JPH06348411A - Input and output device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain setting corresponding to application and to improve operability by providing this I/O device with a pressure sensing panel having a pressure sensor function corresponding to a display part, calculating coordinate data by a signal outputted from the pressure sensor and allowing the coordinate data to correspond to key information. CONSTITUTION:The I/O device consists of a liquid crystal pad 1-9, a liquid crystal pad driver 1-3 and a liquid crystal pad utility 1-10 and the pad 1-9 generates the same key scanning code as that of a keyboard 1-8 while interlocking with the keyboard 1-8. When a pressure panel part on the pad 1-9 is depressed, the charge of a part to which pressure is applied is changed, the coordinates of the part are detected, sent to a keyboard controller 1-5 and converted into a system scanning code and the code is sent to a BIOS 1-4. At the time of being called from the application 1-1, the BIOS 1-4 refers to a key table based upon the scanning code corresponding to the depressed key and returns a key code to the driver 1-3 trapping a key interruption.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an input / output device attached to an information processing device such as a computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a conventional device and shows an outline of a keyboard interface as an example.

The numeric keypad 6-6 is connected to a computer or keyboard 6-5 via a signal cable and a connector. The numeric keypad 6-6 is provided with several keys on the operation surface, and when the keys are pressed, the presence or absence of the input of the characters written on the key top is transmitted to the computer. When the keyboard 6-5 or the key of the numeric keypad 6-6 is released, a keyboard scan code corresponding to the key is generated and transmitted to the keyboard controller 6-4.

In the keyboard controller 6-4, the keyboard scan code is converted into a system scan code and stored in the keyboard input / output buffer 6-3.

The application 6-1 can fetch a code by a function call of a BIOS (Basic Input Output System) in the system control device 6-2.

[0006]

As described above, in the conventional keypad, the arrangement of the keys is limited and the setting cannot be made for each application. This makes the operation very difficult if the keys used by the application have different meanings, such as in a personal computer. When considering one application, even though it is decided that each application has a frequently used key, when considering multiple applications, frequently used keys are scattered here and there. It will be inconvenient.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made for the purpose of solving the above-mentioned problems. Means for displaying characters and graphics by means of a signal from the information processing apparatus main body, key information, characters and graphics, etc. In an input / output device having means for inputting various data and means for storing the various data, a pressure sensing panel having a pressure sensor function corresponding to the display unit, and coordinate data by a signal from the pressure sensor. Is an input / output device characterized by having a means for calculating and a calculation means for associating the coordinate data with the key information.

[0008]

The key used in the application of the personal computer is different for each application,
If the same key changes the application, its meaning will be different. Also, if you look at one application, commonly used keys are decided for each application, and you can improve the operability of the application by consolidating the keys in one place and making them unique. . That is, with the above-described configuration, it is possible to set a key according to each application, and thus it is possible to provide an input / output device with extremely excellent operability.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details will be described below based on the embodiments of the present invention shown in the drawings. Needless to say, the present invention is not limited to these examples.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of the device of the present invention.

The present invention comprises a liquid crystal pad 1-9, a liquid crystal pad driver 1-3 and a liquid crystal pad utility 1-10. The liquid crystal pad 1-9 interlocks with the keyboard 1-8 and is configured to generate the same key scan code as the keyboard 1-8.

The liquid crystal pad driver 1-3 is a BIOS 1
-4 has a function of trapping a key interrupt and monitoring a key input, and has a function of interfacing between the application 1-1 and the liquid crystal pad 1-9.

The liquid crystal pad utility 1-10 has a function of performing initialization by a driver at a command level.

Reference numeral 1-2 is a system controller, 1-5 is a keyboard controller having a keyboard input / output buffer 1-6, and 1-7 is an input device.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the essential part of the device of the present invention, and is a schematic view showing the structure of the liquid crystal pad.

The liquid crystal pad 2-1 is roughly divided into three parts, a pressure pad part 2-2, a display panel part 2-3, and a control part 2-4. The pressure pad section 2-2 has a function of converting a pressure when the user directly presses the liquid crystal pad 2-1 into a portion where the liquid crystal pad 2-1 directly contacts the electrical pad. The display panel portion 2-3 is a portion that displays the shape of the key and that the user actually sees with the naked eye. Control unit 2-
4 is divided into 6 parts. Input buffer unit 2-
5 has a function of temporarily storing the generated key scan code, and has a function of interlocking with the interface unit 2-7 and transmitting the key scan code when the reception state of the personal computer 2-11 is adjusted. It is convenient to type the key first. The code conversion unit has a function of selecting a key scan code corresponding to the coordinates where the pressure panel is pressed. The interface unit 2-7 has a communication function with the personal computer 2-11 and has a function of controlling transmission / reception of a key scan code. The display panel control unit 2-8 has a function of controlling a display signal to the display panel and a function of displaying the image data transmitted from the personal computer 2-11 on the display panel. The pressure panel control unit has a function of converting the electric signal transmitted from the pressure panel unit 2-2 into coordinate data, and by this, it is possible to determine which part of the pressure panel is pressed. The internal storage memory unit 2-10
It has a function to store the image data sent from the personal computer. The operation of the liquid crystal pad is roughly divided into 2
There is one. That is the operation when the pressure panel of the liquid crystal pad is pressed and when the key image is displayed.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of each operation.

First, the operation of generating the key scan code will be described. The user depresses the pressure panel 3-1 and the pressure sensor function causes an electric charge on the pressure panel 3-2. The electric charge directly enters the pressure panel control unit as a signal,
Coordinates are calculated according to the position where the charge is generated 3-3.
The calculated coordinates are collated with the coordinate data of the key recorded in the internal storage memory unit to verify whether it is within the key range 3-4. If they match, a key scan code corresponding to the key is selected 3-5 and transmitted to the personal computer which is the main body 3-6.

Next, the key image display operation will be described. A flag indicating the key image data and the corresponding key scan code is sent from the main body personal computer 3-7. The data is stored in the internal storage memory 3-8, and the key image data is displayed on the display panel 3-9.

Next, the liquid crystal pad driver will be described in detail. There are the following two methods for the system controller 1-2 to recognize the key code from the liquid crystal pad 1-9 by the liquid crystal pad driver 1-3. There is.

1. A method in which the LCD pad generates a unique scan code and the driver converts it into a system scan code (unique scan code type). The LCD pad generates the same keyboard scan code as the keyboard, and which key the scan code generates is set by the utility and driver. (Driver Compatible Type) First, the unique scan code type will be described.

The liquid crystal pad driver has a function of checking the presence or absence of the liquid crystal pad at the time of initial setting, displaying on the liquid crystal, and assigning a unique scan code and a system scan code. The display on the liquid crystal, the correspondence between the unique scan code and the system scan code, and the allocation of the display unit of the liquid crystal and the unique scan code are registered in the environment file.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the operation of the present invention, which is a flow chart showing the initialization operation when the driver is incorporated.

The driver first checks whether or not the liquid crystal pad is present 4-1. If the liquid crystal pad is not connected or the presence of the liquid crystal pad cannot be recognized for some reason, the driver displays an error message on the CRT display connected to the main body and ends 4-3. If the presence of the LCD pad can be confirmed, the driver next searches the hard disk or floppy disk for the environment file. Also in this case, if there is no environment file, 4-2, the same error processing as in the case where there is no liquid crystal pad is performed. If the environment file can be confirmed, the display information on the liquid crystal pad is extracted from the file 4-4, an image is drawn on the display surface of the liquid crystal pad based on the information 4-5, and then scan code information is read 4-6, Based on this information, create a correspondence table between the scan code unique to the LCD pad and the system scan code, and record it in memory 4-7. Since the driver must check the key input, interrupt the key. Hook up 4-8 and finish resident.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the operation of the present invention, and is a flow chart showing the operation of the driver when a key is pressed.

When the pressure panel portion of the liquid crystal pad is pressed,
The electric charge of the part under pressure changes, and the coordinates of the part are detected 5-1. The detected coordinates are inspected whether they are within the specified range of the key 5-2. A corresponding key scan code is generated from the liquid crystal pad 5-3, the keyboard sends the key scan code as it is to the keyboard controller 5-4, and the keyboard controller converts the key scan code into a system scan code and sends it to the BIOS 5 -5, 5-6, 5-7,
If there is a call from the application, the BIOS refers to the key table from the system scan code corresponding to the key pressed by the driver trapping the key interrupt, and returns a 5-8, 5-9 key code to the application 5 -10.

Explaining the driver-compatible type, the liquid crystal pad driver has a function of checking the presence or absence of the liquid crystal pad at the time of initial setting, displaying on the liquid crystal, and assigning a key scan code to the liquid crystal pad. Correspondence between the LCD display, the key scan code on the LCD pad, and the key image data is registered in the environment file.

Next, the operation will be described. Since the flow itself is almost the same, FIGS. 4 and 5 described above will be used.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the initialization operation when the driver is incorporated.

The driver first checks whether or not the liquid crystal pad is present 4-1. If the liquid crystal pad is not connected or the presence of the liquid crystal pad cannot be recognized for some reason, the driver displays an error message on the CRT display connected to the main body and ends 4-3. If the presence of the LCD pad can be confirmed, the driver next searches the hard disk or floppy disk for the environment file. Also in this case, if there is no environment file, 4-2, the same error processing as in the case where there is no liquid crystal pad is performed. If the environment file can be confirmed, the display information of the liquid crystal pad is extracted from the file 4-4, an image is drawn on the display surface of the liquid crystal pad based on the information 4-5, and then scan code information is read 4-6. Create a correspondence table between the information displayed on the LCD pad and the key scan code based on the information, and record it in memory 4-7. Since the driver must check the key input, the key interrupt is hooked. 4-
8, resident end.

The difference from the unique scan code type is that the liquid crystal pad generates an existing key scan code, and the liquid crystal pad outputs the key scan code as if the keyboard was pressed.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the driver when a key is pressed. When the pressure panel of the liquid crystal pad is pressed, the electric charge of the portion under pressure changes, and the coordinates of the portion are detected 5-1. It is inspected whether the detected coordinates are within the specified range of the key 5-2. If it is within the designated range, the key scan code corresponding to the key is generated from the liquid crystal pad 5-3, and the keyboard sends the key scan code as it is to the keyboard controller 5-
4. The keyboard controller converts the key scan code into a system scan code and sends it to the BIOS 5-
5, 5-6, 5-7, if there is a call from the application, the BIOS refers to the key table from the system scan code corresponding to the key pressed by the driver trapping the key interrupt. -9 Return the key code to the application 5-10.

As described above, the display contents can be changed for each application. Besides, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, and it goes without saying that the present invention can be appropriately modified and implemented without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0034]

In the application of the personal computer, the key to be used is different for each application, and the meaning of the same one key is different if the application is changed. Also, if you look at one application, commonly used keys are decided for each application, and you can improve the operability of the application by consolidating the keys in one place and making them unique. . That is,
With the above configuration, according to the present invention, it is possible to set a key according to each application, so that it is possible to provide an input / output device with extremely excellent operability.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a main part of the device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1-1 Application 1-2 System control device 1-3 Liquid crystal driver (liquid crystal pad driver) 1-4 BIOS (Basic Input Output System) 1-5 Keyboard controller 1-6 Keyboard input / output buffer 1-7 Input device 1-8 Keyboard 1-9 Liquid crystal pad 1-10 Liquid crystal utility (liquid crystal pad utility) 2-1 Liquid crystal pad 2-2 Pressure pad section 2-3 Display panel section 2-4 Control section 2-5 Input buffer section 2-6 Code conversion section 2-7 Interface section 2-8 Display panel control section 2-9 Pressure panel control section 2-10 Internal storage memory section 2-11 Personal computer

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An input / output device comprising means for displaying characters and graphics in response to signals from the information processing apparatus main body, means for inputting various data such as key information and characters and graphics, and means for storing the various data. In the device, there are provided a pressure sensing panel having a pressure sensor function corresponding to the display unit, a unit for calculating coordinate data by a signal from the pressure sensor, and a calculation unit for associating the coordinate data with the key information. An input / output device characterized by having.