Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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This invention relates to a computer or
telecommunications terminal and is particularly applicable to such a
terminal incorporating a compact arrangement of a plurality of
keyboards or like lamellar input/output devices.
Computer and telecommunications terminal equipment must
offer a variety of input and output services, examples of which are:-
Input Output
Control keyboard Display
Alphanumeric keyboard Loudspeaker
Document scanner Printer
Microphone receiver
Pen digitizer
Magnetic cassette unit
Many of the devices for particularly implementing theseservices are lamellar in character, the reason being that the minimum
area of an input/output device is limited by its being directly used by
people. Thus9 although large scale integration techniques have reduced
the size of controlling or controlled electronic circuitry, they cannot
reduce the relatively large area oF certain input/output devices since
that area is set by, for example, human vision (displays), hand size
(keyboards~, and conventional document size (optical scanners).
In combining input and output devices in a
multifunctional terminal equipment, a current design parameter must
therefore be their lamellar character.
It is recogrized that terminal equipment providing
several of the services mentioned previously may, in practice, be
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operated predominantly to provide only one or two services. For
example, in a secretarial environment, a conventional alphanumeric
keyboard will be used for a great deal of time in comparison to use,
perhaps, of an optical scanner. In contrast, in another environment,
the alphanumeric input facility may only occasionally be used. In such
circumstances, it is spatially economic and aesthetically desirable to
have the less-used input/output device operably exposed only when
needed.
According to the invention, there is provided a computer
or telecommunications terminal comprising a cabinet having top and
bottom surfaces, a housing formed by one part of the bottom surface for
housing a first lamellar input/output device, another part of the
bottom surface heing spaced from an underlying planar support surface
in a normal operating position of the terminal to permit tilting
thereof to lower the other part and to raise said one part of the
cabinet bottorn surface sufficiently high from the support surface to
permit the lamellar input/output device to be slid freely along the
surface frorn under the cabinet.
The parts of the bottom surface can be substantially
planar and inclined to one another. The housing can underlie part at
least of a second lamellar input/output device located at the cabinet
top surface. Said one and the other part of the bottom surface can be
respectively front and rear parts of the surface.
The cabinet is preferably wedge-shaped having a rear
height greater than a front height thereof. The first lamellar
input/output device can form the top surface of a wedge-shaped unit
also having a rear height greater than a front height thereof. In
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order to provide a uniplanar, composite structure when the input/output
devices are used together, the rear height of the unit can be equal to
the front height of the cabinet, the cabinet and the unit having
substantially identical wedge angles.
The housing can be open at the front of the cabinet in
order to provide access to the unit which can be appropriately
configured to facilitate withdrawal by a user.
Examples of lamellar input/output devices are keyboards
and displays.
The terminal can also include fixture means for retaining
the unit within the housing. For example, the fixture means can
comprise a base member resilien-tly mounted on the cabinet and normally
biased to a position such as to hold the keyboard in place when the
terminal is lifted. The base member can be such as to allow withdrawal
of the unit when the cabinet is tilted on a flat support surface.
Alternatively, the base member can normally resiliently
bias the cabinet to the tilted position, the terminal further including
a latch to latch the cabinet and base member together. In order to
eliminate shock as the cabinet is arrested at a tilted or an untilted
position, the base member and the cabinet can be linked by a pneumatic
shock absorber.
An embodiment of the invention will now be described by
way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-
Figure 1 shows a schematic perspective view of part of atelecommunications terminal having a pair of keyboards, one of the
keyboards operably exposed, overlying and masking the other keyboard;
Figure 2 shows the equipment of Figure 1 bu-t with both of
the keyboards operably exposed,
Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view of a cabinet
forming part of the terminal of Figures 1 and 2;
Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view through the
cabinet and a keyboard unit Forming part of the terminal;
Figure 5 is a schematic plan view showing one arrangement
for retaining the keyboard unit within the cabinet when lifting the
cabinet;
Figures 6, 7 and 8 illustrate the use of the Figure 6
arrangement; and
Figures 9, 10 and 11 illustrate an alternative
arrangement for retaining the keyboard unit within the cabinet when
lifting the cabinet.
Referring to the drawings in detail9 Figures 1 and 2 show
a telecommunications terminal 10 incorporating a telephone 129 a visual
display unit 14, a control keyboard unit 16, and an alphanumeric
keyboard unit 18. The inYention is particularly concerned with the
manner in which the two flat input deYices, the control keyboard unit
16 and the alphanumeric keyboard unit 18 are used relative to each
other and to a cabinet 20. Consequently, the other functions of the
terminal, i.e. the telephone 12 and the visual display unit 14 will not
be described in detail.
Referring to Figure 3, the cabinet 20 has plastic top and
bottom moldings 22 and 24. A frame 26 is attached to the top molding
and houses a cathode ray tube (CRT) 28. The top molding 22 has a
loudspeaker grid 30, CRT and sound volume controls 32, and a bay 34 for
supporting a telephone handset 36. To one side of the bay and in front
of the CRT 2$ the molding has an array of apertures 3~ extending
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through it. When the moldings 22 and 24 are screwed together at the
columns 37, the apertures 38 accommodate keys 40 and 41 of a keyboard
42.
The keyboard 42 and a keyboard 43 usecl in the
alphanumeric unit 18 can be any of a wide variety of marketed productsc
Examples offering half and full key travel to provide tactile feedback
to users are marketed by Keytronics (:orporation. As is well-known in
the keyboard art, the keyboard circuitry has electrically encoded
outputs indicative of the key pressed. The keys of keyboard 42 are
printed with control indicia and those of keyboard 43 are printed with
alphanumeric designations. In the terminal illustrated, the keys 41 at
the rear of control keyboard 42 are soft or programmable keys which
permit alteration of their control or instruction designations, these
being displayed in a lower part of the viual display unit screen.
A metal backplate of the keyboard 42 is screwed to
opposed elongate legs 44 forming integral parts of the bottom molding
24. As shown in Figures 3 and 4, the bottom molding 24 has a base
having one part 46 normally flat against a support surface and another
part 48 spaced from the support surface. Rear and side walls 50 and 52
have reduced thickness edge formations 54 engaging corresponding edge
formations 56 of the top molding~ At the front of the molding 24 the
legs 44 extend back to a front wall 58 which has a box section portion
60 to give the molding rigidity. A pair of circuit boards 62, 64 which
support controlled and controlling electronic circuitry for the various
input ancl output devices of the terminal are supported on an array of
knees 66 and columns 68 integrally molded with the bottom moldin~ 24.
The two boards are connected by a flexible cable 70 and screened from
CRT interference by a metal screen 720 The circuit board 60 supports a
microswitch 74 which functions as the telephone hook switch and also
supports a loudspeaker 76 and slide controls 78 for sound volume and
picture control. Mounted within the front wall 58 is a socket 84
connected to the alphanumeric keyboard unit 28.
The keyboard unit 18, which is shown in longitudinal
cross section in Figure 4 has a frame comprising top and bottom molded
plast,ic sections 88 and 90. The moldings have bosses 92 and 94 by
means of which the moldings are screwed together to sandwich a
baseplate 96 of the keypad 18 between them. Underneath the baseplate
are mounted primary and secondary circuit boards 98 and 100, the
circuit boards supporting circuitry providing an interface between the
keypad 18 and the main processor circuit board within the cabinetO
Section 88 over part of its front edge has an overhanging lip 102 which
in normal use is spaced from the underlying support surface. The frame
with the keypad mounted within is of wedge section. The unit is
dimensioned to fit snugly within the wedge shaped space underlaying the
keyboard 42 and the front of the CRT 28~
To remove the keyboard unit 18 from underneath the
cabinet, the cabinet is tilted rearwardly about a fulcrum zone 104 by
pushing the frame 26 backwards. The cabinet pivots about the fulcrum
zone to a position in which the rear bottom corner of the cabinet
touches the support surface. In this position the lower front edge of
the cabinet moulding 22 is spaced sufficiently from ~he underlaying
suupport surface that the keyboard unit 18 can be freely slid between
the two legs 44 from under the cabinet. The user simply tilts the
cabinet back with one hand and, by gripping the overhanging lip 102,
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hooks -the keyboard unit out with the other hand. The coiled cable 84
permits the keyboard unit 18 to be removed some distance from the
cabinet enabling the user to key in data while the keyboard unit is
situated on his or her lap. Once the keyboard unit is removed from the
cabinet, the cabinet is allowed to tilt forwards to its s-table
equilibrium position shown in Figures 2 and 4. Optionally, the
keyboard unit 18 can be butted up to the front edge of the cabinet, as
shown in Figure 2. For aesthetic and ergonomic reasons, the rear
height of the keyboard unit 18 is the same as the front edge height of
the cabinet, and the wedge angles of the cabinet and the keyboard unit
18 are identical. Butted together, the keyboard unit forms a composite
uniplanar input keyboard.
Although the keyboard unit 18 is conveniently separable
frorn the cabinet for the user to more comfortably key in data, it may
be necessary to transport the complete terminal from one location to
another. In these circumstances, it is convenient to have the keyboard
unit retained within the cabinet. An optional modification to the
terminal for this purpose is shown schematically in Figures 5 to 8. As
shown in Figure 5, plan view in a flat frame 110, having the
configuration of a tuning fork, is pivotally mounted on the cabinet at
the fulcrum zone 104. As shown in the partial front elevation of
Figure 7, forwardly extending limbs 112 pass underneath and support
overhanging side edges 114 of the keyboard unit and rearwardly
extending limb 116 normally stays in contact with the support surface
118~ The limbs 112 are biased upwardly by tension spring 119 against
the cabinet bottom surface, the bottom surface of the cabinet being
configured to accomrnodate both pivotal mounting 120 and limbs 112 and
116. In use, if the keyboard unit 18 is to be pulled out or returned
to its housing, the terminal 10 is tilted rearwardly as shown in Figure
8. The -frame 110 is prevented from rotating with the cabinet by the
contact between the rear limb 116 and the support surface 118 so, dS a
result of tilting the terminal, the tension spring bias is overcome and
the terminal front edge is lifted up without lifting limbs 112.
If it is necessary to move the cabinet from one location
to another, the terminal is simply lifted. The weight of the keyboard
unit 18 within the housing is insufficient by itself to overcome the
spring bias so the unit is retained within the housing. The tension
spring 119 could of course be replaced by a compression, torsional or
cantilever spring arrangement to the rear of the pivotal nlounting 120.
In an alternative arrangement illustrated in Figures 9 to
11, the cabinet 20 is resiliently biased towards the backwardly tilted
position similar to that shown in Figure 7 but can be tilted forwardly
and locked in place. Referring to Figure 9 there is shown the cabinet
box section 60 evident in Figures 3 and 4, This section has apertures
130 and wall 58 has apertures 132 within which rod springs 134 are
located. The front end 136 of each rod spring is fixed within an
aperture 138 within feet 140. The feet are permitted to slide within
vertical tracks 142 formed within bottom molding 24. Each foot 140 has
an abutment 144. The cabinet wall adjacent the track has a part 146
partially separated from the main wall to enable it to flex relative to
the wall and so function as a pushbutton. As shown in vertical section
in Figure 11 the wall has an abutment 148 within the track~ When the
feet are engaged within the tracks, the particular disposition of
apertures 130 and 132 is such as to bias the spring rod ends 136 and
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thus the feet 140 downwards and outwards. When the cabinet ~0 is in
-the Figure 6 position the abutments 144 and 148 contact to prevent
relative movement. When the parts 146 are pressed inwardly, the feet
140 are pushed away from abutments 144 so freeing the feet and enabling
them to slide in their tracks 142. Since the feet 140 contact support
surface 118, the cabinet 20 is forcibly tilted backwards. The feet 140
continue to slide within the tracks 142 until relative motion is
arrested by another abutment 150. In this position the keyboard unit
18 can be freely slid frorn under the cabinet. When the keyboard unit
18 is finished with, it is returned to position under the cabinet and
the upper keyboard 16 is pressed down to latch the cabinet in the
Figure 1 position.
In order that the CRT may not be damaged by shock as the
cabinet 10, on reaching one or other of its extreme positions, has its
pivotal motion arrested by part of the cabinet striking the support
surface 118, the cabinet and the frame 110 may be linked by a simple
shock absorber arrangement (not shown).
Although not shown in the illustrations, the cabinet wall
has strengthened apertures at which adaptor jacks are mounted for
attachment to a telephone line and the telephone handset. Other
passages extending through the cabinet wall permit access for tuning
the display CRT and inspection of the circuit boards 62 and 64.
As shown in Figure 1, the alphanumeric keyboard unit 18~
since it is used relatively occasionally, is normally maintained within
the oabinet housing underneath the control keyboard unit 16. This
arrangement offers advantages of input device protection~ aesthetic
appearance, and spatial economy compared with havir,g a permanently
exposed alphanumeric keyboard. The contour oF the frame at the front
edge is complimentary to the contour of the remaining front and side
edges of the cabinet mouldings 22 and 24 so that when the frame is
fully inserted, its presence cannot be easily detected.
A variety of lamellar input/output devices can be used in
place of the keyboard units. The exposed positions of the
input/output devices depend on their functions. Thus, For example, a
printing or document scanning unit must be so mounted relative to the
cabinet base that paper feed in and out of the cabinet is permitted.
Also, ergonomically, it may be preferable to have certain input/output
devices closer to the terminal operator than other devices. Although
it seems clear that the majority of terminal input/output devices must
be characterized by relatively large area in view oF their dependence
on human vision, hand size, or document size, this is certainly not
true of all input/output devices that may be incorporated in future
terminal equipment. A multiplicity of small input/output devices can
be arranged in a single lamellar structure to contribute to the
aesthetic appearance and spatial economy of terminal equipment
incorporating large area lamellar input/output devices. Thus, for
example, loudspeaker and microphone components of a handsFree telephone
unit could be placed together with a magnetic cassette input unit or
optical disc memory as a single lamellar structure. Also, some of the
lamellar input/output devices can be vertically integrated to provide a
dual function. For example, a pressure sensitive overlay for a
display, allowing display and touch input simultaneously, is made by
Slerracin Corporation and marketed under the registered trademark
"Transflex". An alternative example of a flat panel display and touch
input unit is made by General Digital Corporation and marketed under
the registered trademark "VuePoint". Liquid crystal and LED displays
suitable for packaging into a lamellar unit are made by a number of
companies including Philips Corporation. A further advantage of having
the lamellar input/output devices closely positioned is that they can
use common interface circuitry to the main memory and processing units
within the cabinet.
Although in the embodiments described9 the cabinet bottom
surface has a rear part inclined to a front part thereof, the cabinet
1n bottom surface could alternatively be stepped in order to space the
rear part of the bottom surface from a support surface. Also, although
r,ot considered so convenient for use, instead of tilting to access an
input/output device from a housing at the front of the terminal the
cabinet may be designed to be tilted to access an -input/output device
from a housing at the rear or side of the cabinet.
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