An input mechanism, such as a crown, detects amounts of applied force. In various examples, an assembly including an input mechanism has an enclosure; a stem coupled to the enclosure such that the stem is rotatable, translatable, and transversely moveable with respect to the enclosure; a sensor, coupled between the stem and the housing, to which force is transferred when the stem moves with respect to the housing; and a processing unit coupled to the sensor. The processing unit is operable to determine a measurement of the force, based on a signal from the sensor.

Described example user interface control apparatus includes a first structure, with a first side, conductive capacitor plate structures spaced along a first direction on the first side, a movable second structure with an auxiliary conductive structure, and an interface circuit to provide excitation signals to, and receive sense signals from, the conductive capacitor plate structures to perform a mutual capacitance test and a self-capacitance test of individual ones of the conductive capacitor plate structures to determine a position of the second structure or a user's finger relative to the first structure along the first direction.

A timepiece includes a timepiece movement provided with an analog display and at least one wheel rotating integrally with a rotary indicator of the analog display. The wheel includes an electrically conductive plate pierced with at least one aperture. The timepiece also includes a device for detection of a reference angular position of the aperture. The detection device includes a first electrode, a second electrode, and a common electrode which are planar and arranged in a plane parallel to the wheel. The common electrode is arranged along portions of the first electrode and of the second electrode. The aperture is at least partially above or below: the first electrode in a first position of disequilibrium; the first electrode and the second electrode in a position of equilibrium; and the second electrode in a second position of disequilibrium.

A measuring device includes sensor electrodes provided along a periphery of a base substrate such that a sum A of shortest distances from the sensor electrodes to an inner peripheral surface of a focus ring becomes a constant value, the sum A satisfying

[00001]$\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{.Math.}}.Math.\frac{a}{C_i}=A(N.Math.\text{:}$

the number of the sensor electrodes, C.sub.i: measurement values and a: constant). A method of obtaining the amount of deviation of the central position of the measuring device in a region surrounded by the focus ring from the center of the region, includes: calculating the measurement values C.sub.i using the measuring device; calculating the constant a using the measurement values C.sub.i; calculating distances from the sensor electrodes to the inner peripheral surface of the focus ring using the constant a and the measurement values C.sub.i; and calculating the amount of deviation of the central position of the measuring device based on the calculated distances.

An input mechanism, such as a crown, detects amounts of applied force. In various examples, an assembly including an input mechanism has an enclosure; a stem coupled to the enclosure such that the stem is rotatable, translatable, and transversely moveable with respect to the enclosure; a sensor, coupled between the stem and the housing, to which force is transferred when the stem moves with respect to the housing; and a processing unit coupled to the sensor. The processing unit is operable to determine a measurement of the force, based on a signal from the sensor.

Described example user interface control apparatus includes a first structure, with a first side, conductive capacitor plate structures spaced along a first direction on the first side, a movable second structure with an auxiliary conductive structure, and an interface circuit to provide excitation signals to, and receive sense signals from, the conductive capacitor plate structures to perform a mutual capacitance test and a self-capacitance test of individual ones of the conductive capacitor plate structures to determine a position of the second structure or a user's finger relative to the first structure along the first direction.

The present invention relates to systems and methods for measuring misalignment between layers of a semiconductor device. In one embodiment, a method includes applying an input voltage to respective ones of one or more first electrodes associated with a first conductive layer of a semiconductor device; sensing an electrical property of one or more second electrodes associated with a second conductive layer of the semiconductor device in response to applying the input voltage to the respective ones of the one or more first electrodes; and calculating a misalignment between the first conductive layer of the semiconductor device and the second conductive layer of the semiconductor device in an in-plane direction as a function of the electrical property of the one or more second electrodes.

An assembly including a hollow outer tube, and a hollow inner tube fitted within the outer tube and adapted to be slidably engageable with the outer tube, and a sensor-less measurement system adapted to measure the capacitance between the inner tube and the outer tube, where relative movement between the inner tube and the outer tube is derived from the change in measured capacitance between the inner tube and the outer tube.

The invention relates to a timepiece movement comprising: an analogue display, including a rotary indicator and a wheel that rotates as one with said rotary indicator, said wheel including a plate comprising a locating element; a device for detecting at least one angular position of the locating element, comprising a board that is fixed with respect to the plate, extending substantially parallel to the plate, and on which a first electrode, a second electrode and a common electrode are arranged, the electrodes being planar and being arranged such that, in one angular position of the wheel, the locating element is located over at least a portion of each electrode.

A method for measuring an angular position of a rotatable signal-inducing unit uses a sensor unit electrically isolated from the signal-inducing unit. The signal-inducing unit has a center electrode disposed in a signal-inducing unit plane and a rotary electrode disposed in the signal-inducing unit plane, the rotary electrode being conductively connected to the center electrode and laterally offset therefrom. The sensor unit has a first sensor electrode disposed in a sensor plane and at least one second sensor electrode disposed in the sensor plane, the sensor electrodes being arranged in a circle around a ground electrode disposed in the sensor plane, the signal-inducing unit plane and the sensor plane being oriented substantially parallel to one another. The signal-inducing unit is supported so as to be rotatable about the center electrode and the rotary electrode is movable along a circular path in the region of the sensor electrodes.