GB2413423A

GB2413423A - Document processing device

Info

Publication number: GB2413423A
Application number: GB0409072A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Manuel Gonzalez; Andrew Mackenzie; Daniel Champanhet
Original assignee: Hewlett Packard Development Co LP
Current assignee: Hewlett Packard Development Co LP
Priority date: 2004-04-23
Filing date: 2004-04-23
Publication date: 2005-10-26
Also published as: GB0409072D0

Abstract

A document processing device for use in combination with a printed document which carries at least one document identification marking comprises a position sensing means which includes one or more sensors adapted to track the movement of a pen or stylus relative to the sensors thereby to produce one or more signals indicative of the location of strokes made by the pen relative to a document located on a support surface associated with the positions sensing means, and a code reading means which is adapted to detect a document identification marking carried by the document and to generate a document identification signal indicative of the identity of the document. The document identification marking is preferably a barcode. The pen or stylus is preferably tracked using induction, triangualaton or touch sensitivity.

Description

24 1 3423

A DOCUMENT PROCESSING DEVICE AND METHOD OF

PROCESSING A DOCUMENT

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a document processing device and to a method of processing a document, particularly a printed document.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the decrease in the cost of computers and storage there is an increasing trend towards the capture of information in electronic form. This is especially true for businesses which gather large amounts of information from customers through forms. In the past, a hard copy of an electronically stored document, such as a printed form, would have been completed in manuscript and the information entered into a computer by an operator at a workstation. Nowadays, this can be achieved by scanning an image of the completed document and using character recognition software to pick out and process the handwritten information from the image. This removes the need for a skilled keyboard operator and speeds up the information gathering process. However, this is by its nature a two-step process, with the scanning occurring after a user has completed a form. As such the process, whilst quicker than using a keyboard operator, is still cumbersome.

An alternative is to present to the user an electronic copy of the document on a computer screen and ask the user to enter the information directly into the computer using an input device such as a keyboard. This moves the data input burden onto the person completing the form. For many users without keyboard skills this can be considerably slower than handwriting and is often unacceptable. An electronic copy of the document must also be loaded onto the computer of the user which limits the format in which forms can be distributed. A tablet and pen input device could be used to input this data which would allow the user to enter information onto the screen in their own handwriting. This still requires the user to work from looking at a computer screen and requires some computer literacy.

Furthermore, for documents with lots of small print many people find screens hard to read.

An alternative system uses a digital pen and digital paper in which a pen is provided which can both write on a printed document and capture the information digitally at the same time. This provides a one-step solution which streamlines the data capture process. This provides the considerable advantage that the user fills the information directly onto the document and is not working from a screen. The document content need not be loaded onto the computer system. Therefore, only a printed paper copy needs to be distributed to the user which reduces cost and complexity.

Many digital pen and paper systems have been proposed. Few have been used on any commercial scale. One that is in use is the Anoto system, which can be implemented using a device such as the Logitech IO_ pen, available from Logitech of 6505 Kaiser Drive, Fremont, California 94555, USA. A pattern of position identification markings are made on a document which the pen can read. Because the pen sees the pattern it can determine the relative position of strokes made on the document by the pen.

These may be recorded together with time information to construct a set of data from which the strokes can be reconstructed, and hence the handwritten information recovered. This information is typically stored in the pen until the user is able to send it to a remote device for processing.

In the known Anoto type arrangements, the pen is connected by a Universal Serial Bus (USB) cable or wirelessly to a processing device such as a mobile telephone or a personal computer. The processing device receives data representing information captured by the pen and sends the data across a network to a server on which digital paper information is stored. The server identifies the document which has been marked by the pen from the pattern read by the pen and returns to the processing device information about how the document should be handled. This information may identify an application, perhaps stored on the processing device or held remotely, which enables the information from the pen to be processed.

A problem with the digital pen and paper system is that documents must be printed on special paper which includes the appropriate pattern markings.

Whilst these patterns can be printed on demand it does increase the cost of implementation. Even though the cost of printing is dropping in price, this may still prove to make the solution prohibitively expensive to be widely used in less well developed countries.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a first aspect the invention provides a document processing device for use in combination with a printed document which carries at least one document identification marking, the device comprising: a position sensing means which includes one or more sensors adapted to track the movement of a pen or stylus relative to the sensors thereby to produce one or more signals indicative of the location of strokes made by the pen relative to a document located on a support surface associated with the positions sensing means; and a code reading means which is adapted to detect a document identification marking carried by the document and to generate a document identification signal indicative of the identity of the document.

The device can therefore electronically capture handwriting made on a document, in real time if required, and also determine which document is being written upon by reading an identification marking from the document. The user need not look at a screen to complete the document.

Also, it can be printed at low cost as it need not contain any printed position identification markings.

By integrating both the position sensing means and the code reading means into a single device, document identification and stroke capture can occur simultaneously if desired, whenever a document is placed on the device to be marked.

The position sensing means may comprise a tablet which may include a surface adapted to support a document and one or more sensors arranged to track the position of a pen or stylus relative to the support surface. The sensors may detect the position of the pen by induction, or by triangulation or may be touch sensitive.

IS The code reading means may comprise a barcode reader which is adapted to read a barcode carried by the document which provides the identification marking. By giving each document a different barcode the reader can uniquely identify each document.

The reader may be located in the surface on which the document is to be placed when it is marked. It will then read it when the document is placed on it. The document identification marking can then be printed on the back of the document so that it does not take up any valuable space on the front.

Where the position sensing means is a tablet the code reading means may be located below the support surface of the tablet.

The code reading means may read the document identification marking whenever a document is placed on the platter and it sees a marking, by checking all the time or at time intervals. Alternatively, it may read it when the user instructs it to do so. A button or other device to trigger a reader may be provided.

Where the position sensing means comprises a tablet the platter may comprise a generally flat surface has an area at least as great as the region of a document upon which markings are to be made.

The tablet may be adapted to capture strokes by determining the position of a pen used to make the strokes relative to the platter. This may, depending on the technology used, require the use of a dedicated pen when making strokes.

The tablet may include a grid of wires arranged across the platter surface and a detection circuit which detects current in the wires caused by inductive coupling between a pen and the wires. To produce such inductive coupling the pen may include a resonant circuit which is energised by a battery or perhaps by bursts of current applied to the wires by a drive circuit. As such, the pen need have no internal battery. The wires may be embedded within the surface or just below the surface.

Of course, other first sensing means could be provided which determine the location of the pen relative to a surface carrying a document when strokes are made. The surface may be a touch sensitive surface, for example, and detect the pressure of a pen on the surface. This could allow any pen type stylus to be used as a device for making strokes. In an alternative, the pen position may be detected using triangulation. For example, the pen may include a source of radiation and a number of detectors fixed relative to the platter may detect the strength of radiation received from the source or perhaps the time of flight for signals sent to and received from the source.

Because the device detects the location of the strokes relative to the platter and not the document per se, it is important to ensure that the document is positioned in a predefined position relative to the platter. Provided this is achieved the location of the strokes relative to the document can be determined. To facilitate such location a document support surface may be provided with one or more alignment marks which may be flush, recessed or protrude from the surface which the user aligns with set points on the document such as the corners. Four cross hair marks, one positioned at each corner of the document could be provided.

In an alternative the alignment marks may be provided on a document with the user making a stroke at the location of each mark before completing a document. The position of the document on the platter can then be calculated from the location of the strokes determined by the pen stroke capture means.

The document identification marking may contain information which uniquely identifies a document, or a set of documents or a type of document. For instance, the marking may identify the company that produced a document, its content, the source file for the document, the location of a master copy etc. Alternatively it may identify a type such as "post-it-note" document. The identity of the document may then be used to determine how the information entered on the document is to be processed.

According to a second aspect the invention provides a digital document processing apparatus comprising: at least one printed document which carries at least one document identification marking which identifies the document; a server which stores information relating to the document identification marking; and a document processing device comprising a position sensing means which includes one or more sensors adapted to track the movement of a pen or stylus relative to the sensors thereby to produce one or more signals indicative of the location of strokes made by the pen relative to a document supported by a surface associated with the sensors; and a code reading means which is adapted to detect a document identification marking carried by the document and to generate a document identification signal indicative of the identity of the document, and in which the document information capture device is connected to the server across a network.

The server may include information relating to one or more documents, and preferably many tens or hundreds of documents. Thus, when the server receives information across the network from the capture apparatus it can identify the document that has been completed and also the information that has been entered onto the document.

The input device may be connected to a personal computer which is connected to the network. It may include an electronic copy of the printed document. The computer may include a display screen. The server may send to the computer information about the document for display on the screen. This may be sent to the computer in response to the receipt of the signal identifying the document.

The device or personal computer may be arranged to send the captured stroke information and document identification across the network to the server. This may occur automatically whenever a user marks a particular predefined region of a document.

According to a third aspect the invention provides a document processing device comprising a tablet having a document support surface, a code reading sensor which is adapted to read an identification code from a document placed on the support surface and a position sensing means which is adapted to sense the position of a stylus or pen relative to the document supporting stylus as the stylus is moved over the document.

The code reading sensor is preferably a barcode reader, and may be located in the support surface to read a code from the back of a document placed on the surface which is in contact with the surface.

According to a fourth aspect the invention provides a method of associating user annotations of a printed copy of an electronic document with the identity of the document comprising the steps of: reading an identification code associated with a document supported on a surface fixed relative to one or more position sensors; sensing the location of a pen used to make the annotations using the position sensors; associating the sensed annotations with the identity of the electronic document; and merging the annotations sensed by the position sensors with the electronic copy of the printed document to produce an annotated electronic document.

The steps of reading the document and sensing the location of the pen may be performed by a single device, possibly substantially simultaneously.

By electronic document we may mean an exact electronic record of the content of the printed document, or we may mean an electronic record which contains only part of the content.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

There will now be described by way of example only one embodiment of the present invention with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings of which: Figure 1 is an overview of an embodiment of a document processing device in accordance with one aspect of the present invention; Figure 2 is a schematic illustration of the functional parts of the device of Figure 1; Figure 3 illustrates an embodiment of a document processing apparatus in accordance with an alternative aspect of the invention which includes the device of Figure 1; and Figure 4 is a reverse view of a document which can be processed by the apparatus of Figure 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A document processing device in accordance with one aspect of the invention is shown in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings. The device comprises position sensing means comprising more specifically a writing pad apparatus or tablet 100 as shown in Figure 1 and a pen or stylus 200.

The tablet 100 has the form factor of an A4 clip-board and comprises a housing 110 which defines a flat upper surface 120 onto which a document (not shown) can be placed. Towards the top of the flat surface 120 is a transparent window 130, below which are provided focusing optics for a code reading means (not visible in Figure 1), in this example a code reader.

The location of the window 130 and hence the reader is dependent upon the location on the document at which a code is provided. Some degree of standardization of documents is envisaged whereby the codes are always provided in the same place on a document so they can be read by the reader. At the top of the flat surface 120 is a spring loaded clip 140 which can be used to secure a document onto the flat surface 120. The flat surface is also provided, at its corners, with alignment marks which help a user locate a document in the correct position on the surface 120.

The housing 110 contains a processing circuitry which captures the marks or stokes made by the pen or stylus 200 on the document by detecting the location of the pen 200 relative to the flat surface 12O, and hence relative to the location of the document. These strokes or marks may be handwriting or marking of textboxes or drawing. The pen may include an ink tip for depositing ink on the document or else may be a simple stylus which does not leave marks on the surface of a document.

The component parts of such a device are shown schematically in Figure 2 of the accompanying drawings. The components located within the housing determine the depth and shape of the housing.

As shown in Figure 2 the circuitry comprises a processor 210 which receives data signals from a position sensing means. The processor 210 processes these signals to determine the strokes made on the document on the flat surface. It then either saves the information in an area of memory 220 or passes information about the strokes out to a remote device through an output port 230. A typical remote device would be a personal computer.

The manner in which the processor 210 processes the raw data depends on the form of the raw data, and this will be determined by the nature of the position sensing means. A simple example of a suitable position sensing means will be described here although it will be understood that many different technologies which could be used to provide a pen stroke capture means are known and could be used.

In this example, the position sensing means comprises sensors 211,212 which detect the location of a pen 200 using a resonant technique which relies upon inductive coupling to the pen 200. The system comprises a plurality of wires 150 embedded within the flat surface of the housing. As shown in Figure 1, the wires 150 are arranged in a grid, with half of the wires crossing the flat surface from side to side and the remaining half crossing from top to bottom. The wires 150 cover the whole of the area within which the document will be located, as identified by the positioning markings on the flat surface. Each wire is connected to a combined drive/read receive circuit. Under the control of the processor this circuit applies a burst of current to the individual wires. The current in the wires excites a resonant circuit within the pen whenever it is within range of the wires.

In between the bursts the circuit 2 11,2 1 2 measures the current that is flowing within the wires 150. The amplitude of the currents measured in each of the wires is sent back to the processor 210 as the raw pen location data. If the user holds the pen close to the surface the resonant circuit in the pen will induce currents in the wires, with larger currents being induced in the wires nearest the pen, and smaller currents in wires further away from the pen. By measuring the current in the wires the processor can therefore determine where the pen is located at the time between each burst of current and from this the pen strokes. The advantage of using inductive coupling is that the pen 200 does not need its own source of power to transmit its location to the pad 100.

As already described in brief, the pad 100 also houses a code reading means which comprises a code reader 213. The type of code reader that is used will depend on the type of identification marking or identification code that will be provided on documents. However, it is envisaged that a barcode reader is preferred and so the embodiment of Figure 1 includes a reader of this type. These devices are extremely well known, and as such no detailed description of its construction is needed.

The constraints placed on the reader are actually quite low compared to many code reader applications. The code will always be in the same place provided it is placed in the same place on all documents, and will always be in the correct orientation for the same reason. A much simpler bar code reader could therefore be used if desired. Indeed, it will be clearly understood that a barcode is only one example of a suitable code and many others could be used instead.

So far, a device has been described which can detect markings (such as letters, drawings etc) made on a document and also read a code from a back face of the document. This apparatus enables an extremely versatile and powerful document processing system to be provided. An example of such an apparatus will now be described with reference to Figure 3 of the accompanying drawings.

The apparatus is shown in Figure 3 of the accompanying drawings. It comprises a server 300 on which a number of documents can be published, a set of documents 310 which are each provided with a unique code, at least one pad 100 and pen/stylus 200 as shown in Figure 1 and a personal computer 320 which receives information from the pad 100 and passes it across a network to the server 300. With a system of this kind it is possible to complete documents by hand and have the information sent directly to the server for processing together with information about the identity of the document that has been completed.

In order to use the system a set of documents 310 must first be published.

This comprises designing a document on which entries are to be made (such as an insurance claim form) and allocating to the document a name or number or other identifier. The documents are then stored locally on a computer 340 from where they can be sent to a printer 350 when required.

A unique barcode is printed on the back of the document at print time which corresponds uniquely to the document identity. The details of the document and its barcode are also published at the server 300 by sending the details across a network. A database in which barcodes are correlated to document details are stored on the server 300 for future use. An example of a document which carries a code is shown in Figure 4 of the accompanying drawings in which a reverse view of one of the documents 310 is shown with a code 311.

Once a set of documents have been published, they are ready to be completed. To do so, a user places the document on the flat surface of the pad 100. Next, the user takes the pen and writes on the document by making strokes or marks with the pen. The pen strokes used when marking the document are detected by the pad 100 which sends them to the personal computer 320. Additionally, the code on the rear face of the document is read by the bar code reader. This is also sent to the user's personal computer. When the user has completed the document, the document code and markings are sent from the user's computer across the network to the server. The information is sent to the same server regardless of which document has been completed, so the user does not need to know who supplied the document.

At the server 300, the document is identified by checking the database with the barcode read from the document. What happens next may vary, but it is envisaged that the document identity and the markings will then be sent on by the server to the computer on which the documents are stored for additional processing. The publisher of the document can then readily interpret the information encoded by the strokes. In the case of a published form, for example, knowledge of the strokes and where they are made on the document allows them to be entered into different fields in a database set up to store information entered on the form.

Claims

1. A document processing device for use in combination with a printed document which carries at least one document identification marking, the device comprising: a position sensing means which includes one or more sensors adapted to track the movement of a pen or stylus relative to the sensors thereby to produce one or more signals indicative of the location of strokes made by the pen relative to a document located on a support surface associated with the positions sensing means; and a code reading means which is adapted to detect a document identification marking carried by the document and to generate a document identification signal indicative of the identity of the document.

2. The device of claim tin which the position sensing means comprises a tablet which includes a support surface adapted to support a document and one or more sensors arranged to track the position of a pen or stylus relative to the support surface.

3. The device of claim 1 or claim 2 in which the sensors detect the position of the pen by one or more of: induction, triangulation and touch sensitivity.

4. The device of any preceding claim in which the code reading means comprises a barcode reader which is adapted to read a barcode carried by the document which provides the identification marking.

5. The device of claim 4 in which the reader is located in the surface on which the document is to be placed when it is marked.

6. A digital document processing apparatus comprising: at least one printed document which carries at least one document identification marking which identifies the document; a server which stores information relating to the document identification marking; and a document processing device comprising a position sensing means which includes one or more sensors adapted to track the movement of a pen or stylus relative to the sensors thereby to produce one or more signals indicative of the location of strokes made by the pen relative to a document supported by a surface associated with the sensors; and a code reading means which is adapted to detect a document identification marking carried by the document and to generate a document identification signal indicative of the identity of the document, and in which the document information capture device is connected to the server across a 1 5 network.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 in which the server includes information relating to one or more documents.

8. A document processing device comprising a tablet having a document support surface, a code reading sensor which is adapted to read an identification code from a document placed on the support surface and a position sensing means which is adapted to sense the position of a stylus or pen relative to the document supporting stylus as the stylus is moved over the document.

9. The device of claim 8 in which the code reading sensor is a barcode reader.

10. A method of associating user annotations of a printed copy of an electronic document with the identity of the document comprising the steps of: reading with a first sensor associated with a document supporting surface an identification code associated with a document supported on the document supporting surface; with one or more second sensors sensing annotations made to the document with a pen or stylus or the like, the one or more second sensors having a substantially fixed position relative to the surface; and, saving the sensed annotations associated with the read identification code.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising the step of merging the annotations sensed by the position sensors with the electronic copy of the printed document to produce an annotated electronic document.