JPH0346825B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Technical Field of the Invention) The present invention relates to improvements in keyboard input devices used as input devices for computers, word processors, and the like having display devices.

(Technical background of the invention and its problems) When a keyboard input device is used in combination with a word processor or the like having a display device, the cursor movement keys of the keyboard input device are operated to move the cursor to a predetermined position on the screen of the display device. The cursor is moved to.

However, in conventional keyboard input devices, when any cursor movement key is pressed, the cursor moves only up or down, or to the left or right. For this reason, for example, in FIG. 2, in order to move the cursor K from the _P1 position to the _P2 position on the screen, press the cursor upward movement key to move the cursor K once to the _P3 position. After that, press the cursor right direction movement key to move the cursor K.
must be moved to the _P2 position. Therefore, moving the cursor K requires a great deal of time and effort.

By the way, a keyboard input device usually has a repeat function assigned to a cursor movement key, and is controlled so as to output only the key code of the cursor movement key that was pressed later. That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, when the cursor upward movement key is pressed, that key flag is input to the output buffer of the CPU, and after a predetermined period of time Ts has elapsed, the key code U corresponding to this key flag is transferred to the host side. It was sent repeatedly to the computer. Therefore, cursor K continuously moves upward. Then, while the cursor up direction key is pressed, Ts
When the cursor right movement key is pressed after the predetermined time Tr has elapsed, the key flag is input to the output buffer, and the corresponding key code R is repeatedly sent out after the predetermined time Tr has elapsed. Therefore, the cursor K moves continuously to the right after that.

However, in conventional keyboard input devices that have the above-mentioned repeat function, the key code of the previously pressed cursor movement key is not output even if the cursor movement key that was pressed later is released. was. Therefore, in FIG. 7, to move the cursor K upward again,
After the cursor upward movement key is once released, the cursor upward movement key must be pressed again, which poses a problem in terms of operability.

(Object of the Invention) An object of the present invention is to provide a keyboard input device that can quickly move a cursor to a predetermined position on the screen of a display device and has excellent operability.

(Summary of the Invention) The present invention determines whether at least two or more cursor movement keys are pressed, and then simultaneously presses cursor movement keys that move the cursor in opposite directions, such as up and down. If so, only the key code corresponding to the other pressed cursor movement key is output to the host computer,
If cursor movement keys that move the cursor in non-opposite directions such as up and right are pressed at the same time, each key code corresponding to the key is pressed alternately, and when one cursor movement key is released, the other cursor moves. It is characterized by outputting the key code corresponding to the key to the host computer.

(Embodiments of the Invention) Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a keyboard input device according to the present invention, which includes a scanning type matrix circuit 1. As shown in FIG. The matrix circuit 1 has a plurality of scanning lines _X0 to Xn extending upward and downward, and a decoder 2 is connected to these scanning lines. The matrix circuit 1 also has a plurality of other scanning lines _Y0 to _Y7 extending in the horizontal direction, to which the input ports of the microprocessor 3 are connected, and to the output ports of the microprocessor 3. is connected to the input side of the decoder 2. Then, at the intersection of each scanning line group,
Keys including cursor movement keys for moving the cursor K downward, left, and right are arranged.

A host computer 4 is connected to the data bus side of the microprocessor 3, and a display device 5 is connected to the output side of the host computer 4.

Next, the general control operation of the microprocessor 3 and the operation of the keyboard input device according to the present invention will be explained.

First, the microprocessor 3 outputs a scan signal to the decoder 2 from its output port. Since the scan signal corresponds to the scanning lines _X0 to Xn, the decoder 2 decodes the scan signal and outputs an "L" signal to any of the scanning lines _X0 to Xn. On the other hand, the microprocessor 3 sequentially scans the scanning lines Y ₀ to Y ₇ every time it outputs a scan signal.

During such a scanning operation, when any key is pressed, the corresponding input port of the microprocessor 3 becomes "L", so the microprocessor 3 receives the detection from the key detection circuit (not shown). A key input is detected by a signal, and a key code corresponding to the pressed key is output to the host computer 4. Therefore, the host computer 4 performs control operations based on this key code, and causes the display device 5 to display documents and the like.

Now, when the cursor movement key is pressed, the microprocessor 3 operates as follows. That is,
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 6, when the cursor upward movement key is pressed, the microprocessor 3 detects that the key has been pressed by the above-mentioned scan scan, and also outputs the corresponding key code, That is, a key flag whose content is to move the cursor K (see FIG. 2) upward is stored in the output buffer, and a key code U corresponding to the key flag is output to the host computer 4. Therefore, cursor K moves upward by one position. Next, if the above-mentioned key is pressed even after the predetermined time Ts has elapsed, the microprocessor 3 determines whether another cursor movement key is pressed, and if it is not pressed, the microprocessor 3 selects the key code. U
Repeat and output. Therefore, cursor K is
Continuously moving upward in FIG. On the other hand, if the cursor right movement key is pressed while the cursor up movement key is being pressed, as shown in FIG. The key flag is stored in the output buffer. After confirming that these key flags are not key flags that move the cursor K in the opposite direction, key codes U and R corresponding to these keys are output alternately. Therefore, cursor K is the second
If you press the cursor up key and the cursor right key at the same time when the cursor is at the _P1 position in the figure, the cursor K will move to the upper right (in the direction of the arrow indicated by the dashed line), so it will move to the _P2 position in a short time. Move with.

Note that the period for alternately outputting the key codes U and R is set to 1/2 of the normal key code output period. This is to match the speed at which the cursor K is moved upward/downward or left/right to the speed at which the cursor K is moved diagonally upward.

In this way, if the cursor right movement key is released while key codes U and R are being output repeatedly, the microprocessor 3 detects the release of the key and outputs only the key code U. Therefore, even if the cursor movement key that was pressed later is released, the key code of the cursor movement key that was previously pressed, in the above case, the key code U, is output to the host computer 4. Cursor K can be moved without operating the pressed cursor movement key. Therefore, the cursor movement work becomes easier.

Next, the control operation of the microprocessor 3 when two or more cursor movement keys are pressed will be explained.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, when the cursor upward movement key is pressed, the microprocessor 3 stores the key flag in the output buffer and also outputs Ts.
After the elapse of time, the key code U corresponding to this key flag is repeatedly output to the host computer 4, so the interval "1" in which the key code U is output is
Now, the cursor K is moved upward, as shown in FIG. When the cursor right movement key is pressed while the cursor up movement key is being pressed, the microprocessor 3 alternately outputs the key codes U and R, as described above, so that the cursor right movement key is pressed. In section "2" where codes U and R are output, cursor K moves to the upper right.

On the other hand, if the cursor left movement key is pressed while both of these keys are pressed,
The microprocessor 3, as shown in FIG.
The corresponding key flag is stored in the output buffer, and the key code L (fourth key code) corresponding to the key flag is stored.
(indicated by a dashed line in the figure) is output to the host computer 4. Therefore, in section "3" in which the key code L is output once, the cursor K moves by one position to the left. This setting was made to make it easier to operate when editing the screen. That is,
Press the cursor up and right movement keys,
This is effective when you want to move the cursor to the left when the cursor is moving diagonally upward to the right.
In this case, the microprocessor 3 simultaneously determines whether there is a key flag that causes the cursor K to move in the opposite direction. In other words, in this case, the cursor right movement key has already been pressed, so
When the cursor leftward movement keys are pressed, key flags corresponding to these keys are determined to be key codes for moving the cursor K in the opposite direction. Next, the microprocessor 3 searches the output buffer and determines whether there are other key flags, but as described above, the cursor upward movement key is pressed first, and the corresponding key flag is output. Since it is stored in the buffer, only the key code U corresponding to this key flag is repeatedly output. Therefore, in section "4" where the key code U is output, the cursor K moves upward.

As mentioned above, if only the left cursor movement key is released while all three keys are pressed,
The microprocessor 3 detects this and erases the corresponding key flag from the output buffer, and
Key codes U and R are alternately and repeatedly output. Therefore, in section "5" where the key codes U and R are output, the cursor K moves to the upper right.

Furthermore, when the cursor rightward movement key is released, the microprocessor 3 detects this, erases the corresponding key flag from the output buffer, and repeatedly outputs only the key code U.
Therefore, in section "6" where only key code U is output, cursor K moves upward.

Then press the cursor down key,
The microprocessor 3 detects this and outputs the corresponding key code D (indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 4) to the host computer 4. Therefore, in section "7" where key code D is output once, cursor K moves downward by one position. And when such a cursor down movement key is pressed,
The microprocessor 3 stops outputting the key code since the key flags for moving the cursor K in opposite directions are stored in the output buffer. Therefore, the cursor K does not move in the interval "8".

In this state, when the cursor left direction movement key is pressed, the microprocessor 3 detects this, stores the corresponding key flag in the output buffer, and sends only the key code L to the host computer 4.
Output repeatedly. Therefore, in the section "9" where only the key code L is output, the cursor K moves to the left.

Furthermore, when the cursor right direction movement key is pressed again, all the cursor movement keys for moving the cursor K up, down, left, and right are pressed at the same time, so the microprocessor 3 Store the corresponding key flag in the output buffer and output one key code R.
Stop outputting. Therefore, in the interval "10" in which the key code R is output once, the cursor K moves one step to the right, but thereafter does not move from that position.

Note that in the above embodiment, when the press of a cursor movement key in the opposite direction is detected, the key code of the cursor movement key detected later is output to the host side only once, but this is only an example. Can be set arbitrarily.

(Effects of the Invention) According to the present invention, after determining whether or not at least two or more cursor movement keys are pressed, while the cursor movement keys for moving the cursor in opposite directions are pressed simultaneously, other cursor movement keys are pressed. The key code corresponding to each cursor movement key is alternately changed while the cursor movement keys that move the cursor in non-opposite directions are pressed at the same time, and when one cursor movement key is released, the other is By outputting the key code corresponding to each cursor movement key to the host computer, the cursor can be moved quickly even in diagonal directions, and there is no need to repeat key operations to move the cursor. It also disappears. If the key code output to the host side is set to 1/2 cycle when a cursor movement key that moves the cursor in a non-opposite direction is pressed, high-speed screen editing is possible, and the cursor is not pressed up, down, left, or right. Depending on the combination, curve expression is also possible. Therefore, it is possible to provide a keyboard input device that is easy to operate and has excellent workability.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the keyboard input device according to the present invention in relation to a host computer and a display device, FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining cursor movement on the screen, and FIGS. 3 and 4. 5 is a timing chart showing the relationship between the cursor movement keys and key codes according to the present invention, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the movement locus of the cursor in relation to the timing chart of FIG. 4, and FIG. 6 is a diagram according to the present invention. The operation flowchart in FIG. 7 is a timing chart showing the relationship between conventional cursor movement keys and key codes. 1... Matrix circuit, 2... Decoder, 3...
...Microprocessor, 4...Host side computer, 5...Display device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Move the cursor on the screen of the display device up and down.
comprising a plurality of cursor movement keys for moving the cursor downward, left and right, and driving the display device with key codes corresponding to the plurality of cursor movement keys;
A keyboard input device outputs to a controlling host computer, comprising determining means for determining whether or not the at least two cursor movement keys are pressed at the same time, and a cursor movement key for moving the cursor in the opposite direction. If they are pressed at the same time, only the key code corresponding to the other pressed cursor movement keys is output to the host computer, and the cursor movement keys that move the cursor in a non-opposite direction are pressed at the same time. a control unit that alternately outputs each of the corresponding key codes to the host computer, and outputs the key code corresponding to the other cursor movement key when one cursor movement key is released; A keyboard input device comprising: 2. The keyboard input according to claim 1, wherein the cursor movement keys that move the cursor in the opposite direction are cursor movement keys that move the cursor up/down or left/right. Device. 3. The cursor movement keys for moving the cursor in a non-opposite direction move the cursor in any combination of upward and leftward, upward and rightward, downward and leftward, and downward and rightward directions. The keyboard input device according to claim 1, wherein the keyboard input device is a movement key.