Digital Pen Technology

The concept of the paperless office has yet to turn into a reality. Paper is cheaper to produce, lighter in weight and easier to read than a handheld computer or personal digital assistant (PDA).

Our business still relies heavily on pen and paper, for most uses, because paper is still the best and most convenient tool for the job.

By enabling our engineers to pass handwritten data to their computers or automatically to their server, we offer a powerful time saving advantage.

Digital Pen and Paper (DP&P) takes an age old, convenient way of information gathering and enhances it. Developed by Anoto, a Swedish IT company, DP&P allows us to capture and transmit information as it is written using a wireless ink pen together with specially printed paper. Digital Pens are manufactured under license from Anoto by Nokia, Logitech and Maxell.

Our engineers write with the Digital Pen on the specially printed paper (This is normal paper printed with a faint, unique pattern of dots). As the user writes, a tiny camera in the pen registers its movement across the surface of the paper. The camera takes up to 100 pictures per second of the position of the pen strokes in relation to the 'dot pattern' on the page. This creates a digital image of exactly what is written with each pen stroke, time and date stamped. In addition to this all pen data can be linked to an individual user, as each Digital Pen has a unique Pen ID.

The pen stroke data is stored as a series of map co-ordinates in the Digital Pen and because the pattern on the paper is unique, with an individual traceability code, the pen knows which pen strokes relate to each piece of paper. A command box, to send the data, is printed on each page or paper form. This is called the “SEND pidget”. On completion of a form the user simply ticks the SEND pidget to transmit the data.

When you tick the SEND pidget, your data can be transmitted to a computer system via a Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone. In our workshops the data can is transferred using a docking station attached by USB port to one of our PC’s..

Unlike laptops and handheld PCs everyone knows how to use pen and paper. The forms have the same look and feel as our existing ones only now the engineer needs to tick the SEND pidget to transmit data on the forms. Not everyone is comfortable with signing a handheld PDA pad or a tablet PC. By using Digital Pen and Paper, our employees and customers see little change to their current format.

If you would like to know more about this process and how it will help you as our customers please contact Steve Mulvaney on his e mail steve.mulvaney@stonehardy.co.uk

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