BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The foregoing aspects and many of the accompanying advantages of this invention will become more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1
a is a diagram showing the circular locus presented on the computer screen, wherein the circle is drawn by a mouse at a lower speed, and the coordinate data is transmitted with the conventional data transfer method using a fixed transfer rate;
FIG. 1
b is a diagram showing the circular locus presented on the computer screen, wherein the circle is drawn by a mouse at a higher speed, and the coordinate data is transmitted with the conventional data transfer method using a fixed transfer rate;
FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the conventional data transfer method whereby the mouse transmits data packets to a computer;
FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the method of data transferring for a Bluetooth mouse according to one embodiment of the present invention; and
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the method of data transferring for a Bluetooth mouse according to another embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Refer to FIG. 3 a flowchart of the method of data transferring for a Bluetooth mouse according to one embodiment of the present invention. In Step S21, the displacement of a mouse is obtained and sent to a computer in the form of a data packet, i.e. a pair of coordinate displacement values (.X, .Y) of the mouse is obtained and transformed into a HID (Human Interface Device) packet, and then, the HID packet is transmitted to the computer, such as a personal computer or a notebook computer, via a wireless transmission link. In Step S22, a comparison is performed to determine whether either of the absolute values of the coordinate displacement values |.X| and |.Y| is greater than a critical value. If the result of the comparison is “No”, the process proceeds to Step S231, and the value of a time interval variable D is set to be a constant T for obtaining the next pair of coordinate displacement values (.X, .Y) of the mouse. If the result of the comparison is “Yes”, the process proceeds to Step S232, and the time interval variable D is set to be a constant T/2. In Step S24, the system receives the determined value of the time interval variable D, and the mouse suspends the displacement detection and data transference for a duration specified by the time interval variable D. After the duration specified by the time interval variable D has passed, the mouse is resumed to execute Step S21. In this embodiment, the wireless transmission link is a Bluetooth network, via which the HID packet is sent to the computer by a Bluetooth RF (Radio Frequency) module of the mouse; the coordinate displacement values (.X, .Y) are respectively the difference of the X coordinate values after and before a movement of the mouse and the difference of the Y coordinate values after and before the movement of the mouse, i.e. .X=Xafter.Xbefore and .Y=Yafter.Ybefore.
In this embodiment, the data transfer rate of the mouse is adjusted according to the current coordinate displacement values. Periodically, the mouse detects the coordinate displacement values (. X, .Y) and transmits a HID packet containing the .X and .Y values to the computer. When either of the absolute values of the coordinate displacement values |.X| and |.Y| is greater than a critical value K, the frequency of detecting .X and .Y is raised, i.e. the time interval between the detections of .X and .Y is shortened, and thus, the data transfer rate is increased. When both of the absolute values of the coordinate displacement values |.X| and |.Y| are smaller than the critical value, the detection frequency is restored to the original value, and thus, the data transfer rate is resumed to the normal value. Thereby, when the mouse is moving fast, the transfer rate of the data packet of the coordinate displacement values can be speeded up, and the computer will still present a smooth cursor locus; when the moving speed of the mouse is resumed to the normal speed, the data transfer rate can be restored to the original value.
In the abovementioned embodiment, the transfer rate of the data packet is adjusted according to the coordinate displacement values created by the planar movement of the mouse. Thereby, the mouse can dynamically respond to the movement of the user and adjust the data transfer rate so that the figure presented on the screen of the computer can more closely imitate the physical trajectory drawn by the user.
Refer to FIG. 4 a flowchart of the method of data transferring for a Bluetooth mouse according to another embodiment of the present invention. In Step S31, a pair of coordinate displacement values (.X, .Y) of a mouse is obtained and transformed into a HID (Human Interface Device) packet, and then, the HID packet is transmitted to a computer via a wireless transmission link. In Step S32, whether the value of a time interval variable D is a constant T is determined. If the value of the time interval variable D is the constant T, the process proceeds to Step S33 for determining whether either of the absolute values of the coordinate displacement values |.X| and |.Y| is greater than a critical value K. If none of the absolute values of the coordinate displacement values |.X| and |.Y| is greater than the critical value, the process proceeds to Step S341, and the value of the time interval variable D is set to be the constant T for obtaining the next pair of coordinate displacement values (.X, .Y) of the mouse. If either of the absolute values of the coordinate displacement values |.X| and |.Y| is greater than the critical value, the process proceeds to Step S342, and the value of the time interval variable D is set to be a constant T/2. After the value of the time interval variable D has been determined, the process proceeds to Step S35, and the system reads the determined value of the time interval variable D, and the mouse suspends the displacement detection and data transference for a duration specified by the time interval variable D; after the duration specified by the time interval variable D has passed, the mouse is resumed to execute Step S31. If the result of Step S32 is “No” and the value of the time interval variable D is not the constant T, the process proceeds to Step S321, and the value of an cumulative integer variable N accumulates. Next, the process proceeds to Step S322 for determining whether the value of the cumulative integer variable N is greater than a predetermined constant M. If the value of the cumulative integer variable N is not greater than the predetermined constant M, the process proceeds to Step S35, and the system reads the value of the time interval variable D, and the mouse suspends the displacement detection and data transference for a duration specified by the time interval variable D; after the duration specified by the time interval variable D has passed, the mouse is resumed to execute Step S31. If the value of the integer variable N is greater than the predetermined constant M, the process proceeds to Step S323, and the value of the cumulative integer variable N is reset to be zero. Next, the process proceeds to Step S33 for determining a value of the time interval variable D anew, and after the time interval has passed, Step S31 is executed. In this embodiment, the wireless transmission link is a Bluetooth network, via which the HID packet is transmitted to the computer by a Bluetooth RF (Radio Frequency) module of the mouse.
In this embodiment, the method of the present will check whether the current data transfer rate is at a higher value before the detection of the coordinate displacement values. If the current data transfer rate is at a higher value, the value of the cumulative integer variable N will be compared with a constant M to determine whether the current data transfer rate has been used for a period of time. If the value of the cumulative integer variable N is not greater than the constant M, it means that the data packets have not been transferred at the higher speed for a sufficient time yet; no matter what values of |.X| and |.Y| the mouse obtains, the data packets will be transferred at the higher speed with the time interval variable D=T/2 continuously. If the current data transfer rate is at a lower value with the time interval variable D being the normal value T, the increase of the data transfer rate is not limited by the abovementioned constant M. Therefore, in the present invention, the data transfer rate of the mouse can be arbitrarily raised from a lower value to a higher value; however, in the present invention, the drop of the data transfer rate from a higher value to a lower value is limited by the usage time of the higher transfer rate lest the data transfer rate of the mouse should drop from a higher value to a lower value immediately.
In the abovementioned embodiment, if the mouse moves fast for a very short period of time and slows down/stops abruptly, the data transfer rate of the mouse will be raised to a higher value and maintains at the higher value for an appropriate period of time before it is decreased lest the operational burden and power consumption of the microprocessor inside the mouse be influenced. Further, as the values of constants M and K have much to do with the power consumption and the complexity of the physical circuits of the mouse, they should be determined according to the requirements of the designers.
Briefly to speak, the present invention not only can dynamically adjust the data transfer rate according to the speed of the mouse, but also can protect the mouse against the increase of the microprocessor burden and power consumption resulting from the abrupt switching of the data transfer rate.
Those embodiments described above are to clarify the technical thoughts and characteristics of the present invention in order to enable the persons skilled in the art to understand, make, and use the present invention. However, it is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, and any equivalent modification and variation according to the spirit of the present invention is to be also included within the scope of the present invention.
Patent Application
20070273650
