Key interface circuit with reduced number of input terminals

摘要

A static key interface circuit has an input terminal coupled to N key switches, where N is an integer greater than one. The N key switches are biased at different potentials, which are supplied to the input terminal when the key switches are closed. A multilevel detector in the key interface circuit detects the potential of the input terminal and generates corresponding result data. A dynamic key interface circuit has an input terminal coupled to P rows of N key switches each and scans the P rows in turn, using a similar multilevel detector. The multilevel detector increases the number of key switches connectable to a single input terminal by a factor of N.