JPH0569227B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a coordinate input device for inputting position coordinates on a display screen of a display device provided in a computer device or the like.

[Background of the invention]

Computer devices and the like are equipped with display devices that display various data for data input and output. A display symbol called a cursor or an icon (hereinafter collectively referred to as a cursor) is used to indicate which position on the display screen of the display device is the processing target position. In order to command the display coordinate position of the cursor on the display screen, conventionally, a direction control key is provided on the keyboard to command the direction of movement of the cursor. The direction control keys include X- on the display screen.
Move the cursor forward in the X-axis direction on the Y plane,
two directional control keys, one each for reversing;
There are two direction control keys, one each for forward and backward movement in the Y-axis direction. By pressing any one of these direction control keys, the cursor moves by a unit amount in the direction specified by the direction control key. Therefore, when moving the cursor to a target position, the user selects the corresponding direction control key according to the direction of the target position and presses it the required number of times.

The cursor movement operation by pressing the direction control key is achieved by the following configuration. That is, the display device includes a coordinate storage section that stores information regarding the coordinate position where the cursor should be displayed.
This includes an X-coordinate storage section that stores the X-axis coordinate, and a Y-coordinate storage section that stores the Y-axis coordinate.
The display device reads the contents stored in this coordinate storage section and displays a cursor at the coordinate position indicated by the contents. On the other hand, the command by pressing the direction control key is
The coordinates are input to a coordinate storage unit updating means, and the means inputs an X coordinate storage unit corresponding to the pressed direction control key;
Alternatively, the contents of the Y coordinate storage section are increased or decreased by the unit amount of movement of the cursor. This results in a cursor movement operation on the display screen. Examples of unit quantities include, if the display device displays characters, the unit of the characters, and if the display device displays figures, etc., the unit of dots constituting the screen.

The conventional coordinate input device configured in this manner is effective when the target position is relatively close to the current position of the cursor, and is highly effective in terms of operation. However, since this did not take into account the case where the cursor was moved to a position far from the current position, for example, from one corner of the display screen to the center or the other corner, the conventional method of moving the cursor by a unit amount In those of
The number of presses of the direction control key increases, making operations including selection of the direction control key cumbersome.
Another problem is that it takes a lot of time to move the cursor.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to provide a coordinate input device that allows easy coordinate input operations and shortens operation time.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention,
An absolute coordinate position on the display screen is assigned to each of a plurality of predetermined keys of the keyboard. By pressing these keys, the cursor is moved to the coordinate position assigned to the key. Furthermore, by pressing the key, a key placed adjacent to the key can be operated as a cursor direction control key.

That is, the present invention is characterized by: a coordinate storage unit that stores display coordinate information of a cursor to be displayed on a display screen; and a coordinate storage unit that stores display coordinate information of a cursor to be displayed on a display screen; a keyboard arranged with a large number of keys; coordinate information corresponding to different coordinate positions on the display screen for each of the plurality of predetermined keys of the keyboard; storage means for storing definition information defining a key arranged adjacent to each of the keys on the keyboard as a direction control key for the cursor; , coordinate information setting means for reading coordinate information corresponding to the input key from the storage means and storing and setting the coordinate information in the coordinate storage section; cursor movement control means for reading out the definition information corresponding to the key from the cursor and controlling the movement of the cursor in the defined direction when the subsequently inputted key is a key defined by the definition information; It's what I did.

In this way, when a predetermined key on the keyboard is pressed, the cursor can be automatically moved to the coordinate position predetermined for the key, and the surrounding keys adjacent to the key become cursor direction control keys. The operator can move the cursor to the desired position using keys around the pressed key without moving his/her hand from the position of the pressed key. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a coordinate input device that allows easy coordinate input operation and shortens operation time.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention shown in the drawings will be described below. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a relatively small computer to which the present invention is applied, a type of computer generally referred to as a personal computer or a business computer, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of its appearance. In these figures, 1 is a keyboard, 2 is a main processing device, and 3 is a display device. The keyboard 1 has a large number of keys arranged as will be described later, and by pressing each key, predetermined data is input to the processing device. The processing device 2 includes a microprocessor MPU, a read-only storage device (hereinafter referred to as ROM), and a readable and writable storage device (hereinafter referred to as ROM).
It is called RAM. ). The microprocessor MPU reads a program stored in the ROM or RAM and executes predetermined processing instructed by the program. The display device 3 is for displaying the results of these processes, input results from the keyboard 1, etc., and SC indicates its display screen. The display device uses the display screen to indicate which position on the display screen SC is the position to be processed.
Display cursor CS on SC. This cursor CS
The position of is determined by the coordinate information stored in the coordinate storage units XAM and YAM. This coordinate memory
Of XAM and YAM, XAM is an X coordinate storage unit that stores coordinate information in the horizontal direction, that is, the X-axis direction, in FIG. 3 of the display screen SC, and YAM similarly stores coordinate information in the vertical direction, that is, the Y-axis direction. This is a Y coordinate storage unit. These Y coordinate storage parts
By storing predetermined information in the XAM, Y coordinate storage unit YAM, the display device 1 moves the cursor CS to a predetermined position based on this content and displays it.
These storage parts XAM and YAM are RAM or
It is controlled to any desired content by the program stored in the ROM or by the action of the microprocessor MPU based on the program based on commands from the keyboard 1.

The above shows the overall configuration of the embodiment.
Here, since the ROM or RAM constitutes the coordinate information setting means CVSM, as shown in FIGS.
The program shown in the flowchart in the figure is stored. In explaining the embodiment shown in these figures, the outline of the processing will be as follows. That is, in this embodiment, first, the entire display screen SC is virtually equally divided into the number of keys arranged on the keyboard 1 (Xn horizontally and Yn vertically). This is shown, for example, in FIG. This figure shows the display screen SC of display device 1 and keyboard 1.
It is a diagram showing the correspondence relationship with the keys arranged above. The keyboard 1 is shown as having a general key arrangement. That is, in the example shown in this figure, among the many keys arranged on the keyboard 1, a range represented by H in the horizontal direction and a range represented by V in the vertical direction are used. This range includes 11×
There are 4 keys. Therefore, the entire display screen SC is virtually divided into 11 Xn and 4 Yn. Then, for each key, a position corresponding to the position of that key is assigned to one section on the display screen SC. For example, the key on keyboard 1
K ₁ , that is, the “1” (nu) key, is assigned to the virtual section S ₁ on the display screen SC, and the key K ₂ , that is, the “2” (fu) key on the keyboard 1, is assigned to the virtual section S ₂ of the display screen SC. . Below, similarly, the keys on keyboard 1
K ₄₄ , ie, the “ro” key, is assigned to the virtual section S ₄₄ on the display screen SC. Furthermore, each virtual partition S ₁ , S ₂ ,
For S ₃ , ..., S ₄₄ , one representative point is set in advance.
Determine the point. FIG. 7 shows an example of this. In FIG. 7a, the upper left end position of each virtual section S is set as the representative point P, and in FIG. 7b, the center position of each virtual section S is set as the representative point P. This shows the case where
Further, the representative point position is not limited to that shown in FIG. 7, but may be any arbitrary position. Then, by pressing any key Ki among the keys K ₁ , K ₂ , K ₃ , ..., K ₄₄ assigned to the virtual sections S ₁ , S ₂ , S ₃ , ..., S ₄₄ of the display screen SC, respectively. The coordinates of a predetermined representative point Pi of the virtual section Si corresponding to this key are set in the aforementioned X coordinate storage section and Y coordinate storage section. Thereby, the display device 1 controls the movement of the cursor CS to the coordinate position where the representative point Pi of the virtual section Si of the display device 1 corresponding to the pressed key Ki is located. For example, to move the cursor CS to the desired coordinate position,
First, the key Ki corresponding to the virtual section Si containing the position is pressed, and the cursor CS is moved to the representative point Pi of the virtual section Si. This allows you to move the cursor,
So to speak, coarse adjustment becomes possible. After that, as before, as shown in Figure 8, press the cursor direction control keys XP, XN, YP, YN provided on the keyboard 1 as appropriate to move the cursor CS by a unit amount to the target position. do. Therefore, it is extremely easy to move the cursor from one position to another. In addition, in Figure 1, the display screen SC
To make the virtual divisions S ₁ , S ₂ , S ₃ , ..., S ₄₄ clearly visible, dashed lines indicating these divisions may be shown on the display screen SC as shown in the figure, but if it is not particularly necessary, does not need to be displayed. Furthermore, each virtual partition S ₁ ,
S ₂ , S ₃ , ..., S ₄₄ and each key K ₁ , K ₂ , K ₃ , ..., K ₄₄
To make the correspondence more clear, the symbols assigned to each key, such as "1" (nu), "2" (fu),
The symbol may be displayed as "3" (a), . . . . Furthermore, if you display dashed lines, symbols, etc. in a lighter color relative to the cursor CS,
The difference becomes clearer, which is more desirable.

In addition, in this embodiment, in order to further facilitate _coordinate input, as shown in _FIG . ₁₅ , i.e. “R”
When you press the (S) key, the key located above it
Set K ₄ , the key K ₂₆ located below, the key K ₁₄ located to the left, and the key K ₁₆ located to the right as direction control keys that move the cursor CS by a unit amount in the direction shown by the arrow in the figure. The case is shown below. That is, the keys on keyboard 1
By pressing _K15 , the representative point _P15 of the section _S15 on the display screen SC shown in FIG. 9 is displayed in correspondence with FIG. 1. This will center the key K ₁₅ ,
This key _K15 is defined as the central key until the end key, for example the "return" key, is pressed.
And the keys K ₄ , K ₁₄ , around the center key K ₁₅ ,
The moving direction shown in FIG. 9 is defined for K ₁₅ and K ₂₆ . That is, if key K ₄ is pressed, screen SC
The upper point P ₁₅ moves in the direction of the arrow YND. Also,
If key K ₁₄ is pressed then point P ₁₅ on the screen is an arrow
Move in the direction of XND. Furthermore, when keys K ₁₆ and K ₂₅ are pressed, point P ₁₅ becomes arrow XPD and arrow, respectively.
Move towards YPD. In this case, the key _K15 may be displayed at the lower left of the screen SC to indicate which center key has been input, as shown in FIG. The function of the above direction control keys is, for example, the "return" key mentioned above.
The process ends when CR is pressed. When this key CR is pressed, the position of this point is stored internally, and the system waits for the next point to be input from the keyboard.

FIG. 10 shows a case where the keys located at the bottom row of the keyboard 1 and the keys located at the top row are designated as "center keys." In this case, if the key located at the top row, for example, the key K ₅ , that is, the "5" key, is used as the center key, the key K ₅ itself becomes the upward movement key, and the following keys
_K14 is defined as a leftward movement key, key _K6 is defined as a rightward movement key, and key _K16 is defined as a downward movement key. Also, if the key located at the bottom row, for example, the key K ₃₉ , that is, the "N" key, is used as the center key, the key K ₃₉ itself becomes the downward movement key, and the following key K ₃₈ becomes the left movement key, the key
_K40 is defined as a rightward movement key, and key _K28 is defined as an upward movement key. The same idea applies when the center keys are set to the rightmost row or the leftmost row, and the figure shows the case where keys K ₂₃ and K ₃₃ are selected as the center keys. Also, the first
FIG. 1 shows an example in which the four corners of a group of keys with a specified range are set as center keys. That is,
This shows the case where keys K ₁ , K ₁₁ , K ₃₄ , and K ₄₄ are set as center keys.

Figure 6 is Figure 1, Figure 7, Figure 9, Figure 10,
Coordinate information generation means constructed based on Fig. 11
FIG. 2 is a memory configuration diagram showing an example of CVGM. In this embodiment, this coordinate information generating means CVGM
Configure on RAM. That is, it takes the form of a table on RAM. This coordinate information generation means
The CVGM has the same number of blocks BK ₁ , BK ₂ , ..., BK ₄₄ as the number of keys selected in FIG.
Each block BK ₁ , BK ₂ , ..., BK ₄₄ has each key K ₁ ,
It corresponds to K ₂ , ..., K ₄₄ . That is, block _BK1 corresponds to key _K1 , and block _BK2 corresponds to key _K2 . Below, the same block
BK ₄₄ corresponds to key K ₄₄ . Each block
BK ₁ , BK ₂ , ..., BK ₄₄ has seven storage units M ₁ ,
It includes M ₂ , M ₃ , M ₄ , M ₅ , M ₆ , and M ₇ . storage section
_M1 stores the key code of the key to which the block corresponds, and memory parts _M2 and _M3 store the key to which the block corresponds and the corresponding display screen SC.
Coordinate information of the representative point P in the above virtual section is stored, the X coordinate is stored in the storage section _M2 , and the Y coordinate is stored in the storage section _M3 . storage section
M ₄ , M ₅ , M ₆ , and M ₇ store information for setting the keys arranged around the key corresponding to the block as directional control keys for the cursor CS, and the storage section M ₄ stores information for setting keys arranged around the key corresponding to the block as directional control keys for the cursor CS. The key code of the key that becomes the control key is stored, the key code of the key that becomes the right direction control key is stored in the memory section _M5 , and the key code of the key that becomes the down direction control key is stored in the memory section _M6 . However, the key code of the key serving as the left direction control key is stored in the storage unit _M7 . For example, taking FIG. 9 as an example, the explanation will be as follows. Key
K ₁₅ , that is, the block of the coordinate information generating means CVGM corresponding to the "R" (key) key, has the key code of the "R" key stored in the memory section M ₁ of the block BK ₁₅ , and the key code of the "R" key is stored in the memory section M ₂ , _M3 stores the X and Y coordinates of the representative point _P15 in the virtual section _S15 on the display screen SC. The key code for key K ₄ is stored in the memory section M ₄ , the key code for key K 16 is stored in the memory section M ₅ , and the key code for the key K ₁₆ is stored in the memory section M 5.
The key code of key _K26 is stored in _M6 , and the key code of key _K14 is stored in storage unit _M7 . Similarly, for each key K ₁ , K ₂ , ..., K ₄₄ selected in the range, the corresponding blocks BK ₁ , BK ₂ ,
..., BK ₄₄ is constructed. Each block BK ₁ , BK ₂ ,
..., storage units M ₁ , M ₂ , M ₃ , which constitute BK ₄₄ ,
M ₄ , M ₅ , M ₆ , M ₇ are each block BK ₁ , BK ₂ ,
They are addressed and arranged in this order within BK ₄₄ . SPTR is a pointer storage section similarly placed on the RAM, and stores address information specifying each of these addresses in order to read out information stored at desired addresses in the coordinate information storage section CVGM. Note that the CHR is a storage section located at a predetermined address on the RAM, and this temporarily stores the key code of one key input from the keyboard 1.

Below, with reference to these figures, Figures 4 and 5 will be explained.
The diagram will be explained. FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 show a series of processes, and between each figure, a symbol with a number surrounded by a circle means that it is connected with the same symbol. First, when the routine shown in the flowchart is activated, in step 4a, the pointer SPTR shown in FIG. 6 is set to the start address of the table CVGM. Next, in step 4b, one character of an input key from the keyboard 1 is read, and the key code is stored in the storage section CHR. In step 4c, the key code of this read character is stored in the memory in step 4b.
Key code stored in CHR and pointer SPTR
The key code stored in the table CVGM address specified by is compared with the stored key code, and if they match, the process moves to step 4f. If they do not match, in step 4c, it is determined whether the pointer SPTR specifies the start address of the last block BK ₄₄ of the table, and if so, key input error processing is performed.
Run KINE1. If it is not the start address of the last block BK ₄₄ , the pointer is
SPTR is updated by +7, that is, the address of the storage section _M1 of the next block is specified, and the process returns to step 4c. Below are steps 4c, 4d,
Repeat step 4e until the key code entered matches the key code on the table, or the pointer SPTR points to the last block BK ₄₄ of table CVGM.
The process continues until the key code of , that is, the memory section _M1 is reached. If the mutual key codes match in step 4c, then in step 4f the X and Y coordinate values are read from the storage units _M2 and _M3 of the block in question, and these values are temporarily stored in the storage units MVX and MVY. This can be easily read by specifying the address one or two addresses ahead of the address specified by pointer SPTR. Next, the X, Y coordinate values stored in the storage units MVX and MVY in step 4g are transferred to the X, Y coordinate storage unit of the display device 1.
Store in XAM and YAM respectively. This results in
The display device 1 displays the representative point cursor of the virtual section corresponding to the key input in step 4b. For example, referring to FIG. 9, if the key pressed in step 4c is the key _K15 , that is, the "R" (key) key, the cursor CS will be displayed at the position of point _P15 on the display screen SC. In the following step 4h, the memory sections M ₄ , M ₅ , M ₆ , M ₇ of the corresponding block are
Reads out the memory contents, that is, the key codes for each direction control key, and stores each in the corresponding memory section.
Store in UKC, RKC, DKC, LKC. storage section
The contents of M ₄ , M ₅ , M ₆ , and M ₇ are also currently pointers.
3, 4, 5 addresses ahead of the address specified by SPTR
It can be read by sequentially specifying the first and sixth addresses. Next, in step 4i, as in step 4b, one character of the input key from keyboard 1 is read and the key code is stored in the memory.
Temporarily stored in CHR. Following steps 4j, 4k, 4l,
4m, the key code stored in the memory CHR of the key pressed in step 4i is stored in the table.
Is it a key code that means an up direction control key, a key code that means a right direction control key, a key code that means a down direction control key, or a key code that means a down direction control key transferred from CVGM to the storage units UKC, RKC, DKC, LKC? A determination is made as to whether or not the key code indicates a control key. If the key code stored in the storage unit CHR is not one of these, key input error processing KINE2 is executed. If the key code read in step 4i matches the contents of the storage unit UKC, the process moves from step 4j to step 4o. In this step 4o, the coordinate value of the contents of the Y coordinate storage section YAM of the display device 1 is updated as much as the cursor CS moves on the display screen SC by the unit movement amount of the cursor CS.
This will move the cursor SC from the current coordinate position to
Move upward by a unit amount.

If the key code read in step 4i matches the contents of the storage unit RKC, the process moves from step 4k to step 4o. In this step 4p, the X coordinate storage section of the display device 1 is
The contents of XAM are updated by the unit movement amount of the cursor CS on the display screen SC, and the coordinate values thereof are updated as much as the cursor CS moves. This will cause the cursor
SC moves to the right by a unit amount from its current coordinate position.

If the key code read in step 4i matches the contents of the storage unit DKC, the process moves from step 4l to step 4q. In this step 4q, the Y coordinate storage section of the display device 1 is
The contents of YAM are updated by the unit movement amount of the cursor CS on the display screen SC, and the coordinate values thereof are updated as much as the cursor CS moves. This will cause the cursor
CS moves downward by a unit amount from the current coordinate position.

If the key code read in step 4i matches the contents of the storage unit LKC, the process moves from step 4m to step 4r. This step
4r, the X coordinate storage unit XAM of the display device 1
The coordinate values of the contents are updated by the unit movement amount of the cursor CS on the display screen SC as the cursor CS moves. This will cause the cursor CS
moves a unit amount to the left from the current coordinate position. When each process of steps 4o, 4p, 4q, and 4r is completed, the process returns to step 4i, and the above-described unit movement process of the cursor CS is repeated.
This will be specifically explained as follows with reference to FIG. That is, in step 4h,
The key codes of keys K ₄ , K ₁₆ , K ₂₆ , and K ₁₄ are stored in the storage units UKC, RKC, DKC, and LKC, respectively, from the table CVGM. Therefore, at this point, key K ₄ is the up control key, key K ₁₆ is the right control key, key K ₂₆ is the down control key, and key
_K14 is set as the left direction control key. As a result, when key K ₄ is pressed, the cursor CS displayed on the display screen SC in steps 4j and 4o is moved upward by a unit amount from the current position, and when key K ₁₆ is pressed,
The cursor CS displayed on the display screen SC in steps 4k and 4p is moved to the right by a unit amount from the current position, and when key K ₂₆ is pressed, the cursor CS displayed on the display screen SC is moved in steps 4l and 4q when key K is pressed. The displayed cursor CS moves downward by a unit amount from its current position, and when key _K14 is pressed, the cursor CS displayed on the display screen SC moves by steps 4l and 4q.
It will move to the left by a unit amount from the current position. Note that when the movement end key, for example, the "return" key is pressed in step 4i, the process returns to step 4a in step 4n.

As described above, when the cursor CS existing at a certain position on the display screen SC is moved to another target position, the key Ki corresponding to the virtual section Si containing the target position must be pressed. For example, the cursor CS can be instantly moved to the target position or a position close to this position. Therefore, compared to moving the cursor CS by a unit amount using a direction control key, the number of key operations can be significantly reduced and coordinate input becomes extremely easy. In addition, a key corresponding to the target virtual partition Si
By pressing Ki, the keys placed around it are set as direction control keys that move the cursor CS by a unit amount, reducing the distance the hand must move on the keyboard 1 and making coordinate input operations more efficient. It becomes possible to do so.

FIG. 12 shows another embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, coordinate information is associated with each key of the keyboard 1, as in the previous embodiment, and offset coordinate information is added to this coordinate information. In other words, the standard keyboard 1 generally has keys KN ₁ , KN ₂ , KN ₃ , numbers "1" to "9" arranged in a matrix.
..., it is equipped with 9 keys of KN ₉ . Therefore,
The display screen SC is divided into 9 virtual sections, 3 vertically and 3 horizontally.
It is divided into SN ₁ , SN ₂ , SN ₃ , ... SN ₉ , and each key KN ₁ , KN ₂ , KN ₃ , ..., KN ₉ is divided into corresponding virtual partitions SN ₁ , SN ₂ , SN ₃ , ... , corresponds to SN ₉ . Then, each key K ₁ , K ₂ , K ₃ , . . . , K ₄₄ in the range indicated by horizontal H and vertical V on the keyboard 1 is made to correspond to the range of this virtual section SN ₁ . This results in
First, select one of the virtual partitions SNi using the keys KN ₁ , KN ₂ , KN ₃ , ..., KN ₉ , and then select the keys K 1 , KN 3 , ..., KN ₉ .
The virtual partitions S ₁ , S ₂ , S ₃ , ..., S ₄₄ in the virtual partition SNi are selected by _{K 2} , K ₃ , . . . , K ₄₄ .

FIG. 13 is a flowchart for achieving this function, and FIG. 14 is a diagram of the memory configuration. This FIG. 14 will be explained below. That is, according to this embodiment, offset counters OX and OY are additionally provided on the RAM, and the numeric keys
Corresponding to KN ₁ , KN ₂ , KN ₃ , ..., KN ₉ , respectively,
Block BK ₄₄ is followed by blocks BK ₄₅ , BK ₄₆ ,...
…、Place BK ₅₃ . This block BK ₄₅ ,
BK ₄₆ ,..., BK ₅₃ is block BK ₁ , BK ₂ ,
BK ₃ ,...same configuration as BK ₄₄ . The memory section _M1 of each block BK ₄₅ , BK ₄₆ , ..., BK ₅₃ has corresponding numeric keys KN ₁ ,
The key codes of KN ₂ , ..., KN ₉ are stored in the memory sections M ₂ and M ₃ , and the keys KN ₁ , KN ₂ , ...,
The coordinates of the representative point of the virtual section corresponding to KN ₉ are memorized. In the case of this embodiment, the keys KN ₁ ,
_{Since KN2 , . _ _}

Below, FIG. 13 will be explained. The functions of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 13, are achieved by adding steps 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d, and 13e to those in FIG. 4. That is, first, in step 13a before executing step 4a, offset counters OX and OY are initialized and cleared to zero here. Hereinafter, as in Fig. 4, step 4a,
4b and 4c are executed, and if the conditions are met in step 4c, the key code entered from keyboard 1 and stored in the memory CHR in step 13a is numeric key KN ₁ , KN ₂ , ..., KN ₉ . Determine whether or not. If not, the process moves directly to step 4f. Numeric keys KN ₁ , KN ₂ , ...,
If KN ₉ , the storage section M ₂ of the block concerned,
The X and Y coordinates, which are the coordinates of the representative point, are read from _M3 , and in step 13d, the X coordinate is stored in the offset counter OX and the Y coordinate is stored in the offset counter OY, and the process returns to step 4a. Furthermore, after step 4f, step
Make it run 13e. This step 13e is
In step 4f, the contents of offset counters OX and OY are added to the coordinate values stored in storage units MXV and MYV, respectively.

If you do the above, the keys K ₁ , K ₂ , K ₃ ,...
..., _K44 on the display screen SC are given offset values using the numeric keys KN ₁ , KN ₂ , ..., KN ₉ . Therefore, as shown in Figure 12,
First, select the virtual partition SNi using the numerical keys KN ₁ , KN ₂ , ..., KN ₉ , and then use the keys K ₁ , K ₂ , K ₃ , ...,
Virtual partition in the virtual partition SNi by K ₄₄
S ₁ , S ₂ , S ₃ , ..., S ₄₄ can be selected.

Note that in this embodiment, the virtual partitions SN ₁ ,
To select SN ₂ , ..., SN ₉ , use number keys KN ₁ , KN ₂ ,
..., I showed the case using KN ₉ , but
This is not limited to this number of keys, and the number thereof can be arbitrarily selected.

FIG. 15 shows still another embodiment of the present invention. When registering data, the registration screen is displayed on the display screen SC, and the horizontal axis items A, B, C, D,
E, F and vertical axis items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
The case where data is input to each position designated by 7 and 8 is shown. That is, the # mark indicates the position where numerical data is input and displayed. In this case, the data input area of the display screen SC is divided horizontally into six and vertically into four, as shown by broken lines. The keyboard 1 uses keys arranged in an area H ₁ horizontally and V ₁ vertically, and each key is assigned to each virtual section on the display screen. In other words, the "3" (A) key moves to the section represented by the vertical items 1 and 2 of the horizontal field A on the display screen SC, and the "4" (C) key moves the display screen SC.
Allocate to the section represented by vertical items 1 and 2 of horizontal item B above. Similarly, the ``,'' (ne) key is assigned to the section represented by the vertical items 7 and 8 in the horizontal item F.

By doing this, for example, by pressing the "R" (Sc) key, you can instantly move the cursor CS to the position of horizontal item B and vertical item 3 that you currently want to input, and thereby input the desired data. can be entered.
Also, from this position, for example, horizontal item F, vertical item 7
If you want to move the cursor CS to, press the "," (ne) key. This example is particularly effective when data is not inputted sequentially and regularly, but is inputted irregularly. In this case, since there are eight vertical items on the registration screen displayed on the display screen SC, two vertical items were assigned to each key, but this was based on the technical concept shown in Figure 12. Move the vertical items in the data registration area up and down 2
Of course, it is also possible to divide the list into four items at the top and four items at the bottom, assign a specific key to each, and give them offsets.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, by pressing a predetermined key on the keyboard, the cursor can be automatically moved to a predetermined coordinate position of the key, and the surrounding keys adjacent to the key can be moved automatically. becomes the cursor direction control key, and the operator can move the hand from the pressed key position.
You can move the cursor to the desired position using keys around this area. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a coordinate input device that allows easy coordinate input operation and shortens operation time.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the correspondence relationship between a display screen and a keyboard for explaining one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is an external view thereof, FIGS. 4 and 5 are flowcharts showing an embodiment of coordinate information setting means, and FIG. 6 is a coordinate information generating means. A memory configuration diagram showing an example of
Fig. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the display position of the cursor in the display section corresponding to each key, Fig. 8 is a diagram showing the arrangement of cursor direction control keys on the keyboard, and Fig. 9 is a diagram showing the arrangement of the cursor direction control keys on the keyboard. 10 and 11 are plan views of the keyboard; FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the correspondence between the display screen and the keyboard according to another embodiment of the present invention; FIG.
14 is a flowchart showing another embodiment of the coordinate information setting means, FIG. 14 is a memory configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the coordinate information generating means, and FIG. 15 is a display showing still another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a correspondence relationship between a screen and a keyboard. 1: Keyboard, 2: Processing device, 3: Display means, SC: Display screen, CS: Cursor, YAM,
YAM: Coordinate storage unit, K ₁ , K ₂ , K ₃ , ...,: Key, CVGM: Coordinate information generation means, CVSM: Coordinate information setting means.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A coordinate storage unit that stores display coordinate information of a cursor to be displayed on a display screen; and a coordinate storage unit that positions the cursor at a predetermined position on the display screen based on the display coordinate information stored in the coordinate storage unit. a display means for displaying; a keyboard having a large number of keys arranged; coordinate information corresponding to different coordinate positions on the display screen for each of a plurality of predetermined keys on the keyboard; a storage means for storing definition information defining each key and a key arranged adjacent to the key as a direction control key for the cursor; coordinate information setting means for reading coordinate information corresponding to the input key from the input key and storing and setting the coordinate information in the coordinate storage section; Read the corresponding definition information,
A coordinate input device comprising: cursor movement control means for controlling the movement of the cursor in the defined direction when a subsequently inputted key is a key defined by the definition information.