Image analysis – Pattern recognition – On-line recognition of handwritten characters
Reexamination Certificate
2002-11-12
2004-04-06
Mariam, Daniel (Department: 2621)
Image analysis
Pattern recognition
On-line recognition of handwritten characters
C382S188000, C382S306000, C382S314000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06718061
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to handwritten note taking and, more particularly, to a method and system for enabling handwritten note taking and retrieval.
BACKGROUND
Note taking is practised by an enormous number of individuals, in the personal, educational, and professional spheres. Individuals keep personal diaries to record events in their lives. Students take notes in classrooms and lecture halls which they later may amend and review in preparation for examination on that subject matter. Executive workers take notes in meetings to record action events and prepare to-do lists. Scientists write notes in laboratory notebooks to record experimental methods and results.
Despite the availability of portable computers, the majority of people still use paper notebooks. The free-form input allowed by paper notebooks, along with their general versatility and simplicity, means that they remain a preferred option. However, the information contained in a paper notebook is of course not integrated with digital data and is therefore very inflexible to subsequently use. In particular, it is very difficult to find specific information in such notebooks, as they must be searched manually. Further, there is no means of automatically recording when an entry was made, known as ‘timestamping’ of an entry.
Computer systems allowing the real-time capture, the storage and the retrieval of manuscript notes are already known. Such systems allow users to ‘write’ on a notepad computer, the computer capturing and recording the information and using character recognition algorithms if appropriate to convert the handwritten text to electronic text. If required, each input stroke may be timestamped, in order to log that particular input and to aid retrieval. However, such systems have not generally enjoyed widespread use, at least partly because note takers still prefer the simplicity and flexibility of paper notebooks.
The present invention has as its object to address the need for a more functional note taking method and system than hitherto provided by conventional paper notebooks, whilst avoiding the drawbacks inherent in the known or contemplated electronic notebook approaches.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a new system and method for enabling handwritten note taking and retrieval.
The present invention provides, in a first aspect, a method of enabling handwritten note taking and retrieval, the method including the steps of:
providing a user with at least one form printable on a surface, the form containing information relating to a notebook activity and including coded data indicative of an identity of the form and of at least one reference point of the form;
receiving, in a computer system, indicating data from a sensing device operated by said user, said indicating data regarding the identity of the form and a position of the sensing device relative to the form, the sensing device, when placed in an operative position relative to the form, sensing the indicating data using at least some of the coded data; and
identifying in the computer system and from the indicating data, at least one parameter relating to the notebook activity.
In a second aspect, the invention provides a method of enabling handwritten note taking and retrieval, the method including the steps of:
providing a user with at least one form printable on a surface, said form containing information relating to a notebook activity and including coded data indicative of at least one parameter of the notebook activity;
receiving, in a computer system, data from a sensing device operated by said user regarding said at least one parameter and regarding movement of the sensing device relative to said form, the sensing device, when moved relative to said form, sensing the data regarding said at least one parameter using at least some of the coded data and generating the data regarding its own movement relative to said form; and
interpreting, in the computer system, said movement of the sensing device as it relates to said at least one parameter.
In a third aspect, the invention provides a method of enabling handwritten note taking and retrieval, the method including the steps of:
providing a notebook user with a form including coded data indicative of an identity of said form;
receiving, in a computer system, data from a sensing device regarding an identity of the user and regarding the identity of said form, the sensing device containing the data regarding the identity of the user and sensing the data regarding the identity of said form using at least some of the coded data; and
identifying, in the computer system and from the data regarding the identity of the user and the identity of the form, a notebook activity.
According to a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided a system for enabling handwritten note taking and retrieval, the system including:
at least one form printable on a surface, said form containing information relating to a notebook activity and including coded data indicative of an identity of said form and of at least one reference point of said form; and
a computer system for receiving indicating data from a sensing device operated by a user involved in the notebook activity; said indicating data regarding the identity of said form and a position of the sensing device relative to said form, the sensing device, when placed in an operative position relative to said form, sensing the indicating data using at least some of the coded data, said computer system including means for identifying, from the indicating data, at least one parameter relating to the notebook activity.
In a fifth aspect, the invention provides a system for enabling handwritten note taking and retrieval, the system including:
at least one form printable on an interactive surface, said form containing information relating to a notebook activity and including coded data indicative of at least one parameter of the notebook activity; and
a computer system for receiving data from a sensing device operated by the notebook user, said data regarding movement of the sensing device relative to said form, and for interpreting said movement of the sensing device as it relates to said at least one parameter, the sensing device, when moved relative to said form, sensing the data regarding said at least one parameter using at least some of the coded data, and generating the data regarding its own movement relative to said form.
In a sixth aspect, the invention provides a system for enabling handwritten note taking and retrieval, the system including:
a form including coded data indicative of an identity of the form; and
a computer system for receiving from a sensing device data regarding an identity of a notebook user and the identity of said form, and for identifying, from said received data, a notebook activity, the sensing device containing the data regarding the identity of the user and sensing the data regarding the identity of the form using at least some of the coded data.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a system and a method which utilizes one or more forms capable of interacting with a computer system. Whilst the novel method and system of the present invention may be used in conjunction with a single computer system, in a particularly preferred form it is designed to operate over a computer network, such as the Internet.
As a physical entity, the interactive form is constructed as a surface medium and may be of any suitable structure. However, in a preferred arrangement, the form comprises sheet material such as paper or the like which has the coded data printed on it and which allows it to interact with the computer system. The coded data is detectable preferably, but not exclusively, outside the visible spectrum, thereby enabling it to be machine-readable but substantially invisible to the human eye. The form may also include visible material which provides information to a user, such as the application or purpose of the form, and which visible information may be
Lapstun Jacqueline Anne
Lapstun Paul
Silverbrook Kia
Mariam Daniel
Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
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