Patent ID: 8575920

Claim:
A system comprising: a magnet configured to provide a magnetic field having a substantially non-diverging magnetic field line and diverging magnetic field lines; a first magneto-resistive sensing element situated in the magnetic field; and a second magneto-resistive sensing element situated in the magnetic field, wherein the first magneto-resistive sensing element is intersected at a centerline of the first magneto-resistive sensing element by the substantially non-diverging magnetic field line and the second magneto-resistive sensing element is intersected by only the diverging magnetic field lines of the magnetic field and the magnitude of the x-component of the magnetic field through the second magneto-resistive sensing element divided by the magnitude of the x-component of the magnetic field through the first magneto-resistive sensing element is greater than 2, and the first magneto-resistive sensing element is responsive to positive and negative values of the x-component of the magnetic field and provides different first resistance for positive and negative values of the same magnitude of the x-component of the magnetic field and the second magneto-resistive sensing element is responsive to positive and negative values of the x-component of the magnetic field and provides different second resistances for positive and negative values of the same magnitude of the x-component of the magnetic field.