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Seeing eye mouse for a computer system

  • US 20020190953A1
  • Filed: 08/12/2002
  • Published: 12/19/2002
  • Est. Priority Date: 03/30/1998
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A hand held pointing device for a computer system or the like, the pointing device comprising:

  • a housing having a flat bottom surface that moves against a work surface having imageable features;

    the housing also having a top surface shaped to receive that human hand;

    the housing also having a skirt connecting a perimeter of the flat bottom with the top surface;

    the housing having a first axis extending generally in the direction from where the heel of the hand rests on the top surface to where the middle finger rest on the top surface, and a second axis perpendicular to the first, both axes being parallel to the bottom surface;

    an aperture in the bottom surface;

    a source of illumination mounted within the interior of the housing, proximate the aperture and that illuminates imageable features on the work surface;

    an optical motion detection circuit mounted within the interior of the housing and proximate the aperture, the motion detection circuit producing motion indication signals indicative of motion in the directions along the first and second axes and relative to illuminated imageable features visible through the aperture; and

    wherein the optical motion detection circuit comprises a plurality of photo detectors each having an output, a memory containing a reference frame of digitized photo detector output values and a sample frame of digitized photo detector output values obtained subsequent to the reference frame, and further wherein a plurality of comparison frames, each being a shifted version of the reference frame, is correlated with the sample frame to ascertain motion in the directions along the first and second axes.

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