Capacitive mouse

A rotary motion detector comprising:

• a rotating member;
• a capacitance detecting means operatively coupled to said rotating member said capacitance detecting means comprising a plurality of fixed capacitance detecting members and a capacitance measuring circuit that measures the variations of capacitance on said capacitance detecting members, wherein said rotating member is electrically connected via physical contact to said capacitance measuring circuit, and said capacitance detecting means measures capacitance between said rotating member and said capacitance detecting members;
• and
• processing means operatively coupled to said capacitance detecting means to determine the movement of said rotating member based on said capacitance measurements.

A rotary motion detector comprising:

• a rotating member, said rotating member including spaced apart conductive regions disposed along a locus of points defined by a radius from the center of the rotating member, spaced apart conductive regions being electrically grounded;
• at least two spaced apart conductive surfaces capacitively coupled to said spaced apart regions of said rotating member;
• a capacitance measuring circuit operatively coupled to said at least two spaced apart conductive surfaces;
• and
• a processor operatively coupled to said capacitance measuring circuit.

A rotary motion detector comprising:

• a rotating member, said rotating member including spaced apart conductive regions disposed along a locus of points defined by a radius from the center of the rotating member;
• at least two spaced apart conductive surfaces capacitively coupled to said spaced apart regions of said rotating member;
• a capacitance measuring circuit operatively coupled to said at least two spaced apart conductive surfaces;
• and
• a processor operatively coupled to said capacitance measuring circuit, wherein said processor combines capacitance measurements from said capacitance measuring circuit to compensate for variations in distance between said at least two spaced apart conductive surfaces and said rotating member.

A rotary motion detector comprising:

• a rotating member, said rotating member including spaced apart conductive regions disposed along a locus of points defined by a radius from the center of the rotating member;
• at least two spaced apart conductive surfaces capacitively coupled to said spaced apart regions of said rotating member;
• a capacitance measuring circuit operatively coupled to said at least two spaced apart conductive surfaces;
• and
• a processor operatively coupled to said capacitance measuring circuit, wherein said capacitance measuring circuit produces varying capacitance measurements for said processor and said processor uses said varying capacitance measurements to measure the motion of said rotating member to greater resolution that the size of said at least two spaced apart conductive surfaces.

A rotary motion detector comprising:

• a rotating member, said rotating member including spaced apart conductive regions disposed along a locus of points defined by a radius from the center of the rotating member;
• at least two spaced apart conductive surfaces capacitively coupled to said spaced apart regions of said rotating member;
• a capacitance measuring circuit operatively coupled to said at least two spaced apart conductive surfaces, wherein said rotating member is electrically connected via physical contact to said capacitance measuring circuit, and said capacitance measuring circuit measures capacitance between said rotating member and said at least two spaced apart conductive surfaces;
• and
• a processor operatively coupled to said capacitance measuring circuit.

A rotary motion detector comprising:

• a rotating member, said rotating member including spaced apart conductive regions disposed along a locus of points defined by a radius from the center of the rotating member;
• at least two spaced apart conductive surfaces capacitively coupled to said spaced apart regions of said rotating member;
• a capacitance measuring circuit operatively coupled to said at least two spaced apart conductive surfaces, wherein said rotating member and said capacitance measuring circuit are connected to electrical ground;
• and
• a processor operatively coupled to said capacitance measuring circuit.