JPH11305897A - Pen input computer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform a keyboard input processing regardless of the operation of an OS and an application by operating pen input as keyboard input by a hardware. SOLUTION: In this pen input type computer without a keyboard, input from a tablet by a pen is converted to actual keyboard input by the hardware without performing keyboard emulation. The tablet is an input device and provided with a pen operation area 23 and a system control area 22 for instance. The system control area 22 is divided further for respective functions required for system control and provided with buttons for realizing the respective functions. The system control area 22 is provided with a key input request button for requesting the conversion of the pen input to the keyboard input, and by operating the button with the pen, the keyboard input is realized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technique for realizing a keyboard input by a pen operation in a pen input computer having no keyboard in a main body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Many programs that operate on a computer use a keyboard as an input device. However, in a pen input computer without a keyboard, a keyboard emulation method that makes pen input look like a keyboard input is used. Generally, it is processed.

For example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-241154, a conventional keyboard emulation method converts data from a tablet using a pen into keyboard data and sends it to an OS or application via a dedicated driver. The method of transferring is taken.

[0004]

In the conventional keyboard emulation system, when an operating system or an application rewrites a keyboard driver (executed by interrupt processing), a driver (a keyboard driver) is required to process data input by a pen as keyboard data. Event and data processing are required each time (executed in interrupt processing), and it is difficult to handle all programs.

[0005] Alternatively, in the case of a program that detects keyboard input by directly accessing a controller without using a keyboard interrupt, the program cannot be executed by a pen input computer.

An object of the present invention is to realize a keyboard input process in a pen input computer by operating a pen input as a keyboard input by hardware regardless of the operation of an OS or an application.

[0007]

A pen input means such as a tablet or a touch panel, a keyboard control means, a discrimination means for discriminating whether or not an input from the pen input means is a keyboard input request, and the discrimination means being a keyboard When it is determined that an input request has been made, an instruction unit for instructing that keyboard input has been performed to the keyboard control unit, and a conversion unit for converting data from the pen input unit into keyboard input data, so that an OS or application Regardless of the operation, the keyboard input processing can be performed in the pen input computer.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A pen input computer according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises a pen input means such as a tablet or a touch panel, a keyboard control means, and whether or not an input from the pen input means is a keyboard input request. Discriminating means, an instructing means for instructing the keyboard control means that a keyboard input has been performed when the discriminating means determines that a keyboard input request has been made, and converting data from the pen input means into keyboard input data. A pen input computer having a conversion means, wherein a pen input computer having no keyboard can process a keyboard input request.

In the pen input computer according to a second aspect of the present invention, in the pen input device according to the first aspect, the input means performs a keyboard input to the keyboard control means using tablet interrupt processing. This is a pen input device characterized by instructing that a keyboard input has been performed efficiently using an interrupt process.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the pen input device according to the first aspect, the keyboard control means has means for inputting data from the pen input means to the input / output port. A pen input computer characterized in that pen input data can be handled as keyboard input data by inputting data from a pen input to an input / output port of a keyboard control means.

The invention according to claim 4 of the present invention provides:
An input method of a pen input computer having the same effects as the invention according to claim 1 is provided.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a hardware configuration diagram of a pen input computer according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an exemplary view showing an example of display on the tablet of the pen input computer according to the embodiment.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 denotes a CPU, and 12 denotes an RA.
M and 13 are BIOS, 14 is KBDC (keyboard controller), 15 is an external keyboard connector, 1
6 is a TBC (tablet controller), 17 is a tablet, 18 is a VIDEO (video controller), 19
Is a display device.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 21 denotes the outer shape of the tablet,
22, a system control area; and 23, a pen operation area.

The TBC 16 uses a microprocessor and has a communication program with a BIOS (interrupt processing) for processing a tablet operation.

The tablet 17 is an input device, and is provided with a pen operation area 23 and a system control area 22. The system control area 22 is further divided into areas for each function necessary for system control, and buttons for realizing each function are provided. A key input request button for requesting conversion of a pen input to a keyboard input is provided in the system control area 22, and a keyboard input is realized by operating the button with the pen.

The operation of the pen input computer configured as described above will be described using three examples (Embodiments 1 to 3) having different operation methods.

(Embodiment 1) A first embodiment will be described in which a keyboard figure is displayed on a screen to realize a complete keyboard operation.

In the pen input computer according to the present embodiment, the display device 19 and the tablet 17 have the same position, and the transparent tablet 17 is placed on the display device 19.

A key input switching button is provided in the system control area 22 of the tablet 17, and each time the key input switching button is pressed, ON and OFF of the key input state are repeated.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the processing method of the TBC 16, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the processing of the SMI handler in the embodiment.

In FIG. 3, the TBC 16 performs step 3
01, it is monitored whether or not a tablet operation has been performed.
To get the tablet coordinates pressed by the pen.

In step 303, it is determined whether the area of the acquired tablet coordinates is the system control area 22 or the pen operation area 23.

If it is the system control area 22, step 3
At S04, a system control event code is output to the SMI port to generate an SMI.
Execute the I handler.

If it is the pen operation area 23, step 305
The tablet interrupt is generated by outputting the coordinates operated by the pen to the IRQ port, and the CPU 11 executes the tablet interrupt handler.

When the key input switching button is pressed, TB
C16 generates an SMI by outputting a pen input switching event to the SMI port as a system control event code in step 304 of FIG.

In FIG. 4, when an SMI occurs, B
The IOS 13 determines in step 401 that the occurrence of the SMI is TBC
It is determined whether the event is due to TBC16. If the event is due to TBC16, it is determined in step 402 whether the event is a key input switch.

If it is determined in step 402 that the event is a key input switch, a flag indicating whether the key input state is present is checked in step 403. If the flag is cleared and the key is not in a key input state, the current screen display is switched to a key input screen displaying a keyboard figure in step 404.

In step 405, the pointer of the tablet interrupt handler is replaced with the pointer of the interrupt handler for key input from the pointer of the interrupt handler used by the operating system. In step 406, a flag indicating the key input state is set, and the key input state is set. Set to.

Thereafter, in step 305 of FIG.
When the TBC 16 generates an interrupt, a key input tablet interrupt is executed.

If the flag indicating the key input state is set in step 403 and the key input state is established, the key input screen is cleared in step 407 and the screen is changed to step 4
In step 408, the pointer of the tablet interrupt handler is returned to the pointer immediately before the execution of step 405. In step 409, the flag indicating the key input state is cleared, and the state is set to a state other than the key input state.

Thereafter, in step 305 of FIG.
When the TBC 16 generates an interrupt, a tablet interrupt normally used by the operating system is executed.

In step 305 of FIG. 3, TBC1
FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of the processing when the interrupt 6 is generated and the key input tablet interrupt is executed.

When a key to be entered is pressed with a pen on a keyboard figure displayed on the screen, the TBC
Reference numeral 16 outputs the coordinates pressed by the pen to the interrupt port to generate a tablet interrupt.

When a tablet interrupt occurs, the BIOS
Reference numeral 13 denotes a step 501 in which coordinates at which a pen operation is performed are acquired from the TBC 16.

In step 502, based on the acquired coordinate values, which key of the keyboard graphic displayed on the screen is pressed is calculated and converted into a key code.

In step 503, a command for shifting the operation of the KBDC 14 to the setting mode (program mode) is output to the KBDC in order to set the converted key code in the KBDC 14.

In step 504, when a key is input from the KBDC 14 to the keyboard, a command for writing data to a data buffer for storing a key code and a key code as data to be written are output to the KBDC 14, so that a key is stored in the data buffer of the KBDC 14. Code is written.

In step 505, when the KBDC 14 makes a keyboard input, a command for setting a flag indicating the presence of a key input is output to the KBDC 14, so that the KBDC outputs the key code set in step 504 to the data port. It becomes possible.

In step 506, a command to release the setting mode (program mode) of the KBDC
By outputting to the C14, the operation of the KBDC 14 shifts from the setting mode to the operation mode, and a keyboard interrupt occurs in the KBDC 14 in the same state as when keyboard input is performed.

When a keyboard interrupt occurs, the CPU 1
1 executes a keyboard interrupt so that the program can handle key input.

503, 504, 505 and 50 in FIG.
If there is no function to set the KBDC 14 to a state in which keyboard input has been performed by software as in each of the steps 6
This can be realized by the BC 16 outputting a key code to the I / O port of the KBDC 14.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a key input tablet interrupt process in the case where there is no function of putting the KBDC 14 into a state in which keyboard input has been performed by software, which will be described below with reference to FIG.

Step 501 and step 50 in FIG.
After converting the tablet coordinates into a key code in the same procedure as in step 2, K601 is input to the IRQ port of the TBC 16 in step 601.
By outputting the setting event code of the BDC 14, an interrupt is generated in the TBC 16, and the TBC 16 performs the interrupt processing, and the operation of the next interrupt processing that occurs in the TBC 16 is a KBDC setting interrupt.

Subsequently, at step 602, the IR of the TBC 16
By outputting a key code to the Q port, TBC1
6, the TBC 16 outputs the key code to the I / O port of the KBDC 14 by the KBDC setting interrupt, thereby performing the same operation as the keyboard input to the KBDC 14 as hardware.

FIG. 7 shows steps 601 and 60
9 is a flowchart for explaining a processing example of TBC when the second procedure is executed.

When a code is output to the IRQ port of the TBC 16 in step 601 or step 602, TB
An interrupt occurs in C16, and the interrupt handler of TBC16 is executed.

The interrupt handler of the TBC 16 determines the interrupt type in step 702, and executes an interrupt process corresponding to the type using the data acquired from the IRQ port in step 701 as an argument.

When an interrupt occurs in the TBC 16 in the processing of step 601, the event analysis processing of FIG. 8 branched from step 702 is executed.

In step 801, the event code obtained in step 701 is a KBDC setting event.
The KBDC setting event processing of FIG. 9 is executed.

At step 901, the interrupt type is set to KB.
By setting the DC setting, an interrupt generated in the TBC 16 thereafter performs the KBDC setting process.

If an interrupt occurs in the TBC 16 in the processing of step 602, the interrupt type is set to KBDC in step 901. Therefore, a key code is obtained in step 701, and the key code is obtained as an argument in step 701.
The KBDC setting process of FIG.

In the KBDC setting process, when the TBC 16 outputs data, the output destination is the system bus or the KBDC.
14 can be selected.
By switching the data output destination to the KBDC 14 in step 1, when the TBC 16 outputs data thereafter, the KBDC 14 is output.
14 will receive the data.

In step 1002, the KBDC 14 executes a process of keyboard input by outputting a key code obtained from the keyboard to the data port of the TBC 16 when a keyboard input is made.

In step 1003, the data output destination is set to K
By switching from the BDC 14 to the system bus, the data output destination of the TBC 16 thereafter becomes the system bus,
SMI and interrupt processing from the TBC 16 of the IOS can be performed.

In step 1004, the KBDC setting is completed by converting the interrupt type set in the KBDC to event analysis.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of hardware for switching the data output destination of the TBC 16 to the system bus and the KBDC 14.

Of the I / O ports of the TBC 16, one bit from the output port is used for switching the data output destination, and the one bit is output at H level (1) and L level (0) to change the output destination. It is configured to switch.

(Embodiment 2) The operation of an embodiment in which a key to be input next is displayed in a pop-up display and input is performed will be described.

In the form in which the keys to be input are displayed in a pop-up manner, the keyboard graphic is displayed on the screen to realize a complete keyboard operation as described in the first embodiment. If it is difficult to return to the original screen later, it is effective because the original screen is not cleared or the contents of the video frame buffer are not destroyed.

A tablet as an input device is provided with a system control area, and a key input switching button, an up key selection button, a down key selection button, a key type switching button, and a key determination button are provided in the area.

FIG. 12 shows an example of key input buttons provided in the system control area of the tablet.

By pressing the key input switching button, B
The IOS uses the pop-up display function of the video controller to pop-up a key to be input.

By pressing the up direction key selection button,
In the case of lowercase letters, the pop-up display is switched in the order of “b” → “a” → “z”.

By pressing the down key selection button,
In the case of a numeral, the pop-up display is switched in the order of “9” → “0” → “1”.

By pressing the key type switching button, the pop-up display is changed from "lower case" to "upper case" to "number".
→ Switch to “Symbol” → “Function”.

Alternatively, if Japanese is required, pressing the key type switching button changes the pop-up display from “lowercase” to “uppercase” → “number” → “symbol” → “hiragana” → “full-width kana” → Switch from "Halfwidth Kana" to "Function".

When the key determination button is pressed, the key code of the popup displayed at that time is set to KBDC1.
4 is output.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of the SMI process when the key to be input is displayed in a pop-up.

If it is determined in step 1301 that an SMI has been generated by the TBC 16, a process corresponding to the pressed button in the system control area of the tablet is executed in step 1302.

When the key input switching button is pressed, in step 304 of FIG. 3, the TBC switches the event code to key input to generate an SMI.

The SMI handler executes the key input switching process of FIG. 14 branched from step 1302.

In step 1401, a flag indicating the state of key input is checked. If the flag is cleared and the key is not in the key input state, character information of the pop-up is extracted in step 1402, and the pop-up is displayed on the screen in step 1403.

In step 1404, a flag indicating the key input state is set, so that it is determined that the key input state is present in another process.

If the flag indicating the key input state is set in step 1401 and the key input state is established, the character information of the pop-up is saved in step 1405, and the pop-up is deleted from the screen in step 1406.

In step 1407, the flag indicating the key input state is cleared to determine that the key input state is not established in another process.

When the up key selection button is pressed,
In step 304 of FIG. 3, the TBC 16 generates an SMI with the event code selected as an up key.

The SMI handler executes the upward key selection processing of FIG. 15 branched from step 1302. In step 1501, it is determined whether or not the key is in the key input state. If the key is in the key input state, the pointer of the character information is updated to the pointer of the previous character information in step 1502, and the pop-up display is rewritten in step 1503 with the information updated in 1502.

When the down key selection button is pressed,
In step 304 of FIG. 3, the TBC 16 sets the event code to the down key selection to generate an SMI.

The SMI handler executes the downward key selection processing of FIG. 16 branched from step 1302.

If the flag indicating the key input state is set in step 1601 and the key input state is set, step 16
At 02, the pointer of the character information of the pop-up is updated to the pointer of the next character information. At step 1603, the pop-up display is rewritten with the information updated at step 1602.

When the key type switch button is pressed, the state shown in FIG.
In step 304, the TBC 16 switches the event code to a key type to generate an SMI.

The SMI handler executes the key type switching processing of FIG.

At step 1701, it is confirmed whether or not the key is in the key input state. If the key is in the key input state, the pointer of the character information of the popup is updated to the pointer of the character information of the next character type at step 1702, and the popup display is performed at step 1703 at step 1702. Replace with the updated information.

When the key determination button is pressed, in step 304 of FIG. 3, the TBC 16 determines the key of the event code and generates an SMI.

The SMI handler executes the key decision processing of FIG. In step 1801, it is confirmed whether or not the key is in the key input state. If the key is in the key input state, the key code of the key displayed in the pop-up is acquired in step 1802, and the KBDC 14 is input by the keyboard in steps 1803, 1804, 1805 and 1806. Set to the state.

1803, 1804, 1805 and 18
The processing of each step of 06 is the same as the processing of each step of 503, 504, 505, and 506 in FIG. 5 described in the first embodiment.

If the KBDC 14 cannot be set to a state in which keyboard input has been performed by software when the key determination button is pressed, step 130 of the SMI handler is executed.
The processing of the key determination (2) in FIG. 19 branched from FIG.

At step 1901, it is confirmed whether or not the key is in the key input state. If the key is in the key input state, the key code of the key displayed in the popup is obtained at step 1902, and
In each of steps 903 and 1904, the keyboard input state is set by the TBC 16.

The processing of each step of 1903 and 1904 is the same as that of 601 and 60 shown in FIG.
This is the same process as each step of 2.

1402, 1502, 1602, 170
In each of steps 2, 1802 and 1902, a table of character information displayed on the pop-up is shown in FIG.

(Embodiment 3) An embodiment in which keys to be input next are used in a fixed form will be described.

The key input processing by the pen input computer is limited, and in the case of a system in which only a specific key is input, a form in which the input key is fixed is advantageous.

Further, when compared with the case where the keyboard graphic described in the first or second embodiment is displayed on the screen to realize a complete keyboard operation or the case where a key to be input is displayed in a pop-up, the display of the operating system is reduced. This has an effect that a part or the whole does not disappear.

Hereinafter, the operation of this embodiment will be described. First, a key input by a pen is determined in advance by a BIOS setup program, and is stored in a CMOS (not shown) in which system configuration information is recorded.

A tablet as an input device is provided with a system control area, and only a key input button is provided in the area.

When the key input button is pressed, in step 304 of FIG. 3, the TBC 16 generates an SMI using the event as a key input.

The processing of the SMI handler will be described with reference to FIG. The SMI handler obtains the key code from the CMOS in step 2103 if the event is a key input in each step of 2101 and 2102 and the event is a key input, and connects the KBDC 14 in each step of 2104, 2105, 2106 and 2107 with the keyboard. Set as entered.

2104, 2105, 2106 and 21
The process of each step of 07 is the same as the process of each step of 503, 504, 505, and 506 in FIG. 5 described in the first embodiment.

If the KBDC 14 cannot be set to a state in which keyboard input has been performed by software, the SMI handler performs the processing in FIG.

In step 2201, it is checked whether the key is in the key input state. If the key is in the key input state, in step 2202, if the event is a key input, a key code is obtained from the CMOS in step 2203. Set to keyboard input state.

The processing of each step of 2204 and 2205 is the same as that of 601 and 60 shown in FIG.
This is the same process as the process of each step of No. 2.

[0103]

According to the present invention, a pen input type computer without a keyboard converts input from a tablet with a pen into actual keyboard input by hardware instead of emulating the keyboard. Irrespective of the above, there is an effect that input equivalent to that of a keyboard can be performed by a pen operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a hardware configuration diagram of a pen input computer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary view showing an example of a display screen on a tablet of the pen input computer according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a processing example of a tablet controller;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing of an SMI handler for displaying complete keyboard operation by displaying a keyboard graphic on a screen according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a KBDC using software according to the first embodiment.
Showing the processing of the pen input interrupt handler when there is a function to set the key input state

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a KBDC using software in the first embodiment.
That shows the processing of the pen input interrupt handler when there is no function to set the key input state

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing processing of an interrupt handler of the TBC used when the TBC sends a key code to the I / O port of the KBDC.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing event processing branched from 702 in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a KBDC setting event process branched from 801 in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a KBDC setting process branched from 702 in FIG. 7;

FIG. 11 shows that the TBC outputs data to the system bus and K
Circuit diagram for switching to BDC I / O port

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a system control area of the tablet according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing processing of an SMI handler according to the second embodiment.

14 is a flowchart showing a key input switching process branched from 1302 in FIG.

15 is a flowchart showing an upward key selection process branched from 1302 in FIG.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a down key selection process branched from 1302 in FIG. 13;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing a key type switching process branched from 1302 in FIG. 13;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing processing in the key determination and selection processing branched from 1302 in FIG. 13 when there is a function of setting the KBDC to a key input state by software;

19 is a flowchart showing processing in the key determination and selection processing branched from 1302 in FIG. 13 when there is no function of setting the KBDC to a key input state by software.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a table of character information used by the SMI handler in the second embodiment.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example in which KB is set by software in the third embodiment.
Flowchart showing SMI processing when there is a function to set DC to a key input state

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a case where software is used to perform KB
Flowchart showing SMI processing when there is no function to set DC to a key input state

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 11 CPU 12 RAM 13 BIOS 14 KBDC (keyboard controller) 15 Connector for external keyboard connection 16 TBC (tablet controller) 17 tablet 18 VIDEO (video controller) 19 display device 21 tablet outline 22 system control area 23 pen operation area

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A pen input means such as a tablet or a touch panel, a keyboard control means, a judgment means for judging whether or not an input from the pen input means is a keyboard input request, and a judgment means for judging a keyboard input request. A pen input computer, comprising: an instruction unit for instructing the keyboard control unit that keyboard input has been performed, and a conversion unit for converting data from the pen input unit into keyboard input data. 2. The pen input computer according to claim 1, wherein the instruction means instructs the keyboard control means that a keyboard input has been performed by using a tablet interrupt process. 3. The pen input computer according to claim 1, wherein the keyboard control means has means for inputting data from the pen input means to the input / output port. 4. A pen input step of inputting a pen from a tablet, a touch panel, or the like, a keyboard control step, a determination step of determining whether or not the input from the pen input step is a keyboard input request, and the determination step includes a keyboard input step. A pen input computer comprising: an instruction step of instructing that a keyboard input has been performed in the keyboard control step when it is determined to be a request; and a conversion step of converting data from the pen input step into keyboard input data. input method.