JPH01116722A - Character input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To select the switching of the small letter and the capital letter of an alphabetical character, a KANA (Japanese syllabary) character, etc., to drastically reduce the number of times of key operations and to improve operability by selecting whether or not an inputted character is converted in accordance with the push-down pressure of a key. CONSTITUTION:Two pairs of contacts 11 and 12 are provided corresponding to each key 6 of a keyboard, the key 6 and the contacts 11 and 12 are arranged so that the one pair of contacts 11 out of the two contacts may be closed when the key 6 is weakly pushed down and the other pair of contacts 12 may be closed when the key 6 is strongly pushed down two pairs of contacts is closed and the inputted character is free to be selected and switched in accordance with the push-down pressure of the key 6. That is, when the push-down pressure of the key 6 is strong or weak, the input character is switched to, for example, the small letter or the capital letter without pushing the shift key. Thus, the operations of pushing the shift key is decreased and a character input device whose key operations are easy can be obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a character input system for inputting numbers or characters into a computer or the like.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, in a character input device equipped with a keyboard or the like, when entering characters using a character entry key, some characters cannot be input (selected) unless the shift key is pressed and the character entry key is pressed at the same time. there were.

For this reason, depending on the input sentence, it may be necessary to press the shift key many times, resulting in problems such as cumbersome key operations and the possibility of key operation errors.

(Objectives of the Invention) The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems 1. By making it possible to freely select and change the characters to be input by pressing the key down, the operation of pressing the shift key is reduced.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a character input device with easy key operations.

(Structure of the Invention) The present invention provides a character input device as described above, in which a character corresponding to a key of a keyboard is input based on a contact opening/closing signal caused by a pressing operation of a key, and the character is displayed on an output device. A 2gB contact is provided for each key on the keyboard, and when the key is pressed down weakly, one of the two sets of contacts is closed, and when the key is pressed down strongly, the other set of contacts is closed. The keys and the contacts are arranged so that the contacts are closed, and the characters to be input can be freely selected and changed according to the pressing pressure of the keys.

With this configuration, input characters can be switched between, for example, lowercase letters and uppercase letters, without pressing the shift key, depending on whether the key depression pressure is strong or weak.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. In the same figure,
Reference numeral 1 designates a keyboard having a plurality of keys 6 (FIG. 2) for inputting characters, symbols, etc., and reference numeral 2 designates an apparatus main body comprising a keyboard interface 3 and a central processing unit 5 having an interrupt input terminal 4. The keyboard interface 3 outputs a contact opening/closing signal to the central processing unit 5 when the key 6 of the keyboard 1 is pressed down, and the interrupt input terminal 4 outputs a signal to switch the selection of characters input according to the pressing pressure of the key 6. is input to the central processing unit 5, and the central processing unit 5 has a function of displaying characters created by these signals on the output device 7 based on the keyboard interface 3 and interrupt input signals. Reference numeral 7 denotes an output device such as a CRT display that displays characters and the like based on the output from the central processing unit 5.

Here, the structure and function of the keys 6 of the keyboard 1 will be explained using FIGS. 2(a), (b), and (c). Figures (a), (b), and (c) show a state in which the key 6 is not depressed, a state in which it is weakly depressed, and a state in which it is strongly depressed, respectively.

Each of the keys 6 is provided with a return spring 8, and the lower end of the key 6 is provided with a conductive rubber 9 for opening and closing contacts, which will be described later. Terminals 11a, 11b and 1 arranged on contact fixing plate 10
Two sets of contacts 11.12 are provided, consisting of 2a and 12b. Spaces are provided between the terminals 11a and 11b and between the terminals 12a and 12b, so that they are not electrically connected to each other under normal conditions. In addition, between the two sets of contacts 11 and 12, these contacts 1
An insulator 13 is inserted to prevent contact between 1.12.

When the key 6 is pressed down slightly, the conductive rubber 9 closes the terminals 11a of the contacts 11 of one set.

11b becomes conductive, and when the key 6 is further pressed down, the terminal 12a of the other set of contacts 12.

12b is also electrically connected.

Next, the electric circuit configuration of two sets of contacts corresponding to each key 6 of the keyboard 1 will be explained using FIG. 3.

In the figure, terminals 11a, 11a1, 11a2, .
Each terminal of 11a3.11b, 11b1.11b2.11b3 is connected to the keyboard interface 3, respectively. Also, one terminal 12a, 12a1, 12a in the other set of contacts 12 corresponding to each key 6
2, 12a3 are grounded via a conductor 14, and furthermore, the other terminal 12b, 12tz, 12b2゜1
2b3 is connected to the interrupt input terminal 4 via a conductor 15. Further, the round end of a resistor 16, one end of which is connected to the power supply VCC, is connected to the interrupt input terminal 4 via a conductive wire 15 in order to apply a voltage.

Note that the reason why the terminals 12a, 12a1, 12a2.12a3 and 12b, 12b1.12b2.12b3 are connected to the conductive wires 14.15, respectively, is to reduce the number of wires in the keyboard 1.

Next, the operation of the key 6 is shown in FIGS. 2(a) and (b).

This will be explained using the flowchart shown in (C) and FIG.

First, when the key 6 is pressed weakly and the amount of depression of the key 6 is small as shown in FIG. 2(a>), only one set of contacts 11 is closed by the conductive rubber 9.

Then, a signal corresponding to the pressed key 6 is output to the central processing unit 5 via the keyboard interface 3 that detects the opening and closing of the contact 11, and the character corresponding to this signal is stored in the central processing unit 5. output device 7
will be displayed.

Next, by pressing the key 6 more strongly to increase the depression peak after the above key operation, the key 6 changes from the state shown in FIG. 2(b) to the state shown in FIG. 2(C).

That is, in this state, the conductive rubber 9 connects the contacts 11.
12 close together and conduct with each other, so that contacts 11.1
2 is grounded via terminals 12a and 12b. Then, the interrupt input terminal 4 to which the power supply Vcc was applied becomes OV due to the grounding of the terminal 12b. Then, an interrupt signal is input to the central processing unit 5, and this signal causes the central processing unit 5 to start interrupt processing (step S1). Furthermore, since the character immediately before the input of the interrupt signal is stored in the central processing unit 5, the character is read out by input of this interrupt signal (step 32).

Next, in the central processing unit 5, it is determined whether or not this character can be converted or converted (step 83), and if it is a convertible character, this character is converted (step S4).
), the converted character is displayed on the output device 7 at the position where the character before conversion was displayed (step S5
), the interrupt processing ends (step Ss). If it is determined in step S3 that the character immediately before inputting the interrupt signal is a character that cannot be converted, the process immediately moves to step $6 and the interrupt process ends.

Thus, when the key 6 is pressed down in the state shown in FIG. 2(b), lowercase letters such as alphabetic characters and kana characters are input, and in the state shown in FIG. 2(C), uppercase characters such as alphabetic characters and kana characters are inputted. You can change the selection of input characters.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, by selecting whether or not to convert input characters according to the pressing pressure of a key, lowercase letters and uppercase letters such as English letters and kana letters can be converted. Since the switching can be selected without pressing the shift key, the number of key operations for selecting characters can be significantly reduced, and operability can be improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a character input device according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 <a), (b), and (c) are block diagrams of keys in this device, and Fig. 3 is a circuit diagram of the main unit 5A. FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the operation according to this embodiment. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Keyboard, 2...Device body, 6...Key, 7...Output device, 11.12...Contact. Patent applicant Agent: Brother Industries, Ltd.
Patent Attorney Etsushi Kosho Patent Attorney
Long 1) Masamukai Patent Attorney Blackboard Yasuo Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a character input device that inputs the character corresponding to the key based on the contact opening/closing signal caused by pressing down the key of the keyboard, and also displays the character on the output device, corresponding to each key of the above keyboard then 2
The key is provided with two sets of contacts, and one set of contacts of the two sets is closed when the key is pressed down weakly, and the other set of contacts is closed when the key is pressed down strongly. 1. A character input device characterized in that a contact point is provided so that characters to be input can be freely selected and changed according to the pressing pressure of the key.