ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,397,844, issued on Aug. 26, was assigned to ALPS ALPINE Co. LTD. (Tokyo).
"Input device" was invented by Ryuichiro Yasuhara (Tokyo), Toshiyuki Hoshi (Miyagi, Japan), Takeaki Maehata (Miyagi, Japan), Hidemitsu Kondo (Miyagi, Japan) and Houda Morchid (Tokyo).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An input device including a rotatable input unit by which it is possible to perform a plurality of types of operations is provided. The input device includes an input unit that can rotate about a rotational center shaft; an electrostatic sensor provided around the input unit; and an operation position detecting unit configured to detect, based on an output...