METHOD FOR RECOGNIZING PRESS OF KEY ON KEYBOARD

Abstract

A method for recognizing a press of a key by a small force on a slim portable keyboard for use with a smart phone, a tablet PC, a general PC, or a notebook computer. A special-key press processing unit processes a press of a plurality of special keys. A plurality of general-key press processing units process a press of a plurality of general keys. A set number of general keys are configured to be one block. The keyboard is slim and can be conveniently carried. The keyboard includes a plurality of special key resistances and a plurality of general key resistances, each of which is proportional to a pressure caused by a press, to recognize a press of a key even when the key is pressed by a small force.

Claims

1-8. (canceled)

9. A method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard comprising a special button press processing unit to process a press of a plurality of special key buttons, and a plurality of general button press processing units to process of a plurality of general key buttons, wherein a predetermined number of general key buttons are configured in a block, the keyboard is portable and further comprises a plurality of special key resistors SKey.sub.0-SKey.sub.n and a plurality of general key resistors Key1.sub.1-Key1.sub.n, a resistance of each of the special key resistors SKey.sub.0-SKey.sub.n and the general key resistors is proportional to a pressing pressure to recognize a press of a button, the method comprising steps of: measuring an A/D conversion value AD_S0 of a first input side transistor, an A/D conversion value AD_G0 of a first output side transistor and A/D conversion values AD_SK.sub.0AD_SK.sub.n of special key buttons between the input side transistor and the output side transistor in response to the first input side transistor and the first output side transistor being turned on to supply power to drive the special key buttons, and determining a button press in response to a determination that a resistance value RSKey.sub.x of a special key SKey.sub.x is smaller than a set threshold value; connecting power of the general key buttons by turning off a second output side transistor supplying power to drive the general key buttons, turning on the first output side transistor and a second input side transistor, and measuring an A/D conversion value AD_G1 of an output value of the second output side transistor, the AD conversion value AD_G0 of an output value of the first output side transistor and an AD conversion value AD_S1 of an output value the second input side transistor, and storing the measured values AD_G1, AD_G0 and AD_S1; determining whether a difference between the output value AD_S1 of the second input side transistor and the output value AD_G1 of the second output side transistor is smaller than a predetermined threshold value, and changing from a special button operation circuit to a general button operation circuit in response to a determination that the difference between the output value AD_S1 of the second input side transistor and the output value AD_G1 of the second output side transistor is smaller than the predetermined threshold value; specifying a press of a general key.sub.x button among the plurality of general key buttons, turning on the general key.sub.x button by determining a press of the general key.sub.x button in response to a determination that a resistance value RSKey1.sub.x of the general key.sub.x button is smaller than the set threshold value, and turning off the general key.sub.x button in response to the determination that the resistance value RSKey1.sub.x of the general key.sub.x button is not smaller than the set threshold value; and turning off keyboard power in response to a determination that the second output side transistor, the first output side transistor and the second input side transistor are turned off.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the special key buttons comprise function key buttons of the keyboard, the function key buttons comprising at least a shift key button, an alt key button and a ctrl key button.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the special button operation circuit of the special key buttons is configured between the first input side transistor on a power supply terminal side and the first output side transistor on a ground side of the special key buttons, wherein the special button operation circuit is configured to: connect first side terminals of a first set of resistors RSK.sub.0-RSK.sub.n to an output side of the first input side transistor in parallel respectively, a number of the first set of resistors corresponding to a number of special key buttons; connect second side terminals of the first set of resistors RSK.sub.0-RSK.sub.n to first side terminals of the special key resistors SKey.sub.0-SKey.sub.n showing a change of resistance proportional to the pressing pressure in series respectively; connect second side terminals of the special key resistors SKey.sub.0-SKey.sub.n to an input side of the first output side transistor; and output the A/D conversion values of the resistance value of the special keys between the second side terminals of the first set of resistors RSK.sub.0-RSK.sub.n and the first side terminals of the special key resistors SKey.sub.0-SKey.sub.n.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the general button operation circuit of the general key buttons is configured between the second input side transistor on a power supply terminal side of the general key buttons and the second output side transistor and the first output side transistor respectively on a ground side of the general key buttons and on a ground side of the special key buttons; wherein the general button operation circuit is configured to: connect a second set of resistors and a gate resistor in series between an output of the second input side transistor and an input of the second output side transistor of the general key buttons, a number of the second set of resistors corresponding to a number of the general key buttons; connect first side terminals of the general key resistors Key1.sub.1-Key1.sub.n showing a change of resistance proportional to the pressing pressure in parallel respectively in between the second set of resistors and the gate resistor; and connect second side terminals of the general key resistors Key1.sub.1-Key1.sub.n to an input of the first output side transistor of the special key buttons.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the step of determining the button press in response to the determination that the resistance value RSKey.sub.x of the special key SKey.sub.x is smaller than the set threshold value is determined from RSKey.sub.x=RSK.sub.n*(AD_SK.sub.nAD_G0)/(AD_S0AD_SK.sub.n).

14. The method according to claim 9, further comprising steps of: measuring an A/D conversion value to recognize which button is pressed among the plurality of special key buttons in response to a determination that a power is connected to the plurality of special key buttons; determining whether the resistance value RSKey.sub.x of the special key SKey.sub.x is smaller than the set threshold value according to a result of the measurement; recognizing a press of a special key button corresponding to the special key SKey.sub.x in response to the determination that the resistance value RSKey.sub.x of the special key SKey.sub.x is smaller than the set threshold value, and determining non-press of the special key button corresponding to the special key SKey.sub.x in response to the determination that the resistance value RSKey.sub.x of the special key SKey.sub.x is not smaller than the set threshold value; and terminating an operation to recognize the press of the special key button SKey.sub.x in response to a determination that a power connection to the special key button SKey.sub.x is turned off.

15. The method according to claim 9, wherein the step of specifying the press of the general key.sub.x button comprises steps of: measuring the A/D conversion value AD_G1 of the second output side transistor, the A/D conversion value AD_S1 of the second input side transistor and the A/D conversion value AD_G0 of the first output side transistor in response to the press of the general key.sub.x button and storing the measured A/D conversion values as AD_G1_x, AD_S1_x and AD_G0_x respectively; determining a calculated A/D value AD_G0_dx of the first output side transistor for the press of the general key.sub.x from AD_G0_dx=((AD_S1_xAD_G1_x)*(RtRh)/Rt)+AD_G1_x, where Rt is a non-press resistance value and Rh is a key press resistance value; and comparing the calculated A/D conversion value AD_G0_dx to the measured A/D conversion value AD_G0_x.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising a step of calculating the resistance value RSKey1.sub.x of the general key.sub.x button from RSKey1.sub.x=Rh x (AD_G1_xAD_G0_x)/(AD_S1_xAD_G1_x).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing a special button operation circuit in a method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard according to the present invention.

[0025] FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of recognizing a press of a special button in a method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard according to the present invention.

[0026] FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing a general button operation circuit in a method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard according to the present invention.

[0027] FIG. 4 is an equivalent circuit diagram showing connection of a power in the case of a single column operation of a general key in a method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard according to the present invention.

[0028] FIG. 5 is an equivalent circuit diagram showing non-press of a key in the case of a single column operation of a general key in a method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard according to the present invention.

[0029] FIG. 6 is an equivalent circuit diagram showing a press of a certain key in the case of a single column operation of a general key in a method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard according to the present invention.

[0030] FIG. 7 is an equivalent circuit diagram showing determination of a press of a certain key in the case of a single column operation of a general key in a method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard according to the present invention.

[0031] FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method of single column operation of a general key in a method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard according to the present invention.

[0032] FIG. 9 is a view showing the configuration of the entire button circuit in a method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS

[0033] 21, 22: General button processing unit

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0034] The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be hereafter described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0035] In addition, although the terms used in the present invention are selected from general terms widely used in the present as long as possible, there are terms arbitrarily selected by the inventor in a specific case, and in this case, since their meanings are described in detail in the corresponding descriptions of the present invention, the present invention should be grasped in the meaning that the terms have, not the simple naming of the terms. In addition, in describing the present invention, details of the techniques well-known in the art and not directly related to the present invention will be omitted. It is to further clearly deliver, not to obscure, the gist of the present invention by omitting unnecessary descriptions.

[0036] FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing a special button operation circuit in a method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard according to the present invention.

[0037] In a method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard according to the present invention, a special button operation circuit is as shown in FIG. 1, and here, special buttons include function key buttons such as a Shift key, an Alt key and a Ctrl key.

[0038] The special button operation circuit is configured between a transistor QS0 on the power supply terminal side and a transistor QG0 on the ground side of the special buttons as shown in FIG. 1, and at this point, one side terminals 1 of first to n-th resistors RSK0 to RSKn, as many as the number of special keys, are respectively connected to the output side of the input side transistor QS0 in parallel, the other side terminals 2 of the first to n-th resistors RSK0 to RSKn are respectively connected to one side terminals 1 of special resistors SKey0 to SKeyn showing change of resistance proportional to a pressing pressure in series, and the other side terminals 2 of the special resistors SKey0 to SKeyn are connected to the input side of the ground side transistor QG0. In addition, the circuit is configured to output A/D conversion values AD_SK0 to AD_SKn of the resistors between the other side terminals 2 of the first to n-th resistors RSK0 to RSKn and the one side terminals 1 of the special resistors SKey0 to SKeyn.

[0039] First, if the transistors QG0 and QS0 supplying power for driving the special buttons are turned on, A/D conversion values of AD_S0, AD_G0 and AD_SK0 to AD_SKn are measured, and if the resistance value RSkeyx of a certain special key SKeyx is smaller than a set threshold value, it is determined as a press of the button.

[0040] This can be expressed as shown in Mathematical expression 1.

RSkeyx=RSKn.Math.(AD_SKnAD_G0)/(AD_S0AD_SKn)[Mathematical expression 1]

[0041] Next, if the transistors QG0 and QS0 supplying power for finishing the special buttons are turned off, the press of the special button is not recognized. At this point, a user may select a working pressure. Of course, this may be determined through experiences in the field or by experiments, and for example, if the pressure is set to sense a pressure of 0.1 to 100 g or smaller, a button press can be sensed with a small power.

[0042] The entire button circuit in the method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard according to the present invention is configured of special buttons 10 and a plurality of general buttons 20 and 30 as shown in FIG. 1, and here, the special buttons include a Shift key, an Alt key, a Ctrl Key and the like, and the general buttons are alphabetic and numeric keys.

[0043] FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of recognizing a press of a special button in a method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard according to the present invention.

[0044] As shown in FIG. 2, in the method of recognizing a press of a special button in a method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard according to the present invention, if power is connected to the plurality of special buttons (step S100), an A/D conversion value for recognizing which button is pressed among the plurality of special buttons is measured (step S110).

[0045] It is determined whether a resistance value RSKeyx of a certain special key SKeyx is smaller than a set threshold value according to a result of the measurement (step S120).

[0046] If the resistance value is smaller than the set threshold value as a result of the determination, a press of the corresponding special button is recognized, and if the resistance value is not smaller than the threshold value, it is determined as not a button press (step S130).

[0047] Then, if power connection to the special button is turned off, the operation is terminated (step S140).

[0048] FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing a general button operation circuit in a method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard according to the present invention, FIG. 4 is an equivalent circuit diagram showing connection of a power in the case of a single column operation of a general key in a method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard according to the present invention, FIG. 5 is an equivalent circuit diagram showing non-press of a key in the case of a single column operation of a general key in a method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard according to the present invention, FIG. 6 is an equivalent circuit diagram showing a press of a certain key in the case of a single column operation of a general key in a method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard according to the present invention, FIG. 7 is an equivalent circuit diagram showing determination of a press of a certain key in the case of a single column operation of a general key in a method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard according to the present invention, FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method of single column operation of a general key in a method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard according to the present invention, and FIG. 9 is a view showing the configuration of the entire button circuit in a method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard according to the present invention.

[0049] A circuit for describing the operation of the general buttons in the method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard according to the present invention is as shown in FIGS. 3 to 8. First, as shown in FIG. 3, a general button circuit is configured between a transistor QS1 on the power supply terminal side of the general buttons and a transistor QG1 and the transistor QG0 respectively on the ground side of the general buttons and on the ground side of the special buttons, and at this point, first to n-th resistors RK11 to RK1n, as many as the number of set general keys, and a gate resistor RKG1 are connected in series between the output of the input side transistor QS1 and the ground side transistor QG1 of the general buttons. In addition, one side terminals 1 of special resistors Key11 to Key1n showing change of resistance proportional to a pressing pressure are connected in parallel respectively in between the first to n-th resistors RK11 to RK1n and the gate resistor RKG1, and the other side terminals 2 of the special resistors Key11 to Key1n are connected to the input side of the ground side transistor QG0 of the special buttons.

[0050] At this point, as shown in FIG. 3, the general button circuit (a single column) and the special button circuit commonly use AD_G0, CON_AD_G0, RG0 and QG0. At this point, ten buttons may be set in a block of the general button circuit (refer to FIG. 9 and corresponding descriptions).

[0051] In a single column operation, power of general buttons is connected by turning off the transistor QG1 and turning on the transistors QG0 and QS1 as shown in FIG. 4 (step S200).

[0052] In this state, A/D conversion values of AD_S1, AD_G1 and AD_G0 are measured, and the measured values are stored as AD_S1_s, AD_G1_s and AD_G0_s (step S210).

[0053] Next, it is determined whether the difference between AD_S1_s and AD_G1_s is smaller than a predetermined threshold value (step S220). At this point, a non-press equivalent circuit is as shown in FIG. 5, and a non-press resistance value is obtained as Rt=RK11+RK12++RK1n+RKG1, and a key press Key1x is as shown in FIG. 6, and a key press resistance value can be obtained as Rh=RK11+RK12++RK1x.

[0054] If the difference between AD_S1_s and AD_G1_s is smaller than a predetermined threshold value as a result of the determination (step S220), the circuit is changed from a special button circuit to a general button circuit (step S230). The equivalent circuit according thereto is as shown in FIG. 7.

[0055] Subsequently, a press of a certain button x among a plurality of general buttons is measured (step S240). At this point, an A/D conversion value of the AD_G1 and an A/D conversion value of the AD_G0 when the button x is pressed are measured and stored as AD_G1_x and AD_G0_x. Meanwhile, if a calculation value of the AD_G0_x is AD_G0_dx in the design of the circuit, the AD_G0_dx can be obtained from a formula of AD_G0_dx=((AD_S1_xAD_G1_x).Math.(RtRh)/Rt)+AD_G1_x.

[0056] Then, a pressed button x is specified by comparing the AD_G0_dx and the AD_G0_x. At this point, if the resistance value RSkey1x of a general button is smaller than a set threshold value when button x is pressed, it is determined as a press of button x (step S250). Here, a formula for calculating the resistance value of the general button x can be expressed as shown in mathematical expression 2.

RSkey1x=Rh.Math.(AD_G1_xAD_G0_x)/(AD_S1_xAD_G1_x)[Mathematical expression 2]

[0057] Particularly, although only information on ON/OFF of a contact point can be grasped in an existing keyboard, in the present invention, since a resistance value RSkey1x corresponding to a keyboard pressing pressure can be additionally provided, this can be applied to development of computer S/W.

[0058] If the resistance value RSkey1x is smaller than the threshold value as a result of the determination (step S250), the button is turned on since it is a press of button x, and if the resistance value RSkey1x is not smaller than the threshold value, the button is turned off since it is not a press of button x.

[0059] Meanwhile, if transistors QG1, QG0 and QS1 are turned off, the keyboard power is turned off (step S280).

[0060] As shown in FIG. 9, the present invention as described above relates to a method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard by a separate equation proportional to a pressing pressure in a keyboard configured of a special button press processing unit 10 for processing a press of a plurality of special buttons, and a plurality of general button press processing units 21 and 22 for processing a press of a plurality of general buttons, in which as many as a predetermined number of general buttons are configured in a block, and the keyboard is as slim as to conveniently carry and includes resistors proportional to a pressing pressure, such as a plurality of special key resistors Skey0 to Skeyn as shown in FIG. 1 and a plurality of general key resistors Key11 to Key1n as shown in FIG. 3, to recognize a press of a button although the button is pressed with a small force.

[0061] While the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the embodiments but may be diversely modified without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are not to restrict but to describe the spirit of the present invention, and the scope of the spirit of the present invention is not limited by embodiments. The scope of the present invention should be interpreted by the following claims, and all the technical spirits within the equivalent scope should be interpreted as being included in the scope of the present invention.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

[0062] The present invention relates to a method of recognizing a press of a button of a keyboard, in which the keyboard includes a special button press processing unit for processing a press of a plurality of special buttons, and a plurality of general button press processing units for processing a press of a plurality of general buttons, in which as many as a predetermined number of general buttons are configured in a block. The keyboard is as slim as to conveniently carry and includes a plurality of special key resistors (Skey0 to Skeyn) and a plurality of general key resistors (Key11 to Key1n), the resistance of which is proportional to a pressing pressure so as to recognize a press of a button although the button is pressed with a small force. Since the keyboard is as slim as to conveniently carry and capable of recognizing a press of a button although the button is easily pressed with a small force, can be easily used in a smart phone, a tablet PC, a general PC or a notebook computer, and, particularly, may additionally provide a resistance value RSKey1x corresponding to a keyboard pressing pressure, the present invention can be applied to development of computer S/W.