KR20090026474A - Keyboard device for compact digital machine - Google Patents

Abstract

A character input for a miniature digital device capable of inputting letter and increasing mobility by minimizing the number of letters is provided to maximize the efficiency with reference to the prevalence of character. An apparatus for inputting character is comprised of the right key of 3 by 4. The finger of the right hand four manages the right type-bar dozen of 3 by 4. The finger of the left hand four manages the type-bar dozen of 3 by 4. The thumb of left hand manages the type-bar two of 2 columns. The right thumb manages the type-bar two of 2 columns. The apparatus for inputting character is comprised of the type-bar of 28 totals.

Description

Text input and editing device for compact digital equipment {Keyboard device for compact digital machine}

The present invention relates to character entry and editing of digital equipment. It is designed for small devices such as laptops and PDAs, and can be applied to general PCs in an extended form.

In recent years, computers have evolved into notebooks, PDAs, and ultra-compact UMPCs, and their size has gradually decreased, while performance has surpassed that of conventional desktop computers. As the volume was reduced, the keyboard was omitted or provided alternative input methods such as fan letter input, but it did not surpass the finger-pressing keyboard. As a result, these products are either neglected by the user or have no choice but to accept the inconvenience.

Recently, however, very small devices have been introduced with a built-in keyboard, which proves that no matter how much technology is developed, there is no input device that can surpass the keyboard yet. However, keyboards of small equipments mimic or reduce the size of the PC's keyboard, taking up a lot of space and reducing convenience. If you need a keyboard anyway, you need to boldly break the existing framework and create a new character input device. The input device invented thus far exposes various problems.

1) The keyboard for a PC cannot be input without seeing the number of keys much more than a human finger can handle, and there is a limit to the miniaturization. The left and right sides are not clearly distinguished from each other as well as the number of hands, and the hands are often entangled. The shape of the key is too uniform and does not match the human body structure at all. The space key is so big that it wastes space and wastes your time playing with your left thumb.

2) PDAs and tablet PCs don't have a character input device at all, so they can enter them in fan letters or draw them on the screen and press them with their fingers. Even with a high level of advanced algorithms, the speed is slower than the keyboard, and the screen is inconvenient to use. Neither approach can be a fundamental solution for entering text, but only a presumption to force input.

3) Although the text input device of the mobile phone has been miniaturized, its small size makes it inconvenient to press and slows down. Too many characters are assigned to each key, which requires multiple presses and frequent mode switching. You may even have to wait a while to type the next letter, which is not suitable for fast typing. Functionally, only letters can be entered, but there is no support for editing.

The fundamental reason for all these problems is that when we built the keyboard, we never predicted that digital devices would be as compact as they are today. It is impossible to satisfy the size and efficiency at the same time because the keyboard made in the form of writing on the desk is forcibly implanted in a small device.

The present invention minimizes the number of keys to increase maneuverability while maintaining a level at which practical character input is possible. Since the letters are arranged in the order of the frequency of Hangul phonemes, the name of the text that is collected from the central row is called 'Honlim'. It requires a little practice because the structure and method of use are different from the existing font, but it doesn't take much time to get used to it because the number of keys is not large.

There are many requirements for producing effective fonts. Small, fast and easy to learn, but with a low typo and minimal fatigue, this would be an ideal font, but these requirements are often at odds with each other. Therefore, priority is given to the application, and designed according to the following principles, optimized for small digital devices.

1) Basically, it is based on two bees. Hangul is divided into consonants and vowels, and the first and last characters are automatically distinguished by the software.

2) Evenly distribute the left and right sharing ratio to have a ratio of 45:55, and enter the letters that appear consecutively by separating left and right as much as possible. However, there was a differential between the finger sharing ratios, and the keys were allocated at the proper ratios for the fingers with strength and those with no strength.

3) The number of keys is as small as possible to allow continuous input and editing without leaving the finger in place. It only has 28 keys, which is the optimal number your fingers can bear.

4) Easy to memorize is not considered important. It is more important to use the food after the cooking, rather than the easy cooking. Since the layout of the writing is not memorized by the head, but by the hand, it is reasonable to design it in the long term.

5) Do not violate intuition. Consonants and vowels are mixed up and confused if they are placed only at the frequency for efficiency. Place consonants on the left and vowels on the right to keep the principle of the left mother and keep similar letters as close as possible.

6) Not only the layout of the letters but also the layout of the keys is designed in the form that is most easy to press. The left and right areas were clearly distinguished and the fingers were placed at an angle parallel to the angle of extension, and the little finger's key was placed a little further down considering the length of the fingers.

7) Take advantage of the software features. Character input devices must work with software, so the more features of the device driver, the simpler the fonts and the greater the convenience.

Honoring font is designed to meet the miniaturization and practicality by designing the font according to the above principle, and can be transformed into an ideal shape that fits the size of the device in consideration of future expandability.

The layout of the letter has given priority to the frequency of the Korean phonemes. To do this, a separate statistics program was created to calculate statistics for the Honorary Letters. This statistic is a measure of the frequency of key presses for text layout, which is somewhat different from the frequency of Korean phonemes. For example, Hangul ㅢ, ㅘ, etc. are double vowels, but when placing letters, ㅡ and ㅣ, ㅗ and ㅏ should be regarded as input. The consonant statistics calculated for the font are:

ㅇ ㄴ ㄹ ㄱ (ㄷ, ㅅ) (ㅁ, ㅎ, ㅈ) ㅂ ㅆ ㅋ (ㅌ, ㅌ) (ㄲ, ㄸ) ㅋ (ㅉ, ㅃ)

Here, the phonemes in parentheses mean that the frequencies are similar, and the rank changes according to the sample. The frequency of appearance of vowels is

ㅡ ㅓ ㅣ (ㅡ, ㅗ) (ㅔ, ㅐ)

Similarly, in the case of the English language, the alphabets were placed in an easy-to-access location. For miniaturization and efficiency, it has boldly given up compatibility with existing QWERTY English fonts. However, in the case of numbers, they chose a location that is easy to find and easy to input based on intuition rather than frequency.

The basic structure of the honor is shown in FIG. Three fingers are assigned to each finger, and two keys are assigned to both thumbs so that you can easily press them while typing. There is no need to move the position of the hand for newline or mode change, compared to the existing font, and all fingers are assigned evenly by ability, so there is no burden and no waste.

The 28 keys are divided into 23 character keys and 5 function keys. Character keys differ according to the mode in which characters are entered, and function keys provide almost the same functionality regardless of mode. Each function key has a different meaning in some cases without violating common sense.

■ Space: Enter a space. Upper + Sapce is used as a BS to delete the first letter and deletes it by phoneme instead of by letter. Enter 0 in numeric mode.

■ Enter: new line. Bend your right thumb slightly inward, and the test shows better access than your right little pinky finger. Upper + Enter deletes the character at the current position.

■ Upper: Enter the text above the key. It is functionally similar to Shift in existing fonts, except that it immediately returns to its original position after entering text. If you want to fix the Upper, press Upper twice quickly. This action is called double push and is conceptually the same as double clicking on the mouse.

■ Mode: Toggle between Korean and English mode and switch to numeric mode by double push. The frequently used Korean and English can be easily switched by pressing once. In numeric mode, even if you don't double push, you can input while pressing, so you can temporarily switch between Korean and English.

■ Fun: Toggle to function mode and move the cursor or perform clipboard operation. This keystroke implements not only character input but also editing functions. Hold down Fun and press the key to return to the original mode immediately after editing.

The method of entering characters is similar to the existing font, but there are some differences due to the limitation of the number of keys. The arrangement of keys in the Hangul mode is shown in FIG. 1. The most frequently assigned to the index finger is easy to hit 과 and ㅏ. In the existing two bees, the index finger is assigned a relatively low frequency of ℓ and ㅓ because the index finger is burdened with six key pads. Honoring fonts can also be assigned to letters at any frequency, as the index finger is only responsible for three keys.

For vowels ㅕ, ㅕ, ㅛ, ㅠ there is no separate key, so press the short vowel twice to enter. Press ㅏ twice to get ㅑ. It is not a weakness but rather an advantage that a separate key is not assigned. Omission of these characters may result in smaller number of letters in the annular font, and it is better not to give them a lower frequency except for ㅕ. Pressing the same key twice is much easier and more accurate than shifting your finger position, so it's less likely to make a typo.

The sound is a, c, ,, ㅂ upper, so press the upper state. Press Upper then a to enter 입력 and the upper is released. However, the high frequency of old sounds should be assigned a separate key, but the word "Yes" and "we" was placed in an optimal position to prevent battering. In addition to this method, it also supports inputting the sound by pressing the terminal sound twice. For example, if you type "punch", press the keys in the following order:

ㅂ ㅂ ㅏ ㅇ ㅈ ㅂ ㅂ

The two ㅂ changes to 며 and ㅉ changes to ㅉ. If you use this function well, Hangul can be input without pressing Upper. But it is not always accurate and sometimes obscure.

ㅇ ㅏ ㅅ ㅅ ㅏ

ㅅ battered in the sound "Asa" and each phoneme "Asa". This problem is solved by the double push time interval. If you type S batter quickly, you will hear the sound. Since the object of the batter is the same key and the old sound letters are usually recognized as one phoneme, there is no logical problem in this method itself. However, when entering "active", there is a problem that the base a and the first letter a of the next letter should not be double pushed.

Doing double push is not difficult, but it is not suitable for high-speed input because it should not be double pushed. At speeds of more than 200 strokes per minute, there is a problem, so the battering function is not adopted by default. However, this feature itself is designed to be optional, because it is certainly useful in relatively slow devices such as mobile phones.

The punctuation used with Korean is all assigned to the upper position, so it can be easily entered without changing the mode. Punctuation marks are often placed in a place where it is easy to input frequently based on statistics, and both Korean and English have a frequency of periods, commas, and quotes. Place the period with the highest frequency on the left forefinger, press Upper with the right hand, and enter. With the left hand forefinger. It's much faster and more convenient to press left and right once than to switch modes.

All phonemes except for the old sound are at the bottom, so the frequency of use of Upper is about 3%. It is much lower than 15% of 2 bee's shift and it doesn't press the hand because it's not pressed together. The reason for inserting a function key in the middle of the letter pad is to input continuously without disturbing the finger posture. The arrangement of the keys in English is shown in FIG.

Twenty-two alphabets are placed at the bottom and only the lowest frequency JXQZ is in the Upper position. Unlike English, consonants and vowels do not come out alternately, so if you don't arrange them, the batting rate becomes too high. Therefore, the high frequency letters such as st, ou, wh, th, and ng are separated from left and right, and the same finger batting is lowered as much as possible. Punctuation is consistent and easy to memorize in the same position as in Hangul mode. What's unique about the English mode is that there is a separate Capital key, which is similar to the Shift in a conventional font. However, it is different from Shift in that it returns immediately when entering a character, and also functions as Caps Lock in that the uppercase mode can be fixed by double pushing.

There is no separate key for Shift in the existing font, because the concept of capitalization does not exist in most languages including Korean. In the case of 2 beol type, the shift key and 와, ㅖ, etc. are input, but this is clearly a logical error that fits in the English way. Entering the upper letter assigned to the key and capital letters of English should be distinguished.

3 is a key arrangement in the numeric mode. Numeric mode, like the number pad on a PC, is arranged in a square so you can easily enter long numbers with one hand. A decimal point and a comma, which are often used with numbers, are also placed next to the numbers. In order to switch from Korean or English mode to numeric mode, you do not need to change the mode. Press and hold Mode, enter the number and release Mode to automatically return to the original mode. When entering "Part 2", press the keys in sequence as shown in FIG.

The Hold Down method provides a way to quickly enter characters in other modes without having to change modes, and is an important means of overcoming the shortcomings of small keys. If you need to enter numbers or symbols consecutively, push Mode to switch permanently. 5 is a layout view of the last functional mode. All keys on the PC are included in the function mode, and some features are missing on some PC keyboards.

By placing the cursor movement key on the base of the right hand and simply pressing the Fun key, the cursor can be moved without moving the hand, which makes it almost inconvenient to edit. 6 is an example of correcting by switching to a function mode in the case of inputting "Korean" by mistake while inputting "South Korea". Once you get used to it, you can edit quickly. Clipboard actions not found on traditional keyboards are also assigned to function modes as separate keys, allowing block selection and string rearrangement. 7 is an example in which the order of letters is changed immediately.

Although the order of operations is complicated, you can do it all at once as long as you know the key positions. Ctrl, Alt, and Shift modifier keys are also included in the function mode, allowing you to enter modifier keys just as you would on a PC. To enter Ctrl + C, hold down the Fun key, press Ctrl, release the Fun key, and type C. Hangul is not used with a combination key, so it is interpreted as alphabetic input regardless of mode.

Of course, complex keystroke input, such as Ctrl + Shift + F1, is hard to get used to. In small digital devices, this combination key input is not a problem because of its low frequency, and even if it is a little uncomfortable, it is worth it. Honorary writing is also considered for scalability, so you can add a function key on a laptop-like device.

The 28 number of honorable letters is the optimal number for the perfect balance between finger burden and efficiency. However, this number can also be a bit burdensome for small digital devices. Thus, the inventors have invented a drawing that combines the keys of the lower and upper parts as a way to reduce the volume while maintaining the number of keys. The combination of the three keys is named "samdol" for convenience and the shape is as shown in FIG.

The flat part in the center and the two slightly tilted inwards merge into one. Each key can be merged or dropped somewhat, but it doesn't have to be too far apart. The upper and lower keys are inputted by squeezing rather than pressing, so it does not matter if the area is small. In addition, the horizontal gap between the three stones is enough that the fingers do not hit, and the area of the key itself is not narrow enough to touch the fingers. This is possible because there is an in-place principle that the fingers do not leave their position, which becomes impossible if the number of keys is slightly larger than this.

At first glance, it may seem complicated, but the human finger is very familiar with pushing and pulling up and down, so there is no practical problem. In the case of a thumb, the two keys are put together horizontally. Unlike other fingers, the thumb is more comfortable to bend inward than to push and pull. Making the key in the form of a trident saves space and minimizes fingering distance, resulting in faster input speed and minimal fatigue. The appearance of the actual font designed by Samdol is shown in Figure 9.

Each key is made so that it is perpendicular to the finger, not about horizontally on the floor, but raised 10 degrees to the finger, and the pinky is still slightly down. Hold the egg slightly in the palm of your hand and just click your finger in place. The number of keys stays the same at 28, but apparently at 10, it's enough to accommodate even the smallest phone.

Honorum font is a device that can input all kinds of characters without any inconvenience, even though it is a small size consisting of 28 keys. Of course, it can't surpass the convenience of more than 110 PC boards, but it guarantees nearly the same input speed, and the fatigue is lower due to the lack of hand movement. Since mobility is secured, the present invention can be applied to a small device casually. FIG. 10 is an example of applying a honoring plate to a tablet PC.

If the liquid crystal occupies the entire surface and the space for the mouse pad is enough, the entire keyboard can be placed, which makes it a good name for an input device for small digital devices. It can be applied to PDAs and UMPCs smaller than tablet PCs, and even a palm rest space can be obtained with a laptop. Combined with Bluetooth wireless, it can be made into a separate keyboard. If you apply it to the desktop, even if you extend the function key is enough free space.

The phone is narrow, but it can be opened by sliding and built in, which maximizes the usability of the phone. 11 is the smallest type of key embedded in a mobile phone. Even though the key is so small that it is difficult to enter both hands, it is clear that at least it will be faster and more convenient than eagle stroke. You can enter some phonemes at the same time with two thumbs alternately, and it is more efficient for mode conversion and editing than current phone. Gaining freedom of text entry can go beyond the realm of a simple call device.

It's true that the 28 key counts seem to be too much for small devices like cell phones. However, the handset itself has at least 20 keys, including 12 numbers, cursor movement, calls, and cancellations, and more than 28 cameras or MP3 functions. Therefore, 28 words of honor are never many.

Honorary font was developed assuming a dedicated keyboard. Small digital devices usually have a dedicated keyboard that fits their size and shape. Four buttons are arranged in the lower row, so it is not directly compatible with existing PC keyboards. However, if you use Hangul or Hanja keys as Fun and Mode keys, they can be used on a PC.

The present inventors made a dedicated keyboard modified from the PC keyboard in order to develop, test, and secure practical use of the Honorum font, and also produced the software supporting the font. The test was conducted for a long period of time, and the test result was judged to be sufficiently practical. The practice program provides functions such as key pads, word practice, and short sentence practice for the dissemination of Honorary Letters. It also provides a typing game to help you learn how to learn the typeface.

The inventor has not only imagined the layout of the text in his mind, but he has long-term and practical content in mind for countless tests, precise and extensive statistics, and plans for further dissemination. Since the verification of practicality has been completed to some extent, it is expected that there will be no big problem in the real world application.

1 is a layout of the Hangul mode

[Figure 2] Key placement in English mode

[Figure 3] Key placement in the number mode

[Figure 4] Transition to temporary numeric mode

[Figure 5] Key placement of the function mode

[FIG. 6] process of correction

7 is a process of changing the order of the letters

[Fig. 8] Samdol key

9 is an example of application of the samdol key

[Figure 10] Example of applying the honorary writing plate on the tablet PC

[Figure 11] Example of applying the honorary writing plate to the mobile phone

Claims (4)

12 right keys in 3 rows and 4 columns, held by four fingers of the right hand; 12 keys in four rows of four rows of four fingers in the left hand; Two rows of keys on right thumb; Two rows of keys on left thumb; The character input device consisting of the total of 28 keys The method according to claim 1, wherein the fingers responsible for the 24 keys move only up and down to input characters, and the two hand thumb moves only horizontally to perform a function command to perform all character input and editing in place without moving the hand. Character input device characterized by According to claim 1, All the keys are arranged inclined in parallel to the angle of the two fingers extended, and the trapezoidal layout of the layout to minimize the fingering distance by placing at the position that fits the length of each finger A device that can further reduce volume by integrating three vertically arranged keys and two horizontally arranged keys into one

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