JPH0330900Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to a device that simplifies command input (eg, job selection command, etc.) from a display terminal or the like.

Conventionally, to select a job, an operator inputs a job selection command from an alphanumeric keyboard.
In this case, the command name and various parameters (file name used, address, data length, etc.) must be entered one character at a time, which is not only cumbersome, but also requires the user to memorize such commands and parameters or find them from a list. It was very difficult to use because it required input.

A terminal used exclusively for specific tasks,
As an improvement measure when the types of commands that can be entered are limited, display a command menu on the display screen and select the relevant item using the program function key (hereinafter referred to as PF key).
A selection is being made. However, in this case, the types of commands that can be selected at one time are limited to the number of PF keys, at most ten or so, which is inconvenient for making a wide variety of selections.

The present invention aims to solve these shortcomings, and allows any one of a large number of commands to be selected and input by pressing a single key. A detailed explanation will be given below with reference to the drawings.

Figure 1 shows the conventional method, and the CRT display screen 1 has command menus 2, 2, 2...
Up to 16 items will be displayed. Also keyboard KB
is equipped with 16 PF keys 4, and the operator can press the PF key corresponding to the desired command item number displayed on the menu.
When a key is pressed, the item number is immediately input to the center by an attention interrupt, and the software on the center side converts it into a corresponding command and executes it.

In addition, for commands that are not in the menu, key in one character at a time using the alphanumeric keyboard 5 (the keyed-in characters are entered in the specified field 3 on the display).
(displayed on the monitor), and is input directly to the center as a command by pressing the ENTER key.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the present invention.
Instructions such as ``Select a job'' are displayed on the CRT screen 1'. On the other hand, the input device uses a so-called key mat KM. Here, the key mat is equipped with key switches or touch sensors arranged in a matrix, and is used with overlapping sheets on which the meanings of each key are displayed, and there are, for example, about 20 different types of sheets available.

Furthermore, a plurality of sets of such sheets may be prepared for each job. Therefore, the meaning of a key is specified by the book number B, page number P, and coordinates X and Y within one page. The book number B is designated manually by, for example, a switch 8, and the page number P is designated by sensing the position of a notch (not shown) provided in the sheet. It goes without saying that this configuration is just an example, and that any other configuration may be used.

Code signal from key mat KM (B, P,
X, Y) are sent to the center each time one key is pressed, and the center recognizes the meaning by indexing the correspondence table of BPXY codes and their meanings. Generally, the index results when a user program is running are data items processed by the user program, and the index results when the management program OS is running are commands.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention,
A code signal (BPXY) is generated by the encoder ENC based on the item key 6 or PF key 4' of the key mat, and the book designation switch 8, and is sent to the center processing unit CPU via the work station controller WSC. Mode flag MF for CPU
It displays whether the user program is running or the OS is running, and whether a specific program state has been reached. While the user program is running, the code signal from item key 6 is recognized as data, and the code signal from PF key 4' is ignored, or an error is displayed as it is considered to be an operation error, or a specific PF key 4 is ' is recognized as a command that requests OS intervention. While the OS is running, generally only the PF key 4' is valid, and the item key 6
Code signals from are ignored or displayed as errors. Here, in one embodiment of the present invention, the OS
is running and is in a specific program state (for example, a job selection instruction screen is being displayed)
In this case, the code signal from item key 6 is also valid, and the file is sent via the center file controller SFC using the code signal BPXY as a key.
Index the command table TBL in SF, read the corresponding command, and have the OS process it as a command from the terminal. The sheet used at this time is a specific sheet, and by displaying the meaning of the corresponding command (such as "EDITS") for each key, even operators who are unfamiliar with the software can easily enter the desired command. You can choose. Note that the fact that it is a specific sheet means that the BP part of the code has a specific value, and any other value may be ignored or an error may be displayed. Also, the distinction between PF keys and item keys is
It can be identified by the value of the XY part of the BPXY code.

As described above, in this invention, on terminals that use a multi-item key input device (key mat), item keys other than the PF key can be used as extensions of the PF key under certain conditions, so many types of commands can be executed with a single touch. can be entered.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a conventional command input method, where CRT indicates a display device and KB indicates an alphanumeric keyboard. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a command input device of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. KM is a key mat of the multi-item input device;
4' is a PF key, 6 is an item key, 8 is a book specification switch, ENC is an encoder, MF is a mode flag, and TBL is a command table.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] A program function key section for inputting a command string and an item key section for inputting data items, and a key switch or touch sensor arranged in a matrix on the program function key section and an item key section for inputting data items. An input device that includes a key mat input means that uses overlapping sheets displaying the meaning of each key, and an encoder that generates a code signal for the pressed key and sends it to a processing device, and a code signal from the input device. Based on the corresponding command table and
In a data processing system including a processing device, the mode flag means at least displays the state of the processing device as running an OS, waiting for input, or executing a user program, wherein the mode flag means indicates a state in which the user program is being executed. In response to the code signal from the item key section when the code signal is displayed, an input is made to the data item. For the code signal from
A command input device characterized in that the command is read out by indexing a table and causes a processing device to execute the input command.