| US 7,490,530 B2 | ||
| Haptic feedback input device | ||
| Shinji Ishikawa, Tokyo (Japan); Takuya Maeda, Tokyo (Japan); Satoshi Hayasaka, Tokyo (Japan); Noriyuki Fukushima, Tokyo (Japan); Ken Matsumoto, Tokyo (Japan); and Kaiji Nonaka, Tokyo (Japan) | ||
| Assigned to Alps Electric Co., Ltd., Tokyo (Japan) | ||
| Filed on May 12, 2005, as Appl. No. 11/127,726. | ||
| Claims priority of application No. 2004-147677 (JP), filed on May 18, 2004. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2005/0259075 A1, Nov. 24, 2005 | ||
| Int. Cl. G05G 9/047 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 74—471XY [345/161; 463/38] | 7 Claims |
| 1. A haptic feedback input device comprising:
an operating member that is manually operated by an operator;
a base that supports the operating member free to move;
a relative position detecting unit that detects the moving amount of the operating member;
an absolute position detecting unit that detects a reference position of the operating member;
actuators that apply feedback force to the operating member; and
a control unit that controls the actuators based on output signals from the relative position detecting unit and the absolute
position detecting unit,
wherein the absolute position detecting unit is composed of swing arms that move in conjunction with the operating member
and detecting elements that detect the existence of the swing arms, respectively, and that output ON/OFF signals, and
the control unit computes the reference position of the operating member based on the change of the output of the detection
element
wherein blocking portions protruding outwards as much as half of a swing angle of the swing arms are formed on the swing arms.
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