US Patent Issued to Panasonic Automotive Systems on June 23 for "Input device" (Japanese Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 15 -- United States Patent no. 12,663,869, issued on June 23, was assigned to Panasonic Automotive Systems Co. Ltd. (Kanagawa, Japan).

"Input device" was invented by Hisashi Sagara (Osaka, Japan) and Hideaki Eto (Osaka, Japan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An input device to be provided in a vehicle includes: an electrostatic sensor that detects the contact position of an operating body on an operation surface; a pressure detector that detects pressure applied to the operation surface; an exciter that vibrates the operation surface; and a controller. The controller causes the exciter to output at least one of sound or vibration based on a signal in accordance with the de...