JPH01243107A - Information input/output device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten a waiting time until a necessary character is designated in a display unit by displaying different character string unit and changeover character when character information to be inputted is the changeover character. CONSTITUTION:The prescribed unit to successively indicate the positions of the character string and changeover character one by one to be displayed on a display device 11 is displayed, and the character information to be indicated in the display unit by a timing, by which a switching means 15 is operated, is inputted. Further, when the inputted character information is the changeover character, the different character string unit and changeover character are displayed. Consequently, when the switching means 15 is operated, the character to be indicated by the display unit (a cursor, etc.) in the displayed character string information can be inputted, and simultaneously, when the input character is the changeover character, the other character string can be displayed. Thus, the waiting time can be shortened, and an operability can be improved.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an information input/output device, particularly a display device that displays character information that can be input, and a switch that specifies input of the character information displayed on the display device. The present invention relates to an information input/output device having means for outputting input character information in a predetermined output method.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, as a conversation device for people who have difficulty speaking, a conversation device that performs key input and displays or records and outputs characters corresponding to input keys has been known. Furthermore, for people with severe disabilities who have difficulty operating keys, devices are known that allow character selection by operating only one switch.

FIG. 5 shows the structure of such a conventional conversation device. In the figure, reference numeral 51 denotes a keyboard arranged on the top surface of the main body of the apparatus, where one key corresponds to one letter of the alphabet.

A display 52 made of an LCD panel or the like is arranged above the keyboard 51.

An operator who can operate the keyboard 51 can press this key to input a corresponding character and have it displayed on the display 52. Additionally, for those who have difficulty operating the keyboard 51, a switch 53 is connected to the device via a cable 53'.

This switch 53 is large in size and has a small operating force so that it can be easily operated even in the case of involuntary interlocking, or it is a switch that can be operated by exhalation or the like. When inputting with the switch 53, the keyboard 51
The light emitting means 54 such as LEDs arranged above each key are turned on sequentially, for example, in alphabetical order, and when the light emitting means 54 of a desired character lights up, the switch 53 is operated to input that character. to be displayed on the display 52.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional device as shown in FIG.
When performing input using the keyboard, the light emitting means 54 of all the keyboards are turned on in sequence, so there is a problem that the waiting time until the LED of a desired character is turned on is extremely long. The above shows a device for inputting alphabets, but a device for inputting kana, etc., which has many types of characters,
Furthermore, it takes a long time until the LED of the desired character lights up. Although it is possible to shorten the waiting time to some extent by shortening the lighting cycle of the LED, in this case the operation becomes difficult.

The object of the present invention is to solve the above problems.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a display device that displays character information that can be input, and a switch that specifies input of the character information displayed on the display device. In an information input/output device that has means for outputting input character information in a predetermined output method, all characters that can be input are divided into a plurality of character string units based on a predetermined standard and stored together with a predetermined switching character. and a display device for displaying the character string units and switching characters stored in the storage device one by one, and sequentially displaying the positions of the character strings and switching characters displayed on the display device one by one. At the timing when the switch means is operated, character information indicated by the display unit is inputted, and if the inputted character information is the switching character, a different character string unit and switching are inputted. We adopted a configuration that displays text.

[Function] According to the configuration in item 2 below, when the switch means is operated, the character indicated by the display unit (such as a cursor) among the displayed character string information can be input, and the input character can be changed to the switching character. , other strings can be displayed.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the example shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the structure of a conversation device as an information input/output device employing the present invention. In this embodiment, a keyboard 13 and a display 11 are arranged on the top surface of the device body in the same way as in the conventional case, but the LEDs for each character key are omitted and the display 11 is arranged instead.
The display area is divided into two, and half of the area is used to display inputtable characters.

In this embodiment as well, characters can be input by either direct operation of the keyboard 13 or operation of the switch 15 connected by the cable 15'. Which input method to select is determined by the changeover switch 17. A switch 16 provided next to the changeover switch 17 is a power switch.

Further, in this embodiment, input characters are not only displayed, but also can be recorded and output on tape-shaped recording paper 12. The recording output section is constituted by a printer that is housed inside the main body of the apparatus and uses a known recording method (thermal transfer, type wheel method, etc.).

FIG. 2 shows the structure of the control system of the device shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 21 denotes an input section, which is comprised of a key matrix section for detecting the human input of keys on the keyboard 13 of FIG. 1, a CPU for input control, and the like. Control of the entire device is performed by a control section 22 composed of a microprocessor or the like.

The control unit 22 includes a ROM 26 that stores programs to be described later.
A RAM 27 is connected to the RAM 27, which is used as a buffer for input characters or a work area for control.

Display control of the display 11 shown in FIG. 1 is performed by the display unit 23. The display section 23 includes a display control section and a driver for the display 11, which is an LCD panel or the like. Further, the printer 24 is for recording and outputting input characters on the recording paper 12 shown in FIG. 1, and is constructed using a recording method such as a thermal transfer method.

Furthermore, a character generator 25 is connected to the control section 22, which stores a character dot pattern to be displayed on the display section 23 or recorded on the printer 24. The control section 22 reads the dot pattern of the input character from the character generator 25 in accordance with the character code input from the input section 21, and outputs it to the display section 23 or the printer 24 to perform display output or recording output.

The method of directly operating the keys on the keyboard 13 is specified by operating the changeover switch 17, but the input control at this time is the same as the conventional method.

On the other hand, in the input method using the switch 15, the display 11
The display area is divided into two areas a and b as shown in FIG. 3(A), and input characters are specified. The display 11 can display, for example, 20 characters in the horizontal direction, and the left area a has a width of 8 characters and displays characters that can be input. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the alphabet from A to F is displayed, and in this display state, the cursor 14 is sequentially moved from left to right (or vice versa), and the cursor 14 flashes ( (blinking), input the character by operating the switch 15.

The flashing of the cursor 14 is also performed at the digits of the upward and downward arrows 14a provided on the left and right sides of the alphabet, and when the switch 15 is operated at the position of the arrow 14a, the digits of the alphabet 6 before or after
Characters are displayed in area a, and similar sequential flashing of the cursor is performed.

The input characters are displayed on the right side of FIG. 3(A) in an area having a width of, for example, 10 characters. In such an operation mode, in order to distinguish between area A and area A, a blank space C, for example, two characters in length is provided between them.

FIG. 3(B) shows the contents of the RAM 27. R.A.
M27 is a memory area consisting of 8 bytes each of RAM 1 to 5, and an area R of a predetermined capacity for storing input characters.
Has AMA.

The RAMs 1 to 5 store character codes corresponding to the alphabet and the characters of the upward or downward arrow 14a, as shown in the figure. For example, when the contents of the RAMI are output to the display unit 23 using the character generator 25, the alphabet from A to F is displayed on the display 11 as shown on the left side of FIG. 3(C).

As shown in Figure 3 (C), the cursor 14 is the alphabet B.
When the switch 15 is operated while flashing at the position , the character code 13 is input to the RAMA, and the character B is thereby displayed at the right end of the area. When a character is next input, this character B is shifted one digit to the left, and a new input character is displayed at the right end of the area.

In order to perform such display control, the pointer P points to the character code to be displayed in RAMA.

FIG. 4 shows in detail the control procedure of the control section 22 in the above configuration. The illustrated control procedure is stored in the ROM 26 as a program.

When the power of the device is turned on by the power switch 16 and the input from the switch 15 is specified by the changeover switch 17, the control unit 22 in step S1 of FIG. Set the counter that specifies to 1.

Next, the start address of RAM A is appropriately set using pointer P. Then, in step s3, the contents of the areas of RAMs 1 to 5 corresponding to the counter number are output to the display section 23 and displayed on the display 11. Step S
In the display of No. 3, the cursor 14 sequentially moves to the right or left in the area a one digit at a time and flashes.

The operator operates the switch 15 when the cursor 14 moves to a desired digit position, and this switch operation is detected in step S4. In step S4', the character at the position of the cursor 14 when the switch 15 is operated is read into a predetermined area of the RAM 27 used as a key manual buffer.

In steps S5 to S9, it is determined whether the input character is an upward or downward arrow 14a code. If each step is affirmed, control proceeds to step S6,
Branch to SIO.

As mentioned above, the designation of the upward or downward arrow 14a requests the display of the character string before or after the currently displayed character string.Therefore, in step S6, it is first determined whether the current counter number is 1 or not. Determine. If the counter number is not 1, the contents of the counter are subtracted by 1 in step S8 and the process returns to step S3. If the counter number is 1, the content of the counter is changed to 5 in step S7 and the process returns to step S3.

On the other hand, in step SlO, it is determined whether the counter number is 5. If the counter number is not 5, the content of the counter is incremented by 1 in step S12, and the process returns to step S3. If the counter number is 5, the contents of the counter are set to 1 and the process returns to step S3.

Through such processing, the arrow 14a specified by the operator
The display of each six characters in area a can be switched forward or backward in alphabetical order depending on the direction of the character.

If step S9 is negative, the input character specified by the cursor is not an arrow but a character, so the contents of RAMA are shifted one digit to the left in step S13, and an empty area is created in step S14. Store input characters in .

In step S15, the input characters are simultaneously sent to the printer 24 for recording and output. In step 516, the contents of RAMA are displayed in the area of the display 11, and the process returns to step S4.

According to the above configuration, the operator does not have to wait until the desired character is displayed by the cursor or by the LED display as in the conventional case, but by operating the switch 15 using the arrow displayed in the area a. The desired character can be quickly input by displaying a character string containing the desired character in area a and simply waiting for the cursor to move six characters.

Therefore, the waiting time can be shorter than that of conventional devices, and the operability of the device can be improved.

In the above, six characters that can be entered are sequentially displayed in area a of the display 11 in the same arrangement as the key arrangement of the keyboard 13, but the arrangement of characters that can be entered is not limited to this, and for example, Characters may be grouped according to their frequency of use. This reduces the number of times the switch is operated at the arrow position, and also reduces the waiting time until the cursor flashes at the desired character position.

Furthermore, it goes without saying that the method of dividing the area of the display 11 is not limited to the above. Further, in the above description, input characters are always recorded and displayed, but it is also possible to perform only recording and display, and it goes without saying that the output means is not limited to these.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above, according to the present invention, the input device includes a display device that displays character information that can be input, and a switch means that specifies input of the character information displayed on the display device. In an information input/output device for outputting character information in a predetermined output method, means for dividing all inputtable characters into a plurality of character string units based on a predetermined standard and storing the divided character strings together with a predetermined switching character; and a display that displays each character string unit and switching character stored in the storage means one by one,
A predetermined display unit that sequentially indicates the character string displayed on this display and the position of the switching character is displayed one by one, and character information indicated by the display unit is input at the timing when the switch means is operated, and the character information that is input is input. If the displayed character information is the switching character, a different character string unit and switching character are displayed. Therefore, when the switch means is operated, the display unit of the displayed character string information You can enter the characters shown, and
If the input character is a switching character, other character strings can be displayed, reducing the waiting time until the desired character is specified by display unit compared to the conventional method where all inputtable characters are specified sequentially. Moreover, it has the excellent effect that desired character input operations can be performed easily and quickly using a single switch means.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an overall perspective view of a conversation device adopting the present invention;
The figure is a block diagram of the control system of the device in Figure 1, and Figure 3 (A).
is an explanatory diagram of the display surface of the display, FIG. 3(B) is an explanatory diagram showing the storage area of the RAM, FIG. 3(C) is an explanatory diagram showing the display state during operation, and FIG. FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the control procedure of the control unit, and FIG. 5 is an overall perspective view of the conventional conversation device. 11...Display device 12...Recording paper 13...
Keyboard 14... Cursor 15... Switch 16... Power switch 17... Changeover switch 21... Input section 22... Control section 23...
Display section 24...Printer 25...Character generator

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) An information input/output device that has a display that displays inputtable character information and a switch means that specifies input of the character information displayed on the display, and outputs the input character information in a predetermined output method. means for dividing all inputtable characters into a plurality of character string units based on a predetermined standard and storing them together with a predetermined switching character, and storing each character string unit and switching character stored in the storage means one by one. A display device is provided to display a predetermined display unit that sequentially indicates the character string and the position of the switching character displayed on the display device one by one, and the display unit displays the position of the character string and switching character displayed on the display device at the timing when the switch means is operated. An information input/output device that inputs character information and displays a different character string unit and a switching character when the input character information is the switching character.