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• Terminology
• Companies

Terminology

The table below may be of some use in searching for Japanese patents or understanding German and Japanese specifications (by far the two most commonly-encountered languages other than English). Note that I am not fluent in German and don’t speak Japanese at all. Also note that, just as with English, terminology varies between manufacturers. This includes the eternal confusion over whether “operating” indicates the point of actuation or full travel. The German terms are taken from keyboard literature; the Japanese terms are also mostly taken from keyboard literature.

Some Japanese words can be found written in kanji, or spelled phonetically in katakana (technical loanwords may only have a kana form). Technical limitations and typographic choices have meant that small kana can be found written in large size or indistinguishable from large size. Fortunately, J-PlatPat accommodates this by matching either. Forms that incorrectly use full-size katakana are given in parentheses below.

Where “ー” ends an agent noun (e.g. “スライダー”, “slider”) in technical terminology, it is apparently commonly omitted. Supposedly J-PlatPat does not treat the likes of “スライダー” and “スライダ” as equivalent.

Note that the German words “Taste” (key) and “Taster” (pushbutton switch) are confusingly similar. Likewise, “Leertaste” (blank key, i.e. space bar) and “Leertaster” (dummy switch) are also easy to confuse. The German for switch is “Schalter” but “Taster” is used for momentary pushbutton switches.

“Einbau” is omitted from the table, as the English translation is unclear. The difference between “Einbautaster” (“installation pushbutton”) and a regular “Taster” (pushbutton) is not clear: what is a non-installation switch in this sense?

This table is far from exhaustive.

Thanks to Kiyoto for some initial help with Japanese entries.

Companies