ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 24 -- United States Patent no. 12,561,002, issued on Feb. 24, was assigned to MERCEDES-BENZ GROUP AG (Stuttgart, Germany).
"Method for detecting an operating input, and operating device" was invented by Volker Stahl (Althengstett, Germany) and Jorg Reisinger (Lochgau, Germany).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method for detecting an operating input performed by a finger involves detecting various contact points of a contour of the finger using a sensor system on a sensor surface. The sensor system includes at least one transmitting unit for transmitting a signal to the finger and at least one receiving unit for receiving a signal reflected by the finger. A surface vibrati...