JPH0844468A - Keyboard - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To eliminate the need for a memory to store the description of characters to be printed and to store numerous characters in a relatively small space at low costs by storing the data of the characters to be printed on a keyboard. CONSTITUTION: A keyboard is provided with a character sheet 161 fixed to an inclined panel, so as to be freely attachable and detachable, and a set of characters 162 are printed on the upper side of the sheet 161 like an array for being read visually. Data corresponding to these characters are recorded on the back side of the sheet 161 for optical reading. A character selecting mouse 166 provided with a view finder lens 167 is provided on the upper side of the panel, so as to be visually lined up with the characters printed on the surface side of the sheet 161, and a second mouse 169 is provided on the lower side of the panel, and connected to move in cooperation with the mouse 166. Therefore, when the upper side mouse 166 is lined up with the characters on the surface side of the sheet, the lower side mouse 169 is lined up with the lower side data corresponding to those characters.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to typing and printing apparatus, and more particularly to a typewriter and method particularly useful for printing Chinese characters and other characters selected from a set of virtually infinite ranges. It is a thing. As used herein, the term "character" is used in its broadest sense and includes all forms of characters including, but not limited to, letters, numbers, symbols, ideographic characters, icons, pictures, and other images. Including expressions. Approximately 40,0 in Chinese
There are 00 ideographic characters or letters, of which the commonly used number is about 2,500 to 3,000 characters. Therefore, at least 2,500 typewriters for Chinese text
Must have the ability to print on the order of 3,000 characters.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION One type of Kanji typewriter that has been provided in the past has individual printing elements of the most frequently used characters arranged in a matrix, picking up the desired character elements and moving to the printing position. It has a stylus. If characters that are rarely used are needed, these characters must be individually selected from another tray and moved to the use position. This is a time consuming process,
With such a machine, even a skilled operator can barely print about 10 characters. Another method that has been adopted in the Kanji typewriter is to store data of various characters in the memory of the computer and address this information to control the operation of the printer. This method requires a significant amount of memory to store large amounts of data,
The characters that can be printed are limited to the characters in which those data are stored. U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,621 discloses a keyboard assembly and typewriter in which a relatively large number of characters are arranged in an array on a keyboard panel and a character selector manually selects an array of characters. And are coupled to the printing elements of a group of daisy wheels to print the desired characters. This patent uses a magnetic medium, which is translated depending on the position of the character selector, and either utters the selected character or addresses the data storage device to obtain a description of that character. Also disclosed.

[0003]

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION In general, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved ideographic typewriter and method. It is another object of the present invention to provide an ideographic character typewriter and method for the above characters that is particularly suitable for printing Chinese characters and other characters selected from multiple sets of relatively large ranges. Another object of the present invention is to provide an ideographic character typewriter and method for the above character, which can print characters at a higher speed than the kanji typewriters provided hitherto. Another object of the present invention is to provide an ideographic character typewriter and method for the above characters that can be implemented relatively inexpensively.

[0004]

These and other objects are in accordance with the present invention an array of characters is printed on one side of the panel and optically readable data corresponding to the characters is on the other side of the panel. Achieved by a recorded ideographic keyboard and ideographic method. The character selection means is selectively aligned with the character so that it is moved on the first side of the panel,
An optical reader is coupled to the character selection means and cooperates with the character selection means to move around the recorded data. The data corresponding to the selected character is read and the coded signal corresponding to the selected character is
It is output according to the read data. In one embodiment, the data is recorded in the form of bar coding and the reader comprises a bar code reader. By reading the data from a larger area than the data area itself and having the software extract the character data, it is ensured that the reader is correctly aligned with the data corresponding to the selected character. Characters other than those contained in the set of characters printed on the keyboard panel are written on a writing pad near the keyboard,
It is scanned to create the bitmap used to print these characters. Information about these characters is pre-recorded in tracks on the magnetic media that underlie the keyboard panel and converted in a manner that substantially eliminates crosstalk between tracks.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. As shown, the typewriter has a keyboard panel 16, a writing pad 17 and a printer 18, which are mounted in a case, or housing 19, which is extremely portable and easy to carry. The original prototype of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 had a height of about 3.5 inches, a width of about 14 inches, and a length or depth of about 19 inches, with subsequent models of this device being even more compact. Expected to do. A set of characters is printed on a keyboard by imprinting the characters on the panel in an optically visually readable form, i.e. in the same way as it would be printed on the output medium.
Display on the panel. The panel itself is composed of a sheet or layer 21 of a transparent material such as acrylic plastic, on which the letters are present in a generally rectangular array. In the presently preferred example, there are 80 vertically extending rows and 40 horizontally extending sheets on an 8.5 by 11 inch sheet.
The letters are arranged in rows of 0.125 square inches. As used herein, the terms “horizontal” and “vertical” refer to keyboard
Used for "x" and "y" directions on the panel.

The character sheet is removably attached to the slanted panel 22 on the typewriter cabinet in such a manner that sheets containing multiple sets of different characters can be easily replaced. A plurality of positioning pins 23 on the panel 22
Engage the holes in the letter sheet to hold the sheet in place on the tilted panel. This panel is also made of a light transmissive material such as transparent or translucent plastic. In the particular embodiment illustrated, the typewriter is intended for printing Chinese characters and the character sheet is designed to help the typist find the desired character, and the most frequently used ideographic characters or characters are placed at about 3,000. Including letters. Therefore, the characters are arranged in groups according to the first consonant, and in each group, these characters are arranged in the order of the vowel and the stroke number. Translucent underlay 2
6 is located below the character sheet and provides an area of color 27 aligned with the different vowels in the group of characters. This arrangement of letters and vowel color coding gives the keyboard a "form"("gestalt") feel, and allows you to quickly and easily select the desired expression from a complex set of characters containing thousands of letters. It becomes possible to detect characters or characters. This colored underlay has holes corresponding to the openings of the character sheet that engage with the positioning pins,
It holds this underlay in place underneath the character sheet, thus holding areas of color that are properly aligned with the character.

A mouse assembly 29 is provided for the typewriter to select the characters to be printed from the characters imprinted on the panel. The mouse assembly has a mouse body 31 attached to a carriage 32 that moves in xy directions relative to a keyboard panel. The carriage has a rail 33 of U-shaped cross section and a shaft 34 on which is mounted a mouse body which moves horizontally across the keyboard panel in the "x" direction. The ends of the rail and shaft are supported by bearing blocks 36, 37 mounted on vertically extending rails 38 on the sides of the keyboard panel for movement in the vertical or "y" direction. The mouse has a magnifying lens 39, which is attached to the mouse body to magnify the visible image of the letters under the lens and facilitate the alignment of the mouse with the desired letter. The mouse also has an optical scanner that reads the selected character and generates an electrical signal that describes the character in bit map form. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the scanner comprises a charge coupled device (CCD) 41 and an optical system that focuses light from a selected character on the keyboard panel to the CCD. CCD is an array of photosensitive elements,
For example, having an array of 40.times.60 elements, which when electronically scanned, produce a signal for the bit map.

The optical system has a first mirror 42, which is located below the magnifying lens 39,
The light is transmitted from the character toward the second mirror 43, the second mirror transmits the light to the third mirror 47 via the pair of focusing lenses 44 and 46, and the third mirror transmits the light to the CCD. Tell. In the case of a two-dimensional CCD, the focusing lens and mirror are all mounted on the mouse body at fixed positions relative to the path of the light from the character to the CCD, and the scanning is done electronically. The circuit interlocking with the CCD is mounted on the circuit board 48 inside the mouse. Two-dimensional C if you wish
Other suitable optical sensors may be used in place of the CD, in which case the scanning can be done manually. Other suitable sensors are photodiodes that have an optical fiber that transmits light from the character to the photodiode, or linear or one-dimensional CCDs that have a scanning mirror that transmits light from a continuous portion of the character to a photodetector. The selected character is illuminated by a light source held by a second mouse 49, which is located below the keyboard panel and is forced to work with the upper mouse. The lower mouse is attached to a pair of horizontally extending rods 50, 51 which extend underneath the keyboard panel between bearing blocks 36, 37 and which
Held by blocks. These rods are fixed to the bearing block, forcing the lower mouse to move vertically in cooperation with the upper mouse. The lower mouse moves horizontally along its support rod and is connected to the upper mouse for horizontal movement in cooperation with the upper mouse by a pair of cog belts 53, 54. The belt 53 is connected to the body of the upper mouse,
It is wrapped around a pair of notched pulleys or cogwheels 56 secured to the upper end of a shaft 58 carried by bearing blocks 36, 37. Belt 54 is connected to the lower mouse and is wrapped around a pair of notched pulleys or cogwheels 59 mounted on the lower end of shaft 58.

The light source held by the lower mouse consists of a light emitting diode (LED) 63 and a mirror 64, which is located directly below the mirror 42 and illuminates the mirror 42 via a character selected from the LED. Tell. In one presently preferred embodiment, the support rods 50, 5
1 are made of a conductive material and are electrically isolated from each other to carry the energizing current for the LED. In this regard, it should be noted that the lower mouse has an insulating block 66 with an insertion hole for the rod 50 and a conductive contact or brush (not shown) that contacts the rod. The lower mouse also has an elongated arm 67 of electrically conductive material that extends below the rod 51 and has an electrically conductive contact or brush 68 that contacts the underside of the rod. Or, if desired, the selected characters can be illuminated by light from one or more LEDs or other suitable light sources held by the upper mouse, rather than from the underside of the panel. A detent mechanism is provided to temporarily lock the upper mouse in place relative to the keyboard panel and to accurately align the optical scanner with the desired character position on the panel. This means comprises a horizontally extending detent bar 71, which bar 71
Attached to the rail 33 and has one detent opening 72 for each row of letters on the keyboard panel.
A similar bar 73 extends along the right-hand side of the keyboard panel and has one detent opening 74 for each row of characters on the panel.

A manually operable detent button 75 is attached to the mouse body to activate the detent mechanism. The button rests on a pivotally mounted arm 76 which has a detent pin 77 which, when pressed, pushes the pin 77 into the opening of the detent bar 71. To lock the mouse in a horizontal position. The detent arm 76 is keyed to the shaft 34 and pressing a button causes the shaft to rotate, but is free to move along with the mouse along the shaft. A gear 78 mounted on the shaft 34 meshes with a gear 79 on another shaft 81 carried by the bearing block 37 to secure the second detent arm 82 to this shaft. This arm has a detent pin 83, and when the button is pushed, this pin 83
Moves into the opening of detent bar 73 and locks the mouse in a vertical position. The detent mechanism includes a return spring (not shown) which, when the button is released, causes the pin to retract from the detent opening so that the mouse is free to move to another position again. Since the lower mouse moves in cooperation with the upper mouse, pressing the detent button will likewise lock it in place by the detent mechanism.

The information associated with the characters on the keyboard panel is pre-recorded on a magnetic medium 84 in the form of a substantially flat sheet, which medium 84 is located in the cabinet 19 under the keyboard panel and is located on the lower mouse. It is translated or read by a pair of transducer heads 86, 87 held. When the upper mouse selects a character, the information for that character can be read, and that information can be read independently of or simultaneously with the scanning of characters on the keyboard panel. , Which constitutes the medium and the head. This information may be any desired information such as, for example, a phonetic pronunciation of the character, data for addressing a memory location containing a description of the character, or other data regarding the character. As best seen in FIG. 7, the reference axis 89 is formed in an arrow pattern on the magnetic medium.
The information is recorded in a plurality of tracks 88 extending from, for example, a small angle of 10 degrees. In the illustrated embodiment, the tracks are about 0.125 inch apart and each track is about 0.75 inch long. The two heads convert every other track so that the direction of the data on any given track is perpendicular to the direction of the information on adjacent tracks, as indicated by line 88a.
The directions of the gaps of the individual heads are perpendicular to each other. This reveals that crosstalk between information in adjacent tracks is effectively eliminated. If a physical obstacle prevents these heads from centering directly on adjacent tracks, space the two heads by the number of any odd tracks and reposition the mouse. Can be aligned with an adjacent track.

The magnetic medium is freely located on the top surface of plate 90, which is spaced below and parallel to the keyboard panel. The rear of the media is attached to the carriage 91 by means of locating pins 92 that engage the openings in the media. The carriage has a pair of bearing blocks 93, which are mounted on a tilt shaft 94 and move in a direction parallel to the reference axis and the centerline of the recording track, between the medium and the head. Perform relative movement with. This carriage is driven by a motor 95 and a spring 96. The drive belt 97 is wrapped around a small pulley on the motor shaft and a larger pulley 98 on the drive shaft 99. The drive shaft abuts the side of the drive rod 100, which is fixed to one of the bearing blocks of the carriage, and the tilt shaft 94.
It extends in a direction parallel to. As can be seen from the above, the motor rotates clockwise, driving the carriage and magnetic medium to the right, as can be seen in FIG. The spring drives the carriage to the left at a speed controlled by the dashpot 101. As best seen in FIGS. 9-10, the writing pad 17 is a generally rectangular light-tight housing 1.
02, the housing 102 has a writing area 103 and a light-permeable window 104 in an upper wall 106 of the housing. A roll 107 of paper tape is attached to a bracket 108 outside one end of the housing, and the tape is fed from the roll along the top wall of the housing through a writing area and a window, with a longitudinally extending edge guide 109. Keeps this tape in the center of the wall.

A manual paper feed mechanism 111 is mounted in the housing and advances the paper tape along the top wall in the direction of the writing area and the window in steps corresponding to the distance between the writing area and the centerline of the window. The mechanism consists of a slider 112 having an inverted U-shaped cross section and mounted on the top of the housing, with a guide slot 113 in the side flange of the slider and a guide pin 114 fixed to the side wall of the housing. Extend through these slots and force the slider to move between the forward and backward positions relative to the write area and window. Knob 1
Reference numeral 16 is fixed to the slider, and the slider is manually moved to the forward movement position, and the spring 117 urges the slider toward the backward movement position. A shoe 118 having a rubber pad 119 on its lower side is pivotally attached to the slider and biased by a spring 121 into engagement with the tape. The shoe extends downwardly and forwardly from the pivot point and the rubber pad tends to catch the tape as the slider advances and freely pass over the surface of the tape as the slider retracts. Therefore, this mechanism is
The tape is fed in the direction of the writing area and the window but is not pulled back when the slider is retracted.

A snubber 122 is provided between the supply mechanism and the writing area to hold the paper in the writing area and prevent the paper from retracting as the feeder retracts. This snubber is made of rubber blades 12 tilted downward and forward.
3, this rubber blade 123 engages the paper,
Press down on this paper to prevent it from retracting.
A light emitting diode or other suitable light source 126 is positioned above the light-transmissive window to illuminate the letters written on the tape, and a mirror 127 is positioned beneath the window to direct a pair of light through the window. Mirrors 128, 129 are oriented toward CC, similar to CCD 41.
This light is transmitted to D134 via a pair of focusing lenses 132 and 133. These lenses are tape to CC
Focus this light on D and reduce the size of the image by a factor of four. Therefore, in a currently preferred embodiment,
The writing area is 0.5 square inches and the image formed on the CCD is 0.125 square inches. The CCD 134 is electronically scanned to create a bit map of the characters written on the tape, and the CCD and its associated on a circuit board 136 located outside the end of the housing opposite the roll of tape. Install the circuit to be used. As with the CCD 41, other types of optical sensors can be used in place of the two-dimensional CCD if desired. Other suitable sensors include photodiodes in combination with optical fibers, scanning mirrors and one-dimensional arrays for scanning characters in combination to produce bit map data.

The printer 18 is preferably of the type that forms an image as a dot pattern on paper or other output medium. Such printers have ink jet
There are types known as printers, laser printers, and dot matrix printers. As used herein, the term "matrix printer" is used in a broad sense and refers to any printer that forms an image in the form of a matrix or pattern of dots or in the form of other pixels. The image may be formed by heat, by impact, or by any other suitable means,
In the presently preferred embodiment, this printer is a bubble jet printer. The printer has a platen or roller 137 and a print head 138 that forms an image on paper 139 wrapped around the platen in a conventional manner. The printer uses conventional mechanisms that rotate the platen to position the print head to form the image at the desired location on the paper and to control the operation of these mechanisms and the operation of the print head that forms the image. Have with a circuit. These components are of conventional design well known to those skilled in the art and need not be described further at this point. In the original prototype of this typewriter, the entire mechanism and circuit used a commercially available bubble jet printer, and the printer control panel 141 was mounted on top of the cabinet 19 for easy access by the typewriter. It is attached to the wall.

Referring to FIG. 11, the bit map signal of the character read from the keyboard panel and the writing pad is temporarily stored in the character buffer 143 and added to the control circuit 144 for the printer. If the CCD and print head have the same array of detectors and print elements, the printer can print the bit map image directly from the CCD. If these arrays have a different number of elements, the microprocessor associated with the character buffer can convert the bit map to the size required by the printer. push-button·
Switch 146 is attached to the upper mouse and connected to the control circuit to start scanning the CCD and printing the selected character. The operation and use of the typewriter and the method of the invention in doing so can be briefly described as follows.
The character sheet 21 containing the desired set of characters is mounted on the keyboard panel and the corresponding magnetic medium 84 is mounted on the carriage 91 under the keyboard panel. To print characters from the keyboard, the typist moves the upper mouse 29 to align it with the desired character and presses the detent button to lock the mouse in place. Being linked to the upper mouse, the lower mouse moves with the upper mouse and is also locked in place. Once a character is selected and these mice are locked in place, the typist then presses a button on switch 146 to begin scanning the character. The character bitmap created by the scan is temporarily stored and applied to the printer to form the character image on the paper of the printer.

If desired, the information recorded on the magnetic medium in association with the character can be converted as the character is scanned, for example, when the character is printed, the character can be given a pseudonym. Alternatively, the magnetically stored data can be read and used as desired without printing characters. If the typist is a keyboard
If you want to print the characters that are not found on the panel, this typist will give you a writing pad writing area 10.
It can be printed by manually writing this character on the tape in 3. Writing this character advances the tape by the typist to align the character with the window 104, where it is scanned to create a bit map description of the character. This bit map is added to the printer and used in the same way as the bit map of a character on the keyboard panel to form an image of this character on the output medium. The characters entered via the writing pad can be whatever the typist is trying to write or draw. The size of this character is reduced by a factor of 4 by the lens in the writing pad's optical system and prints the same size as the character from the keyboard panel.

As mentioned above, other types of scanners can be used in place of the CCD scanner, and an example of a system using optical fibers and photodiodes is shown in FIG. In this example, a linear array of optical fibers 148 conducts light from the letters on the keyboard panel to a linear array of photodiodes 149, and the optical system between the keyboard panel and the fibers has a scanning mirror 151, which scans. Characters are scanned by the mirror 151.
A second linear array of optical fibers 152 transmits light from a character on the writing pad to an array of photodiodes, which is scanned by a scanning mirror 153 in the optical system of the writing pad. The optical fiber and photodiode arrays can each have any desired number of elements, eg, 24 elements, and the fiber for the writing pad can be larger than the fiber for the keyboard. The reason is that the writing area on the writing pad is larger than the letters on the keyboard. Instead of having a full matrix of print elements, the print head can also have a linear array. As shown in FIGS. 13-14, it is possible to remove the CCD in the writing pad and use one CCD or other device to read both the letters on the writing pad and the letters on the keyboard. It is also possible. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 13 to 14, the writing pad 1 is used.
The characters on 4 are projected onto unused positions on the keyboard panel and scanned by the CCD 41 in the mouse of the keyboard. In this embodiment, the mirror 156 is the lens 13
Light from 2, 133 is transmitted through a window in the housing of the writing pad to a mirror 157 located below the position on the keyboard panel where this letter is to be projected. Mirror 157
Transmits this light to the desired position on the keyboard, and the lens 1
32 and 133 focus this light on the panel.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 15, the keyboard is provided with a character sheet 161 which is detachably attached to a tilted panel, and the character sheet 161 is above the character sheet 21 in the embodiment of FIG. A set of characters 162 are printed in an array, in a visually readable manner, similar to the array of characters in FIG. On the back side of the sheet 161, data 163 corresponding to these characters are recorded in an optically readable form. This data can be coded, for example, by a computer or other data processing device to identify the characters, eg, ASCII coding for English characters, B for Chinese characters.
It may include ig-5 coding or GB coding, JIS coding for Japanese characters, or shift JIS coding. Such coding is 16
Usually written as a group of decimal digits, ASCII
Two numbers are sufficient for the I code, and larger Kanji and Japanese character sets generally require four numbers. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 16, bar coding is used for the data because it is easier to use and more reliable than character recognition. The bar codes for characters are arranged in an array corresponding to the array of characters on the front side of the sheet.

A character selection mouse 166 equipped with a viewfinder lens 167 is provided on the upper side of the panel with a sheet 161.
It is provided so as to be visually aligned with the characters printed on the front side of the. This mouse is generally similar to a mouse that reads characters on a sheet without requiring a scanner. A second mouse 169 is provided on the underside of the panel and is operably connected to the first mouse. Thus, when the upper mouse is aligned with the front character of the sheet, the lower mouse is aligned with the lower data of the sheet corresponding to that character. The attachment and connection of the two mice can be similar to that in the embodiment of FIG. The lower mouse supports the means for optically reading the data corresponding to the characters aligned with the upper mouse. In this embodiment, this means includes a bar code reader 171 of suitable known design. The reader comprises, for example, a focusing LED, a means for scanning light from the LED across the bar coding, and a photodiode for detecting light reflected from the bar coding. Another preferred type of reader comprises a linear array of CCDs that scan the bar coding. Barcoding readings are supported by the upper mouse,
It is adapted to be triggered by a manual push button switch 172 connected to the reader.

The output circuit 173 gives a coded electric signal in accordance with the data read from the back side of the character sheet. These signals, in the form of codes recognized by existing computers and data processing equipment,
The characters selected can be confirmed and sent directly to those devices. The type of reader is selected according to the mode of encoding the data, a barcode reader is suitable for barcode data, but other types of readers may be used for other types of coding. . For example, when the data is encoded in the form of optically readable characters, an optical reader with character recognition software is used. FIG. 17 shows a character sheet 1
76, the character data is recorded on the back side of the character sheet in the form of a two-dimensional dot pattern. This type of pattern can be thought of as two-dimensional bar coding and is suitable for use with a reader consisting of a two-dimensional array of CCDs, one dot in the data corresponding to each device in the array. ing. Similar to the embodiment of FIG. 1, the character sheet can be easily removed from the panel and a virtually unlimited number of characters and character sets can be provided by simply replacing the character sheet. The data corresponding to each character is on the back side of the sheet, and nothing needs to be done other than replacing the sheet itself.

In operation and use, a sheet containing the desired character set and data is placed on the panel. The upper mouse is moved around the character array, visually aligned with one of the selected characters, and the switch is pressed, causing the reader to read the data corresponding to the selected character from the back of the sheet. Start reading. This data is a coded electrical signal (eg ASCII,
It is converted to Big-5, GB or JIS) and output to a computer or other data processing system.
Instead of using the mechanical indexing mechanism to align the lower mouse to the lower character data of the character sheet, the alignment can also be done by software,
FIG. 18 shows the back side of a suitable character sheet 179 in that case. Similar to the character sheet used in other embodiments, the sheet 179 has an array on its front side,
It includes a set of characters (not shown) printed in an optically readable form. On the back side of the sheet, data 181 corresponding to characters is arranged on a grid of horizontal lines 182 and vertical lines 183 in a box defined by four grid lines, respectively. Is printed, like is printed. In this embodiment, the data is shown in the form of a dot pattern, as in FIG. However, the data may be bar coded or any other suitable form. Data corresponding to different characters are printed at a uniform position in the box, for example, in the center, and in a uniform size, for example, a 4 × 4 dot pattern.

This data indicates that the reader is large enough to scan the area corresponding to the four boxes in the array, so that no matter where the reader is, one complete box is in view. Read by With each of the data arranged in a 4 × 4 dot pattern and one dot-width grid line,
One blank row of dots surrounding the data area in each box allows for 14 sensing elements (eg, CCD).
The x14 element array provides the desired field of view. When the upper mouse is visually aligned with the desired character, the detour field of the lower mouse draws the data corresponding to that character and the area around the data, including its boundaries or fiducial marks. Will be included. The resulting image is searched by software until a fiducial mark is found. Then, the position information of the reference mark is used to accurately search for and extract the data corresponding to the character. At present, in the currently preferred embodiment,
The reference line is identified for each line by adding pixel values in the horizontal and vertical directions. Where this line occurs, all pixels are black and positive logic (i.e., dots having a value of 1 are black and dots having a value of 0 are white), resulting in a total of 14 pixel values. The summed value is compared to a threshold greater than 10 and a line occurs only where this condition is met. Another preferred method of identifying the baseline is to compare the sum of the pixel values to each other and choose the maximum value.

Once the reference line is identified and its coordinates are known,
The data in the 4 × 4 dot area in the center of the box is used to extract the data corresponding to that character. In this particular example, the boundary of the region in which the data is located is determined by subtracting 2 from the coordinate value of the boundary having the larger coordinate value and adding 2 to the coordinate value of the boundary having the smaller coordinate value. To be done. When this software alignment technique is used with an indexing or detent mechanism as disclosed herein, it is possible to correct inaccuracies or misalignments that occur within the mechanism and to the extent of the required accuracy. Can be reduced. Also, by completely eliminating mechanical indexing, and only by visual alignment,
It is possible to position the mouse and select the desired character. Eliminating the indexing mechanism would simplify the system and reduce its cost.
Although the software alignment method has been described with the data recorded in the form of a two-dimensional dot pattern, this software alignment method can be similarly applied to other data formats such as bar coding. . In fact, since bar coding is only a one-dimensional array, it can be more easily and properly aligned in one direction by only requiring the scan line to cross somewhere in the bar code line.

[0025]

The present invention has a number of important features and advantages. The data for the characters to be printed is stored on the keyboard, which obviates the need for the memory to store a description of these characters. This allows large numbers of characters to be stored inexpensively in a relatively small space, and by using compatible panels with different sets of characters printed on them, a virtually infinite number of characters can be stored. Can be printed. The additional characters can be manually written on the writing pad and printed with the characters from the keyboard. Information about the characters on the keyboard can be recorded on the magnetic medium underneath the keyboard and translated at the same time as the characters on the keyboard are scanned or independently. Even if complex ideographic characters are formed with a single keystroke, the typewriter can print these characters at a rate of one or more characters per second. Not only is it easy to use, but this typewriter is cheap to manufacture and economical to own, and without this a large number of students and other students who cannot afford such a typewriter. Can be expected to appeal to

From the foregoing, it is apparent that a new and improved typewriter and method for ideographic characters is provided. Although only certain presently preferred embodiments have been described in detail, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that certain changes and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of an ideographic character typewriter according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view, partially cut away, of the embodiment of FIG.

3 is a partially exploded plan view of the keyboard panel of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG.

5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 5-5 of FIG.

6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 6-6 of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a partial horizontal sectional view of the embodiment of FIG.

8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 8-8 of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a partial top plan view of the writing pad of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a partially cutaway side view of the writing pad of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 11 is a simplified block diagram of the signal processing and printer control system of the embodiment of FIG.

12 is a schematic view of another type of optical scanner used in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of an optical system,
This allows one scanner to be used to read characters from the keyboard panel and writing pad of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 14 is a simplified block diagram of a signal processing and printer control system for use with the optical system of FIG.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an ideographic character keyboard incorporated in the present invention.

FIG. 16 is an enlarged partial schematic plan view of the lower side of an example of the character sheet used in the embodiment of FIG.

17 is an enlarged partial schematic plan view of the lower side of another example of the character sheet used in the embodiment of FIG. 15. FIG.

FIG. 18 is an enlarged partial schematic plan view of the lower side of still another example of the character sheet used in the embodiment of FIG. 15.

[Explanation of symbols]

 16 keyboard panel 17 writing pad 18 printer 21, 161, 176, 179 character sheet 22 panel

Front Page Continuation (72) Inventor Eugene W Weber United States California 94401 San Mateo Arvilla Road 334

Claims (16)

[Claims] 1. A panel having a plurality of printed characters, optically readable data corresponding to each of the characters on the panel, and movable around the panel to select one of the characters. And a means for optically reading the data corresponding to a character, the means being aligned with the character selecting means, the means being aligned with the character selecting means, and the means for optically reading the data. A keyboard with means for outputting a coded signal corresponding to a selected character according to data. 2. The optically readable data comprises:
A keyboard according to claim 1, in the form of bar coding, wherein the means for reading the data comprises a bar code reader. 3. The optically readable data is
The keyboard of claim 1 in the form of a two-dimensional dot pattern, wherein the means for reading the data comprises an array of CCDs. 4. The data is recorded on a medium, a plurality of fiducial marks are recorded on the medium in a predetermined positional relationship with the data corresponding to each of the characters, and means for reading the data. Includes means for bringing into view a field large enough to contain both the data corresponding to the selected character and the fiducial marks associated with the data, processing the information obtained by scanning the view. And means for searching the reference mark, and means for extracting character data from information obtained by scanning the field of view by utilizing the position of the reference mark and the positional relationship between the reference mark and the character data. The keyboard according to Item 1. 5. A method of providing a character code to a computer or other data processing device, wherein the character selection means is moved around the panel to align it with the visual representation of the characters on the panel and the optical reading means. In cooperation with the character selection means to align it with the optically readable data corresponding to the character, cause the reading means to read the data for the character, and read according to the data. A method of outputting a code corresponding to a character. 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the data relating to the character is recorded in the form of a bar code. 7. The data regarding the character is recorded in the form of a dot pattern.
The method described in. 8. The data is recorded on a medium, a plurality of reference marks are recorded on the medium in a predetermined positional relationship with the data corresponding to each of the characters, and the data is selected. The information obtained by scanning the field of view read by placing a field of view large enough to contain both the data corresponding to the character and the fiducial marks associated with the data, The character data is extracted from information obtained by scanning the field of view by searching the reference mark and utilizing the position of the reference mark and the positional relationship between the reference mark and the character data. The method described. 9. A panel having an array of printed characters on a first side thereof, optically readable data corresponding to the characters on a second side of the panel, and a first of the panel. A first mouse that is movable around the side of and is selectively aligned with the character; and a first mouse that is located on the second side of the panel and that is connected to the first mouse. A second mouse that is moved in cooperation, a means that is supported by the second mouse, and that optically reads data corresponding to the selected character aligned with the first mouse; A keyboard provided with means for outputting a coded signal corresponding to a selected character according to the stored data. 10. The keyboard of claim 9, wherein the optically readable data is in the form of bar coding and the means for reading the data comprises a bar code reader. 11. The keyboard of claim 9, wherein the optically readable data is in the form of a two-dimensional dot pattern and the means for reading the data comprises an array of CCDs. 12. A plurality of reference marks are recorded on the second side of the panel in a predetermined positional relationship with the data corresponding to each of the characters, and the means for reading the data selects the selected character. Means for providing a field of view large enough to contain both the data corresponding to and the reference mark associated with the data, and means for outputting the coded signal corresponding to the selected character. Includes a means for processing the information obtained by scanning the field of view to search for the fiducial mark,
The keyboard according to claim 9, further comprising means for extracting character data from information obtained by scanning the field of view by utilizing a position of the reference mark and a positional relationship between the mark and the character data. 13. A method of providing a character code to a computer or other data processing device, wherein a first mouse is moved around an array of characters on a first side of a panel and the mouse is selected for characters. The second mouse in cooperation with the first mouse and moved around the array of optically readable data on the second side of the panel to align the second mouse with the second mouse. A method of reading data corresponding to the selected character by a reading unit supported by a mouse, and outputting a code corresponding to the selected character according to the data read by the reading unit. . 14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the optically readable data is recorded in the form of bar coding on the second side of the panel. 15. The method of claim 13 wherein the optically readable data is recorded on the second side of the panel in the form of a pattern of dots. 16. A plurality of reference marks are recorded on the second side of the panel in a predetermined positional relationship with data corresponding to each of the characters, and the data corresponds to the selected character. The code corresponding to the selected letter was read by placing a field of view large enough to contain both the data and a reference mark associated with the data, and the code obtained by scanning the field of view. Information is processed to search for the reference mark, and character data is extracted from the information obtained by scanning the field of view using the position of the reference mark and the positional relationship between the reference mark and the character data to obtain 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the method is performed.