KR20070104324A - A convenient input device combining keyboard and mouse - Google Patents

Abstract

A convenient input device combined a keyboard and a mouse is provided to enable a user to diversely change a pose for long time use by enabling the user to use the input device on a desk or hold/use the input device with hands, and enable the user to quickly input characters and use the mouse by making an index finger operate two keys and other fingers operate one key. An input device has a keyboard function enabling the user to input all necessary characters with neighboring keys by arranging a small number of keys to be easily pushed with all fingers, an aero mouse function, and a keyboard function. The user uses the input device by holding the input device with both hands. Four keys(11-14,15-18) are arranged to each quickly moving thumb and two keys(1-2,6-7) are arranged to each index finger. The left thumb manages a frequently used enter, space, back space, and delete key.

Description

A convenient input device combining keyboard and mouse}

The present invention relates to an input device of a computer such as a keyboard and a mouse.

Conventional computer keyboards, which are used in everyday life, are character input devices that are well known to the general public as they do not need explanation. In the conventional keyboard, about 100 keys (switches) are arranged, and the user presses each key using ten fingers. Since the hands are placed on the keyboard and used, the wrist is bound to be folded. When you use it for a long time, the wrist bends a lot of fatigue. Programmers, document clerks, and journalists are very tired of using existing keyboards. Also, the number keys on the top row of the keyboard are hard to press without seeing the keyboard.

4 shows a typical circuit configuration of a conventional keyboard. The microcontroller 22, which consists of the central control unit (CPU), ROM, and RAM, scans the key array 24 to find out which key is pressed, and then inputs the corresponding key code to the USB terminal 23. Pass it through the computer. Scanning 100 keys requires a 10-bit port for each row and column. If you arrange the keys in a 10 X 10 matrix, you can scan 100 keys. The LED 21 is an indicator indicating the capital letter key lock state or the like.

The second most common input device for using a computer is a mouse. The main function of the mouse is to move the position of the pointer and to select or execute by the left, middle, and right buttons. Today, various mice have been made, even aerial mice. The aerial mouse has a sensor for detecting movement in the air, and the detected movement degree is used to move the mouse pointer. In the present invention, combining with an aerial mouse is used for some functions.

The present invention devised a hand-held keyboard that improves the disadvantages of the existing keyboard (a wrist fatigue and difficulty in entering numbers and symbols in the top row on the key arrangement in which the fingers should be extended far away when used for a long time). 1 shows the state of using the input device of the present invention in both hands. In order to take advantage of the hand-held advantage, the combination of the air mouse function has been made into a composite input device. Given that the existing keyboard and mouse are used alternately, the integrated input device of the present invention ensures much faster use.

FIG. 2 is a representative view of the present invention and shows the appearance and key arrangement of the keyboard and mouse integrated input device 20. As shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, eighteen keys 1-18 and a display 19 can be seen. In the present invention, only 18 keys (switches) are used, but they function as text input and mouse buttons as a conventional keyboard. 1 is an example of use of the present invention. As you can see, the left thumb is 11-14 keys, the left index finger is 1-2 keys, the left stop is 3 keys, the left ring finger is 4 keys, the left pinkie is 5 keys, the right thumb Is the key 15 ~ 18, the right index finger 6 ~ 7 key, the right middle finger 8 key, the right ring finger 9 key, the right pinky key 10 key. The key placement features a dull stop, ring finger, and the pinky finger for one key in a fixed position, the more active index finger for two keys, and the most active thumb for four keys. . The total 18 keys mentioned can be easily pressed by using 10 fingers of both hands, and the thumb and index finger are responsible for multiple keys, so it is necessary to move the fingers. And easy to use.

With only 18 keys mentioned above, the characters and symbols shown in [Figure 3] can be entered into the connected computer, and the mode switching function (Korean / English) key lock function (Tab, Ctr, Cap, Alt, Shift) Can be used. In addition, you can use the left / middle / right button functions of the mouse, as well as the Enter, Back Space, and Delete keys. This input / setting function is based on the combined function of the existing keyboard and mouse.

The keyboard function of a computer is divided into two main parts. The first is to detect characters or symbols that the user wants to input, and the second is to convert the detected characters or symbols to codes and send them to the computer. The biggest difference between the input device and the existing keyboard of the present invention lies in a method of designating / sensing a character that a user wants to input. The method of specifying / sensing the character corresponding to the first function of the keyboard will be described first, followed by the description of the electronic circuit and the function of transmitting the character code to the computer.

In the existing keyboard, a key (keyboard switch) takes one character while a mode (Korean / English, uppercase / lowercase, and shift) is set. On the other hand, in the present invention, a plurality of keys are used in combination to cover a large number of character / symbol input and setting functions with a small number of (18) keys. In short, the existing keyboard detects which key corresponding to a letter is pressed, and the input device of the present invention detects a key combination. The specific key combination detection method will be described in several paragraphs below.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual character key arrangement for explaining a method of inputting letters / numbers / symbols (all letters / numbers / symbols are referred to as characters in the following description) in the present invention. The conceptual character key array herein does not mean that the keys of the array as shown in FIG. 3 actually exist, but are characters for explaining how to input characters using 14 keys (1 to 10, 15 to 18). Is an array of them. In a conventional keyboard, there are actual keys in an arrangement similar to that of FIG. In the following description, for convenience of description, one column of FIG. 3 is conceptually referred to as one key.

Prior to the detailed description of the character input method will be described for [Fig. 3] itself. As in the conventional keyboard, one conceptual key of FIG. 3 may be divided into four parts. That is, up to four characters are displayed in one key. For example, Q, q, ㅃ, ㅂ are shown above a single key (in the second row, first column of the array in [Figure 3]). To select one of the four characters, left and right and top and bottom separation is required.The left and right division is based on Korean / English mode (Korean / English mode with the same concept as the existing keyboard. Determined by the Shift key or Cap mode. Sometimes there are only two characters in a key, in which case only the top and bottom are separated. That is, when the English mode or the Hangul mode, both input characters are the same. Representative examples in this case are numeric keys. There are also cases where there are three characters in a key. In this case, there is no upper and lower case in Hangul mode. In other words, the shift key is not affected by the Hangul mode. An example of this case is a key marked with A, a, ㅁ (third row, first column in the array of [Fig. 3]).

In order to select one of the plurality of characters shown in FIG. 3, it is necessary to determine the selection of the key with the character indication and one of the two to four characters displayed in the selected key. In the present invention, the selection of letters is made by the 14 keys 1 to 10 and 15 to 18 in FIG. 3A to 3D are divided into four types of character arrays of FIG. 3. FIG. 3A is the characters corresponding to the left half of FIG. 3, which are characters placed above each key. This is similar to the left half of characters that can be input while the shift key is pressed in the existing keyboard. With the same concept as in [Fig. 3A], [Fig. 3B] is the upper characters of the right half, [Fig. 3C] is the lower characters of the left half, and [Fig. 3D] is the lower characters of the right half. In FIGS. 3A to 3D, K6 to K10 and K15 to K18 represent the state in which the 6 to 10 and 15 to 18 keys (6 to 10, 15 to 18) in [FIG. 2] are pressed. The small circle means that the key is pressed. To help you understand it quickly, we will describe the process by which a single character is selected with an example and then explain the general rules. For example, when K15 and K6 in FIG. 3A are pressed, it means that the five characters!, @, #, $, And% on the first line are selected. To select the last one of these five characters, keys 1 to 5 of FIG. 2 are used. These keys take a row from the left. If the character you want to select is '$', it is in the fourth column, so press key 4. To sum up the action that the user performs to enter '$', press the 15 key with the thumb of the right hand, press the key 4 with the left finger ring while pressing the 6 key with the index finger of the right hand.

Now, to explain the general rule of the character selection of the present invention, the right thumb thumb 15 to 16 keys to select one group of [Fig. 3a] to [Fig. 3d], and the left fingers of the right hand 6 ~ 10 By selecting the rows in which the keys are in the group and selecting the column of keys 1 to 5 that the left-hand fingers except for the thumb are responsible for, one of the five characters in the column selected by the right hand is finally selected. There are two characters of the keys of FIGS. 3A to 3D, and these two characters are distinguished by the Korean / English mode because they are one Korean and one English.

The arrangement of FIG. 3 is determined so that a user memorizing the key position of the existing keyboard can easily find a combination of keys to be pressed per character in order to use the input device of the present invention. Except for the fifth column of FIG. 3, the key layout is the same as that of the existing keyboard. First, you need to press a key with your right thumb to select a group, which can be easily determined by anyone who knows the location of the keys on an existing keyboard. This is because the relative position of keys 5-18 is associated with the position of the character. The determination of the left and right positions depends on whether the group of characters in charge is on the left or on the right. The keys 15 and 16 in charge of the left group are arranged on the right side and the keys 17 and 18 in charge of the right group. The up and down position depends on whether you have a shift character (or a shift key when typing on an existing keyboard). Since the shift character is above in the key, the responsible group keys 15 and 17 are placed above. The rest of the fingers of the right hand, except for the thumb, can be selected by selecting a row of characters on the existing keyboard, and the rest of the fingers of the left hand are selected by a column. In addition, there is a display 19 as a means to assist in the process of memorizing key combinations to be pressed by the user. When a row of five characters is selected by two keys selected by the two fingers of the right hand, the left hand finger helps select the column by displaying the characters in that row on the display.

When the selected character is detected, the column is selected by the left hand finger after one row (1 × 5 matrix) containing five characters is selected by the two fingers of the right hand. In other words, no action takes place from the point of view of character input until you select a row with two fingers of your right hand, and the character code is sent to your computer when one finger of your left hand is pressed.

One / zero, Shift, Ctr, Cap, Alt in the lower right of Figure 3 is a kind of mode key. The mode changes each time you press Han / Young, Shift, or Cap. For example, the Han / Young (selected by pressing the 17, 10 and 3 keys at the same time, see [Fig. 3b]) When the key is pressed once, each time you press the key again in English mode, then press again The mode changes. Alt, on the other hand, only locks Crt during the next press. For example, if the number 4 key is pressed in the order of A, Alt, B, C in the input device of the present invention, it is the same as pressing the number 3 key in the order of A, Alt + B, C in the existing keyboard. That is, the Alt key that was pressed is locked only until the next B is pressed. The mode selected by these keys is shown on the display 19 so that the user knows the mode.

Among the frequently used keys on the keyboard are the Enter, SP, Space, Back Space, and DEL keys. As often used, input does not use key combinations easily, so that one key (switch) plays one function. The 12 key of FIG. 2 is space, the 11 key is inverse space, the 13 key is Enter, Key 14 is the erase function. If any of the 6 to 10 keys in the right hand is pressed, the 11 to 13 keys in the reverse space / space / enter act as the middle, left and right mouse buttons.

So far, we have discussed the key combinations to press to select characters. From now on, we will describe the electronic circuit operations such as sending the selected characters to the keys to the computer and detecting the movement of the aerial mouse.

5 shows the configuration of a circuit for implementing the present invention. The main blocks include a microcontroller 26, a key arrangement 29, a display 19, a gyro sensor 28, and the like.

The microcontroller 26 is similar to the microcontroller 22 of a conventional keyboard, and has a larger capacity ROM, an output port for driving a display, and an input port for reading a value from a gyro sensor.

The key arrangement 29 operates on the same principle as the conventional one 24. However, in Fig. 5 of the present invention, the key arrangement is shown in a detailed circuit, and only the number of keys is small. The switches in FIG. 5 are labeled with the same numbers as the keys in FIG. 2. In the present invention, a total of 9 bits (4 rows and 5 columns) ports are used to scan 18 keys, and a conventional keyboard differs only by using more than 20 bits to scan 100 keys. Since the key scan principle is a known technique, further description is omitted. The display 19 itself is not special. It is a syntactic that can display ten characters. Gyro sensors are the core technology of known aerial mice and are combined with keyboard blocks to form the integrated input device of the present invention.

A key aspect of the present invention lies in the software executed by the microcontroller 26. The software is stored in a ROM inside the microcontroller. There is also key mapping data 25 in part of the ROM. Character designation / detection method As described above, when a certain combination of keys is pressed to input a specific character, the microcontroller 26 determines which combination of keys is pressed by the key scanning method and corresponds to the combination. The mapping data is read from the location (memory address) and the character code (ascii code) value is sent to the computer via the USB interface. The USB interface works just like a traditional keyboard. The user can change the mapping data to enter characters with their own key combination. The method of changing the mapping data uses a conventional electronic product software upgrade method. One example of how to upgrade is download via USB. The control software of the present invention also performs mode management. In general, if the key is Ctr or Alt just before the character is input, the existing keyboard sends the Ctr + or Art + character code.

The microcontroller 26 also controls the display 19 and provides five text and mode indications within the selected row as described above.

The core technology of a public mouse using a gyro sensor or other sensors is a known one, but it is the technique of the present invention to be integrated with a keyboard. The microcontroller 26 delivers the movement value of the aerial mouse sensor when the computer is connected via the USB. In addition, as described above, when keys 11 to 13 are used as mouse buttons, the pressed states of the buttons are transmitted to the computer.

The present invention significantly reduces the fatigue felt when using the keyboard and mouse for a long time. As shown in the use example of FIG. 1, the input device of the present invention can be used with the wrist and the finger relaxed. In addition, the input device of the present invention can be used or placed on a desk, it is possible to change a variety of posture when using a long time. The wrists and fingers can be used in a relaxed state and can be used in various positions, reducing fatigue. Not having your wrists bent or your fingers moving too much can help reduce fatigue.

 The second effect is rapid input. The agile thumb is used a lot, the index finger is two keys, and the rest of the fingers are only one key structure is less finger movement. Thanks to this structure, if you are familiar with how to use it, you can quickly enter text and use the mouse.

Even when the user memorized all the positions of the keys, it was difficult to press the numeric keys, the inverse space (<-), the erase (DEL), etc., which are relatively far from the center. On the other hand, when using the input device of the present invention, if all the combinations of keys are memorized, all of them can be input without looking. All characters can be conveniently entered under the same conditions, which makes the character entry quicker and more convenient.

Whatever you do with your computer, you'll have to alternate your mouse and keyboard. By the way, the existing keyboard and mouse are separated to change hands frequently. For example, consider a programmer writing a software program. You must use the mouse to use the editor menus and the keyboard to enter program code. To do this, the hand often needs to move from keyboard to mouse and from mouse to keyboard. On the other hand, the input device of the present invention is very convenient because it is integrated with the keyboard mouse. It is convenient because you can use mouse and character input alternately at any time.

The existing keyboard is bulky, making it difficult to carry on business trips. However, since the input device of the present invention can be made in a small volume, portability is improved.

As described above, the present invention includes an electronic circuit including a microcontroller and a mechanical element in which a key (electronic switch) is arranged to be held and used by both hands.

The electronic circuit is similar to the microcontroller used in existing keyboards, using nine ports for key scanning, and connecting more than 10 remaining ports to a public mouse and a display (interface).

The software executed in the microcontroller is different from that of the existing keyboard or mouse and requires new things in the present invention. The software of the present invention is divided into five parts. These five parts are the key scanning part related to the keyboard function, the mapping data retrieval part, the character transmission part via USB, the display control part, and the public mouse data transmission part. The key mapping data is made to have a one-to-one correspondence with a key combination that must be pressed for character selection, and the mapping data is queried to obtain a character code to be sent each time the key is scanned.

The apparatus of the present invention is made by adjusting the spacing of the keys, the circumference of the hand grip, and so on to feel comfortable when held in the hand. As the size of the human hand varies, the mechanism part of the present invention can be varied. You can also create an input device with key spacing so that one input device can be used by many people with different hand sizes. There may be several ways to adjust the key spacing, but the typical method is to fill the nut with a long bolt on the inside of the case and adjust the position of the nut when the spacing needs to be adjusted.

1 is an example of using the input device of the present invention,

Figure 2 is an appearance of the present invention and 18 keys (1 to 18) layout,

3 is a key mapping of the present invention,

FIG. 3A is a character group selected by key 15 of FIG. 2

3B is a character group selected by the key 17 of FIG. 2

3C is a group of characters selected by the 16 key of FIG.

FIG. 3D is a group of characters selected by key 18 of FIG. 2

4 is an exemplary circuit of a conventional keyboard,

5 shows an electronic circuit configuration of the present invention.

Claims (6)

As shown in FIG. 2 or similarly, a small number of keys are easily placed by two-handed fingers so that a finger movement can input at least all necessary characters about one key adjacent to each other, and has a public mouse function and a keyboard. An input device that combines functionality and can be used with both hands. As shown in FIG. 2, the thumb movement is agile, and the thumb is placed on four keys and the second agile index finger is placed on two keys, and the left thumb is frequently used to enter, space, inverse space, and erase keys. Input device with the arrangement responsible for. In the same character type or the same number of characters as shown in FIG. 3, the right hand thumb and a combination of keys that can be pressed by one finger may be used to illustrate the operations of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, and 3C. 3d] input device using the left finger to select a line and finally select one of several characters in that line. An input device that enables a user to have a unique character input method (pressing key combination) by allowing the key mapping data to be changed by a download method. The input device according to claim 1, wherein a character input key and a mouse left / middle / right button are used in common as an input device that integrates a public mouse function and a keyboard function to eliminate the inconvenience of alternately using a keyboard and a mouse. The input device of claim 3, wherein the input device displays characters that can be input when some keys are first pressed to help the user memorize the input key combination.

Images