JPS63208111A - Miniature character input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To decrease the number of keys, to make the titled device miniature and inexpensive, and also, to improve the operability and the input efficiency, by adopting a rotary number plate. CONSTITUTION:Characters and symbols of plural stages are put down on a rotary number plate 1. Which character of these two layers is inputted is determined by which has been depressed, an alphanumeric key 10 for selecting a character or a KANA (Japanese syllabary) key. When the rotary number plate 1 is rotated in a state the one of said selection key 10 or 12 (KANA key) has been depressed and held, the character and the symbol conforming to a selected character mark 4 are displayed successively on a selected character display 5 just above. In case desired character and symbol have been displayed, when an input key 8 is depressed, the character and symbol concerned are displayed successively extending from the left end of a display 6 to the right, and also, the character and symbol are inputted to a device body.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention provides a character input device having the same functions as a keyboard used for inputting alphanumeric characters, hiragana, katakana, special symbols, etc. In particular, the present invention relates to a small character input device that can be applied to handheld word processors and the like.

[Prior art]

Various keyboards are known as conventional character input devices. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, kana characters are applied to each key corresponding to alphanumeric characters and symbols, and one of the inputs is performed depending on the state in which the shift key of the lower cloth is pressed. The characters and symbols input in this way are displayed on the display D. There are various other well-known keyboards used in word processors and computers, but in any case, there is a limit to the miniaturization of input devices in which the key tops are pressed down with fingers, due to limitations imposed by the thickness of the fingertips. be.

Therefore, as devices for inputting data become smaller and more convenient, they become difficult to operate. Especially in miniaturized hand-held word processors and electronic dictionary input devices with built-in electronic circuitry,
Since it is difficult to press the keys with fingers, a method is adopted in which input operations are performed using the tip of a writing instrument or a dedicated key press bar A.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Such a small keyboard type character input device is difficult to operate with hands and fingers, and it cannot be denied that if a pressing aid is used to solve these difficulties, it will be disadvantageous in terms of operability, input efficiency, etc. The present invention aims to provide a compact, low-cost, small-sized character input device with good operability and input efficiency, which uses a rotating dial to reduce the number of keys and eliminates these problems without using any auxiliary tools. It is something to do.

[Structure of the invention]

A small character input device according to the present invention has the configuration described in the claims, that is, a rotary dial plate on which a group of characters and symbols are displayed along the circumferential direction, and a selection mark indicating the character to be selected. and an input key for generating a character signal corresponding to the selected character/symbol.

[Effects of invention]

According to the present invention, a small character input device that is small and highly operable is obtained, and is particularly applicable as a character input device for small handheld word processors, hand belt computers, and the like.

[Explanation of Examples]

The invention will now be disclosed with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which examples are shown.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of a small character input device according to the present invention. The device consists of a rotary dial board 1 with appropriate characters and symbols written on it, and a selection mark 4 that matches the selected characters.
, a character selection display 5 for displaying selected characters, a display 7 for displaying input text, and an input key 8 for inputting when character selection is completed. The rotary dial 1 is provided with a knob 9 provided at the center for rotation. The rotary dial plate 1 has a plurality of rows of characters and symbols, in this embodiment, kana characters on the outside and alphanumeric characters on the inside. Which of these two layers of characters is input depends on whether the alphanumeric key 10 or the kana key 12 for character selection is pressed. Which character selection key is being pressed, and therefore which layer of character input mode is in use, can be confirmed at any time by lighting the respective indicator lights (LEDs) 11 or 13.

When the rotary dial plate 1 is rotated with either the character selection key 10 or 12 pressed and held, the characters and symbols matching the character selection mark 4 are sequentially displayed on the character selection display 5 immediately above. If the input key 8 is pressed when desired characters/symbols are displayed, the characters/symbols are sequentially displayed from the left end to the right side of the text display 6.

In this case, an electrical output signal corresponding to the character/symbol is generated to the main body of the device, which is incorporated in the same body or separated. The timing at which the output signal is generated can be set for each character or for each number of digits of the text display 6.

FIG. 3 shows the usage state of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, in which the indicator light 13 is lit to indicate that the kana character input mode is selected.

On the text display 6, up to "Haru no Urara" has already been input, and the cursor 30 is located at the position where the input is to be made. The kana character layer of the main rotary dial plate 1 is the character ``no'', which is also displayed on the character selection display 5, so if the input key 8 is pressed here, the character ``no'' will be entered. be exposed. If alphanumeric manual mode is selected, the corresponding alphanumeric characters are entered.

FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment, in which each character layer of the rotary dial plate 2 is constructed in two stages with two types of characters. That is, the kana character layer has hiragana and katakana, and the alphanumeric character layer has uppercase and lowercase letters and various symbols. Selection of these character/symbol types is performed by operating the shift key 14 in addition to the alphanumeric keys 10 and the kana keys 12. Whether or not the shift key 14 is operated can be easily confirmed by the indicator light 15. Note that the shift key 14 can be held by pressing it once and released by pressing it the next time, and by shifting, the kana mode can be set to katakana, and the alphanumeric mode can be set to lowercase letters. Alternatively, it may be configured to shift only when pressed. In any case, (1) Pressing only alphanumeric key 11 → English capital letters, (2) Alphanumeric key + shift key 15 →
Lowercase English letters, (3) Press only Kana key 13 → Hiragana, (4
) It is possible to input four types of characters/symbols: Kana key + Shift key → Katakana.

FIG. 5 shows the third embodiment, in which characters in each layer of the rotary dial plate 1 can be changed to uppercase alphanumeric characters/characters without using the shift key.
The 0 selection keys, which are provided with selection keys for inputting alphanumeric lowercase letters and hiragana (7), are alphanumeric lowercase keys 16, alphanumeric uppercase keys 18, hiragana keys 20, and katakana keys 22. are selectively pressed and held one by one. Each key has an indicator light 17.1
9.21.23 are correspondingly arranged and configured to display the mode in the pressed/held state. The operation when a mode is selected by any of the keys is the same as in the previous embodiment.

FIG. 6 shows a fourth embodiment, in which a character selection display is not attached. The character selection display 5 disposed in the first to third embodiments displays the character on the rotary dial that hits the character selection mark 4, but in this embodiment, the text display 7 This is intended to display the character selection status at the top. Figure 7 shows a first example of displaying the character selection state, in which the text rsUNDAJ that has already been input is in the normal display state, while the selected character "Y" is displayed in reverse video. , which indicates that the character selection process is currently underway. FIG. 8 shows a second display example, in which in addition to the characters that actually hit the character selection mark 4, the adjacent characters are also displayed as "Y2123," as a reversed part 32 in the entire margin of the text display. This is what is displayed.

In addition, Fig. 9 does not display the inputted text, but displays the characters before and after the character on the rotary dial plate 2 that includes the character that hits the character selection mark 4, and displays the characters that actually hit the character selection mark 4. Only the characters that appear are highlighted. In addition, in Figures 8 and 9, characters other than the characters that actually hit the character selection mark 4 are displayed in consideration of the workability of character selection, but they do not need to be displayed. .

FIG. 10 shows a fifth embodiment of the present invention, which is effective in allowing input of more characters and symbols than in previous embodiments. The rotary dial plate 3 in this embodiment has two layers and two rows of letters and symbols, as well as a column for special symbols inside. Furthermore, a symbol key 24 and an indicator light 25 for selecting a special symbol for this additional tank are provided. Examples of special symbols here include "■, kg, cc, 〃, J, &j, made, p
There are various unit symbols and academic symbols such as s, nss, H) J, etc. In this case, if the symbol key 24 is pressed,
As shown in FIG. 11, these symbols are displayed on the text display 7, and only the symbol r['' that corresponds to the character selection mark 4 is highlighted as indicated by the symbol 34. It goes without saying that a character selection display can also be provided in the fifth embodiment depending on the purpose.

Such a configuration achieves the intended purpose.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a first embodiment of a small character input device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is an example of a keyboard as a small character input device according to the prior art. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the usage state of the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a second embodiment of the small character input device according to the present invention. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a third embodiment of the small character input device according to the present invention. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a fourth embodiment of the small character input device according to the present invention. FIGS. 7 to 9 are explanatory diagrams showing how the fourth embodiment is used. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a fifth embodiment of the small-sized character input device according to the present invention. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing the state of use of the fifth embodiment. The correspondence of the main reference symbols in the figure is as follows. 1.2.3: Rotating dial 4: Character selection mark 5: Character selection display 6.7; Text display 8: Input key 10: Alphanumeric key 11: Alphanumeric indicator light 12: Kana key 13: Kana indicator light 14 : Shift key 15: Shift indicator 16: Alphanumeric (lowercase) key 17: Alphanumeric (lowercase) indicator 18: Alphanumeric (uppercase) key 19: Alphanumeric (uppercase) indicator

Claims (1)

[Claims] A rotating dial plate with a group of characters and symbols displayed along the circumference, a selection mark that indicates the character to be selected, and an input key that generates a character signal corresponding to the selected character and symbol. A small character input device comprising: