JP3066973B2 - Data input processing method - Google Patents

Description

Description: FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a data input processing method, and particularly to a means for preventing so-called key omission.

[Prior art] Conventionally, personal computers and POS (Point of
For example, a method of inputting data with a keyboard in a device such as Sales is used.

FIG. 3 shows a general configuration of an apparatus for performing such key input.

The device shown in this figure, a so-called keyboard interface, includes a keyboard 12 having a keyboard controller 10 built therein. The keyboard 12 is connected to a main CPU 14 of the information processing device. That is, when the user operates the keyboard 12, under the control of the keyboard controller 10, the data relating to the input is the main CP.
Transferred to U14.

The keyboard controller 10 has a built-in buffer for temporarily storing data related to input from the keyboard 12. This buffer is, for example, a buffer having a size of about ten and several bytes.

Data (hereinafter, referred to as a character) input from the keyboard 12 is temporarily stored in a buffer built in the keyboard controller 10, for example, 500 μs per byte.
The data is transferred to the main CPU 14 at a speed of about ec to 1 msec.

As described above, conventionally, it has been possible to sequentially supply the characters input from the keyboard 12 to the main CPU 14.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the related art, there is a possibility that so-called key omission may occur.

 This key omission will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a conventional buffer storage state. Here, in order to simplify the explanation, the buffer size is set to four characters.

It is assumed that numeric characters are input to such a buffer from the keyboard in the order of, for example, 1, 2, 3, 4,.... At this time, if the input speed exceeds the transfer speed from the keyboard to the main CPU, the buffer may become full. That is, 1, 2,
When 3, 4, 5, and 6 are input, up to 1, 2, 3, and 4 are stored in the buffer, but the subsequent 5, 6 may not be stored. In such a case, a warning sound is generally emitted from the keyboard to the keyboard user. However, since it is not clear to the operator how many characters have been input, the following 7, 8,
Enter 9,0.

Then, the main CPU remains in the state in which 5, 6 is not input, such that 7, 8 is taken into the buffer after the drop of 5, 6 and the subsequent 9, 0 is input.
Will be transferred.

Therefore, in this case, the missing keys for 5 and 6 have occurred.

When a key is missed, a character related to an input from the keyboard is not accurately transferred to the main CPU, and a subsequent process, for example, a display on a display device screen such as a CRT is not accurately performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a data input processing method that does not further increase a failure due to a key omission when a situation where a key omission may occur occurs. With the goal.

Means for Solving the Problems To achieve such an object, the present invention provides a keyboard via a buffer having a capacity capable of storing a predetermined amount of characters and sequentially transferring the stored characters to an information processing apparatus. A data input processing method for inputting a character input from the data processing apparatus to the information processing apparatus, wherein when the predetermined amount of the character is stored in the buffer, the subsequent storage of the character in the buffer is prohibited. When all the characters stored in the buffer are transferred to the information processing device after the prohibition of the character, the prohibition of the storage of the character in the buffer is released and the release of the prohibition is warned. .

[Operation] In the data input processing method of the present invention, once the buffer for storing characters is once full, character storage in the buffer is prohibited from that point on until the buffer becomes empty. Then, a warning is issued when the prohibition of storing characters in the buffer is released. Therefore, the keyboard user can easily know at which point in time the buffer becomes full and up to which character has been input.

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, preferred examples of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that the reference numerals for the general device configuration shown in FIG.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the operation of a keyboard interface employing a data input processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, first, a key input waiting state is set, and it is determined whether a key operation has been performed on the keyboard 12 (100). If there is a key operation, the next judgment 1
Move to 02, and if not, move to decision 104.

At decision 102, it is determined whether the buffer is full. Here, if the buffer is full, no more characters can be stored, so a flag indicating that fact is turned on (106) and a warning such as a buzzer is issued (108). After the warning 108, a transfer operation from the buffer to the main CPU 14 (which means a transfer process if the main CPU is in a receivable state). After this, judge again
Move to 100.

If it is determined that the buffer is not full in the determination 102, the process proceeds to the determination 110. In the determination 110, it is determined whether or not the flag is turned on. If it is determined that the flag is turned on, the process proceeds to determination 104; otherwise, the process proceeds to step 112.

In step 112, the character related to the input is stored in the buffer. That is, if the result of the above-described determination 110 is that the step 112 is executed, it means that the buffer is not currently full and has already been emptied once since the last time the buffer was full. Can be regarded as an allowable state. For this reason, the character related to the input is stored. After this, the transfer operation (main CPU
If it is in a receivable state, it means a transfer process).

On the other hand, when it is determined that there is no key operation in the determination 100 and when the flag is turned on in the determination 110, the determination 104 is performed. At decision 104, it is determined whether the buffer is empty. If the buffer is not empty, the process proceeds to a transfer operation (which means a transfer process if the main CPU is in a receivable state). If the buffer is empty, the process proceeds to the next determination 114, where it is determined whether the flag is turned on.

Here, when it is determined that the flag is turned on,
It can be considered that the buffer is emptied as a result of the buffer contents being transferred once the buffer is full. Therefore, in this case, since it is necessary to permit storage in the buffer, the next step 116 is executed and the flag is turned off. Further warning 118 after this step 116
Is executed.

In the warning 118, a warning sound with a different frequency or duration from the warning 108 is issued. Due to this difference, the user of the device has noticed that the currently issued warning is due to the buffer (Warning 10
8) or buffer flushing (warning 118).

If it is determined that the flag has not been turned on in the determination 114, it can be considered that the buffer is empty simply because there is no input recently. Therefore, in this case, the operation returns to the key input waiting operation without issuing the warning 118.

FIG. 2 shows the storage state of the buffer in this embodiment.

For comparison, the buffer size is assumed to be four characters, as in the conventional example described above, and 1, 2, 3,.
It is assumed that characters are input in the order of 4,.

In the case of this embodiment, if the buffer becomes full when 1, 2, 3, or 4 is input, a warning sound is issued by the warning 108, and further input operations are prohibited. That is, according to the above-described determinations 110 and 104, the processing shifts to the key input waiting state without performing any storage processing in the buffer.
Are not stored.

When the buffer is full, the flag is turned on, so that the buffer is emptied later and, as a result, no character is stored in the buffer until the flag is turned off.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, once the buffer is full, the data is transferred and the buffer is not accepted until the buffer becomes empty, and the user can easily identify which character should be re-input. Data loss can be prevented.

Further, when the buffer can be stored, that is, when the key input becomes possible, an alarm sound different from that in the case of the buffer full is issued, so that the user can judge to restart the input accordingly.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, when the buffer becomes full, storing in the buffer is prohibited until the buffer becomes empty, so that so-called key omission can be prevented. In addition, a warning is issued when the prohibition of storing characters in the buffer is released, so that the user can know the start of storing characters in the buffer.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an operation flow of a data input processing method according to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state of storing characters in a buffer in this embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a general configuration of a keyboard interface, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state of storing characters in a buffer by a conventional data input processing method. 10 Keyboard controller 12 Keyboard 14 Main CPU

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A data input processing method for inputting a character input from a keyboard to the information processing device via a buffer having a capacity capable of storing a predetermined amount of characters and sequentially transferring the stored characters to the information processing device. When the predetermined amount of characters is stored in the buffer, the subsequent storage of characters in the buffer is prohibited, and after the storage is prohibited, all the characters stored in the buffer are the information. A data input processing method which releases the prohibition of storing characters in the buffer and warns the release of the prohibition when transferred to the device.