12-03-2011, 10:02 AM
presented by:
G.SRIPRIYA,
D.SHILPA
B.L.SRAVANTH
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SMART QUILL,a pen that can remember the words that it is used to write, and then transform them into computer text .
Lyndsay Williams of Microsoft Research's Cambridge UK lab is the inventor .The idea that "it would be neat to put all of a handheld-PDA type computer in a pen," came to the inventor in her sleep . "It's the pen for the new millennium," she says. Encouraged by Nigel Ballard, a leading consultant to the mobile computer industry, Williams took her prototype to the British Telecommunications Research Lab, where she was promptly hired and given money and institutional support for her project. The prototype, called SmartQuil, has been developed by world-leading research laboratories run by BT (formerly British Telecom) at Martlesham, eastern England. It is claimed to be the biggest revolution in handwriting since the invention of the pen.
WORKING
The Pen's Construction
The Smart Pen is built with either a 1GB or 2GB flash memory capability. It also comes with stereo microphones placed on each side of the built-in Organic LED screen. The top of the pen holds the jack where the included headphones can be connected. The headphones are also stereo microphones while being worn with the added benefit of recording a 3D sound scheme---giving the wearer the ability to record everything around them. The tip of the pen contains the pen cartridge slot that holds ink pen tips or stylus tips. The pen is used with notebooks and journals that contain a special paper known as "dot paper."
The Pen and Paper Connection
The association between the pen and the paper also deals with the pen's ability to record audio with or without the headset while timing that recording with what you have written on the paper. This process is called 'Paper Replay' and is initiated by using the recording controls on the bottom of each page (in the spiral notebooks) or the controls across two pages.When you have tapped the record button on the bottom of the page,the audio recorder begins recording.As you take notes, the pen lines up what you wrote with what was recorded at that same moment and does this until you stop the recording. After you have done this, and Paper Replay is turned on on the pen, you can then tap anywhere in your notes and the audio recording will start playing from that point.This is possible because each notebook is marked and identified by the infrared camera attached to the tip of the pen. Then,the pen reads the microscopic patterns on the dot paper which tell the pen what page you are on in that particular notebook or journal.While it does this the pen records your pen movements against the infrared patterns on the page and keeps track with audio while also recording in its memory your movements on the page.The pen will record drawings as well as written text.
Using the Pen With Your Computer
Once you have completed your notetaking or other writing, you then connect the pen to your computer using the included pen dock. The pen dock connects your pen to the computer and is used to remove and insert ink pen or stylus cartridges into the pen. It is also how the pen's battery is charged. You will, after following the included instructions, already have the interface software, "Lightscribe Desktop," installed on your computer. The pen connects and the software opens on its own by default. You can then browse the contents you have on your pen---the pages you've used in each stored notebook, the audio recording and how long it is. Lightscribe also offers storage space on their servers (250MB at this writing) and you can clear your pen by uploading the audio and pages off of it. The audio is in MP3 format, so it is very clear on playback.
HAND WRITING RECOGNITION SOFTWARE
This software embedded in the microprocessor of the pen is used to recognize handwriting of the user. Pen works in conjunction with a regular PC on to which users install special handwriting recognition software. The handwriting recognition software translates movements in to text on screen.
Handwriting recognition software constitutes two major phases:
1. Handwriting transcription 2. Handwriting recognition
Handwriting transcription
In this phase, the recorded acceleration signals are then transcripted to it’s original form. Here this aspect is solved using ‘simple’ double integration method in order to retrace the pen tip movement on paper.
Method:-
In order for this principle to work properly, we have to solve two main problems:
Firstly, we have to know pen’s spatial orientation in order to withdraw the earth gravity component to the measured accelerations.
Secondly, we have to succeed in the double integration, which is to solve all the derivation problems due to this method.
We can see:
Handwriting recognition
The second huge aspect is the characters and signatures recognition. The hardware (accelerometers plus contact detector) embedded in the pen has proved a really efficient combination for this application.
Method:-
The same method is used to recognize the characters written by a single user and to find whose signature is the one that has just been done.
We use a simple Euclidian distance as the comparison process, and of course the decision process is the smaller distance found.The first step -1- consists in creating the reference database for the characters as for the signatures. For this a mean signal is computed for each recorded symbol.
The second step is the recognition process
For the creation of database, each symbol was reproduced several times and a mean normalized symbol was computed.
FEATURES
Display technology used in SmartQuill
Handwriting recognition and signature verification
Display scrolls using tilt sensors
Communication with other devices
Memory and power
USES OF SMART QUILL
Personal Organization
The Smart Quill can be used extensively for personal organization, much like a personal digital assistant (PDA). According to the Seminar Topics website, "future models could receive emails and pager messages via a wireless messaging system. This enables two-way wireless communication with other computing devices." This pen can be used to hold a database, up to 10 pages of notes, personal diaries, calculators and a pager.
Security
Smart Quill pens are trained to recognize only the owner's handwriting, making it a valuable security tool. If the pen is used by someone other than the owner, it simply will not write. The owner of the Smart Quill pen "trains" the pen to their style of handwriting. The inventor of the Smart Quill, Lyndsay Williams, states, "Consistency of handwriting, rather than neatness, is the only condition for accuracy."
Transcription
For people who take notes while traveling, the Smart Quill can save a lot of time transcribing and typing notes to a computer. The Smart Quill can be connected to a PC via a docking station and "ink well" and will automatically upload and transcribe the notes taken by the pen and convert the handwritten text to computer text.
Mobility
The Smart Quill is very small and can be carried anywhere, unlike a more cumbersome laptop computer. This is important for people that do a lot of business outside an office environment . The Smart Quill also eliminates the need for typing on a keyboard.
CONCLUSION
SmartQuill will be brought to the market by the end of 2006.The estimated cost of this futuristic pen is around $600 . SmartQuill supports two factors : small size and convenient use. The future of SmartQuill ensures all computation power the user needs right inside the pen. Reducing the size of handheld computers can only be taken so far before they become unusable. Keyboards become so tiny you require needle-like fingers to operate them and screens that need constant cursor controls to read simple text.The introduction of SmartQuill is the best solution for this problem.