JPH01108623A - Keyboard depression testing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the processing capacity of a testing machine by arranging plural depressing heads on which hammers are arranged on a key input plane in parallel, respectively, positioning the depressing heads by moving independently along a guide shaft in one direction, and driving a prescribed hammer selectively. CONSTITUTION:Since the depressing heads 2 and 3 of the testing machine are arranged as a pair of two heads by remarking the fact that the key arrangement of a keyboard 25 is arranged from a human engineering point of view and also, plural hammers 5 to drive cylinders loaded on the depressing heads 2 and 3 are arranged suitably for the arranging pitch (p) of keys, it is possible to respond to compound depression of key input flexibly. Also, in the depressing heads 2 and 3 in which a large number of hammers 5 are arranged, the input of a large number of keys can be performed only by performing one time of positioning. In such a way, it is possible to save the number of times of moving the head and to shorten a test time.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] The present invention relates to a keyboard keystroke tester applied to the shipping inspection of keyboards as input/output terminal devices, and is a composite keystroke tester that is operated simultaneously using control keys, etc. In order to reduce the constraints on multiple keystrokes and improve the processing capacity of the testing machine, multiple keystroke heads each having an array of hammers are arranged in parallel on the key input surface. , each keying head is configured to be independently moved along a guide shaft in one direction for positioning and to selectively drive a predetermined hammer.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a keyboard keystroke tester that automatically performs keystrokes on key heads for testing keyboards used as computer input terminals.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, a keyboard keystroke tester is provided with a large number of keystroke hammers arranged in the same manner as the key arrangement on the plane of the key head arrangement (hereinafter referred to as the key input surface), and the hammers are actuated by, for example, an air cylinder. A key is pressed in the same way as a manual key operation, and an electrical character code signal is extracted from the input key and compared with the character code defined by the standard for inspection.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the key arrangement of the keyboard.

In the figure, the keys 30 with diagonal lines around the keyboard are input surfaces with function keys, shift keys, or control keys arranged, and the key input surface 24 in the center of the keyboard is provided with input surfaces for alpha vent and kana characters. are doing. -By the way, test machines that place key hammers in correspondence with individual keys lack versatility;
Furthermore, it is difficult to test a keyboard using a combination key input method, which is currently used in conjunction with the shift key.

For this purpose, a compound key type testing machine shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 is used.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of key input using a sub-hammer.

In the keyboard 25 testing machine shown in FIG. 5, the main hammer 20, which freely moves within the input surface 24 of the key arrangement, is attached to orthogonal drive shafts, the X-axis, and the Y-axis.

For specific keys arranged around the keyboard 25, such as shift keys or control keys, semi-fixed sub-hammers 21 and 22 are provided, and the hammers can be pressed in combination with the main hammer 20 and sub-hammer 2L22. Placement is done.

The main hammer 20 allows the key input surface to be fed in the X direction by rotation of a screw formed on the After the plane is moved in the Y direction by a stamp motor or the like and positioned over the key to be tested, a hammer-driven air cylinder is operated to press the key.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a hammer for compound keystrokes using a multi-axis control drive mechanism.

The hammer 26 has orthogonal hammer drive axes X, y.

The hammers 27 are attached to the orthogonal hammer drive axes X2 + Y2, and are configured to move freely within the key input surface 24 of the keyboard 25.

Each of the plurality of hammers 26 and 27 is connected to the key input surface 24.
As with the main hammer 20, positioning control is performed to select the test vs. householder keys, and keystrokes are performed at the relevant positions, and multiple keystrokes are also possible.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, the tester having the compound key hammer has the following problems.

In FIG. 5, semi-fixed sub-hammers 21 and 22 require manual labor for positioning and adjustment, and there is only one main hammer 20, which requires a great deal of time for keyboard testing.

Figure 6 shows that when keys are pressed simultaneously, there is a positional restriction in positioning and driving the mutual hammers, and when multiple keys are pressed, there is only one hammer 26 and 27, which causes the same problem in testing man-hours as in Figure 5. There is. Furthermore, the cost of the device increases due to multi-axis control.

[Means for solving problems]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the basic structure of a multi-key typing keyboard testing machine according to the present invention.

On the key input surface 24, in a test machine equipped with a key head hammer driven by a cylinder, a plurality of keying heads 2 and 3 in which hammers 54 are arranged are arranged in parallel, and each of the keying heads 2 and 3 is arranged in parallel. The hammers 3 are independently positioned by moving and feeding along the one-way guide shaft 6, and are configured to selectively drive a predetermined hammer 5.

[Effect]

From an ergonomic point of view, the keys on the keyboard were arranged as shown in Figure 4, and the keystroke head of the test machine was arranged as a set of two, and the keys were attached to the keystroke head. Since a plurality of cylinder-driven hammers are arranged in accordance with the key arrangement pinch (p), it is possible to flexibly respond to complex keystrokes.

However, a keying head with a large number of arranged hammers is
Since a large number of key inputs are performed only by positioning the head once, the number of times the head must be moved is reduced, and as a result, there is an advantage that the test time can be shortened.

〔Example〕

The following description will be made with reference to the front view of the embodiment of the keyboard testing machine shown in FIG.

The keying heads 2 and 3 are disposed at positions slightly higher than the height of the key input surface 24 so that they can easily slide on the X-direction guide shafts 6 disposed in parallel above and below the key input surface. The heads 2 and 3 are connected to a timing belt 7 stretched between belt pulleys 8 provided on the left and right sides of the testing machine housing 11. 10 is a fixed connection portion between the keying head and the timing belt 7.

The belt pulley 8 is directly connected to a pulse motor 9 installed inside the housing 11.

A large number of hammers 5 are mounted on the keying heads 2 and 3 in the Y direction.
However, they are arranged in two rows.

The arrangement pinches of the hammer 5 are arranged, for example, at the pinch distance p (FIG. 4) of the key arrangement or at p/2 of the distance p, so that the hammer 5 can be easily positioned with respect to the input key.

The arrangement of the array hammers 5 is shown on the keying head 3 side.

Furthermore, the positioning of the keying heads 2 and 3 by the timing belt 7, that is, the positioning of the key input surface 24 in the X-axis direction, is as follows:
This is done by feeding in units of -half of the key arrangement pitch p. Following the above-described positioning, if the hammers arranged in the Y-axis direction are selectively driven, a predetermined keystroke input will be made.

FIG. 3 is a detailed diagram of the cylinder drive mechanism of the hammer 5.
FIG. 2 is a side view at the position of index line A-8 (FIG. 2);

Above the key input surface 24, the key input head 2 or 3, which moves in the horizontal direction, is fitted with an air cylinder 13 that stands upright as shown. The lower end of the cylinder 13 is formed with a groove I5 for a keystroke hammer. In the figure, 16 is a connector for supplying air to the air cylinder 13, and air is supplied via a flexible air cable 17.

As mentioned above, the key input surface 24 is connected to the independent keying head 2.
Key input is performed by feeding control only in the X-axis direction of Since it is mounted, the number of positioning operations is greatly reduced, which has the advantage of shortening test time.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the keyboard keystroke tester of the present invention, keystrokes can be made in response to recent keyboard functions that require multiple keystrokes, and multiple keystrokes can be made by positioning the keystroke head once. As a result, exam time is shortened,
Testing ability will improve.

However, the present invention has great effects, such as reducing the positional restrictions on multiple keystrokes and making it possible to simultaneously hit about four keys.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the basic structure of the keyboard keystroke tester of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a front view showing an embodiment of the keyboard keystroke tester; Fig. 3 is a detailed side view of the hammer cylinder drive mechanism; Key layout diagram of the keyboard. Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of key input using a conventional sub-hammer. Figure 6 is a diagram of key input using conventional multi-axis control. In the figure, 2 and 3 are both keying heads, and 5 is a hammer. , 6 is a guide shaft, 7 is a timing belt, 9 is a motor, 8 is a belt pulley, 10 is a belt connection part of the striking head, 11 is a testing machine casing, 13 is a cylinder, 15 is a hammer head, 24 is a key input face, yerboard n-t-
``Distribution'' composition (5d Figure 4 I flood must be sub-panmer to J key)' Figure b

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A composite keying type keyboard testing machine comprising a hammer for key head keying whose drive source is a cylinder arranged on a key input surface, and a positioning drive mechanism for the hammer, wherein the hammer (5) is Multiple keying heads arranged (2, 3
) are arranged in parallel, and each keying head (2, 3) is independently connected to a unidirectional guide shaft (6).
position by moving it along the
5) A keyboard keystroke testing machine characterized by selectively driving.