Verifying a written expression

• US 20070146350A1
• Filed: 11/20/2006
• Published: 06/28/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Searete LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Harlow, Ed, Cohen, Alexander, Leuthardt, Eric, Malamud, Mark, Levien, Royce, Cohen, B.
• Granted Patent: US 8,599,174 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/179
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03545 Pens or stylus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/12 Details of acquisition arrangements; Constructional details thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/1423 the instrument generating sequences of position coordinates corresponding to handwriting preprocessing or recognising digital ink G06V30/32

Abstract

Embodiments include a method, a manual device, a handheld manual device, a handheld writing device, a system, and an apparatus. An embodiment provides a system. The system includes a manual device that includes a writing element operable to discharge a marking substance on a surface in response to a movement of the writing element upon the surface. The system also includes a sensor operable to acquire information corresponding to an environment of the manual device. The system further includes a verification module operable to determine a correspondence between a first aspect of the environment of the manual device and a second aspect of the environment of the manual device.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a manual device including a writing element operable to discharge a marking substance on a surface in response to a movement of the writing element upon the surface;

a sensor operable to acquire information corresponding to an environment of the manual device; and

a verification module operable to determine a correspondence between a first aspect of the environment of the manual device and a second aspect of the environment of the manual device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the manual device including a writing element operable to discharge a marking substance on a surface in response to a movement of the writing element upon the surface further includes:

a handheld manual device including a writing element operable to discharge a marking substance on a surface in response to a movement of the writing element upon the surface.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the manual device including a writing element operable to discharge a marking substance on a surface in response to a movement of the writing element upon the surface further includes:

a handheld electronic writing device including a writing element operable to discharge a marking substance on a surface in response to a movement of the writing element upon the surface.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the manual device including a writing element operable to discharge a marking substance on a surface in response to a movement of the writing element upon the surface further includes:

a manual device including a writing element operable to discharge a marking substance on a surface in response to a movement of the writing element upon a surface of a body, a package, and/or an object.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the manual device including a writing element operable to discharge a marking substance on a surface in response to a movement of the writing element upon the surface further includes:

a manual device including a writing element operable to discharge a marking substance on a surface in response to a movement of the writing element upon the surface and a controller operable to regulate the discharge of the marking substance.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the manual device including a writing element operable to discharge a marking substance on a surface in response to a movement of the writing element upon the surface and a controller operable to regulate the discharge of the marking substance further includes:

a manual device including a writing element operable to discharge a marking substance on a surface in response to a movement of the writing element upon the surface and a controller operable to encode information corresponding to an environment of the manual device by regulating the discharge of the marking substance.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the manual device including a writing element operable to discharge a marking substance on a surface in response to a movement of the writing element upon the surface and a controller operable to encode information corresponding to an environment of the manual device by regulating the discharge of the marking substance further includes:

a manual device including a writing element operable to discharge a marking substance on a surface in response to a movement of the writing element upon the surface and a controller operable to acquire a code useful in encoding information corresponding to an environment of the manual device and to encode the information corresponding to an environment of the manual device by regulating the discharge of the marking substance.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the manual device including a writing element operable to discharge a marking substance on a surface in response to a movement of the writing element upon the surface and a controller operable to regulate the discharge of the marking substance further includes:

a manual device including a writing element operable to discharge a marking substance on a surface in response to a movement of the writing element upon the surface and a controller operable to inhibit the discharge of the marking substance if a condition is not met.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the manual device including a writing element operable to discharge a marking substance on a surface in response to a movement of the writing element upon the surface further includes:

a manual device including a writing element operable to discharge a marking substance on a surface in response to a movement of the writing element upon the surface and including the sensor operable to acquire information corresponding to an environment of the manual device.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an electronic device that includes the sensor operable to acquire information corresponding an environment of the manual device.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor operable to acquire information corresponding to an environment of the manual device further includes:

a sensor operable to acquire information corresponding to at least one of time, location, global position, acceleration, temperature, user identification and/or user data environment of the manual device.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor operable to acquire information corresponding to an environment of the manual device further includes:

a sensor operable to acquire information corresponding to at least one of a characteristic of a human touching the manual device, a characteristic of a human proximate to the manual device, and/or a characteristic of a physical object proximate to manual device.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor operable to acquire information corresponding to an environment of the manual device further includes:

a sensor including an imaging element operable to acquire information corresponding to a visual and/or acoustical aspect of the surface.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor operable to acquire information corresponding to an environment of the manual device further includes:

a sensor operable to acquire information from at least one of a radio frequency identification tag, a passive radio frequency identification tag, a semi-passive radio frequency identification tag, and/or an active radio frequency identification tag.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor operable to acquire information corresponding to an environment of the manual device further includes:

a sensor operable to acquire information from a radio frequency identification device associatable with at least one of a human and/or an object.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor operable to acquire information corresponding to an environment of the manual device further includes:

a sensor operable to acquire information corresponding to an environment of the manual device and wirelessly transmit the acquired information to the manual device.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the manual device including a writing element operable to discharge a marking substance on a surface in response to a movement of the writing element upon the surface further includes:

a manual device including a writing element operable to discharge a marking substance on a surface in response to a movement of the writing element upon the surface and further including a storage device configurable by a file that includes data useful in a verification of the environment of the manual device.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the manual device including a writing element operable to discharge a marking substance on a surface in response to a movement of the writing element upon the surface further includes:

a manual device including a storage device configurable by a file that includes data useful in a verification of the environment of the manual device and further including the sensor operable to acquire information corresponding to the environment of the manual device.

19. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a computing device that includes a storage device configurable by a file that includes data useful in a verification of the environment of the manual device.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the computing device that includes a storage device configurable by a file that includes data useful in a verification of the environment of the manual device further includes:

a computing device that includes a storage device configurable by a file that includes at least one instance of an aspect of the environment of the manual device and a code indicative of the environment of the manual marking device.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the computing device that includes a storage device configurable by a file that includes data useful in a verification of the environment of the manual device further includes:

a computing device that includes a storage device configurable by a file that includes at least one instance of medical information corresponding to a patient.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the computing device that includes a storage device configurable by a file that includes data useful in a verification of the environment of the manual device further includes:

a computing device that includes a storage device configurable by a patient medical information file that includes at least one instance of an identification of an attending physician, an identification of an ancillary physician, a treatment plan, a patient prescription, and/or a medical image corresponding to the patient.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the computing device that includes a storage device configurable by a file that includes data useful in a verification of the environment of the manual device further includes:

a computing device that includes a storage device configurable by a file that includes at least one instance of a correspondence of a radio frequency identification device aspect of the environment with a human aspect of the environment and/or with an object associatable with the radio frequency identification device.

24. The system of claim 19, wherein the computing device that includes a storage device configurable by a file that includes data useful in a verification of the environment of the manual device further includes:

a computing device that includes a storage device configurable by a file that includes data useful in a verification of a book, a shipping container, a package and/or with an object that includes the surface.

25. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a computing device that includes a storage device configurable by a file that includes data useful in a verification of the environment of the manual device and that is operable to wirelessly communicate with the manual device.

26. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a computing device that includes a storage device configurable by a file that includes data useful in a verification of the environment of the manual device and that further includes the sensor operable to acquire information corresponding to the environment of the manual device.

27. The system of claim 1, wherein the verification module operable to determine a correspondence between a first aspect of the environment of the manual device and a second aspect of the environment of the manual device further includes:

a verification module operable to authenticate a user by determining a correspondence between a user-entered identification and a sensor-acquired information corresponding to a user of the manual device.

28. The system of claim 1, wherein the verification module operable to determine a correspondence between a first aspect of the environment of the manual device and a second aspect of the environment of the manual device further includes:

a verification module operable to determine a correspondence between an aspect of the surface bearing a mark formed by the discharge of the marking substance upon the surface in response to a movement of the writing element and data in a file that includes an indication of a predetermined surface to be marked by the manual device.

29. The system of claim 1, wherein the verification module operable to determine a correspondence between a first aspect of the environment of the manual device and a second aspect of the environment of the manual device further includes:

a verification module operable to determine a correspondence between an aspect of the surface and information embodied in a mark formed on the surface by the manual marking device.

30. A method comprising:

acquiring information corresponding to an environment of a device having a marking element;

forming a mark on a surface corresponding to a manual movement of the marking element upon the surface; and

determining a correspondence between a first aspect of the environment of the device and a second aspect of the environment of the device.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the acquiring information corresponding to an environment of a device having a marking element further includes:

acquiring information corresponding to an environment of a device having a marking element using a sensor physically coupled with the device.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the acquiring information corresponding to an environment of a device having a marking element further includes:

wirelessly acquiring information corresponding to an environment of a device having a marking element from a sensor not physically coupled with the device.

33. The method of claim 30, wherein the forming a mark on a surface corresponding to a manual movement of the marking element upon the surface further includes:

forming a mark on a surface corresponding to a manual movement of a stylus upon the surface.

34. The method of claim 30, wherein the forming a mark on a surface corresponding to a manual movement of the marking element upon the surface further includes:

discharging from the writing element a marking substance onto a surface in response to a movement of the writing element over the surface.

35. The method of claim 30, wherein the determining a correspondence between first aspect of the environment of the device and a second aspect of the environment of the device further includes:

determining a correspondence between a user-entered identification and a sensor-acquired information corresponding to a user of the manual device.

36. The method of claim 30, wherein the determining a correspondence between first aspect of the environment of the device and a second aspect of the environment of the device further includes:

determining a correspondence between an aspect of the formed mark on a surface and a saved information corresponding to a preselected aspect of the formed mark on the surface.

37. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

configuring a storage device in response to a file that includes data useful in verification of the environment of the manual device.

38. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

controlling the forming a mark on a surface corresponding to a manual movement of the marking element upon the surface at least partially in response to the determining a correspondence between a first aspect of the environment of the device and a second aspect of the environment of the device.

39. A device having a marking element comprising:

means for acquiring information corresponding to an environment of the device;

means for forming a mark on a surface corresponding to a manual movement of the marking element upon the surface; and

means for determining a correspondence between first aspect of the environment of the device and a second aspect of the environment of the device.

40. The device of claim 39, further comprising:

means for configuring a storage device in response to a file that includes data useful in verification of the environment of the manual device.