A pointing device system, comprising: an elongate base member; a sleeve disposed to fit over a portion of the elongate base member, the sleeve configured to rotate about the elongate base member in a first direction and slide about the elongate base member in a second direction substantially orthogonal to the first direction; and at least two optical sensors (512, 514) disposed along a surface of the elongate base member and positioned to detect a position reading of the sleeve from at least one of a rotational movement of the sleeve relative to the multiple optical sensors and an axial movement of the sleeve relative to the at least two optical sensors, based at least in part on a variation of at least one signal received by the at least one of the at least two optical sensors signals from an inner surface of the sleeve within a field of view of at least one sensor of the at least two optical sensors, wherein the system periodically monitors the motion of the sleeve as detected by the multiple sensors and the coverage state of the multiple sensors, and wherein the system is configured to base the position reading on a signal received from an optical sensor covered by the sleeve and the reading from an optical sensor not covered by the sleeve is ignored, when one or more of the optical sensors are not covered by the sleeve, and wherein, when more than one of the optical sensors are covered by the sleeve, the position reading is based on one or more of: - an average of the signals from the multiple optical sensors, and/or - selection of the position reading having the higher quality of the signals from the multiple covered optical sensors and/or - selection of the position reading from the sensor that is more likely to be covered based on a determined direction of movement of the sleeve based on signals from the multiple covered optical sensors, the position reading being selected from a left covered sensor based on a determination that the sleeve is moving to the left based on signals from the multiple covered optical sensors, and the position reading being selected from a right covered sensor based on a determination that the sleeve is moving to the right based on signals from the multiple covered optical sensors. an elongate base member; a sleeve disposed to fit over a portion of the elongate base member, the sleeve configured to rotate about the elongate base member in a first direction and slide about the elongate base member in a second direction substantially orthogonal to the first direction; and at least two optical sensors (512, 514) disposed along a surface of the elongate base member and positioned to detect a position reading of the sleeve from at least one of a rotational movement of the sleeve relative to the multiple optical sensors and an axial movement of the sleeve relative to the at least two optical sensors, based at least in part on a variation of at least one signal received by the at least one of the at least two optical sensors signals from an inner surface of the sleeve within a field of view of at least one sensor of the at least two optical sensors, wherein the system periodically monitors the motion of the sleeve as detected by the multiple sensors and the coverage state of the multiple sensors, and wherein the system is configured to base the position reading on a signal received from an optical sensor covered by the sleeve and the reading from an optical sensor not covered by the sleeve is ignored, when one or more of the optical sensors are not covered by the sleeve, and wherein, when more than one of the optical sensors are covered by the sleeve, the position reading is based on one or more of: - an average of the signals from the multiple optical sensors, and/or - selection of the position reading having the higher quality of the signals from the multiple covered optical sensors and/or - selection of the position reading from the sensor that is more likely to be covered based on a determined direction of movement of the sleeve based on signals from the multiple covered optical sensors, the position reading being selected from a left covered sensor based on a determination that the sleeve is moving to the left based on signals from the multiple covered optical sensors, and the position reading being selected from a right covered sensor based on a determination that the sleeve is moving to the right based on signals from the multiple covered optical sensors. - an average of the signals from the multiple optical sensors, and/or - selection of the position reading having the higher quality of the signals from the multiple covered optical sensors and/or - selection of the position reading from the sensor that is more likely to be covered based on a determined direction of movement of the sleeve based on signals from the multiple covered optical sensors, the position reading being selected from a left covered sensor based on a determination that the sleeve is moving to the left based on signals from the multiple covered optical sensors, and the position reading being selected from a right covered sensor based on a determination that the sleeve is moving to the right based on signals from the multiple covered optical sensors.