Dynamically adjusting operation of one or more sensors of a computer input device
First Claim
1. A computer input device, comprising:
- an electronic imager positioned to create images of portions of a surface moving relative to the imager;
an illumination source positioned to illuminate the portions of the surface imaged by the imager; and
at least one controller coupled to the imager and the illumination source and configured to;
selectively activate the illumination source,receive the images from the imager, andrepeatedly adjust an activation rate for the illumination source according to a cyclical procedure comprising;
determining, based on at least some of the images, a current imager velocity relative to the surface,activating the illumination source at one of at least three activation rates when the imager is moving relative to the surface and the current imager velocity is being determined,calculating a predicted imager velocity based on the current imager velocity and the imager velocity determined during a prior activation rate adjustment cycle, andselecting one of the at least three activation rates as the adjusted activation rate based on the predicted imager velocity.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A computer input device controller dynamically adjusts the rate at which an illumination source is activated, and may also adjust the rate at which other optical tracking system components are activated. As the velocity of optical tracking system movement relative to a tracked surface increases, the controller increases the activation rate(s). As the velocity of relative movement decreases, the controller decreases the activation rate(s). Future displacements of a tracking system relative to a tracked surface are also estimated. In particular, relative tracking system/tracked surface velocity is calculated based on a series of images. Relative displacement is then estimated based on the calculated velocity.
32 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A computer input device, comprising:
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an electronic imager positioned to create images of portions of a surface moving relative to the imager; an illumination source positioned to illuminate the portions of the surface imaged by the imager; and at least one controller coupled to the imager and the illumination source and configured to; selectively activate the illumination source, receive the images from the imager, and repeatedly adjust an activation rate for the illumination source according to a cyclical procedure comprising; determining, based on at least some of the images, a current imager velocity relative to the surface, activating the illumination source at one of at least three activation rates when the imager is moving relative to the surface and the current imager velocity is being determined, calculating a predicted imager velocity based on the current imager velocity and the imager velocity determined during a prior activation rate adjustment cycle, and selecting one of the at least three activation rates as the adjusted activation rate based on the predicted imager velocity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A computer input device, comprising:
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an electronic imager positioned to create images of portions of a surface moving relative to the imager; an illumination source positioned to illuminate the portions of the surface imaged by the imager; and at least one controller coupled to the imager and the illumination source and configured to; selectively activate the illumination source, receive the images from the imager, determine, based on at least some of the images, an imager velocity relative to the surface, activate the illumination source at one of at least three activation rates when the imager is moving relative to the surface and imager velocity is being determined, and select one of the at least three activation rates based on the imager velocity, wherein the controller is configured to select the activation rate by selecting a rate Fprediction based on the equation Fprediction=F(Vmargin), wherein; F( ) is a function mapping to a velocity V the minimum frame rate necessary to accurately determine that velocity, m=a constant, Vmin=a minimum frame rate supported by the device, S0=V0, V0=current velocity, A0=(V0/|V0|)*(V0−
V−
1),V−
1=a previous velocity, and
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7. A computer input device, comprising:
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an electronic imager positioned to create images of portions of a surface moving relative to the imager; an illumination source positioned to illuminate the portions of the surface imaged by the imager; and at least one controller coupled to the imager and the illumination source and configured to; selectively activate the illumination source, receive the images from the imager, determine, based on a first set of images received from the imager, an imager velocity and an imager acceleration relative to the surface and relative to one of three velocity levels, determine whether an acceleration value based on the determined acceleration is below a threshold acceleration; upon determining that the acceleration value is below the threshold acceleration, suspend activation of the illumination source for a time Δ
t which is determined based on at least one of the imager velocity and the imager acceleration, andestimate imager displacement relative to the surface at each of a plurality of times during Δ
t, wherein each of said estimates is based on the imager velocity and a different amount of time elapsed since movement from a position corresponding to one or more of the images of the first set. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform steps comprising:
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selectively activating an illumination source positioned on a computer input device; receiving from an imager sets of data indicative of portions of a surface illuminated by the illumination source; and repeatedly adjusting an activation rate for the illumination source according to a cyclical procedure comprising; determining, based on at least some of the received data sets, a current imager velocity relative to the surface; activating the illumination source at one of at least three activation rates when the imager is moving relative to the surface and the current imager velocity is being determined; and calculating a predicted imager velocity based on the current imager velocity and the imager velocity determined during a prior activation rate adjustment cycle; selecting one of the at least three activation rates as the adjusted activation rate based on the predicted imager velocity.
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17. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform steps comprising:
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selectively activating an illumination source positioned on a computer input device; receiving from an imager sets of data indicative of portions of a surface illuminated by the illumination source; determining, based on at least some of the received data sets, an imager velocity relative to the surface; activating the illumination source at one of at least three activation rates when the imager is moving relative to the surface and imager velocity is being determined; and selecting one of the at least three activation rates based on the imager velocity, wherein said selecting one of the at least three activation rates comprises selecting a rate Fprediction based on the equation Fprediction=F(Vmargin), wherein; F( ) is a function mapping to a velocity V the minimum frame rate necessary to accurately determine that velocity, m=a constant, Vmin=a minimum frame rate supported by the device, S0=V0, V0=current velocity, A0=(V0/|V0|)*(V0−
V−
1),V−
1=a previous velocity, and
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18. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform steps comprising:
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selectively activating an illumination source positioned on a computer input device; receiving from an imager groups of data sets, the data sets indicative of portions of a surface illuminated by the illumination source; determining, based on a first group of received data sets, an imager velocity and an imager acceleration relative to the surface and relative to one of three predetermined velocity levels; determining whether an acceleration value based on the determined acceleration is below a threshold acceleration; and upon determining that the acceleration value is below the threshold acceleration, suspend activation of the illumination source for a time Δ
t which is determined based on at least one of the imager velocity and the imager acceleration, andestimating imager displacement relative to the surface at each of a plurality of times during Δ
t, wherein each of said estimated imager displacement is based on the imager velocity and a different amount of time elapsed since movement from a position corresponding to one or more of the data sets of the first group. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification