JPH0734171B2 - Key input device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a key input device, and more particularly, to a personal computer and an electronic typewriter integrated to share a keyboard, and a computer process and an electronic device can be operated according to a mode change switch. One of the typewriter processes is controlled to be independently operable.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a word processor of a computer system using an application program, character data input from a keyboard is edited and displayed by the application program and output to a printer device connected as a peripheral device to create a document. On the other hand, the electronically controlled typewriter is generally known as an electronic typewriter, in which each character input from the keyboard is printed directly on the printer unit, or by editing a few lines and printing it directly. Further, the correction ribbon is used to perform correction printing to create a document.

Conventionally, an electronic typewriter having the above-mentioned key input device and a computer are conventionally provided as completely separate devices, and are connected via a printer interface only when the electronic typewriter is used as a type printer for a computer. ing.

As described above, when the electronic typewriter and the computer are used to create a document, separate devices each having a key input device are required, a large installation space is required, and the typewriter is used as a computer printer. In order to do so, there is a problem that a complicated operation procedure is required.

Also, in the middle of editing a document, either a computer process or an electronic typewriter process, such as inserting a completely different document format or creating a relatively simple document that is not based on an editing program, is performed. If the processing operation can be interrupted and the other processing operation can be performed in the middle of the process, the document creation function can be improved, but since the device is provided as a separate device, the above operation can be performed. There is a problem that can not be done.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional problems,
A personal computer and an electronically controlled typewriter are integrated to share a keyboard, and a mode selector switch for selecting either computer processing or typewriter processing is provided. Either one can be operated independently by operating the mode selector switch. To enable
We provide a key input device that makes the other key input stand by so that it can be used for different purposes, one for computers and the other for typewriters, thus halving the installation space of the device and editing documents. One of the processes is interrupted by the one-touch operation only by operating the mode changeover switch in the middle of the process, and the other process can be operated to improve the document creation function.

Therefore, the present invention is operated by the keyboard unit shared by the typewriter unit and the computer unit, and the mode key provided on the keyboard unit.
A mode selection switch that outputs a switching signal that switches between the typewriter mode and the computer mode, a printer mechanism that performs printing processing, and whether the mode is the typewriter mode or the computer mode is determined based on the switching signal. ,
In addition to outputting a selection signal indicating which one of these modes is selected, a key scan signal is output in the computer mode, and a key signal is output to the host computer based on the input return signal. If the main controller and the selection signal are the typewriter mode, the typewriter processing is performed based on the return signal input while outputting the key scan signal, while if it is the computer mode, the printer mechanism is set to the host computer. When the selection signal is in computer mode, the key scan signal is input from the main control section, while in the typewriter mode, the key control signal is input from the sub control section. Data mixing section and the selection signal is in computer mode. The data mixing section outputs a return signal via the key switch to the main control section, while in the typewriter mode the data separation section outputs the return signal to the sub control section, and after the mode changeover switch is activated. A key input device comprising a timer for prohibiting the main control unit and the sub control unit from outputting a key scan signal for a predetermined time.

Embodiment Hereinafter, an embodiment of a key input device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a key input device of the present embodiment, and 1 is a computer section having the same configuration as a known personal computer. The computer unit 1 has a floppy disk 2 for semi-permanently storing an application program or data processed by a computer.
3, and a display device 4 is further provided. The display device 4 serves as an editing screen for data processing, a word processor, etc., and is, for example, a transmissive liquid crystal display equipped with a backlight of a cold cathode ray tube.

An electronic typewriter unit 5 functions as an editing typewriter in the typewriter mode and as an output printer in the computer mode. The electronic typewriter unit 5 is composed of a daisy wheel printer, printing characters can be erased by an erasing ribbon, and the electronic typewriter unit 5 is a one-line display used when editing the electronic typewriter. 6 is provided.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a keyboard portion, which is also used as a typewriter key and a computer keyboard. The keyboard portion 7 is provided with a character key 8, a function key 9, and a mode key 10 for selecting a typewriter mode or a computer mode. The function key 9 is defined by the mode key 10 or only one of them is valid.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control unit of the key input device. Reference numeral 11 is a mode changeover switch operated in response to a selection operation of the mode key 10, and 12 is a main control unit serving as a key control unit, which is a microcomputer. 20 is used. Reference numeral 13 is a sub-control unit that serves as a typewriter control unit, and uses a microcomputer 21, a ROM 22, a RAM 23, a controller 24, and a printer mechanism 25. Reference numeral 14 is a data mixing unit using a data selector 26 and 4-To-16 decoder 27, and 15 is a data separating unit using a data buffer 28.

Reference numeral 16 is a key switch operated by the character keys and function keys of the keyboard section, 17 is a host computer, which performs various data processing according to an application program, and is connected to the sub-control section 13 as a printer section of this computer. There is. The above-mentioned respective parts are connected via signal lines indicated by arrows as shown in the figure.

The mode changeover switch 11 sends the changeover signal S1 to the main control unit 12
Output to the microcomputer 20, the microcomputer 20 determines the mode in accordance with the input switching signal S1, the selection signal, S2 microcomputer 21 of the sub-control unit 13 respectively connected to the microcomputer 20, data The data is output to the data selector 26 of the mixing unit 14 and the data buffer 28 of the data separating unit 15 to perform the key scan control of the keyboard.

The microcomputer 20 of the main controller 12 is connected to the host computer 17, and when the computer mode is selected, the microcomputer 20 is the host computer.
A signal key scan S3, which is a key scanning signal when the key acquisition for 17 is performed, is output to the data selector 26. The signal key scan S3 is sent as a return signal S5 via the key switch 16 and is input to the microcomputer 20 via the data separating unit 15. In the microcomputer 20. The pressed key switch is determined from the output key scan signal S3 and the input return signal S5, and the key signal S6 is supplied to the host computer 17 as encoded data. On the other hand, the microcomputer 21 of the sub-control unit 13 determines whether it is the computer mode or the typewriter mode from the input selection signal S2, and in the computer mode, it is a key scan signal for taking in a key to the electronically controlled typewriter. Does not output signal S4.

When the switching signal S ₁ indicating the typewriter mode is input to the microcomputer 20 from the mode switching switch 11,
The microcomputer 20 does not output the key scan signal S3. On the other hand, the selection signal from the microcomputer 20
When S2 indicates the typewriter mode, the microcomputer 21 supplies the signal S4 to the input terminal of the data selector 26 of the data mixing section 14.

The data selector 26 uses the signals S3 and S4 based on the selection signal S2.
Output either one of these inputs and use this output for decoder 27
It is input to, decoded, and supplied to the key switch (circuit) 16. The key switch 16 outputs a return signal S5 corresponding to the operation key to the data buffer 28 of the data separating section 15 based on the key scan signal. The data buffer 28 becomes effective when functioning as an electronic typewriter by the selection signal S2 from the microcomputer 20, and supplies the key return signal S5 to the microcomputer 21 as the key signal S7. Microcomputer 21
Then, the pressed key switch is determined by the output key scan signal S4 and the input key signal S7, the encoded data is stored in the RAM 23, and then the typewriter process is performed. On the other hand, when it functions as a host computer by the selection signal S2, the data buffer 28 is disabled, and the key fetch of the host computer 17 is valid and fetched, and is supplied to the host computer 17 as a signal S6.

In the control section, when the mode changeover switch 11 is operated, the microcomputer 20 detects a change in the signal S1 and the microcomputer 21 detects a change in the signal S2, and a key scan is performed after a predetermined time of several seconds. A timer (not shown) for stopping the key scan and starting the key scan after the lapse of the time is provided to prevent erroneous input.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the microcomputer 20 of the main controller 12.

In the microcomputer 20, after the power is turned on and the initialization processing (initialization processing) is performed, the following processing is performed. The function of the host computer 17, that is, the computer mode (hereinafter, abbreviated as PC mode) is discriminated by referring to the S1 signal, and if it is the PC mode, the microcomputer 20
The key scanning signal S3 is output from the key switch, the key switch is scanned, the return signal S5 is received, the key acquisition processing is performed, and when the key is operated, the key signal S6 is supplied to the host computer 17, The operation is repeated.

When the PC mode is switched to the typewriter mode by the switching operation of the mode selector switch 11, the timer causes a wait state of about 1 second. This weight is a standby process for not operating even if the mode switch is repeatedly operated unnecessarily, and a standby process for preventing a malfunction due to a key operation after the mode switching. After that, the mode changeover switch is discriminated again.
If the mode is changed to the typewriter mode, the key scan operation of the microcomputer 20 is interrupted. And pc
I am trying to wait in this state until the mode is changed.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the typewriter control unit (sub-control unit 13). After the power is turned on and the initialization process is performed, the following process is performed.

It is determined whether it is the typewriter mode. If it is the typewriter mode (not the PC mode), it is determined whether there is a timer interrupt for starting the key scan operation. If there is this interrupt, the process branches to the flowchart shown in FIG.
This interrupt processing is performed about every 10 ms, generates a key scan signal S4, and receives a key return signal S7. The printer is operated according to this key operation.

When the mode is switched to the computer mode, the key scan operation is stopped after the standby process described above, and the printer is controlled according to the host computer 17.

Next, the operation of the key input device will be described.

When the mode selector switch 11 is set to the PC mode, this setting state is supplied to the microcomputer 21 of the typewriter control unit 13 via the microcomputer 20.
The microcomputer 21 enables control of the system program of the ROM 22 in the PC mode, and waits until it receives a print command from the host computer 17. A key signal is input to the host computer 17 via the microcomputer 20, various data processing is performed according to an application program, and the generated data is stored in the floppy disks 2, 3 or the RAM 23. Further, based on the print command from the keyboard unit 7, the data from the RAM 23 is output to the controller 24 and the printer mechanism 25, and the typewriter mechanism is driven to print.

When switching to the typewriter mode and operating the typewriter in the middle of such PC mode processing, the mode key 10 is operated to set the mode selector switch 11 to the typewriter mode. By this mode setting, the key signal of the keyboard is input to the microcomputer 21, each character is directly printed by the printer unit, and it is directly printed by editing a few lines, and further corrected by the erase ribbon. Print. At this time, the computer section waits in the state of waiting for keyboard input and interrupts the processing.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION As is apparent from the above description, according to the key input device of the present invention, the typewriter section and the computer section share the required keyboard section, and the keyboard section uses the typewriter mode and the computer. A mode changeover switch for switching between modes and one-touch is provided, and a main control unit for performing key scan control by a signal from the mode changeover switch, and a signal from the main control unit directly controls the printer by a key signal in the typewriter mode. In addition to the control, the sub-control unit for printer control that controls the printer by the signal from the connected host computer in the computer mode, the data mixing unit and the data separating unit are provided. Independently performing an operation and a computer processing operation Can be done. Therefore, it is not necessary to separately install a computer having a keyboard part and an electronic control typewriter separately, and since two devices can be integrated into one unit, the installation space can be halved and the user cost halved. You can also do it. Moreover, in the middle of document editing, it is also possible to switch the mode by one-touch operation only by operating the mode key, interrupt one operation and interrupt the other operation, thereby improving the document editing function. Further, since the key scan is stopped for a predetermined time and the key scan is started after the predetermined time when the mode changeover switch is switched,
It has various advantages such as preventing malfunctions that tend to occur during switching operations.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a key input device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control system of the device, FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart of a main control unit, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are sub-control units. 2 is a schematic flowchart of. 1 ... Computer section, 4 ... Display device, 5 ...
… Electronic typewriter section, 7 …… Keyboard section, 10 ……
Mode key, 11 …… Mode selector switch, 12 …… Main control unit, 13 …… Sub control unit, 14 …… Data mixing unit, 15 …… Data separation unit, 16 …… Key switch, 17 …… Host computer, 20, 21 …… Microcomputer.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A typewriter section, a computer section for executing an application program to output a printer to the typewriter section, a keyboard section shared by the typewriter section and the computer section, and a mode key provided on the keyboard section. Is operated,
A mode selection switch that outputs a switching signal that switches between the typewriter mode and the computer mode, a printer mechanism that performs printing processing, and whether the mode is the typewriter mode or the computer mode is determined based on the switching signal. ,
In addition to outputting a selection signal indicating which one of these modes is selected, a key scan signal is output in the computer mode, and a key signal is output to the host computer based on the input return signal. If the main control unit and the selection signal are the typewriter mode, the keyscan signal is output and the typewriter process is performed based on the input return signal. When the selection signal is in computer mode, the key scan signal is input from the main control section, while in the typewriter mode, the key control signal is input from the sub control section. Data mixing section and the above selection signal in the computer mode. For example, while the return signal from the data mixing section via the key switch is output to the main control section, in the typewriter mode, the data separation section which outputs the return signal to the sub control section and the mode changeover switch operation A key input device comprising: a timer for prohibiting output of a key scan signal to the main control unit and the sub control unit for a predetermined time later.