JPH05210439A - Character input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate positioning of input characters while confirming a state after movement and especially to facilitate the positioning of input characters in a graphic mode by functioning the input characters as cursors. CONSTITUTION:When the character key of a keyboard 1 is pressed, a control part 16 writes a character code corresponding to the pressed key in a cursor code storage register 11 and develops a pattern corresponding to the character code in a cursor pattern buffer 10 while referring to a character pattern storage part 3. Although the cursor pattern developed in the cursor pattern buffer 10 is displayed on a display 6, this cursor pattern corresponds to contents stored in the cursor code register 11, cursor size register 12, character type register 13 and cursor position register 15, these stored contents are changed by inputs from the keyboard 1, and the prescribed cursor is moved by a cursor key 1a.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a character input device applied to a data processing device such as a word processor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a word processor, a personal computer or the like, a character code corresponding to a key pressed by an operator is stored in a text memory, and the input character code is expanded into a dot pattern and stored in a VRAM. Writing is performed and display is performed on the display based on the pattern written in this VRAM.

In such an apparatus, when a character is input, a cursor indicating the character input position is displayed on the display. As this cursor, normally, an inverted display of the size of one character, a + mark, or the like is used. And
Characters input from the keyboard are input to this cursor position and displayed on the display.

On the other hand, characters are input not only when creating a document but also when inputting a figure. Characters input during such graphic input need not be input at a position determined by a fixed character pitch and line pitch as in normal document input, but moved in character units. Often required to do. For example, in the case of a combination of a graphic and a character, it is often desired to determine the input position of the character in relation to the graphic.

In the conventional device, the cursor is moved to a position where a character is to be input, the character is key-input, and the key-input character is displayed at the position where the cursor was displayed. Then, when it is desired to move the character after the input, the figure is moved by designating the area where the character to be moved is displayed and the moving destination. For example, after setting the cursor on the upper left of the area to be moved and pressing the execute key, the cursor is moved to the lower right of the area and the execute key is pressed to determine the moving area. Then, set the cursor to the upper left of the place you want to move, and press the execute key. Then, this operation moves the designated area to the designated location.
Therefore, the desired movement can be achieved in units of one character data or in units of a plurality of characters by designating the area.

[0006]

As described above, in the conventional apparatus, it is possible to input a character at a desired position by setting the cursor at a desired position and then performing a key input. Then, the character data can be moved to an arbitrary position by designating the area and the destination after the input.

However, in many cases, the character input position in the graphic mode is desired to be changed subtly due to the relationship with the graphic. Therefore, in many cases, after inputting a character at the position where the cursor is set, it is desired to move while seeing the display position. For this reason, after inputting a character, the character will be moved by moving the figure, but this movement also only specifies the destination with the cursor, and if you want to change the input position again by checking the display state after moving. There are also many.

As described above, it is difficult to determine the position of a character input in the graphic mode, and graphic movement including complicated work is often repeated many times, resulting in poor operability.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a character input device in which the movement of a character input from the input means is remarkably facilitated. To do.

[0010]

A character input device according to the present invention comprises an input means for inputting a character, a cursor pattern storage means for storing a display pattern of a cursor, and a storage in the cursor pattern storage means. By writing the displayed dot pattern in the video memory, a cursor display means for displaying a cursor on the display device, a cursor key for moving the display position of the cursor displayed by the cursor display means, and the input means are used. A cursor pattern writing means for writing a character pattern of an input character in the cursor pattern storage means, displaying a character input by the input means as a cursor, and enabling movement by a cursor key. ..

The cursor size change instructing means for instructing to change the size of the cursor displayed on the display device, and the cursor pattern size in the cursor pattern storage means for the cursor size instructed by the cursor size change instructing means And a character size changing unit for changing the character size of the input character according to a cursor size changing instruction.

Further, the typeface designating means for designating the typeface of the characters displayed on the display device and the typeface of the pattern stored in the cursor pattern storage means are changed to the typeface designated by the typeface designating means. It is characterized in that it has a typeface changing means and can change the typeface of the input character.

[0013]

According to the present invention, the character input from the input means is stored in the cursor pattern storage means and displayed on the display device. Then, the input character functions as a cursor and can be moved freely by operating the cursor keys. Therefore, the position of the input character can be determined by looking at the state after the movement.

When a size change instruction is input by the cursor size change instruction means, the size change means changes the cursor pattern size stored in the cursor pattern storage means. Therefore, the size of the character functioning as the cursor can be easily and repeatedly changed while looking at the display device.

Further, when the instruction for changing the font is input by the font designating means, the font changing means changes the font of the cursor pattern stored in the cursor pattern storing means. Therefore, while looking at the display device,
You can easily change the typeface of the character that functions as the cursor as many times as you want.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Description of Overall Configuration FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an embodiment (for example, a Japanese word processor). A keyboard 1 is provided as an input means for inputting characters and various instructions.
The keyboard 1 is provided with a cursor key 1a for moving the cursor, a cursor size changing key for changing the size of the cursor, a typeface changing key, and a writing mode changing key. Further, a text storage unit 2 for sequentially storing the codes of the input characters is provided as a storage unit for the input characters, and a font of a plurality of typefaces of Mincho typeface and Gothic type to convert the character code into a dot pattern. A character pattern storage unit 3 for storing data is provided.

A display control unit 4, a VRAM 5 composed of a bit map memory and a display 6 are provided for display output, and a print control unit 7, a print buffer 8 and a printer 9 are provided for print output. Has been.

Further, in this embodiment, a cursor pattern buffer 10 for storing a cursor dot pattern, a cursor code C $ CODE, a size C $ SIZE, and a position C are provided as a temporary storage unit for displaying a cursor. It has a cursor code register 11, a cursor size register 12, and a cursor display position register 15, which store $ POINT respectively.

Then, the data processing, the control of the whole operation and the like are carried out by the control unit 16. In addition, the font C $ KIND setting, character writing mode to VRAM5 C $ MODE
A typeface register 13 and a write mode register 14 are provided for the setting. This writing mode indicates whether or not the background is cleared, and when the character pattern is OR-written with the pattern on the VRAM, it is set to either the background clear mode or the OR mode.

Description of Cursor Display First, when the character key on the keyboard 1 is pressed, this is recognized by the control unit 16. The control unit 16 writes the character code corresponding to the pressed key in the cursor code storage register 11, and expands the character pattern corresponding to the character code in the cursor pattern buffer 10 by referring to the character pattern storage unit 3.

In the present embodiment, the cursor pattern expanded in the cursor pattern buffer 10 is displayed on the display 6. This cursor pattern is the cursor code register 11 and the cursor size register 1.
2, the typeface register 13, and the cursor position register 15 according to the stored contents. These stored contents are changed by the input from the keyboard 1, and a predetermined cursor is moved by the cursor key 1a. Therefore, this operation will be described based on the flowcharts of FIGS. It should be noted that this embodiment is used when inputting characters in the figure input mode.

Description of Character Input First, when the figure input mode is selected and the figure area is set on the normal document creation screen and the edit key in the area is operated, the control unit 16 causes the C $ CODE = basic cursor,
C $ SIZE = basic size, C $ KIND = basic typeface,
C $ MODE = initial mode, C $ POIT = initial setting to initial position (S1).

C $ CO in the cursor pattern buffer 10
The character patterns of DE, C $ SIZE and C $ KIND are expanded (S2). Then, the display control unit 4 displays the pattern developed in the Kasor pattern buffer 10 in the VRAM 5
Is written in the position of C $ POINT of by the EX-OR (exclusive OR) process, whereby the cursor is displayed on the display 6. Immediately after the initial setting, a full-size basic cursor (for example, a + mark) that is the basic size is displayed at the initial position in the upper left of the screen. The writing mode C $ MODE is selected as the OR mode by default.

In this way, when the cursor is displayed, the keyboard 1 waits for a key input. And
If there is a key input (S4), the key input (K
It is determined whether EY) is a character code (S5), and KEY =
If it is a character code, the cursor C $ C at that time
It is determined whether the ODE is the basic cursor (S6). If the cursor is the basic cursor, the currently displayed cursor is erased (S7), and the character code input as C $ CODE = KEY is written in the cursor code register 11 (S8). To delete the cursor, use the same pattern as the cursor pattern on VRAM5.
-It is performed by writing in OR processing.

Since the process returns to S2 with the input character code entered in C $ CODE, the character entered by the key is displayed in the place where the basic cursor was displayed in S3. Here, the display of this character is a display as a cursor. Therefore, the characters displayed can be freely moved by the cursor key 1a as described in detail below.

Description of Movement of Cursor If the key input in S4 is the cursor key (S26), first, it is determined whether or not the function key is pressed (S27). This is because when the function key is pressed simultaneously with the cursor key, the cursor is moved in dot units, and when the function key is not pressed, the cursor is moved in character units.

Therefore, in S27, if the function key is not pressed, the cursor is erased (S2
8) Change C $ POINT by C $ SIZE (S
29) and returns to S3. Therefore, the cursor is displayed at the position moved by one character in S3. On the other hand, S27
If the function key is pressed in, the cursor is erased (S30), C $ POINT is moved by one dot (S31), and the process returns to S3. Therefore, in S3,
The cursor is displayed at the position moved by one dot. In this way, the cursor can be moved in character units or dot units by operating the cursor keys and the function keys. And
Since there are four cursor keys up, down, left and right, the cursor can be moved up, down, left and right. Also, when moving in character units,
It will be moved by the character size at that time.

Here, in this embodiment, the input character is a cursor. Therefore, as shown in FIG.
After inputting the character "A", the cursor can be moved to freely move the input character (in this example, 2.5 characters have been moved to the right and then 2 characters below).
Shows the state moved by the character). In particular, since the character moves each time the cursor key is operated, it is possible to perform the positioning while confirming the position, so that the positioning operation is significantly easier than the conventional moving operation after the area is designated.

Explanation of Confirmation of Input Next, when a character is key-inputted while the input character is displayed as a cursor, the result is N in S6. For example, in FIG. 5, it is a case where the character “A” is input and then the character “B” is input. In this case, the data C $ CODE, C $ SIZE, C $ KIND, C $ for identifying the cursor "A" at that time in the text storage unit 2
POINT and the mode C $ MODE at that time are written (S32). Next, the display "A" as the cursor is erased (S33), and then the dot pattern of the input character is written in the VRAM 5 by C $ MODE based on the data written in the text storage unit 2 in S32 (S3).
4). Therefore, the character “A” input last time is displayed as the storage content of the text storage unit 2. And C $ PO
Move INT by C $ SIZE (S35), S8,
The processing of S2 and S3 is performed. Therefore, the character "A" which has been the cursor until now is displayed as a character of the text, and the character "B" input this time is displayed as a new cursor next to the character previously input. In this way, the input character is fixed as the text data by inputting the next character.

In S5, if the key input is not a character, it is determined whether the key input is a confirmation key for confirming the input character (S10). The cursor is the basic cursor (C $ CODE =
It is determined whether it is the basic cursor) (S11). If the cursor at that time is the basic cursor, pressing the enter key has no meaning, and therefore the process directly returns to S4. On the other hand, when the cursor is a character at that time, the same processing as S32 to S35 is performed (S12 to S15), and then C $
As CODE = basic cursor (S16), the process returns to S2. As a result, the character functioning as the cursor is determined and written in the text storage unit 2, and the basic cursor is displayed at the next data input position.

Description of size change If the key input is not the enter key in S11, it is determined whether or not the key input is the cursor size change key (S17). If the key input is the cursor size change key, the cursor is erased (S18) and C $ SI
The size of ZE is changed to the size designated by the cursor change key (S19), and the process returns to S2. Therefore, the size of the cursor pattern is changed in S2, and the changed size cursor is displayed in S3. Here, as long as the control unit 16 can recognize the size, the cursor change key has one key even if it has a plurality of keys corresponding to the size, or the size is changed each time one key is pressed. When is pressed, a size menu is displayed, and the size may be selected from here.

By operating this cursor size changing key, as shown in FIG. 6, the character cursor "A" displayed at that time is full-width → half-width → vertical double-width → horizontal double-width → 4.
It can be changed to double-width, etc. Then, after that, by pressing the next character input or the enter key, the displayed cursor can be input as a character.

If the key input is not the cursor size change in the description S17 of the font change, it is determined whether the key input is a command for changing the font (S20). If the key input is a typeface change command, the cursor is erased (S21) and C $ KIN
Change D to the designated typeface (S22) and return to S2.
Therefore, in S2, the character pattern of the designated typeface is selectively read from the character pattern storage unit 3, and the typeface of the cursor pattern is changed. Therefore, the character cursor of the typeface changed in S3 is displayed. This typeface is, for example, Mincho, Gothic, Italic, Italic, etc.The input of this command is the same as when changing the size,
Any format is acceptable. When this typeface is also confirmed, it is stored in the text.

Description of Mode Change If the key input is not a font change in S20, it is determined whether the key input is a mode change command (S23). If the command is to change the mode, the cursor is erased (S24) and C $ MOD is set.
Change E to the designated one (S25), and return to S4.

Here, a specific example of this mode change will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram when an English sentence is input, and FIG. 7A shows a case where overwriting is not performed, and each character is displayed in an area of the same size. In this case, the display does not differ depending on the mode. On the other hand, when the characters are moved by operating the cursor keys as described above so that the areas of the characters overlap, the display differs depending on the mode. In the case of the background clear mode, the process is as shown in (b), and by writing the characters on the right side in order, a part of the characters on the left side previously input is lost. However, if the OR mode that does not clear the background is set as shown in (c), the characters on the left side that have already been written will not be cleared when writing the characters on the right side in sequence, and the characters will be clean at any character spacing. It is possible to display various characters. FIG. 8 shows a display of mathematical expressions ((a), (b), and (c) show the same states as in FIG. 7), and in the case of the background clear mode (b), some characters can be written, In the OR mode (c), a desired display is performed.

FIG. 9 shows an example of inputting a chemical symbol. In this example, as shown in (b), when the OR mode is set, the chemical symbol N and the benzene ring previously input are displayed in an overlapping manner. It is difficult to see, but as shown in (c),
By setting the base clear mode, the base part of the benzene ring that has been previously input can be erased, and a clear display is performed.

Description of Character Storage The input character is stored in the text storage unit 2. In this case, as shown in FIG. 10, in addition to C $ CODE, C $ SIZE is stored in one character storage. , C $ KIN
Four attributes of D, C $ POINT, and C $ MODEC are stored together. So by reading this,
The character specified by C $ CODE is the size of C $ SIZE, the typeface of C $ KIND, the position of C $ POINT, C $
It can be displayed in MODE mode. Also in the case of printing, if the writing to the print buffer 8 is performed based on C $ MODE instead of the writing to the VRAM 5, the same effect as the display can be obtained.

Description of the Effect of the Embodiment As described above, according to this embodiment, since the input character serves as the cursor, the input character can be freely moved and fixed at a desired position by operating the cursor key. .. For this reason, the positioning of the input character becomes remarkably easy. Also,
By inputting the next character, the input of the previous character is confirmed, so the number of key operations is small. Also, while the input character is operating as a cursor, you can change the size, typeface, mode by simple key operation,
You can confirm the character input after confirming the actual input state.
In particular, since it is possible to determine whether or not to clear the background, desired input can be efficiently performed when inputting mathematical formulas, chemical formulas, and the like.

[0040]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The input character can function as a cursor. Therefore, the positioning of the input character can be performed while checking the state after the movement, and the input positioning of the character in the graphic mode can be performed very easily.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a moving state of a character cursor.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a character size changing operation.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a mode difference when inputting an English sentence.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a mode difference when inputting a mathematical expression.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a mode difference when a chemical formula is input.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a memory configuration in a text storage unit.

[Explanation of symbols] 1 keyboard 1a cursor key 2 text storage unit 3 character pattern storage unit 4 display control unit 5 VRAM 6 display 7 print control unit 9 printer 10 cursor pattern buffer 11 cursor code register 12 cursor size register 13 typeface register 14 writing Mode register 15 Cursor position register 16 Controller

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An input means for inputting characters, a cursor pattern storage means for storing a display pattern of a cursor, and a dot pattern stored in the cursor pattern storage means are written in a video memory, Cursor display means for displaying a cursor on a display device, cursor keys for moving the display position of the cursor displayed by the cursor display means, and a character pattern of a character input by the input means by the cursor pattern storage means. And a cursor pattern writing means for writing to the character pattern. The character input device displays a character input by the input means as a cursor and can be moved by a cursor key. 2. The character input device according to claim 1, further comprising cursor size change instruction means for instructing a change in size of a cursor displayed on the display device, and an instruction by the cursor size change instruction means. And a cursor size changing means for changing the cursor pattern size of the cursor pattern storage means, wherein the character size of the input character is changed and displayed according to a cursor size changing instruction. Character input device. 3. The character input device according to claim 1, further comprising a font designating means for designating a font of a character displayed on the display device, and a font of a pattern stored in the cursor pattern storage means. A character input device, comprising: a font changing means for changing to a font specified by the font specifying means, wherein the font of an input character can be changed.