Patent ID: 7339575

Claim:
An optical pointing device comprising: a support structure operable to move across a work surface; an illumination source, coupled to the support structure, operable to illuminate a region of the work surface; an imaging system coupled to the support structure comprising: an optical sensor array; and an optical coupling system operable to receive light from the illuminated region of the work surface and transmit the received light to the optical sensor anay; an auto-focus circuit operable to focus an image of the illuminated region of the work surface on the optical sensor array, the auto-focus circuit outputting a focus control signal; and a motion detection circuit coupled to the optical sensor array operable to detect motion of the optical pointing device, the motion detection circuit receiving the focus control signal output by the auto-focus circuit, the focus control signal causing the motion detection circuit to be disabled if the auto-focus circuit determines that the image of the illuminated region is not sufficiently in focus.