Avago Technologies Ecbu IP (singapore) Pte. Ltd.

Pixart Imaging Incorporated

Marshall T Depue

Mark Melvin Butterworth

Michael John Brosnan

Tong Xie

Vincent C Moyer

Roopinder Singh Grewal

Ramakrishna Kakarala

Paul Michael Welch

A contaminant-neutralizing cradle comprises a base and a support surface configured to removably receive a coherently-illuminated mouse. A neutralizing element is disposed on the support surface for alignment with at least one exposed surface of an optics module of the mouse and is configured to neutralize the optical effect of a contaminant on the at least one exposed surface. A method of neutralizing contaminants for an optical mouse comprises providing a mouse containing an optics module having at least one surface exposed to an opening of the mouse and interposing a barrier in the mouse between a contaminant and the at least one exposed surface. A method of detecting contaminants comprises aligning an optics module of a mouse with an imaging surface, obtaining a first image of the imaging surface, via application of coherent illumination from the optics module to the imaging surface, analyzing the first image to identify an interference pattern associated with a contaminant, alerting a user if a parameter of the interference pattern exceeds a threshold value.

Contaminant-resistant optical mouse and cradle

An apparatus for controlling the position of a screen pointer includes an at least partially coherent light source for illuminating an imaging surface, thereby generating reflected images. The apparatus includes a navigation sensor for generating digital images based on the reflected images, performing a movement computation based on the digital images, generating movement data based on the movement computation that is indicative of relative motion between the imaging surface and the apparatus, wherein the movement computation has a low sensitivity to effects in the digital images caused by particle contamination.

Apparatus for controlling the position of a screen pointer with low sensitivity to particle contamination

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Marshall T Depue