JPH0631541Y2 - Key input device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a key input device used in a small electronic device.

[Prior Art and its Problems] Conventionally, a key input device used for a small electronic calculator, such as a calculator, outputs desired key input data by combining KO (key output signal) and KI (key input signal). I'm supposed to get it. This means that the number of types of keys can be obtained only by the number of combinations of KO and KI. Therefore, if a large number of keys are required, the number of KOs and KIs will also increase, and the key input device will be unnecessarily large. There was a flaw in shaping. Further, if the patterns of KO and KI are formed on the substrate in advance, the content of the key that can be input from the same place is determined, so there is a drawback that the range of use is limited.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to make a large number of key inputs in a small size. In addition, it is possible to determine a proper key operation at the time of capturing each key. An object is to provide a key input device.

[Points of Invention] This invention detects a contact closing pattern of an operation key by operating any key of a plurality of keys having different contact closing patterns, and discriminates a key type from the detected contact closing pattern. Of the plurality of conductive contacts provided so as to have different contact patterns depending on the key type, at least one is provided at a position common to all keys, and the height of the contact is different from that of the other contacts. By making the height of the contact lower than the height of the contact, it is possible to determine from the closing operation of the contact in the state where the key is sufficiently pushed in, as a normal key operation when the key is taken in.

[Embodiment of the Invention] An embodiment of the invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a key input section having a large number of data input keys 2, and the key input section 1 is provided with key output signals KO1 and KO2 from a signal generation section 3 as sampling signals. Here, the data input key 2 has six contacts a to f for one key as shown in FIG. 2, one terminal of the contacts a to c is commonly connected, and key output is performed. The signal KO1 is applied, one terminals of the contacts d to f are commonly connected, and the key output signal KO2 is applied. Further, the other terminals of the contacts a and d are commonly connected, and the key input signal KI1 is Output, the contacts b and e are commonly connected to the other terminals, the key input signal KI2 is output, contacts c and f are commonly connected to the other terminals, and the key input signal KI3 is output.
Is output. The data input key 2 has a key button 2a as shown in FIG. 3, and the key button 2a has conductive rubber pieces a1 to a1 corresponding to the contacts a to f.
f1 is attached so that the contacts a to f can be closed.
Here, conductive rubber pieces a1, c1 corresponding to the contacts a, c
The contact points a and c are closed by pressing the key button 2a. The conductive rubber piece a1 here is used as an input contact and has a height smaller than that of the other conductive rubber pieces b1 to f1 so that the contact a is fully pressed in the key button 2a. I'm trying to close.

The key input signals KI1 to KI3 from the key input unit 1 are supplied to the key detection unit 4 and the pattern detection unit 5. The key detection unit 4 detects a key input on the key input unit 1 and gives the result to the control unit 6. Further, the pattern detection unit 5 receives the key output signals KO1 and KO2 which are sampling signals and the key input signal KI from the key input unit 1.
From the relationship of 1 to KI3, the contacts b to f of the data input key 2
It is detected as a contact pattern which one of them has been closed.

The control unit 6 is composed of a ROM and stores a program for controlling each circuit in advance. In this case, the control unit 6 gives a control command to the signal generation unit 3, the pattern detection unit 5, the key buffer 7, the key memory 8, the key determination unit 9, the calculation unit 10 and the display unit 11.

The key buffer 7 stores the operation states of the contacts a to f detected by the pattern detection unit 5. In this case, the key buffer 7 has P points corresponding to the contacts b to f as shown in FIG.
It has a 5-bit storage unit of (0) to P (4). Further, the key memory 8 is provided with the stored contents of the key buffer 7. The key memory 8 in this case also has the structure shown in FIG.

Then, the contents of the key buffer 7 and the key memory 8 are compared by the comparison unit 12, and the comparison result is given to the control unit 6. Here, the comparison operation in the comparison unit 12 is repeatedly performed until the count content N of the timer 13 corresponds to a predetermined key operation time.

The key discrimination unit 9 discriminates the key from the 5-bit key pattern of the key memory 8. Then, the determination result here is given to the calculation unit 10 and displayed on the display unit 11.

Next, the operation of the embodiment thus configured will be described.

Now, the key output signals KO1 and KO2 from the signal generator 3
Is applied to the key input unit 1 as a sampling signal, the flow chart shown in FIG. 6 is executed. In this case, the key buffer 7 and the key memory 8 are cleared in step A1, and the timer 13 is reset (N = 0) in step A2.

In this state, it is determined in step A3 whether or not there is a key operation. Here, if the data input key 2 of the key input unit 1 is operated, YES is determined in step A3, and the process proceeds to step A4 and subsequent steps. In this case, the presence / absence of a key operation in step A3 is determined by detecting KI1 to KI3 by the key detection unit 4.

After step A4, the pattern detection unit 5 closes any of the contacts b to f of the data input key 2 according to the relationship between the key output signals KO1 and KO2 which are sampling signals and the key input signals KI1 to KI3 from the key input unit 1. Whether it has been operated is detected, and the result is written in the key buffer 7 as a contact pattern. In this case, first in step A4,
The I counter (not shown) is set to "0", and K is set in step A5.
It is determined whether (I) is present or here, the contact b corresponding to K (0) is in the closed state. If YES is determined here, "1" is written in the storage unit P (0) of the key buffer 7 in step 6, and the process proceeds to step A7. On the other hand, if NO is determined, the process immediately proceeds to step A7. And here I
= “4” is determined, but if NO is determined, the content of the I counter is incremented by 1 in step A8, and the process returns to step A5 to determine whether the contact c corresponding to K (1) is in the closed state. To do. If YES is determined here, "1" is written in the storage portion P (1) of the key buffer 7 in step 6, and the process proceeds to step A7. On the other hand, if NO is determined, the process immediately proceeds to step A7.

Thereafter, in the same manner, the contact d corresponding to K (2) is closed while incrementing the content of the I counter in step A8,
The closed state of the contact e corresponding to K (3) and the closed state of the contact f corresponding to K (4) are respectively determined. And yes
If it is determined that the corresponding storage unit P (2) of the key buffer 7
"1" is written in P (4). In this case, as shown in FIG. 3, the key button 2a has the conductive rubber pieces a1 and c1 corresponding to the contacts a and c, and the contact pattern shown in FIG. The contents are as shown in FIG. Of course, Fig. 5 (a)
With the contact pattern shown in (c), the contents of the key buffer 7 are also as shown in (a) and (c) of FIG.

Thereafter, if YES is determined in step A7, the process proceeds to step A9, and it is determined whether the contact a corresponding to K (5) is in the closed state. If YES is determined here, step 1
Go to 0. If NO is determined here, the key button 2a
Is not fully pressed, and it is considered that the key operation is not proper, and the process returns to step A1.

In step A10, the comparison unit 12 compares whether the contents of the key buffer 7 and the key memory 8 match. in this case,
At first, nothing is stored in the key memory 8, so that they do not match and it is judged as NO, and the process proceeds to step A11. In step A11, the contents of the key buffer 7 are written in the key memory 8 and the process returns to step A2. Then, the operations of steps A2 to A9 are repeated in the same manner as described above, the contact pattern of the data input key 2 being pressed is detected again, and written in the key buffer 7. Then, in step A10, the contents of the key memory 8 are compared again for comparison. If YES is determined, the process proceeds to step A12, the count content N of the timer 13 is incremented by 1, and the process proceeds to step A13. Step A1
At 3, it is determined whether the count content N of the timer 13 is N ≧ T for a predetermined key operation time T. here,
If NO is determined, the process returns to step A3. Then, the operations of steps A3 to A12 are repeated in the same manner as described above, the contact pattern of the data input key 2 which is being pressed is detected again, and is written in the key buffer 7 and the content of the key memory 8 is also written. To see if it matches
Wait for the match here, and then add the content N of timer 13 to +
I will do one. Hereinafter, the same operation is performed in step A1.
The process is repeated until YES is determined in 3. Then, if YES is determined in step A13, the process proceeds to step A14.

At step A14, the contact pattern of the key memory 8 is discriminated by the key discriminator 9 to generate a corresponding key output.
Here, the key determination unit 9 stores key output data corresponding to the contents of the key buffer 7 as shown in FIG. Here, “sin” is shown for the contents of the key buffer 7 shown in FIG. 5A, “cos” is shown for the contents of the key buffer 7 shown in FIG. 5B, and the keys shown in FIG. “Tan” is stored for the contents of the buffer 7. As a result, in the key button 2a having the conductive rubber pieces a1 and c1 corresponding to the contacts a and c as shown in FIG. 3 and the contact pattern shown in FIG. "Cos" will be output as the discrimination output in.

The key output from the key determination unit 9 is the calculation unit 10
Is displayed on the display unit 11.

Here, if the pressing operation with the data input key 2 is not sufficient and the contact pattern written in the key buffer 7 is different from the content written in the key memory 8 last time, NO in step A10. It is determined that step A1
Since the process proceeds to 1, it is possible to prevent erroneous key output in this state.

Therefore, in this way, since the data input key having the contact closing pattern is used and the type of the key is discriminated from the contact closing pattern, many key inputs can be made with less KO and KI. Can be miniaturized. Also, by changing the contact closing pattern of the data input key, it is possible to give another key input, so the contents of the key that can be input from the same place are not fixed, and various keys such as option key input Input can be realized and the range of use can be expanded. Furthermore, this means that a CPU that can perform many operations
By preparing, it becomes possible to put into practical use a small-sized electronic computer having various arithmetic functions simply by changing the data input key.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and can be implemented by appropriately modifying it without changing the gist.

[Effect of the Invention] This invention prepares a plurality of keys having different contact closure patterns, detects the contact closure pattern of the operation key by operating any of these keys, and detects the contact closure pattern from the detected contact closure patterns. For determining the type of key, at least one of a plurality of conductive contacts provided so as to have different contact patterns depending on the key type is provided at a position common to all keys, and the contact is provided. By making the height of the contact lower than the height of the other contacts, it is possible to determine from the closing operation of the contact when the key is fully pressed, as a normal key operation at the time of taking in the key. It has a configuration for determining whether the key pressing operation is properly performed for each key, which may lead to a situation where desired data input cannot be obtained due to a halfway key operation. For some reason, key capture is always accurate,
It is possible to reliably prevent erroneous input when the key is pressed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of a contact portion of a data input key used in the same embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a key of the data input key. Button configuration diagram, FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a memory buffer used in the embodiment, FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment. It is a flowchart of. 1 ... Key input section, 2 ... Data input key, 3 ... Signal generation section, 4 ... Key detection section, 5 ... Pattern detection section,
6 ... control unit, 7 ... key buffer, 8 ... key memory, 9 ... key discrimination unit, 11 ... display unit, 12 ... comparison unit, 13 ... timer.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A plurality of conductive contacts are provided on the lower surface of the key so as to have different contact patterns depending on the type of the key.
In a key input device for determining a type of a key by determining a contact pattern formed by the conductive contacts when a key is pressed, at least one specific contact among the conductive contacts forming the contact pattern is used for all keys. The key input device is characterized in that the height of the contact is lower than that of other contacts while being provided at a position common to the other contacts.