US Patent Issued to ALPS ALPINE on March 4 for "Multi-way input device" (Japanese Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,242,675, issued on March 4, was assigned to ALPS ALPINE Co. LTD. (Tokyo).

"Multi-way input device" was invented by Kunio Hosono (Fukushima, Japan), Yasuji Hagiwara (Miyagi, Japan), Tetsuo Muranaka (Miyagi, Japan) and Sadayuki Yaginuma (Miyagi, Japan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A multi-way input device includes a strain-generating element, strain detection elements, and a tilt operation unit including an operation shaft configured to tilt. The strain-generating element includes a base portion, detection arms extending in respective directions from the base portion, support legs, and locking arms each of which is provided to extend from...