JPH01216418A - Key input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To dynamically vary the number of times of key scan per unit time by providing a pressure detecting means and a key scan control means to indicate the scan speed of a key to a key scan means corresponding to the pressure signal of the pressure detecting means. CONSTITUTION:The key scan means 2 starts the scan of the key for a key input means based on a command from an input signal processing means 1. At this time, the number of times of the scan per unit time for the key input means 3 performed by the key scan means 2 is controlled by a signal from the key scan control means 5. In other words, the pressure of the key depressed on the key input means 3 is detected by a key pressure detecting means 4, and the pressure signal corresponding to a pressed force is generated, and it is delivered to the key scan control means 5. The key scan control means 5 generates a control signal to increase the number of times of scan of the key per unit time as the pressure to press the key is increased, and delivers it to the key scan means 2. In such a way, it is possible to input information as varying the scan speed of the key dynamically.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a man-machine interface for a computer system, and more particularly, to a man-machine interface for a computer system, which has a keyboard, and by pressing keys on the keyboard, characters can be displayed.

The present invention relates to a key input device used to input information such as symbols or information on the moving direction and speed of a cursor into a computer system.

(Prior Art) FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional key input device. The key input means 13 has a plurality of keys, each of which is associated with information corresponding to its arrangement position in advance. This information includes characters such as a, b, c, symbols such as #, &9%, and display devices.
There are commands such as the movement direction of the cursor displayed on the screen and instructions such as insertion and deletion. This conventional key input device is a device in which the key scanning means is controlled only by the input signal processing means. In this device, the input signal processing means fixedly determines the number of times per unit time to scan the key.When changing the number of times per unit time to scan the key, the input signal processing means has a fixed number of times per unit time to scan the key. This was done by changing the parameters of the key scan control information.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the above-mentioned device, for example, when a user of a computer system attempts to move the cursor on the display to a desired position by pressing a cursor control key, the number of times the key is pressed is The cursor moves by the number of times the key scanning means scans the key by keeping the key pressed when the cursor moves a large distance. At this time, the number of times the key scanning means scans the key per unit time becomes a problem.

The number of times this key is scanned per unit time is fixedly determined by the parameters of the key scanning control information held by the input signal processing means. In such conventional equipment,
If the number of times the key is scanned per unit time is large, the cursor moves too quickly and it may be difficult for the user to stop the cursor at the desired position. Also, if the number of times the key is scanned per unit time is small, the cursor movement speed may be too slow and it may take a long time for the cursor to reach the position the user intends, which may irritate the user. .

As described above, the appropriate key scanning speed differs depending on the user's intention, and conventional devices with a constant scanning speed pose a problem in efficient editing work. This becomes a big problem especially when the display becomes larger and the number of characters that can be output on one screen increases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a key input device in which the number of key scans per unit time can be dynamically changed according to the user's will.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a key input device provided by the present invention includes a key input means having a plurality of keys whose information is associated in advance according to the arrangement position; a key scanning means that scans which key of the key input means is pressed and captures information on the pressed key; and a pressure signal that detects the pressure with which the key is pressed and represents the strength of the pressure. key pressure detection means for generating the pressure signal; key scanning control means for instructing the key scanning means to scan the key at a speed corresponding to the pressure represented by the pressure signal; The input signal processing means processes information and instructs the key scanning means to start scanning the key input means.

(Function) According to the configuration of the present invention, the input signal processing means instructs the key scanning means to input a key, and based on the command, the key scanning means starts scanning the keys of the key inputting means. The number of times the key scanning means scans the key input means per unit time (the speed at which the keys are scanned) changes dynamically in accordance with instructions from the key scanning control means. If the user presses any key of the key input means while the key scanning means scans the key input means, the key scanning means captures information about the key being pressed and processes the input information. Pass to signal processing means. Further, the key pressure detection means detects the pressure with which the key of the key input means is pressed, generates a pressure signal representing the strength of the pressure with which the key is pressed, and passes the signal to the key scanning control means. The scanning control means provides the key scanning means with a key scanning speed corresponding to the pressure passed from the key pressure detection means, and the key scanning means scans the key at the instructed speed.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. When performing a key input to the computer system, the input signal processing means 1 issues a key input instruction to the key scanning means 2 based on information from a pre-existing program or the like. The key scanning means 2 starts scanning the keys of the key input means 3 based on this command. At this time, the number of times the key scanning means 2 scans the key input means 3 per unit time is controlled by a signal from the key scanning control means 5. Key input means 3 by key scanning means 2
If the user is pressing any key of the key input means 3 while the key is being scanned, information on the fully pressed key is captured by the key scanning means 2 and passed to the input signal processing means 1. The input signal processing means 1 processes information input from the keys. Further, the key pressure detection means 4 detects the pressure of the pressed key of the key input means 3, and generates a pressure signal according to the pressing force,
It is passed to the key scanning control means 5.

FIG. 4 is a circuit block diagram showing a specific example of the key pressure detection means 4. When a key of the key input means 3 is pressed, a signal indicating which key has been pressed is output to the signal line 31, and the pressure applied to the key is transmitted to the pressure sensor 22 via the link 32. The pressure sensor 22 that receives the pressure from the link 32 sends an analog pressure signal to the signal [33 Output.

signal! Upon receiving the analog pressure signal from 05C (oscillator) 24, the A/D converter 23 converts the analog pressure signal into a digital signal at a sampling frequency based on the signal from 05C (oscillator) 24, and outputs it to the signal line 34 as a digital pressure signal. do.

The key scanning control means 5 in FIG. 1 receives this pressure signal 34 as key scanning control parameter information, and generates a control signal that increases the number of key scanning per unit time as the key pressing pressure increases. give it to With this, in addition to information on whether a key is being pressed during key input, information on the force with which the key is pressed can be used.

The key pressure detection means 4 determines the detection sensitivity of the pressure information of the pressed key of the key input means 3, and how to generate information on the number of key scans per unit time in response to the pressure detection signal of the key scan control means 5. It is controlled by the input signal processing means 1. An example of this method is shown in FIG. 3, in which as the pressure to press a key of the key input means 3 increases, the number of scans per unit time of the key scanning means 2 is increased. The relationship θ between the key pressing pressure and the number of key scans per unit time is controlled by the key scan control information parameter of the input signal processing means 1. This parameter can be changed arbitrarily by the user. This method allows the user to more flexibly adjust the force with which the keys of the key input means 3 are pressed and the reaction of the computer system that receives the force.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above in detail, according to the key input device according to the present invention, information can be input from the keys while dynamically changing the key scanning speed. That is, the key input device of the present invention allows the number of key scans per unit time to be changed arbitrarily according to the user's will. It becomes possible to control, etc. In other words, when moving the cursor by a large amount, press the cursor control key firmly to increase the cursor movement speed, and when the cursor approaches the desired position, press the cursor control key less forcefully to slow the cursor movement speed and move the cursor to the desired position. can be stopped accurately. In this way, screen editing operations and the like can be performed efficiently.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional key input device, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional key input device, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between the pressure and the number of key scans per unit time of the key input means by the key scanning means, and is a circuit block diagram showing a specific example of the key pressure detection means in FIG. 1. 1... Input signal processing means, 2... Key scanning means, 3
...Key input means, 4...Key pressure detection means, 5.
...Key wood scent control means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A key input means having a plurality of keys each having information associated with each other in advance according to the arrangement position, and a key scanning method that scans which key of the key input means is pressed and captures information on the pressed key. means for detecting the pressure with which the key is pressed and generating a pressure signal representative of the strength of the pressure; Consisting of a key scanning control means for instructing a scanning speed, and an input signal processing means for processing the information taken in by the key scanning means and instructing the key scanning means to start scanning the key input means. A key input device characterized in that: