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Digital Pens and How They Work

Digital pens write like a normal ballpoint; however, they are used on digital paper forms overprinted with a feint microscopic dot pattern. With our digital capture solution, the pattern on each printed page is unique – just like a fingerprint.

Each electronic data capture pen contains an infrared camera, processor, memory, datalink and battery. As the digital pen moves across the page the camera tracks and records the unique dot pattern, providing electronic data capture. At any given moment the pen knows precisely where it is on the page and what page it is on.

Every data pen stroke is time stamped, useful for knowing the time and order in which e forms are completed and, for example, spotting fraudulent activity. Digital pens can typically store up to 50 pages of A4 text, sufficient for the daily data capture requirements of most businesses. They have a battery life like a mobile phone and are fully rechargeable via a USB dock.

Electronic Data Capture

Completed forms are uploaded to a central secure server via a USB docking station connected to a PC or by Bluetooth pairing the digital pen to a compatible mobile. The PC uses the internet to connect to the server whilst the mobile phone acts like a modem, sending the pen's captured electronic data via GPRS.

Both methods of data capture transfer use secure 128 bit encryption. Each digital pen is registered both to a user and an application. Users, pens and e forms are controlled centrally.

Handwriting can be converted to text and check boxes to data as part of the processing. Our e forms can include images, such as:

• Machine parts
• Cars
• Maps
• Building diagrams and layouts

Ticking on an image, for example, a point on a map, can populate a database with the appropriate information. Logic can be built into electronic data capture forms to ensure that fields are completed correctly. Error messages, for example, can be sent to the user via their mobile phone to prompt correct completion of the form.

The output from each completed electronic form includes an image of the written form, a filled form, which includes any handwriting converted to text plus an XML stream of the converted handwriting.

If you require more information on digital pens, please contact us now by filling out the form or by telephoning us.