JPH08161094A - Input device and information processor using this device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an input device and the information processor where the input information volume of one key is increased to realize the input of multi-stage gradation so that even features of a word can be expressed. CONSTITUTION: An OA device like a personal computer or a word processor consists of a device main body having a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, etc., and a keyboard 8 as an input device connected to the device main body through an interface, and a piezoelectric element 13 is coupled to each key 12 of the keyboard 8, and this element detects the pressure accompanied with mechanical displacement in the pushing direction of the key 12 to convert it to an electric signal corresponding to the extent of this pressure. Not only characters such as alphanumerics, KANA (Japanese syllabary), and KANJI (Chinese character) and specific functions are assigned to respective keys 12 bat also meanings can be given to the extents of pushing pressure of keys 12.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an input device such as a keyboard, and more particularly to an input device used for data input of OA (Office Automation) equipment such as a personal computer and a word processor and capable of increasing the amount of input information. The present invention relates to a technique effectively applied to an information processing device using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a keyboard used for inputting data in OA equipment such as a personal computer and a word processor is usually used with a display and a printer at the same time for confirming a pressed key. , Kanji and other characters and specific functions are assigned.

Such a keyboard is composed of a matrix of mechanical and electronic switches, and a reed switch, a contactless switch or the like is used as a switch that is closed by pressing a key. O
N / OFF, that is, data of "1" / "0" can be input.

A technique relating to such a keyboard is described in, for example, "Mechanical Engineering Handbook C. Engineering" C5-31 published by the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers on June 1, 1991.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned keyboard, one key is "1" /
Since only "0" data can be input and the amount of data input from the keyboard is limited, the notation characters in the text can be recognized but the nuances and accents of the words cannot be conveyed.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an input device capable of inputting in multiple steps by increasing the amount of input information possessed by one key so that even the features of words can be expressed. An object is to provide an information processing device using the same.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

[0008]

Of the inventions disclosed in the present application, a representative one will be briefly described below.
It is as follows.

That is, the input device of the present invention is applied to an input device for inputting data by pressing a key, and a displacement detecting means for detecting a mechanical displacement of the key is provided in a key pressing direction. The key is connected and the mechanical displacement information of the key detected by the displacement detection means is used as input information of data.

As the displacement detecting means, a piezoelectric element which detects a pressure associated with the mechanical displacement and converts it into an electric signal corresponding to the pressure amount and outputs the electric signal is detected, or a movement associated with the mechanical displacement is detected. Then, a potentiometer which converts and outputs an electric signal according to the amount of movement is used.

Further, in the input device for inputting data by touching the key, a contact detecting means for detecting the touched position or area of the key is connected to the touched surface of the key.

The data input by this key is confirmed by the display color or tone color on the screen, and further such a key is used in a keyboard arranged in a matrix.

Further, the information processing apparatus of the present invention uses the input device for inputting data to OA equipment such as a personal computer and a word processor having at least a CPU and a storage device.

[0014]

According to the input device and the information processing device using the same, the displacement detecting means, such as a piezoelectric element or a potentiometer, is connected in the key pressing direction, so that the piezoelectric element or the potentiometer is used for the keyboard. It is possible to detect even a slight displacement of a key such as, and therefore, the conventional input signal of only "1" / "0" can be used as the multi-level input signal.

Further, when the contact detecting means is connected to the contact surface of the key, the contact position or area of the key can be detected finely. It is possible to enable input by gradation.

Furthermore, the operator can determine whether the data input by this key is correctly input due to the difference in the color of the data and cursor displayed on the screen when the data is input, or the difference in the tone color. You can check.

Thus, by using the results of the displacement detecting means and the contact detecting means as data input information, the amount of input information from the keys of the keyboard used for data input of OA equipment such as personal computers and word processors is greatly increased. Can be increased.

As a result, even subtle nuances of words, such as accents of words, can be utilized, so that conversion mistakes such as discrimination of homonyms can be reduced and reliability in inputting data can be improved. Further, since the number of key operations can be reduced when a plurality of functions are assigned to one key, the operability of the input device can be improved.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an information processing apparatus which is an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a key matrix of an input device used in the information processing apparatus of this embodiment. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the keys of the key matrix in detail.

First, the configuration of the information processing apparatus of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

The information processing apparatus of this embodiment is an OA device such as a personal computer or a word processor, and has a CPU 1, a RAM 2 (storage device) and a ROM 3.
(Storage device), hard disk device 4, display 5
And a device body 7 having an interface 6 and the like, and a keyboard 8 (input device) connected to the device body 7 via the interface 6.

In the apparatus main body 7, a CPU 1 for performing arithmetic processing and overall control, a RAM 2 and a ROM 3 as main storage devices are connected to each other by an address and data bus 9, and a hard disk device 4 as an auxiliary storage device is a disk controller. The display 5 as a display device is connected to the bus 9 via the graphic controller 11.

The keyboard 8 has a plurality of keys 12 arranged in a matrix as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, reference numeral 2 denotes a piezoelectric element 13 which is connected in the direction in which the key 12 is pressed and which detects a pressure associated with mechanical displacement, converts the pressure into an electric signal corresponding to the pressure amount, and outputs the electric signal.
(Displacement detecting means) and an A / D converter 14 for converting an electrical analog signal from the piezoelectric element 13 into a digital signal.

In this keyboard 8, each key 12 is assigned a character such as alphanumeric characters, kana, or kanji, or a specific function, and the amount of pressure that the key 12 is pressed can be made meaningful. Has become. Each key 12 is connected through a multi-bit keyboard bus 15, and is further connected to an interface 6 of the apparatus main body 7 through a multi-bit multi bus through an encoder 16 that encodes from the keyboard bus 15.

Next, with respect to the operation of this embodiment, an actual data input operation from the keyboard 8 will be described.

First, by pressing the key 12 on the keyboard 8, the alphanumeric characters assigned to this key 12, the kana,
Characters such as kanji are displayed on the screen of the display 5, and the desired data such as alphanumeric characters, kana, or kanji can be displayed by pressing the key 12 to which a function such as conversion or non-conversion is assigned as necessary. Input to the device body 7 and enter R
It can be stored in AM2 or the like.

Here, considering the case of inputting the data "chopsticks" using the kana key 12, for example, first press the two keys 12 to which "ha" and "shi" are assigned, and then By pressing the Kanji conversion key 12, conversion into homonyms such as “bridge”, “chopsticks” and “end” becomes possible.

In this case, according to the conventional method, a plurality of homonyms are displayed in order, and a desired "chopstick" is selected from among them.
After selecting, the data of the character "chopsticks" can be confirmed and input to the device main body 7 from the keyboard 8, and selection processing from a plurality of such homonyms has been conventionally required. It was

However, in this embodiment, the piezoelectric element 13 detects the pressure caused by the displacement of the key 12, converts the pressure into an electric signal corresponding to the amount of the pressure, and further uses the A / D converter 14 to convert the electric signal. After being converted into a digital signal, it can be encoded via the encoder 16 and then input to the apparatus main body 7. Therefore, data is input as follows.

That is, when pressing the two kana keys 12 to which "ha" and "shi" are assigned, since the chopsticks have the accent of the word "wa", the accented "wa" is first. Press the key 12 of, and then the key 12 of "shi" without accent, and then the key of conversion 12
By pressing, you can directly enter and enter the data of the character “chopsticks”.

In this case, on the screen of the display 5, the characters can be displayed in different colors depending on the presence or absence of accents. For example, when the key 12 is strongly pressed, the character "ha" is displayed in red and is weakly pressed. The letter "shi" can be displayed in blue, and can be displayed in white by pressing the conversion key 12 to confirm.

The strength with which this key 12 is pressed is
In this case, since there is only a two-step distinction between accented and unaccented, the key 12 is enough to discriminate the relative pressure level by the piezoelectric element 13.
By changing the pressing strength of, it is possible to directly convert to "chopsticks".

Therefore, according to the information processing apparatus of the present embodiment, the pressure associated with the mechanical displacement is detected in the direction in which each key 12 of the keyboard 8 is pressed, and an electric signal corresponding to the pressure amount is detected. The piezoelectric element 13 for converting and outputting is connected, and by giving meaning to the amount of pressure that the key 12 is pressed, it is possible to increase the amount of information input from the key 12 depending on the strength with which the key 12 is pressed. You can take advantage of subtle nuances of words, such as accents.

Further, since it is possible to confirm whether or not the data input by the key 12 is correctly input by the color of the character displayed on the screen of the display 5 when the data is input, it is possible to confirm the homonyms. It is possible to reduce conversion mistakes such as discrimination of and improve reliability when inputting data.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing in detail the keys of the key matrix of the input device in the information processing apparatus which is another embodiment of the present invention.

The information processing apparatus of this embodiment is an OA device such as a personal computer and a word processor as in the first embodiment. The difference from the first embodiment is that the keyboard 8a (input device) connected to the apparatus main body 7 is used. 2), the potentiometer 17 (displacement detecting means) is used in place of the piezoelectric element 13 to detect the length of the step of pressing the key 12a.

That is, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, each key 12a of the keyboard 8a is
A potentiometer 17 that detects a movement associated with mechanical displacement, converts it into an electric signal corresponding to the movement amount, and outputs the electric signal is connected to each key 12a. In addition to being assigned functions
It is possible to give meaning to the amount of movement of the key 12a.

Thus, considering the case of pressing the two kana keys 12a to which "ha" and "shi" are assigned as in the first embodiment, "chopsticks" have the accent of the word "ha". So, first press all the accented "ha" keys 12a, then continue to the accented "shi".
By pressing the key 12a for half and then the conversion key 12a, it is possible to directly determine and input the data of the character "chopsticks".

Therefore, according to the information processing apparatus of the present embodiment, the movement of the keyboard 8a due to the mechanical displacement in the pressing direction of each key 12a is detected and an electric signal corresponding to the movement amount is detected. Since the potentiometer 17 for converting and outputting is connected and the moving amount of the key 12a pressed has a meaning, the amount of input information from the key 12a can be increased depending on the length of the pressing process of the key 12a. As with the first embodiment, it is possible to take advantage of subtle nuances of words, such as accents of words.
Further, since the input data can be displayed and confirmed on the screen, it is possible to reduce conversion errors such as discrimination of homonyms and improve reliability in inputting data.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing in detail the keys of the key matrix of the input device in the information processing apparatus which is still another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 shows the positions where the keys are touched. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram in the case of inputting data with meaning, and FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram in the case of inputting data with meaning in the area touched by the keys.

The information processing apparatus of the present embodiment is an OA device such as a personal computer and a word processor as in the first and second embodiments. The difference from the first embodiment is that the keyboard 8b (connected to the apparatus main body 7 In the input device), a touch sensor 18 (contact detection means) is used instead of the piezoelectric element 13 and the potentiometer 17, and the touched position of the key 12b or the width of the touched surface is detected.

That is, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
As shown in, each key 12b of the keyboard 8b
The touch sensor 18 for detecting the touched position or area of the key 12b is connected to the touched surface of the touch sensor 12, and the touch sensor 18 is divided into 9 columns of 3 columns × 3 rows as shown in FIG. 5B. Each division is connected to the encoder 16 through the touch sensor detection circuit 19.

In the keyboard 8b, each key 12b is assigned a character such as an alphanumeric character, kana, or a kanji character or a specific function, and instead of the conventional function by pressing the shift key, Touch sensor 1
It is possible to give meaning to the contact position or area of the key 12b for each division of 8.

For example, the touched position of the key 12b is given a meaning, and one key 12b is assigned with ">", ".", ".", And "ru" as shown in FIG. 5 (b). If it is, as shown in FIG. 6, when the position (a) is touched, “>”, and when the position (b) is touched, “.”,
When the position (c) is touched, it is identified as ".", when the position (d) is touched, it is identified as "ru", and characters or symbols can be entered in correspondence with the touched position. .

In order to make the contact area of the key 12b meaningful, as shown in FIG. 7, for example, (a)
When touching the area of ">", when touching the area of (b) ".", When touching the area of (c) ".", When touching the area of (d) " It is possible to input a character or symbol corresponding to the touched area.

Also in this case, the display color can be changed on the screen of the display 5 according to the character or the symbol. For example, the symbol ">" is red, the symbol "." Is blue, and the symbol "."

The symbol "" can be displayed in yellow and the letter "L" can be displayed in different colors such as green, and can be displayed in white by confirming the letters or symbols.

Therefore, according to the information processing apparatus of the present embodiment, the touch sensor 18 for detecting the touched position or area is connected to the contact surface of each key 12b of the keyboard 8b, and the touch of the key 12b is made. By giving meaning to the position or area to be touched, the amount of information input from the key 12b can be increased depending on the position or area to be touched by the key 12b.
Key when multiple functions are assigned to
The operation of b can be reduced and the operability of the input device can be improved.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been concretely described based on the first to third embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. It goes without saying that it is possible.

For example, in the information processing apparatus according to the first and second embodiments, two kana, "ha" and "shi", can be used so that the piezoelectric element 13 or the potentiometer 17 can discriminate between two levels of the presence or absence of accent. Key 1
Although the case of inputting the data "chopsticks" by pressing 2, 12a has been described, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, but may be strong, medium, weak, etc. depending on the detection characteristics of the piezoelectric element or potentiometer. The present invention is also applicable to the case of discriminating the strength of three or more steps.

In this case, the accent of the word can be expressed in more detail, so that more delicate nuances of the word can be given to one key, and the above-mentioned two-character kana can be used. In addition, it is possible to input a word of three or more characters and a sentence by combining these words.

Further, in the first and second embodiments, not only the distinction by the accent but also a plurality of functions can be assigned without using the shift key as in the third embodiment. Various modifications can be made to the method of using the keys, such as uppercase letters, lowercase letters when pressed weakly, and single-byte lowercase letters when pressed with strength between them.

Also, in the third embodiment, the case where four kinds of functions are assigned to one key 12b has been described. However, when the position or area of nine divisions as shown in FIG. 6 has a meaning. Can be assigned 9 types of functions, and more functions can be assigned by combining them.

Further, the division of this key is not limited to nine divisions, but in the case of providing a function like the current keyboard, it is divided into two divisions, three divisions, four divisions, etc.
About the number of divisions, the size of the keyboard and keys,
Various modifications are possible according to the arrangement of keys.

In the above-described embodiment, the case has been described in which it is possible to confirm whether or not the data has been correctly input by the color of the data displayed on the screen. The same effect can be obtained by changing the display color of, or by generating and confirming a distinguishable sound when data is input.

In the above description, the invention made by the present inventor was mainly applied to a keyboard used for data input of OA equipment such as personal computers and word processors, which is the field of use thereof, but the invention is not limited to this. However, the present invention is also widely applicable to other input devices such as audio-visual equipment, switches or remote controls for home electric appliances, and input boards for game machines.

[0058]

Advantageous effects obtained by typical ones of the inventions disclosed in the present application will be briefly described.
It is as follows.

(1). A displacement detecting means such as a piezoelectric element or a potentiometer for detecting the mechanical displacement of the key is connected in the key pressing direction, and the mechanical detection of the key detected by the displacement detecting means is performed. By using the displacement information as the input information of the data, even the slight displacement of the key can be detected by the displacement detecting means, so that the input information by the key can be input in multiple steps.

(2). Contact detection means for detecting the contact position or area of this key is connected to the contact surface of the key, and the contact position information of the key detected by this contact detection means or By using the area information as data input information, it is possible to finely detect the touched position or area of the key by the touch detection means, so it is possible to input information by multi-step keying as in (1) above. Becomes

(3) In the above (1) and (2), the data inputted by the key is confirmed by the display color or the timbre on the screen, so that the operator can confirm whether or not the data is correctly inputted. Since the information can be confirmed, it is possible to reduce errors in input operations.

(4) According to the above (1) to (3), the amount of information input from the keyboard can be dramatically increased by using the keyboard for data input of OA equipment such as personal computers and word processors. Therefore, the user interface can be improved.

(5) By the above (1) to (4), even subtle nuances of words such as accents of words can be utilized, so that conversion errors such as discrimination of homonyms can be reduced, and data can be reduced. It is possible to improve reliability when inputting.

(6) Due to the above (1) to (4), the key operation can be reduced when a plurality of functions are assigned to one key, etc., so that the operability of the input device is improved. Is possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating an information processing apparatus that is Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a key matrix of an input device used in the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing in detail keys of a key matrix in the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing in detail the keys of the key matrix of the input device in the information processing device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing in detail the keys of the key matrix of the input device in the information processing device which is Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a case where data is input while giving a meaning to a position where a key is touched in the third embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a case where data is input while giving a meaning to an area where a key is touched in the third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 2 RAM (storage device) 3 ROM (storage device) 4 Hard disk device 5 Display 6 Interface 7 Device body 8, 8a, 8b Keyboard (input device) 9 Bus 10 Disk controller 11 Graphic controller 12, 12a, 12b Key 13 Piezoelectric Element (displacement detecting means) 14 A / D converter 15 Keyboard bus 16 Encoder 17 Potentiometer (displacement detecting means) 18 Touch sensor (contact detecting means) 19 Touch sensor detecting circuit

Front page continuation (72) Kaoru Arai Kaoru Arai 5-201-1, Kamimizuhonmachi, Kodaira-shi, Tokyo Inside Hitsuritsu Cho-LS Engineering Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Natsuko Koizumi, Kodaira-shi, Tokyo 5-20-1 Honmachi Super RLS Engineering Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masako Matsubuchi 5-20-1 Josuihoncho, Kodaira-shi, Tokyo Incorporated (72) Inventor Nami Kodama 5-20-1, Josuihonmachi, Kodaira-shi, Tokyo Hiratsuru SLS Engineering Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroshi Saito, Josui, Kodaira-shi, Tokyo 5-20-1 Honmachi Hitsuritsu Super LSI Engineering Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takashi Matsumoto 5-20-1 Kamimizuhoncho, Kodaira-shi, Tokyo Within the corporation

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An input device for inputting data by pressing a key, wherein displacement detecting means for detecting mechanical displacement of the key is connected in a pressing direction of the key,
An input device characterized in that the mechanical displacement information of the key detected by the displacement detection means is used as data input information. 2. The piezoelectric element that detects a movement associated with mechanical displacement, converts the electrical movement into an electrical signal corresponding to the amount of movement, and outputs the electrical signal as the displacement detection means. Input device. 3. The potentiometer that detects a position associated with mechanical displacement, converts the electric signal into an electric signal corresponding to the position amount, and outputs the electric signal, as the displacement detecting means. Input device. 4. An input device for inputting data by touching a key, wherein a contact detection means for detecting a contact position or area of the key is connected to a contact surface of the key. An input device, wherein position information or area information of the touched key detected by the touch detection means is used as data input information. 5. The input device according to claim 1, wherein the data input by the key is confirmed by a display color or a tone color on the screen. 6. The input device according to claim 1, wherein the keys are used in a keyboard in which the keys are arranged in a matrix. 7. An information processing apparatus using the input device according to claim 1, wherein the input device is a personal computer, a word processor, or the like having at least a CPU and a storage device. An information processing device, which is used for data input of an OA device.