Extension of battery life in a battery-powered optical pointing device

摘要

There is described a method for extending battery life in an optical pointing device powered by one or more battery cells ( 30 ), the optical pointing device including an optical motion sensing device ( 10 ) for tracking motion with respect to a surface (S) and comprising motion sensing circuitry ( 12 ) coupled to an optical sensor ( 15 ) and at least one light source ( 14 ) for illuminating a portion of the surface. The method comprises the steps of (i) monitoring the power output of the said one or more battery cells ( 30 ), (ii) detecting when the said power output falls below a certain threshold indicative of a low battery status (EOL) and (iii) upon detection of the low battery status, switching the optical pointing device into a low power consumption mode where power consumption of the optical pointing device is reduced and performance of the optical motion sensing device is partially degraded. There is also described an optical pointing device implementing this method.