CH682854A5 - Configurable input device for a data processing system. - Google Patents

Abstract

An entry device that can be configured in advance for data processing systems, such as computers, has two keyboards, one or several printed circuit boards, electronic circuits and corresponding electric switching elements. The entry device has electronic preselection elements that can be controlled by means of mechanical switches on the printed circuit boards and that allow the keyboard to be optimally adapted to various fields of application, considerably easening the blind and rhythmic operation of the keyboard with ten fingers during a working session. The entry device has left and right parts mechanically separated from each other and capable of being moved at will in relation to each other. They are both provided with keys, mechanical switches and electronic circuits. The keys can be coupled for coding purposes, enabling code signals to be generated. First and second switching keys are coupled to switches. The switches are directly coupled to coding units, by means of control lines, or they are coupled to one or several preselection elements that allow a plurality of additional coding units to be controlled.

Description

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description

Technical field

It has long been used in various ways to enable the human hand to control electrical or mechanical systems by operating suitable input devices. Such an input device is the classic mechanical typewriter. Since the introduction of electronic data processing systems and robot controls, the mechanical typewriters have been largely replaced by electronic input devices for personal computers, larger computing systems, control systems for automatic machine tools, control systems for automatic placement systems and robots and the like or supplemented.

Among the input devices mentioned, those are particularly distinguished which allow a fast, perfect, blind, rhythmic operation of a limited number of keys by all ten fingers of both hands, as has been made possible by the classic mechanical typewriter. This advantage of the classic, mechanical typewriter has unfortunately been negated by the introduction of the input keyboards for personal computers. In the published patent applications DE 3 629 417 and Eu 0 257 490, an electronic input keyboard was presented, with which text and other data can be entered into the usual data processing systems, without the usual auxiliary keyboards having to be used for control functions and numbers. Due to the preferred position of a second shift key 41 under the basic position of the fifth finger of the right hand, the keyboard can easily be switched to one or two working states with the aid of the usual first shift key, in which cursor functions and other programmable computer functions as well as many other key functions within the main keyboard are convenient can be operated in an accessible manner. This has the advantage of operating the keyboard mentioned above without the annoying arm movements quickly and completely blindly and rhythmically with ten fingers.

In the published patent application Eu 0 361 533, an elegant, electronic switching arrangement was presented, which is characterized by an extraordinarily high compactness and an extraordinarily low susceptibility to faults and which can support the keyboard mentioned above. In particular, with this switching arrangement, code signals can be forwarded to a computer, which can be interpreted by the computer, for example with a table for 8-bit code signals similar to the known 7-bit ASCII code.

On the other hand, the keyboard mentioned is limited to four operating states. In addition, only 256 different signals can be transmitted with an 8-bit code and an additional bit for parity control.

Keyboards for transmitting signals from everyone

Art can be used in many different ways. The object of the present invention is to present an input device which can be used in an extended range of applications without the fast, perfect, blind, rhythmic operation of the keyboard with ten fingers being significantly disturbed.

The solution to the task presented here is based on the fact that working on display devices and other locations for keyboards can be concentrated in individual work sessions. Keyboards can be used for very different purposes, for example to write business letters, enter computer programs in different programming languages, to create works of art in computer graphics, to write poems, bilingual texts or, scientific texts (linguistics, mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc.) to write, to operate robot control systems, machine tools to control entire industrial systems and the like. There are few people who do all of these things in their lives and it will never happen that they want to do all of these things at the same time. It is therefore advisable to combine several similar work tasks on input devices and to do them in a single work session. A business scientist's workday on a screen device could therefore begin with a work session in which he types in several business letters, followed by a work session in which he enters a computer program for controlling a scientific instrument, and finally end with a work session in which he writes a scientific text processed for its customers.

Depending on the type of work session, the assignment of the key functions can be optimized differently. For example, the digits usually play a subordinate role when editing a linguistic text, while they become much more important in programming sessions or when writing certain business letters. The aim should therefore always be to make new, inexpensive groups of key functions available again and again in the 2 additional new operating states of the keyboard that have become accessible through the second shift key 41, in part in repetitions of certain functions in a geometrically advantageous position to make them accessible differently again and again to be able to optimally support certain types of work tasks on the screen.

On the other hand, many people have been trained in blind operation of the classic typewriter keyboard. This training requires a long training and a hard drill. It is therefore important to ensure that as little changes as possible are made in the working state of the input device that enables the classic key assignments, as given by the typewriter, in order not to negate the aforementioned training of the large number of people. On the other hand, there is additional training for additional yet new configurations

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functions of the keyboard possible and sensible if the types of work sessions supported by it will be required by an individual for a long time in the future.

The input device should be portable and can be connected anywhere in order to enable it to be used in various work sessions that are spatially far apart (example: repair service from a computer specialist). Input devices should be personal property to enable optimal configurability for each individual. The input device can only be transported and meaningfully connected to different devices if the signal code is unique and self-identifying, so that the conventional consideration of the spatial design of the key assignments when interpreting the code signals by the computer can be completely dispensed with . An 8-bit bus (plus 1 bit parity control) is therefore not sufficient here and an expansion to a larger bus width is necessary.

Presentation of the invention

The object of this invention is to provide an input device for a data processing system in which the keyboard can be pre-configured in a simple manner by the user before the start of a work session in order to operate the keyboard undisturbed, quickly, completely, blindly, rhythmically with ten fingers during one Enable work session in an optimized way; this is to be done by preselecting the assignment of key functions for each individual key that are contained in the two key fields, by making the individual keys connectable to several different groups of coding units.

A simply designed work station suitable for accomplishing the object of this invention may include a personal computer with a screen, central processing unit, two keypads and, for example, a wall-mounted switchboard, as shown in FIGS. 15 and 16. With the levers of the switchboard, control signals can be generated by the users of the work station, which cause the keyboard to be preconditioned. In contrast, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, much smaller switchboards are provided for the left and right keypads and can be installed in a common housing with the keypads. Such a structure is shown in supervision for the left hand in FIG. 1 and for the right hand in FIG. 2.

The following language definitions are hereby displayed for all parts of this document:

The device shown in top view in FIG. 1 is referred to below as the left sub-device; the device shown in supervision in FIG. 2 is referred to below as the right sub-device. Together, the left and right sub-devices form the input device, according to claim 1. Should the left and right keypads be mentioned together in the following, they are referred to as the keyboard, which represents part of the input device.

The terms signal lines and signal lines are used interchangeably and mean metallized lines or lines on an electronic circuit board (electronic card) which can carry electronic circuits and circuits and not only on at least one front and one rear side but also in intermediate layers (sandwich) metallized lines or lines can carry, so that bridging can be dispensed with if possible when crossing bundles of several signal lines. However, individual bridges are possible, as at the position indicated by B1 in FIG. 17, where two 9-bit buses cross.

Signal lines (630-632) in FIG. 17 connect the two subunits, so that a signal from one of the switchboards can change a configuration in both subunits at the same time; in another version of the inventions, however, the signal lines (630-632) are separated, so that the configuration can be carried out separately in each subunit. In Fig. 15, the input device is powered by the central processing unit of the computer (46008). In contrast, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, the input device will have its own network connection. Furthermore, for embodiments of the invention in which many electronic switchboards are used, FIG. 16 shows an additional box (46016) of the input device which can accommodate these switchboards. To support these boards, the additional box has its own connection cable (46023) to a socket (46017) of the public network. The additional box contains the conventional means for voltage conversion, which should also provide at least + 5V-, + 12V, + 24V for the power supply of the boards in the sub-units. A power supply for the input device that is independent of the computer to be connected also has the important advantage that the input device can be transported to various computer systems, even if its electronic components require unusual power supplies. 1 shows a control key (410), the function of which is either that of a repeat key or that of a second shift key in addition to key 41. The electronic circuits for supporting the control key and the other keys on the keyboard are shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, which also show that both sub-units contain a first (83) and second (84) switching device, which are identical to the first and second switching device of FIG. 5, the electronic switching device for switching device (83) in FIG. 7 and the switching circuit for switching device (84) in Fig. 8 are shown. The following can be seen in FIGS. 11 and 12:

1.) Power supply: cables (20120, 20124) to ground; Cables (20123, 20127) to + 5V; Lines (20121, 20125); to a conventional electronic clock for generating a square wave adjustable frequency; Lines (20122, 20126) to + 12V or + 24V to support special units such as Schmitt triggers, monostable multivibrators and the like to generate a special + SV pulse with higher power

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the advantage that such special units and connected widened signal lines for key actuation signals need only be assigned to individual keys.

2.) Schmitt triggers, monostable multivibrators or similar pulse-shaping units of lower or increased output power are contained in devices (2000), the circuit diagram of which is shown in an embodiment for low power in FIG. 13; (2086) is a bleeder resistor.

3.) Conventional one-step or two-step keys can be used in the present keyboard. Peculiarities of the shape of the key head are irrelevant for a blind user. However, if the quality of the conventional keys is different, it is important to ensure that the key mechanism does not affect the speed of the finger movement. In particular, the feedback device for the key head, which usually comprises one or more mechanical springs or spring systems, must be able to cope with the repetition speed of an expert's fingers. Each two-stage button is connected to a double switch; if the button is depressed in a first step to a first mechanical resistance level, a first electrical contact in the double switch is closed; if the button is pressed even further down to a second mechanical resistance level, a second electrical contact in the double switch is closed and the first contact is opened. The electronic circuit diagram for double switches (2001) of FIGS. 11 and 12 is shown in FIG. 14; (20109, 20110) are bleeder resistors, which have similar tasks to (2086) in Fig. 13. Two-stage keys have the advantage over single-stage keys that they make a repeat key superfluous. Therefore, each double switch must also be connected to a signal line that can deliver a periodic square wave signal. Simple switches (2002, 2003) are shown for individual buttons; the switch (2002) does not need to be coupled to a device (2000); the switch (2003) must be coupled to a device (2000).

4.) The double switch (2001) and the device (2000) for the control button (410) from FIG. 1 are connected in FIG. 11 to the two preselection switches (2008, 2009) in order to perform the control button for a function other than the function to be able to feed a repeat button; 11 shows that the control key can take over the function of a second shift key, so that together with key (41) a second shift key can be operated from both sub-keyboards. The output signal lines of the switchover device (84) from both keypads can be coupled, so that both second switchover buttons are effective in both subunits (the first switchover buttons must be active in both subunits); however, the effectiveness of the two second toggle buttons can be separate for both sub-devices; for this case, separate signal lines (94100, 94101) are shown in FIGS. 21A, 21B for the right-hand subunit.

5.) The connectors (22102-22105) can be connected to the connectors (21102-21105) on the back of an electronic card; also (22167-22169, 22410) with (21167-21169, 21410).

6.) From each device (2000) for each key, a single signal line leads to a connection. In the left-hand subunit, the connections (2101-2111) are individually assigned to the corresponding buttons (1-11); the following assignments also apply: (2113-2117) to (13-17), (2119-2124) to (13-17); in the right keypad (2125-2140) to (25-40), (2142-2148) to (42-48), (2150) to (50), (21411-21412) to (411-412). All connections together or groups of connections can be combined into a single plug connection or a plurality of plug connections, so that in each subunit bundles of signal lines for key actuation signals in cables are combined by a first electronic card which carries the parts described for FIGS. 11 and 12. can be routed to a second electronic card. In both subunits, the signal lines are combined into a bus on the second electronic card and on a number of further electronic cards, which are connected one behind the other by means of cables and plug cores. In Fig. 5, this bus is common to both keypads, shown in simplified form as four lines that emanate from four key switches (60-63). 17-20, the bus is shown in simplified form by means of four lines. FIGS. 21A, 21B show the left version of this bus for key actuation signals, and FIGS. 22A, 22B show the right version of this bus in its full width, with the line numbers (901-911, 913 -917, 919-924) of the left bus are assigned to the key numbers (1-11, 13-17, 19-24), while for the right subunit the line numbers (925-940, 942-948, 950, 9411, 9412) of the right bus are assigned to the key numbers (25-40, 42-48, 50, 411, 412). The simplest version of the present invention is shown in FIG. 17. FIG. 17 shows a simplified circuit which is present exactly once in each sub-device, with which there is only one configuration device (4570) in each sub-device, the electronic circuit diagram of which is shown in FIG. 28. The configuration device includes at least three bistable pinch or flip-flops (615-617) (one pin for each configuration of the keyboard), diodes (633-638), and AND gates (618-621, 6181, 6201, 6211). The symbolic connections (6110-6113, 6171) indicate that the configuration unit can be expanded if more pins, diodes and AND gates are added. The connections (630-632) from both sub-devices are connected via a cable, so that the entire keyboard can be configured together from just one switchboard (4601) in one sub-device, or from two switch boards that are distributed across both sub-devices. The separation of the cable connections (630-632) enables the two subunits to be configured separately, whereby the alphabet must be repeated. The electronic circuit for the coding units (70-73) is shown in FIG. 9. Two bus control units (4710) are available,

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which are controlled by the control button (410) with switch (452) when switched as a repeat button. The units (4710) comprise conventional means for the independent storage of 9-bit signals and for the repeated reading out of the stored signal as long as the key (410) is depressed. The presence of two data busses (74-82) and (74A-82A) has certain advantages for the connected computer in that the division of the bus allows partial decoding of the code signals beforehand. Essentially, code signals for an alphabet and the digits 0-9 appear on bus 74-82, while on the second bus more heterogeneous code signals, for example for computer controls and rare characters, also appear a repetition of the digits 0-9 if so favors an individual's work session. On the other hand, the bus control units (4710) can additionally have conventional 9-bit gates, which can receive an opening signal through a selector switch (not shown) in the bus control unit, so that both buses can be connected to one another. Furthermore, both bus control units (4710) can still have conventional means for sequencing the 9-bit code signals. In this case, a second source of a periodic square-wave signal is required, the frequency of which must be at least 10rnai higher than that which is used by the repeater device by means of switches (452) (additional signal line to the bus control unit (4710), the supply lines from the power supply in Fig. 17 is not shown in Fig. 18. An electronic circuit for an extended version of this invention is shown in Fig. 18. While in Fig. 17 in each reconfiguration process the switching of the key combinations to coding units is always the same for all operating states of the second switching device (84) 18, it is also possible to ensure that only individual parts of the keyboard are subject to a specific reconfiguration mechanism .. In FIG. 18, three switch boards (4601), (4602) and (4603) are therefore shown as subunits which the user can use to reconfigure individual parts of the keyboard boards are each coupled to a configuration device (457). The circuit for the configuration device is shown in FIG. 26.

Only a part of all coding units can be made optionally connectable to the keys from each switchboard. Such a part, which can be made couplable from a single dashboard, is referred to below as the group of coding units belonging to the dashboard. The number of coding units to be coupled in an operating state of the configuration devices depends on the internal structure of the configuration devices; Devices (4570) can make 4 coding units connectable at the same time, while devices (457) can only make two coding units connectable together. Those coding units that are made couplable at a certain moment in accordance with the set operating state of the configuration devices are referred to as the configured set of coding units. Only one of the coding units of the configured set is kept open for signals on the bus for key actuation signals by the second switching device (84), depending on the operating state of the second switching device, depending on which switching buttons (12), (18), (410), (41), (49) have been actuated when the configured set comprises four units. However, if the configured set only comprises two units, then a coding unit of the set is kept open only in two operating states of the second switching device.

The control board (4602) in FIG. 18 includes a group of coding units which can predominantly generate code signals for various alphabets (Latin, Cyrillic, Arabic, etc.). The configured sentence of the group contains two units and is able to generate respective code signals for a complete alphabet, one unit for the large and the other unit for the small letters generating the code signals (in alphabets with large and small letters). (Switchboard (4602) configures a group of coding units to the keys (1-11), (13-17), (19-24), (25-29), (31-35), (37-40) , (43-47) and (50) can be coupled (according to subclaim 4.) The control board (4603) in Fig. 18 includes a group of coding units which can predominantly generate code signals for national letters of different second languages contains two units, the entire alphabet is not supported here, since only the keys (30), (36), (42), (48), (411), (412) can be coupled to the coding units of the group 29-32 these keys are marked with “LA” (for lan-guage = language) (according to sub-claim 5).

The control board (4601) in FIG. 18 includes a group of coding units which can predominantly generate code signals from a specific set of session-specific characters. The configured set of coding units comprises two units. Only the buttons (1-6), (7-7), (13-15), (19-21), (24), (25-30), (33-36), (39-40), ( 42-48), (50), (411, 412) can be coupled to the coding units of the group. In Fig. (29-32) these keys are marked with "SE" (for session = session) (according to sub-claim 3).

The combination of an entire first alphabet with a few letters of a related second alphabet, and the possibility of reconfiguring the combinations as shown here, offers the user of a keyboard tremendous advantages over a conventional keyboard, since it can assume a complete alphabet, for whom he learned blind writing in his country and in his language with his national keyboard, and then supplemented his knowledge of blind typing for a few letters of a foreign language that are different from the usual ones. Of course, this combination only works for related alphabets like English and that

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Germans with the umlauts according to FIGS. 29 and 30, but not for a combination of English and Russian.

The performance of the system is shown using the example of a working session for writing international business letters in Russian (see FIGS. 31, 32). The size of the Russian alphabet is so large that in order to display the Ukrainian special characters (second language), the third and fourth levels of the keys have to be used. It can be seen that a combination of session-specific characters and national alphabets can be meaningfully designed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

1 and 2 show a preferred embodiment of the input device, with FIG. 1 representing a left and FIG. 2 a right sub-device.

Fig. 1 shows a top view of the left sub-device, in which there are next to a left keypad with 25 keys (1-24), (411) three small switch boards (46101), (46102), and (46103), which display lamps (46108) and label holder (46109) included for each of six mechanical switching devices. A frame (52001), a cover plate (52002) and a cable 53 can also be seen.

Fig. 2 shows a top view of the right part of the device, in addition to a right keypad with 28 keys (25-50), (411-412) three small switch boards (46104), (46105), and (46106) with indicator lights and label holders for each of six switching devices.

A frame (52000), a cover plate (52003), a cable (54) and a control lamp (51) for the second toggle button can also be seen.

All conventional means are suitable as mechanical switching devices in FIGS. 1 and 2, in particular and preferably small keys such as (46107) in FIG. 1 similar to those of pocket calculators, small levers (46111) in FIG. 2, switches, pawls, levers, Buttons and the like, since these switching devices do not have to be suitable for blind and rhythmic operation, but are used as pre-configuration means for the keyboard.

3 and 4 show a left and right keypad, respectively, in which the keys are arranged in a geometrically displaced manner compared to the keypads of FIGS. 1 and 2.

5 contains an electronic circuit diagram with a first (83) and a second (84) switching device for the first and second switching keys, with four coding units (70-73), a data bus (74-82) and symbols of key switches (60-66) .

FIG. 6 contains an electronic circuit diagram for a key switch (60-66) in FIG. 5, which includes Schmitt trigger means (87) and a bleeder resistor (86).

FIG. 7 shows an electronic circuit diagram for the first switching device (83) in FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 shows an electronic circuit diagram for the second switching device (84) in FIG. 5.

Fig. 9 shows an electronic circuit diagram for an encoding unit (70-73) in Fig. 5, including an AND gate and an encoder for each key of the keyboard. Each encoder has 9 diodes and 9 pairs of contacts.

Fig. 10A shows a view of the right side wall (52004) of the left subdevice; Fig. 10B shows a view of the left side wall (52005) of the right subdevice; the screw holes (55-58) for screwing the two sub-units together, as well as the frames (52006) and

(52007), which can serve as a cable outlet when the sub-units are screwed together.

10C and 10D show top views of the upper edges of the outer and inner walls

(52008) and (52009) of the left and right sub-units, respectively; there are several bushings and frames (not shown) in the inner and rear walls; in the side rooms (52010) and (52013), auxiliary devices such as power supplies, a conventional clock, a data bus control unit and the like can be located in addition to the switchboards; in the main rooms (52011) and (52012) there are a number of electronic cards which are connected with plugs and cables and which are preferably screwed together and stacked using spacer rings or individually screwed to the side and inner walls; the frames and cover plates (52000-52003) are screwed onto the upper edges of the outer and inner walls. Furthermore, conventional metal grids or other metal or plastic supports can be screwed onto the walls as supports for the buttons. 11 and 12 show electronic circuits in which the key actuation signals are generated for each key of the left and right key fields, respectively.

13 and 14 show details of units 2000 and 2001 of Figs. 11 and 12, respectively.

15 and 16 show workplaces for the use of the input device presented here.

17 shows an electronic circuit diagram including a control board (4601), a configuration device (4570), two 9-bit buses and two bus control units (4710).

18 shows an electronic circuit diagram including configuration devices (457) and switching boards (4601-4603) for preconfiguration of the keyboard with regard to the required session-specific characters according to claim 3, for preconfiguration of the keyboard with regard to a complete alphabet, according to claim 4, or for preconfiguration of the keyboard with regard to a subset of a second alphabet that can be coupled in according to patent claim 5.

19 and 20 describe claim 6.

Figures 21A, 21B, 22A and 22B describe more detailed details from Figures 17-20.

Fig. 23 shows the electronic circuit diagram of the coding units 702 in Figs. 18 and 21A and 22A.

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FIG. 24 shows the electronic circuit diagram of the coding units 704 in FIG. 21A.

Figure 25 shows encoding controllers 4580 in Figures 19, 20 and 22A.

26, 27, 28 are configuration devices (457), (4573) and (4570).

29-32 represent an example of a switchable preconfiguration of key assignments.

33 shows a third switching device (4580X) for further exemplary embodiments of the invention. The third switching device (4580X) is a reduced and modified variant of the coding control device of FIG. 25 and can replace a coding control device in certain applications in which one or both coding control devices (4580) in FIGS. 19 or 20 are superfluous. In these applications, the control panel (45734) of Figures 19 and 20 may also be superfluous; no code signals are generated by the third switching device (4580X). The connection (199A) of FIG. 33 is connected to one of the four control lines in FIG. 19 which originate from the second switching device (84) of FIG. 18; the same connection (199A) can also be connected to one of the connections (474141) and (474142) in FIG. 20. AND gates are (1061), (1071), (1081), (1072), (1082), (1091); XOR gates (exclusive OR) are (1161), (1171), (1181), (1172), (1182), (1192).

Claims (8)

Claims 1. Input device for the blind and rhythmic operation by the ten fingers of the two human hands for controlling a data processing system consisting of a left and a right sub-device consisting of; - A keypad containing a number of one- or two-step keys with functions of letter keys of different alphabets, number keys, symbol keys, graphic keys, space keys, computer control keys, programmable function keys, robot control keys, carriage return keys, repeat keys, as well as first shift keys (12), (18 ), (49) and a second shift key (41); - An electrical switchgear containing connections to an attached electronic power supply with a mains connection and with an electronic clock with a frequency switch and with frequency generators with rectangular pulse shapers; - Electronic switching elements, flip-flops, gates, diodes; Contact devices and Schmitt triggers and monostable multivibrators associated with each key; a number of coding units, each with at least 6 coders; - a first and a second switching device, the inputs of which are electrically connected to the outputs of the Schmitt triggers of the first and second switching buttons; - A button bus consisting of 26 signal lines, each connected to the output of the Schmitt trigger or monostable multivibrators of a button circuit; an 18-bit bus or two separate 9-bit buses, which are electrically connected to the outputs of the coding units, and to the inputs of either a data processing system or in a bus control unit with 9-bit or 18 bit storage means, the outputs of the 9-bit or 18-bit storage means being electrically conductively connected to signal converters, each with a sequencer and with an output, either with a socket on an outer wall of the input device or via a cable directly with the Input of a data processing system is conductively connected; - Several switchboards, each with at least six conventional, mechanical switching devices and with the associated electrical contact devices and with the signal lines electrically connected to them and with lights and signs; said input device characterized in that the outputs of the second switching devices of both sub-devices are each electrically connected to inputs of at least a first, a second and a third configuration device in each sub-device, with at least three further configuration inputs of each configuration device additionally having the mechanical switching devices of one Switchboard are electrically connected, wherein within a configuration device each configuration input is electrically connected to the switch-on input of a flip-flop it contains and is connected via diodes to the switch-off input of at least two further flip-flops, each configuration device also having at least six outputs, whereby each output is electrically conductively connected to an input of both a coding unit or coding control device in the left and in the right sub-device, with further inputs of the Coding units and coding control units are electrically conductively connected to all or only to a part of the 26 signal lines of the key bus; and that the switch-on output of each flip-flop of the configuration devices is electrically conductively connected to the one input of at least four AND gates, while the other inputs of the AND gates are electrically conductively connected to outputs of the second switching devices. 2. Input device according to claim 1, characterized in that in each sub-device only a single configuration device (4570) is arranged behind the second switching device such that all four outputs of the second switching device are each electrically conductively connected to one input of this configuration device, and that Configuration device with control lines is connected to all coding units of one subunit and to the configuration device of the other subunit, and that in each coding unit each AND gate connected with its output to an encoder has one of its inputs via 5 10th 15 20th 25th 30th 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 7 13 CH 682 854 A5 14 one of the signal lines of the key bus and via a Schmitt trigger with the contact device of one of the keys (1-11), (13-17), and (19-24) in the left-hand subunit, and (25-40), (42-48 ), (50), and (411, 412) is connected in an electrically conductive manner in the right sub-device. 3. Input device according to claim 1, characterized in that a first configuration device (457) is arranged behind the second switching device such that only a third and fourth of a total of four outputs of the second switching device are each electrically conductively connected to one input of the configuration device, and that control lines are arranged between the configuration device and a part of the coding units of one sub-device and the configuration device of the other sub-device, each of the AND gates connected with its output to a coder with one of its inputs via a signal line of the keyboard bus and via a Schmitt in the coding units -Trigger with the contact device of one of the keys (1-6), (7-9), (13-15), and (19-21), and (24) in the left-hand subunit, and (25-30), (33 -36), (39-40), (42-48), (50), and (411, 412) in the right subunit is electrically connected. 4. Input device according to claim 1, characterized in that a second configuration device (457) is arranged behind the second switching device such that only a first and a second of a total of four outputs of the second switching device are each electrically conductively connected to one input of the configuration device, and that the configuration device is connected via control lines to a part of the coding units of one subunit and to the configuration device of the other subunit, each of the AND gates connected with its output to a coder with one of its inputs via a signal line of the key bus and via one in the coding units Schmitt trigger with the contact device of one of the buttons (1-11), (13-17), and (19-24) in the left-hand subunit, and (25-29), (31-35), (37-40), (43-47), and (50) in the right-hand subunit is electrically connected. 5. Input device according to claim 1, characterized in that a third configuration device (457) is arranged in the right sub-device behind the second switching device such that only the first and second of a total of four outputs of the second switching device are each electrically conductively connected to an input of the configuration device and that the configuration device is connected via control lines to a part of the coding units of the right-hand sub-device, in which coding units each AND gate connected with its output to a coder has one of its inputs via a signal line of the key bus and via a Schmitt trigger the contact device of one of the buttons (30), (36), (42), (48), and (411-412) in the right-hand subunit is electrically conductively connected. 6. Input device according to claim 1, characterized in that a configuration device (457) is arranged behind the second switching devices of both sub-devices such that only the third and fourth of a total of four outputs of the second switching device are electrically conductively connected to one input of the configuration device, and that at least six outputs of the configuration device are electrically conductively connected to at least three inputs of two additional configuration devices (4573), both of which in turn are electrically conductively connected via at least nine outputs each to a number of assigned coding units and a coding control device (4580), each of the coding control devices is connected to the associated additional configuration device by means of configuration lines (4585) and a reset line (4581), the coding control devices having inputs for electrical leads of mechanical changeover devices a control panel (45734) and with outputs on the 18-bit bus and on the control lines with the connections (4582-4584), further configuration devices or further first and second switching devices being arranged behind the connections (4582-4584) can, and that the contact devices of almost all buttons of both keypads are connected to coding control devices (4580) via the outputs of the associated monostable multivibrators and via the button bus of the associated sub-device. 7. Input device according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that a number of coding control devices (4580) is connected to a general reset line (45733), which is connected via a connection (4579) and via a cable to all configuration devices of the entire keyboard , and that the contact devices of almost all keys of both keypads are connected to a coding control device (4580) via the outputs of the associated monostable multivibrators and via the associated signal line in the button bus of the associated sub-device. 8. Input device according to claim 1, characterized in that the left keypad has a control button (410), the contact device of which is connected via an associated button circuit to two switches (2008) and (2009), switches (2008) being connected to the input of a second one Switching device is connected and switch (2009) has a conductive connection to an input of the bus control unit. 5 10th 15 20th 25th 30th 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8th