ISO/IEC 9995-12:2020

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD 9995-12
First edition
2020-09
Information technology — Keyboard
layouts for text and office systems —
Part 12:
Keyboard group selection
Traitement de l'information — Dispositions de claviers pour systèmes
bureautiques —
Partie 12: Technologies de l'information — Disposition des claviers
conçus pour la bureautique — Partie 12 : Sélection des groupes sur
clavier
Reference number
©
ISO/IEC 2020
© ISO/IEC 2020
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ii © ISO/IEC 2020 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Conformance . 2
5 Mechanisms for general selection of keyboard groups . 2
5.1 Superselect sequence . 2
5.2 Terminating sequence . 2
5.3 Selection of standardized groups . 2
5.4 Menu-driven selection . 3
5.5 Market available methods for keyboard group selection . 4
Annex A (informative) Examples of keyboard group selection . 5
Annex B (informative) Market available methods for keyboard group selection .6
Bibliography . 7
© ISO/IEC 2020 – All rights reserved iii

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that
are members of ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through
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take part in the work.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for
the different types of document should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www .iso .org/ directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject
of patent rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent
rights. Details of any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the
Introduction and/or on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www .iso .org/ patents) or the IEC
list of patent declarations received (see http:// patents .iec .ch).
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World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) see www .iso .org/
iso/ foreword .html.
This document was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology,
Subcommittee SC 35, User interfaces.
A list of all parts in the ISO/IEC 9995 series can be found on the ISO website.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www .iso .org/ members .html.
iv © ISO/IEC 2020 – All rights reserved

Introduction
Many keyboard layouts are used over the whole world. This document specifies a way to navigate
between keyboard groups, so a user can use more than one collection of characters, for example, to
write text in more than one language, or input names of persons or places in different scripts.
Many graphic operating environments offer a way to click on an icon to change the keyboard group.
This document offers an alternative way to change keyboard group in a few keyboard strokes, and in a
standardized way, only using characters that are widely available on keyboards across the world.
This document builds on ISO/IEC TR 15440.
© ISO/IEC 2020 – All rights reserved v

INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/IEC 9995-12:2020(E)
Information technology — Keyboard layouts for text and
office systems —
Part 12:
Keyboard group selection
1 Scope
This document specifies mechanisms to choose between the keyboard groups specified in the
ISO/IEC 9995 series, national keyboards standards, or other keyboard definitions.
These mechanisms primarily become useful when the stipulated marking on the key top can be
dynamically displayed on the key top.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO/IEC 9995-1, Information technology — Keyboard layouts for text and office systems — Part 1: General
principles governing keyboard layouts
ISO/IEC 9995-9:2016, Information technology — Keyboard layouts for text and office systems — Part 9:
Multi-lingual, multiscript keyboard layouts
ISO/IEC 10646, Information technology — Universal Coded Character Set (UCS)
ISO/IEC 15897, Information technology — User interfaces — Procedures for the registration of cultural
elements
ISO/IEC 24757, Information technology — Keyboard interaction model — Machine-readable keyboard
description
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO/IEC 9995-1, ISO/IEC 9995-9
and the following apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https:// www .iso .org/ obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at http:// www .electropedia .org/
3.1
group
logical state of a keyboard providing access to a collection of graphic characters or elements of graphic
characters whose subsets are called levels
Note 1 to entry: A group gives access to one collection of characters. Typically, when more than one language is
used, multiple groups are required.
© ISO/IEC 2020 – All rights reserved 1

Note 2 to entry: Usually these graphic characters or elements of graphic characters logically belong together and
may be arranged on several levels (up to 3) within a group.
Note 3 to entry: The input of certain graphic characters, such as accented letters, may require access to more
than one group.
Note 4 to entry: On physical keyboards, each group is normally labelled using a distinct column on a key, and
levels are stacked vertically within that column, except when stated otherwise in certain situations. On on-
screen keyboards, a group is normally shown one level at a time. There is usually a button to choose the group (or
language) and another button, or more, to choose the level.
3.2
level
logical state of a keyboard providing access to a subset of a collection of graphic characters or elements
of graphic characters which form a group
Note 1 to entry: Usually these graphic characters or elements of graphic characters logically belong together,
such as the capital forms of letters.
Note 2 to entry: In certain cases, the level selected may also affect function keys.
Note 3 to entr
...