JPS59154530A - Keyboard - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To compact a keyboard and to improve its operativity by assigning many codes to respective keys in a liquid-crystal display key group and reducing the number of keys. CONSTITUTION:For example, when a numeric mode key in an other-key group 33 is struck, a CPU30 sends display information on a numeral stored previously in an external memory 32 to the liquid-crystal display key group 3. This display information is distributed by a multiplexer 35 to respective keys to display necessary code corresponding to the keys on a liquid-crystal display device. The displayed code is a single code consisting of only the numeral and key operation may be executed in obserbing the display. when an alphabetic letter is inputted, an alphabet mode key is struck and the letter is loaded from an external memory 32 and then stored in an internal memory 31 and displayed on the liquid- crystal display device at the same time. At this time, 10 codes are displayed in sequence by operating a key NEXT.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to keyboards in equipment such as typewriters, office computers, word processors, and the like.

Conventional technology Nowadays, OA equipment is becoming more widespread, and keyboards are becoming more and more popular.
Since it is a machine interface, it must be easy to use and be able to be operated even by complete amateurs. However, in order to increase the amount of input information, conventional keyboards assign multiple codes to one key, engrave these multiple code names on the key, and press the key at the same time as a special key such as the shift key. The required code is input from within. In this way, as the number of codes assigned to each key increases, it becomes more troublesome for operators to search for the necessary codes, the more complicated the operations become, the more likely they are to make operational mistakes, and the harder it is for beginners to get used to such keyboards. It has become. In addition, the current keyboard requires at least 45 keys to support all the keys for numbers, alphabets, and months. With such a large number of keys, it is very time consuming for beginners to find the necessary keys (codes). Furthermore, while office automation equipment and the like are becoming more compact, the problem arises that this keyboard is the only one that has a large number of keys, making it difficult to make it more compact.

In addition, unless you are a full-time operator, keyboard operations are often carried out by holding a document in one hand and keying in with the other hand, which may require the keyboard to be large or requiring you to key in two or more keys at the same time. If it is necessary, the operation becomes troublesome.

Purpose The present invention was made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a keyboard that reduces the number of keys and is more compact, improves operability, and can be easily used even by beginners. shall be.

composition An embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

First, FIG. 1 is a plan view of a keyboard (1), which has N keys (N=16 in the figure) on its surface.
) LCD display key group (3) and modibu ASC
II code mode key (4), numerical mode key (5),
Katakana mode key (6), alphabet mode key (7), hiragana mode key (8), kanji mode key (
9) A group of mode keys (10 and kana-kanji conversion key α
Koto, space key 02, NEXT gee α key, BA
A CK key 0→, a group of four arithmetic operation keys 09, a cursor movement key group αG, and a group of other keys 0 are provided.

Here, each key other than key (2) is engraved with the meaning of the key.

The key (2) is equipped with a dot matrix type liquid crystal display means, and a group of liquid crystal display keys (
A specific example of the configuration of 3) is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. First, each key (2) set at 0 seconds of the mold is formed of a transparent member (a) such as glass or plastic except for its frame α so that the liquid crystal characters can be seen. And the key (
As shown in FIG. 3, the bottom of 2) has a conductive part 01)k made of conductive rubber or the like, as well as a polarizing plate (a). This polarizing plate (a) enables liquid crystal display when using a TN (twisted nematic) liquid crystal, and when using a liquid crystal other than a TN liquid crystal, such as a GH (guest host) liquid crystal. This polarizing plate (c) is unnecessary. However, the mounting position of the polarizing plate (a) is indicated by the symbol (2Z
As shown in a), it may be placed under the glass plate (described later), but according to the method provided at the bottom of the key (2), by simply changing the type of the polarizing plate (a), liquid crystals of various colors can be created. Display becomes possible. A glass plate (a) (a transparent plate such as a plastic plate may also be used) is provided below the key (2). This glass plate (c) is coated with a key switch pattern (c) corresponding to each key (2), and when the key (2) is pressed, its conductive part (c) is coated.
By c), the desired key switch pattern (c) is short-circuited, and the CPU knows which key (2) has been keyed in. Further, a liquid crystal display panel (c) is provided below the glass plate (c). This liquid crystal display panel (c) is made by sandwiching a TN liquid crystal (c) between glass plates (c) and (a), and the inside of the glass plates (c) and (b) is necessary for dot matrix liquid crystal display. dot pattern (
b) is deposited. In addition, if it is technically or cost-problematic to make a large-area liquid crystal display panel (c), it may be divided as shown in FIG. 6.

In this way, the key (2) or the LCD display key group (
3) is configured, and each key (2) is assigned a large number of codes, and the necessary codes are mode key group 0.
It is set to be selected by an operation such as 0.

Figure 4 shows a block diagram including the CPU (7), which is connected to the internal memory IJ (31) and the external memory 02, a group of LCD display keys (3), a group of mode keys 00, etc. The key-in information with other keys υ is given by the key-in information line. On the other hand, a liquid crystal display drive circuit @ is connected to the CPU (g) by a liquid crystal display information line, and is connected to each key (2) by a multiplexer 09.

In such a configuration, when using the keyboard (1), first select the desired code mode from among the mode keys. For example, the numerical mode key (5)
When you press the key in, the numerical display information (information necessary to display the numerical values 0 to 9 as dots) stored in advance in the external memory 02 is sent to the LCD display key group (3) for C and DU countries. It's coming.

Codes are pre-corresponding to the position of the key (2) in this order, and the output is performed in that order.

The display information thus sent to the keyboard (1) is distributed to each key (2) by a multiplexer 09, and the necessary code corresponding to each key (2) is displayed on a dot matrix liquid crystal display. In other words, the code displayed on each key (2) is a single code with only numerical values, and all you have to do is operate the keys while looking at this display.
There are no selection mistakes and it is easy to operate. For example, if you press the key (2) that is displayed as "1", the CPU (g) will know the position of this key (2) and the mode (numeric mode) at that time, and will write "l" as the corresponding necessary code. The key human power was the pressure.

In other modes, the process is basically the same.

By the way, when using the method of this embodiment, the number of keys (2) N
is arbitrary, and may be set to N-10 assuming a numeric keypad, for example. In this case, there is no problem since the numbers are 0 to 9, but since there are 26 alphabetical characters from A to Z, ten keys (2) cannot be used to allocate and display all the alphanumeric characters at once. However, N
There is no problem because there is an EXT key α9, a BACK key αΦ, etc. For example, in the case of the alphabet, the first 10 codes (A-J) are loaded from external memory 0■ by pressing the alphabet mode key (7) and stored in internal memory e(+). At the same time, it will be displayed on the LCD. At this time, the information loaded from the external memory 0 is display information for displaying the entire alphabet together with the alphabet code. Therefore, only the alphabetic codes are stored in the internal memory (3+), and the display information is transmitted to each key (2) via the CPU (g), the liquid crystal display drive circuit 04), and the multiplexer 09. Here, if there is no code that the operator wants to key in among the keys (2) displayed up to AJ, press the NEXT key 0:multiple. Then, -T appears on each key (2) as described above as the next display. In this way, NEXT until the corresponding code is found.
Just press the key αJy. If you accidentally advance the display too far, press the BACK key (141) to return the display.In this way, you can set the key (2) to 10 keys, but even if it is too small, press the NEXT key α] Since the operability decreases due to the increased number of operations such as
That is, it is desirable to set it to about N-30.

In addition, in this embodiment, since the liquid crystal display uses a dot matrix system, it is possible to display katakana, hiragana, and kanji, and the katakana mode key (6), hiragana mode key (8), and kanji mode key ( 9) k can be provided. Therefore, it can be applied as a keyboard for Japanese word processors, etc. Here, katakana,
For Hiragana, the same operation as in alphabet mode etc. is sufficient. On the other hand, the case of kanji will be explained with reference to flowchart 1- in FIG. First, press the Kanji mode key (9
)'t When you chire in, katakana will be displayed on key (2) as in katakana mode. Therefore, when the operator inputs the on-yomi of the kanji that he or she wants to key in using katakana code, the CPU (a) temporarily stores the input katakana code in the memory. Then, when the operator finishes inputting the on-yomi reading, he presses the kana-kanji conversion key 〇9. As a result, the CPU (g) displays on the liquid crystal display the kanji pitch name key (2) corresponding to the kana stored in the memory. For example, if you enter the key ``1san'' in kana, each key (2) will be ``san'', ``yama'', ``san'', ``san'', ``san'', and ``san''.
Kanji such as "a," etc. will be displayed on the liquid crystal. At this time, if there are more kanji characters corresponding to the on-yomi reading than the number of keys (2) and cannot be displayed at once, the display can be advanced by pressing the NEXT key α3 to search for the corresponding kanji load. However,
When the required Kanji code appears, the operator can press that key (2).

Then, the CPU (g) refers to all the internal memory 01) for the kanji code corresponding to the pressed key (2) position, makes a determination, and ends the kanji input. First, unless the operator cancels the kanji mode, katakana will be displayed on the key (2) again in preparation for the next kanji input.

In other words, in conventional Japanese word processors,
After inputting all the kana characters, the kanji corresponding to the word ``mine'' is displayed on the display (CRT), and the operator specifies all the kanji characters while looking at this display. There is a method that automatically converts kana that should be converted into kanji into kanji.
In the method of this embodiment, the kanji code is directly displayed on each key (2) and selected.

Incidentally, this embodiment is also characterized by the key arrangement shown in FIG. In other words, the number of keys (2) etc. can be reduced, so you can hold the document in your left hand and press the keys with only your right hand.
Keys that are used relatively frequently are generally placed on the right side of the keyboard (1) in consideration of the in-operation. Further, the mode key group 00 can be operated with the little finger of the right hand. In addition, the kana-kanji conversion key (11
) is long so that after pressing all the kana keys manually with your fingers, you can enter the kana-kanji conversion key α1) with your wrist, improving operability.

In this embodiment, a dot matrix type liquid crystal display is used, but a segment type liquid crystal display may be used. In other words, the segment method divides the shape of the code such as letters and numbers to be displayed on the liquid crystal into several areas in advance.
Electrodes corresponding to the shape are provided, and a necessary electrode is selected depending on the code to be printed, and a voltage is applied to display the code. Although this segment method is easier to control than the dot matrix method, the dot matrix method is preferable as in this embodiment in order to provide more versatility such as displaying Chinese characters.

In the end, according to this embodiment, each key (2) is provided with a liquid crystal display means to display the necessary code.
) The number of codes assigned to keys (2) can in principle be increased as much as desired, and the number of keys (2) can be reduced. This allows the keyboard (1) to be made more compact and improves operability. Furthermore, even if a plurality of codes are assigned, each key (2) displays a single type of only the necessary codes, so even beginners can avoid selection mistakes and have good operability. In addition, since kanji can be displayed, each key (2)
It is also possible to key in all the kanji codes that are displayed on the screen, such as I.

Effects Since the present invention is configured as described above, it is possible to increase the number of codes assigned to each key and reduce the number of keys, thereby making the keyboard more compact and improving operability. In this case, each key does not display a single type of code that is only the necessary code, so selection errors can be greatly reduced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view, Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view, Fig. 3 is a bottom view, Fig. 4 is a block diagram, Fig. 5 is a flow chart, and Fig. 6 is a block diagram. The figure is a first perspective view showing a modified example. 2...Key, 10...Mode key
Ricoh Co., Ltd. - Collection Figure - J, I, I/J3 JIL - Collection/1 Anchor

Claims (1)

[Claims] A plurality of keys are provided, each of which is assigned a plurality of codes, and a necessary code is selected by operating a group of mode keys, etc., and a liquid crystal display means is provided on these keys to display the necessary code selected by operating the group of mode keys, etc. A keyboard characterized by: