PC Hardware in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Chapter 19. Keyboards

A keyboard is a matrix of individual switches, one per key. Pressing a key closes its switch, generating a signal that the dedicated keyboard controller built into the keyboard recognizes as the make code for that key. Releasing the key opens the switch, which the keyboard controller recognizes as the break code for that key. Using a firmware lookup table, the keyboard controller translates received make code signals to standard scan codes, which it sends via the keyboard buffer to a second keyboard controller located in the PC, which recognizes those scan codes as specific characters and control codes.

Because releasing a key generates a break code, the local keyboard controller can recognize when two keys are pressed together (e.g., Shift-A or Ctrl-C) and generate a unique scan code for each such defined key combination. For undefined key combinations (e.g., pressing “a” and then pressing “s” before releasing “a”), the keyboard controller recognizes that, even though a break code for “a” has not been received, the user’s intent is to type “as”, and so generates the scan code for “a” followed immediately by the scan code for “s”.

Most people do not need to work with scan codes directly, but if you program you may need to use scan codes to control the behavior of a program when the user presses specific keys or key combinations. The Microsoft Keyboard Scan Code Specification, which includes the standard keyboard scan codes as well as alternative make and ...