by touching the key with the fingertip.

  This allows blind touch operations to be performed accurately without completely learning the arrangement of key keys.

  In addition, even in a situation where it is difficult to determine the key visually, the key can be determined by information in the form of characters, numbers, symbols and the like obtained from the fingertip.

  For example, even if the surrounding environment is dark and the key arrangement is difficult to recognize visually, or if the input items on the top of the key are too small to be seen due to visual problems such as presbyopia, the key may be correctly typed. it can.

  In addition, by forming the character-like projections to be large using the entire space on the upper surface of the key, the character size can be enlarged to about twice the vertical and about twice the horizontal as compared with the conventional printed characters. This makes the keys easier to read than traditional printed displays and allows you to type the keys correctly.

  According to the second aspect of the invention, the character projections on the upper surface of the key are provided with a plurality of projections side by side, whereby information in the form of characters, numerals, symbols, etc. transmitted to the fingertip when the fingertip touches the character projections. The number of projections is added as information. This makes it easier to identify input items.

  According to the third aspect of the invention, the tip of the protrusion is sharpened by narrowing the protrusion width of the character-like protrusion from the lower end to the upper end of the protrusion, as compared to the case where the tip of the protrusion is flat More precisely, information in the form of letters, numbers, symbols etc. can be transmitted to the fingertips.

  The expression “pointing the tip of the protrusion” above also includes a trapezoidal shape that narrows toward the tip of the protrusion.

  According to the fourth aspect of the invention, by providing the character projection on the upper surface of the key integrally with the key, it is possible to prevent the problem that the character projection is detached from the key. The cost can be reduced at a low cost because the key and the character projection are formed at once by the mold.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the character-like projection can be formed later by adhering the character-like projection member on the upper surface of the key with a seal or an adhesive.

  Further, by providing the character-shaped projections by adhesion, they can be freely removed, for example, when the character-shaped projections become unnecessary or when the specifications of the character-shaped projections are changed. Furthermore, the degree of freedom of the color, shape, size, material, etc. of the character-like protrusion also increases.

  According to the sixth aspect of the invention, in the free space on the upper surface of the key other than the character projection, the character input mode in combination with the "Shift" key is switched between "Romaji input mode" and "Kana input mode". By providing characters, numbers, symbols, etc. that can be used at the time of printing, it is possible to visually discriminate other input items other than the input items indicated by the letter projections.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of an essential part showing some keys of the keyboard according to the present invention. It is an AA line end elevation of FIG. It is a BB line end view of FIG. It is an end elevation which shows another example. It is an end elevation which shows another example. It is an end elevation which shows another example. It is a principal part expansion perspective view showing other examples of a key concerning the present invention. It is the CC line end view of FIG. It is an end elevation which shows another example. It is an end elevation which shows another example. It is an end elevation which shows another example. It is an end elevation which shows another example. It is a principal part expansion perspective view showing a key of Roman character input mode. It is a principal part expansion perspective view showing the key of the kana character input mode.

  1 and 2 show an embodiment of a keyboard according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is an enlarged perspective view of an essential part showing a key of a part of the keyboard. In FIG. 1, character projections 3 are formed on the upper surface 2 of the key 1 by continuous projections in the form of characters, numbers, symbols, etc. corresponding to the input items of each key raised from the upper surface 2 of the key 1.

  In the empty space on the upper surface 2 of key 1, Kana notation corresponding to "Kana input mode" which becomes unnecessary when "Romaji input mode" is selected as the input mode for inputting Japanese The print information 4 is formed in an empty area other than the character-like protrusion on the upper surface 2.

  The print information 4 includes characters, numbers, symbols, etc. that can be input in combination with the “Shift” key, and characters, numbers, symbols, etc. that can be used when switching between the “Roman character input mode” and the “Kana input mode”. Show.

  FIG. 2 is an end view along the line A-A of the key 1 including the continuous character projections 3 shown in FIG.

  FIG. 3 is a B-B end view of the key 1 including the continuous character projections 3 shown in FIG. The cross section of the character projection 3 may be a square or a rectangle as shown in FIG. 3, but the width of the projection narrows from the lower end to the upper end of the projection as in the trapezoid of FIG. Compared with a square or a rectangle, making the tip of the protrusion sharp as in the triangles of FIGS. 5 and 6 has the advantage of making it easier to transmit the information of the protrusion to the fingertip.

  FIG. 6 is an end view of the case where the projection of the character projection 3 is formed to be the smallest. Similar to the horizontal linear projections on the upper surface 2 of the key "F" and "J" at the home position of both hands, provided on the conventional keyboard, slightly from the upper surface 2 of the key 1 Letters, numbers, symbols, etc. may be formed by protruding projections.

  FIGS. 7 and 8 are views in the case where the character projection 3 is formed of a plurality of intermittent projections. By forming the character projections 3 not by continuous projections as in the previous FIGS. 1 and 2 but by a plurality of intermittent projections, the amount of information in the form of characters, numbers, symbols, etc. transmitted to the fingertips is increased. be able to.

  The information on the shape includes the length and direction of the straight line, the length and direction of the curve, the density and angle of the line and the line, the size of the circle and the ellipse, and the like of the character projection 3 constituting the input item such as letters, numbers and symbols. It is a graphic feature that has letters, numbers, symbols, etc. like.

  If it sees about each straight line or curve of character projection 3 which forms the shape of an alphabet, for example, when a fingertip touches a key of "C" in FIG. By touching the protrusion 3, information in the form of "C" in which the right part of the round circular character is missing is transmitted to the fingertip, and even if the key 1 is not viewed, the touched key is "C". It can be recognized by touch.

  Similarly, when the letter "I" is touched, the information of a single line is transmitted to the fingertip in the vertical direction, and even if the key 1 is not viewed, the touch key is "I" by tactile sense. It can be recognized.

  As an example of a slightly more complicated font, when touching the letter “E”, for example, three to four three horizontal lines are used for one vertical line and three horizontal lines constituting the “E” font. Of the three horizontal lines, the upper row shows the tactile sense of the four protrusions in the lateral direction, the middle row shows the tactile sense of the three protrusions in the lateral direction, and the lower row shows the upper row and the lower row. Information on the number of projections is transmitted to the fingertip as the tactile sense of the same four projections, and even if the key 1 is not viewed, it can be tactilely recognized that the touched key is "E".

  FIG. 8 is a C-C line end view of the key 1 including the character-like protrusion 3 formed by the plurality of intermittent protrusions shown in FIG.

  The cross section of the character projection may be square or rectangular as shown in FIG. 9, but as in the trapezoid of FIG. 10, the width of the projection becomes smaller from the lower end to the upper end of the projection. Compared to square or rectangular shape, there is an advantage that fine touch can be easily transmitted to the fingertip if the tips of the projections are sharpened like the triangles in FIG. 11 and 12 or the semi-elliptical shape in FIG. .

  As shown in FIGS. 7 to 12 as compared with the continuous character projections 3 as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. The amount of information in the form of characters, numbers, symbols, etc. transmitted when the finger touches the character projections 3 is increased, and the input items can be more reliably determined.

  FIG. 12 is an end view of the case where the projection of the character projection 3 is formed to be the smallest. From the upper surface 2 of the key 1 in the same way as the horizontal linear projections provided on the upper surface 2 of the alphabetic "F" and "J" keys at the home position of both hands provided in the conventional keyboard The slightly protruding projections may be formed intermittently in the case of FIG. 12 to form letters, numbers, symbols and the like.

  FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the key "Z" when the input mode usually used by the user is "Romaji input mode". “T” used when the input mode is switched to “Kana input mode” is formed as print information 4 in the free space of the upper surface 2.

  Thus, in the case of the "Romaji input mode", the letter projections 3 can be formed as an alphabet.

  FIG. 14 is a perspective view of the key “one” when the input mode usually used by the user is “Kana input mode”. “Z”, which is used when the input mode is switched to “Romaji input mode”, is formed as print information 4 in the free space of the upper surface 2.

  Thus, in the case of the "Kana input mode", the character projections 3 can be formed as Kana characters.

  As shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, the characters to be selected by the user as the normal input mode are formed on the upper surface 2 of the key 1 as the character projections 3 so that characters, numbers, Since symbols and the like can be displayed in a large size, there is also an advantage that the key input items can be easily viewed visually. By forming the character projections to be large using the entire space on the top surface of the key, the character size can be enlarged to about twice the vertical and about twice the horizontal as compared with the conventional printed characters.

  With respect to the method of forming the character projections 3 and the print information 4, the character projections 3 are attached to the upper surface 2 of the key 1 with an adhesive in addition to a method of forming the shape integrally with the key in the purchased state as a mold and printing beforehand. Even if it is formed by a method of affixing or a seal in which the character projections 3 and the print information 4 are formed as a set is attached to the upper surface 2 of the key 1, the same effect as the integrally formed projections can be obtained. .

  As described above, according to the present invention, the blind touch operation can be performed without completely recognizing the arrangement of the main keys necessary for the blind touch, and for example, the surrounding environment is dark and the arrangement of the keys 1 is visually recognized Even if it is difficult to read or if the display on the upper surface 2 of the key 1 is too small to read due to problems with vision such as presbyopia, letters, numbers and symbols obtained from the fingertip when touching the letter projections 3 Information in the form of, etc., makes it possible to determine the input items of each key, so that keys can be typed correctly.

1 key 2 upper surface 3 letter projection 4 printed information

Claims (6)

A keyboard having a plurality of keys, wherein the upper surface of the keys is provided with a character projection capable of determining the input items of each key. The keyboard according to claim 1, wherein the character-shaped projection is provided with a plurality of projections arranged side by side on the character of the key upper surface.   3. The keyboard according to claim 1, wherein the character projection has a tip of the projection sharpened by narrowing the width of the projection from the lower end to the upper end of the projection.   The keyboard according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the character projection is integrally provided on the upper surface of the key with the key. The keyboard according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the character projection is provided with a character projection member on the upper surface of the key by adhesion. The keyboard according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the print information is displayed in a vacant area of the upper surface of the key other than the character projection.

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