Patent ID: 8558721

Claim:
A position detection apparatus comprising: a signal line along which a bit array including a plurality of bits used for expressing information on one of absolute positions in a direction determined in advance is created repeatedly in said direction determined in advance; and an information reading-out section which is capable of making a movement relative to said signal line in said direction determined in advance in accordance with a driving operation carried out by driving means determined in advance and is used for reading out said information expressed by said bits from said signal line, wherein every time a pulse signal determined in advance is supplied to said driving means determined in advance, said information reading-out section is driven to move over said signal line by a distance corresponding to the pitch of said bits included in said bit array; at an absolute-position acquisition point on said signal line, said information reading-out section reads out information expressed by a plurality of said bits as said information on said absolute position of said absolute-position acquisition point from said signal line; and information on a position relative to said absolute-position acquisition point is acquired by the information reading-out section by counting the number of said pulse signals supplied to said driving means determined in advance, and wherein said bit array comprises: a header portion created as a bit pattern determined in advance; and a real-data portion including bit data used for expressing said absolute position.