JP2003150303A - Two-stage selection type character input device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a character input device such as a cellular telephone of which size of keys are minimized and by which character selection can be performed more speedily and surely. SOLUTION: In this input device (called as a 'two-stage selection input device' hereafter) for selecting one group of characters and/or signs by a single key depression and for selecting individual characters and/or signs by key depressions in the second time and afterward, a switch having six or more contacts arranged so as to form a ring is provided or a key oscillatable in all the directions is provided as a key to be used for input, six or more characters and/or signs are displayed on a display screen so as to form the ring, characters and/or rings in the oscillating direction of the key are selected or a roll key or a dial key is provided, six or more characters and/or signs are displayed on the display screen so as to form the ring or a matrix and characters and/or signs are selected by rotation of the key.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a two-step selection type input device for characters and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Character input, which is represented by a character input device of a mobile phone, mostly uses a numeric keypad for inputting a telephone number, and the number of times characters assigned to these 12 keys are designated. It is selected by pressing.

On the other hand, there is a movement to simplify the input of characters and data, and a method of inputting with as few key operations as possible has been proposed. These methods divide characters and symbols into several groups, first select the group, and then select the characters and the like in the group.

As an input method of such two-step selection, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 62-179644 and Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 6-2.
No. 5919, No. 10-207601, No. 2001-5596, No. 2001-2429.
90, JP 2001-274888 A, WO
No. 01/073535 pamphlet has been proposed. However, the key group used is still a matrix type key, and only WO01 / 07 is used.
It specifically proposes that the input device described in the No. 3535 pamphlet has five keys arranged in a cross. The WO pamphlet suggests that the number of keys may be n and may exceed 5.

[0005]

The present invention has two advantages.
An object of the present invention is to provide an input key used for a character input device for step selection.

[0006]

That is, according to the present invention, a group of characters and / or symbols is selected by pressing a key once, and
In a character input device (hereinafter, referred to as "two-step selection input device") that selects individual characters and / or symbols by pressing the keys after the first time, the keys are arranged so as to form a ring. The present invention relates to a character input device provided with a switch having more than one contact.

In the two-step selection input device, a key that can be swung in all directions is provided as a key used for input.
The present invention also relates to a character input device which displays six or more characters and / or symbols so as to form a ring on a display screen and selects a character and / or symbol in the swinging direction of a key.

Furthermore, in the two-step selection input device, a roll key or a dial key is provided as a key used for input, and six or more characters and / or symbols are displayed on the display screen so as to form a ring or matrix. , Also relates to a character input device for selecting characters and / or symbols by rotating keys.

These input devices may be used for selection of at least one of the two-step selection inputs, and it is preferable to select both two steps with the same type of device. Further, the conventional numeric keypad may be used for either one of the selections.

It is particularly effective when these character input devices are input devices for mobile phones.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION First, a brief description will be given of the two-step selection input method. The two-step selection input method is roughly classified into a Roman alphabet input type and a grouping type. The Roman character input type is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 62-179644 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-
This is a method typified by the method described in Japanese Patent No. 207601, and is a method of determining a character by inputting the alphabet of a vowel after inputting the alphabet of a consonant. For example, for "mo", "o" is input after "m" is input. In this input method, the character on the "a" line can be selected in one step, but it is basically a two-step selection method. There are also characters and symbols that are selected in three steps, but this also conceptually belongs to the two-step selection method.

One grouping type is WO01 / 07.
In addition to the No. 3535 pamphlet, the actual Kaihei 6-25919
JP, JP 2001-5596 A, JP 2001
This is a method in which characters and / or symbols are divided into groups by an input method typified by -274888, etc., and first one of the groups is selected and then the characters or symbols in the group are selected. For example, for "mo", select the "mama" row (group) and then select "mo" in that group. There are also characters and symbols that can be selected in three steps, but this also belongs to the two-step selection method in the concept.

The input device used for such a two-step selection input method uses a ten-key pad (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-29200).
-207601, JP 2001-242990 A, JP 2001-274888 A, etc.) and other methods using dedicated key layouts (WO01 / 07)
No. 3535 pamphlet, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 62-179644, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 6-25919, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-5.
596 publication).

The present invention relates to the latter key dedicated to character input, but the input method may be a Roman character type or a grouping type as long as it is a two-step selection method.

The present invention will be described below with reference to a case where the grouping type input method is applied to a mobile phone.
Of course, it can be easily understood that it can be applied to the Roman character input type with a simple modification and can be applied to other input devices (PC, various data input devices, etc.).

The character input device of the present invention is roughly classified into the following three forms.

Mode 1 A character input device provided with a switch having six or more contacts arranged so as to form a ring as a key used for input.

Mode 2 A key that can be swung in all directions is provided, and six or more characters and / or symbols are displayed so as to form a ring on the display screen. Character input device to select.

Form 3 A character provided with a roll key or a dial key, displaying six or more characters and / or symbols so as to form a ring or matrix on the display screen, and selecting the character and / or symbol by rotating the key. Input device.

The form 1 will be described first. Form 1 is WO01 /
This is a developed version of the cross-shaped key described in the No. 073535 pamphlet. As shown in FIG. 1, basically a disk-shaped (or polygonal-shaped) key 1 is arranged and electrically connected to the periphery 2 of the disk-shaped key 1. As described above, the switch 4 in which six or more contacts 3 are annularly provided on the substrate is used. The number of the contacts 3 is 6 or more, preferably 8 to 12, of which 1
0 is preferable from the viewpoint of grouping, and 12 is easy to handle like a clock. There are various types of mobile phones other than the one shown in FIG. Here, only the function keys (input switches) necessary for character input will be described. Also,
The key shape may be a disc shape, a ring shape, or an individual key arranged in an annular shape.

An example of inputting "Hiragana" will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The actual input operation will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, it is assumed that the disk-shaped key 1 is used and the number of contacts 3 is 12. The twelve contact points 3 are 12 lines from "A" line to "Wa" line, "," and "".
Corresponds to a group. Commonly used symbols such as ",", ".", "-", And "=" are placed in the group ",", and the dakuten """and sound repellent" ゜ "are placed in the group"". ,
Long-sound "-", if necessary, "Katakana conversion",
You may arrange "alphabet conversion" etc. “Katakana conversion” and “alphabet conversion” may be listed first in the array as a group.

In the first embodiment, it is not necessary to display what the contact 3 indicates on the display screen 5, but it is less erroneous to input. The initial screen for input is 6 in Fig. 1.
The screen display of the group representative characters from "a" to "wa", "," and "" is displayed in the same ring as the dial of the clock corresponding to the arrangement of the contact points 3. When inputting "Momo", first, the portion directly below (at the 6 o'clock position) corresponding to the "Ma" line on the screen of the disk-shaped key 1 is pressed. Then, the screen switches to the character screen display shown in Fig. 2, and the
Eight characters of "mya", "myu", and "myo" related to the character and the line are shown. The remaining four may be left blank or may be filled with other symbols. Then, "mo" is displayed at the 4 o'clock position, so when the 4 o'clock position of the disk-shaped key 1 is pressed, "mo" is input. Character conversion may be performed by providing a character conversion key 8 with the center of the disk-shaped key 1 as an independent key.

Other functions, such as a clear key for correction and a cursor movement key, may be conventional ones.

Next, the second embodiment will be described. The form 2 shown in FIG. 3 is the same as the form 1 except that the key 9 that can be swung in all directions is used as the key to be used. The keys 9 that can be swung in all directions may be disc-shaped, ring-shaped, joysticks, and other keys currently used as cursor movement keys.

Grouping and arrangement of characters and key operation are the same as in the second embodiment. The number of character groups may be any number as long as it is 6 or more, but 8 to 20, preferably 10 or 1
There will be two.

Here, as to the way of pressing the disk-shaped key and the selection of the character, the selection may be made only by pressing once as described above, or by pressing once, a temporary selection is made (for example, the selected character). May be reversed on the screen), and it may be decided to press it again. By doing this,
It is possible to appropriately prevent unnecessary input even while touching the disc-shaped key 1.

In a similar manner, the position of, for example, "A" row is reversed in the initial state, and the lightly applied pressure causes the reversed state to move along with the pressed position to reach the target position (for example, "Ma" row). It is also possible to make a final selection (selection of the “m” line) by further pressing when reaching the position (1). By doing so, the operation can be performed without releasing the finger from the key.

As still another mode, the disc key or the ring-shaped key itself may be rotated (swirled) in parallel with the surface of the main body. In this aspect, one contact is provided at the position where the finger is placed on the key, and the number of contacts corresponding to the number of characters is arranged on the main body board surface. For operation, place your finger on the contact point of the key, move the contact on the key side to the target character position while turning the key parallel to the main body board surface,
Just press it. Operability is improved by disposing a slip stopper or the like at the position of the key on which the finger is placed.

Further, if the user becomes accustomed, the screen display may not be performed by the switching key or the initial setting.

In the form 3, as shown in FIG. 4, first, the group selection (designation) is performed by the roll key 10 (or dial key 11). The roll key (or dial key) can be freely rotated up and down, and its rotation designates (inverts) the group representative character displayed on the display screen. Then, by pressing the roll key 10 (or the dial key 11), the group is determined and the characters and symbols in the group are displayed on the screen. A determination key may be separately provided. Then, the roll key 10 (or dial key 11) is rotated to specify and determine the desired character. Of course, it is not necessary to install both roll keys and dial keys on the input device.

In the case of a dial key, the dial key is made to move up and down and / or left and right, the dial is turned to specify the character to be selected, and then the dial key is pressed down or pushed in to select the selected character. You may decide.

The screen display of the arrangement of characters and the like in the form 3 may be a ring as shown in FIG. 4 or a matrix type as shown in FIG. In the case of the matrix type, rotation of the roll keys or dial keys inverts the letters and symbols in the matrix one after another, and you can select a group or letter by pressing the Enter key (or roll key, etc.) at the desired position. Good.

The above three forms may be combined, or the conventional numeric keypad may be used for group selection or character selection after group selection.

Further, as a key, a disk shape, a ring shape,
When an integrated key such as a dial or a roll is used, the position corresponding to the character may be indicated by mechanical resistance (resistance that can be felt by a finger) or may be notified by sound.

Further, when a certain line is selected by the first pressing, a character string for the second pressing (for character selection) so that the first character of the characters included in the line starts from the first pressing position. Good as a display. For example, when the line “Mama” (6 o'clock position) is selected in the form 1, the “Mama” is arranged at the 6 o'clock position of the “Mama” and the “Mimi” and 8
Arrange the character string such as "mu" at the hour position. Then, if the user wants to input "MA" as a character, he can simply input the position at 6 o'clock twice without moving the place to press.

The character groups targeted by the present invention include "Hiragana" and "Katakana" for Japanese input. In addition to the English "Alphabet", characters corresponding to each country's language (Russian, Arabic, etc.) are also included. ) And so on. In the case of languages that use kanji such as Japanese, Chinese, and Korean (Hangul), you can enter the characters in “Hiragana”, “Katakana”, and “Alphabet” and then convert them into the desired Kanji with the Kanji conversion key. Further, the symbol may be any symbol such as “,”, “.”, “;”, “:”, “+”, “−”. A key for selecting characters / symbols / numbers may be provided to select which character group, symbol group, or number group.

In addition, sometimes it is necessary to input a number while inputting a character (Hiragana, Katakana, alphabet) or a symbol (for example, time, address, e-mail address, homepage address, etc.). In order to input the number of, the key to which the number you want to input is assigned (for example, if you want to input “3”, press the “3 / Sa” key) for a certain period of time (1.5 to 2 seconds) You may set so that you can input the number.

In the key mode before entering the character input mode, numbers, *, and
If you correspond to # etc., the original telephone function will not be hindered.

In some cases, it may be convenient to use the terminal device in the horizontal direction for inputting a long text e-mail or operating a game or video. However, according to the device of the present invention, the arrangement of the board surface can be selected. You can operate it without any discomfort by leaving it as it is or changing the installation direction of the input key.

Furthermore, the input device may be arranged on the side surface of the mobile phone, and by appropriately disposing other function keys on the opposite side surface, the display can be spread over the entire front surface. Alternatively, the mobile phone itself can be further miniaturized.

Alternatively, the device having the character input function including the device of the present invention may be designed as a separate device (so-called separate type) separately from the display device (or the device having only the display and telephone communication function). . In the conventional character input device, the layout of the input keys was not suitable for character input, and it was not possible to input without checking the key, so it was not suitable for a separate type, but this book With the input method and device of the invention, since input can be performed while looking at the display screen rather than the input device, there is no difficulty in using a separate type. This separate type is advantageous not only for inputting characters but also for playing games.

In the above description, the case of applying the device of the present invention to a mobile device such as a mobile phone has been mainly described. However, the input device of the present invention can be operated by one or two fingers of one hand, and the screen display can be performed. Since it is possible to input while looking at it, it is possible to easily enter characters even for elderly people who are not familiar with the numeric keypad or keyboard, or people with disabilities, and are suitable for use with input terminals that require or allow various character inputs. it can.

[0044]

According to the input device of the present invention, the size of the key can be reduced, and the selection of characters can be performed more speedily and reliably.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing keys and screen display according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view showing a screen display when selecting characters according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view showing keys and screen display according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view showing an example of keys and screen display according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view showing another example of keys and screen display according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 disk-shaped key 2 Around disk-shaped key 3 contacts 4 switches 5 Display screen 6 Representative character screen display 7-character screen display 8 character conversion key 9 Omni-directional swing key 10 roll key 11 dial keys

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A character input device for selecting a group of characters and / or symbols by pressing a key once and selecting individual characters and / or symbols by pressing a key after the second time. 6 arranged as a key to form a ring
A character input device provided with a switch having more than one contact. 2. A character input device for selecting a group of characters and / or symbols by pressing a key once and selecting individual characters and / or symbols by pressing a key after the second time. As a key, a key that can swing in all directions is provided,
A character input device which displays six or more characters and / or symbols so as to form a ring on a display screen and selects a character and / or symbol in the swinging direction of a key. 3. A character input device for selecting a group of characters and / or symbols by pressing a key once and selecting individual characters and / or symbols by pressing a key after the second time. Roll key or dial key is provided as a key, and a ring or matrix is formed on the display screen.
A character input device that displays more than one character and / or symbol and selects the character and / or symbol by rotating a key. 4. A character input device using the input device according to claim 1 in at least one of two stages to be selected. 5. A character input device using a numeric keypad for either one of two steps to be selected. 6. The character input device according to claim 1, wherein the character input device is an input device of a mobile phone.