HOW DOES AN OPTICAL MICE WORKS

How do Optical Mice Work?
We have all seen the fantastic progression in mouse technology which is the introduction of optical technology and doing away with the mouse ball. You may however be wondering how exactly does the optical mouse work? Well there are variations in the technologies from different manufacturers but the principles are all the same.
The "Eye"
The main component of the optical mouse is the Optical "eye". Microsoft were the first to come up with this technology and named it the Intellieye. What the Intellieye does is scan the surface under mouse. The Intellieye itself is a single LED (Light Emitting Diode) which it bounces the light off the surface. It also has a very tiny camera which takes pictures of the surface. The original mouse by Microsoft scanned the surface 1500 times a second, they have progressed on since then.
The DSP (Digital Signal Processor)
The digital signal processor receives the images that have been taken from the camera and analyses them for differences. It can pick up very fine differences in the pictures and from this it can determine how far the mouse has moved across your desk and at what speed. Coordinates are then sent to the computer which moves the cursor on the screen. The DSP can detect patterns and analyse them at a very high speed. The original Intellimouse explorer from Microsoft had a DSP running at 18 MIPS (Million Instructions per second). This type of speed is needed as if it did not react as quick as you it would cause very bad and jerky movements by the cursor on the screen.
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Problematic Surfaces
The camera incorporated in these mice do have a certain amount of limitations however which are always being worked on. The first is the type of surface that you use the mouse on. Surfaces that can cause problems are Glass and Mirrors and some 3-d mouse pads. The reason that the mouse has problems with mirrors is that because a camera is used the image that is sent to the DSP is always a reflection and so rendered useless.
Glass is another problematic surface but for a different reason. Where as a mirror will reflect the image the glass is a near perfect transparent material and so it doesn't have enough imperfections or patterns for the DSP to pick up on. Obviously with glass there would be an image below it to analyse but if your table was made of glass then the surface below it would be well to far away to analyse. If you are using a glass table you will simply need a mouse mat
Duel Sensors
With higher and higher expectations coming from technology the introduction of duel sensors has arrived. Working together on the same surface two sensors can be even more accurate when it comes to analysing patterns and movement. These sensors are positioned at an angle from each other to give two completely different views of the surface you are working on. This technology has been used effectively to allow faster movements across the desktop with your mouse, as well as increased precision for very slow and precise movements like that used in drawing programs or graphic design.
Sensor Size
The size of the sensor or to put it more accurately the size of the area which is scanned can make a difference in the accuracy of the tracked movements. Like it states on the Logitech website. If you are looking at an image through a window, the bigger the window the more detail you can extract from the image. Its the same with the optical mouse sensor. If you are scanning twice the size of the desktop as another mouse then the larger image will produce a greater accuracy of movement as it has more patterns to pick up on and track.