Pen with tag reader and navigation system

• US 20050024690A1
• Filed: 07/31/2003
• Published: 02/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Curtis, Hoyle, Picciotto, Carl E., Rosenberg, Steven T.
• Application Number:
  US10/632,770
• Publication Number:
  US 20050024690A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/472
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/19 by sensing codes defining pattern positions
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/1423 the instrument generating sequences of position coordinates corresponding to handwriting preprocessing or recognising digital ink G06V30/32

Abstract

A digitizing pen has a pen body with a writing tip for handwriting on a sheet of paper. An optical sensor disposed in the pen body images a writing surface of the sheet of paper. A tag-recognition reader is connected to the optical sensor, and gathers location information from data encoded on at least one tag positioned on the writing surface. A velocity reader is connected to the optical sensor, and gathers speed and relative direction information of the writing tip over the writing surface. A processor connected to receive the tag location, writing-tip speed, and writing-tip relative direction information, can then compute a series of locations on the writing surface visited by the writing tip.

Claims

1. A digitizing pen, comprising:

a pen body with a writing tip for handwriting on a sheet of paper;

an optical sensor for imaging a writing surface of said sheet of paper and that is disposed in the pen body;

a tag-recognition reader connected to the optical sensor, and for gathering location information from data encoded on at least one tag positioned on said writing surface;

a velocity reader connected to the optical sensor, and for gathering speed and relative direction information of said writing tip over said writing surface; and

a processor connected to receive said tag location, writing-tip speed, and writing-tip relative direction information, and for computing a series of locations on said writing surface visited by said writing tip.

2. The pen of claim 1, wherein:

the optical sensor comprises an optical reader, a light, an array of photodetectors and a processor;

the light providing, at a grazing angle, a source of light on or below the tip;

the optical reader collecting reflected light from the light and focusing it on the photodetectors;

the photodetectors adapted to capture surface features and produce a sequence of digital frames corresponding to those features; and

the processor being adapted to yield location information by comparing frames from the sequence.

3. The pen of claim 1, wherein:

the tip further comprises a ball for depositing ink; and

the processor obtains a sequence of images of an ink surface on the ball and extracts location information from the sequence.

12. The pen of claim 2, wherein:

the light provides a source of coherent light and the position-locating system captures surface features by detecting specular reflection.

13. The pen of claim 2, wherein:

the grazing angle is 5 to 20 degrees.

14. The pen of claim 2, wherein:

tag data and location information are transmitted from the pen to a user'"'"'s computer over a wireless network.

4. A method for digitizing a path having an initiation point and termination point, the path created by the movement of a pen tip over a surface printed with tags encoded with data, the method comprising the steps of:

capturing instances of tag data by using an optoelectronic tag sensor carried by the pen;

obtaining location information between the instances by using a position-locating system carried by the pen; and

combining tag data and location information to construct a digital representation of the path.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein:

determining the initiation point and termination point of a path is interpolated and extrapolated from tag data.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the position-locating system is an optical reader comprising an optical reader, a light, an array of photodetectors and a processor.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the tip further comprises a ball for depositing ink; and

the position-locating system obtains a sequence of images of an ink surface on the ball and extracts the location information from the sequence.

15. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the light provides a source of coherent light and the position-locating system captures surface features by detecting specular reflection.

8. A method for capturing a signature created by the movement of a pen tip over a surface printed with tags encoded with data, the method comprising the steps of:

capturing instances of tag data by using an optoelectronic tag sensor carried by the pen;

obtaining location information between the instances by using a position-locating system carried by the pen;

combining tag data and location information to construct a digital representation of the path.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein:

determining the initiation point and termination point of the path is done by using the position-locating system or tag data.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the position-locating system is an optical reader comprising an optical reader, a light, an array of photodetectors and a processor.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the tip further comprises a ball for depositing ink; and

the position-locating system obtains a sequence of images of an ink surface on the ball and extracts the location information from the sequence.

16. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the light provides a source of coherent light and the position-locating system captures surface features by detecting specular reflection.

17. A pen and printer for capturing a digital record of a pen'"'"'s location on a paper, comprising:

a digitizing pen having a surface contacting tip, an optical tag sensor for capturing tag data, a position-locating system for providing location information between tags, the pen also having transmission hardware for supplying tag data and location information to a computer; and

a printer for adding tags onto an already printed surface, which tags can be read by the pen but not by the naked eye.

18. The pen and printer of claim 17, wherein:

the position-locating system is an optical reader comprising an optical reader, a light, an array of photodetectors and a processor;

the light providing, at a grazing angle, a source of light on or below the tip;

the optical reader collecting reflected light from the light and focusing it on the photodetectors;

the photodetectors adapted to capture surface features and produce a sequence of digital frames corresponding to those features; and

the processor being adapted to yield location information by comparing frames from the sequence.

19. The pen and printer of claim 17, wherein:

the tip further comprises a ball for depositing ink; and

the position-locating system obtains a sequence of images of an ink surface on the ball and extracts location information and path information from the sequence.

20. The pen and printer of claim 17, wherein:

the path information comprises an initiation point and a termination point and the initiation point and the termination point of the path are determined from data provided by the position-locating system.