|
For Sale: Seiko
InkLink
Transfer drawings or hand written text from Paper to Handheld with
InkLink
The Seiko InkLink, which transfers handwritten notes, text or
drawings from any pad of paper to a handheld or computer. The
InkLink Data Clip is attached to the top of a pad of paper and
continuously monitors the position of the InkLink pen. As the users
writes on the pad, the Data Clip communicates its exact position to
the handheld, which creates a drawing mirroring what's on the paper.
The InkLink can be attached to any pad of paper up to legal size. A
wire leads from the Data Clip to an infrared transceiver, which can
be clipped onto the infrared port of almost any handheld and even
laptops with infrared support."
More detailed information:
The InkLink from Seiko Instruments transfers handwritten notes or
drawings from paper to a handheld, laptop or Desk computer. The
InkLink works with any piece paper up to legal size. The InkLink is
made up of three main parts: the Data Clip, the Electronic Pen, and
the IrDA Transceiver. The Data Clip is about six inches long and
gets clipped to the top of the pad of paper you want to write or
draw on. Built into it are sensors that monitor the location of the
Electronic Pen. Of course, you don't have to use a pad of paper; you
can use with almost anything. The InkLink could be a godsend to all
those people who do their best work on napkins in cocktail bars.
This flexibility makes it very useful.
The Electronic Pen uses both sides of the pen and constantly
broadcasts to the Data Clip its position and whether it is writing
or not. On one end is a ball point pen, on the other is a stylus
point that can be used with a handheld (On the screen). The Data
Clip can only detect the location of the Pen if the ball point pen
end is being used. It is powered by three watch batteries.
The IrDA Transceiver is on a wire about 12 inches long that plugs
into the Data Clip. There is a AAA battery inside that also powers
the Data Clip. The Data Clip doesn't have a power switch. It is
activated when the Transceiver is plugged in and will turn itself
off if it isn't used for a few minutes.
The Transceiver is a couple of inches long. It has to face the
infrared port on any handheld to communicate with your device. This
is how the InkLink communicates with the handheld or computer. The
InkLink comes with a plastic case that keeps all its parts together
in one package.
Setting up is easy. Just clip the Data Clip to the piece of paper
you want to write on then plug in the Transceiver and place it in
front of your IR port. The InkNote Manager Software handles
displaying the images as they are entered and saving them. Really,
using the InkLink for its basic use isn't complicated. You just
write or draw and it gets transferred into a file on your handheld.
It's just that simple. When you are writing or drawing, InkNote
Manager shows the full page on the handheld's screen. That doesn't
give you any detail but is enough to let you know basically what you
are doing. Later you can enlarge your drawing to full size on the
screen to pick out the details. You can save your drawings and open
them again later. If you want to pick where you left off adding
things to a drawing, you can. Just open the drawing again, clip the
hardware on, and start writing.
I'd suggest you make a few small marks at the top of the page where
the Data Clip is attached. This will help you get it lined up if you
need to attach it to the same page again. This is important if you
want the drawing on your handheld to look exactly like the one on
your paper. Of course, there are a lot of options you can make use
of that add a lot of functionality. The pen itself has only one
color ink but you can change the color that is saved in your
handheld. You can also use different line thicknesses. You can even
automatically straighten your lines. The first time you use it, you
have to set your paper size. InkNote Manager has the standard ones
built-in, like Letter, Legal, etc. But if you can still use a
non-standard pad. You can quickly show it how big the paper is and
save that size. If you always use the same size paper, you only have
to do this once. You can make changes to drawings directly on your
handheld, too. You can add or remove lines or text and highlight
things, too.
Of course, InkNote Manager has a screen that lets you choose which
file to edit. It will display you files as a list or as tiny
versions of your drawings. InkNote Manager tries hard to help you
find your drawings later. You can categorize them, of course, but
you can also assign them keywords. Of course, this means you have to
be a bit organized yourself and enter some keywords, especially if
you are going to save a lot of files. Space is always at a premium
on a handheld and I don't think InkLink's documents are especially
large.. A single InkLink page with just a few lines on it is 2 KB. A
fairly complicated one is over 13 KB. Each file can have up to 50
pages so it is possible for you to fill your handheld's memory but
you'd have to do a lot of writing. Once the drawing are on your PC,
you can work with them there, print them, and export them. Files can
be exported as BMP, JPG, or PNG. The user can also specify the
number of dots per inch, with 72 being the default, though you can
have higher than that.
|
