Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
INPUT DEVICE |
| Document Number: |
20120262393 |
| Publication Date: |
October 18, 2012 |
| Appl. No: |
13/439408 |
| Application Filed: |
April 04, 2012 |
| Abstract: |
A support body holding a touch pad is mounted on a hollow support body of a base member, a space is formed in the base member and extends from its inside to an inside of the hollow support body, a shaft is provided vertically to an operation knob and extends from a back surface of a top surface portion, the touch pad has a through hole through which the shaft is inserted into the space, a rotation detection portion detecting rotating movement of an operation body and a pressing detection portion detecting reciprocating movement of the operation body are provided, and, in the space, the shaft is linked to a rotating movement portion making rotation detection movement for the rotation detection portion with rotating movement of the operation body and a pressing movement portion making pressing detection movement for the pressing detection portion with reciprocating movement of the operation body. |
| Inventors: |
YOKOYAMA, Tatsuya (Miyagi-ken, JP); McCURDY, Anthony (Miyagi-ken, JP); URAYAMA, Shinya (Miyagi-ken, JP); IGARASHI, Yu (Miyagi-ken, JP); NAKAZAWA, Shunsuke (Miyagi-ken, JP) |
| Assignees: |
Alps Electric Co., Ltd. (Ota-ku, JP) |
| Claim: |
1. An input device comprising: a base member including a hollow support body; and an operation body supported so as to freely rotate relative to the hollow support body and freely reciprocate along a direction of a rotational axis, the operation body including an operation knob formed in a cylindrical shape and having a top surface portion and a plate-shaped touch pad provided on a back side of the top surface portion for detecting approach or contact of a finger with respect to the top surface portion, wherein the base member has a space formed so as to extend from an inside of the base member to an inside of the hollow support body, the operation knob has a shaft provided vertically so as to extend from a back surface of the top surface portion, the touch pad has a through hole through which the shaft is inserted into the space, a rotation detection portion for detecting a rotating movement of the operation body and a pressing detection portion for detecting a reciprocating movement of the operation body are provided, and in the space, the shaft is linked to a rotating movement portion which makes a rotation detection movement for the rotation detection portion with a rotating movement of the operation body, and to a pressing movement portion which makes a pressing detection movement for the pressing detection portion with a reciprocating movement of the operation body. |
| Claim: |
2. The input device according to claim 1, wherein an interlocking shaft is located in the space and connected to the shaft, and the rotating movement portion and the pressing movement portion are provided in the interlocking shaft. |
| Claim: |
3. The input device according to claim 2, wherein the shaft and the interlocking shaft are connected to each other through a cam portion having a plurality of cam surfaces formed along a peripheral surface thereof, and an elastic portion is provided in the hollow support body and engages with and disengages from the cam surfaces with a rotating movement of the operation body. |
| Claim: |
4. The input device according to claim 1, wherein the rotation detection portion and the pressing detection portion are located so as to face the space. |
| Claim: |
5. The input device according to claim 1, wherein the operation body includes a support body which rotationally supports the operation knob, and the support body is supported by the hollow support body so as to reciprocate along a direction of a rotational axis of the operation knob. |
| Claim: |
6. The input device according to claim 5, wherein the support body and the operation knob are freely rotatable along a peripheral surface of the support body by a bearing portion which includes an inner ring portion fixed to the support body and an outer ring portion fixed to the operation knob, the inner ring portion and the outer ring portion freely rotating relative to each other. |
| Current U.S. Class: |
345/173 |
| Current International Class: |
06 |
| Accession Number: |
edspap.20120262393 |
| Database: |
USPTO Patent Applications |
