Optical Mouse
An optical computer mouse or "optic mouse" uses a light-emitting diode and photodiodes to detect movement relative to a surface, unlike a mechanical mouse which has a ball which rotates orthogonal shafts which drive chopper wheels for distance measurement. The earliest optical mice detected movement on pre-printed mousepad surfaces, whereas the modern optical mouse works on most opaque surfaces; it is unable to detect movement on specular surfaces like glass. Laser diodes are also used for better resolution and precision. Battery powered, wireless optical mice flash the LED intermittently to save power, and only glow steadily when movement is detected.
Read more about Optical Mouse: Early Optical Mice, Modern Optical Mice, LED Mice, Laser Mice, Power, Optical Versus Mechanical Mice
Famous quotes containing the words optical and/or mouse:
“It is said that a carpenter building a summer hotel here ... declared that one very clear day he picked out a ship coming into Portland Harbor and could distinctly see that its cargo was West Indian rum. A county historian avers that it was probably an optical delusion, the result of looking so often through a glass in common use in those days.”
—For the State of New Hampshire, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“A mouse does not run into the mouth of a sleeping cat.”
—Estonian. Trans. by Ilse Lehiste (1993)