Patent ID: 7868870

Claim:
An operation apparatus comprising: an operation unit for a user to hold to perform an operation including a tilt operation, wherein a basic axis of the operation unit tilts in a certain radial direction among at least four radial directions with respect to a neutral axis; a detectable member having a detectable plane, which intersects with the basic axis and makes a movement integrated with the operation of the operation unit; a displacement detector having three detecting units fixed in disposed positions surrounding the neutral axis for detecting displacement, which is generated by the movement of the detectable plane and parallel with the neutral axis; and a computing unit for computing operation output data indicating the certain radial direction, in which the operation unit tilts, by using (i) the disposed positions of the three detecting units and (ii) the displacement which is generated by the movement of the detectable plane and detected by the displacement detector, wherein the detectable member is constructed of segmental members, which individually extend radially from the basic axis while having intervals with each other circumferentially around the basic axis to individually correspond to the detecting units, the detectable plane is defined as a plane including segmental planes, each of which corresponds to an identical side of one of the segmental members, and the segmental planes are arranged to have intervals with each other circumferentially around the basic axis.