SMART QUILL

Contents
 Introduction
 Motive
 History
 Accelerometer sensors
 Basic theory of operation
 Architecture and working
 Advantages & disadvantages
 Application
 Conclusion
Introduction
 Smart Quill is a computer housed within a pen which
allows user to do what a normal personal organizer does.

 A pen that can remember the words that it is used to write

and then transform them into computer text

 It is claimed to be the biggest revolution in handwriting

since the invention of the pen.
Motive
 Introduction of handheld computers

 Size of keyboards and screens that need constant

cursor controls to read simple text .

 Smart Quill has solved some of the problems.

History
 Lindsay Williams of Microsoft Research's Cambridge UK lab is
the inventor of Smart Quill.

 It has been developed by world-leading research laboratories run

by BT (formerly British Telecom) at Martlesham, eastern England.
Accelerometer Sensors
 Accelerometer sensors measure the acceleration
experienced by the sensor and anything to which the it is
directly attached.

 The signal from an accelerometer sensor can be

separated into two signals : acceleration from gravity and
external acceleration.
 Basic theory of operation
 Accelerometer sensors convert either linear or angular
acceleration to an output signal .It works on the principle of
Newton's second law of motion

f – force in newton
m- mass in kg
a- acceleration in m/sec^2

 Includes force from external acceleration, the force from

damping and the restorative force of the spring .
Diagram of differential capacitive layout.
Architecture and working
 LVDT signal conditioner IC
 An LVDT is a set of three wire coils collinear with each other.
One central coil is the primary of the transformer, and the other
two are secondary coils
 Anti –aliasing filter
 The anti-aliasing filters used are four pole butter worth filters which
removes noise from the signal and outputs signal of desired
bandwidth.
 Analog to digital converter
 In the analog board 4 channel 16-bit successive-approximation
switched capacitor ADC
Timing Diagram of ADC Functions
 Digital board
 The primary function of the digital PCB is converting the serial
digital data from the ADC to a parallel digital signal suitable for
passing into a computer.

 The key element on the digital board is a first-in-first-out (FIFO)

buffer which has clocked serial input and an 8-bit parallel output .

The sixteen bits of serial data fill up two successive bytes in the
FIFO memory.
 74LS244 line driver/ line-receiver on the digital board receives
the ADC data and locks signals from the analog board and
sends them directly to the FIFO input.

A clock on the digital board is the source for the channel counter
and the read/convert signal for the ADC
Program overview
 The software is the final component of the complete
accelerometer sensor.

 The program stores and displays the acceleration data from the
accelerometer sensor

 There are three sections to the program.

 Collecting the data
 Data processing
 Data display
 Data Acquisition
 The connections in the parallel port of a computer are divided
into several different groups: eight data lines, four control
lines, four status lines, and the remaining are grounds.

 The first step to data acquisition is checking the FIFO status lines.

 When the FIFO has data available, a parallel port control line
connected to the read pin of FIFO is switched, loads the next byte
of data through the data lines.

If there is no data in the FIFO, the program defers to kill time.
Data display and storage
 Allows user to store and display the data. The user
has the option of saving the acquired data either as
the unfiltered raw data, or the filtered output data.

 Due to the constraints of the two-dimensional

computer screen, the user can select only two
accelerometer channels to display at any one time:
one on the horizontal axis and one on the vertical
axis.
Communication with other devices
 Smart quill hooks up to a PC via a cable and
electronic docking station called an "inkwell".

 It can also be connected to printer, modem or

mobile phones to send data electronically

 Future models could receive e-mails and pager

messages via a wireless messaging system
Memory
 Smart Quill has 4MB EEPROM memory.
 The data is stored in the memory on the pen

until it is uploaded to the personal computer.

Power
 Smart Quill is powered by AAA battery
It will run for about 25hrs on a single AAA battery. The
pen exhibits automatic power on/off system
Advantages
 Smart quill can read on any flat surface (not only on paper)

 It is password protected.

 Highly convenient and portable.

 It can link to modems, printer etc

 Power saving
 Disadvantages
 It has accelerometer errors.

 It is inconvenient for persons with hand

tremors.

 Bigger size than a normal pen.

 Errors are introduced in the system due to

thermal variations in the spring.
Applications
 Diary
 Calculator
 Contact database
 Note taker
 Calendar
 Receive mobile and pager messages.
 Video conferencing
 Classroom lectures
 Conclusion
 Smart quill will be a boon to the users writing in traditional languages
. It supports two factors: small size and convenient use. The estimated
cost of this futuristic pen is around $200.

 Three dimensional sensors are developed and with their

implementation, free writing in air can be achieved. The future of
Smart Quill ensures all computation power the user needs right
inside the pen.
References
 R.Baron, R. Plamondon, “Acceleration measurement with an
instrumented for sign verification and handwriting analysis” ,
IEEE Trans . Vol IM-38
 E.Millien, C.Roux, “Users input to design of a “communicating
pen”, Smart Objects Conference, 2003
 http://www.mtl.mit.edu/researchgroups/MEngTP/Graham_Thesis.p
df
 http://sites.google.com/site/sensecam/smartquill.
 www.smartquill.com

http://www.analog.com/static/imported-files/data_sheets/AD974.pd
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