The miniaturization of electronics has meant that the inner workings of a mouse can be crammed inside a package that is much smaller than is ergonomically recommended for such a device. This has freed up mouse manufacturers to put some of that wasted space to good use by extending the capabilities of the ubiquitous pointing peripheral. We recently looked at the Canon Mark I that combines a mouse, keyboard and calculator and now LG is getting in on the multi-capable mouse action with what strikes us as a very good idea - a mouse that doubles as a handheld scanner.

In addition to a laser sensor for regular mouse duties, the LSM-100 also incorporates scanning technology that allows it to scan page sizes of up to A3 size, outdoing most portable scanners. Along with the left, right and back mouse buttons, the LSM-100 also features a Smart Scan button on its left side that, when held down, allows the user to swipe the mouse over the material to be scanned. LG says the mouse also packs upgraded scanning technology that allows it to handle faster pass-over rates for speedier scanning.

Scanned images can be saved in PNG, JPEG, TIFF, BMP, PDF, XLS or DOC format, or dragged and dropped into the desired application. The LSM-100 also features Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology to convert scanned text into editable text within a Microsoft Word document.

LG was showing a prototype of the LSM-100 at CES in January, but now has a market-ready product that is set to be launched in Europe at the end of August for around US$150, with a global launch to follow shortly thereafter. LG will also be showcasing the device at IFA 2011.