Patent ID: 8692682

Claim:
A position detection system for a detection object, comprising: a magnetic-field generating unit including a position-detection-signal generating section that generates an alternating signal of predetermined frequency and a position-detection-magnetic-field generating section that generates a position-detection magnetic field based on the alternating signal; a detection object including a coil and a capacitor constituting a resonant circuit and an external-signal switch that connects or disconnects the path of the resonant circuit based on an external signal, the detection object generating a resonant magnetic field by causing resonance when a current flows through the resonant circuit in response to the position-detection magnetic field; a switch-controlling unit including a switching-signal generating section that generates a switching signal for controlling connecting or disconnecting of the external-signal switch and a switching-signal transmitting section that transmits the generated switching signal to the external-signal switch by converting the switching signal into physical energy; a position-detection-magnetic-field detecting unit that detects the magnetic field strength of the position-detection magnetic field and the resonant magnetic field; a position-calculating unit that calculates the position and orientation of the detection object based on a detection signal from the position-detection-magnetic-field detecting unit; a memory that stores the detection signal from the position-detection-magnetic-field detecting unit; and a position-detection controlling unit that stores the detection signal from the position-detection-magnetic-field detecting unit in the memory separately divided into a detection signal resulting from detection of the position-detection magnetic field alone and a detection signal resulting from detection of the position-detection magnetic field and the resonant magnetic field.