Dynamic Adjustment of a Sampling Rate for an Optical Encoder
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsBaboo V. Gowreesunker, Joseph William Colosimo, Vladimir Fedorov
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Abstract
A light source in a rotary optical encoder can illuminate a pattern on a rotatable shaft and an optical sensor can detect either the light that is reflected or transmitted based on the pattern. A sampling rate of the optical sensor is dynamically adjusted based on a rotational speed of the rotatable shaft. A pulse rate of the light source may also be dynamically adjusted based on the sampling rate of the optical sensor.
Claims20
A method of dynamically adjusting a sampling rate of an optical encoder in an electronic device, the optical encoder including an optical sensor comprising multiple light sensing elements, the method comprising:
- sampling signals from two or more light sensing elements at a first time;
- sampling signals from the two or more light sensing elements at a second time;
- and
- adjusting the sampling rate of the two or more light sensing elements based on the sampled signals at the first time and the sampled signals at the second time.
An electronic device, comprising:
- a rotatable shaft;
- a light source positioned adjacent to the rotatable shaft and configured to illuminate the rotatable shaft;
- an optical sensor comprising a plurality of light sensing elements positioned adjacent to the rotatable shaft and configured to receive at least a portion of light reflected off the rotatable shaft;
- and
- a sampling rate control module operably connected to the optical sensor and configured to:
- sample signals from two or more light sensing elements at a first time;
- sample signals from the two or more light sensing elements at a second time;
- and
- adjust a sampling rate of the optical encoder based on the sampled signals at the first time and the sampled signals at the second time.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon executable instructions which, when executed by a processing device, causes the processing device to perform a method of dynamically adjusting a sampling rate of an optical encoder, the method comprising:
- sampling signals from two or more light sensing elements in an optical sensor at a first time;
- sampling signals from the two or more light sensing elements at a second time;
- and
- adjusting a sampling rate of the optical sensor based on the sampled signals at the first time and the sampled signals at the second time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.