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BY
SRUTHY . R . NATH
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a Smart quill was invented by Lyndsey Williams of

Cambridge University along with British
Telecommunications.
2 Smart quill is a pen that records whatever it writes
and then transforms into a computer text.
3 It is slightly larger than a fountain pen.
4 Does not require a special surface to write and with a
screen on its barrel.
5 Downloading and uploading of the data is possible.
6 Provides security by handwriting recognition and
signature identification.

 

O 3 line display screen is available to see the stored data.

8 The pen is plugged into an electronic docking station and

text data is transmitted to a computer , printer etc.

9 Contains ink cartridge incase the user wants to see what

he writes.

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The power will be automatically switched off when it is

kept idle for sometime.
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s Users can enter information into these pen by simply pressing

a button and writing down what they like to enter.
s Accelerometers are used to sense the movement of the pen
by using earths gravity systems.
s The movement is then sent to microcontroller which from
number of modes selects the response.
s User can use any platform to write a paper , screen , tablet or
even air.
s MEMS technology tilt sensors are used for the tilt functions.
s The user can trains the pen to recognize a particular
handwriting and it will recognize it later.
Ô  


s About ten pages of note can be stored in the pen.

s 4MB EEPROM is the memory used.
s Two AAA batteries are used for the power supply.
    
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s It record the writings for radio transmission to

computers , cell phones , printers etc.
s Accelerometer tracks the movement of the tip of the
pen at angle in air and it is plotted on the x-y axis on the
pc screen.
s It contains left to right tilt sensors,8 bit PIC
microcontroller,batteries,433Mhz a2

Baud radio
transmitter.
s Currently a radio receiver on the RS232 port on the pc
record the movement of the tip of the pen.
s Battery life is 22 hrs.

 

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s OPIN CORPǯS cyber display technology is used.

s Uses transmissive liquid crystal .
s Cyber display is ¼ inch LCD display screen.
s Typical pixel size is a5 micro meter square . As a result
smallest display for resolution is possible.
s High resolution is magnified by optical lenses.
s Backlight used since LCD is a non Ȃ emissive device.
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s Single character recognition for pen.

s Password by signature recognition.
s Works by comparing the pens movement with
those movements that produced words that had
been already stored into the pen.
s Consistency of handwriting required more than
neatness.
s Two main technologies are used.
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s A tiny accelerometer in the pen can be used

to detect the starts and stops , loops arcs etc.
s It records movement depending on the
earths gravity.
s As result of which invisible writing on air can
be recorded.
s Movements are stored within the pen.
s A microcontroller makes sense of the signals
as a text displayed on the screen.

  

s Two types of accelerometer
used.
s Two axes accelerometers
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s A software is embedded in the
microcontroller of the pen is used to
recognize the handwriting of the user.
s The handwriting recognition software put
into the pc translates movement into text on
screen.
Handwriting recognition consist of two
major phase.
s a Handwriting transcription.
s 2 Handwriting recognition.

 
  
 
 
 


s In this phase, the recorded acceleration signals are

then transcripted to itǯs original form.


s In order for this principle to work properly, we have
to solve two main problems:
s Firstly, we have to know penǯs spatial orientation in
order to withdraw the earth gravity component to
the measured accelerations.
s Secondly, we have to succeed in the double
integration, which is to solve all the derivation
problems due to this method.
 
  
 
   




s The first step consists in creating the reference
database for the characters as for the signature.
s The second step is the recognition process

a For the creation of database, each symbol was

reproduced several times and a mean normalized
symbol was computed.

2 For recognition process, the unknown symbol is

first normalized, the distance between this symbol
and the entire database symbol is computed. Then
the unknown symbol is recognized as the one with
the lowest distance.
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s The pen would align text if it was held in left

or right hand so the text was the correct way
up for left or right handed people.
s This was done by using Micro
Electromechanical Systems (MEMS tilt
sensors to measure tilt angle to earth.
s MEMS sensors that detects direction of force
can be used.
s Smart Quill could also scroll through pages of
display by tilting it in the hand and power off
if no hand movement was detected or pen
was flat on a desk.
„  



 
s Early models used radio transmitters to
connect to a pc.
s Current models use data cables and
electronic docking station.
s Future models can receive e-mails and
pager via wireless communication
systems.
 

Smart Quill has 4MB EEPROM

memory.


 
s a Smart quill provide ink cartridge so that user can see
what is being written.

2 Smart Quill provides intuitive user interface.

s 3 Security is another important feature.
a It enables handwriting recognition . The
symbols regularly used by user gets stored in the
memory, by frequent use of the pen. Hence the pen
accepts only the ownerǯs handwriting.
b It enables signature verification. Hence
Passwords could be entered in the form of signatures .
s


 

s 4 The Smart Quill is also a 3D-mouse.

s 5 Power saving
a Small screen size requires less battery
power .
b No movement of the pen causes auto
power down.
s 6 Smart Quill is all mobile, smaller in size
and enables one-handed use.
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s The pen is a usual input device and mixing

input and output capabilities may lead to user
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s The future of Smart Quill ensures all computation

power the user needs right inside the pen.
s Reducing the size of handheld computers can only
be taken so far before they become unusable.
s Keyboards become so tiny you require needle-like
fingers to operate them and screens that need
constant cursor controls to read simple text.
s The introduction of Smart Quill is the best solution
for this problem.
 

s RNRT Stylcon project ,notified on
25

a6.

s E Milen , C Roux , Dzuser input to design of
communication pen , Smart Object Conference , 2

3
s R Baron , R Plamondon Dz Acceleration measurement
with an instrument for sign verification and analysis IEEE
Trans Vol IM-38
s BT Website: http://www.smartquill.com.
s B Milner DzHandwriting recognition using accelerator
based motion detector IEEE ref a999/
4a , a999