JPS6180319A - Keyboard - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve operability and processing efficiency by forming two save areas for a repeat key on a keyboard, and at the simultaneous depressing of cursor keys, alternately exchanging the codes of the 1st and 2nd save areas with a prescribed time interval. CONSTITUTION:A computer system provided with a keyboard is constituted of a key matrix 5, a timer 6, a microcomputer 8, etc. and a key ON/OFF detection part 1, a key code generation part 2, a sending part 4, and a repeat key generation part 3 are formed to execute the cursor processing of the keyboard. Two save area for the repeat key are formed, and at the simultaneous depression of the cursor keys, the 1st and 2nd save areas are alternately exchanged at the prescribed time interval. Consequently, the movement of the cursor keys in the eight directions including inclined directions can be attained only by depressing two cursor keys simultaneously out of four cursor keys for normal four (up, down, right, and left) directions, so that the cursors can be rapidly moved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Technical Field The present invention relates to a keyboard with a cursor repeat function suitable for use in office computers, personal computers, word processors, and other OA-related equipment. Rather than repeating each chord alternately when keys are held down at the same time, the position information in the composite direction can be obtained simply by using the normal 4-way cursor movement keys, and the diagonal direction This invention relates to a keyboard that enables quick cursor movement and improves system processing efficiency.

Currently, in the computer field, the number of software that makes extensive use of cursor keys, such as spreadsheets, word processors, and screen editors, is rapidly increasing.

A keyboard is often used as an input device for such a general computer.

A typical keyboard has a repeat function, and is configured so that if a key is held down, the code is repeatedly input at regular intervals.

By the way, in the conventional keyboard repeat function, when two or more keys are pressed, the key pressed later is repeated.

In this respect, the repeat function for the cursor key is the same as for other keys, and the cursor key pressed later will be repeated 1-.

FIG. 4 is an example of a general cursor key conventionally used on a keyboard. The thick arrow of each key in the drawing indicates the direction of movement of the cursor.

As shown in Figure 4, a normal keyboard is equipped with cursor keys that instruct movement in four directions: up, down, left and right, and only one of them can be operated at a time. .

Therefore, if you want to move the cursor diagonally, for example, if you want to move the cursor from the bottom right of the screen to the top left, you need to perform the horizontal and vertical movement operations separately.

In this case, for example, first, press and hold the left key to move the cursor to the left, then press and hold the ``] key to move the cursor in the - direction. It goes without saying that the order of this movement operation may be reversed.

This point is exactly the same for the Repeat 1~ function, which is used when the cursor moves a large amount; even if you operate two cursor keys at the same time, only the key pressed next will move. do not have.

Therefore, for diagonal movement, two temporally different
This has the disadvantage that multiple cursor operations are required.

Item 6■ Therefore, the keyboard of the present invention has a repeat 1 function and solves these inconveniences in conventional keyboards that are configured to allow continuous movement when the cursor has a large amount of movement. , the display screen can be moved in eight directions, including diagonally, by simply using the normal four-way cursor keys (up, down, left and right).
The second purpose is to enable quick cursor movement to any arbitrary position and improve the processing efficiency of the system.

Structure To achieve this, in the keyboard of the present invention, in a keyboard equipped with various keys including cursor keys for instructing movement in four directions (up, down, left and right), two save areas for the repeat key are provided, When two keys are pressed at the same time, the coats of the first save area and the second save area are alternately exchanged at predetermined time intervals to generate position information in the composite direction. There is.

Next, an embodiment of the keyboard of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of the main parts related to cursor processing of the keyboard of the present invention. In the drawings, 1 indicates a key press/press detection section, 2 a key code generation section, 3 a repeat key generation section, and 4 a key code transmission section.

The key press detection section 1 senses an address code when a key press/press is detected from a key matrix (not shown).

The key code generation unit 2 converts an address code into a key code.

The key code sending unit 4 sends the pressed key code and the key code generated from the repeat key generating unit 3 to the serial line.

The entire keyboard shown in FIG. 1 is processed in this manner.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a computer system equipped with the keyboard of the present invention. In the drawing, 5 is a key matrix, 6 is a timer, 7 is a parallel/serial (P/S) converter, 8 is a microcomputer, and 9 is an interface circuit.

In the key matrix 5, key switches are wired in a matrix.

The timer 6 is a timer for measuring repeat time intervals, and when accurate time interval measurement is not required, a software timer of the microcomputer 8 can be used instead.

The parallel/serial converter 7 is a converter for converting a parallel key code into a serial code.

These key matrix 5, timer 6, parallel/
The serial converter 7 is connected to a data bus that connects to a microcomputer 8, and the microcomputer 8 controls each of these parts and also converts the address code detected from the keyma 1 helix 5 into a key code. do.

Further, in the keyboard of the present invention, the microcomputer 8 performs a repeat process for keys in a depressed state.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining cursor processing when two cursor keys are pressed simultaneously on the keyboard of the invention shown in FIG. #1 to #19 in the drawings indicate steps.

In a normal repeat key generation method, there is only one repeat key save area, but the keyboard of the present invention has two save areas, a repeat first key and a repeat second key.

First, the process of setting the repeat 1 to 1st keys and the repeat 2nd key will be explained.

When execution authority is passed to the processing routine of FIG. 3, in step #1, a key address is detected from the keyma 1 helix 5 and converted into a key code.

Next, in step R2, it is determined whether the key has been pressed down, pressed up, or whether there has been any change in the state of the key.

In this case, if there is no change in the state of the key, in step #3, key codes are set for the repeat 1 to 1st keys, and it is determined whether there is a repeat key. If there is no repeat key, return to step #1 and detect the key code again.

If there is a repeat key, repeat 1- in step #4.
Detects the timer and determines whether the repeat time has been reached. If repeat time is not reached, step #
Return to 1.

If the repeat time has been reached, in step #5, the key code saved in the repeat first key is sent to the serial line and the timer is reset.

Next, in step #6, it is determined whether the key code is saved in the repeat second key. If there is no key code, return to step #1.

If there is a key code, the key codes of the first repeat key and the second repeat key are exchanged in step #7. By exchanging this key code, the content of the next repeat key becomes that of the second repeat key.

On the other hand, if there is a pressed key in step #2, the first repeat is performed in steps #8 to #10.
Determine whether there is a key code in the key.

If there is no key code, if the content of the first repeat key is not a cursor key, or if the pressed key is a cursor key, in step #12, set the pressed key code to the repeat first key, Clear 2 keys.

Then, in step #13, a repeat timer is reset, and in step #14, the pressed key code is sent to the serial line.

In other cases, in step #11, the pressed cursor key:code is set to the second repeat key.

In this way, the repeat first key and repeat second key are set.

On the other hand, in step #2, if there is a pressed key, repeat 1 to the first key and repeat second key Nori Sera 1 are performed. In this step #2, if the repeat first key and the press-1 key have the same contents, the repeat first key is cleared.

Also, if the repeat 1st key and the press -1 - key are the same, in steps #15 and #16, the contents of the repeat 2nd key are transferred to the repeat 1st key, and the repeat 2nd
Clear keys.

With this procedure, when two cursor keys are pressed at the same time, the two codes are alternately output to the serial line.

Therefore, positional information in the direction in which the two key codes are combined can be obtained.

As explained in detail above, the keyboard of the present invention has two save areas for the Repeat+ key in a keyboard equipped with various keys including cursor keys for instructing movement in four directions: up, down, left and right. , when two cursor keys are pressed at the same time, position information in the synthesis direction is generated by alternately exchanging the codes of the first save area and the second save area at predetermined time intervals. I have to.

Therefore, according to the keyboard of this invention, the normal one
- Using the 4-way cursor keys (down, left, and right), you can move in 8 directions, including diagonally, by simply holding down two cursor keys at the same time.I) To any position on the display screen You can move the cursor quickly.

Therefore, the operability of cursor movement is improved, and the processing efficiency of the system is significantly improved.

In addition, in the computer field, software 1 that uses a lot of cursor keys, such as Spreadsheet 1~ and 2 1-processor,
Although hardware is rapidly increasing, there are many excellent effects such as no need to change the interface part of the rough 1 to wear.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of the main parts related to cursor processing of the keyboard of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a computer system equipped with the keyboard of the present invention, and FIG. Fig. 2 is a flowchart for explaining cursor processing when two cursor keys are pressed simultaneously in the keyboard of the present invention, and Fig. 4 shows the general cursor keys conventionally used on keyboards. This is an example. In the drawing, 1 is a key press detection unit, 2 is a key code generation unit, 3 is a repeat 1 to key generation unit, 4 is a key code transmission unit, 5 is a key matrix, 6 is a timer, 7 is a parallel/serial converter, 8 is a microcomputer, and 9 is an interface circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] For keyboards equipped with various keys including cursor keys that direct movement in four directions (up, down, left and right), two save areas for repeat keys are provided, and when two cursor keys are pressed at the same time, the repeat key is saved for a specified period of time. A keyboard characterized in that position information in a synthesis direction is generated by alternately exchanging codes of a first save area and a second save area at intervals.