Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.

Akira Sato

Akinori Kojima

Keiichiro Sato

Satoshi Nakajima

Ryo Nakabayashi

Tomohiro Sasaki

Takao Mizushima

Masahiro Iizuka

Seiichi Abiko

Seisaku Imai

A coordinate input apparatus includes an insulating substrate, sensor electrodes having detecting positions, a top panel including an operating surface that allows an operation with a pointer and covering the sensor electrodes, a measuring circuit that measures capacitances of the detecting positions, and a calculating circuit that calculates a position of the pointer in two-axis directions of the operating surface, wherein, at a detecting position at which a maximum measured value is obtained and detecting positions next to the detecting position, the calculating circuit applies a quadratic curve to the maximum value and the measured values measured at the adjacent detecting positions to calculate a position of a vertex of the quadratic curve, and wherein, when the detecting position at which the maximum value is obtained is at an extreme end in either of the two-axis directions, the calculating circuit corrects the position of the pointer toward the extreme end.

Coordinate input apparatus

In a coil-embedded dust core constituting an inductance element, a winding body of a coil disposed inside a coil-embedded dust core and a dust core have a relationship that the inner core volume ratio RV defined below is 3 or more and 5 or less: RV=(V1/V2)/(1−V/Vp), where V1 represents a volume of a region in the dust core located on an inner side of the winding body of the coil when the coil-embedded dust core is viewed in a first direction, which is a direction along a winding axis of the coil, V2 represents a volume of a region in the dust core located on an outer side of the winding body of the coil when the coil-embedded dust core is viewed in the first direction, V represents a volume of the dust core, and Vp represents a volume of the coil-embedded dust core.

Coil-embedded dust core, inductance element, and electric or electronic device

An input device includes a top panel having an operation surface, a detection unit configured to detect a capacitance corresponding to a distance between the operation surface and an object, and a controller configured to determine, based on a detection result from the detection unit, a relative state between the operation surface and the object to be one out of a non-detection state and a plurality of states. The controller measures, for each of the plurality of states, a duration in which the capacitance is greater than or equal to a corresponding one of capacitance thresholds set for the plurality of states, and determines, using the durations and the time thresholds and capacitance thresholds set for the plurality of states, the relative state to be one out of the non-detection state and the plurality of states.

Input device

An inductance element includes a magnetic core and a coil having a portion embedded in the magnetic core. This portion includes a wound portion formed by winging a wire-shaped coil material including a wire-shaped conductive material and an insulating coating. The insulating coating includes a thin-walled portion reduced in thickness. A biting ratio R is defined by formula: R=ds/B, which is from 0.4 to 0.85 inclusive, where B is the average thickness of inter-coil insulating coatings, and ds is an upper biting limit obtained by measuring a biting depth, approximating a frequency distribution of the results by a normal distribution, and computing, as the upper biting limit, the sum of the mean da of the normal distribution and the product of 3.99 and the standard deviation &#x3c3;. The biting depth is obtained by subtracting, from the average thickness B, the thickness of the thin-walled portion.

Inductance element

A powder core includes: a powder of a crystalline magnetic material; and a powder of an amorphous magnetic material, in which a median diameter D50A of the powder of the amorphous magnetic material is 15 &#x3bc;m or less, and satisfies the expression: 1&#x2264;D50A/D50C&#x2264;3.5 with respect to a median diameter D50C of the powder of the crystalline magnetic material.

Growing community of inventors

Niigata-ken, Japan

Akira Sato