Patent ID: 6838851

Claim:
An inner-force providing input device comprising: an operating member to be manually rotated; a power-operated actuator for providing a torque to the operating member; rotation angle detecting means for detecting a rotation angle of the operating member; operating velocity detecting means for detecting an angular velocity of the operating member; and control means for controlling the power-operated actuator depending upon an rotation angle detected by the rotation angle detecting means and an angular velocity detected by the operating velocity detecting means; the control means being set such that, while the operating member rotates from a predetermined first angle to a predetermined third angle beyond a predetermined second angle, when the operating member is within a range of from the first angle to the second angle, a torque in a same direction as a rotating direction of the operating member is provided from the power-operated actuator to the operating member and decreased with increasing rotation angle of the operating member, when the operating member reaches the second angle, a torque product based on the angular velocity of the operating member detected by the operating velocity detecting means is provided from the power-operated actuator to the operating member, and when the operating member is within a range of from the second angle to the third angle, a torque in a reverse direction to the rotating direction of the operating member is provided from the power-operated actuator to the operating member and increased with increasing rotation angle of the operating member.