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Demo of picoRing mouse: an ultra-low-powered wireless mouse ring with ring-to-wristband coil-based impedance sensing

Yifan Li, Masaaki Fukumoto, Mohamed Kari, Tomoyuki Yokota, Takao Someya, Yoshihiro Kawahara, Ryo Takahashi

TL;DR

The paper addresses the limited continuous operation of wireless ring mice due to battery and BLE power constraints. It introduces picoRing mouse, which employs semi-passive inductive telemetry (PIT) to realize ring-to-wristband communication, enabling digital modulation of the ring’s resonance frequency via a voltage-controlled varactor and impedance sensing on the wristband to decode inputs. Key contributions include the multi-modal ring design with five discrete resonance states, a semi-passive PIT architecture for ultra-low-power operation, and demonstration of up to ~92 hours of use on a 20 mAh battery with high input fidelity (SNR > 10). The work enables long-term, privacy-preserving finger inputs for wearable computing and AR/VR interfaces, potentially expanding the role of wearable mice in daily life and immersive applications.

Abstract

Wireless mouse rings offer subtle, reliable pointing interactions for wearable computing platforms, but the small battery below 27 mAh in the miniature rings restricts the ring's continuous lifespan to just 1-2 hours due to the power consumption of current low-powered wireless communication like BLE. However, the picoRing mouse addresses this by enabling continuous ring-based mouse interaction with ultra-low-powered ring-to-wristband wireless communication through a coil-based impedance sensing method called semi-passive inductive telemetry. This allows a wristband coil to capture a unique frequency response of a nearby ring coil via sensitive inductive coupling, converting the user's mouse input into the unique frequency response via an 820 uW mouse-driven modulation module. Thus, the continuous use of picoRing mouse can potentially last over 92 hours on a single charge of a 20 mAh battery while supporting subtle scrolling and pressing interactions.

Demo of picoRing mouse: an ultra-low-powered wireless mouse ring with ring-to-wristband coil-based impedance sensing

TL;DR

The paper addresses the limited continuous operation of wireless ring mice due to battery and BLE power constraints. It introduces picoRing mouse, which employs semi-passive inductive telemetry (PIT) to realize ring-to-wristband communication, enabling digital modulation of the ring’s resonance frequency via a voltage-controlled varactor and impedance sensing on the wristband to decode inputs. Key contributions include the multi-modal ring design with five discrete resonance states, a semi-passive PIT architecture for ultra-low-power operation, and demonstration of up to ~92 hours of use on a 20 mAh battery with high input fidelity (SNR > 10). The work enables long-term, privacy-preserving finger inputs for wearable computing and AR/VR interfaces, potentially expanding the role of wearable mice in daily life and immersive applications.

Abstract

Wireless mouse rings offer subtle, reliable pointing interactions for wearable computing platforms, but the small battery below 27 mAh in the miniature rings restricts the ring's continuous lifespan to just 1-2 hours due to the power consumption of current low-powered wireless communication like BLE. However, the picoRing mouse addresses this by enabling continuous ring-based mouse interaction with ultra-low-powered ring-to-wristband wireless communication through a coil-based impedance sensing method called semi-passive inductive telemetry. This allows a wristband coil to capture a unique frequency response of a nearby ring coil via sensitive inductive coupling, converting the user's mouse input into the unique frequency response via an 820 uW mouse-driven modulation module. Thus, the continuous use of picoRing mouse can potentially last over 92 hours on a single charge of a 20 mAh battery while supporting subtle scrolling and pressing interactions.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 9 sections, 3 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. RELATED WORK
  3. SYSTEM DESIGN
  4. Semi-passive inductive telemetry
  5. Ring
  6. Wristband
  7. PRELIMINARY EVALUATION
  8. DEMONSTRATION
  9. CONCLUSION

Figures (3)

  • Figure 1: Design overview of picoRing mouse. (a) Prototype photograph, (b) illustration, and (c) circuit diagram of picoRing mouse.
  • Figure 2: Gesture recognition capability of picoRing mouse. We evaluate time-series and average SNR for scrolling and pressing interactions. SNR over $10$ indicates the high-fidelity recognition takahashi_picoring_2024.
  • Figure 3: Application examples of picoRing mouse. (a) Illustration of potential usage of picoRing mouse during daily lives. (b) Photograph of two types of demonstration by picoRing mouse. Wearable game controller for tetris playing and page scroll controller for web viewing.