After its debut in the mass market, computer users will be able to drag the pen across any computer screen, storing the highlighted text in the pen’s memory. Then (behold!) by tapping the pen against another computer screen, the text will appear, with no need for e-mail or a flash drive!

This is particularly useful for, say, two people working on a screenplay on their own laptops.
-- adjective, Sep 14 2007

like one of these? http://www.scanning...dex.php?sale_mode=1
[the dog's breakfast, Sep 15 2007]

This will only work if the computer screens are made special for this device.

Could you elaborate on how it could actually work?

Does it only work for text?
-- BJS, Sep 14 2007


I don't think you'd need a special screen, just a special pen. It just needs to be able to track its own movement across the screen (easy - like an optical mouse) and read the brightness of each pixel as it goes. It would then be able to capture the image as a "ribbon" (or indeed any path on the screen). Once captured, this image could be processed in any way, including character recognition.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 14 2007


[BJS]--I meant for it to work exactly as [MaxwellBuchanan] described it.

[boysparks]--I suppose it would be a plug and play bluetooth device, so that the second computer could instantly recognize the pen.
-- adjective, Sep 15 2007


OK, so the second computer can recognise the pen, and its contents, but how does it recognise where it is on the screen and what to do next?

My finger is poised over the big red fishbone button, and hovering dangerously close to the [mfd]-magic keystroke macro as well. A proper technical explanation can still save the day
-- BunsenHoneydew, Sep 15 2007


// a plug and play bluetooth device
Wouldn't a bluetooth device be a *don't* plug and play device?
-- jutta, Sep 15 2007


like linky but with waving the wand to get it to transfer via the screen?
-- the dog's breakfast, Sep 15 2007


So instead of email, you send the pen?
-- ldischler, Sep 15 2007


It could dump the info into the 'clipboard'. That could be pretty useful. Although it would be better to have the two PC's work it out between themselves, without recourse to the unnecessary bridge device, yes?
-- GutPunchLullabies, Sep 15 2007


I'm not sure how expect to transfer data through a computer screen by "tapping". Sorry, but it's a WIBNI in my opinion.
-- croissantz, Sep 15 2007


Regarding the problem of the pen knowing its position on the "receiving" screen, does anyone know if LCD pixels are "rasterized" in any way? Or, if not, could some sort of system software be modified to do so?

I'm imagining that a pixel could be dimmed for a fraction of second without the user noticing it; this "pulse" could be raster-scanned across the screen (the pulse might have to be more complex - such as "dim- brighten-dim-restore" to make sure it could be recognised). Then the pen only has to detect this pulse and tell the receiving computer - which would then know where the pen was.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 15 2007


Ok, so it captures the text by actually reading and recognizing what it sees as characters (so that means it only works for text). This means you would have to scan the pen over every character of text that you want it to record. Does the text actually have to be highlighted for it to work?

[boysparks] I'm using a CRT monitor right now, we don't even own an LCD monitor (other than the one on the laptop we just barely bought).

When I said that the screen would have to be made special for this pen, I just meant that whatever signal the pen uses to transfer the information would have to be recognized right at the screen, in other words, the receiver would have to be right where the screen is or else built into the screen with a very small range so that only that screen accepts the information, and not another computer or screen nearby.

I suggest that the pen can only transfer the info while it is in contact with the screen, and that the receiver be as close to the center of the screen as possible, it would probably have to be built in.

In my opinion, just use the flash drive, or e-mail whatever it is. I still think its easier than scanning every single letter.

Now if the pen captured the info in sort of the same manner as it sends it to the second computer, this idea might be worth something.
-- BJS, Sep 15 2007


Semi-baked. Wacom makes a "Cintiq" that act as both a monitor and a pen tablet. Presumably you could rig something up from there that used the pen to select text from a window and IM it somewhere.

It could be argued that Wacom wouldn't bother building their own monitor if they could make it work with any monitor; conversely, it could be argued that Wacom's specialty is tablets, not scanning. Dunno.

As has been mentioned, the OP may want to look into collaboration software like SubEthaEdit if the pen UI isn't critical.
-- jaylev, Dec 08 2007



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