Optical mouse

An optical mouse is a computer mouse which uses a miniature camera and digital image processing to detect movement relative to a surface. Variations of the optical mouse have largely replaced the older mechanical mouse and its need for frequent cleaning.

The earliest optical mice detected movement on prepared surfaces, however they never gained wide acceptance. The modern optical mouse which uses digital image correlation and which works on almost any surface was invented in 2000 by Gary Gordon, Derek Knee, Rajeev Badyal and Jason Hartlove, and awarded US Patent 6,433,780.^[1] Its technology is explained in an interview with one of its inventors made by the Computer History Museum.