US Patent Issued to ALPS ALPINE on July 21 for "Gripping detection device and steering device" (Japanese Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,687,411, issued on July 21, was assigned to ALPS ALPINE Co. LTD. (Tokyo).

"Gripping detection device and steering device" was invented by Kazuma Horie (Miyagi, Japan) and Takeshi Masaki (Miyagi, Japan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A gripping detection device includes a capacitive sensor part that is provided at a spoke portion of a steering wheel and includes a detection electrode facing a rim portion of the steering wheel; a control part configured to control the capacitive sensor part; and a determination part configured to determine presence or absence of a finger gripping the rim portion based on a hover detection result obtained by...