Patent ID: 9525417
Filing Date: 2016-12-20
CPC Classification: G01L,H03K

Claim Text:
1. A capacitive sensor device, comprising: a capacitive sensor comprising pairs of electrodes that are defined by respective first electrodes of a first electrode group and respective second electrodes of a second electrode group arranged in a matrix, each of the pairs of electrodes being disposed to face each other with a distance therebetween, and an elastically deformable dielectric layer arranged between each of the pairs of electrodes; a capacitance measurer that measures capacitance of respective electrode pair groups in a plurality of combinations, each of the plurality of combinations of electrode pair groups comprising a same selected one of the pairs of electrodes and the pairs of electrodes adjoining the same selected one of the pairs of electrodes; an external force calculator that calculates a magnitude of external force applied to position of the selected pair of electrodes based on a plurality of measured values of the capacitance; an input switching circuit having a plurality of first switches; and an output switching circuit having a plurality of second switches, wherein the plurality of first switches are configured to connect at least two of the first electrodes to a voltage source and the plurality of second switches are configured to connect at least two of the second electrodes to the capacitance measurer such that a capacitance of at least a plurality of the pairs of electrodes can be directly measured at the same time.