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Description  |
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of data processing, and more
specifically relates to a keyboard for data entry. The keyboard of the
present invention converts the actuation of its various keys to electrical
signals; it is not a part of any particular machine. However, it can be
electrically connected to a typewriter, word processor, printer, computer
or other device so that its electrical signals can be utilized to control
the operation of such other devices.
2. The Prior Art
A detailed discussion of the prior art is contained in a Prior Art
Statement that has been lodged in the Patent Office file of this
application. Accordingly, only an abbreviated discussion will be presented
here.
In one aspect of the present invention, the SHIFT key assigns alternative
characters to only the character keys and not to the punctuation keys. In
the prior art, it was common for the SHIFT key to affect all of the keys
on the keyboard and to assign alternative characters to the punctuation
keys.
Typically, the punctuation keys are located at some distance from the home
keys, and most users find it difficult to strike the desired punctuation
key with confidence. The present inventor recognized that the location of
the punctuation keys imposes a burden on the user and that this burden
should not be increased by adding the complication that the punctuation
key has two alternative characters. In the present invention, each
punctuation key includes only one character which remains unchanged
regardless which mode the keyboard is in.
In another aspect of the invention, palm pads are provided and they serve
both as hand rests and as operational keys. Two types of hand rest are
known in the prior art. One kind is simply an actuator which is not
intended to support a substantial part of the weight of the hand, but
instead is pushed by the hand to effect some function. Another type of
hand rest known in the prior art serves only to space the fingers from the
proximity-actuated keys to avoid accidentally operating the keys. None of
the hand rests found in the prior art are specifically shaped and
contoured to fit the shape of the hand of the user, as is the case in the
present invention.
In another aspect of the present invention, special keys are provided for
the purpose of selectively altering the location of the writing position
or cursor. These four keys are used respectively for controlling the
motion of the cursor or writing position relative to the medium in the
four directions: left, right, up, and down. Each of these keys is slidable
in the direction that the key controls. No comparable cursor control
system is known in the art.
In a fourth aspect of the invention, the palm pads that also serve as hand
rests are used for operating the SHIFT. One earlier patent shows a shift
key located under the palm of the left hand, but it is not usable by both
hands and includes no provision for shift lock.
In a fifth aspect of the present invention a system of chording is used to
input the 26 different characters of the English alphabet. Although
chording has been used in some prior art keyboards, the particular scheme
of chording used in the present invention is thought to be unique.
Thus, it appears that the present invention has a number of novel features
which are not disclosed in the prior art. In the following section, these
features will be discussed in greater detail.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The keyboard of the present invention makes maximum use of ergonomic
principles to provide a keyboard that is uniquely efficient to use and
easy to learn. This consistent application of ergonomic principles can be
seen in each of the various aspects of the present invention.
A unique system of chording permits the fingers and thumbs to remain on the
home keys for all the letters and numerals.
The punctuation keys are located immediately beyond the tips of the fingers
in their home position, and the characters produced by the punctuation
keys are not altered by shifting from lower case to upper case letters.
This location of the punctuation keys assures that they will remain
visible at all times (except when being struck).
A left palm pad and a right palm pad are provided and serve the dual
purposes of supporting the hands and of serving as SHIFT keys. The surface
of the palm pad is shaped and contoured to fit the proximal portion of the
palm of the hand, so that the hand is supported comfortably and in a
natural position.
The keyboard also includes four keys that, in addition to being
depressable, are slidable in the plane of the face of the keyboard. Each
of these four keys controls the motion of the writing position or cursor
with respect to the medium in one of the four directions: left, right, up,
and down. The direction in which the key is slid corresponds to the
direction of motion of the writing position or cursor (with one
exception).
When depressed, two of the four keys effect the TAB LEFT and the TAB RIGHT
functions.
The remaining two of the four keys may be used, by depressing one and
sliding the other, to effect the ERASE LEFT and ERASE RIGHT functions. The
requirement that two keys be used simultaneously to activate these
functions guards against accidental erasure.
In accordance with the present invention, the thumb, being the strongest
and most versatile digit, is given the greatest individual workload, in
contrast to conventional keyboards. The individual fingers leave their
home positions only when it is necessary to strike a punctuation key. Even
then, only one finger at a time is away from the home keys.
In designing the present keyboard, the inventor started with the hands
themselves, in a natural, comfortable and highly functional position.
Thereafter, a key and control layout was built up around the hands, taking
into account their unique form and function, capitalizing on their
strengths and avoiding their weaknesses. The resulting keyboard of the
present invention is therefore uniquely natural and efficient, and quite
easy to learn.
The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the
invention, both as to organization and method of operation, together with
further objects and advantages thereof, will be better understood from the
following description considered in connection with the accompanying
drawings in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated
by way of example. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the
drawings are for the purpose of illustration and description only and are
not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a diagram of the face of the keyboard showing the layout of the
keys and control buttons in a preferred embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 2 is a plan view in the plane of the face of the keyboard showing the
home position of the hands and fingers when the keyboard is in use;
FIG. 3 is a side elevation view in the direction 3--3 indicated in FIG. 2
and showing the home position of the hands and fingers when the keyboard
is in use;
FIG. 4 is a mechanical diagram showing a side elevation view in the
direction 4--4 indicated in FIG. 2;
FIG. 5 is an electrical circuit diagram showing a logic circuit used in the
preferred embodiment for controlling the printing or typing of the
character keys;
FIG. 6 is an electrical circuit diagram showing a logic circuit used in the
preferred embodiment for effecting a mode change;
FIG. 7 is an electrical block diagram showing a logic circuit used in the
preferred embodiment for controlling the SHIFT and SHIFT LOCK functions;
and,
FIG. 8 is an electrical block diagram showing a logic circuit used in the
preferred embodiment for controlling the ERASE and the writing position
movement functions.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Turning now to the drawings, wherein the same reference numeral denotes the
same part throughout, the layout of the keyboard is shown in FIG. 1. FIGS.
2 and 3 show the hands 100, 102 of the user in their proper relationship
to the keyboard. FIG. 1 is a diagram of the face 10 of the keyboard.
Four left hand character keys 12, 14, 16, 18, four right hand character
keys 20, 22, 24, 26, a left thumb key 28 and a right thumb key 30 are
provided for use in typing the letters of the alphabet and the numerals.
As suggested in FIG. 2, these are the "home keys" on which the thumbs and
fingers normally rest. The method of using these home keys to input or to
type the letters of the alphabet and the numerals will be described more
fully below in connection with FIGS. 5 and 6. As seen in FIGS. 1 and 2,
the home keys are elongated in the direction of the fingers to accommodate
hands of various sizes.
Immediately to the right of the left thumb key 28 there is provided a MATH
key 32 with its locking key 36. Immediately to the left of the right thumb
key 30 there is provided a CONTROL key 34 with its locking key 38. The
keys 32 and 34 are mode-changing keys. For example, when the MATH key 32
is depressed, the home keys will input numerals instead of letters, as
will be described in connection with FIG. 6 below. The locking keys 36, 38
perpetuate the actuation of the MATH key 32 and the CONTROL key 34,
respectively. Indicator lamps 37, 39 associated with the keys 36, 38
provide a visual indication of when the MATH mode or the CONTROL mode has
been locked in. The keys 32 and 36 are interconnected by a latch-release
mechanism of the type used in conventional typewriters for the SHIFT and
SHIFT-LOCK functions. This mechanism permits the MATH mode to be unlocked
by depression of the MATH key 32. A similar mechanism is provided for the
CONTROL key 34.
Punctuation keys 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56 and 58, 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, and
70 are located immdiately adjacent but spaced distally from the finger
keys 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20, 22, 24, and 26, respectively. The punctuation
keys produce exactly the same characters regardless of whether the
keyboard is inputting upper case or lower case characters, and regardless
of whether the keyboard is in the MATH mode or the CONTROL mode.
A next line return key 72 is located adjacent the smallest finger of the
right hand, and a key 74 is provided adjacent the smallest finger of the
left hand to return the cursor or writing position to the upper left hand
corner of the field.
An ENTER button 40 and a PRINT button 42 are provided. These permit the
text being input to be transferred to a memory device or to be printed,
respectively.
Two columns 86, 88 of keys are provided in the center of the keyboard.
These are used in the preferred embodiment for commanding various
functions. The proximal keys in the columns 86, 88 are located and
contoured for use by the thumbs, as shown in FIG. 2. These keys can be
reached by the thumbs without having to remove the fingers from the home
keys. In the preferred embodiment, some of the center keys are used for
setting the tabs.
One of the most striking features of the present invention is the
combination and operation of the four keys 76, 78, 82, and 84.
As best seen in FIG. 1, the key 76 is located immediately adjacent the left
side of the left thumb. The key 76 is connected to the body of the
keyboard in such a way that it is depressable perpendicularly into the
face of the keyboard in its normal position and so that it can also be
slid to the left from its normal position shown in FIG. 1 when not
depressed, but cannot simultaneously be depressed and slid to the left.
The key 84 is the symmetrical counterpart of the key 76. The key 84 is
located adjacent the right side of the right thumb and is both depressable
and slidable to the right (but not both simultaneously) similarly to the
key 76.
The key 78 is located distally of the tip of the left thumb and adjacent
thereto. The key 78 is depressable into the face of the keyboard and also
is slidable distally as indicated by the arrow in FIG. 1. However, the key
78 cannot be depressed and slid simultaneously.
The key 82 is the symmetrical counterpart of the key 78 and it is slidable
in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 1 and is depressable (but not
both simultaneously).
Depression of the key 78 initiates execution of the TAB LEFT function,
which moves the writing position or cursor to the left, to the nearest tab
setting.
Depression of the key 82 initiates execution of the TAB RIGHT function,
which moves the writing position or cursor to the right, to the nearest
tab setting.
The four keys 76, 78, 82, and 84 provide a means for altering the writing
position or cursor position relative to the medium. The placement of these
keys and their directions of movement makes the writing position or cursor
control easy to learn and to use because the directions in which the keys
are moved correspond (with one exception) respectively to the directions
in which the writing position or cursor moves.
The cursor or writing position is moved to the left simply by using the
thumb of the left hand to slide the key 76 to the left. Similarly, the
cursor or writing position is moved upward by using the tip of the left
thumb to slide the key 78 in the distal direction.
The cursor or writing position may be moved to the right by using the right
thumb to slide the key 84 to the right. Finally, the writing position or
cursor is moved downwardly with respect to the medium when the key 82 is
slid in the distal direction.
A single space is produced by sliding the key 84 momentarily to the right.
A single backspace is produced by sliding the key 76 momentarily to the
left.
The sliding motion of the keys 76, 78, 82, and 84 is opposed by a spring or
other resilient means so that, when released, the key returns to its
normal position shown in FIG. 1.
The keys 76, 78, 82, and 84 permit still other functions to be commanded.
These functions are the ERASE LEFT and the ERASE RIGHT functions Because
they result in the erasure of information, their use has purposefully been
made to require some coordination so that their use must be deliberate
rather than accidential. If the key 84 is depressed by the right thumb and
simultaneously, the key 76 is slid to the left, the keyboard will produce
a signal that commands the writing position or cursor to sweep to the
left, erasing everything in its path.
Similarly, if the key 76 is depressed and simultaneously the key 84 is slid
to the right, the keyboard will produce a signal to command the writing
position or cursor to move to the right erasing everything in its path.
The means by which these erase functions are implemented in the preferred
embodiment is shown in FIG. 8 and discussed in greater detail in
connection with that figure.
In an alternative embodiment the ERASE LEFT function is effected simply by
depressing the key 76, and the ERASE RIGHT function is effected simply by
depressing the key 84.
Two palm pads 90, 92 are located near the proximal edge 96 of the keyboard
on the right and left sides of it. These distinctive palm pads serve
several useful purposes.
First, the palm pads 90, 92 are shaped and contoured to receive the
proximal portion 108 of the palms of the hands and thereby to comfortably
support the hands in the home position. As will be explained in connection
with FIG. 4 below, the palm pads are preloaded upwardly so that they are
not depressable accidentally, but, instead, must be deliberately depressed
by the user.
In addition, the palm pads 90, 92 serve as the actuators for initiating and
locking the SHIFT function, as will be explained in detail in connection
with FIG. 8 below. It will be seen that when a character associated with a
particular key is to be capitalized, the key and a palm pad may be struck
by the same hand or by opposite hands as the user may choose. The
indicator lamp 94 gives a visual indication when upper case characters are
being used.
The contribution of the palm pads 90, 92 can hardly be overstated. The
locations of the home keys with respect to the palm pads, as shown in FIG.
2, causes the hands of the user to be aligned with the arms, rather than
to turn outwardly with respect to the arms, as is the usual situation with
standard keyboards. The contouring of the surface of the palm pads 90, 92
encourages this natural position of the hands.
Further, by providing a comfortable and convenient rest for the proximal
portions of the palms of the hands, the palm pads greatly reduce the
strain on the user's body of having to hold the hands in an elevated
position. Unlike certain doorknob-like structures sometimes found in prior
art keyboards, which primarily supported the distal portion of the palm of
the hand and thereby maintained the knuckles at a fixed height above the
face of the keyboard, the palm pads of the present invention support the
proximal portion of the palm of the hand and thereby permit the knuckles
to move vertically in a natural and restful manner.
Also unlike certain wrist support structures known in the prior art, the
palm pad of the present invention does not produce discomfort of the
relatively uncushioned and closely ligamented wrist, but instead supports
the hand on the relatively well padded and less sensitive proximal part of
the palm, resulting in a much more comfortable and sustainable support.
As best seen in FIG. 3, the angle of inclination of the face 10 of the
keyboard has been chosen in the preferred embodiment to be substantially
equal to the inclination of the forearm 110 of the user, so that in use
the wrist 106 need not be flexed upward or downward, again, to promote
comfort during sustained operation.
FIG. 4 shows the mechanism that underlies the left palm pad 90 and that is
used for preloading the palm pad and for adjusting the strength of the
preloading force.
A screw 112 is used to alter the preloading force in the following manner.
A plate-like nut 114, which is restrained from rotating moves axially
along the screw as the screw is turned manually. A compression spring 116
is lodged between the plate-like nut 114 and the underside 118 of the palm
pad, and exerts an upward force against the latter. The palm pad 90 is
pivotally mounted to the body 80 of the keyboard and is prevented from
rotating above its normal unactuated position by a mechanical stop 124.
Thus, counter-clockwise rotation of the palm pad 90 about the hinge 122 is
prevented by the stop 124, but when the user applies a sufficient downward
force to the palm pad, that force will overcome the force with which the
spring 116 pushes the palm pad against the stop 124, and thereby causes
the palm pad to be rotated in the clockwise sense about the hinge 122 to a
depressed position.
The user may adjust the preloading force by rotating the screw 112 until
the palm pad has the desired degree of "stiffness". An electrical switch
120 is positioned beneath the palm pad and is actuated by mechanical
displacement of the palm pad in a downward direction.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, each of the keys (except for
the keys 76, 78, 82, and 84) is associated with an electrical switch that
is actuated by depressing the key.
In an alternative embodiment of the invention, capacitive proximity
switches are used instead of the mechanically-actuated switches (except
for the keys 76, 78, 82 and 84).
Regardless of the type of switches that are used, the closing of each
switch applies an electrical signal, such as a preset voltage, to an
electrical conductor (line) that is associated with the particular switch
in question.
With this in mind, the manner in which the keyboard must be used to command
the typing or printing of letter characters and numerals will now be
discussed in connection with FIGS. 5 and 6.
In FIG. 5, the lines 132, 134 . . . are associated with the switches that
are actuated by the fingers, F.sub.1 through F.sub.8, through the keys 12,
14, 16, 18, and 20, 22, 24, and 26. Similarly, the lines 136 and 138 are
associated with switches that are actuated by the keys 28 and 30. Thus, at
any particular time the lines 132, 134 . . . , and 136 and 138 conduct an
electrical signal that has two possible states depending on whether the
corresponding key is being struck. The states are normally referred to as
"0" and "1" or as logical "high" and "low" states.
The lines 136, 138 are connected to the OR gate 140 which is followed by a
logical inverter 142 so that a logical high signal is produced on the line
144 only when there is a logical high on either the line 136, or the line
138. In a preferred embodiment, the OR gate 140 is of a type known as
exclusive OR, whose output remains low when signals are simultaneously
applied on the lines 136, 138. Thus, the line 144 remains in the logical
high state unless only one of the thumb keys 28, 30 is depressed.
If the finger key 12 is depressed by the finger F.sub.1, and if neither
thumb key is depressed, then both the line 132 and the line 144 are in
logical high states, and the AND gate 146 produces a logical high output,
denoted "a", on the line 148.
The MATH key 32 is connected in such a way that a logical high is present
on the line 150 when the MATH key is not depressed, and a logical high is
present on the line 152 when the MATH key is depressed. In one embodiment
this is implemented by using two separate switches in association with the
key 32.
The line 148 of FIG. 6 is identical with the line 148 of FIG. 5, so that
when the keyboard is not in the MATH mode and AND gate 154 produces a
signal on the line 156 that controls the printing, or typing, or storing
of the letter A.
Similar reasoning applies when only a single finger key is depressed, and
it is in this manner that the typing or printing of the characters A, B,
C, D, and G, H, I, and J is accomplished. Thus, a set of eight distinct
characters are commanded by use of the fingers of the left and right hands
used alone.
A second set of four characters, distinct from the first 8 are commanded by
simultaneously depressing the left thumb key 28 and various ones of the
left finger keys 12, 14, 16, and 18. In this case, the high logic state on
the line 136 causes the signal on the line 144 to go to the low state. The
signal on the line 158 of FIG. 5 when combined with a high signal on one
of the lines 132, 134 . . . enables the printing of the letters K, L, M,
and N.
In like manner another set of four distinct characters are commanded by
simultaneously depressing the right thumb key 30 and one of the right
finger keys 20, 22, 24, and 26. In this case, there will be a high signal
on the line 160, enabling the commanding of the letters O P, Q, and R as
the finger keys 20, 22, 24, and 26 respectively are depressed.
A third set of four distinct characters are commanded by simultaneously
depressing the right thumb key 30 and one of the four left finger keys 12,
14, 16, and 18. In this manner the letters S, T, U, and V are commanded.
Another set of four distinct characters are commanded by simultaneously
depressing the left thumb key 28 and one of the right finger keys 20, 22,
24, and 26. In this way the characters W, X, Y, and Z are commanded.
Thus far, 24 distinct characters have been accounted for, and the two
additional characters required to make up a 26-character alphabet are
commanded by depressing, respectively, the left thumb key 28 alone, and
the right thumb key 30 alone, to produce the characters E and F,
respectively.
Referring to FIG. 5, if none of the finger keys corresponding to the
fingers F.sub.1 through F.sub.8 is depressed, the signal on the line 166
remains high, enabling the AND gates 168, 170 to produce the characters e,
and f, respectively when the left thumb key or the right thumb key is
depressed.
In this way, the commanding of 26 distinct characters is accomplished. It
is noteworthy that the chording scheme described here is independent of
the indentities of the characters associated with the keys. The invention,
in this aspect is seen to be far more profound than merely the particular
assignment of characters to keys shown in FIG. 1, but instead is a
chording scheme that comprehends all possible assignments of characters to
keys.
As discussed above, the circuit of FIG. 6 permits the signals a, b, . . .
i, j to be rendered as the letters A, B . . . I, J or as the numerals 1,
2, . . . 9, 0 depending on whether the MATH key 32 is depressed. The MATH
key 32 is an example of a mode-changing key that alters the identity of
the characters commanded when particular combinations of keys are
depressed.
Another example of a mode-changing key is the palm pads 90, 92 which are
used for controlling the SHIFT function.
If it is desired to be able to command both upper case and lower case
letters, then the output signals A, B, . . . Y, Z (the entire alphabet)
can be input to a logic circuit similar to that of FIG. 6, whereby if a
lower case state SHIFT is indicated, then the signals A through Z are
routed to means for printing or storing lower case letters; but if the
upper case signal SHIFT is present, the signals A through Z will be routed
to means for printing or storing upper case letters.
FIG. 7 is a logic circuit diagram showing how the SHIFT function is
implemented in accordance with the preferred embodiment. The line 172 is
connected to the switch 120 of FIG. 4 that is actuated by the left palm
pad 90. When the left palm pad is depressed, the signal on the lin | | |
