CN1170212C - Keyboard control device - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention is applied to the control device of the built-in keyboard of the notebook computer, mainly set up the serial/parallel bus interface in a keyboard encoder, in order to transmit the scanning number of the keyboard to a keyboard controller and receive the order from the keyboard controller, and the keyboard controller is integrated in a core logic chip set. The keyboard encoder is also provided with a serial bus interface for downloading the matrix value prestored in the core logic chip set into the keyboard encoder.

Description

keyboard controls

technical field

The invention is applied to the built-in keyboard of the notebook computer. The keyboard controller is built into the core logic chipset, and a keyboard encoder is connected through a general and simple connection interface, and the keyboard matrix value is transmitted to the keyboard encoder.

Background technique

At present, most of the keyboard encoders (Keyboard Encoder) traditionally related to the built-in keyboards of notebook computers (Notebooks) are included in a microcontroller (Micro-Controller); and in this microcontroller (Micro-Controller) Also includes control functions designed with keyboard controllers. The matrix value (Matrix Value) of the keyboard encoder can be downloaded to the internal storage (Internal Storage) of the microcontroller via the host interface (Host Interface); or the matrix value can also be used in advance (Pre- Stored) is pre-stored in the microcontroller firmware (Firmware).

Please refer to FIG. 1 . FIG. 1 shows an implementation of a keyboard controller for a notebook computer in the prior art. Wherein it is mainly connected with a core logic chipset (Core-Logic Chip Set) 10 of a notebook computer with a micro-controller (Micro-Controller) 20, and then is provided with a keyboard controller (KeyboardController) 22 in the micro-controller 20, The I/O signals of the core logic chipset 10 transmitted via the host interface 12 are transmitted/received. In addition, a keyboard encoder (Keyboard Encoder) 24 is arranged in the microcontroller 20, which is connected with the keyboard controller 22, and can scan the input and output values to correspond to the matrix table value (MatrixTable) in a memory 26 connected. , to generate a scan code (Scan Code). The memory 26 is also connected to the keyboard controller 22 at the same time, so as to accept the control of the keyboard controller 22 and output the corresponding value in the memory.

In recent years, in a single chip circuit, there are more and more demands and technologies for further integrating additional features, capacity and functionality into a single chip circuit. However, this trend of integrating many functional requirements into a single chip not only requires a single chip to have multiple functions, but also hopes to meet the needs of maintaining low cost. In this way, for notebook computer designers, in order to To meet the purpose of low-cost and multi-function, there will be interest and demand to integrate the keyboard controller (Keyboard Controller) into the core-logic chip set (Core-Logic Chip Set). However, it is very difficult to integrate the keyboard encoder (Keyboard Encoder) into the core logic chipset, because it has a large number of pins and is not easy to integrate.

And, the main problem is that the keyboard encoder cannot use the host interface of the keyboard controller to perform the matrix value of the download keyboard, because the microcontroller 20 is used to perform the control functions of the keyboard controller 22 and the keyboard encoder 24. This will complicate the circuit design and greatly increase the cost; and using the host interface 12 to transmit the data of the core logic chipset 10 also complicates the circuit design.

Contents of the invention

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a low-cost and easy-to-use transmission interface that can download the matrix value of the keyboard to a single independent programmable keyboard encoder.

The present invention is mainly provided with a keyboard controller and a serial bus interface in a core logic chipset, the core logic chipset is correspondingly connected with a keyboard encoder, and a serial/parallel bus interface is set in the keyboard encoder (Keyboard Encoder) (PS/2 interface can be used), used to transmit the scan code (Scan Code) of the keyboard to a keyboard controller (Keyboard Controller), and receive instructions from the keyboard controller. In addition, the keyboard encoder also includes a serial bus interface (Series Bus Interface) for downloading the matrix value of the keyboard. When the system is powered on, the scan controller of the keyboard encoder is disabled, and the basic input/output setting (BIOS) of the system downloads the matrix value to the keyboard encoder. After the download is completed, the keyboard encoder is enabled (Enable) to perform scanning and transmit the scan code to the keyboard controller.

Regarding the detailed content and technology of the present invention, it is described as follows in cooperation with the circuit block diagram:

Description of drawings

Figure 1: A circuit block connection diagram for a built-in keyboard of an existing notebook computer;

Fig. 2 is a circuit block connection diagram of a built-in keyboard of a notebook computer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

A general standard notebook computer includes a keyboard with a built-in setting. The keyboard includes a matrix of built-in keyboard arrangement configurations. The data stored in the matrix is scanned by a keyboard encoder (Keyboard Encoder) and simultaneously Defining the depressed keypad position generates a set of scanned numbers corresponding to the keypad and correlating with the previously stored matrix values. The present invention proposes an innovative keyboard control device, which can be used to download matrix values to a programmable keyboard encoder (Programmable Keyboard Encoder) via a serial interface (Series Interface); and effectively simplify the keyboard encoder (Keyboard Encoder) design, avoiding the high cost of using a microcontroller.

Please refer to FIG. 2 , which is a circuit block connection diagram of a built-in keyboard of a notebook computer according to an embodiment of the present invention. Mainly in a core logic chipset (Core-Logic Chip Set) 50 in the notebook computer, a keyboard controller (Keyboard Controller) 52 and a serial bus interface (Serial Bus Interface) 54 are provided. The core logic chipset 50 is correspondingly connected with a keyboard encoder (Keyboard Encoder) 60, which is a design very different from the prior art in the present invention. Programmable programmable encoder. The keyboard encoder 60 includes a serial/parallel bus interface 62, which can be implemented using a PS/2 connection interface used by general computers. The serial/parallel bus interface 62 is connected with the keyboard controller 52 in the core logic chipset 50 , and can be completed only through a simple PS/2 bus connection.

In the keyboard encoder 60, a scanning controller (Scan Controller) 68 is also arranged, which is connected with the serial/parallel bus interface 62, so as to perform the control of the keyboard scanning action, and the input signal of one input end is a scanning input (Scan Input ) signal, and the output terminal is a scan output signal (Scan Output). In the keyboard encoder 60, a serial bus interface (Serial Bus Interface) 64 is additionally arranged, and is connected with the serial bus interface 54 in the core logic chipset 50, in order to download and transmit a group of matrix values (Table Value) to In keyboard coder 60; Its connection mode can utilize general serial bus (Serial Bus), completes the action of downloading transmission as the connection line of general computer COM1 Port. And in keyboard encoder 60, be provided with a matrix table (MatrixTable) 66, contain matrix value (Table Value) in, its input end is connected in serial bus interface 64, and its output end is then connected in the scanning controller 68. Wherein, the internal value of the matrix table 66 is stored in the form of a memory; and the internal value of the matrix table 66 can be stored in a pre-stored manner. In addition, when the content of the matrix table 66 is transmitted, the core logic chipset 50 downloads it to the keyboard encoder 60 via the transmission of the serial bus.

Among the above, when the notebook computer system is powered on, the scan controller 68 of the keyboard encoder 60 is disabled first, and the basic input/output setting (BIOS) of the system downloads the matrix value (Matrix Value) to the keyboard Among the encoder 60. After the download is completed, the keyboard encoder 60 is enabled (Enable) to perform scanning and transmit the scan code (Scan Code) to the keyboard controller 52 .

Using the embodiment of FIG. 2, the present invention can only transmit the matrix value of the keyboard and the connection of the keyboard control signal through a simple computer transmission interface, so that the circuit cost is greatly reduced, and the keyboard controller 52 is built into the core logic chipset 50 Among them, the design of the keyboard encoder 60 can be simplified, and the high cost of using a microcontroller to implement the keyboard controller and the keyboard encoder can be avoided.

To sum up, it fully demonstrates that the present invention is highly progressive in terms of purpose and efficacy, and has great industrial application value. However, the above are only preferred embodiments of the present invention, and should not be used to limit the implementation scope of the present invention. All equivalent changes and modifications made according to the claims of the present invention shall still fall within the scope covered by the patent of the present invention.

Claims (9)

1. keyboard controller, it is characterized in that: in a core logic chipset group, be provided with a keyboard controller and a universal serial bus interface, this core logic chipset group correspondence is connected with a keycoder, and this keycoder comprises:

A string/arranged side by side bus interface, be connected with keyboard controller in this core logic chipset group;

The one scan controller is connected with this serial/parallel column bus interface, carries out the control of keyboard scan action;

One universal serial bus interface is connected with serial bus interface in this core logic chipset group, one group of matrix value is downloaded transfer in this keycoder;

One matrix table contains matrix value, and its input end is connected in this serial bus interface, and its output terminal then is connected to this scanning monitor x.

2. keyboard controller as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that: the connecting line of this keyboard controller and this serial/parallel column bus interface is the binding of a PS/2 interface.

3. keyboard controller as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that: the connecting line of the serial bus interface in this core logic chipset group and the serial bus interface of this keycoder is a universal serial bus.

4. keyboard controller as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that: the input of this scanning monitor includes the one scan input signal.

5. keyboard controller as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that: the output of this scanning monitor includes the one scan output signal.

6. keyboard controller as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that: the value of including of this matrix table is stored with an internal memory.

7. keyboard controller as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that: the value of including of this matrix table was before preset by this core logic chipset group.

8. keyboard controller as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that: the value of including of this matrix table is downloaded to via the transmission of universal serial bus in this keycoder by this core logic chipset group.

9. keyboard controller as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that: this keycoder is a programmable scrambler.