What Is an Optical Trackball?

An optical trackball uses solid state Optical Navigation Technology in place of the traditional mechanical assembly of conventional trackballs. The only moving part in the entire assembly is the ball, whose movement is sensed directly without the need for shafts, separate encoders and opto-couplers. The optical navigation sensors employed are well-established architecture and are being utilized by other leading manufacturers (such as Microsoft) in the latest generation of computer mice.  more

An optical trackball is a computing device that allows the user to select or navigate through computer content. It contains a stationary base, a protruding ball housed in a socket, and one or more buttons that allow the user to perform the functions of clicking. Some optical trackballs also contain a scroll wheel to for ease of scrolling through web sites and documents. The ball portion of the optical trackball is covered with dots arranged in a pattern. As the user manipulates the ball with his fingertips, infrared optical sensors read the movement of the dots and send the data to the computer. This feature may allow for a more precise tracking of movements than non-optical trackballs, since non-optical sensors simply read the rotation of the ball on two axes. An additional benefit of optical trackballs over their non-optical counterparts is that they detect movement optically; dust, dirt and skin oils do not interfere with the detection of movement. However, the ball and sensors ...  more