One-handed keyboard and its control means

• US 4,042,777 A
• Filed: 11/15/1976
• Issued: 08/16/1977
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/1975
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: IBM Information Products Corp. (Ninestar Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bequaert, Frank Charles, Rochester, Nathaniel
• Primary Examiner(s): Robinson, Thomas A.
• Application Number:
  US05/741,638
• Time in Patent Office: 274 Days
• Field of Search: 178/79, 178/17 R, 178/17 C, 197/19, 197/98, 197/99, 197/100, 340/365 R, 340/365 C, 340/365 E, 340/365 A, 340/365 B, 340/365 D, 340/172.5, 235/145 R
• US Class Current: 178/79
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 5/10 Arrangements of keyboards , e.g. key button disposition
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0235 using chord techniques G06F3/0234 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0237 using prediction or retrieval techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 13/807 characterised by the spatial arrangement of the contact sites, e.g. superimposed sites
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 13/84 characterised by ergonomic functions, e.g. for miniature keyboards; characterised by operational sensory functions, e.g. sound feedback legends H01H13/83
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 2225/022 other then row-column disposition
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 11/08 by operating selected combinations of multifunction keys
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 11/16 wherein the shift keys are operated after the operation of the multifunction keys

Abstract

A keyboard which has 10 keys controlled by the four fingers and four keys controlled by the thumb of the same hand. On it, the operator forms chords somewhat as a pianist forms chords on a piano. It allows the user to type at normal speed using only one hand and offers the possibility of typing at a faster rate than the conventional two-handed keyboard. The operator presses several keys at once, as when playing a chord on a piano. Each finger or thumb can press one key, or overlap two or four adjacent keys to press the two or four keys. There are 27 such finger positions on the 10 finger keys and 7 thumb positions on the four thumb keys. The thumb position on the thumb keys select the alphabet/case, output order of characters in the chord, a space character preceding the chord, and capitalizing of the first outputted character of a chord. The finger positions on the finger keys select the characters in the alphabet/case selected by the thumb position. The disclosed system describes a mechanical design of the keys, and control circuits that interpret the chords and emit signals representing the strings of characters implied by the chords.

Claims

1. A keyboard for one-handed typing of chords, such chords being formed by the simultaneous pressing of one or more keys on the keyboard to produce one or more characters, the keyboard comprising

an array of keys for being operated by the fingers of one hand, electrical switch means being connected to the keys in the array of keys, an array of finger positions located on the array of keys, a finger position being located on each key and across the boundary of adjacent keys pressable by any one finger, a particular switch combination of closed and open switching paths in the electrical switch means being provided for each chord pressable on the array of keys,

means for interpreting chords, comprising means to generate coded signals representing members of a set of characters, switching and logical circuit means to sense the particular switch combinations of closed and open switching paths of a chord to select character signals that correspond to the finger positions that correspond to a respective chord, and output circuit means to issue the character signals.

2. A keyboard for the one-handed typing of chords, as defined in claim 1, further comprising

each finger position being a disk-shaped depression formed on the surface of each key and on the combined surfaces of adjacent keys across their boundaries.

3. A keyboard for one-handed operation as defined in claim 1, in which said electrical switch means further comprises

one-released-finger circuit means for generating a chord present signal which a first finger key is released after one or more finger keys are pressed to form a chord, and

a finger position decoder circuit means being enabled by the chord present signal to decode a particular combination of closed and open switching paths existing at an instant before the first key is released.

4. A keyboard for one-handed operation as defined in claim 1, in which said elecrical switch means further comprises,

an all-released-fingers circuit means for generating a chord present signal when all finger keys in the array of keys are released after one or more finger keys are pressed, and

a finger position decoder circuit means being enabled by said chord present signal to decode a particular combination of closed and open switching paths from the time of pressing only one finger key until all finger keys on the keyboard are released.

5. A keyboard for one-handed operation as defined in claim 1, in which said electrical switch means further comprises,

a one-release, all-released circuit means for generating a chord present signal for a chord pressed on the array of keys when a first finger key of a chord is released after one or more finger keys are pressed to form the chord, and a register circuit means set by signals from the switching paths and being reset when all finger keys are released,

whereby a depression of any one or more finger keys from the time the first finger key is released until all finger keys are released does not provide any additional character in the keyboard output, and

a finger position decoder circuit means being enabled by said chord present signal to decode key combination output signals of the register circuit means at an instant before the first finger key is released.

6. A keyboard for one-handed operation as defined in claim 1, in which

said array of finger keys comprise ten keys with five keys in each of two rows,

Whereby said array provides 27 different finger positions which can respectively be related to the characters in the English alphabet.

8. A keyboard for one-handed operations as defined in claim 3, further comprising,

at least one thumb key in the row of thumb keys located to one side of said array of finger keys to control the selection of case in an alphabet having characters selected by pressing combinations of finger keys, storage means containing electronic signals for plural alphabets/cases, and

address circuit means for generating an address component for said storage means corresponding to the pressed/released position of a thumb key to select the case of alphabet of each character address generated by the depression of said finger keys, and

means connecting the address circuit means to the electrical switching means to select characters in a selected case or alphabet.

9. A keyboard for one-handed operation as defined in claim 8, in which

said row of thumb keys are located in a line with each other, a thumb key combination including the simultaneous pressing of up to two adjacent thumb keys.

10. A keyboard for one-handed operation as defined in claim 9, in which

said row of thumb keys are located in a line making an angle of approximately 40°

with a line parallel to rows in the array of finger keys.

11. A keyboard for one-handed operation as defined in claim 8, in which

facing surfaces of the row of thumb keys, when not pressed, are located in a plane which is lower than a plane passing through facing surfaces of the array of finger keys, when not pressed.

12. A keyboard for one-handed operation as defined in claim 11, in which the plane of the facing surfaces of said thumb keys is approximately one-half inch below the plane of the facing surfaces of said finger keys.

13. A keyboard for one-handed operation as defined in claim 8, further comprising

a keyboard word generator sampling the electrical states for the open and closed paths of the electrical switch means at periodic intervals for periodically generating a keyboard word having bit positions indicating the pressed/released state for each thumb key and each finger key respectively, said periodic intervals being shorter than the reaction time for human fingers acting to press or release keys,

first comparing means for comparing electrical states of corresponding bit positions in each two consecutively-generated keyboard words, said first comparing means generating a chord-complete signal when any compared bit position indicates a change in electrical state from a pressed to a released state,

and a chord-present circuit being actuated by said chord-complete signal to output a chord-present signal, whereby the chord-present signal indicates that the first generated of the two compared keyboard words is to be decoded for generating each character provided by a chord formed when any key in the chord is released.

15. A one-handed keyboard as defined in claim 13, further comprising,

a state flip flop circuit being settable by the chord-complete signal from the first comparing means,

second comparing means for comparing the electrical states of corresponding bit positions in each two consecutively-generated keyboard words, the second comparing means generating a chord-being-formed signal when any compared bit position indicates a change in electrical state from a released state to a pressed state,

and complementary outputs of said state flip flop circuit oppositely conditioning the first and second comparing means to alternately dissable one of the two comparing means until the enabled one of the two comparing means provides an output signal to reverse the electrical state of the state flip flop.

16. A one-handed keyboard as defined in claim 13, further comprising

an all-zero flip flop cleared at the beginning of each periodic interval, the all-zero flip flop being set by any bit in each keyboard word having a pressed electrical state,

and gate means connecting the output of the all-zero flip flop to the state flip flop to clear the state flip flop to an all-keys-released state whenever the all-zero flip-flop is in a cleared state after receiving any generated keyboard word,

whereby the generation of the current of the following keyboard word to represent a next chord is inhibited until said state flip flop is put into a cleared state.

17. A one-handed keyboard as defined in claim 8, further comprising

a keyboard word generator sampling the electrical states for the closed and open switching paths in the electrical switch means at periodic intervals for periodically generating a keyboard word having bit positions indicating the pressed/released state for each thumb key and each finger key respectively, said periodic interval being shorter than the reaction time for human fingers acting to press or release keys on the keyboard,

a keyboard word register storing the state of each switching path at a respective bit position,

a zero-detection flip flop cleared at the beginning of a periodic interval, the zero-detection flip flop being set when any bit in the keyboard register is set to a pressed state,

and a chord-present flip flop being cleared at the beginning of each periodic interval and being set to a chord-present state whenever the zero-detection flip flop is in a cleared state after each keyboard word is generated,

whereby each chord is signalled as being formed of all keys pressed before all keys are released.

18. A one-handed keyboard as defined in claim 8, further comprising,

a special chord circuit for sensing a special predetermined combination of key pressings on a said keyboard, the special chord circuit generating a special chord signal upon sensing the predetermined combination,

a special word circuit for storing a special predetermined set of characters, the special word circuit being actuated by the special chord signal to output the special predetermined set of characters.

19. A one-handed keyboard as defined in claim 8, further comprising

a special chord switch located on said keyboard having a USE position and a LOAD position, a special chord circuit being connected the speical chord switch,

means for storing in said special chord circuit the key signals of the electrical switch means provided by pressing keys while said special chord switch is at its LOAD position,

means for comparing the signals of the electrical switch means with the key signals in the storing means while said special chord switch is set at its USE position, and

the comparing means generating a special-chord signal if the compared signals are equal, and the comparing means generating a regular-chord signal if the compared signals are not equal.

20. A one-handed keyboard as defined in claim 8, further comprising

a special word switch located on said keyboard having a USE position and a LOAD position, a special word circuit being connected to the special word switch,

means for storing in said special word circuit each character pressed on said keyboard in the order that the characters are provided while the special word switch is at its LOAD position, and

means for outputting the characters stored in the special word circuit upon receipt of a special-chord signal while the special word switch is at its USE position.

7. A keyboard for one-handed typing of chords, such chords being formed by the simultaneous pressing of one or more keys on the keyboard to produce one or more characters, the keyboard comprising

a row of keys for being operated by the thumb, electrical switch means being connected to the keys in the row of keys, a row of thumb positions located on the row of keys, a thumb position being located on a single key or on the boundary across adjacent keys in the row of keys pressable by the thumb,

a particular switch combination of closed and open switching paths in the electrical switch means being provided for each chord pressable on the row of keys,

means for interpreting chords, comprising first means to generate coded signals representing members of a set of characters, switching and logical circuit means to sense the particular switch combinations of closed and open switching paths for a chord to select one set from among several sets of coded representations of characters, the selected set corresponding to the thumb position,

an array of keys for being operated by the fingers of the same hand having the thumb for operating the row of keys, the electrical switch means also being connected to the keys in the array of keys, an array of finger positions located on the array of keys, a finger position being located on each key and across the boundary of adjacent keys pressable by any one finger on the array of keys, a particular switch combination of closed and open switching paths in the electrical switch means being provided for each chord pressable on the array of keys,

means for interpreting chords, comprising second means to generate coded signals representing members of the set of characters selected by first means, switching and logical circuit means to sense the particular switch combinations of closed and open switching paths of a chord to select the coded representations of the characters that correspond to the finger positions that correspond to the respective chord, and output circuit means to issue the coded representations of characters.

14. A keyboard as defined in claim 7, in which key motion is detected by

means containing electro-mechanical contacts actuated by pressing each of said keys, also comprising

means for sampling the electrical states of the electro-mechancial contacts at periodic intervals which are longer than the duration of contact bounce in actuating the electro-mechanical contacts.

21. A one-handed keyboard as defined in claim 7, in which the means for interpreting chords further comrpises,

register circuit means having signals for a chord set by each particular switch combination of closed and open switching paths of the electrical switch means,

window identifying means for identifying and selecting one subgroup of four signals at a time from the register circuit means and outputting the subgroup with a corresponding window identifications signal,

window decoding means receiving each subgroup provided by the window identifying means and outputting a window decode signal identifying which of seven different codes is the code provided by the subgroup, and

finger position decoding means combining each window decode signal received from the window decoding means with the window identifidation signal received from the window identifying means to generate a decoded finger position signal.

22. A one-handed keyboard as defined in claim 21, in which the window identifying means further comprises

a shift register receiving the key combination output signals from the register circuit means, four parallel outputs being connected from said shift register to the window decoding means,

means for initially shifting the key combination output signals into an initial predetermined position in said shift register at which the four parallel outputs identify a first window,

window shift control means for shifting the shift register by two signal positions to provide signals for each next window at the four parallel outputs, each next shifting operation by the window shift control means identifying each next window.

23. A one-handed keyboard as defined in claim 21, in which the window identifying means further comprises,

a step counter set to an initial state prior to decoding each window, means for actuating the step counter to step through at least six count signals while each window is being decoded, the six count signals providing a counter output which is coded to correspond to the window decode signals for six different finger positions decodable for a window,

means for comparing the counter output with the signal subgroup currently being outputted from the window identifying means, and the comparing means generating an equal signal for any particular count signal equal to the signal subgroup, the particular count signal being outputted as the window decode signal of the window decoding means.

24. A one-handed keyboard as defined in claim 23, in which the window identifying means further comprises,

a finger position counter circuit which has a count capability that equals or exceeds the number of finger positions possible on the keyboard, means for setting the finger position counter to an initial count state prior to the decoding of the key combination output signals provided by the register circuit means, means for incrementing the finger position counter and synchronism with incrementing the step counter to each next finger position count signal to provide a subset of six increments per window decoding operation for both the finger position counter and the step counter, the finger position counter circuit incrementing a next set of six counts when the window identifying means identifies the next signal subgroup for the next window,

a finger position memory having different bit positions at addresses corresponding to the count signals available from the finger position counter, the bit positions initially being set to a first state, and menas for setting to a second state any bit position currently addressed by the finger position counter upon receiving an equal signal from the comparing means, the bit position states in the finger position memory representing the decoding of the provided key combination output signals after its last signal subgroup has been decoded.

25. A keyboard for one-handed operation as defined in claim 7, further comprising,

a group of thumb keys located next to the group of finger keys, the thumb keys being spaced closely to each other to enable a thumb to simultaneously press a single thumb position consisting of pressing either one or a plurality of the thumb keys while the fingers of the samd hand are pressing one or more finger positions in the array of finger keys,

The means for interpreting chords being connected to said electrical switch means for outputting thumb bits sensed from pressing one or more adjacent thumb keys,

a storage means containing electronic signals for plural alphabets/codes,

thumb decoder means receiving the thumb bits outputted by the electronic circuit means, the thumb decoder means decoding the thumb bits and providing a thumb position output for identifying a particular thumb position coded into the thumb bits, and

thumb storage address circuit means receiving the thumb position output from the thumb decoder means and generating an alphabet/case address signal for said storage means from the information received from the thumb and finger keys and selecting a character within the alphabet/case being addressed from other information received from the thumb and finger keys.

26. A one-handed keyboard as defined in claim 25, in which said thumb address circuit means further comprises

means for generating an alphabet/case address signal for said storage means, part of the address signal corresponding to each pressed thumb position to select an alphabet/case in said storage means, and another part of the address signal corresponding to a pressed finger position for selecting a character within the alphabet/case.

27. A one-handed keyboard as defined in claim 25, further comprising,

a plurality of thumb positions for said keyboard actuating the thumb decoder means to provide sequence control outputs which signals the output order for the decoded finger positions in a chord,

normal-order control circuit means being enabled by a first sequence control output to increment in a forward direction the finger position counter circuit when receiving input count signals,

reverse-order control circuit means being enabled by a second sequence control output to decrement in a reverse direction the finger position counter when receiving input count signals,

means for disablling the normal-order control circuit means and the reverse-order control circuit means when the finger position counter has completed a scan of all storable finger positions,

whereby the keyboard output bit signals for the characters in the chord in a normal sequence when provided with the first sequence control output, and output bit signals for the characters of the chord in a reverse sequency when provided with the second sequence control output.

28. A one-handed keyboard as defined in claim 27, further comprising,

space-control circuit means being actuated by one or more of said plurality of thumb positions for controlling the appendage of a space character to the outputted sequence of characters for a chord.

29. A one-handed keyboard as defined in claim 28, further comprising,

phase-timing control means for said keyboard for outputting said space character before the sequence of characters for said chord.

30. A one-handed keyboard as defined in claim 25, further comprising,

at least one of said thumb positions for said keyboard actuating the thumb decoder means to provide a case control output, and

means for combining the case control output with the sequence control output to output an upper case character as the first character of a chord and to output any subsequent characters in the chord as lower case characters.

31. A keyboard for the one-handed typing of chords, as defined in claim 7, further comprising

each finger position being formed as a disk-shaped depression shaped on the surfaces of the keys in the row of keys and the array of keys to delineate each thumb and finger position whether it is on a single key or across one or more boundaries between adjacent keys.