Mouse command coding

A method of encoding manipulations of a multidimensional input device, such as a mouse, into data to be communicated to a data processing apparatus. Sensors in the input device detect manipulations of a member of the input device with respect to an X-axis and a Y-axis. From the sensor data, a direction and a magnitude of the manipulation is derived. These intermediate quantities are communicated to the data processing apparatus instead of the X- and a Y-values themselves. In the data processing apparatus, a decoder decodes the intermediate quantities into a further pair of X-and Y-values. The intermediate values more adequately represent the manipulations. Therefore, in input devices having a limited power budget, like TV remote controls and other wireless input devices, the method achieves a higher performance.