Universal computing device

• US 20040140965A1
• Filed: 01/07/2004
• Published: 07/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Wang, Jian, Zhang, Chunhui, Xu, An, Xu, Yihua
• Granted Patent: US 7,142,197 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/179
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0317 in co-operation with a patterned surface, e.g. absolute position or relative movement detection for an optical mouse or pen positioned with respect to a coded surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0321 by optically sensing the absolute position with respect to a regularly patterned surface forming a passive digitiser, e.g. pen optically detecting position indicative tags printed on a paper sheet constructional details of pen-shaped pointing devices G06F3/03545, G06F3/03542, G06F3/037
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03545 Pens or stylus

Abstract

The universal input device provides a common user interface for a variety of different computing platforms including printed documents. Using the present system, one may use the universal input device to control various computing devices as well as capture handwritten electronic ink and have the electronic ink be associated with new or stored documents. The universal input device can be identified by a specific identification in order to allow for multiple users to operate on a document and/or within an application program simultaneously or not. An off-set optical system with infrared illumination handles perspective and helps detect positional encoding which can be covered by existing ink under common visible light illumination.

Claims

1. An input device for generating data representative of handwritten strokes, the input device comprising:

an image capturing unit for capturing an image of an area of an object over which the input device is positioned and generating captured image data;

a processor for processing the captured image data;

a memory for storing data representative of handwritten strokes based on the captured image data; and

an identifier of the input device.

2. The input device of claim 1, further comprising a communication unit for transmitting data representing movement of the input device to an external processing unit for generating signals representative of handwritten inputs.

3. The input device of claim 2, wherein the external processing unit is a personal digital assistant.

4. The input device of claim 2, wherein the communication unit is configured to transmit data representing movement wirelessly.

5. The input device of claim 4, wherein the communication unit is an addressable communication unit.

6. The input device of claim 5, wherein the address of the addressable communication unit corresponds to the identifier of the input device.

7. The input device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to compress the captured image data.

8. The input device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to generate a data frame for transmission to an external processing unit, the data frame including:

compressed captured image data;

sensed forced data;

time stamp data;

compression flag data; and

cyclic redundancy check data.

9. The input device of claim 8, wherein the identifier of the input device is located within the compression flag data.

10. The input device of claim 1, wherein the identifier specifically identifies the input device.

11. The input device of claim 1, wherein the image capturing unit is configured to operate on a plurality of embedded interaction coding enabled display devices.

12. The input device of claim 11, wherein at least one of the plurality of embedded interaction coding enabled display devices can be configured to recharge the input device.

13. A system for receiving data from a plurality of input devices, the system comprising:

a processor for wirelessly receiving a data stream, the data stream representing data frames received from a plurality of input devices,

wherein the processor is configured to identify a first data frame in the data stream by a first identifier, the first identifier identifying a first input device, and to extract the first data frame from the data stream based upon the first identifier,

wherein the first data frame includes data representative of handwritten strokes based on image data captured by the first input device.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to identify a second data frame in the data stream by a second identifier, the second identifier identifying a second input device, and to extract the second data frame from the data stream based upon the second identifier, wherein the second data frame includes data representative of handwritten strokes based on image data captured by the second input device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the processor is configured to store the extracted data from the data stream based upon the first identifier and the extracted data from the data stream based upon the second identifier in memory.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the first identifier is a specific number of bits of data in a predetermined field of the first data frame.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to store the extracted first data frame in memory.

18. A method for sorting a plurality of data frames in a data stream, the method comprising steps of:

receiving a data stream representative of data frames from a plurality of input devices;

locating a first input device identifier in a first data frame of the data stream;

determining a first input device associated with the first input device identifier; and

storing the first data frame in memory based upon the associated first input device,

wherein the first data frame includes data representative of handwritten strokes based on image data captured by the first input device.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising steps of:

locating a second input device identifier in a second data frame of the data stream;

determining a second input device associated with the second input device identifier; and

storing the second data frame in memory based upon the associated second input device,

wherein the second data frame includes data representative of handwritten strokes based on image data captured by the second input device.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the first input device identifier specifically identifies the first input device and the second input device specifically identifies the second input device.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the first data frame includes:

a compressed captured image field;

a time stamp field;

a compression flag field; and

a cyclic redundancy check field.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the first input device identifier is located within the compression flag field.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein the first input device identifier corresponds to an address of an addressable communication unit associated with the first input device.