Optical navigation device and method of optical navigation device
By using a microcontroller in an optical navigation device to detect the movement speed and dynamically adjust the transmission report rate, the problem of high power consumption of traditional wireless gaming mouse devices is solved, and more effective power management is achieved.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202410009965.0
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Priority Date
- 2023-09-14
- Filing Date
- 2024-01-03
- Publication Date
- 2025-03-14
AI Technical Summary
The high reporting rate of traditional wireless gaming mouse devices leads to a significant increase in power consumption, making it difficult to effectively save power.
By introducing a microcontroller into the optical navigation device, the movement speed is detected and the transmission report rate is dynamically adjusted, and the optical navigation position-related signals are periodically transmitted according to different values of the movement speed.
It realizes dynamic adjustment of the transmission report rate without affecting the accuracy of position returns, thereby reducing power consumption and extending the use time of the equipment.
Smart Images
Figure CN119620055A_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The present invention relates to an optical navigation device, and more particularly to an optical navigation device capable of more effectively saving power and a corresponding method. Background Art
[0002] Generally speaking, in order to achieve better performance, such as real-time position reporting and / or real-time key output, the RF transmission report rate of a traditional wireless gaming mouse device is maintained at a higher report rate, such as four thousand position-related signal numbers / samples per second. However, this inevitably leads to a significant increase in the power consumption of the traditional wireless gaming mouse device. Summary of the invention
[0003] Therefore, one of the objectives of the present invention is to disclose an optical navigation device and a corresponding method to solve the above-mentioned problem.
[0004] According to an embodiment of the present invention, an optical navigation device coupled to a computer device via a specific communication interface is disclosed. The optical navigation device includes an optical sensor, a transmission controller, and a microcontroller. The optical sensor is used to sense and generate an optical navigation position-related signal in response to the movement of the optical navigation device. The transmission controller is used to wirelessly couple to a computer device. The microcontroller is coupled between the optical sensor and the transmission controller, and is used to detect the moving speed of the movement of the optical navigation device, and control the transmission controller to dynamically adjust the transmission report rate of the transmission controller, and the transmission controller is used to periodically transmit the optical navigation position-related signal to the computer device through the transmission controller based on the detected moving speed and using the transmission report rate.
[0005] According to an embodiment of the present invention, an optical navigation device is disclosed, wherein the optical navigation device is coupled to a computer device via a specific communication interface, and the optical navigation device includes an optical sensor and a microcontroller. The optical sensor is used to sense and generate an optical navigation position-related signal in response to the movement of the optical navigation device. The microcontroller is coupled to the optical sensor and is used to detect the movement speed of the movement of the optical navigation device and dynamically adjust the transmission report rate, wherein the transmission report rate is used to periodically wirelessly transmit the optical navigation position-related signal to the computer device based on the detected movement speed.
[0006] According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method for an optical navigation device is disclosed. The optical navigation device is coupled to a computer device through a specific communication interface, and the method includes: providing an optical sensor to sense and generate an optical navigation position-related signal in response to movement of the optical navigation device; detecting a moving speed of the movement of the optical navigation device; and dynamically adjusting a transmission report rate of the optical navigation device according to the detected moving speed, wherein the transmission report rate is used to periodically transmit the optical navigation position-related signal to the computer device based on the detected moving speed. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] Figure 1 FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an optical navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0008] Figure 2 FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example of movement of an optical navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention as an optical mouse device.
[0009] Figure 3 is a block diagram of an optical navigation device, such as an optical mouse device as a gaming mouse device, according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0010] Figure 4 The figure is a flow chart of an optical navigation device used as an optical mouse device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0011] Figure 5 is a block diagram of an optical navigation device according to another embodiment of the present invention.
[0012] The reference numerals are described as follows:
[0013] 100, 300 Optical navigation device
[0014] 101 Computer Devices
[0015] 105 Optical Sensor
[0016] 110 Transmission Controller
[0017] 115 Microcontroller
[0018] 301 Clickable Button
[0019] 302 Controllable roller unit DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0020] The present invention aims to provide a technical solution for an optical navigation device that can save power more effectively based on an intelligent power saving algorithm (or hardware circuit). Specifically, the provided optical navigation device can be configured to detect the moving speed of the optical navigation device (or to detect the moving speed of a device on which the optical navigation device is installed) to dynamically adjust the power consumption of the optical navigation device in response to the different values of the detected moving speeds. In one embodiment, the optical navigation device may be a gaming mouse device (but not limited to). Alternatively, the optical navigation device may be installed on a movable device, such as an automobile vehicle, a rail vehicle, an automobile model toy car, a rail vehicle model toy car, a movable toy device, a printer device, or any type of movable device (or electronic device). This is not a limitation of the present invention.
[0021] Figure 1 1 is a block diagram of an optical navigation device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The optical navigation device 100 is used to be coupled to a computer device 101 (e.g., a personal computer) through a specific communication interface (e.g., a wireless communication interface). In one embodiment, the optical navigation device 100 includes an optical sensor 105, a transmission controller 110 such as a radio frequency (RF) transmitter, and a microcontroller 115 such as a processing circuit / unit.
[0022] The optical sensor 105 is used to sense and generate an optical navigation position-related signal in response to the movement of the optical navigation device 100 by emitting light into the work surface and receiving light reflected from the work surface to obtain a texture pattern image. For example, in one embodiment, the optical navigation device 100 is an optical mouse device, and the optical sensor 105 can be used to sense the reflected light of the work surface on which the optical mouse device 100 is placed to generate a plurality of sensing frames. When the optical mouse device 100 moves, the optical sensor 105 can generate a corresponding optical navigation position-related signal in response to the movement of the optical mouse device 100, wherein the corresponding optical navigation position-related signal is used to indicate the corresponding position movement of a cursor on the screen displayed by the computer device 101.
[0023] In one embodiment, an optical navigation position-related signal may be used to indicate a position offset information, i.e., a difference (position offset) from one position point to another position point. In another embodiment, an optical navigation position-related signal may be used to indicate a position point information, such as an absolute value of a position point on a specific work surface. The optical navigation device 100 may transmit the position offset information and / or the position point information to the computer device 101 to move the cursor on the display screen.
[0024] In one embodiment, the optical navigation device 100 may be installed in a movable device, such as a car device or a car model toy device, and the optical sensor 105 may be used to receive and sense reflected light from a working surface of a path (such as a railway path, a road, a street, avenue or a highway) where the movable device is placed to generate a plurality of sensing frames. Similarly, in this case, the optical navigation device 100 may also generate a corresponding optical navigation position-related signal in response to the movement of the optical navigation device 100 (or the movement of the movable device).
[0025] The optical sensor 105 can use a specific sampling rate to generate multiple optical navigation position-related signals to the microcontroller 115, and the specific sampling rate can be equal to or higher than a transmission report rate (i.e., polling rate) of the transmission controller 110, where the transmission report rate can be dynamically adjusted by the microcontroller 115.
[0026] The transmission controller 110 is configured to be wirelessly coupled to the computer device 101. For example, the transmission controller 110 is configured to wirelessly report and transmit a current / latest optical navigation position-related signal to the computer device 101 based on the transmission report rate. For example, when the dynamically adjusted transmission report rate is lower than the specific sampling rate, there is a high probability that a plurality of position-related signals sequentially output from the optical sensor 105 are buffered in the microcontroller 115, and based on the transmission report rate, if a position-related signal needs to be reported at this time, the transmission controller 110 is configured to wirelessly report and transmit the latest position-related signal to the computer device 101.
[0027] The microcontroller 115 is coupled between the optical sensor 105 and the transmission controller 110, and is used to detect the moving speed of the movement of the optical navigation device 100 based on the received multiple optical navigation position-related signals and to control the transmission controller 110 to dynamically adjust the transmission report rate of the transmission controller 110 according to the detected moving speed. The transmission controller 110 is used to periodically transmit the multiple optical navigation position-related signals to the computer device 101 through the transmission controller 110 at the adjusted transmission report rate.
[0028] For example, in an embodiment, the transmission report rate is equivalently adjusted to be inversely proportional to the moving speed of the optical navigation device 100. When the optical navigation device 100 moves slowly, the transmission report rate is adjusted to be higher, so that the optical navigation device 100 generates and transmits more optical navigation position-related signals to the computer device 101 within the same reporting period, so that the optical navigation device 100 can more accurately report its position information to the computer device 101. When the optical navigation device 100 moves faster, the transmission report rate is adjusted to be lower, so that the optical navigation device 100 (or the transmission controller 110) transmits fewer optical navigation position-related signals to the computer device 101 within the same reporting period, thereby reducing the power consumption of the transmission controller 110.
[0029] Figure 2 FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an optical navigation device 100 used as an optical mouse device when moving according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 In part (a) of FIG. 1 , the vertical axis (Y axis) shows the different difference values Δx between two adjacent / continuous position-related signals reported by the transmission controller 110, and the horizontal axis (X axis) shows the time value. The larger the difference value between the two position-related signals, the longer the moving distance of the optical navigation device 100 is, and the smaller the difference value between the two position-related signals, the shorter the moving distance of the optical navigation device 100 is. For example, the optical navigation device 100 is moved by the user from position A1 on the work surface to another position A2 on the work surface. Figure 2 As shown in the curve C1 in FIG. 1 , the optical navigation device 100 can move at different speed ranges during different time periods. The value of the curve C1 at a specific time point is used to represent a current value of the moving speed of the optical navigation device 100, and the slope value of the curve C1 is used to represent the change of the moving speed of the optical navigation device 100.
[0030] For example (but not limited to), the user's control behavior may first slowly increase the moving speed of the optical navigation device 100, then quickly increase its moving speed, then slightly reduce the moving speed when the moving speed is in a high moving speed range, and then finally quickly reduce the moving speed of the optical navigation device 100 if the optical navigation device 100 has moved and is close to a destination location. In the first time period from time t0 to time t1, the moving speed is initially slowly increased by the user's control, so the optical navigation device 100 may, for example, start from the starting position A1 and move at a low moving speed. In this case, when the moving speed is lower than a specific threshold, the microcontroller 115 may determine that it is necessary to more accurately locate the position of the optical navigation device 100 at this time, and it is also necessary to more accurately transmit and report the position information of the optical navigation device 100 to the computer device 101, so the microcontroller 115 controls the transmission controller 110 to report more position-related signals to the computer device 101 at a higher transmission report rate. The height h1 of the dot area from time t0 to time t1 is used to indicate a power consumption consumed by the transmission controller 110 operated at a higher transmission report rate.
[0031] Then, in the second interval from time t1 to time t2, the moving speed of the optical navigation device 100 can be slowly increased by the user's control, and the moving speed in the second interval from time t1 to time t2 is, for example, a value higher than the moving speed in the first time period from time t0 to time t1. In this example, when the moving speed is higher than the specific threshold, the microcontroller 115 can determine that the importance of saving more power is higher than the importance of reporting more position-related signals to the computer device 101, so the microcontroller 115 controls the transmission controller 110 to use a lower transmission report rate to report fewer position-related signals to the computer device 101. The height h2 of the dot area from time t1 to time t2 is used to represent a smaller amount of power consumed by the transmission controller 110 operated at a lower transmission report rate.
[0032] During a third time period from time t2 to time t3, the moving speed of the optical navigation device 100 may be increased rapidly, for example, by the control of the user. Then, during a fourth time period from time t3 to time t4, the moving speed of the optical navigation device 100 may be close to a maximum moving speed, and then slightly slowly decreased by the control of the user. Then, during a fifth time period from time t4 to time t5, the moving speed of the optical navigation device 100 may be rapidly decreased, for example, by the control of the user. From time t2 to time t5, the changed moving speed is still higher than the specific threshold, and the microcontroller 115 controls the transmission controller 110 to report fewer position-related signals to the computer device 101 using a lower transmission report rate. The height h2 of the corresponding dot area is used to represent the smaller amount of power consumed by the transmission controller 110 operated at a lower transmission report rate.
[0033] Then, during a sixth time period from time t5 to time t6, the reduced moving speed of the optical navigation device 100, for example, becomes lower than the specific threshold, and finally the optical navigation device 100 is located at position A2. In this case, the microcontroller 115 may again determine that the position of the optical navigation device 100 needs to be more accurately located, and the position information of the optical navigation device 100 needs to be more accurately transmitted and reported to the computer device 101, so the microcontroller 115 controls the transmission controller 110 to use a higher transmission report rate to report more position-related signals to the computer device 101. The height h1 of the dot area from time t5 to time t6 is used to represent the larger amount of power consumed by the transmission controller 110 when running at a higher transmission report rate. In this way, the optical navigation device 100 can immediately send and report more position-related signals when necessary, and can save more power when there is no need to immediately report position-related signals.
[0034] In this embodiment, the transmission report rate of the transmission controller 110 is equivalent to dynamically switching between a higher transmission report rate and a lower transmission report rate. In other embodiments, based on the control of the microcontroller 115, the transmission controller 110 can select from more than two different transmission report rates and use one of the transmission report rates.
[0035] In addition, Figure 2In the embodiment of the present invention, the frame rate of the optical sensor 105, i.e., the number of frames sensed and generated by the optical sensor 105 per second, can be dynamically adjusted in response to different values of the moving speed of the optical navigation device 100. For example (but not limited to), when the moving speed of the optical navigation device 100 increases slowly from time t0 to time t2, the microcontroller 115 controls the optical sensor 105 to sense and generate frames / images using a low frame rate. The height h3 of the diagonal area from time t0 to time t2 is used to represent the smaller amount of power consumed by the optical sensor 105 operating at a low frame rate. The value of the height h3 is between h1 and h2; however, this is not a limitation of the present invention.
[0036] When the moving speed of the optical navigation device 100 increases rapidly from time t2 to time t3 and decreases rapidly from time t4 to time t5, the microcontroller 115 controls the optical sensor 105 to sense and generate frames / images using an intermediate frame rate. The height h4 of the slash area is used to represent an intermediate amount of power consumed by the optical sensor 105 operating at an intermediate frame rate. The value of the height h4 is higher than the values of h2 and h3, and lower than the value of the height h1; however, this is not a limitation of the present invention.
[0037] When the moving speed of the optical navigation device 100 is in a maximum moving speed range during time t3 to time t4, the microcontroller 115 controls the optical sensor 105 to use a high / highest frame rate to sense and generate frames / images. The height h5 of the oblique line area represents the higher power consumption of the optical sensor 105 operated at a high frame rate. The value of the height h5 is higher than the values of the heights h2, h3, and h4; however, this is not a limitation of the present invention. In addition, the height h5 can be higher than the height h1 or lower than the height h1, depending on the user's hardware circuit design.
[0038] Equivalently, in this embodiment, when the transmission report rate of the transmission controller 110 is lowered, the frame rate of the optical sensor 105 can be increased, and when the transmission report rate of the transmission controller 110 is increased, the frame rate of the optical sensor 105 can be decreased. However, this is not a limitation of the present invention. In another embodiment, the frame rate of the optical sensor 105 can be maintained and will not change in response to the moving speed of the optical navigation device 100.
[0039] In addition, in one embodiment, when the optical navigation device is, for example, an optical mouse device (such as (but not limited to) a gaming mouse device), it may further include at least one controllable user input unit, such as at least one clickable button, and it may also include a controllable scroll wheel unit. Figure 3 and Figure 4 , Figure 31 is a block diagram of an optical navigation device 300 used as an optical mouse device such as a gaming mouse device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Compared with the device 100, the optical navigation device 300 further includes at least one clickable button 301 and a controllable wheel unit 302. When the user uses and operates the clickable button 301 and / or the controllable wheel unit 302 of the optical mouse device 300, the microcontroller 115 controls the transmission controller 110 to use a specific reporting rate to transmit the user control input information of the clickable button 301 and / or the controllable wheel unit 302 to the computer device 101, wherein the specific reporting rate is higher than the currently used transmission reporting rate of the optical navigation position-related signal.
[0040] For example, in the case where the optical mouse device 300 moves quickly, the microcontroller 115 can control the transmission controller 110 to use a basic transmission report rate as its transmission report rate. In this case, if the user uses and operates the clickable button 301 and / or the controllable scroll wheel unit 302 of the optical mouse device 300, the microcontroller 115 can immediately control the transmission controller 110 to use the specific report rate higher than the transmission report rate of the optical navigation position-related signal to transmit and report the optical navigation position-related signal, which is the basic report rate in this case. For example, in this case, the microcontroller 115 can immediately increase and control the transmission report rate to report four thousand position-related signals per second in response to the event that the user uses and operates the clickable button 301 and / or the controllable scroll wheel unit 302 of the optical mouse device 300.
[0041] Figure 4 This is a flow chart of an optical navigation device 300 used as an optical mouse device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The steps are described as follows:
[0042] Step S400: start;
[0043] Step S405: the optical sensor 105 senses and generates a plurality of optical navigation position related signals to the microcontroller 115;
[0044] Step S410: the microcontroller 115 detects the moving speed of the optical navigation device 300 according to a plurality of optical navigation position related signals;
[0045] Step S415: the microcontroller 115 compares the detected moving speed with a specific threshold to determine whether the detected moving speed is higher than the specific threshold; if the moving speed is higher than the specific threshold, the process proceeds to step S420, otherwise, the process proceeds to step S425;
[0046] Step S420: The microcontroller 115 determines whether to report the control information of the clickable button 301 and / or the controllable roller unit 302 to the computer device 101; if the control information needs to be reported, the process proceeds to step S425, otherwise, the process proceeds to step S430;
[0047] Step S425: The microcontroller 115 controls the transmission controller 110 to operate at a highest transmission reporting rate (eg, reporting 4,000 position-related signals per second) to report more position-related signals to the computer device 101; and
[0048] Step S430: The microcontroller 115 controls the transmission controller 110 to operate at a basic transmission reporting rate (eg, reporting one thousand position-related signals per second) to report fewer position-related signals to the computer device 101 and save more power.
[0049] In addition, in one embodiment, the transmission controller 110 may be integrated into the microcontroller 115 to form a processing circuit of the optical navigation device 100. In this example, the microcontroller 115 used as a processing circuit may wirelessly transmit and report position-related signals to the computer device 101 based on a specific wireless communication interface / standard. Figure 5 An example schematic diagram showing the transmission controller 110 being integrated into the microcontroller 115 is shown, which will not be described in detail for the sake of brevity.
[0050] Furthermore, in one embodiment, the optical sensor 105 can be used to detect the movement of the optical navigation device 100 relative to a working surface of a specific object, which can be a planar object, a user's finger, a crown object of a watch, a track, a cylinder, or a rotatable object, etc.
[0051] Similarly, in one embodiment, the power consumption of the transmission controller 110 may be at a low level in response to a first event corresponding to a higher moving speed, and may be at a high level in response to a second event corresponding to a lower moving speed, and the power consumption of the optical sensor 105 may be the same in both the first event and the second event.
[0052] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. For those skilled in the art, the present invention may have various modifications and variations. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present invention shall be included in the protection scope of the present invention.
Claims
1. An optical navigation device, the optical navigation device being coupled to a computer device via a specific communication interface, characterized in that: The optical navigation device comprises: an optical sensor for sensing and generating an optical navigation position-related signal in response to movement of the optical navigation device; a transmit controller for wirelessly coupling to a computer device; and A microcontroller is coupled between the optical sensor and the transmission controller, and is used to detect the movement speed of the optical navigation device and control the transmission controller to dynamically adjust the transmission report rate of the transmission controller. The transmission controller is used to periodically transmit the optical navigation position-related signal to the computer device through the transmission controller based on the detected movement speed and using the transmission report rate.
2. The optical navigation device according to claim 1, wherein: The optical navigation device is an optical mouse device, which further includes a controllable user input unit; the microcontroller controls the transmission controller to use a specific reporting rate to transmit the user control input information of the controllable user input unit to the computer device, and the specific reporting rate is higher than the transmission reporting rate of the optical navigation position-related signal.
3. The optical navigation device according to claim 2, wherein: The controllable user input unit is a clickable button unit or a controllable scroll wheel unit.
4. The optical navigation device according to claim 1, wherein: The transmission controller reduces the transmission reporting rate of the optical navigation position-related signal in response to a first event, wherein the first event is that the detected movement speed becomes faster, and the transmission controller increases the transmission reporting rate of the optical navigation position-related signal in response to a second event, wherein the second event is that the detected movement speed becomes slower.
5. The optical navigation device according to claim 4, wherein: The power consumption of the transmit controller is at a low level in response to the first event and at a high level in response to the second event; and the power consumption of the optical sensor is the same at the first event and at the second event.
6. The optical navigation device according to claim 1, wherein: The optical sensor is used to detect the movement of the optical navigation device relative to a working surface of a specific object, and the specific object is a plane object, a user's finger, a crown object of a watch, a track, a cylindrical object or a rotatable object.
7. An optical navigation device, the optical navigation device being coupled to a computer device via a specific communication interface, characterized in that: The optical navigation device comprises: an optical sensor for sensing and generating an optical navigation position-related signal in response to movement of the optical navigation device; and A microcontroller is coupled to the optical sensor, and is used to detect the movement speed of the optical navigation device and dynamically adjust the transmission report rate, wherein the transmission report rate is used to periodically wirelessly transmit the optical navigation position-related signal to the computer device based on the detected movement speed.
8. The optical navigation device according to claim 7, wherein: The optical navigation device is an optical mouse device, which also includes a controllable user input unit; the microcontroller uses a specific reporting rate to transmit user control input information of the controllable user input unit to the computer device, and the specific reporting rate is higher than the transmission reporting rate of the optical navigation position-related signal.
9. The optical navigation device according to claim 8, wherein: The controllable user input unit is a clickable button unit or a controllable scroll wheel unit.
10. The optical navigation device according to claim 7, wherein: The microcontroller reduces the transmission reporting rate of the optical navigation position-related signal in response to a first event, wherein the first event is the detected increase in movement speed, and the microcontroller increases the transmission reporting rate of the optical navigation position-related signal in response to a second event, wherein the second event is the detected decrease in movement speed.
11. The optical navigation device according to claim 10, wherein: The power consumption of the microcontroller is at a low level in response to the first event and at a high level in response to the second event; and the power consumption of the optical sensor is the same at both the first event and the second event.
12. The optical navigation device according to claim 7, wherein: The optical sensor is used to detect the movement of the optical navigation device relative to a working surface of a specific object, and the specific object is a plane object, a user's finger, a crown object of a watch, a track, a cylindrical object or a rotatable object.
13. A method for an optical navigation device, wherein the optical navigation device is coupled to a computer device via a specific communication interface, characterized in that: The method comprises: providing an optical sensor to sense and generate an optical navigation position-related signal in response to movement of the optical navigation device; detecting a movement speed of the movement of the optical navigation device; and According to the detected moving speed, a transmission report rate of the optical navigation device is dynamically adjusted, wherein the transmission report rate is used to periodically transmit the optical navigation position-related signal to the computer device based on the detected moving speed.
14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that The optical navigation device is an optical mouse device, the optical mouse device further comprises a controllable user input unit, and the method further comprises: User control input information of the controllable user input unit is transmitted to the computer device using a specific reporting rate, wherein the specific reporting rate is higher than the transmission reporting rate of the optical navigation position-related signal.
15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The controllable user input unit is a clickable button unit or a controllable scroll wheel unit.
16. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that The transmission reporting rate of the optical navigation position-related signal decreases in response to a first event, wherein the first event is a detected increase in the movement speed, and the transmission reporting rate of the optical navigation position-related signal increases in response to a second event, wherein the second event is a detected decrease in the movement speed.
17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that The power consumption of the processing circuit of the optical navigation device is at a low level in response to the first event and at a high level in response to the second event; and the power consumption of the optical sensor is the same at both the first event and the second event.
18. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that The optical sensor is used to detect the movement of the optical navigation device relative to a working surface of a specific object, and the specific object is a plane object, a user's finger, a crown object of a watch, a track, a cylindrical object or a rotatable object.