KEYPAD FOR PORTABLE WIRELESS DEVICE

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a keypad that deals with a larger number of characters without using a procedure for pressing the same key several times. SOLUTION: The keypad includes keys that can be selectively connected electrically to a printed circuit board 530 to generate electrical signals equivalent to characters to be input to a portable wireless device. Each of the keys further includes contact points 515 which can be separately connected electrically to the printed circuit board 530 to input characters associated with the contact points 515. The keypad can be switched between a single mode in which all the contact points 515 for a given key refer to the same input character and a multiple mode in which the contact points 515 for a given key refer to different input characters. Additionally, at least some of the contact points 515 for each key can be programmed by a user to assign a desired character to a specific contact point 515. COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT