Digital Pen Data Capture Systems

How Do Digital Pens Work

The Pen

Based on technology from the Swedish company Anoto, the Digital Pen looks and feels like a normal ballpoint pen. However, it contains an integrated digital camera, an advanced image microprocessor and a Bluetooth transceiver device for wireless connection.

The Paper

The pen works with any paper that is overprinted with a pattern of small black dots that are barely visible to the naked eye. The pattern acts like a digital map and indicates the exact position of the digital pen as it moves across the paper.

Using the Pen

In combination with the paper, the digital pen starts digitizing handwritten text the moment you put pen to paper. As you write, the built in camera automatically takes digital snapshots of the dot pattern on the paper at a rate of between 50 and 100 images per second. Every snapshot contains enough data to enable the pen’s image microprocessor to determine the exact position of the digital pen and what it writes or draws. The digital pens can typically store up to 40 pages of A4 text, sufficient for the electronic data capture requirements of most businesses.

Using the Captured Data

Completed documents can be uploaded via a docking station connected to a PC, or, by pairing the digital pen to a compatible mobile phone via Bluetooth. The mobile phone then acts like a modem, sending the pen’s captured electronic data via GPRS to a target location. All this information can then be integrated into your business applications in seconds.