JPH04320512A - Extensible small-sized keyboard - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To freely contract and extend a keyboard and to use it in either state by making the uppermost stage effective in the contracted state and the entire keyboard which is extended in one plane in the extended state. CONSTITUTION:In the contracted state (a), an upper keyboard A and an upper keyboard B form one small keyboard. In the extended state (b), the upper keyboards A and B are coupled with both the right and left side parts of a lower keyboard 4 to form a large keyboard. Thus, the upper keyboards A and B are usable even in the contracted state (a), so they can be used even in a narrow space as a small-scale configuration keyboard like an electronic calculator. For a high-level process, the keyboard can easily be reassembled into a full-keyboard of JIS(Japanese Industrial Standards), etc. Namely, key input operation is possible with keyboard size corresponding to the purpose of a process and use environment, so the usability and operability of equipment are improved.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an expandable compact keyboard useful as an input device for ultra-compact devices such as electronic notebooks, portable word processors, and computers. Currently, information devices such as electronic notebooks, word processors, and personal computers are becoming more compact, but as a result, the keyboard size is also limited, and the number of keys in electronic notebooks has to be reduced. When inputting letters or alphabets, a large number of characters are assigned to one key. This makes it extremely difficult to use for people who are used to a full keyboard. Therefore, it is strongly desired to improve the operability of key input.

0002

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Foldable keyboards have been developed to accommodate large keyboards in small spaces. FIG. 5 shows a specific example. In FIG. 5, 28 is a display, and 29 to 31 are three-divided keyboards. Two keyboards 30 and 31 are connected by hinges to the left and right sides of the central keyboard 29, and can be folded toward the center. Numerals 32 to 34 are key mat surfaces of the keyboards 29 to 31, and key operations are possible only when the keyboards 29 to 31 are opened.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Conventional foldable keyboards are compact when folded and stored, but the keyboard cannot be used.On the other hand, when the keyboard is opened, the keyboard can be used but is compact. It had the disadvantage of losing .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to make the keyboard freely contractable and expandable, and to enable use of the keyboard in either the contracted or expanded state.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention has two states: a reduced state in which a keyboard is divided and each divided keyboard is stacked in multiple stages, and an expanded state in which the entire divided keyboard is arranged on one plane. The keyboard is designed so that it can be operated in either state, with the top surface exposed.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the basic structure of the present invention in an exemplary manner. In FIG. 1, (a) is a reduced state;
(b) is an expanded state. In each of (a) and (b), 1 is the display section, 2 is the left upper keyboard A, 3 is the right upper keyboard B, 4 is the lower keyboard, 5a to 8a
is a connector for directly connecting keyboards.

[0007] Upper keyboard A and upper keyboard B are
As shown in the reduced state (a), they are made to have the same size as the lower keyboard when placed side by side on the lower keyboard. In this state, upper keyboards A and B are connected to lower keyboard 4 by connectors 5a and 6a, respectively. Incidentally, steps are formed on opposing surfaces of each end of the upper keyboards A and B and the lower keyboard, so that they are mechanically stably held by engaging with each other.

In this reduced state (a), the upper keyboard A and the upper keyboard B constitute one reduced keyboard, which has, for example, a numeric keypad, a calculation key, a cursor key, and some other control keys. . Next, in the expanded state (b), the upper keyboards A and B are connected to the left and right sides of the lower keyboard to form one large keyboard. In this case, the lower keyboard and upper keyboards A and B are connectors 7a and 8a, respectively.
connected by. This expanded state (b) can be realized in a keyboard using a large number of keys, such as a JIS keyboard.

The upper keyboards A and B are used in both the contracted and expanded states, but the functions of the keys in each state can be switched if necessary.

0010

[Operation] In the present invention, the upper keyboard can be used even in the reduced state, so it can be used for limited purposes such as a calculator even in a small space, and it can be easily expanded to the expanded state when performing high-level processing. It can be converted to a JIS keyboard, etc.

[0011]

Embodiment FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the structure of a keyboard surface according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this case, the dividing line between upper keyboard A and upper keyboard B is not a straight line, but the actual key arrangement (J
IS keyboard) is cut into zigzags. However, the dividing method can be arbitrarily determined depending on the type of keyboard.

In the example shown in FIG. 2, the connectors are provided symmetrically along the front and rear edges of the keyboard (5a
8a, 5b and 8b), this is because the number of connectors is large and the stability of the connection is increased. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a connector structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3(a) shows a cross section of each connector shown in FIG. 2, where 9 is a top plate, 10 is a touch surface cover, 11 is a membrane sheet, and 12 is a connector.
Plug part, 13 is the bottom plate, 14 is the connector/adapter part,
15 is a contact point. The membrane sheet 11 is bent along the connector/plug portion 12 and supported by the connector/plug portion 12. When connecting the connectors, the contacts (not shown) on the membrane sheet 11 come into contact with the contacts 15 of the connector/adapter section 14 to establish an electrical connection.

In FIG. 3B, in order to increase the durability of the connector structure, a reinforcing plate 16 is provided on the connector/plug portion 12, and the membrane sheet 11 is sandwiched from both sides to increase mechanical strength. In this case, contact point 1 of membrane sheet 11
7 is bent at the tip of the reinforcing plate 16 so that it can come into contact with a contact 15 provided on the bottom surface of the connector/adapter section 14.

FIG. 3C shows another improved example in which, in addition to the contacts on the membrane sheet 11, stronger contacts 18 and 19 are provided on both sides of the reinforcing plate 16, and these contacts 1
8 and 19 are electrically connected, and the contact 15 of the connector/adapter section 14 and the contact of the membrane sheet 11 can be connected via the contacts 18 and 19 when connecting the connectors.

FIG. 4 is a connector connection diagram of the keyboard, in which 5a and 6a are column connectors when reduced, 5b and 6
b is used as a row connector during contraction, 7a and 8a are used as column connectors when expanded, and 7b and 8b are used as row connectors when expanded. In addition, a row connector 22 and a column connector 23 of the lower keyboard, which are not shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, are provided. Note that the row and column are connected to the row and column of the matrix switch of the keyboard, respectively, when the connector is connected.

Scanning pulses are supplied from the MPU 20 to the connectors 5a, 8a and 23 via an address bus 24, and are sent to each of the upper and lower keyboard columns. Connectors 5b and 6b are connected to bus 25, and connectors 7b, 8b, 22 are connected to bus 26. Multiplexer 21 connects bus 2 when in reduced keyboard mode.
5 is selected, and the bus 26 is controlled to be selected in the extended keyboard mode. As a result, only the outputs of the upper keyboards A and B are sensed in the reduced mode, and all of the upper keyboards A and B and the lower keyboard 4 are sensed and processed by the MPU 20 in the extended mode.

In the above-described embodiment, the entire keyboard is divided into three parts, two upper keyboards and one lower keyboard, and the keyboard is stacked in two stages. It is also possible to use two stages or, if possible, three or more stages. If there are three or more stages, this can be handled by providing a connector/adapter section on the upper surface of the intermediate stage and a connector/plug section on the lower surface.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, the keyboard can be easily rearranged into two types: a full keyboard configuration such as JIS, and a small keyboard configuration such as a numeric keypad. When applied to equipment, the usability and operability of the equipment can be significantly improved because key input can be performed using a keyboard size that matches the processing purpose and usage environment.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the basic configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a keyboard surface according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a connector structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a connector connection diagram of the keyboard according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional folding keyboard.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Display section 2 Upper keyboard A 3 Upper keyboard B 4 Lower keyboard 5a-8a Connector

Claims (4)

[Claims] Claim 1: A structure that can take two states: a reduced state in which the keyboard is divided into an arbitrary number of parts and each divided keyboard is stacked in multiple stages, and an expanded state in which each divided keyboard is laid out in one plane. An expandable small keyboard, characterized in that in a contracted state, only the topmost keyboard is enabled, and in an extended state, all keyboards spread out on one plane are enabled. 2. A lower keyboard (4) and a divided keyboard that can be placed side by side on the lower keyboard (4) and connected to the left and right sides of the lower keyboard (4) so that the whole forms one keyboard surface. upper keyboard (2, 3
), and in the reduced state where the upper keyboard (2, 3) is placed side by side on the lower keyboard (4), only the upper keyboard (2, 3) is enabled; 3) is connected to the side of the lower keyboard (4) so that the entire keyboard surface forms one keyboard surface, in which case the upper keyboard (2, 3) and the lower keyboard (4) are all activated. Features an expandable small keyboard. 3. Claim 2, wherein the upper keyboard (
2, 3) and the lower keyboard (4) are directly connected by a connector in each of the contracted state and the expanded state. 4. In claim 2, the upper keyboard (
2 and 3) A small expandable keyboard characterized in that the functions of the keys in the keys are changed between a contracted state and an expanded state.