JP2536517B2 - Cursor movement key control system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a cursor movement key control system, and more particularly to a cursor movement key control system in a data input device such as a Japanese word processor.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, a keyboard of a data input device to which this type of cursor movement key control system is applied includes a hard sense type keyboard that detects key input by hardware and a soft sensor type keyboard that detects key input by software.

In the cursor movement key control method in the hard-sense type keyboard, since the cursor movement key is sensed by hardware, even if two cursor movement keys are pressed at the same time, only the key code of the cursor movement key that is pressed earlier is detected. It was being output. Further, in the cursor movement key control method in the soft-sense type keyboard, by alternately changing the order in which the cursor movement keys are sensed, when two cursor movement keys are continuously pressed at the same time, each key code is sequentially output. As a result, the cursor can be moved in eight directions including diagonal directions in addition to the four vertical and horizontal directions, but complicated cursor movements other than 45 degrees can not be controlled.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In the conventional cursor movement key control method described above, there is a limitation in controlling the movement of the cursor. Therefore, in a data input device such as a Japanese word processor where a man-machine interface is important, the user can freely move the cursor. There is a drawback in that the operability feels poor when it is positioned anywhere on a display device such as a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube).

Even when a pointing device such as a mouse can be used, a data input device such as a Japanese word processor that mainly uses keyboard input is instructed to move the cursor from the keyboard to prevent the hand from leaving the keyboard. Therefore, the above-mentioned drawbacks still exist.

In view of the above points, an object of the present invention is to allow the user to freely move the cursor, position the cursor at any position on the display device, and focus on keyboard input of a Japanese word processor or the like. An object of the present invention is to provide a cursor movement key control method capable of improving the operability of the data input device.

[Means for solving problems]

According to the cursor movement key control method of the present invention, the movement of the cursor on the display device in the four directions of up, down, left and right is instructed.
Stores the keyboard that has two cursor movement keys and outputs the make data when the key is pressed and the break data when the key is released, and the key code information based on the output data from the keys on this keyboard. And a controller that controls the movement of the cursor on the display device based on the pressing order and the time difference of the two cursor movement keys that are not in the opposite direction among the four cursor movement keys.

[Action]

In the cursor movement key control system of the present invention, the keyboard has four cursor movement keys for instructing the movement of the cursor on the display device in the four directions of up, down, left and right, and when the key is pressed, the make data is output and the key is released. When the cursor is moved up, the break data is output, and the controller stores the information of the key code based on the output data from the keys on the keyboard, and the order of pressing the two cursor movement keys which are not reverse directions among the four cursor movement keys. And controlling the movement of the cursor on the display device based on the time difference.

〔Example〕

 Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of a cursor movement key control system of the present invention. The cursor movement key control system of the present embodiment has a keyboard 1 having a cursor movement key 10, a keyboard control program unit 3, a CRT control unit 4, and an upper application program 5 (not only control of movement of the cursor 60 on the CRT 6 but also data control). Controller 2 (which also performs other processing such as editing), and a cursor
It consists of 60 and a CRT 6 displayed.

Referring to FIG. 2, the output data from the keyboard 1 when the user presses a key on the keyboard 1 is called make data, and the key is released (the pressed key is released). The output data from the keyboard 1 when the key is restored to the raised state (the same applies hereinafter) is called break data.

Referring to FIG. 3, the cursor movement key 10 (hereinafter, 4
In order to specify each of the two cursor movement keys 10, “key ↑”, “key ↓”, “key →” and “key ←” are indicated on the basis of the figure of the key top showing the direction of cursor movement. As the make data and break data, 8-bit data in which the first bit is indicated by "0" in the case of make data and the first bit is indicated by "1" in the case of break data is allocated.

Referring to FIG. 4, the make data and break data of the cursor movement key 10 can be shown in hexadecimal notation as shown.

As shown in FIG. 5, from generation of an interrupt based on make data (hereinafter referred to as make interrupt) by an arbitrary key on the keyboard 1 to generation of an interrupt based on break data (hereinafter referred to as break interrupt) by the key. Elapsed time t is a preset reference time T
When the user exceeds the reference time T, that is, when the user continues to press the key for more than the reference time T, the keyboard control program unit 3 transfers information indicating the continuous press of the key to the upper application program 5.

As shown in FIG. 6 (a), when the user presses the key ↓ to generate a make interrupt and the key → is pressed to generate a make interrupt after the elapsed time t within the reference time T has elapsed, The keyboard control program section 3 alternately outputs the key codes indicating the key ↓ and the key → to the upper application program 5.

In the upper application program 5, the cursor 6 on the CRT 6 is sent to the CRT controller 4 based on these key codes.
A command indicating the position after the movement of 0 is output, and the CRT control unit 4 moves the cursor 60 on the CRT 6 in the lower right direction by 45 degrees based on this command (see FIG. 8A).

As shown in FIGS. 6 (b) and 6 (c), after the user presses the key ↓ to generate the make interrupt, the key → is pressed to generate the make interrupt after the elapsed time t exceeding the reference time T has elapsed. In such a case, the keyboard control program unit 3 makes a plurality of commands for the upper application program 5 based on the ratio of the comparison time τ and the elapsed time t, which is instructed by the user to the keyboard control program unit 3 in advance. For each key code of key ↓, one key → key code is inserted and output.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6 (b), [t / τ] = 1
In the case of ([] indicates a Gauss symbol), the keyboard control program section 3 outputs 1 for each key code of two keys ↓.
The key code of one key → is inserted and output to the upper application program 5 (see FIG. 7 (a)).

The upper application program 5 outputs a command to the CRT control unit 4 based on these key codes, and the CRT control unit 4 moves the cursor 60 on the CRT 6 to approximately 27 degrees (tan ^-1 (1 / 2)) is moved (see FIG. 8 (b)).

Further, as shown in FIG. 6 (c), when [t / τ] = 2, the keyboard control program unit 3 inserts one key → key code for every three key ↓ key codes. It is output to the upper application program 5 (see FIG. 7 (b)).

The upper application program 5 outputs a command to the CRT control unit 4 based on these key codes, and the CRT control unit 4 moves the cursor 60 on the CRT 6 to about 18 degrees lower right (tan ^-1 (1 / 3)) is moved (see FIG. 8 (c)).

In the above description, the combination of the key ↓ and the key → was described, but the same processing is performed for other combinations of the cursor movement keys 10. However, since the combination of the key ↓ and the key ↑ and the combination of the key → and the key ← have no meaning to be combined, they are treated as an “inconsistent combination” and the above processing is not performed.

Referring to FIG. 9, the processing of the keyboard control program unit 3 in the controller 2 is performed by the interrupt type determination step.
11, key type determination step 12, make-up cursor movement key presence determination step 13, make interruption determination step 14, inconsistent combination determination step 15, elapsed time storage step 16, second cursor movement key storage step 17
, Key output counter 0 setting step 18, key code output step 19, key output counter 1 adding step 20
And make interrupt determination step 21, and timer counter 0
Setting step 22 and cursor movement key type storage step
23, and step 24 for determining whether the cursor movement key during makeup is present
, Reference time T elapsed determination step 25, multi-touch determination step 26, key output counter value determination step 27
And a cursor moving key memory clear step 28 during makeup.

Next, the operation of the cursor movement key control system of the present embodiment having such a configuration will be described.

When an interrupt occurs in the controller 2, the interrupt is sent to the keyboard 1 in order to distinguish the type of interrupt.
Whether a keyboard control program is an interrupt based on keystrokes (key press and release) or an interrupt from a timer (not shown) in the controller 2 (periodically generated interrupt; hereinafter referred to as timer interrupt) The determination is made by the unit 3 (step 11).

If it is determined that the interrupt is based on the keystroke of the keyboard 1, it is further determined whether the interrupt is based on the keystroke of the cursor movement key 10 (step 12).

If the determination is that the interrupt is based on the keystroke of the cursor movement key 10, whether or not there is the cursor movement key 10 (cursor movement key 10 pressed by the user) being made at the time of the interruption. It is determined whether or not (step 13).

If the cursor movement key 10 during make is present in this determination, it is determined whether the current interrupt is a make interrupt or a break interrupt (step 14).

If it is a make interrupt in this determination, it is determined whether or not the pressing of the cursor movement key 10 causing the make interruption is a combination consistent with the pressing of the cursor movement key 10 which is already being made. (Step 15).

If it is determined that there is no contradiction in this determination, the elapsed time t from the occurrence of the make interrupt for the cursor movement key 10 that is already being made to the occurrence of the current make interrupt is t.
Is stored in the memory (not shown) in the controller 2 by the keyboard control program unit 3 (step 16), and the cursor movement key 10 of this time (that is, the second time) is further stored.
Make data of is stored in the memory (step 17).

Next, a key output counter (not shown) in the controller 2 for determining the ratio of information output based on the two cursor movement keys 10 triggered by the second make interrupt occurrence.
Is set to 0 (step 18), the key code of the cursor movement key 10 pressed the second time is output to the upper application program 5 (step 19), 1 is added to the key output counter (step 20), and the keyboard The processing of the control program unit 3 ends.

If there is a conflicting combination in the judgment of step 15,
The memory of the make-up data of the cursor movement key 10 during make-up is cleared (step 28), and the processing of the keyboard control program section 3 is finished.

If the judgment in step 14 is a break interrupt,
Since this indicates a break interruption of the cursor movement key 10 during make-up, the memory of the make data of the cursor movement key 10 is cleared (step 28), and the processing of the keyboard control program section 3 ends.

If the cursor movement key 10 during make-up does not exist in the determination in step 13, it is determined whether the current interrupt is a make interrupt or a break interrupt (step 2
1).

If the determination is a make interrupt, the timer counter (not shown) in the controller 2 is set to 0, and the timer (not shown) in the controller 2 for measuring the elapsed time t from 0 is set. A restart is performed (step 22).

Next, the cursor movement key that caused the make interrupt
Ten types (that is, make data of each cursor movement key 10) are stored in the memory in the controller 2 (step 23), and the key output counter is set to 0 (step 18). The key code of the cursor movement key 10 is output to the upper application program 5 (step
19), 1 is added to the key output counter (step 2
0), the processing of the keyboard control program unit 3 ends.

If it is a break interrupt in the judgment of step 21, it should not exist originally, but if that state occurs due to a hardware malfunction, etc., the cursor movement key 10 The memory of the data is cleared (step 28), and the keyboard control program section 3
Processing ends.

If it is determined in step 12 that the interrupt is not based on the keystroke of the cursor movement key 10 but is based on the keystroke of another key on the keyboard 1, control is transferred to the process based on that key.

If the determination in step 11 is a timer interrupt, it is determined whether or not the cursor movement key 10 being made exists at the time when the timer interrupt occurs (step 2
Four).

If the cursor movement key 10 which is being made does not exist in this determination, the process of the keyboard control program section 3 is finished as it is.

If it is determined in step 24 that the cursor movement key 10 that is being made exists, the elapsed time t from the generation of the make interrupt for the cursor movement key 10 is the reference time t.
It is determined whether or not has passed (step 25).

If the elapsed time t does not exceed the reference time T in this determination, there is no need to output the key code, so the processing of the keyboard control program section 3 ends.

If the elapsed time t has exceeded the reference time T as determined in step 25, two consistent cursor movement keys 10 are pressed at the time when the timer interrupt occurs (hereinafter referred to as multi-touch). Is determined (step 26).

If it is determined in this determination that only one cursor movement key 10 is being pressed instead of multi-touch (called multi-touch as opposed to multi-touch), the key output counter is set to 0 (step 18) and single-touch is performed. The key code of the cursor movement key 10 which is marked is output to the upper application program 5 (step 19), 1 is added to the key output counter (step 20), and the processing of the keyboard control program section 3 is completed.

If multi-touch is determined in step 26, it is determined whether the value of the key output counter is larger than the value of [t / τ] +1 (step 27).

If the value of the key output counter is larger than the value of [t / τ] +1 in this determination, the value of the key output counter is set to 0 (step 18), and the cursor movement key pressed the second time in the multi-touch. The key code of 10 is output to the upper application program 5 (step 19), 1 is added to the key output counter (step 20), and the processing of the keyboard control program section 3 is completed.

The value of the key output counter is [t / τ] in the judgment in step 27.
If it is not larger than the value of +1, the key code of the cursor movement key 10 pressed the first time in the multi-touch is output to the upper application program 5 (step 19), and 1 is added to the key output counter (step 19). 20) and the processing of the keyboard control program section 3 ends.

The upper application program 5 that has received the key code of the cursor movement key 10 passes a command for instructing the moving direction of the cursor corresponding to the key code of the cursor movement key 10 to the CRT control unit 4, and the CRT control unit 4 receives the command. The movement of the cursor 60 on the CRT 6 is controlled based on the command.

Taking the above operation as an example in which the cursor movement key is pressed as shown in FIG. 6 (c) (when [t / τ] = 2), it is first pressed. Key ↓
01H (see FIG. 4) is output from the keyboard 1 as the make data of and a make interrupt is generated based on this.
In FIG. 9, steps 11-12-13-21-22-22-23-18-
The processing and determination are performed in the order of 19-20, and the information based on the pressing of the key ↓ is passed from the keyboard control program unit 3 to the CRT control unit 4 via the upper application program 5, and the CRT 6 is controlled by the CRT control unit 4. The cursor 60 of is moved downward by one line.

If it is assumed that two timer interrupts are generated after the reference time T has elapsed before the second key is pressed, the 9th timer interrupt is generated.
In the figure, processing and determination are performed in the order of steps 11-24-25-26-18-18-19-20, and repeat information based on successive depressions of the key ↓ is sent from the keyboard control program unit 3 via the upper application program 5 to the CRT. Control unit 4
To the cursor 6 on the CRT 6 under the control of the CRT controller 4.
0 is moved downward by one line each. In this way, the information based on the key ↓ being pressed three times in total is output from the keyboard control program unit 3.

If the second key is pressed before the third timer interrupt occurs after the key ↓ is pressed, 02H (see Fig. 4) is output as make data from the keyboard 1 and A make interrupt is generated based on the above, and steps 11-12-13-14-15-15-16-17-18-19 in FIG. 9 are generated.
The processing and determination are performed in the order of −20, and the information based on the press of the key → is passed from the keyboard control program unit 3 to the CRT control unit 4 via the host application program 5, and the CRT control unit 4 controls the CRT 6 to operate. The cursor 60 is moved rightward by one digit (at this time, the value of the key output counter is set to 1).

For the third timer interrupt occurrence after the key ↓ is pressed, in step 11-24-25-26- in FIG.
The processing and determination are performed in the order of 27-19-20, the value of the key output counter becomes 2, and the information based on the key ↓ is output.

Even when the fourth timer interrupt occurs after the key ↓ is pressed, the steps 11-24-25-26- in FIG. 9 are performed.
The processing and determination are performed in the order of 27-19-20, the value of the key output counter becomes 3, and the information based on the key ↓ is output.

Further, the same processing is performed even when the fifth timer interrupt is generated after the key ↓ is pressed, and the value of the key output counter becomes 4 as long as the multi-touch is performed.

For the sixth timer interrupt occurrence after the key ↓ is pressed, in step 11-24-25-26- in FIG.
27-18-19-20 are sequentially processed and determined (the value of the key output counter is larger than 3 of [t / τ] +1), and the information based on the key → is input from the keyboard control program section 3. Via upper application program 5
It is output to the CRT control unit 4, and CRT6 is controlled by the CRT control unit 4.
The upper cursor 60 is moved to the right by one digit.

The mode of such output after the multi-touch of the key ↓ and the key → corresponds to the mode of output shown in FIG. 7 (b), and the cursor 60 on the CRT 6 is shown in FIG. 8 (c). To be moved.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the display device is controlled by the controller based on the mode of pressing the cursor moving key on the keyboard, that is, the combination of pressing the two cursor moving keys in the up-down direction and the left-right direction and the time difference between the pressing. By freely controlling the direction of movement of the cursor above,
There is an effect that the operability of a data input device such as a Japanese word processor can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a mode of data output from a keyboard in FIG. 1 to a controller, and FIG. 3 is a cursor in FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing 8-bit data corresponding to make-up data and break data of the move key, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing hexadecimal representation of 8-bit data shown in FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a diagram on the keyboard in FIG. FIG. 6A is a diagram showing an example of the relationship between the reference time and the elapsed time between the make data by pressing a key and the break data by releasing the same key. FIG. 6A shows the case where the elapsed time is smaller than the reference time. 6B shows an example of a mode in which the two cursor movement keys are multi-touched. FIG. 6B shows two cursor movements when the elapsed time is longer than the reference time and is 1 to 2 times the comparison time. The keys are multi-touch FIG. 6 (c) is an example of a mode in which two cursor movement keys are multi-touched when the elapsed time is longer than the reference time and is 2 to 3 times the comparison time. FIG. 7 (a) is a key code output from the keyboard control program part in FIG. 1 to the upper application program when the cursor movement keys are multi-touched as shown in FIG. 6 (b). FIG. 7 (b) is a diagram showing the order of the cursor movement keys, and FIG. 7 (b) shows the order from the keyboard control program part in FIG. 1 when the cursor movement keys are multi-touched. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the sequence of cursor movement keys whose key codes are output to the application program. FIG. 8 (a) shows the cursor movement keys being multi-touched as shown in FIG. 6 (a). FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the manner of movement of the cursor on the CRT in FIG. 1, and FIG. 8 (b) is the first diagram when the cursor movement keys are multi-touched as shown in FIG. 6 (b). The figure which shows the mode of movement of the cursor on the CRT in the figure, and FIG. 8 (c) is on the CRT in FIG. 1 when the cursor movement keys are multi-touched as shown in FIG. 6 (c). And FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing the processing of the keyboard control program section in FIG. In the figure, 1 ... keyboard, 2 ... controller, 3 ... keyboard control program section, 4 ... CRT control section, 5 ... upper application program, 6 ... CRT, 10 ... cursor movement key, 60 ... It is the cursor.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. There are four cursor movement keys for instructing movement of a cursor on a display device in four directions of up, down, left and right, and make data is output when the key is pressed, and break data is output when the key is released. Based on the keyboard to output and the key code information based on the output data from the keys on this keyboard, which is based on the pressing order and the time difference of the two cursor movement keys that are not in the opposite direction among the four cursor movement keys, A cursor movement key control method comprising: a controller that controls movement of a cursor on a display device.