ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 23 -- United States Patent no. 12,424,396, issued on Sept. 23, was assigned to ALPS ALPINE Co. LTD. (Tokyo).
"Input device" was invented by Satoru Konno (Miyagi, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An input device includes a substrate, a case configured to accommodate the substrate, an operation knob swingably engaged to the case and operated by an operator, and a panel member having an opening allowing swing of the operation knob, at least a part of the opening being closed by the operation knob. The operation knob includes a swing end formed at a predetermined distance from a rotation axis that serves as a rotation center. The panel member includes a fixed end that d...