JPH1039977A - Wireless keyboard, system therefor and communication control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily perform connection to a personal computer system, to prevent wiring from being complicated and to perform a cooperative operation by providing a transmission/reception circuit, an antenna, a power source circuit and a CPU required for bidirectional wireless communication by a high frequency in a keyboard. SOLUTION: This wireless keyboard 10 is constituted of a reception circuit R for carrier sensing, a transmission circuit S for alphanumeric input data, the CPU for performing data conversion and communication control, the power source circuit E, the changeover switch SW of transmission and reception, a keyboard part 11 for alphanumeric input and a whip antenna 14, etc. The wireless keyboard system is provided with the wireless keyboard 10, a personal computer and a base station composed of the reception circuit, the antenna, the power source circuit and the CPU for the data conversion and control. Thus, the connection is easily performed to the conventional personal computer system and one job is simultaneously executed by plural staffs.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wireless keyboard structure, its system, and a communication control method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, personal computers have rapidly advanced in performance, and have permeated everyday life not only in specialized fields such as scientific calculations, office work, and word processors, but also as general-purpose electronic devices supporting life. It is getting. In fact, high-performance and relatively inexpensive personal computers are rapidly being introduced as entertainment devices for games and the like and input / output devices for multimedia information. As a personal computer that penetrates into such a daily life, it is essential that the system is easy to install and easy to operate. In other words, a human-friendly system that has an excellent man-machine interface is desired. For this reason, the input method of a personal computer or the like has recently shifted from conventional command input to interactive mouse input.

FIG. 7 shows the relationship between a personal computer and an input device using a keyboard. Reference numeral 1 denotes a personal computer main body, which includes a hard disk and a floppy disk drive. Reference numeral 2 denotes an output device, which is usually a CRT or a liquid crystal display. 3
Is a keyboard for input, and 4 is a mouse. In the current system, one keyboard 3 and one mouse 4 correspond to the main body 1 of the personal computer, which is a result of the personal computer conventionally supporting jobs performed by individuals.

[0004] However, even now, there are many demands for a plurality of operators to cooperatively execute one game or work, as typified by entertainment such as games, education, and groupware office work. For example, in a game, a competitive game played by a plurality of players is one example. In education, it is desirable that one instructor and a plurality of students can operate a personal computer cooperatively. In addition, intellectual groupware work such as brainstorming and meetings is usually performed by a plurality of people, and a cooperative input operation of a personal computer and a pointer are considered effective for this. In such a case, input devices corresponding to the number of operators are required, but the conventional system cannot support a large number of mice and keyboards.

In recent years, a cooperative mouse has been developed which supports cooperative work in a groupware office environment. Using one personal computer, it has become possible for a plurality of staff members to share and cooperatively input information contents. The cooperative mouse can perform pointer operation and simple click input, but cannot cope with input requiring alphanumeric characters. For example, alphanumeric input is indispensable for Internet addressing and security code input required for security. Therefore, infrequently, in addition to the input by the cooperative mouse, the input by the cooperative keyboard is necessary in an interpolative sense of the mouse input. However, keyboard input by such a plurality of staff members is not considered, and no alternative system exists at present. Also, a cooperative keyboard that shares input with multiple staff is different from a cooperative mouse,
Since it takes a certain amount of time to input alphanumeric characters, it is not possible to allocate equal communication time to all active keyboards. Therefore, a communication control method suitable for a keyboard is required, but has not been studied yet. Furthermore, a method of transmitting signals of a cooperative keyboard from a personal computer via a large number of wires is conceivable. However, when the number of staff members increases, there is a problem that complicated wiring is inevitable.

[0006] With a conventional personal computer and keyboard, only one keyboard can be used for one personal computer. Therefore, it is impossible for a plurality of staffs to simultaneously execute one job as represented by games and meetings. could not. Further, even if a personal computer is provided with a plurality of input ports for a plurality of keyboards, it is inevitable that wiring such as a signal line cable becomes complicated, and input control with a plurality of keyboards is not easy. Was.

[0007]

As described above, in a personal computer system, in order to simultaneously execute one job by a plurality of operators, a keyboard is required in addition to a mouse corresponding to the number of operators.
Therefore, a human-friendly cooperative computer system that is relatively easy to connect to a conventional personal computer system and is suitable for groupware composed of cooperative keyboards in which wiring such as cables is not complicated has been desired.

It is an object of the present invention to connect to a conventional personal computer system very easily, to avoid complicated wiring of cables and the like, and to enable cooperative operation.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a human-friendly wireless keyboard, a system and a communication control method.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A wireless keyboard according to the present invention is required for a keyboard, which is one of the input devices of a personal computer, for bidirectional wireless communication using a high frequency such as a VHF band, a UHF band, or a microwave band. It includes a transmission circuit and a reception circuit, an antenna, a power supply circuit, and a CPU for data conversion and control.

A wireless keyboard system according to the present invention includes the above-described wireless keyboard, a personal computer, a receiving circuit, an antenna, a power supply circuit, and a base station including a CPU for data conversion and control. .

According to the communication control method of the wireless keyboard system according to the present invention, when an input is made from a certain wireless keyboard, first, a carrier transmitted by another wireless keyboard is sensed. The waiting time is set by the random number, and when the waiting time is over, the carrier is sensed again, and if there is no other wireless keyboard carrier, the input information from the wireless keyboard is superimposed on the high frequency carrier. The base station that has transmitted to the station and received the data from the wireless keyboard notifies the personal computer of the data in sequence.

[0012]

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an embodiment of a wireless keyboard according to the present invention. In this figure, 10
Is a wireless keyboard according to the present invention, comprising the following components. That is, 11 is a keyboard part for input, 12
Is a cable, 13 is a case, 14 is a whip antenna,
Reference numeral 15 denotes a power switch, and 16 denotes a display lamp such as an LED for operation confirmation.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a relationship between an electric circuit mounted in the case 13, an antenna (whip antenna) 14, the keyboard 11, and the like. That is, the wireless keyboard 10 includes a receiving circuit R for carrier sense, a transmitting circuit S for alphanumeric input data, a CPU for performing data conversion and communication control, a power supply circuit E for supplying power, and a switch for switching between transmission and reception. It comprises a SW, a keyboard unit 11 for inputting alphanumeric characters, a whip antenna 14, and the like. The plurality of wireless keyboards 10 to be used all use the same frequency, and the communication is performed by a half-duplex system. This transmission / reception switching uses a diode as the switch SW, and the switching signal is generated from the CPU. This configuration is basically a variable time-division system, and includes a plurality of keyboard units 1.
Communication time is allocated to 1 as needed. That is, this is a method in which a plurality of active wireless keyboards 10 powered on share a communication time while mutually monitoring the availability of a wireless line. Therefore, the communication time is allocated only when there is a keyboard input, and when considering the cooperative operation of a large number of wireless keyboards 10, a specific wireless keyboard 10 occupies communication at a certain time, and one personal computer does not. It looks like an input from one wireless keyboard 10. In the present embodiment, a VHF band frequency of 260 MHz is used.
The size of the case 13 is, for example, 8 cm in length, 4 cm in width,
The height was about 2 cm. Although a normal keyboard is used for the keyboard unit 11, complicated key input does not need to be considered so much because sharing and input to the content are performed. Therefore, a simpler keyboard, for example a keyboard with only alphanumeric characters, would be sufficient.

FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of an embodiment of the wireless keyboard system 100 according to the present invention. In this figure, 10 is the wireless keyboard shown in FIG. 1, 20 is a wireless mouse, which comprises a mouse body 21 and an antenna 22. Reference numeral 30 denotes a personal computer main body, which includes a hard disk and a floppy disk drive. Reference numeral 40 denotes a base station for a wireless keyboard, which is connected to a dedicated port of the personal computer main body 30. A wireless mouse base station 50 is connected to the serial port of the personal computer main body 30. 60 is a projector as an output device, 7
0 is a screen. Basically, all staff members are provided with a cooperative wireless mouse 20, and a wireless keyboard 10 is arranged at a rate of about one for two persons. The information content is shared by sharing the image of the personal computer main body 30 projected on the large screen 70 of a plurality of staff members. On the other hand, by inputting using the wireless mouse 20 or the wireless keyboard 10, a response is made to the information or an intention is displayed.

FIG. 4 shows a functional block diagram of the wireless keyboard base station 40 and the wireless keyboard 10 shown in FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 shows a functional block diagram of the wireless mouse base station 50 and the wireless mouse 20.

Referring to FIG. 4, the wireless keyboard base station 40 includes an initialization processing circuit 41, a time division / communication control circuit 42, a receiving circuit 43, and an antenna 44.
The function of the wireless keyboard 10 is the same as that of FIG. 2, but only the main part is shown in FIG.

First, the base station 40 performs a handshake (initialization process) with the personal computer main body 30,
The wireless keyboard 10 performs data reset.

Next, since the base station 40 only has the receiving circuit 43, the active wireless keyboard 1
There is no need to search and register 0, and it is passive.

Next, when the input is updated by the active wireless keyboard 10 whose power is turned on, preparation for transmitting input data is started. First, the carrier of another wireless keyboard 10 is sensed, and if no carrier is detected, the input data is transmitted to the base station.
Conversely, if a carrier is detected, the CPU generates a random number and sets the waiting time by itself. After the end of this waiting time, the carrier is sensed again, and if no carrier is detected,
Send the input data. The base station 40 receives this input data.

In FIG. 5, the configuration of a base station 50 includes an initialization processing circuit 51, a time-division / communication control circuit 52, and a receiving circuit 5.
3, the antenna 54 is provided, and the configuration of the wireless mouse 20 is composed of the mouse body 21, the antenna 22, and a circuit portion, and this circuit portion is the same as the circuit portion of the wireless keyboard 10 in FIG. Therefore, the operation of FIG. 5 is different from that of FIG. 4 only in the input data, and the description of the operation is omitted.

FIG. 6 shows a wireless keyboard system 1.
00 shows a flowchart of a communication control method of No. 00. Both base stations 40,
Since 50 is basically for reception only, after converting a high-frequency signal into normal digital data, it operates in the same manner as a normal keyboard. Note that (S1) to (S7) in FIG. 6 indicate each step.

First, the wireless keyboard 10 recognizes the start of input by using a special key (assigning a combination of keys not normally used) (S1). Both base stations 40,
The sending and receiving circuits S and R of 50 are in a normal receiving state, and at the time of starting the input, the receiving circuit R detects the carrier of another wireless keyboard 10 (S2). This can usually be detected by the squelch signal of the receiving circuit R.

When a carrier from another wireless keyboard 10 is detected, the CPU generates a random number and sets a waiting time by itself. After this set time, carrier detection is performed again (S3).

If a carrier from another wireless keyboard 10 is not detected, key input is accepted (S4). At this time, the screen 7 shown in FIG.
Judgment is made based on whether or not the alphanumeric character input to 0 is displayed. Since the timing of the key input is irregular, the input data is separated at a specific time, stored in the CPU memory each time (S5), converted into a signal, and transmitted to the base station by wireless communication ( S6). After that, a key input (for example, an escape key is assigned) indicating termination is determined, and continuation or termination of the key input is determined (S7).

In such a communication control of the variable time division system, commands from the base stations 40 and 50 are not required.
The frequency channel required for wireless communication has the advantage of requiring only one line from the wireless keyboard 10 to the base stations 40 and 50. The addition and deletion of an active keyboard can be easily performed by turning on / off the power of the wireless keyboard 10.

As described above, the wireless keyboard 10, the system 100, and the communication control method according to the present invention can be relatively easily connected to a conventional personal computer, and a single job can be simultaneously performed by a plurality of operators. it can. Moreover, there is no complicated wiring of the signal cable generated by wire. This wireless keyboard system is effective for the group's intellectual work in general, and has the merit of not only making effective use of human resources but also supporting creation of important ideas. In addition, there is an advantage that higher satisfaction can be obtained for entertainment of a group such as a game. In general, this system is effective for general groupware intelligent work.

[0027]

As described above, since the present invention has the above-described configuration, it can be relatively easily connected to a conventional personal computer system by using the wireless keyboard, the system, and the communication control method according to the present invention. In addition, since one job can be performed simultaneously by a plurality of staffs without complicated cable wiring, efficiency of teamwork work and further satisfaction can be obtained. As a result, there is an advantage that a personal computer system having an excellent man-machine interface and being more user-friendly can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a wireless keyboard according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a wireless keyboard according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a wireless keyboard system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of a wireless keyboard base station and a wireless keyboard in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of a wireless mouse base station and a wireless mouse in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a control flow of the wireless keyboard system.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a conventional personal computer system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Wireless keyboard 11 Keyboard part 12 Cable 13 Case 14 Whip antenna 15 Power switch 16 Indicator lamp 20 Wireless mouse 21 Mouse main body 22 Antenna 30 Personal computer main body 40 Base station for wireless keyboard 41 Initialization processing circuit 42 Time division / communication control circuit 43 receiving circuit 44 antenna 50 base station for wireless mouse 51 initialization processing circuit 52 time division / communication control circuit 53 receiving circuit 54 antenna 60 projector 70 screen 100 wireless keyboard system S transmitting circuit R receiving circuit E power circuit SW switch switch

Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Hiroshi Ichinose 3-19-2 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A keyboard, which is one of input devices of a personal computer, includes a transmitting circuit and a receiving circuit, an antenna, a power supply circuit, and a transmitting circuit necessary for bidirectional wireless communication using a high frequency such as a VHF band, a UHF band, a microwave band, A wireless keyboard comprising a CPU for data conversion and control. 2. The wireless keyboard according to claim 1, a personal computer, a receiving circuit, an antenna,
A wireless keyboard system comprising: a power supply circuit; and a base station including a CPU for data conversion and control. 3. The communication control method for a wireless keyboard system according to claim 2, wherein when an input is made from a certain wireless keyboard, first, a carrier transmitted by another wireless keyboard is sensed. If there is, set the waiting time with a self-generated random number,
When the waiting time is over, the carrier is sensed again, and if there is no other wireless keyboard carrier, the input information from the wireless keyboard is transmitted to the base station, superimposed on the high frequency carrier, and the data from the wireless keyboard is transmitted. The communication control method of the wireless keyboard system, wherein the base station that has received the notification sequentially notifies the personal computer of the data.