Typewriting machines – Key-board or key lever-actuating mechanism – For foreign-language typewriter
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-25
2003-08-12
Funk, Stephen R. (Department: 2854)
Typewriting machines
Key-board or key lever-actuating mechanism
For foreign-language typewriter
C400S110000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06604878
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to keyboard input devices and particularly those for the Chinese language although it is to be understood that the principles of the invention may well be applied to other languages which use hieroglyphic or other symbols or characters rather than alphabet oriented characters.
Chinese characters are generally made up of strokes and radicals. Strokes are essentially single components whereas radicals are effectively subentities or characters. The latter embody specific meaning and are primarily used for dictionary search, because Chinese characters are classified according to their dominant radicals and their number of strokes.
Of course, a simple character may just have one or more simple strokes and more complex characters can be a single radical, or they could be a combination of radicals and strokes.
BACKGROUND of the INVENTION
The conventional Chinese manual typewriter has a bank of character dice. It is a bulky and heavy device and therefore not readily portable. When a particular character is selected, the character die is removed from the bank, and struck onto the paper and then returned to the bank.
This is an extremely complex and difficult operation requiring a high level and range of mental and physical skills. Many thousands of character dice need to be stored in the bank if a modest and satisfactory vocabulary were to be incorporated. The operator of such a typewriter has to be extremely skilled to search and locate, and then manipulate the device to achieve a result within a meaningful time frame. The utilisation of such a manual typewriter is by and large restrictive and useful only for commercial and publishing enterprises.
Since computerisation, many forms of Chinese language computer related typing or input devices, methods or systems have been proposed or come into existence. Such devices, methods or systems are fundamentally based on the standard electronic “alphanumeric keyboard” (Qwerty keyboard) and, in one form, use a combination of keys to activate an electronic search. Such a search may normally bring up a number of possible characters with similar homophonic or graphic properties, and from which the operator may select the one required.
Electronically, Chinese characters are fundamentally linked to two particular “Character Sets” or “Character Codes” respectively. These sets or codes are often referred to as “Internal Codes” (
) “Traditional” (
) characters are linked to the Big-5 (
) Set. Whereas “Simplified” (
) characters are linked to the GuoBiao (
) commonly referred to as the GB.
The Big-5 (
)character set originated in Taiwan and is made up of 13,050 “Traditional” characters. The characters are arranged traditionally, that is, according to the order of strokes and radicals. Each character is given a four letter-numeral reference in descending order. These references are often referred to as the Internal Codes (
) of the “Character Set”.
On the other hand, the GB (
) character set came from the People's Republic of China and has about 7,000 “Simplified” characters, where common words are arranged in a phonetic order, and rare words are arranged according to radical groups. It has a similar four letter-numeral internal code. While important for technical and programming applications, these codes are seldom, if ever, seriously considered as a practical basis for user input methods.
Based on similar schematic structures, the “Traditional” Big-5 (
) and the “Simplified” GB (
) share many common schematic properties. But unfortunately, these common properties refer to very different objects, thus making it logically impossible for the two “Character Sets” to actively share the same environment at any given time. In other words, access to the two sets at any given time is denied. They are logically incompatible.
Moreover, in the process of character simplification and vocabulary reduction, many “Traditional” characters were retained. In the interest of reduction in the size of the vocabulary and the simplification of form and structure, many simplified characters were contrived to individually replace two or more different “Traditional” characters. For conversion purposes, this has resulted in the inherent difficulties of matching one “Character Set” with the other. Thus while it is possible to convert from “Traditional” to “Simplified” on a many-to-one basis, it is logically impossible to do so, without human intervention, from “Simplified” to “Traditional”. To put this in another way and where the two “Character Sets” are involved, it may be possible to contrive a means by which “Traditional” texts can be automatically converted into “Simplified” forms. But when it comes to reversing the process, human intervention is necessary.
As stated, the two “Character Sets” are mutually incompatible. Popular opinion is that a better, more inclusive and very different coding system is needed. One such code known as Unicode has been created. Its inclusiveness extends across languages including English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Although its current version has problems and lacks widespread acceptance, it is nevertheless a very promising development.
The present invention has been developed in part in an endeavour to adapt a keyboard input device to any existing Internal Code, including Unicode or its successors, as well as any graphic based language.
The “Traditional”(
) characters have been used universally until the emergence of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since then they remain as the standard outside the PRC. As for the PRC, the “Simplified” (
) characters, developed concurrently with her Pinyin (
) spelling method, become the norm for Mainland China. As a whole, the two are significantly different from one another. Users of the two forms have much difficulty in understanding and writing each other's version. Furthermore, as romanisation of Chinese gained popularity over the Mandarin Phonetic symbols (
), spelling systems developed along separate lines, in and outside Chinese circles, leaving behind the current legacy of diversity. For “Traditional” characters, most popular dictionaries tend to follow the Thomas Wade and the Guoyeu Romatzyh (
) spelling systems. For “Simplified” characters, the PRC has her Pinyin ( ) instead.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Previously proposed devices and systems fall into two broad input categories, namely the “construction” and the “spelling” categories.
The input process of the “construction” approach involves construction graphic characters from building components of strokes and radicals, the latter being more than 220 in number. Systems have been developed to reduce the multitude of components that make up Chinese characters to manageable number so that the essential number may be represented by the keys of the Qwerty keyboard. The alphanumeric keys that identify the various proposed building components of characters, and the precise sequence that these keys. must follow in the input process is commonly referred to as the External Code (
) of the characters in question. It will now be clear to the reader that the External Code (
) is inseparably linked to the Internal Code (
) of the “Character Set” (Big-5 or GB).
All “construction” input methods develop their own unique External Code (
). Naturally, they differ from one another in their choice and number of building components, the alphanumeric representations (
) thereof, and the strict order by which the building components are to be strung together.
The key arrangement and keyboard operation vary from one device, method or system to another. In the simplest form, each stroke, or stroke-form is essentially given a number or a letter of the alphabet, and depending upon the form of device, method or system, these could be from four to six different numbers or alphabets. These numbers or alphabets, or the combination of the two are then keyed in sequentially. Normally they are based on the order in which a particular character would be written, until the keystrokes are completed or would lead to
Chau Minh
EasyKeys Limited
Funk Stephen R.
LandOfFree
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