Keyboard with manual-control keys combined with a display system

Coded data generation or conversion – Bodily actuated code generator – Including keyboard or keypad

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Details

341 22, 341 27, 341 34, 340711, H03M 1100, H03K 17969

Patent

active

048536970

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This U.S. application stems from PCT International Application No. PCT/FR85/00324 filed Nov. 19, 1985.
The invention relates to the design concept and the construction of keyboards, it being understood that this term includes all types of keyboards which are intended to be employed for manual control of a wide range of different machines; the keyboards of office machines, especially those of typewriters or computer peripherals are examples of keyboards which are particularly representative but in no way limitative.
In this field, the invention mainly proposes to combine in one and the same device two different modes of operation, namely that of mechanical keys of conventional keyboards and that of tactile screens permitting finger-touch control, thereby extending the possibilities of application of keyboards by increasing their flexibility of operation. One of the results of the invention is in fact to preserve the mechanical reaction of the keys to which the user of conventional keyboards is accustomed and nevertheless to utilize the performances of microprocessors for permitting redefinition of the keyboard from one use to another and even permitting visual dialog with the user.
The keyboard in accordance with the invention is a keyboard having manual control keys combined with a display system, essentially characterized in that it comprises a series of parallel bars capable of mechanical displacement by downward thrust under the pressure of the user's fingers, a luminous display system in which a tactile electric control screen forms the top of said bars, circuits for producing control orders from at least bar data and key data, said bar data being selected according to the bars depressed, electronic means for assigning specific key functions to screen zones disposed at intervals along each bar or at least a certain number of bars, means for controlling through said display system a visual representation related to each key function in the corresponding screen zone, locating means for detecting a key selected according to the position of contact of the fingers which press a bar on said screen zones, and means for producing said key data as a function of the key selected and of the corresponding key function.
Preferably, the keyboard is provided with means for controlling the display system by the locating means as a function of the key selected. The locating means can advantageously comprise means for determining a Y-coordinate of the key selected according to the bar depressed, and an X-coordinate of said key selected according to the screen zone contacted.
In fact, in regard to the design concept of the locating means in conjunction with that of the tactile screen and with the utilization of the key data, reference may be made to the descriptions which have been given in French patent Applications No. 83 20480 of 21st December 1983 and No. 83 19466 of 9th December 1983 filed in the name of Paolo Pellizzari. However, although the particular embodiments which form the subject of these patents can be applied by way of preference, they are in no way imperatively necessary for the practical application of the present invention. There exist other forms of construction, more widely known and industrially available, which also make it possible as required by the keyboard of the invention to control the luminous display on a screen, to detect the position of the user's finger on this screen, and to determine the control operation as a function of the position detected. It will thus be possible to make use of tactile screen systems which operate by capacitive effect, for example.
In a particularly advantageous manner, each movable bar comprises in a rigid assembly a transparent top plate provided with electric locating circuits designed to detect among a number of keys reserved on the same bar the particular key which is contacted at the time of actuation of the bar, and a visual display device placed beneath said plate.
The support for the assembly can advantageously

REFERENCES:
patent: 4224615 (1980-09-01), Penz
patent: 4646062 (1987-02-01), Arakawa
patent: 4740781 (1988-04-01), Brown
patent: 4746919 (1988-05-01), Reitmeier
"Liquid Crystal Display and Touch Panel Keyboard Input"; Harris et al.; IBM Tech. Discl. Bulletin; vol. 24, No. 4, Sep. 1981.
Proceedings of the IEEE 1982 National Aerospace Electronics Conference NAECON 1982.
Patent Abstracts of Japan, vol. 8, No. 101, 5/12/84.

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