Patent ID: 7474300

Claim:
A position detecting apparatus comprising a tablet and a position pointer, the tablet comprising: control signal transmission means for transmitting a control signal to the position pointer to start an operation of the position pointer; and detection means for detecting a position pointed to by the position pointer, based on a signal transmitted from the position pointer, and the position pointer comprising: a battery for supplying electric power to circuit elements of the position pointer; control signal detection means for detecting the control signal transmitted from the tablet; and power control means for turning on or off the electric power supplied from the battery to the circuit elements in accordance with the control signal detected by the control signal detection means, wherein the power control means turns on the electric power supplied from the battery when a signal level detected by the control signal detection means is equal to or higher than a threshold value and the power control means turns off the electric power supplied from the battery when the signal level is lower than the threshold value.