JPH04306719A - Keyboard device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the error of key input by means of a function key obtained by combining a plane display unit displaying the name of a command and a transparent touch sensing switch in a keyboard device connected to a data processor such as a personal computer. CONSTITUTION:A dot data group from the data processor is stored in a display memory 10, is read in a control circuit 9, is converted into serial data in a parallel/serial circuit 11 and is displayed on a liquid crystal display 5 by visual data of a character. The surfaces of respective display frames are constituted by the transparent touch sensing switch 8. When a finger touches the display frame, a touch signal is transmitted to a code generation circuit 12 and the number code of the touched display frame is transmitted to the data processor via a selection circuit 13.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a keyboard device for inputting characters in a data processing device such as a personal computer and for starting execution of a series of function processing in the data processing device.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional device, as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2-36412, the functional contents of function keys of a keyboard device are displayed on a display device attached to the top. Further, this display content is used by converting it into function key content corresponding to the CRT display content using a selection key.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the above-mentioned prior art, since the function key operation point on the keyboard device and the command name display point on the display device are located far apart, it is possible to accidentally press a different function key from the intended function key. A problem may occur where pressing a function key causes unexpected processing to be executed.

Another drawback is that the content displayed on the display device must be changed using the display selection key of the function key, depending on the content displayed on the CRT.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a data processing method in a keyboard device which is connected to a data processing device such as a personal computer and inputs data such as characters into the data processing device. A liquid crystal display that can selectively select one of the multiple processes on the program executed on the device and display the function key to start this process in kanji, hiragana, katakana, or any alphanumeric characters. This is a flat dot matrix display such as , and a touch-sensitive switch on the surface of the display.

[0006]

[Operation] In the present invention, character dots of a command name displayed on a display screen such as a CRT display are sent to a keyboard device according to the relative positional relationship of each function key, and the keyboard device receives this data. stores this data in the display memory of the dot matrix liquid crystal display, cyclically reads out the data from this memory, and displays it on the liquid crystal display. While looking at the display on the keyboard device, the operator touches a desired command display with his or her finger, thereby operating a touch-sensitive switch on the display screen and sending the address code of this switch to the data processing device. The data processing device decodes this address code data and executes processing related to it. By integrating the display of the command name to be selected and the switch function as in the present invention, it is possible to prevent the operator from erroneous operation.

[0007]

[Embodiment] Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a keyboard device according to the present invention. The keyboard device 1 is connected to a data processing device such as a personal computer via a keyboard interface cable 4, and exchanges data with the data processing device through this interface. The keyboard device 1, like a conventional keyboard device,
In addition to a character key group 2, which is a collection of pushbutton switches mainly for inputting character data, it is comprised of touch-sensitive switch type function keys 3 with a built-in dot matrix liquid crystal display. FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the operation of the touch-sensitive switch type function keys 3 of the keyboard device 1. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the data processing device displays a command name 15 that matches the relative position of the function key 16 on the keyboard on the CRT screen 14, and this displayed character is a group of dot data called a font. It consists of In FIG. 2, the data processing device sends a group of dot data to the display memory 10 via the down line 4a of the keyboard interface cable 4, and the display memory 10 stores this data group. The liquid crystal display 5 is the CRT screen 14 in FIG.
The display memory 10 has the same number of dots as the display of the command name 15, and the display memory 10 has the same bit capacity to store this number of dots. The display memory 10 is always cyclically read out the stored data by the control circuit 9, and the read data is converted into serial data by the parallel/serial circuit 11 and displayed on the liquid crystal display 5. The data are sequentially and serially input to the column drive circuit 6 of. When one line of column data has been set, one line of the row drive circuit 7 is driven, and one line of the liquid crystal display 5 is displayed. The updating and reading timing of the read address of the display memory 10, the operation timing of the parallel/serial circuit 11 and the column drive circuit 6, and the periodic circulation of the drive lines of the row drive circuit 7 are all performed in an order according to a certain rule. It is generated by the control circuit 9. By repeating this series of operations, the data stored in the display memory 10 is displayed on the liquid crystal display 5 as visual data of characters. Furthermore, the display format is composed of multiple frames as shown in the figure. This frame corresponds to the number of function keys required for the keyboard device 1 connected to the data processing device. The surface of each display frame is composed of a transparent touch-sensitive switch 8, respectively. Therefore, when an operator touches a certain display frame on the liquid crystal display 5 with his or her fingertip, this touch signal is sent to the code generation circuit 12, and this code generation circuit 12 generates a number code indicating the touched display frame. . This generated code is passed through a selection circuit 13 that selectively sends out each key code generated from the character key group 2, and further,
It reaches the data processing device via the upstream line 4b of the keyboard interface cable 4. The data processing device decodes the received number code and executes processing associated with this data.

[0009] Also, depending on the program, the display memory 1
When the contents of 0 are rewritten, the display items on the liquid crystal display 5 immediately change to new contents, and the functions of each function key change depending on the program.

0010

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, the function keys of the keyboard device have an integrated structure consisting of a display indicating the function and a transparent touch-sensitive switch on the display surface, so it is possible to accidentally It is possible to prevent erroneous operations such as pressing a key to execute a function.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a keyboard device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the operation of the keyboard device in FIG. 1, particularly the operation of function keys.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the functions of conventional function keys.

[Explanation of symbols]

1...Keyboard device, 3...Function key, 5...
Dot matrix liquid crystal display, 8...touch sensitive switch, 14...CRT screen, 15...command name display.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claims: 1. A keyboard device connected to a data processing device and inputting data into the data processing device through operations such as key presses, displaying an execution command name sent from the data processing device as dot information. What is claimed is: 1. A keyboard device comprising: a dot matrix display; and a function key comprising a transparent touch-sensitive switch provided for each of the command name display areas on the display of the dot matrix display.