Digital Pen & Paper Technology

Our digital pen & paper solution consists of three components: Intelligent Paper, the Digital Pen and Web Portal.

 

  • Intelligent Paper

 
To make our paper forms intelligent, printed on every page is a special pattern made up of thousands of precisely arranged dots. Encoded within the pattern of dots is an X,Y position readable by the Digital Pen. 
 
 

 
Each page has a unique pattern that allows it to be automatically indexed.
 
Forms can be printed with officer laser printers, or by print shops. Our software takes care of applying the pattern to the background of each page; Our servers manage a vast quantity of pattern. (Millions of pages.) 
 
This technology can be used on all types of paper and with all types of document.
 
The dot pattern appears as a fine grey background on the paper.

 

  • The Digital Pen 

Digital pens are tried and tested devices that are robust and intuitive to use. They contain a tiny camera, a processor, some memory, USB and Bluetooth connections and of course a standard ballpoint ink refill.
 
 

 
While writing with the pen, the camera ‘reads’ the special dot pattern and calculates the pen’s position on the page.
 
Each pen has a unique ID and assigned to an identified user. The pen also contains a real-time clock, synchronised to our servers. 
 
Every pen stroke made on the page is timestamped and can be traced back to a particular pen.
 
The handwritten data is then transferred in real time to a Web portal via a USB or Bluetooth connection using a PC, mobile phone or Bluetooth gateway.  
 
A secure data exchange protocol ensures information is fully protected.
 

  • Web Portal

 

Data uploaded from the pen is processed on our server where handwriting is converted into data, typically PDF, image files, XML, CSV and other formats.
 
The Web Portal allows data collected by the pen to be viewed and shared in real time. 
 
Every change made to data in the portal is logged and can be traced back to an authenticated user.
 
The Web Portal can be configured to deliver data to customers’ existing databases and other back office systems.