Patent ID: 7287174

Claim:
An input device comprising: contacts having resistive elements, and low-resistance elements opposite the respective resistive elements; an operating unit configured to vary a contact area between the low-resistance elements and the resistive elements in response to an operating pressing force; and detecting means for switching between a sleep mode and a normal mode in response to operation of the operating unit, the switching occurring without varying the contact areas, wherein when the operating unit is not operated for a predetermined period of time, the detecting means, the output of which is not activated, switches to the sleep mode to reduce power consumption, the low-resistance elements and the respective resistive elements being in contact with each other during the sleep mode; and the detecting means switches to the normal mode when the unit is operated so as to vary an analog output signal in response to pressing operations of the operating unit, whereby the low-resistance elements and the respective resistive elements are in contact with each other during the sleep mode to reduce a dead band of the analog output signal.