Optical user interface for controlling portable electric device

摘要

An optical user interface for controlling a portable electric device, such as a portable phone is provided. The user interface comprises a stripe-like optical contact surface, on which the finger of the user of the electric device is placed. A series of images of the fingerprint is taken and processed such that a motion vector or an image of the fingerprint is obtained. The invention provides a small-sized and economical user interface in terms of battery consumption and manufacturing costs.