JPH06195169A - Input device for electronic computer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable inputting while suppressing the move of a viewpoint at the minimum by displaying a picture showing the finger tip position of an operator and a picture arranging virtual keys on a display while overlapping them. CONSTITUTION:An operator mounts position display means 1 each provided with a finger switch 8 at all the tips of fingers. When an electric signal corresponding to the position display or push-down of the switch 8 is detected, a position detecting means 2 transmits an identification signal and a position signal to a position analyzing means 4. The position analyzing means 4 analyzes the position signal, identification signal and storage signal from a virtual key position storage means 3, allocates the virtual keys to the position display means 1 transmits an analysis signal showing allocation information and an identification signal showing the presence/absence of a push-down input through a push-down judging means 5 to an input signal generating means 6 and inputs them to a CPU 7. The CPU 7 displays a keyboard composed of virtual keys on the display by the signal from the virtual key position storage means 3 and displays the picture of the hand on the display while overlapping it on the picture of the key-board from the analysis signal from the position analyzing means 4.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an input device for a keyboard such as a personal computer and a word processor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an input technique of this type, an input method using a keyboard 14 as shown in FIG. 5 is generally used. The keyboard 14 has a large number of input keys 15. When the operator presses the input keys 15, the input keys 1
The contacts provided at 5 are in pressure contact. From this pressure contact, the signal generating IC transmits different signals assigned to the respective input keys 15 to the computer main body. In the computer body, the processing operation or character code corresponding to each of the signals is set in advance. The signal is the keyboard 14
When it is sent from the computer, the computer main body is in the processing operation or displays the image output corresponding to the character code on the display 11. Further, in addition to the input method using the keyboard 14, there is a method of inputting using the mouse 13. This is a method called a graphic user interface, and is a method in which an operator gives a command as if he / she actually operated an image on the screen using a mouse. A specific example is as follows.

The ball contained in the mouse 13 is in contact with a pair of rollers rotatable in directions perpendicular to each other. Further, a part of the ball is exposed from the mouse 13. When the ball is grounded on a desk or the like, the ball rotates according to the movement of the mouse 13. The mouse 13 detects the rotation angle of the ball as the rotation amount of the roller and sends this data to the computer body. In the computer body, the relative movement amount of the mouse 13 is calculated based on this rotation angle data. Depending on the calculation result, the display 11
The pointer 17 displayed at is moved in a predetermined direction and a predetermined distance. The operator slides the mouse 13 while looking at the display 11 to move the pointer 17 to an arbitrary position on the display 11. At that time, in a specific area on the display 11, a video button 16 in which a command for operating the computer is set is displayed. The video button 16 is an image displayed on the display 11 and does not have any substance.
The computer body recognizes where the displayed video button 16 is located on the display 11 by the coordinate area, that is, the position and size of the video button 16. Furthermore, the processing operation corresponding to the displayed video button 16 is stored in the computer body. Then, when the operator presses a switch provided on the mouse 13, the computer body compares the position of the pointer on the display 11 with the position of the video button 16. When the position coordinate of the pointer coincides with the coordinate area of the video button 16, the computer main body performs the processing operation corresponding to the video button 16. The operator moves the mouse 13 to the area where the command is set, that is, the position of the video button 16, and presses the switch of the mouse 13 to operate the computer main body.

Another method for the operator to select the video button 16 displayed on the display 11 is to use a light pen. The method uses a light sensor attached to the tip of a light pen to display 1
The timing at which a specific point on 1 is illuminated is monitored. This method utilizes that the screen of the display 11 shines at different timings depending on the position due to the operation by the electron beam. The light pen detects a slight difference in this timing to determine the absolute position pointed to by the tip of the light pen on the display 11.

[0005]

However, any of the above-mentioned methods has the following problems and is not satisfactory. In the input method using the keyboard 14, the keyboard 14 is generally placed horizontally on a desk or the like, and it is easy to operate if the operator sits on the knees and around the knees. On the other hand, the display 11 is easy to see if it is placed at eye level and perpendicular to the line of sight. Therefore, from the positional relationship between the display 11 and the keyboard 14,
The operator looks at the keyboard 14 and operates the input keys 15,
Display 11
Have to check. Further, since the size of the entire keyboard 14 and the size of the input key 15 cannot be changed, it is not possible to cope with the size of the operator's hand and individual differences in the input operation. Also, with regard to the arrangement of the keys on the keyboard 14, a plurality of formats are adopted, and the operator cannot arbitrarily replace the arrangement.

The input method using the mouse 13 can be performed while confirming the input operation on the display 11 without changing the easy-to-use position of the input device and the display 11. However, since only one pointer interlocking with the mouse 13 can be selected, it is not possible to quickly place the pointer 17 on the instruction displayed on the display 11 and quickly generate various signals. This causes a drastic decrease in operability when, for example, inputting a Japanese sentence by kana-kanji conversion.

On the other hand, in the input method using the touch panel or the light pen, since the input device and the display 11 are at the same position, it is not necessary to check the input characters by raising them after each input. However, when the display 11 is set up vertically to the eye level, there is no place to support the wrist, so the wrist is supported by the arm. With this, the position of the wrist is easily displaced, and it is difficult to perform detailed work.

According to the present invention, the display 11 and the input device can be installed without being restricted to positions that are easy to use, and the movement of the viewpoint can be minimized by confirming the position of the finger and the input situation. The purpose is to provide a device.

[0009]

The apparatus of the present invention shows the position display means for indicating the position (position and movement) of the operator's fingertip and the presence or absence of an operation for pressing a virtual key, and the position display means. Position detecting means for detecting a position and generating a position signal and for identifying the presence or absence of an operation of pressing the virtual key, virtual key position storing means for storing the position of the virtual key, the position signal and the virtual Position analysis means for analyzing the position of the key, determining the positional relationship between the position of the operator's fingertip and the position of the virtual key, and obtaining the position information of the virtual key from the virtual key position storage means,
The virtual key display means for displaying the image of the virtual key and the position of the operator's fingertip on the screen, and which of the virtual keys is pressed by the operator based on the result of the identification by the position detecting means. Based on the judgment of the pressing judgment means for judging whether the operation is performed and the pressing judgment means,
The input signal generating means generates an input signal corresponding to the pressed virtual key.

[0010]

According to the present invention, an image showing the position of the operator's fingertip and an image in which virtual keys are arranged are based on the analysis result for determining the positional relationship between the position of the operator's fingertip and the position of the virtual key. Are overlaid on the display. further,
When the operator performs an operation of pressing a virtual key, this operation is detected and it is analyzed which virtual key corresponds to the position of the finger that performed the pressing operation, and the input signal corresponding to the corresponding virtual key is detected. To occur. The correspondence between the virtual key and the input signal is similar to the correspondence between the key and the input signal on the conventional keyboard.

[0011]

1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an overall view showing the external appearance of the configuration of the embodiment of the present invention. An embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The operator attaches the position display means 1 equipped with the finger switch 8 to all fingertips. The finger switch 8 is installed on the anterior side of the fingertip of the position display means 1, and is provided with a contact which is conducted when the operator lightly presses the object with the fingertip. On the other hand, a light emitter is provided on the fingernail side of the position display means 1. The light-emitting body is of a two-light type that emits light when the operator puts it on the fingertip and further increases the light amount when the operator presses the switch. That is, the position display means 1
Light emission when the operator wears it (hereinafter referred to as position display light emission) and light emission due to an input operation when the operator presses the input switch (hereinafter referred to as push input light emission).
Light up on the street. As is clear from the above-described operation, the position display light emission and the press input light emission can be easily distinguished by the brightness of the light emitter. The push-down input light emission has higher brightness than the position display light emission.

The vidicon 12 used in the position detecting means 2
Arranges a plurality of image pickup elements toward the image pickup range in order to detect the position display means 1 of the operator's fingertip and to distinguish the above two types of light emission. At this time, the X-axis direction of the imaging range is divided into m pieces and the Y-axis direction is divided into n pieces so that the light amount of the position display means 1 can be monitored at any place within the rectangular imaging range, and m rows × n columns. The image sensor is assigned to each of the regions (hereinafter, divided regions) formed by dividing the image into one. Each image sensor outputs an electric signal from the light amount of the allocated divided area. Therefore, the position detecting means 2 is caused to recognize in advance the electric signals of the image pickup devices corresponding to the position display light emission and the press input light emission, and the electric signals of the respective image pickup devices are monitored. When the position detecting means 2 detects an electric signal corresponding to the position display light emission or the press input light emission, it discriminates from the electric signal whether it is the position display light emission or the press input light emission, and the identification signal indicating the identification result is detected. The position signal indicating the position information of the divided area is transmitted to the position analysis means 4.

More specifically showing the position signal, the image pickup range is divided into m pieces in the X-axis direction and n pieces in the Y-axis direction as shown in FIG. Divided area A in the lower left corner
With reference to, a natural number is sequentially given from 1 in the positive direction of the X axis, and a natural number is sequentially given from 1 also in the positive direction of the Y axis. The image sensor that monitors the divided area A at the lower left corner of the imaging range is (X =
1, Y = 1). Further, the position information of the divided region B, which is separated from the divided region A by two in the X-axis positive direction and by one in the Y-axis positive direction, is (X = 3, Y = 2). The position information of the divided area C, which is separated from the divided area A by four in the X-axis positive direction and three by the Y-axis positive direction, is (X = 5, Y =
4). The position signal is obtained by converting the position information of the X axis and the Y axis into a predetermined code.

The virtual key position storage means 3 is composed of a fixed memory of the computer main body, and stores a conceptual key (hereinafter, virtual key) corresponding to a character required for input in advance. A virtual key conventionally corresponds to each key on the keyboard, and each virtual key is
It works somewhat similar to the video button already mentioned in the section of the conventional technique. The virtual key is set corresponding to the position information described above. In this case, X and Y indicating the position and size of one virtual key are recognized by the following inequalities. x1 ≦ x <x2 (1) y1 ≦ y <y2 (2) An integer is given to each of x1, x2, y1 and y2, and the position and size of one virtual key is determined by two expressions. The virtual key position storage means 3 stores the positions and arrangement of a plurality of virtual keys in a memory according to a given integer. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, coordinates (X = 0, Y
At the origin), apply x1 = 0, x2 = 4, y1 = 0, y2 = 4 to the two positions of the virtual key a, and (0
It is stored as ≦ x <4, 0 ≦ y <4). Numerical values are similarly applied to the positions of the virtual keys b (4≤x <8,0≤y
<4), and the position of the virtual key c is also (0 ≦ x <4,4)
≦ y <8) is stored. Then, each of these three virtual keys has a size of 4 × 4, the virtual key b is arranged in contact with the right side of the virtual key a, and the virtual key c is arranged in contact with the virtual key a. The virtual key position storage means 3 transmits to the position analysis means 4 a storage signal indicating the size and arrangement information of the virtual key. Further, the virtual key position storage means 3 sends a storage signal directly to the CPU 7 in order to output an image of the virtual key array on the display 11.

The position analysis means 4 analyzes the position signal and the identification signal from the position detection means 2 and the storage signal from the virtual key position storage means 3, and outputs one virtual key to one of the position display means 1. Allocate as described below. The position analysis unit 4 pays attention to the position signal sent from the position detection unit 2, and the position signal of the image pickup device that has detected the position display unit 1 is expressed by the above inequality x1 ≦ x <x2 (1) y1 of the stored signal. ≦ y <y2 (2) is applied, and the virtual key of the virtual key position storage means 3 satisfying the condition of the inequality is searched and determined. For example, the image sensor having the position information of (X = 1, Y = 1) described above is the virtual key a (0 ≦ x <4, 0 ≦ y <
It corresponds to 4). Then, the analytic signal indicating the information in which the position display means 1 is assigned to the virtual key and the identification signal indicating whether or not the pressing input has been made are transmitted together to the pressing determination means 5.

The depression determination means 5 pays attention to the identification signal of the sent analysis signal and identification signal. When the identification signal is a signal indicating the pressed input voltage value, both the analysis signal and the identification signal are transmitted to the input signal generation means 6. When the identification signal is a signal indicating the position display voltage value, only the analytic signal is transmitted to the input signal generating means 6. The CPU 7 displays a keyboard composed of virtual keys on the display from the storage signal sent from the virtual key position storage means 3. Based on the analytic signal transmitted from the position analyzing means 4, the coordinate areas of both of the virtual keys at which the position of the finger switch 8 is located are compared, and the image of the hand is displayed on the display 11 so as to be superimposed on the image of the keyboard. . Further, the input signal generating means 6
Is connected to a CPU (Central Processing Unit) such as a computer and pays attention to the identification signal sent. When the identification signal is received, the virtual key is specified from the analysis signal transmitted together with the identification signal, and an input signal indicating a processing operation or a character pre-assigned to the virtual key is transmitted to the CPU 7. Moreover, the virtual key pressed by the operator can be specified by the analysis signal transmitted from the input signal generating means 6.

The CPU 7 receives the memory signal and executes a processing operation pre-assigned to the memory signal of each virtual key, or displays a character or the like on the display 11 and stores the input character in the CPU 7. You can

As another embodiment of the present invention, a method for allowing the operator to set the arrangement of the virtual keys in the virtual key position storage means 3 will be described. When it is desired to change only the size of the virtual key, a message asking the operator for the size is displayed on the display. When the operator indicates the intention to change, a virtual key showing a number for designating the size of the virtual key in the X-axis direction is displayed on the display, and the finger switch 8 is used for the virtual key of the number by the above-described usage. To select. Then, the size in the Y-axis direction is determined in the same manner as the method for determining the X-axis direction.

Specifically, assuming a JIS layout as a key layout, for example, in the X-axis direction, the operator arbitrarily sets the positions of the 1st and 0th keys in the uppermost row by pressing virtual keys. By doing so, the values of X1 and X2 in the above equation (1) are uniquely determined for the uppermost key. In addition, if one of the lowermost keys is set, for example, the M key, the positions of Y1 and Y2 in the above equation (2) are uniquely determined. Here, if the position and size of the virtual key array are similar to the JIS array,
After this, all as well as the magnitudes can be determined by calculation. After that, data indicating the position and size of the virtual key obtained by the calculation may be stored in the virtual key position storage means 3. However, at this time, the memory used for the virtual key position storage means 3 must be rewritable.

By using such means, it is possible to use different types of key arrangements. At present, various key arrangements such as a QWERTY arrangement, a DVORAK arrangement, and a thumb shift arrangement are adopted. However, in the above method, the key arrangement is determined by the contents described in the virtual key position storage means 3, The change of the array itself
This is easily achieved by handling the software. Of course, it is easy to adopt a special keyboard layout. Furthermore, if the position display means 1 attached to the tip of the pen is prepared, a so-called pen input / input system can be easily realized. You may make it use these properly according to various conditions. For example, a thumb shift arrangement may be used for character input when using a word processor, and a pen input may be automatically used for inputting a handwritten image when using a graphic function. In addition, since the number of position display means 1 is limited to 1 to 2 as long as the number of the operator is one, the number of the position display means 1 is detected. It is also possible to automatically switch between the above method and the above method.

[0021]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the operator can keep the display 11 in a position where it can be easily seen and the input operation can be performed easily.
You can continue to input while looking at 1. further,
Since it is possible to easily set and register a key layout that is easy for the operator to input, even when there are a plurality of input persons on one terminal, it is possible to cope with individual differences.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an overall view showing the external appearance of the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a divided area.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a virtual key allocation range.

FIG. 5 is an overall view showing keyboard input.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 position display means 2 position detection means 3 virtual key position storage means 4 position analysis means 5 press determination means 6 input signal generation means 8 finger switch 9 input switch 10 light emitter 11 display 12 vidicon 13 mouse 14 keyboard 15 input key

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A position display means for indicating the position of the operator's fingertip and for indicating the presence or absence of an operation of pressing a virtual key; a position signal generated by detecting the position indicated by the position display means; and the virtual key. Position detecting means for identifying the presence or absence of an operation of pressing, a virtual key position storing means for storing the position of a virtual key, an analysis of the position signal and the position information of the virtual key, and the position of the fingertip of the operator Position analysis means for determining a positional relationship between the position of the virtual key and the position of the virtual key, and obtains position information of the virtual key from the virtual key position storage means, and displays the image of the virtual key and the fingertip of the operator on the screen. Virtual key display means for displaying a position, and push-down determination means for determining which one of the virtual keys the operator has performed based on the result of the identification by the position detection means. , Based on the determination of the pressing determination means, an input signal generating means for generating an input signal corresponding to the virtual key is pressed,
An input device for an electronic computer, comprising: 2. The input device such as the electronic computer according to claim 1, wherein the operator performs a predetermined operation, and based on a position signal indicated by the position display means during the predetermined operation, An input device for an electronic computer, characterized in that the position and arrangement of virtual keys are determined and the positions and arrangement of such virtual keys are stored in said virtual key position storage means.