BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to an optical mouse, and more particularly to, an optical mouse which can move a cursor on a display screen of a computer system by varying arrangement of optical parts and structures using regularly reflected light in light emitted from a light source so as to allow the regularly reflected light to enter into a sensor.

[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art

[0004] Generally, in a mouse used as a main input means of a computer, a mechanically moving portion, for example, a ball mouse having a ball has problems in that sliding occurs due to dust and a user's movement may not be exactly transferred to a display screen of a computer system when the user moves the ball mouse. Also, a problem arises in that it is difficult to use the ball mouse for a long time due to abrasion of the ball and parts in contact with the ball.

[0005] To solve such problems, there has been suggested an optical mouse. The optical mouse includes a sensor array consisting of a plurality of optical sensors, optical parts for condensing light reflected upon the optical sensors, and mechanical structures.

[0006] FIG. 1 shows a relationship between a surface and a sensor array. Referring to FIG. 1 , light emitted from a light source such as a light-emitting diode (LED) is reflected upon the surface, and cells of optical sensors of the sensor array sense the reflected light.

[0007] FIG. 2 shows tracking by comparison of bitmaps. Referring to FIG. 2, a sensor array consisting of a plurality of optical sensors compares bitmaps generated by sensing light, so that movement and direction of devices are provided by movement of a cursor of a computer system.

[0008] At this time, the generated bitmaps are constituted by a binary form (1 or 0).

[0009] FIG. 3 shows a configuration of a related art optical mouse.

[0010] Referring to FIG. 3, a reference numeral 11 denotes a button pressed by a user, a reference numeral 12 denotes a switch turned on/off depending on the operation of the button 11 , and a reference numeral 13 denotes a circuit board that supports the switch 12 .

[0011] Also, a reference numeral 14 denotes a light source that emits light, a reference numeral 15 denotes a lens for condensing light, and a reference numeral 16 denotes a housing that supports the overall structure. A reference numeral 17 denotes a lens integrated circuit (IC) that includes a sensor array, a logic circuit, and an inverter. A reference numeral 18 denotes a surface and a reference numeral 19 denotes an optical guide that guides light from the surface 18 to the lens IC 17 .

[0012] The operation of the aforementioned optical mouse will briefly be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4 . Light emitted from the light source 14 and reflected upon the surface 18 is condensed by the lens 15 and transferred to cells of the optical sensor of the lens IC 17 , so that the optical sensor array converts moving optical images sensed by light to circuit signals. Thus, the converted circuit signals are transferred to a computer system to be displayed on a display screen by moving a cursor.

[0013] That is, since most of the emitted light is reflected upon a general surface, sufficient light to be sensed by the sensor is obtained. Accordingly, no problem arises in that the optical mouse is operated.

[0014] However, the optical mouse, as shown in FIG. 5 , has a surface far away from a glass by a thickness of the glass in transferring the light to the sensor. In this case, light of 90% or greater is transmitted on the glass to cause the amount of the reflected light to be lack, thereby resulting in that the sensor fails to sense the light. For this reason, a problem arises in that the sensor does not function as a control device.

[0015] In other words, the aforementioned optical mouse is based on light irregularly reflected upon the surface. As shown in FIG. 5 , light which has not passed through a transparent medium such as a glass is absolutely lack of the amount of irregularly reflected light. After all, the aforementioned related art optical mouse has several problems. The optical sensor fails to sense images on the glass so as not to move a cursor of a display screen of the computer system. This is because that the light-receiving lens and the sensor are set at a particular point in an irregularly reflected light path on the surface under the circumstances that there is no transparent medium, at the time of design of the optical mouse, so as not to allow the reflected light which has transmitted the transparent medium to advance to the light-receiving lens and the sensor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0016] It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an optical mouse which can move a cursor on a display screen of a computer system by varying arrangement of optical parts and structures using regularly reflected light in light emitted from a light source so as to allow the regularly reflected light to enter into a sensor.

[0017] To achieve the above object, there is provided an optical mouse which includes a light source for emitting light, an irradiating lens for condensing the light emitted from the light source and downwardly irradiating the light at a predetermined angle, a light-receiving lens for condensing light regularly reflected upon a reflecting surface on a path where light emitted from the light source and irradiated through the irradiating lens is reflected, and an optical sensor for sensing the light condensed through the light-receiving lens.

[0018] The optical mouse according to the present invention is characterized in that the reflecting surface is a general surface or an upper surface of a transparent medium.

[0019] The optical mouse according to the present invention is also characterized in that the light-receiving lens's central shaft is located on a light path for a regular reflection angle corresponding to an incident angle of irradiating light entered upon the surface if the light emitted from the light source is downwardly irradiated by the irradiating lens, and the irradiating lens and the light-receiving lens are formed in an integral form with each other.