Japanese PC keyboards and gaming keyboards

Abstract

The present invention discloses a Japanese language input device, which includes a first portion for inputting consonants and a second portion for inputting vowels, and includes silent keys for displaying Japanese syllables in combination with the "a", "i", "u", "e" and "o" keys of the second portion. The Japanese language input device can be embodied by being included in a PC keyboard or a game keyboard.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a Japanese character input device, an input method, and a PC keyboard and a game keyboard that include a Japanese character input device. [Background technology]

[0002] Hangeul, created as Hunminjeongeum, is the most scientific language for expressing sounds, consisting of the initial, middle and final sounds. In Korea, publications were traditionally produced by engraving all the characters into metal type. With the invention of the typewriter in the West, keyboards were used as input devices, and the order of the keys on these keyboards is the English keyboard used on computers today. With the introduction of keyboards to Korea, keyboards with consonants on the left and vowels on the right became widespread throughout the country, depending on the frequency of use of Hangeul and the convenience of inputting. Recently, with the spread of smartphones, various types of simplified screen input devices have become popular, but looking at the development process of character input devices, it can be seen that there is more room for improvement and change than any other field.

[0003] On the other hand, from a global perspective, it is not easy to realize a unified character input device because the character input method of each country may differ depending on the unique traditional characters, language, and living habits. However, by using the scientific nature and universal structure of Hangul, it is possible to provide uniformity and convenience to the input of foreign language characters. The present invention applies this to the Japanese language.

[0004] Specifically, the present invention relates to an input device and an input method that enable Japanese characters to be intuitively determined and quickly inputted through an input device such as a mobile phone or a computer keyboard in a manner different from the existing input system.

[0005] Currently, the input devices of smartphones, which are widely used as Japanese character input devices, have a structure of 4 rows and 5 columns, as shown in Figure 5. If you want to input TIFF2025506012000002.tif961, you press the "a" key once. When trying to input TIFF2025506012000003.tif813, since there is no "o" key, you press the "a" key five times. The word order of Japanese vowels is "a, i, u, e, o", but the most typical first vowel is Only TIFF2025506012000004.tif814 is set as a key, and the remaining vowels are displayed by repeatedly pressing this representative key. When you want to input "po" with this input device, first press "ho" To display TIFF2025506012000005.tif711, press the "ha" key five times, search for and press the "." key, then press "ta" TIFF2025506012000006.tif712 Press the key three times and press "tsu" I have to convert it to TIFF2025506012000007.tif711 and then press the key to convert it to the glottal stop "っ". This requires a total of 11 keystrokes.

[0006] Therefore, the current Japanese character input devices are inconvenient not only for Japanese people but also for foreigners, and typing takes time. If the user has to press the key several times, there is a high possibility of typos occurring.

[0007] In order to eliminate the inconvenience of inputting Japanese characters, a patent has been disclosed in which Japanese characters are input by dividing them into consonants and vowels.

[0008] Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1426643 (registered on July 29, 2014) discloses an input device in which a consonant key group 11' including alphabetical consonant keys "K", "H", "N", "T", "S", "W", etc., and a vowel key group 12' including alphabetical vowel keys "A", "I", "U", "E", "O", "Y" are arranged as shown in FIG. 6, with central input keys 11a' and 12a' arranged in the center and multiple peripheral input keys 11b' and 12b' arranged around the central input keys 11a' and 12a'. When the central input key 11a' is pressed, new consonants such as "M", "R", "P", "T", and "V" are displayed on the peripheral input key 11b'. 11c' and 12c' are peripheral keys for switching keys. However, this patent has problems with the display of consonants being cumbersome and, as will be described later, the number of silent characters is not large. No consideration is given at all to processing TIFF2025506012000008.tif814.

[0009] Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2014-0050796 discloses a keypad arrangement in which keys representing vowels are arranged on the left side of the keyboard and keys representing consonants are arranged on the remaining part as shown in Fig. 7, and voiced and double consonants are represented by repeatedly pressing the consonant keys. However, this patent also does not allow for the use of silent characters. There is no consideration given to the processing of TIFF2025506012000009.tif814. Also, because of the focus on the simplicity of the keyboard, the semivowel "ya" which is often used in Japanese is not included. TIFF2025506012000010.tif712, "Yu" TIFF2025506012000011.tif812, "Yo" TIFF2025506012000012.tif812, "Wa" TIFF2025506012000013.tif812, and "to" The disadvantage is that it is inconvenient to input TIFF2025506012000014.tif812.

[0010] Furthermore, the above-mentioned patent gives an example of a Roman alphabet keyboard as an input device, and lacks the scalability and universality to be applicable to foreigners who are not familiar with the Roman alphabet and to Japanese and Koreans who are familiar with native characters.

[0011] With this in mind, the inventor decided to develop a new Japanese PC keyboard and gaming keyboard that would solve the problems of current technology and prior patents and enable fast and accurate input of Japanese characters. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0012] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a Japanese language input device and input method that allows Japanese characters to be intuitively recognized and input quickly and error-free in a manner different from the existing input system through an input device such as a computer keyboard or a game keyboard. [Means for solving the problem]

[0013] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a PC keyboard including a Japanese language input device, the Japanese language input device including: a first portion for inputting consonants; and a second portion for inputting vowels, and further including a silent key combined with the "a", "i", "u", "e" and "o" keys of the second portion for displaying Japanese syllables, the Japanese syllables being displayed by (a) the consonant keys of the first portion and the vowel keys of the second portion, or (b) the silent key and the silent key of the second portion, and no syllables are displayed by a single vowel key of the second portion, the consonant keys of the first portion and the vowel keys of the second portion being disposed corresponding to English keys of the PC keyboard, and the first portion and the second portion being arranged so as to occupy areas independent of each other on the PC keyboard, such that an area surrounding the first portion and an area surrounding the second portion do not intersect or overlap.

[0014] The consonant keys in the first section, the vowel keys in the second section, and the silent keys may be arranged to correspond to English keys on a PC keyboard.

[0015] The first portion of consonant keys may consist of 15 keys including at least the keys for "na", "ma", "ka", "ta", "ra" and "sa".

[0016] The second portion of vowel keys may consist of at least ten keys including the "a", "i", "u", "e" and "o" keys.

[0017] The present invention also provides a PC keyboard including a Japanese language input device, the Japanese language input device further including: a first portion for inputting consonants; a second portion for inputting vowels; and a silent key combined with the "a", "i", "u", "e" and "o" keys of the second portion to display Japanese syllables; Japanese syllables are displayed by (a) the consonant keys of the first portion and the vowel keys of the second portion or (b) the silent key and the silent key of the second portion, and no syllable is displayed by a single vowel key of the second portion; the Japanese language input device is installed at a position not overlapping with English keys of the PC keyboard, and the first portion and the second portion are arranged to occupy independent areas on the PC keyboard.

[0018] A first portion may be arranged on one side of the PC keyboard, a second portion may be arranged on the other side, and English keys may be arranged in an intermediate area between the first and second portions.

[0019] The present invention also provides a gaming keyboard including a Japanese input device, the Japanese input device further comprising: a first portion for inputting consonants; a second portion for inputting vowels; and a silent key combined with the "a", "i", "u", "e" and "o" keys of the second portion to display Japanese syllables; the Japanese syllables are displayed by (a) the consonant keys of the first portion and the vowel keys of the second portion, or (b) the silent key and the silent key of the second portion, no syllable is displayed by a single vowel key of the second portion, and the consonant keys of the first portion and the vowel keys of the second portion are arranged to occupy independent areas on the gaming keyboard.

[0020] A first portion may be arranged on one side of the gaming keyboard, and a second portion may be arranged on the other side, with game keys or operation keys being provided in an intermediate area between the first and second portions. Effect of the Invention

[0021] The Japanese input device of the present invention inputs Japanese syllables based on the combination of consonants and vowels, so that it is possible to maintain the consistency of the input method, and it is possible to input Japanese intuitively and easily, thereby providing a convenient Japanese input device with few typos.

[0022] The Japanese input device of the present invention has the expandability and versatility to be widely applied to mobile devices such as smartphones, as well as fixed computers, physical keyboards, touch boards, and even gaming keyboards. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0023] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram of a Japanese input device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; [Diagram 2] 1 is a diagram of a PC keyboard including a Japanese language input device according to the present invention. [Diagram 3] 1 is a diagram showing still another embodiment of a PC keyboard including a Japanese input device according to the present invention; [Figure 4] This is a drawing showing another embodiment of a keyboard including a Japanese input device according to the present invention, which can be used as a gaming keyboard. [Diagram 5] 1 is a diagram showing a prior art Japanese input device. [Figure 6] This is a drawing showing a Japanese language input device of a prior patent. [Figure 7] This is a drawing showing a Japanese language input device of another prior patent. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0024] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0025] One of the features of the present invention is that it uses the five basic vowels "a" located in the "a" row of the Japanese language. TIFF2025506012000015.tif961 "I" TIFF2025506012000016.tif913 "U" TIFF2025506012000017.tif913 "E" TIFF2025506012000018.tif913 "O" In the input TIFF2025506012000019.tif813, each of these is a silent character. 5 vowels based on TIFF2025506012000020.tif814. However, when used with consonants, e.g. If they were used as TIFF2025506012000021.tif868, they would be mixed into the consonants as they formed their respective syllables, losing the original silence. However, in Japanese, these five basic vowels often need to be displayed as independent silent syllables, so it is rational and convenient to use a unique input method.

[0026] The "Japanese language input device" of the present invention should be interpreted as broadly as possible to include not only keyboards of mobile devices such as smartphones and computers, but also image keyboards and virtual keyboards displayed on the screens of these devices, and input devices in which only the keyboard is modularized separately.

[0027] <Example of smartphone keyboard>

[0028] The following embodiment of a smartphone keyboard is the same as part of the contents disclosed in the applicant's Korean Patent Registration No. 10-2459508 (filed on January 13, 2022 / registered on October 24, 2022). The contents of this embodiment support the embodiments of the present invention for a PC keyboard and a gaming keyboard, so they will be described first.

[0029] 1 is a diagram of a Japanese input device 1 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. For convenience, the Japanese input device 1 of the present invention will be described based on an example suitable for a smartphone display, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0030] The Japanese input device 1 of the present invention has a 5 row x 6 column structure, which is not significantly different from the current input device frame. Therefore, it can be directly applied to the current technology. The Japanese input device 1 includes a first part 2 on the left side for mainly inputting consonants, and a second part 4 on the right side for mainly inputting vowels.

[0031] The first portion 2 has a structure of 5 rows and 4 columns, and each row and column has a silent key 6 for displaying a silent character. It is displayed in TIFF2025506012000022.tif814. In columns 2 to 4 of the first row, the keys "na", "ra", and "ma" are arranged. In columns 1 to 4 of the second row, the keys "ka", "sa", "ta", and "ha" are arranged. In columns 1 to 4 of the third row, the keys "ga", "za", "da", and "ba" are arranged. In columns 1 to 4 of the fourth row, the keys "tsu", "々" (repetition sign), "n", and "pa" are arranged. In the fifth row, the code keys indicating periods, commas, and dashes are arranged. It should be noted that each consonant key arranged in the first part 2 is intended to display the representative consonant representing each sound, and the Japanese displayed on that key is not immediately input by a single keystroke.

[0032] These arrangements are optimally constructed based on the inventor's research, reflecting the order of the Japanese 50 sounds chart, frequency of use, and user convenience, but various modifications are possible within the scope of the present invention.

[0033] The second part 4 has a structure of 5 rows and 2 columns, and the first column has the basic vowel keys "a", "i", "u", "e", and "o". The second column has the semi-vowel keys "ya", "yu", "yo", "wa", and "wo". Each vowel key in the second part 4 has a supplementary character 40 written in lowercase alongside it, which indicates that pressing the key twice will input the lowercase vowel, as described below.

[0034] When using the Japanese input device of the present invention to input "a", the silent key 6 is pressed, followed by the "a" key. When using the Japanese input device to input "i", the silent key 6 is pressed, followed by the "i" key. The same applies to "u", "e", and "o". As described above, the present invention combines the basic vowels located in the "a" row of Japanese with the silent key 6. Since inputting the silent key 6 is like inputting a silent "consonant" like a first sound, the vowel becomes a middle sound, and the consistency of completing a syllable with two key inputs in the Japanese input device can be maintained, which is phonetically rational, very convenient for the user, and intuitive. This principle is applied not only to the five basic vowels, but also to the keys in the second row, "ya", "yu", "yo", "wa", and "wo".

[0035] Those skilled in the art should be able to easily understand how to create vowels and consonants using the Japanese input device of the present invention. For example, to input "ka", press the "ka" key and then the "a" key. To input "na", press the "na" key and then the "a" key. To input "po", press the "pa" key and then the "o" key. In this way, together with the silent key 6, the input method of "vowels" followed by "consonants" can be applied consistently to most Japanese characters.

[0036] In other words, most of the vowels in Japanese pronunciation are TIFF2025506012000023.tif869, so by arranging the corresponding five basic vowels "a," "i," "u," "e," and "o" keys in a row in the second part 4, Japanese syllables without final sounds can be typed in two strokes, which is extremely quick and convenient.

[0037] In addition, the present invention arranges the characters "ん" and "々" as independent keys so that they can be entered with one press. Although not shown, the frequently used Japanese character "ノ" can also be arranged as an independent key so that it can be entered with one press.

[0038] According to the Japanese input device of the present invention having such a configuration, most Japanese characters can be input within two or three strokes by using the consonant arrangement in the first part 2, the vowel arrangement in the second part 4, the silent key 6, and the arrangement of independent key input characters in the first part 2.

[0039] That is, in the present invention, Japanese syllables are displayed using only (a) the consonant keys in the first part and the vowel keys in the second part, or (b) a silence key and a silence key in the second part, and a syllable is not displayed using only the vowel keys in the second part.

[0040] Next, a method for inputting small vowels (lowercase letters) using the Japanese input device of the present invention will be described.

[0041] For example, if you want to input "gyu" instead of "giyu", press the "ga" key followed by the "i" key to input "gi" (see vowel and consonant combinations above). Next, to input "yu", press silent key 6 followed by the "yu" key (see vowel input using silent keys above). This will input the word "giyu" with a total of four keystrokes. If you then press the "yu" key consecutively, it will change to lowercase and input the word "gyu", so a total of five keystrokes will be sufficient.

[0042] If you want to enter only lowercase vowels, for example the lowercase "e", press the "silence key 6" followed by the "e" key twice in succession to enter "e".

[0043] The Japanese input device of the present invention has been described above based on Hiragana, but the same explanation can be applied to Katakana. Also, the principle of Hangul, which is a combination of consonants and vowels, can be applied to Hangul and Roman letters (English), so a Japanese input device based on Hangul and a Japanese input device based on English can be realized.

[0044] The key press (touch) sequence for inputting a specific Japanese character using the Japanese input device of FIG. 1 is as follows. Regardless of which is used, the Japanese input method and sequence should be understood in the same way as described above. The prior art Japanese input device of FIG. 5 is also shown to compare the number of strokes.

[0045] [Table 1]

[0046] [Table 2]

[0047] [Table 3]

[0048] [Table 4]

[0049] As described above, the present invention can be modified in various ways within the technical idea of ​​introducing a silent key to display Japanese syllables with the required combination of consonants and vowels. For example, the silent key 6 can be located in the second part 4, or in the space between the first part 2 and the second part 4 where it is easy to distinguish, or it can be independently installed as a separate key on the outside.

[0050] One of the advantages of the Japanese input device of the present invention is that it can dramatically reduce the number of times of typing or touching.

[0051] The key or keyboard arrangement of the Japanese input device is shown as an optimal example, and various modifications are possible. For example, the first part 2 can be arranged on one side of the input device and the second part 4 on the other side, which are separated from each other, or a first device for the first part and a second device for the second part can be manufactured separately. These modifications are merely changes in physical position, and it is clear that they fall within the scope of the present invention in terms of input principle and structure.

[0052] <Example of Japanese PC keyboard> Next, a second embodiment of the Japanese input device 1 will be described, assuming a Japanese PC keyboard.

[0053] FIG. 2 shows a Japanese input device 1 for a PC keyboard according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[0054] There are many types of existing Japanese input devices, but they all contain English consonants and vowels, and they all have the same arrangement position and order.

[0055] The Japanese input device 1 of the present invention is the same as the existing keyboard in that it has 10 English keys, "Q", "W", "E", "R", "T", "Y", "U", "I", "O" and "P", 9 English keys, "A", "S", "D", "F", "G", "H", "J", "K" and "L", and 7 English keys, "Z", "X", "C", "V", "B", "N" and "M", arranged in the first row E1, the second row E2 and the third row E3. These English keys are 26 in total. However, the numbers of the keys in the first part 2, the second part 4 and the silent key 6, excluding the signs and commas in FIG. 1, are 15, 10 and 1, respectively, which is the same as the total number of English keys.

[0056] Therefore, the essence of the second embodiment is to arrange the 26 keys, which are the core of the first embodiment of the present invention, on the 26 English keys of a PC keyboard in a manner that is consistent with the first embodiment and convenient for the user.

[0057] For ease of explanation, row and column numbers are assigned to the English key positions in Figure 2; for example, "Q" is shown as E11 and "M" is shown as E37.

[0058] In the present invention, a Japanese key is designated for each English key as follows:

[0059] [Table 5]

[0060] 2, the first line portions E11-E16 from "Q" to "Y", the second line portions E21-E23, E25 from "A" to "D" and "G", and the third line portions E31-E35 from "Z" to "B" form the first portion 2. In addition, the first line portions E17-E110 from "U" to "P", the second line portions E26-E29 from "H" to "L", and the third line portions E36-E37 from "N" to "M" form the second portion 4.

[0061] The first part 2 and the second part 4 are located separately on the left and right sides, respectively. As long as they are separated in this way, the assignment of Japanese character keys in the first part 2 or the second part 4 can be modified in various ways other than those shown in Table 5. However, according to the inventor's research, the embodiment of Figure 2 is convenient for writing Japanese characters.

[0062] The silent key 6 is located at E24 within the area surrounded by the first portion 2, and corresponds to the English key "F". However, the silent key 6 may be located elsewhere within the first portion 2, within the second portion 4, at the boundary between the first portion 2 and the second portion 4, or designated as an independent key other than the 26 letters of the alphabet.

[0063] In the first embodiment, the supplementary characters 40 can be displayed in small letters on the keys of the second part 4, but since it is possible to display them using other keys such as "SHIFT" due to the functionality of the keyboard, this is not essential in the second embodiment. Also, since this is a PC keyboard, the arrangement and functions of the remaining keys excluding the 26 alphabetical characters can be variously arranged other than those shown in Figure 2, and this does not limit the scope of the present invention.

[0064] 3 shows a second embodiment of the Japanese language input device 1, which is based on the Japanese language PC keyboard of the present invention. Unlike the previous embodiment, the first row from "Q" to "Y", the second row from "A" to "F", and the third row from "Z" to "B" are made into the first section 2, and the section corresponding to the "G" key is made into the silent key 6. The silent key 6 is assigned to the key on the boundary between the first section 2 and the second section 4.

[0065] Although the Japanese keys designated for each English key are different from those in the previous embodiment, the same effects as those in the previous embodiment can be expected even with this configuration.

[0066] FIG. 4 shows a third embodiment of the Japanese input device 1, which is based on a Japanese PC keyboard of the present invention.

[0067] This embodiment is different from the above in that it does not use English keys. As shown in the figure, the first part 2 is arranged on the left side of the keyboard, and the second part 4 is arranged on the right side. The silent key 6 is located on the left side of the keyboard adjacent to the first part 2. The middle area 20 located between the first part 2 and the second part 4 is not assigned Japanese consonants and vowels, and mainly consists of function keys, numbers and English keys. It should be understood that the upper area on the first part 2 and the upper area on the second part 4 are keys related to functions and symbols required for typing in English and Japanese, and are similar to the key arrangement of current keyboards.

[0068] In this embodiment, the first portion 2 and the second portion 4 are indeed separated by an intermediate area 20. However, it is possible to alternate the position of the first portion 2 to the right side of the keyboard as shown, or to match the first portion 2 and the second portion 4 entirely to the left or right side of the keyboard.

[0069] This embodiment has the advantage that it can be modified appropriately to be used as a gaming keyboard. That is, game-specific keys, buttons, and control levers for games can be arranged in the middle area 20, and the first and second parts 2 and 4 can be installed separately on both sides for conversation during the game, or can be installed together on one side.

[0070] The scope of the present invention is the same as or equivalent to the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A PC keyboard including a Japanese input device, The Japanese input device: A first part for inputting consonants; The second part enters the vowels; a silent key associated with the "a", "i", "u", "e", and "o" keys in the second section to display Japanese syllables; Japanese syllables are displayed using (a) a consonant key in the first part and a vowel key in the second part, or (b) a silence key and a silence key in the second part, and no syllable is displayed using only a vowel key in the second part, a keyboard for a PC, wherein the consonant keys of the first portion and the vowel keys of the second portion are arranged to correspond to English keys of a keyboard for a PC, and the first portion and the second portion are arranged so as to occupy areas independent of each other on the keyboard for a PC, and such that an area surrounding the first portion and an area surrounding the second portion do not intersect or overlap each other.

2. 2. The PC keyboard according to claim 1, wherein the consonant keys in the first section, the vowel keys in the second section and the silent keys are arranged corresponding to English keys of the PC keyboard.

3. 3. The PC keyboard according to claim 2, wherein the first portion of consonant keys comprises 15 keys including at least the consonant keys "na", "ma", "ka", "ta", "ra" and "sa".

4. 3. The PC keyboard according to claim 2, wherein the second portion of vowel keys comprises at least ten keys including the keys "a", "i", "u", "e" and "o".

5. A PC keyboard including a Japanese input device, The Japanese input device: The first part inputs the consonants; A second part for inputting vowels; and a silent key associated with the "a", "i", "u", "e" and "o" keys of the second section to display Japanese syllables; Japanese syllables are displayed using (a) a consonant key in the first part and a vowel key in the second part, or (b) a silence key and a silence key in the second part, and no syllable is displayed using only a vowel key in the second part, The Japanese input device is installed at a position not overlapping with English keys of the PC keyboard, and the first and second parts are arranged to occupy independent areas on the PC keyboard.

6. 6. The PC keyboard according to claim 5, wherein the first portion is arranged on one side of the PC keyboard, the second portion is arranged on the other side, and the English keys are arranged in a middle area between the first portion and the second portion.

7. A gaming keyboard including a Japanese input device, The Japanese input device: The first part inputs the consonants; A second part for inputting vowels; and a silent key associated with the "a", "i", "u", "e" and "o" keys of the second section to display Japanese syllables; Japanese syllables are displayed using (a) a consonant key in the first part and a vowel key in the second part, or (b) a silence key and a silence key in the second part, and no syllable is displayed using only a vowel key in the second part, The first portion of consonant keys and the second portion of vowel keys are arranged to occupy separate areas on the gaming keyboard.

8. 8. The gaming keyboard of claim 7, wherein a first portion is arranged on one side of the gaming keyboard, a second portion is arranged on the other side, and game-specific keys or operation keys are installed in an intermediate area between the first portion and the second portion.

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