Ultra-low-power ring-based wireless mouse

2025-04-04

AI Summary

Existing ring-shaped wireless mice rely on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), suffering from high power consumption and limited battery capacity (≤27 mAh), resulting in only 1–10 hours of operation—severely degrading user experience. This work proposes picoRing, an ultra-low-power ring-shaped mouse based on semi-passive inductive telemetry. Our method replaces conventional RF transceivers with passive near-field interaction between the ring and wristband, leveraging coil impedance sensing and frequency-shift keying (FSK) modulation. A custom-designed miniature modulation circuit consumes merely 449 μW. With a single 27 mAh charge, picoRing achieves 600–1,000 hours of continuous operation—reducing power consumption by over two orders of magnitude compared to BLE—while supporting real-time thumb-index finger scrolling and tapping. To our knowledge, this is the first application of semi-passive inductive telemetry to wearable pointing devices, establishing a new paradigm for miniaturized, long-battery-life human–computer interaction interfaces.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Interaction Techniques and Devices
• Application Domains: Internet of Things, Sensor Networks & Smart Cities
• Machine Learning: Active Learning

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Energy management for devices in mobile Web and WoT environments
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: On-Device user modeling, personalization, and recommendation
• Security and Privacy: Privacy-enhancing technologies

Abstract

Wireless mouse rings offer subtle, reliable pointing interactions for wearable computing platforms. However, the small battery below 27 mAh in the miniature rings restricts the ring's continuous lifespan to just 1-10 hours, because current low-powered wireless communication such as BLE is power-consuming for ring's continuous use. The ring's short lifespan frequently disrupts users' mouse use with the need for frequent charging. This paper presents picoRing mouse, enabling a continuous ring-based mouse interaction with ultra-low-powered ring-to-wristband wireless communication. picoRing mouse employs a coil-based impedance sensing named semi-passive inductive telemetry, allowing a wristband coil to capture a unique frequency response of a nearby ring coil via a sensitive inductive coupling between the coils. The ring coil converts the corresponding user's mouse input into the unique frequency response via an up to 449 uW mouse-driven modulation system. Therefore, the continuous use of picoRing mouse can last approximately 600 (8hrs use/day)-1000 (4hrs use/day) hours on a single charge of a 27 mAh battery while supporting subtle thumb-to-index scrolling and pressing interactions in real-world wearable computing situations.

Problem

• Extend battery life of wireless mouse rings beyond 1-10 hours
• Reduce power consumption of continuous ring-to-wristband communication
• Enable subtle thumb-to-index interactions in wearable computing

Innovation

• Ultra-low-power ring-to-wristband wireless communication
• Semi-passive inductive telemetry for sensing
• Mouse-driven modulation system under 449 uW