Patent ID: 7211998

Claim:
A sensing apparatus comprising: a sensor that senses a physical acceleration in a predetermined direction and is shaped into a quadrangular form, wherein: the sensor includes a first input/output contact, a second input/output contact and at least one reference contact; the first input/output contact and the second input/output contact are arranged in two diagonally opposed corner portions, respectively, of the sensor; and the at least one reference contact is arranged in at least one of the other two diagonally opposed corner portions of the sensor; a first connector terminal that conducts an input/output signal to the first input/output contact and is arranged such that a sensor side end of the first connector terminal is opposed to one of two adjacent sides of the sensor, which come together at the corner portion of the sensor where the first input/output contact is arranged; a second connector terminal that conducts an input/output signal to the second input/output contact and is arranged such that a sensor side end of the second connector terminal is opposed to an opposite side of the sensor that is opposite from the side of the sensor, to which the sensor side end of the first connector terminal is opposed; at least one reference connector terminal that conducts a reference signal to the at least one reference contact and is arranged such that a sensor side end of each of the at least one reference connector terminal is opposed to a corresponding one of two mutually opposed sides of the sensor, to which the first connector terminal and the second connector terminal are not opposed; and a plurality of leads that connect the first input/output contact, the second input/output contact and the at least one reference contact to the first connector terminal, the second connector terminal and the at least one reference connector terminal, respectively.