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Mouse Uses RFID Instead of Batteries

Posted by Zonk on Sat May 28, 2005 05:10 PM
from the bluetooth-concept-replacement dept.
Input Devices Technology
ValourX writes "NewsForge (part of OSTG, like Slashdot) has a review of a mouse that is powered by RFID (and yes, it works with Linux). It's cordless and uses no batteries -- you just have to keep the mouse within 2 inches of the mousepad for it to work. What else could be powered by RFID?"
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  • s/RFID/Induction (Score:5, Insightful)

    by fatboy (6851) * on Saturday May 28 2005, @05:31PM (#12666353)
    s/RFID/Induction

  • More Like: Inductive Coupling (Score:5, Insightful)

    by richardoz (529837) * on Saturday May 28 2005, @05:31PM (#12666354) Homepage
    The statement that the mouse is powered by RFID is a bit of a misnomer. It may be RF that transmits the mouse movement, but it is actually Inductive Coupling. The mouse pad has a coil that transfers power to a coil in the mouse using magnetic flux. This transfer of power is limited to short distances. Passive RFID uses radio frequency to transmit the power to the tag and relay the information back to the "server". I think that using inductive coupling for Mouse power is a great idea! Anything to reduce consumption of batteries that wind up in a landfill.

    • These have been around for a long time (Score:5, Informative)

      by typical (886006) on Saturday May 28 2005, @08:38PM (#12667340) Journal
      (a) This has nothing to do with RFID, as the parent stated.

      (b) Mice powered by induction from a special mousepad (or top-of-the-mousepad) have been around for a very long time. Presumably these didn't catch on for the same reason that optical mice that required a mousepad with a grid didn't catch on -- people don't like being forced to have a particular mousepad.

      (c) Tesla owns your ass, mouse-people -- he powered lamps with remotely transmitted power twenty-five miles away.

  • Wireless? lol (Score:3, Insightful)

    by eyeye (653962) on Saturday May 28 2005, @05:31PM (#12666355) Homepage Journal
    So you have to keep it within 2 inches of the mat, and where does the mat get its power from? It either has batteries or is cabled.

    I'll stick with my real wireless mouse thanks very much, no batteries just charge it once a week (or when I remember to put it back in its cradle).

    • Re:Wireless? lol (Score:5, Funny)

      by Scrameustache (459504) on Saturday May 28 2005, @05:42PM (#12666436) Homepage Journal
      no batteries just charge it once a week

      And, since there's no battery, you're charging... magical gnomes? ;-)
    • The main reason people buy a wireless mouse and is not so that they can cart their stuff off to a remote chair 30 feet away at will ( why would you ever do that? Could you even see the screen??? ), it is simply because a wireless mouse means no more fighting with the cord when you are dragging it around and the cord gets lightly jammed against something on the desk.

      A mouse pad does not move. Hence no problems with it's cord being tangled.

    • Re:Wireless? lol (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Forthan Red (820542) on Saturday May 28 2005, @06:03PM (#12666538)
      This is actually a step backwards. Optical mouses freed us from having to use a mousepad. Now we not only have to use a mousepad again, we have to have it plugged in.

      No thanks, I'll stick with an truly wireless mouse.

    • Re:Wireless? lol (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Stibidor (874526) on Saturday May 28 2005, @06:22PM (#12666634) Homepage

      You are absolutely right. The pad is wired (and thusly powered), which does still tether you to the computer. And although the OP is mildly misleading, the point of this device is that the actual mouse does not have any wires attached to it.

      To most people, the advantage of a wireless mouse is the freedom to move the mouse without worrying about what the cord is going to get snagged on. This gives users that freedom without requiring them ever to replace/recharge their batteries.
    • You're missing the point. yes, the pad is likely wired. However, the pad sits still.

      The biggest problem with wired mice is the cord getting tangled up, running out of cord while you're gaming or in the way as it's used (curling up and ending up on the mousepad, for instance). With this system, the cord never moves once it's positioned. You can mouse around the pad as much as you want and the cord never gets in the way.

  • Wacom? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by atrus (73476) <atrusNO@SPAMatrustrivalie.org> on Saturday May 28 2005, @05:31PM (#12666358) Homepage
    So, whats the difference between this and a wacom tablet, besides the fact that wacoms are generaly superior? If you've never tried photoshop/other graphics app with a wacom, you're missing out.

    • Re:Wacom? (Score:4, Informative)

      by Solder Fumes (797270) on Saturday May 28 2005, @05:39PM (#12666416)
      I never use the Wacom mouse because it requires you to only have the mouse on the pad. My current tethered mouse ranges all over a 2-foot-square area on my desk, depending on my posture, activity, and current clutter level. I think I'd hate this "RFID" mouse as well.
      • It's not so bad being confined to the tablet. My Wacom mouse pad is about 18" x 18". That's pretty close to your 2'x2' square.

        I bought one of the bigger ones because I wanted the resolution for my wife's freelance graphics work.

        The pen is pretty awesome to use in a graphics program, it's incredible how much more freedom you have with it instead of the mouse.

        • Yeah, I could see the mouse working better on a larger pad. However I only needed a smaller pad for pen work (I'm only good at using wrist motion in drawing, anyway). I also did not have a firstborn son I could sacrifice in order to gain such a digitizer.
        • Holy crap, did you get one of the pads with or without a screen behind it?

          I remember when I got my first WACOM tablet or something for Win 95. Good times.

        • Re:Wacom? (Score:4, Funny)

          by IpalindromeI (515070) * on Saturday May 28 2005, @08:32PM (#12667317) Journal
          My Wacom mouse pad is about 18" x 18". That's pretty close to your 2'x2' square.

          Actually it's not that close. An 18"x18" square has only 56% of the surface area that a 24"x24" square has. Thanks for playing, though. There are some lovely parting gifts on the way out.

    • Re:Wacom? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Phroggy (441) * <slashdot3NO@SPAMphroggy.com> on Saturday May 28 2005, @06:06PM (#12666547) Homepage
      This one costs $20?
    • whats the difference between this and a wacom tablet

      Well, this probably isn't owned by a crazy, quasi-religious cult leader [freedomofmind.com]* for starters.

      *Specifically, Sun Myung Moon [unification.net].

  • What else? (Score:5, Funny)

    by baryon351 (626717) on Saturday May 28 2005, @05:32PM (#12666365)
    > What else could be powered by RFID?

    Paranoia.

  • You're kidding, right? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Short Circuit (52384) * <mikemol@gmail.com> on Saturday May 28 2005, @05:33PM (#12666367) Homepage Journal
    One, it's not RFID. RFID is a means of identifying things, that happens to use the RF from the detector as a power source. You can use RF as a power source without it being RFID.

    Two, bateryless cordless mice are old news. I've got a Graphire 2 next to me that's done that thing for three or four years.

  • What else can be powered? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Kipsaysso (828105) on Saturday May 28 2005, @05:34PM (#12666375) Homepage Journal
    1984

  • Been done before (Score:3, Funny)

    by stevenm86 (780116) on Saturday May 28 2005, @05:34PM (#12666376)
    Here is a link to the Cheap Mod, courtesy of Afrotech: http://www.afrotechmods.com/cheap/arnoldpad/arnold pad.htm [afrotechmods.com]
    • 12 amps?? On that dinky wire?? That's like 5x12 = 60 watts! Thats, er, great efficiency right there.

      So this guy runs his 2.5V*~100mA= 0.25W mouse with 0.25W/60W = 0.4% efficiency? You people make me sick.
  • The Matrix Tie Fighters (from the Death Star) Light Sabers Skin-Jobs (keep 'em from running) Electronically modded towels R2D2 ...On second thought it might be best to give R2D2 multiple options for power. He tends to get into trouble.

  • From the article (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sunhou (238795) on Saturday May 28 2005, @05:45PM (#12666450)
    The mouse pad cannot be operated on any metal surface. Since the warnings about this are printed on the box, in the manual, and on the mouse pad itself, I figured it was in my best interest to avoid finding out why metal and power-over-RFID don't mesh.

    Well there's a sentence that sure didn't end the way I wanted it to... Where's his sense of adventure?
    • The mouse pad cannot be operated on any metal surface. ... the warnings about this are printed on the box, in the manual, and on the mouse pad itself.

      Sounds like microwave-oven warnings. Are they microwaving the mouse ...to get it to talk?

  • Difference between this and digitzer pad... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by toybuilder (161045) on Saturday May 28 2005, @05:50PM (#12666468)
    ...is that the mouse is responsible for position information, not the pad... Which is nice in some ways, because you mouse motion in real-world use doesn't always map nicely to the digitizing pad's cartesian grid.

    If your entire desk's surface was one big induction loop, this would allow you to have this mouse work over the whole of your desk (assuming there's enough power coupling). Beware the magnetic media, though! :)
  • For a moment, I thought "First they put them in dogs and cats, now they're putting them in mice?" And then wondered why is it news that it's wireless? Was there something about the little critters that made it so you had to run a wire into your pet mouse for a RFID tag to work properly? And really, how often do peoples mice run away and then are picked up by animal control and scanned to find the owner?

    Then I read the article and it made more sense.
  • So it not only lets the government (and/or aliens, communists, etc.) track you [spychips.com], it gives you cancer [nzine.co.nz] too!

  • Way back when, or something old something new (Score:4, Informative)

    by Senor_Programmer (876714) on Saturday May 28 2005, @06:30PM (#12666673)
    Back in the day the KGB beamed microwaves at the US embassy to power bugs for spying [bugsweeps.com].
    The simplest bug I know of is antenna, half wave rectifier, carbon microphone. As the load varies (carbon mike changes resistance with sound pressure) the amplitude of a harmonic is modulated and radiated by the same antenna.

  • So's my toothbrush. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by xs650 (741277) on Saturday May 28 2005, @06:35PM (#12666703)
    Since it's powered by inductive coupleing, not RFID, it's in the same category as my Sonicare toothbrush, except the toothbrush is more advanced.

    The toothbrush has a battery that is inductively recharged when it's sitting in it's base.

    I have used the toothbrush over 6,000 miles from it's base which is amore useful range than the 2 inch range of the mouse.

    A wireless mouse with a battery that got recharged when you left it on the mouse pad but didn't have to be near the mousepad to work would actually have some utility. They need to add a battery.

  • So which technology fries the naughty bits more, RFID mice or laptops that use Intel CPUs? Inquiring minds must know! :^)

  • Tesla's Dreams in Action (Score:3, Informative)

    by alset_tech (683716) on Sunday May 29 2005, @01:13AM (#12668465) Homepage
    I'd just like to point to my hero, Nikola Tesla. He was a visionary in this field.

    http://www.teslatech.info/ttmagazine/v1n4/valone.h tm [teslatech.info]
    http://www.braincourse.com/wirelessa.html [braincourse.com]
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla [wikipedia.org]

    • I don't see what you are saying... There is a usb cable that goes to the mouse pad that powers the pad... The pad then transfers power to the mouse through a coil and thus you have a cordless mouse. I personally think it is cool because it is a cheap mouse without a cord... I hate batteries and weight, thus the reason I would never buy a real cordless mouse.
    • probaly takes a lot of batteries then, if the pad is battery powered. (yes still have to rtfa, but it looks so much like old news that i'll skip this one)
      Inductive coupling works (electric toothbrushes are charged this way too), but it is not very efficient, esp if the mouse is not right above the coil. my current batteries now hold out a few days, but with such an inefficiency added to it it may be more like a few hours.

    • Re:Ummm.... (Score:4, Informative)

      by Scrameustache (459504) on Saturday May 28 2005, @05:52PM (#12666481) Homepage Journal
      So...the mouse isn't battery powered, but the mousepad is?

      FTFA: "The NB-50 mouse pad does have a cord, and it connects to the computer via USB."

      This is for people who don't want a wire on the part that moves, but don't mind having a wire on the part that stays put.

      I know I don't tangle up my keyboard's wire nearly as often as I do the mouse wire, but I got an optical mouse partly because I don't like to be restricted in the area on which I can move said mouse. I do tasks that are conductive to large mouse movements, precise dragging and whatnot, so this isn't for me. Still cool, though.
    • Yeah, I'd have to go with the "Hey that's (kinda) cool" reaction. When I got my first wireless mouse, the advantages were seen immediatly: I could use it anywhere on my desk and not worry about a cord. The way this thing is set up, it'd be more of a pain then a tradtional wired mouse, because not only would there still be a cord for the mouse pad, which the mouse needs to sit at least 2" from, but the mouse itself is useless unless it's on the mouse pad.

      For me, one of the nice things about having a wire

      • Optical Mice with Pad (Score:5, Interesting)

        by ebooher (187230) on Saturday May 28 2005, @07:08PM (#12666906) Homepage Journal

        I've seen a couple posts where people have said "Hey, the first optical mouse let me throw away the pad." and have just got to drop a quick note here.

        I have several optical mice that *need* their pad, as it has a grid for the optics to read as you draw the mouse across it. So it took them awhile to figure out how to get the optical mouse to work with no pad. Just as it will take them awhile to figure out how to give the entire population of the Earth cancer by using Inductive style power beamed from satellites to power those mice.

        • Well yeah. Optical mice, to me, were kind of pointless when they first came out and I thought of them more of an unnecessary "gee-wiz" toy then anything else. But with time they figured out how to make them not need the 'grid mouse pad', and make them cheap enough so they can be on par with traditional mice price-wise. (I should note that my last mouse purchase was a wireless optical, which I bought over a year and a half ago for $30 and have had no problems with)

          And most likely, they'll figure out a wa
      • By removing the wire, you remove the drag on the mouse when you're trying to move it around. It's been my experience that a mouse isn't much good without a computer. If your computer sits on a desk, then it stands to reason that the mouse is only useful around the desk. Most desks aren't real large, and don't get moved around often. So this is certainly a nice thing, though I guess it does cut in to my ability to mess with the computer in the office while I'm out in the garage, should that for some reas
    • Try reading the article instead of posting stupid statements, the author of the article TESTED IT under Linux.
    • You can buy a bluetooth wireless mouse and run all over the place with it without worrying about bringing your receiver along.
      This seems like it's just a really, really nice idea for desktops, where my MX700 needs to be cradled every night and still occasionally runs out of juice at just the wrong time.

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