METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PRINTING A DOCUMENT

Abstract: A method for printing a document from a computer including transmitting instructions for printing the document from the computer to a printer, printing the document on the printer in accordance with the instructions received from the computer, and also printing on the document coded data indicative of an identity of the document and a plurality of reference points on the document, wherein the coded data is printed on the document in a form which can be read by an optical sensing device to identify a location of the sensing device relative to the document, thereby enabling a function to be invoked in relation to the document.

Description: METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PRINTING A DOCUMENT FIELD OF INVENTION The present invention relates generally to distributed computing systems and, more particularly, to a method and system for printing a document from a computer It relates particularly to a method and system for printing from a computer using a printer which prints interactive documents and which is linked to a network of computers CO-PENDING APPLICATIONS Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the present invention are disclosed in the following co-pending applications filed by the applicant or assignee of the present invention simultaneously with the present application PCT/AU00/00518, PCT/AU00/00519, PCT/AU00/00520, PCT/AU00/00521 , PCT/AU00/00523, PCT/AU00/00524, PCT/AU00/00525, PCT/AU00/00526, PCT/AU00/00527, PCT/AUOO/00528, PCT/AU00/00529, PCT/ AU00/00530, PCT/AU00/00531 , PCT/AU00/00532, PCT/AUOO/00533, PCT/AU00/00534, PCT/AU00/00535. PCT/AUOO/00536. PCT/AU00/00537, PCT/AU00/00538, PCT/AU00/00539, PCT/AU00/00540, PCT/AU00/00541 , PCT/AU00/00542, PCT/AU00/00543 PCT/AU00/00544, PCT/AU00/00545 PCT/AU00/00547, PCT/AU00/00546, PCT/AU00/00554. PCT/AU00/00556, PCT/AU00/00557, PCT/AU00/00558, PCT/AUOO/00559, PCT/AU00/00560, PCT/AU00/00561, PCT/AU00/00562, PCT/AU00/00563, PCT/AU00/00564. PCT/AU00/00566, PCT/AU00/00567, PCT/AU00/00568, PCT/AU00/00569, PCT/AU00/00570, PCT/AU00/00571 , PCT/AU00/00572, PCT/AU00/00573, PCT/AU00/00574, PCT/AUOO/00575. PCT/AU00/00576, PCT/AU00/00577, PCT/AU00/00578, PCT/AU00/00579, PCT/AUOO/00581 , PCT/AUOO/00580, PCT/AU00/00582, PCT/AU00/00587, PCT/AU00/00588, PCT/AUOO/00589. PCT/AU00/00583, PCT/AU00/00593, PCT/AU00/00590, PCT/AU00/00591 , PCT/AU00/00592, PCT/AU00/00594, PCT/AUOO/00595, PCT/AU00/00596, PCT/AU00/00597, PCT/AUOO/00598, PCT/AU00/00516. and PCT/AU00/00517 The disclosures of these co-pending applications are incorporated herein by cross-reference BACKGROUND The common method for printing a document from a computer is for the computer to be connected directly or through a network to a printer Instructions for printing the document are transmitted from the computer to the printer, and the pπnter prints the document in accordance with the instructions received from the computer In some cases, parts of the document to be printed, such as the typefaces to be used for printing text in the document, are stored in the printer In these cases, the computer merely sends instructions giving the elements to be used in the document, such as the text to be printed and the typeface and font size to be used, and the printer uses these instructions to assemble and print the document In other cases, the computer sends the printer a complete descπption of every pixel to be printed on the document, and the printer simply places the pixels in accordance with the computer's instructions - 1 a - If multiple copies of a document are required, the computer may send the same page layout instructions to the pπnter multiple times, or alternatively the computer may instruct the printer to keep the page layout instructions in the printer's memory and repeat the document pπnting process until all the required copies have been made In some cases, a printer may retain page layout instructions for a longer period of time However, in general current computer printing processes are controlled by a computer, and not by the printer itself If a user requires another printed cop> of a document because the first did not pπnt properl> . or has been destroyed, or for any other reason, the user must go back to the computer to request the further copy This can be inconvenient if the computer is located at a distance from the printer, or if the computer has been turned off, or if the instructions for creating the document have not been saved on the computer, or if the instructions for creating the document require substantial computer time in order to reconstruct the document SUMMARY OF INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a new system and method for computer printing The present invention provides, in a first aspect, a method of printing a document from a computer - 2 - mcluding the following steps (a) transmitting instructions for pnntmg the document from the computer to a pnnter, (b) pnnting the document on the pnnter in accordance with the instructions received from the computer, (c) also pnntmg on the document coded data mdicative of an identity of the document and a plurality of reference po ts on the document, wherem the coded data is pnnted on the document m a form which can be read by an optical sensmg device to identify location of the optical sensmg device relative to the document The identity of the document may be determined by an identification code issued by a server which issues document identification codes A copy of the document may be requested by directing an optical sensmg device towards a zone on the document, which causes the optical sensmg device to sense coded data on the document and transmit a message to the pnnter, which m turn causes the pnnter to pnnt a copy of the document As part of the pnntmg process, a digital copy of the document may be archived The digital copy is preferably archived on a server remote from the computer and the pnnter Changes may be requested to the document by means of an optical sensmg device being moved relative to the document, the motions of the optical sensmg device being detected by means of coded data pnnted on the document bemg detected by the optical sensmg device and/or by means of accelerometers associated with the optical sensmg device and/or by other movement detecting means, data indicative of the movements of the optical sensmg device bemg transmitted to the pnnter before a copy of the document is pnnted incorporating the requested changes A user may draw on the document by drawing on the surface of the document with an optical sensmg device, the movements of the optical sensmg device bemg transmitted to the pnnter and stored with an archived copy of the document Preferably, the archived copy of the document can be reproduced both with and without the addition of the lmes which the user has drawn on the document The optical sensmg device ppreferably has a marking nib which leaves markings on the document when the user draws on the document The optical sensmg device is preferably a handheld device According to a second aspect of the mvention, there is provided a method of pnntmg a document from a computer mcludmg the following steps (a) transmitting instructions for pnntmg the document from the computer to a pnnter, (b) obtaining a document identification code which is generated by an identification server, (c) forwarding a copy of the document to a page server for archiving by reference to the document identification code, (d) pnntmg the document on the pnnter m accordance with the instructions received from the computer, (e) also pnnting on the document coded data mdicative of the document identification code and at least one reference pomt on the document, wherem the coded data is pnnted on the document m a form which can be read by an optical sensmg device The pnnter may also return the document identification code to the computer for future reference An instruction for performing an action may be forwarded from an optical sensmg device to the pnnter when the optical sensing device is used to designate a particular zone of the document The action may be one of the following (a) pnntmg a copy of the document or part of the document, (b) pnnting a clean copy of the document or part of the document, (c) pnntmg status information about the document The document may have pnnted on it one or more options which a user may select, each associated with a designated zone on the document, wherem the user selects an option by movmg an optical sensmg device on the surface of the document within the associated zone, the optical sensmg device transmitting the user's selection to the pπnter The coded data may be visible, but it is preferred that the coded data be preferably substantially invisible to the human eye According to a third aspect of the mvention, there is provided a method of pnntmg a document from a computer mcludmg the following steps (a) transmitting instructions for pnntmg the document from the computer to a pnnter, (b) pnntmg the document on the pnnter m accordance with the instructions received from the computer, (c) also pnntmg on the document coded data mdicative of at least one function associated with the document, wherein the coded data is pnnted on the document m a form which can be read by an optical sensmg device According to a further aspect of the mvention there is provided a system for pnntmg a document from a computer including the following components (a) a computer, (b) a pnnter, (c) means for transmitting instructions for pnntmg the document from the computer to a pπnter, (d) the pnnter mcludmg means for pnntmg on the document coded data mdicative of an ldentitv of the document and a plurality of reference pomts on the document, (e) an optical sensmg device for readmg the coded data The system may further mclude an identification server which issues document identification codes The optical sensmg device preferably mcludes means for transmitting one or more of the following to a receiver associated with the pπnter (a) data sensed by the optical sensmg device, (b) data mdicative of the location and/or onentation of the optical sensmg device, (c) data indicative of the movement of the optical sensing device The system may further mclude a page server for archiving a digital copy of the document In a prefened embodiment of the system, the computer transmits the document to the pnnter, a document identification code is requested and received from the identification server, the coded data pnnted by the pnnter mcludes the document identification code, and the document identification code is retumed to the computer for future reference It is preferreed that the optical sensmg device transmitting means is a wireless transmitter The optical sensmg device may optionally have a marking mb which leaves markings on the document when the user moves the optical sensmg device on the document The optical sensmg device is preferably a hand-held device In preferred embodiments, the system further mcludes one or more of (a) means for converting data mdicative of movements of the optical sensmg device mto computer text, (b) means for comparing data received from the optical sensing device mdicative of a signature with a known signature of the user, (c) means for interpreting, storing and retnevmg data mdicative of movements of the optical sensmg device representing lmes drawn by the user on the photograph As an optional refinement, the system may further mclude a document bmder which automatically bmds pages together for multi-page documents Accordingly, the present mvention 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 mvention may be - 4 - used in conjunction with a smgle computer system, m 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 med um and may be of any suitable structure However, m a preferred arrangement, the form compnses sheet matenal such as paper or the like which has the coded data pnnted on it and which allows it to mteract with the computer system The coded data is detectable preferably, but not exclusively, outside the visible spectrum, thereby enablmg it to be machine-readable but substantially invisible to the human eye The form may also mclude visible matenal which provides information to a user, such as the application or purpose of the form, and which visible information may be registered or correlate m position with the relevant hidden coded data The system also mcludes a sensmg device to convey data from the form to the computer system, and m some instances, to contribute additional data Agam, the sensmg device may take a vanety of forms but is preferably compact and easily portable In a particularly preferred arrangement, the sensmg device is configured as a pen which is designed to be able to physically mark the interactive form as well as to selectively enable the coded data from the form to be read and transmitted to the computer system The coded data then provides control information, configured such that designation thereof by a user causes instructions to be applied to the software running on the computer system or network The nature of the mteraction between the form and the sensmg device and the data that each contnbutes to the computer system may vary In one aπangement, the coded data on the form is mdicative of the identity of the form and of at least one reference pomt on that form In another embodiment, the interactive form mcludes coded data which is mdicative of a parameter of the form, whereas the sensmg device is operative to provide data regarding its own movement relative to that form to the computer system together with coded data from the form In yet another arrangement, the form mcludes the coded data which at least identifies the form, and the sensing device is designed to provide, to the computer system, data based on the form coded data, and also on data which identifies the user of the device In a preferred anangement, the system and method also employs specially designed pnnters to pnnt the interactive form Further these pnnters constitute or form part of the computer system and are designed to receive data from the sensmg device As mdicated above, the system and method of the mvention is ideally suited to operate over a network In this arrangement, the pnnters are fully integrated into the network and allow for pnnting of the interactive forms on demand and also for distnbutmg of the forms usmg a mixture of mutli-cast and pomt-cast communication protocols Accordingly, m a preferred form, the present invention provides methods and systems which use a paper and pen based interface for a computer system This provides many significant benefits over traditional computer systems The advantage of paper is that it is widely used to display and record information Further, pnnted information is easier to read than information displayed on a computer screen Moreover, paper does not run on battenes, can be read m bnght light, or robustly accepts coffee spills or the like and is portable and disposable Furthermore, the system allows for hand-drawing and hand-wnting to be captured which affords greater nchness of expression than mput via a computer keyboard and mouse The present mvention therefore provides a system and method for computer pnntmg making use of novel interactive surface media The mvention will now be descnbed m greater detail by reference to the attached drawings It is to be understood that the particulanty of the embodiments illustrated in the drawings does not supersede the generality of the foregoing descnption of the mvention - 5 - BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS Prefened and other embodiments of the invention will now be descnbed, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, m which Figure 1 is a schematic of a the relationship between a sample pnnted netpage and its online page descnption, Figure 2 is a schematic view of a mteraction between a netpage pen, a netpage pnnter, a netpage page server, and a netpage application server, Figure 3 illustrates a collection of netpage servers and pnnters interconnected via a network, Figure 4 is a schematic view of a high-level structure of a pπnted netpage and its online page descπption, Figure 5 is a plan view showing a structure of a netpage tag, Figure 6 is a plan view showing a relationship between a set of the tags shown m Figure 5 and a field of view of a netpage sensmg device m the form of a netpage pen, Figure 7 is a flowchart of a tag image processmg and decoding algonthm, Figure 8 is a perspective view of a netpage pen and its associated tag-sensing field-of-view cone, Figure 9 is a perspective exploded view of the netpage pen shown m Figure 8, Figure 10 is a schematic block diagram of a pen controller for the netpage pen shown m Figures 8 and 9, Figure 11 is a perspective view of a wall-mounted netpage pnnter, Figure 12 is a section through the length of the netpage pnnter of Figure 11, Figure 12a is an enlarged portion of Figure 12 showing a section of the duplexed pnnt engines and glue wheel assembly, Figure 13 is a detailed view of the ink cartndge, ink, air and glue paths, and pnnt engines of the netpage pnnter of Figures 11 and 12, Figure 14 is a schematic block diagram of a pnnter controller for the netpage pnnter shown m Figures 11 and 12, Figure 15 is a schematic block diagram of duplexed pnnt engme controllers and Memjet™ pnntheads associated with the pnnter controller shown m Figure 14, Figure 16 is a schematic block diagram of the pnnt engine controller shown m Figures 14 and 15, Figure 17 is a perspective view of a single Memjet™ pnntmg element, as used m, for example, the netpage pπnter of Figures 10 to 12, Figure 18 is a perspective view of a small part of an aπay of Memjet™ pnntmg elements, Figure 19 is a senes of perspective views illustrating the operating cycle of the Memjet™ pnntmg element shown m Figure 13, Figure 20 is a perspective view of a short segment of a pagewidth Memjet™ pnnthead, Figure 21 is a schematic view of a user class diagram, Figure 22 is a schematic view of a pnnter class diagram, Figure 23 is a schematic view of a pen class diagram, Figure 24 is a schematic view of an application class diagram, Figure 25 is a schematic view of a document and page descnption class diagram, Figure 26 is a schematic view of a document and page ownership class diagram, Figure 27 is a schematic view of a terminal element specialization class diagram, Figure 28 is a schematic view of a static element specialization class diagram, Figure 29 is a schematic view of a hyperlink element class diagram, Figure 30 is a schematic view of a hyperlink element specialization class diagram. Figure 31 is a schematic view of a hyperlmked group class diagram, Figure 32 is a schematic view of a form class diagram, - 6 - Figure 33 is a schematic view of a digital ink class diagram, Figure 34 is a schematic view of a field element specialization class diagram, Figure 35 is a schematic view of a checkbox field class diagram, Figure 36 is a schematic view of a text field class diagram, Figure 37 is a schematic view of a signature field class diagram, Figure 38 is a flowchart of an mput processmg algonthm, Figure 38a is a detailed flowchart of one step of the flowchart of Figure 38, Figure 39 is a schematic view of a page server command element class diagram, Figure 40 is a schematic view of a resource descnption class diagram, Figure 41 is a schematic view of a favontes list class diagram, Figure 42 is a schematic view of a history list class diagram, Figure 43 is a schematic view of a subscnption delivery protocol, Figure 44 is a schematic view of a hyperlink request class diagram, Figure 45 is a schematic view of a hyperlink activation protocol, Figure 46 is a schematic view of a form submission protocol, Figure 47 is a schematic view of a commission payment protocol, and Figure 48 is a schematic view of a computer pnntmg protocol DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED AND OTHER EMBODIMENTS Note Memjet™ is a trade mark of Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd, Australia In the prefened embodiment, the mvention is configured to work with the netpage networked computer system, a detailed overview of which follows It will be appreciated that not every implementation will necessanly embody all or even most of the specific details and extensions discussed below m relation to the basic system However, the system is descnbed m its most complete form to reduce the need for external reference when attemptmg to understand the context in which the preferred embodiments and aspects of the present mvention operate In bnef summary, the preferred form of the netpage system employs a computer mterface m the form of a mapped surface, that is, a physical surface which contains references to a map of the .urface maintained a computer system The map references can be quened by an appropnate sensmg device Dependmg upon the specific implementation, the map references may be encoded visibly or invisibly, and defined m such a way that a local query on the mapped surface yields an unambiguous map reference both withm the map and among different maps The computer system can contain information about features on the mapped surface, and such information can be retneved based on map references supplied by a sensmg device used with the mapped surface The information thus retneved can take the form of actions which are initiated by the computer system on behalf of the operator m response to the operator's mteraction with the surface features In its prefeπed form, the netpage system relies on the production of, and human mteraction with, netpages These are pages of text, graphics and images pnnted on ordinary paper, but which work like mteractive web pages Information is encoded on each page usmg ink which is substantially invisible to the unaided human eye The ink, however, and thereby the coded data, can be sensed by an optically imaging pen and transmitted to the netpage system In the prefeπed form, active buttons and hyperlinks on each page can be clicked with the pen to request information from the network or to signal preferences to a network server In one embodiment, text written by hand on a netpage is automatically recognized and converted to computer text m the netpage system, allowing forms to be filled m In other embodiments, signatures recorded on a netpage are automatically venfied, allowing e-commerce transactions to be securely authonzed - 7 - As illustrated in Figure 1 , a printed netpage 1 can represent a interactive form which can be filled in by the user both physically, on the printed page, and "electronically", via communication between the pen and the netpage system. The example shows a "Request" form containing name and address fields and a submit button. The netpage consists of graphic data 2 printed using visible ink, and coded data 3 printed as a collection of tags 4 using invisible ink. The corresponding page description 5, stored on the netpage network, describes the individual elements of the netpage. In particular it describes the type and spatial extent (zone) of each interactive element (i.e. text field or button in the example), to allow the netpage system to correctly interpret input via the netpage. The submit button 6, for example, has a zone 7 which corresponds to the spatial extent of the corresponding graphic 8. As illustrated in Figure 2, the netpage pen 101, a prefened form of which is shown in Figures 8 and 9 and described in more detail below, works in conjunction with a netpage printer 601, an Internet-connected printing appliance for home, office or mobile use. The pen is wireless and communicates securely with the netpage printer via a short-range radio link 9. The netpage printer 601, a prefeπed form of which is shown in Figures 11 to 13 and described in more detail below, is able to deliver, periodically or on demand, personalized newspapers, magazines, catalogs, brochures and other publications, all printed at high quality as interactive netpages. Unlike a personal computer, the netpage printer is an appliance which can be, for example, wall-mounted adjacent to an area where the morning news is first consumed, such as in a user's kitchen, near a breakfast table, or near the household's point of departure for the day. It also comes in tabletop, desktop, portable and miniature versions. Netpages printed at their point of consumption combine the ease-of-use of paper with the timeliness and interactivity of an interactive medium. As shown in Figure 2, the netpage pen 101 interacts with the coded data on a printed netpage 1 and communicates, via a short-range radio link 9, the interaction to a netpage printer. The printer 601 sends the interaction to the relevant netpage page server 10 for interpretation. In appropriate circumstances, the page server sends a corresponding message to application computer software ninning on a netpage application server 13. The application server may in turn send a response which is printed on the originating printer. The netpage system is made considerably more convenient in the prefened embodiment by being used in conjunction with high-speed microelectromechanical system (MEMS) based inkjet (Memjet™) printers. In the prefened form of this technology, relatively high-speed and high-quality printing is made more affordable to consumers. In its prefeπed form, a netpage publication has the physical characteristics of a traditional newsmagazine, such as a set of letter-size glossy pages printed in full color on both sides, bound together for easy navigation and comfortable handling. The netpage printer exploits the growing availability of broadband Internet access. Cable service is available to 95% of households in the United States, and cable modem service offering broadband Internet access is already available to 20% of these. The netpage printer can also operate with slower connections, but with longer delivery times and lower image quality. Indeed, the netpage system can be enabled using existing consumer inkjet and laser printers, although the system will operate more slowly and will therefore be less acceptable from a consumer's point of view. In other embodiments, the netpage system is hosted on a private intranet. In still other embodiments, the netpage system is hosted on a single computer or computer-enabled device, such as a printer. Netpage publication servers 14 on the netpage network are configured to deliver print-quality publications to netpage printers. Periodical publications are delivered automatically to subscribing netpage printers via pointcasting and multicasting Internet protocols. Personalized publications are filtered and formatted according to individual user profiles. A netpage printer can be configured to support any number of pens, and a pen can work with any number of - 8 - netpage pnnters In the preferred implementation, each netpage pen has a umque identifier A household may have a collection of colored netpage pens, one assigned to each member of the family This allows each user to maintain a distinct profile with respect to a netpage publication server or application server A netpage pen can also be registered with a netpage registration server 11 and linked to one or more payment card accounts This allows e-commerce payments to be securely authonzed usmg the netpage pen The netpage registration server compares the signature captured by the netpage pen with a previously registered signature, allowing it to authenticate the user's identity to an e-commerce server Other biometncs can also be used to venfy identity A version of the netpage pen mcludes fingerprint scanning, venfied m a similar way by the netpage registration server Although a netpage pnnter may deliver penodicals such as the morning newspaper without user intervention, it can be configured never to deliver unsolicited junk mail In its preferred form, it only delivers penodicals from subscnbed or otherwise aufiionzed sources In this respect, the netpage pnnter is unlike a fax machme or e-mail account which is visible to any junk mailer who knows the telephone number or email address 1 NETPAGE SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE Each object model m the system is descnbed usmg a Umfied Modelmg Language (UML) class diagram A class diagram consists of a set of object classes connected by relationships, and two lands of relationships are of interest here associations and generalizations An association represents some land of relationship between objects l e between instances of classes A generalization relates actual classes, and can be understood in the following way if a class is thought of as the set of all objects of that class, and class A is a generalization of class B, then B is simply a subset of A The UML does not directly support second-order modelling - I e classes of classes Each class is drawn as a rectangle labelled with the name of the class It contains a list of the attnbutes of the class, separated from the name by a horizontal lme, and a list of the operations of the class, separated from the attnbute list by a honzontal line In the class diagrams which follow, however, operations are never modelled An association is drawn as a lme joining two classes, optionally labelled at either end with the multiplicity of the association The default multiplicity is one An astensk (*) mdicates a multiplicity of "many", I e zero or more Each association is optionally labelled with its name, and is also optionally labelled at either end with the role of the corresponding class An open diamond mdicates an aggregation association ("is-part-of '), and is drawn at the aggregator end of the association lme A generalization relationship ("ιs-a") is drawn as a solid line joining two classes, with an arrow (in the form of an open tnangle) at the generalization end When a class diagram is broken up into multiple diagrams, any class which is duplicated is shown with a dashed outline m all but the mam diagram which defines it It is shown with attnbutes only where it is defined 1.1 NETPAGES Netpages are the foundation on which a netpage network is built They provide a paper-based user interface to published information and mteractive services A netpage consists of a pnnted page (or other surface region) invisibly tagged with references to an online descnption of the page The online page descnption is maintained persistently by a netpage page server The page descπption descnbes the visible layout and content of the page, mcludmg text, graphics and images It also descnbes the mput elements on the page, mcludmg buttons, hyperlinks, and input fields A netpage allows markings made with a netpage pen on its surface to be simultaneously captured and processed by the netpage system Multiple netpages can share the same page descnption However, to allow mput through otherwise identical pages to be distinguished, each netpage is assigned a unique page identifier This page ID has sufficient precision to distinguish between a very large number of netpages - 9 - Each reference to the page descnption is encoded in a pnnted tag The tag identifies the umque page on which it appears, and thereby mdirectly identifies the page descnption The tag also identifies its own position on the page Charactenstics of the tags are descnbed m more detail below Tags are pnnted m infrared-absorptive ink on any substrate which is infrared-reflective, such as ordinary paper Near-infrared wavelengths are mvisible to the human eye but are easily sensed by a solid-state image sensor with an appropnate filter A tag is sensed by an area image sensor m the netpage pen, and the tag data is transmitted to the netpage system via the nearest netpage pnnter The pen is wireless and communicates with the netpage pnnter via a short-range radio link Tags are sufficiently small and densely arranged that the pen can reliably image at least one tag even on a smgle click on the page It is important that the pen recognize the page ID and position on every mteraction with the page, since the mteraction is stateless Tags are error-correctably encoded to make them partially tolerant to surface damage The netpage page server maintains a umque page instance for each pnnted netpage, allowing it to maintain a distinct set of user-supplied values for mput fields in the page descnption for each pnnted netpage The relationship between the page descnption, the page instance, and the pπnted netpage is shown in Figure 4 The page instance is associated with both the netpage pnnter which pnnted it and, if known, the netpage user who requested it 1.2 NETPAGE TAGS 1.2.1 Tag Data Content In a preferred form, each tag identifies the region m which it appears, and the location of that tag withm the region A tag may also contain flags which relate to the region as a whole or to the tag One or more flag bits may, for example, signal a tag sensmg device to provide feedback mdicative of a function associated with the immediate area of the tag, without the sensmg device having to refer to a descnption of the region A netpage pen may, for example, illuminate an "active area" LED when m the zone of a hyperlink As will be more clearly explained below, m a prefened embodiment, each tag contains an easily recognized mvanant structure which aids initial detection, and which assists m mimmizmg the effect of any warp mduced by the surface or bv the sensmg process The tags preferably tile the entire page, and are sufficiently small and densely arranged that the pen can reliably image at least one tag even on a smgle click on the page It is important that the pen recognize the page ID and position on every mteraction with the page, smce the mteraction is stateless In a prefened embodiment, the region to which a tag refers comcides with an entire page, and the region ID encoded m the tag is therefore synonymous with the page ID of the page on which the tag appears In other embodiments, the region to which a tag refers can be an arbitrary subregion of a page or other surface For example, it can comcide with the zone of an mteractive element, m which case the region ID can directly identify the mteractive element Table 1 - Tag data Each tag contains 120 bits of information, typically allocated as shown m Table 1 Assuming a maximum - 10 - tag density of 64 per square mch, a 16-bit tag ID supports a region size of up to 1024 square mches Larger regions can be mapped contmuously without mcreasmg the tag ID precision simply by usmg abutting regions and maps The 100-bit region ID allows 2 100 (~10 30 or a million trillion tnlhon) different regions to be uniquely identified 1.2.2 Tag Data Encoding The 120 bits of tag data are redundantly encoded usmg a (15, 5) Reed-Solomon code This yields 360 encoded bits consistmg of 6 codewords of 15 4-bit symbols each The (15, 5) code allows up to 5 symbol enors to be corrected per codeword, l e it is tolerant of a symbol error rate of up to 33% per codeword Each 4-bit symbol is represented m a spatially coherent way m the tag, and the symbols of the six codewords are mterleaved spatially within the tag This ensures that a burst error (an error affecting multiple spatially adjacent bits) damages a minimum number of symbols overεdl and a minimum number of symbols m any one codeword, thus maximising the likelihood that the burst error can be fully corrected 1.2.3 Physical Tag Structure The physical representation of the tag, shown m Figure 5, mcludes fixed target structures 15, 16, 17 and vanable data areas 18 The fixed target structures allow a sensmg device such as the netpage pen to detect the tag and infer its three-dimensional onentation relative to the sensor The data areas contain representations of the individual bits of the encoded tag data To achieve proper tag reproduction, the tag is rendered at a resolution of 256x256 dots When pπnted at 1600 dots per inch this yields a tag with a diameter of about 4 mm At this resolution the tag is designed to be surrounded by a "quiet area" of radius 16 dots Smce the quiet area is also contnbuted by adjacent tags, it only adds 16 dots to the effective diameter of the tag The tag mcludes six target structures A detection ring 15 allows the sensmg device to initially detect the tag The ring is easy to detect because it is rotationally invanant and because a simple conection of its aspect ratio removes most of the effects of perspective distortion An onentation axis 16 allows the sensmg device to determine the approximate planar onentation of the tag due to the yaw of the sensor The onentation axis is skewed to yield a unique onentation Four perspective targets 17 allow the sensmg device to infer an accurate two-dimensional perspective transform of the tag and hence an accurate three-dimensional position and onentation of the tag relative to the sensor All target structures are redundantly large to improve their immunity to noise The overall tag shape is circular This supports, amongst other things, optimal tag packing on an nregular tnangular gnd In combmation with the circular detection πng, this makes a circular arrangement of data bits withm the tag optimal To maximise its size, each data bit is represented by a radial wedge in the form of an area bounded by two radial lmes and two concentnc circular arcs Each wedge has a minimum dimension of 8 dots at 1600 dpi and is designed so that its base (its inner arc), is at least equal to this minimum dimension The height of the wedge m the radial direction is always equal to the minimum dimension Each 4-bit data symbol is represented by an aπay of 2x2 wedges The 15 4-bit data symbols of each of the six codewords are allocated to the four concentnc symbol rings 18a to 18d in mterleaved fashion Symbols are allocated alternately in circular progression around the tag The interleaving is designed to maximise the average spatial distance between any two symbols of the same codeword In order to support "single-click" interaction with a tagged region via a sensmg device, the sensmg device must be able to see at least one entire tag m its field of view no matter where m the region or at what onentation it is positioned The required diameter of the field of view of the sensmg device is therefore a function of the size and spacmg of the tags - 11 - Assuming a circular tag shape, the minimum diameter of the sensor field of view is obtained when the tags are tiled on a equilateral tnangular gnd, as shown m Figure 6 1.2.4 Tag Image Processing and Decoding The tag image processmg and decoding performed by a sensing device such as the netpage pen is shown in Figure 7 While a captured image is bemg acquired from the image sensor, the dynamic range of the image is determined (at 20) The center of the range is then chosen as the binary threshold for the image 21 The image is then thresholded and segmented mto connected pixel regions (I e shapes 23) (at 22) Shapes which are too small to represent tag target structures are discarded The size and centroid of each shape is also computed Binary shape moments 25 are then computed (at 24) for each shape, and these provide the basis for subsequently locating target structures Central shape moments are by their nature lnvanant of position, and can be easily made mvanant of scale, aspect ratio and rotation The ring target structure 15 is the first to be located (at 26) A πng has the advantage of bemg very well behaved when perspective-distorted Matching proceeds by aspect-normalizing and rotation-normalizing each shape's moments Once its second-order moments are normalized the ring is easy to recognize even if the perspective distortion was significant The ring's onginal aspect and rotation 27 together provide a useful approximation of the perspective transform The axis target structure 16 is the next to be located (at 28) Matching proceeds by applying the ring's normalizations to each shape's moments, and rotation-normalizing the resulting moments Once its second-order moments are normalized the axis target is easily recognized Note that one third order moment is required to disambiguate the two possible onentations of the axis The shape is deliberately skewed to one side to make this possible Note also that it is only possible to rotation-normalize the axis target after it has had the ring's normalizations applied, since the perspective distortion can hide the axis target's axis The axis target's ongmal rotation provides a useful approximation of the tag's rotation due to pen yaw 29 The four perspective target structures 17 are the last to be located (at 30) Good estimates of their positions are computed based on their known spatial relationships to the ring and axis targets, the aspect and rotation of the ring, and the rotation of the axis Matching proceeds by applymg the ring's normalizations to each shape's moments Once their second-order moments are normalized the circular perspective targets are easy to recognize, and the target closest to each estimated position is taken as a match The ongmal centroids of the four perspective targets are then taken to be the perspective-distorted corners 31 of a square of known size m tag space, and an eight-degree-of-freedom perspective transform 33 is mfened (at 32) based on solvmg the well-understood equations relating the four tag-space and image- space pomt pairs The mfened tag-space to image-space perspective transform is used to project (at 36) each known data bit position in tag space mto image space where the real-valued position is used to bilmearly interpolate (at 36) the four relevant adjacent pixels in the input image The previously computed image threshold 21 is used to threshold the result to produce the fmεd bit value 37 Once all 360 data bits 37 have been obtained m this way, each of the six 60-bit Reed-Solomon codewords is decoded (at 38) to yield 20 decoded bits 39, or 120 decoded bits in total Note that the codeword symbols are sampled m codeword order, so that codewords are implicitly de-mterleaved dunng the sampling process The πng target 15 is only sought m a subarea of the image whose relationship to the image guarantees that the ring, if found, is part of a complete tag If a complete tag is not found and successfully decoded, then no pen position is recorded for the cuπent frame Given adequate processmg power and ideally a non-minimal field of view 193, an alternative strategy mvolves seeking another tag m the cuπent image - 12 - The obtained tag data mdicates the identity of the region containing the tag and the position of the tag withm the region An accurate position 35 of the pen mb in the region, as well as the overall onentation 35 of the pen, is then fened (at 34) from the perspective transform 33 observed on the tag and the known spatial relationship between the pen's physical axis and the pen's optical axis 1.2.5 Tag Map Decoding a tag results m a region ID, a tag ID, and a tag-relative pen transform Before the tag ID and the tag-relative pen location can be translated mto an absolute location withm the tagged region, the location of the tag within the region must be known This is given by a tag map, a function which maps each tag ID m a tagged region to a corresponding location The tag map class diagram is shown m Figure 22, as part of the netpage pnnter class diagram A tag map reflects the scheme used to tile the surface region with tags, and this can vary according to surface type When multiple tagged regions share the same tiling scheme and the same tag numbering scheme, they can also share the same tag map The tag map for a region must be retnevable via the region ID Thus, given a region ID, a tag ID and a pen transform, the tag map can be retneved, the tag ID can be translated mto an absolute tag location withm the region, and the tag-relative pen location can be added to the tag location to yield an absolute pen location withm the region 1.2.6 Tagging Schemes Two distmct surface coding schemes are of mterest, both of which use the tag structure descnbed earlier in this section The prefeπed codmg scheme uses "location-indicating" tags as already discussed An alternative coding scheme uses object-indicating tags A location-indicating tag contains a tag ID which, when translated through the tag map associated with the tagged region, yields a umque tag location within the region The tag-relative location of the pen is added to this tag location to yield the location of the pen withm the region This m turn is used to determine the location of the pen relative to a user interface element m the page descnption associated with the region Not only is the user interface element itself identified, but a location relative to the user mterface element is identified Location-indicating tags therefore tnvially support the capture of an absolute pen path m the zone of a particular user mterface element An object-indicating tag contains a tag ID which directly identifies a user mterface element m the page descnption associated with the region All the tags m the zone of the user mterface element identify the user mterface element, making them all identical and therefore indistinguishable Object-indicating tags do not, therefore, support the capture of an absolute pen path They do, however, support the capture of a relative pen path So long as the position sampling frequency exceeds twice the encountered tag frequency, the displacement from one sampled pen position to the next withm a stroke can be unambiguously determined With either tagging scheme, the tags function m cooperation with associated visual elements on the netpage as user mteractive elements m that a user can mteract with the pnnted page usmg an appropnate sensmg device m order for tag data to be read by the sensmg device and for an appropnate response to be generated m the netpage system 1.3 DOCUMENT AND PAGE DESCRIPTIONS A prefeπed embodiment of a document and page descnption class diagram is shown m Figures 25 and 26 In the netpage system a document is descnbed at three levels At the most abstract level the document 836 has a hierarchical structure whose terminal elements 839 are associated with content objects 840 such as text objects, text style objects, image objects, etc Once the document is pnnted on a pnnter with a particular page size and according to a particular user's scale factor preference, the document is pagmated and otherwise formatted Formatted terminal elements 835 will in some cases be associated with content objects which are different from those associated with their conespondmg terminal elements, particularly where the content objects are style-related Each pnnted instance of a - 13 - document and page is also descnbed separately, to allow mput captured through a particular page instance 830 to be recorded separately from mput captured through other instances of the same page descnption The presence of the most abstract document descnption on the page server allows a user to request a copy of a document without bemg forced to accept the source document's specific format The user may be requesting a copy through a pnnter with a different page size, for example Conversely, the presence of the formatted document descnption on the page server allows the page server to efficiently interpret user actions on a particular pπnted page A formatted document 834 consists of a set of formatted page descnptions 5, each of which consists of a set of formatted terminal elements 835 Each formatted element has a spatial extent or zone 58 on the page This defines the active area of mput elements such as hyperlinks and mput fields A document mstance 831 conesponds to a formatted document 834 It consists of a set of page instances 830, each of which conesponds to a page descnption 5 of the formatted document Each page mstance 830 descnbes a smgle unique pnnted netpage 1, and records the page ID 50 of the netpage A page mstance is not part of a document instance if it represents a copy of a page requested m isolation A page mstance consists of a set of terminal element instances 832 An element mstance only exists if it records instance-specific information Thus, a hyperlink mstance exists for a hyperlink element because it records a transaction ID 55 which is specific to the page mstance, and a field mstance exists for a field element because it records mput specific to the page mstance An element mstance does not exist, however, for static elements such as textflows A terminal element can be a static element 843, a hyperlink element 844, a field element 845 or a page server command element 846, as shown in Figure 27 A static element 843 can be a style element 847 with an associated style object 854, a textflow element 848 with an associated styled text object 855, an image element 849 with an associated image element 856, a graphic element 850 with an associated graphic object 857, a video clip element 851 with an associated video clip object 858, an audio clip element 852 with an associated audio clip object 859, or a scnpt element 853 with an associated scnpt object 860, as shown m Figure 28 A page mstance has a background field 833 which is used to record any digital ink captured on the page which does not apply to a specific mput element In the prefened form of the mvention, a tag map 811 is associated with each page mstance to allow tags on the page to be translated mto locations on the page 1.4 THE NETPAGE NETWORK In a prefeπed embodiment, a netpage network consists of a distnbuted set of netpage page servers 10, netpage registration servers 11, netpage ID servers 12, netpage application servers 13, netpage publication servers 14 and netpage pnnters 601 connected via a network 19 such as the Internet, as shown m Figure 3 The netpage registration server 11 is a server which records relationships between users, pens, pnnters, applications and publications, and thereby authorizes vanous network activities It authenticates users and acts as a signing proxy on behalf of authenticated users m application transactions It also provides handwnting recognition services As descπbed above, a netpage page server 10 maintains persistent information about page descnptions and page instances The netpage network includes any number of page servers, each handling a subset of page instances Smce a page server also maintains user mput values for each page mstance, clients such as netpage pnnters send netpage mput directly to the appropnate page server The page server interprets any such mput relative to the descnption of the conesponding page A netpage ID server 12 allocates document IDs 51 on demand, and provides load-balancing of page servers via its ID allocation scheme A netpage pnnter uses the Internet Distnbuted Name System (DNS), or similar, to resolve a netpage page - 14 - ID 50 mto the network address of the netpage page server handling the corresponding page mstance A netpage application server 13 is a server which hosts mteractive netpage applications A netpage publication server 14 is an application server which publishes netpage documents to netpage pnnters They are descnbed m detail m Section 2 Netpage servers can be hosted on a vanety of network server platforms from manufacturers such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Sun Multiple netpage servers can run concurrently on a smgle host, and a smgle server can be distnbuted over a number of hosts Some or all of the functionality provided by netpage servers, and m particular the functionality provided by the ID server and the page server, can also be provided directly m a netpage appliance such as a netpage pnnter, m a computer workstation, or on a local network 1.5 THE NETPAGE PRINTER The netpage pnnter 601 is an appliance which is registered with the netpage system and pnnts netpage documents on demand and via subscnption Each pnnter has a unique pnnter ID 62, and is connected to the netpage network via a network such as the Internet, ideally via a broadband connection Apart from identity and secunty settings in non-volatile memory, the netpage pnnter contains no persistent storage As far as a user is concerned, "the network is the computer" Netpages function interactively across space and time with the help of the distnbuted netpage page servers 10, independently of particular netpage pnnters The netpage pnnter receives subscnbed netpage documents from netpage publication servers 14 Each document is distπbuted m two parts the page layouts, and the actual text and image objects which populate the pages Because of personalization, page layouts are typically specific to a particular subscnber and so are pomtcast to the subscnber' s pnnter via the appropnate page server Text and image objects, on the other hand, are typically shared with other subscnbers, and so are multicast to all subscnbers' pnnters and the appropnate page servers The netpage publication server optimizes the segmentation of document content mto pomtcasts and multicasts After receivmg the pomtcast of a document's page layouts, the pnnter knows which multicasts, if any, to listen to Once the pπnter has received the complete page layouts and objects that dffine the document to be pnnted, it can pnnt the document The pπnter rasteπzes and pnnts odd and even pages simultaneously on both sides of the sheet It contains duplexed pπnt engine controllers 760 and pnnt engmes utilizing Memjet™ pnntheads 350 for this purpose The pnntmg process consists of two decoupled stages rastenzation of page descnptions, and expansion and pnntmg of page images The raster image processor (RIP) consists of one or more standard DSPs 757 runnmg m parallel The duplexed pnnt engme controllers consist of custom processors which expand, dither and pnnt page images m real time, synchronized with the operation of the pnntheads m the pnnt engmes Pnnters not enabled for IR pnntmg have the option to pπnt tags usmg IR-absorptive black ink, although this restncts tags to otherwise empty areas of the page Although such pages have more limited functionality than IR-printed pages, they are still classed as netpages A normal netpage pnnter pnnts netpages on sheets of paper More specialised netpage pnnters may pnnt onto more specialised surfaces, such as globes Each pnnter supports at least one surface type, and supports at least one tag tiling scheme, and hence tag map, for each surface type The tag map 811 which descnbes the tag tiling scheme actually used to pnnt a document becomes associated with that document so that the document's tags can be conectly interpreted Figure 2 shows the netpage pnnter class diagram, reflecting printer-related information maintained by a registration server 11 on the netpage network - 15 - A prefened embodiment of the netpage pnnter is descnbed m greater detail m Section 6 below, with reference to Figures 11 to 16 1.5.1 Memjet™ Printheads The netpage system can operate usmg pnnters made with a wide range of digital pnntmg technologies, mcludmg thermal inkjet, piezoelectnc inkjet, laser electrophotographic, and others However, for wide consumer acceptance, it is desirable that a netpage pnnter have the following charactenstics • photographic quality color pnntmg • high quality text pnnting • high reliability • low pnnter cost • low ink cost • low paper cost • simple operation • nearly silent pnnting • high pnnting speed • simultaneous double sided pnnting • compact form factor • low power consumption No commercially available pnntmg technology has all of these charactenstics To enable to production of pnnters with these charactenstics, the present applicant has invented a new pnnt technology, referred to as Memjet™ technology Memjet™ is a drop-on-demand inkjet technology that mcorporates pagewidth pnntheads fabncated using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology Figure 17 shows a smgle pnntmg element 300 of a Memjet™ pnnthead The netpage wallpnnter mcorporates 168960 pnntmg elements 300 to form a 1600 dpi pagewidth duplex pnnter This pnnter simultaneously pnnts cyan, magenta, yellow, black, and infrared inks as well as paper conditioner and ink fixative The pnntmg element 300 is approximately 110 microns long by 32 microns wide Anays of these pnntmg elements are formed on a silicon substrate 301 that mcorporates CMOS logic, data transfer, timing, and dnve circuits (not shown) Major elements of the pnntmg element 300 are the nozzle 302, the nozzle nm 303, the nozzle chamber 304, the fluidic seal 305, the ink channel nm 306, the lever arm 307, the active actuator beam pair 308, the passive actuator beam pair 309, the active actuator anchor 310, the passive actuator anchor 311, and the ink inlet 312 The active actuator beam pair 308 is mechanically jomed to the passive actuator beam pair 309 at the join 319 Both beams pairs are anchored at their respective anchor pomts 310 and 311 The combmation of elements 308, 309, 310, 311, and 319 form a cantilevered electrothermal bend actuator 320 Figure 18 shows a small part of an aπay of pnntmg elements 300, including a cross section 315 of a pnnting element 300 The cross section 315 is shown without ink, to clearly show the ink mlet 312 that passes through the silicon wafer 301 Figures 19(a), 19(b) and 19(c) show the operating cycle of a Memjet™ pnntmg element 300 Figure 19(a) shows the quiescent position of the ink meniscus 316 pnor to pnntmg an ink droplet Ink is retained m the nozzle chamber by surface tension at the ink memscus 316 and at the fluidic seal 305 formed between the nozzle chamber 304 and the ink channel nm 306 While pnntmg, the pnnthead CMOS circuitry distnbutes data from the pnnt engme controller to the conect - 16 - pnntmg element, latches the data, and buffers the data to dnve the electrodes 318 of the active actuator beam pair 308 This causes an electncal current to pass through the beam pair 308 for about one microsecond, resultmg m Joule heatmg The temperature mcrease resultmg from Joule heatmg causes the beam parr 308 to expand As the passive actuator beam pair 309 is not heated, it does not expand, resulting m a stress difference between the two beam pairs This stress difference is partially resolved by the cantilevered end of the electrothermal bend actuator 320 bending towards the substrate 301 The lever arm 307 transmits this movement to the nozzle chamber 304 The nozzle chamber 304 moves about two microns to the position shown m Figure 19(b) This increases the ink pressure, forcmg ink 321 out of the nozzle 302, and causmg the ink meniscus 316 to bulge The nozzle nm 303 prevents the ink memscus 316 from spreading across the surface of the nozzle chamber 304 As the temperature of the beam pairs 308 and 309 equalizes, the actuator 320 returns to its onginal position This aids m the break-off of the ink droplet 317 from the ink 321 m the nozzle chamber, as shown in Figure 19(c) The nozzle chamber is refilled by the action of the surface tension at the memscus 316 Figure 20 shows a segment of a pnnthead 350 In a netpage pnnter, the length of the pnnthead is the full width of the paper (typically 210 mm) m the direction 351 The segment shown is 04 mm long (about 02% of a complete pnnthead) When pnntmg, the paper is moved past the fixed pnnthead m the direction 352 The pnnthead has 6 rows of interdigitated pnntmg elements 300, pnntmg the six colors or types of ink supplied by the ink inlets 312 To protect the fragile surface of the pnnthead dunng operation, a nozzle guard wafer 330 is attached to the pnnthead substrate 301 For each nozzle 302 there is a conespondmg nozzle guard hole 331 through which the ink droplets are fired To prevent the nozzle guard holes 331 from becoming blocked by paper fibers or other debns, filtered air is pumped through the air inlets 332 and out of the nozzle guard holes dunng pnntmg To prevent ink 321 from drying, the nozzle guard is sealed while the pnnter is idle 1.6 The Netpage Pen The active sensmg device of the netpage system is typically a pen 101, which, usmg its embedded controller 134, is able to capture and decode IR position tags from a page via an image sensor The image sensor is a solid-state device provided with an appropnate filter to permit sensmg at only near-infrared wavelengths As descnbed m more detail below, the system is able to sense when the mb is m contact with the surface, and the pen is able to sense tags at a sufficient rate to capture human handwnting (l e at 200 dpi or greater and 100 Hz or faster) Information captured by the pen is encrypted and wirelessly transmitted to the pnnter (or base station), the pnnter or base station interpreting the data with respect to the (known) page structure The prefened embodiment of the netpage pen operates both as a normal marking ink pen and as a non- marking stylus The marking aspect, however, is not necessary for usmg the netpage system as a browsmg system, such as when it is used as an Internet mterface Each netpage pen is registered with the netpage system and has a umque pen ID 61 Figure 23 shows the netpage pen class diagram, reflecting pen-related information maintained by a registration server 11 on the netpage network When either mb is m contact with a netpage, the pen determines its position and onentation relative to the page The mb is attached to a force sensor, and the force on the nib is interpreted relative to a threshold to indicate whether the pen is "up" or "down" This allows a mteractive element on the page to be 'clicked' by pressmg with the pen b, m order to request, say, information from a network Furthermore, the force is captured as a continuous vεdue to allow, say, the full dynamics of a signature to be venfied The pen determines the position and onentation of its mb on the netpage by imaging, in the infrared spectrum, an area 193 of the page m the vicinity of the mb It decodes the nearest tag and computes the position of the mb relative to the tag from the observed perspective distortion on the imaged tag and the known geometry of the pen - 17 - optics Although the position resolution of the tag may be low, because the tag density on the page is mversely proportional to the tag size, the adjusted position resolution is qmte high, exceeding the minimum resolution required for accurate handwnting recognition Pen actions relative to a netpage are captured as a senes of strokes A stroke consists of a sequence of time- stamped pen positions on the page, initiated by a pen-down event and completed by the subsequent pen-up event A stroke is also tagged with the page ID 50 of the netpage whenever the page ID changes, which, under normal circumstances, is at the commencement of the stroke Each netpage pen has a cunent selection 826 associated with it, allowing the user to perform copy and paste operations etc The selection is timestamped to allow the system to discard it after a defined time penod The current selection descnbes a region of a page instance It consists of the most recent digital ink stroke captured through the pen relative to the background area of the page It is interpreted in an application-specific manner once it is submitted to an application via a selection hyperlink activation Each pen has a current mb 824 This is the mb last notified by the pen to the system In the case of the default netpage pen descnbed above, either the marking black ink mb or the non-marking stylus nib is cuπent Each pen also has a cunent mb style 825 This is the mb style last associated with the pen by an application, e g m response to the user selecting a color from a palette The default nib style is the nib style associated with the current mb Strokes captured through a pen are tagged with the cuπent mb style When the strokes are subsequently reproduced, they are reproduced m the mb style with which they are tagged Whenever the pen is withm range of a pnnter with which it can communicate, the pen slowly flashes its "online" LED When the pen fails to decode a stroke relative to the page, it momentanly activates its "error" LED When the pen succeeds in decoding a stroke relative to the page, it momentanly activates its "ok" LED A sequence of captured strokes is refened to as digital ink Digital ink forms the basis for the digital exchange of drawings and handwnting, for online recognition of handwnting, and for online venfication of signatures The pen is wireless and transmits digital ink to the netpage pnnter via a short-range radio link The transmitted digital ink is encrypted for pnvacy and secunty and packetized for efficient transmission, but is always flushed on a pen-up event to ensure timely handling m the pnnter When the pen is out-of-range of a pnnter it buffers digital ink m internal memory, which has a capacity of over ten minutes of continuous handwnting When the pen is once again withm range of a pnnter, it transfers any buffered digital ink A pen can be registered with any number of pnnters, but because all state data resides m netpages both on paper and on the network, it is largely lmmatenal which pnnter a pen is communicating with at any particular time A prefeπed embodiment of the pen is descnbed m greater detail m Section 6 below, with reference to Figures 8 to 10 1.7 NETPAGE INTERACTION The netpage pnnter 601 receives data relating to a stroke from the pen 101 when the pen is used to interact with a netpage 1 The coded data 3 of the tags 4 is read by the pen when it is used to execute a movement, such as a stroke The data allows the identity of the particular page and associated mteractive element to be determined and an indication of the relative positioning of the pen relative to the page to be obtained The mdicatmg data is transmitted to the pnnter, where it resolves, via the DNS, the page ID 50 of the stroke mto the network address of the netpage page server 10 which maintains the conespondmg page mstance 830 It then transmits the stroke to the page server If the page was recently identified m an earlier stroke, then the pnnter may already have the address of the relevant page server m its cache Each netpage consists of a compact page layout maintained persistently by a netpage page server (see - 18 - below) The page layout refers to objects such as images, fonts and pieces of text, typically stored elsewhere on the netpage network When the page server receives the stroke from the pen, it retneves the page descnption to which the stroke applies, and determines which element of the page descnption the stroke intersects It is then able to interpret the stroke in the context of the type of the relevant element A "click" is a stroke where the distance and time between the pen down position and the subsequent pen up position are both less than some small maximum An object which is activated by a click typically requires a click to be activated, and accordingly, a longer stroke is ignored The failure of a pen action, such as a "sloppy" click, to register is mdicated by the lack of response from the pen's "ok" LED There are two lands of mput elements m a netpage page descnption hyperlinks and form fields Input through a form field can also tngger the activation of an associated hyperlink 1.7.1 Hyperlinks A hyperlink is a means of sending a message to a remote application, and typically elicits a pπnted response m the netpage system A hyperlink element 844 identifies the application 71 which handles activation of the hyperlink, a link ID 54 which identifies the hyperlink to the application, an "alias required" flag which asks the system to mclude the user's application alias ID 65 m the hyperlink activation, and a descnption which is used when the hyperlink is recorded as a favonte or appears m the user's history The hyperlink element class diagram is shown m Figure 29 When a hyperlink is activated, the page server sends a request to an application somewhere on the network The application is identified by an application ID 64, and the application ID is resolved m the normal way via the DNS There are three types of hyperlinks general hyperlinks 863, form hyperlinks 865, and selection hyperlinks 864, as shown m Figure 30 A general hyperlink can implement a request for a linked document, or may simply signal a preference to a server A form hyperlink submits the conespondmg form to the application A selection hyperlink submits the current selection to the application If the current selection contains a single- word piece of text, for example, the application may return a smgle-page document giv g the word's meamng within the context m which it appears, or a translation mto a different language Each hyperlink type is characterized by what mlormation is submitted to the application The conespondmg hyperlink mstance 862 records a transaction ID 55 which can be specific to the page mstance on which the hyperlink mstance appears The transaction ID can identify user-specific data to the application, for example a "shopping cart" of pendmg purchases maintained by a purchasing application on behalf of the user The system mcludes the pen's cunent selection 826 m a selection hyperlink activation The system mcludes the content of the associated form mstance 868 in a form hyperlink activation, although if the hyperlink has its "submit delta" attribute set, only mput since the last form submission is mcluded The system includes an effective return path m all hyperlink activations A hyperlmked group 866 is a group element 838 which has an associated hyperlink, as shown m Figure 31 When mput occurs through any field element in the group, the hyperlink 844 associated with the group is activated A hyperlmked group can be used to associate hyperlink behavior with a field such as a checkbox It can also be used, m conjunction with the "submit delta" attribute of a form hyperlink, to provide continuous mput to an application It can therefore be used to support a "blackboard" mteraction model, l e where input is captured and therefore shared as soon as it occurs 1.7.2 Forms A form defines a collection of related input fields used to capture a related set of inputs through a pnnted - 19 - netpage A form allows a user to submit one or more parameters to an application software program running on a server A form 867 is a group element 838 in the document hierarchy It ultimately contains a set of terminal field elements 839 A form mstance 868 represents a pnnted mstance of a form It consists of a set of field mstances 870 which correspond to the field elements 845 of the form Each field mstance has an associated value 871, whose type depends on the type of the conespondmg field element Each field value records mput through a particular pnnted form mstance, l e through one or more pnnted netpages The form class diagram is shown m Figure 32 Each form mstance has a status 872 which mdicates whether the form is active, frozen, submitted, void or expired A form is active when first pnnted A form becomes frozen once it is signed A form becomes submitted once one of its submission hyperlinks has been activated, unless the hyperlink has its "submit delta" attnbute set A form becomes void when the user mvokes a void form, reset form or duplicate form page command A form expires when the time the form has been active exceeds the form's specified lifetime While the form is active, form mput is allowed Input through a form which is not active is mstead captured m the background field 833 of the relevant page mstance When the form is active or frozen, form submission is allowed Any attempt to submit a form when the form is not active or frozen is rejected, and mstead elicits an form status report Each form mstance is associated (at 59) with any form mstances denved from it, thus providmg a version history This allows all but the latest version of a form m a particular time penod to be excluded from a search All input is captured as digital ink Digital ink 873 consists of a set of timestamped stroke groups 874, each of which consists of a set of styled strokes 875 Each stroke consists of a set of timestamped pen positions 876, each of which also mcludes pen onentation and mb force The digital ink class diagram is shown m Figure 33 A field element 845 can be a checkbox field 877, a text field 878, a drawing field 879, or a signature field 880 The field element class diagram is shown m Figure 34 Any digital ink captured in a field's zone 58 is assigned to the field A checkbox field has an associated boolean value 881 , as shown in Figure 35 Any mark (a tick, a cross, a stroke, a fill zigzag, etc ) captured m a checkbox field's zone causes a true value to be assigned to the field's value A text field has an associated text value 882, as shown m Figure 36 Any digital ink captured in a text field's zone is automatically converted to text via online handwnting recognition, and the text is assigned to the field's value Online handwnting recognition is well-understood (see for example Tappert, C , C Y Suen and T Wakahara, "The State of the Art m On-Line Handwnting Recognition", IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Vol 12, No 8, August 1990) A signature field has an associated digital signature value 883, as shown m Figure 37 Any digital ink captured m a signature field's zone is automatically venfied with respect to the identity of the owner of the pen, and a digital signature of the content of the form of which the field is part is generated and assigned to the field's value The digital signature is generated usmg the pen user's pnvate signature key specific to the application which owns the form Online signature veπfication is well-understood (see for example Plamondon, R and G Lorette, "Automatic Signature Venfication and Wnter Identification - The State of the Art", Pattern Recognition, Vol 22, No 2, 1989) A field element is hidden if its "hidden" attnbute is set A hidden field element does not have an mput zone on a page and does not accept mput It can have an associated field value which is mcluded in the form data when the form containing the field is submitted "Editing" commands, such as stnke-throughs mdicatmg deletion, can also be recogmzed in form fields Because the handwnting recognition algonthm works "online" (I e with access to the dynamics of the pen movement), rather than "offline" (l e with access only to a bitmap of pen markings), it can recognize run-on discretely- wntten characters with relatively high accuracy, without a wnter-dependent training phase A wnter-dependent model of - 20 - handwnting is automatically generated over time, however, and can be generated up-front if necessary, Digital ink, as already stated, consists of a sequence of strokes Any stroke which starts m a particular element's zone is appended to that element's digital ink stream, ready for mterpretafion Any stroke not appended to an object's digital ink stream is appended to the background field's digital ink stream Digital ink captured m the background field is mterpreted as a selection gesture Circumscnption of one or more objects is generally mterpreted as a selection of the circumscnbed objects, although the actual mterpretafion is application-specific Table 2 summanses these vanous pen interactions with a netpage Table 2 - Summary of pen interactions with a netpage The system maintains a cunent selection for each pen The selection consists simply of the most recent stroke captured m the background field The selection is cleared after an inactivity timeout to ensure predictable behavior The raw digital ink captured m every field is retained on the netpage page server and is optionally transmitted with the form data when the form is submitted to the application This allows the application to mtenogate the raw digital ink should it suspect the onginal conversion, such as the conversion of handwntten text This can, for example, involve human intervention at the application level for forms which fail certain application-specific consistency checks As an extension to this, the entire background area of a form can be designated as a drawing field The application can then decide, on the basis of the presence of digital ink outside the explicit fields of the form, to route the form to a human operator, on the assumption that the user may have mdicated amendments to the filled-in fields outside of those fields Figure 38 shows a flowchart of the process of handling pen mput relative to a netpage The process consists of receiving (at 884) a stroke from the pen identifying (at 885) the page mstance 830 to which the page ED 50 in the stroke refers, retnevmg (at 886) the page descnption 5, identifying (at 887) a formatted element 839 whose zone 58 the stroke intersects, determining (at 888) whether the formatted element conesponds to a field element, and if so appending (at 892) the received stroke to the digital ink of the field value 871, interpreting (at 893) the accumulated digital ink of the field, and determining (at 894) whether the field is part of a hyperlmked group 866 and if so activating (at 895) the associated hyperlink, alternatively determining (at 889) whether the formatted element corresponds to a hyperlink element and if so acfivatmg (at 895) the conespondmg hyperlink, alternatively, m the absence of an mput field or hyperlink, appendmg (at 890) the received stroke to the digital ink of the background field 833, and copying (at - 21 - 891 ) the received stroke to the cunent selection 826 of the current pen, as maintained by the registration server Figure 38a shows a detailed flowchart of step 893 m the process shown in Figure 38, where the accumulated digital ink of a field is mterpreted accordmg to the type of the field The process consists of determining (at 896) whether the field is a checkbox and (at 897) whether the digital ink represents a checkmark, and if so assigning (at 898) a true value to the field value, alternatively determinmg (at 899) whether the field is a text field and if so converting (at 900) the digital ink to computer text, with the help of the appropnate registration server, and assigning (at 901) the converted computer text to the field value, alternatively determinmg (at 902) whether the field is a signature field and if so venfymg (at 903) the digital ink as the signature of the pen's owner, with the help of the appropnate registration server, creatmg (at 904) a digital signature of the contents of the conespondmg form, also with the help of the registration server and usmg the pen owner's pnvate signature key relatmg to the conespondmg application, and assigning (at 905) the digital signature to tiie field value 1.7.3 Page Server Commands A page server command is a command which is handled locally by the page server It operates directly on form, page and document mstances A page server command 907 can be a void form command 908, a duplicate form command 909, a reset form command 910, a get form status command 911, a duplicate page command 912, a reset page command 913, a get page status command 914, a duplicate document command 915, a reset document command 916, or a get document status command 917, as shown m Figure 39 A void form command voids the conespondmg form mstance A duplicate form command voids the conespondmg form mstance and then produces an active pnnted copy of the cunent form mstance with field values preserved The copy contains the same hyperlink transaction IDs as the ongmal, and so is indistinguishable from the onginal to an application A reset form command voids the conespondmg form instance and then produces an active pnnted copy of the form instance with field values discarded A get form status command produces a pπnted report on the status of the conespondmg form mstance, mcludmg who published it, when it was pnnted, for whom it was pnnted, and the form status of the form mstance Since a form hyperlink mstance contains a transaction ID, the application has to be involved in producmg a new form mstance A button requesting a new form mstance is therefore typically implemented as a hyperlink A duplicate page command produces a pnnted copy of the conespondmg page mstance with the background field value preserved If the page contains a form or is part of a form, then the duplicate page command is mterpreted as a duplicate form command A reset page command produces a pnnted copy of the conespondmg page mstance with the background field value discarded If the page contains a form or is part of a form, then the reset page command is mterpreted as a reset form command A get page status command produces a pnnted report on the status of the conespondmg page mstance, mcludmg who published it, when it was pnnted, for whom it was pnnted, and the status of any forms it contains or is part of The netpage logo which appears on every netpage is usually associated with a duplicate page element When a page mstance is duplicated with field values preserved, field values are pnnted in their native form, l e a checkmark appears as a standard checkmark graphic, and text appears as typeset text Only drawings and signatures appear m their ongmal form, with a signature accompanied by a standard graphic mdicatmg successful signature venfication A duplicate document command produces a pnnted copy of the conespondmg document mstance with background field values preserved If the document contains any forms, then the duplicate document command duplicates the forms m the same way a duplicate form command does A reset document command produces a pnnted - 22 - copy of the conespondmg document mstance with background field values discarded If the document contams any forms, then the reset document command resets the forms in the same way a reset form command does A get document status command produces a pnnted report on the status of the corresponding document mstance, mcludmg who published it, when it was pπnted, for whom it was pnnted, and the status of any forms it contams If the page server command's "on selected" attnbute is set, then the command operates on the page identified by the pen's cunent selection rather than on the page containing the command This allows a menu of page server commands to be pnnted If the target page doesn't contain a page server command element for the designated page server command, then the command is ignored An application can provide application-specific handling by embedding the relevant page server command element m a hyperlmked group The page server activates the hyperlink associated with the hyperlinked group rather than executing the page server command A page server command element is hidden if its "hidden" attnbute is set A hidden command element does not have an mput zone on a page and so cannot be activated directly by a user It can, however, be activated via a page server command embedded m a different page, if that page server command has its "on selected" attnbute set 1.8 STANDARD FEATURES OF NETPAGES In the prefened form, each netpage is pnnted with the netpage logo at the bottom to mdicate that it is a netpage and therefore has mteractive properties The logo also acts as a copy button In most cases pressmg the logo produces a copy of the page In the case of a form, the button produces a copy of the entire form And m the case of a secure document, such as a ticket or coupon, the button elicits an explanatory note or advertising page The default smgle-page copy function is handled directly by the relevant netpage page server Special copy functions are handled by linking the logo button to an application 1.9 USER HELP SYSTEM In a prefened embodiment, the netpage pnnter has a smgle button labelled "Help" When pressed it elicits a smgle page of information, mcludmg • status of pπnter connection • status of pnnter consumables • top-level help menu • document function menu • top-level netpage network directory The help menu provides a hierarchical manual on how to use the netpage system The document function menu includes the following functions • pnnt a copy of a document • pnnt a clean copy of a form • pnnt the status of a document A document function is initiated by simply pressmg the button and then touching any page of the document The status of a document mdicates who published it and when, to whom it was delivered, and to whom and when it was subsequently submitted as a form The netpage network directory allows the user to navigate the hierarchy of publications and services on the network As an alternative, the user can call the netpage network "900" number "yellow pages" and speak to a human operator The operator can locate the desired document and route it to the user's pnnter Depending on the document type, the publisher or the user pays the small "yellow pages" service fee The help page is obviously unavailable if the pnnter is unable to pnnt In this case the "eπor" light is lit - 23 - and the user can request remote diagnosis over the network 2 PERSONALIZED PUBLICATION MODEL In the following descnption, news is used as a canonical publication example to illustrate personalization mechamsms m the netpage system Although news is often used m the limited sense of newspaper and newsmagazme news, the mtended scope m the present context is wider In the netpage system, the editonal content and the advertismg content of a news publication are personalized usmg different mechamsms The editonal content is personalized accordmg to the reader's explicitly stated and implicitly captured mterest profile The advertismg content is personalized accordmg to the reader's locality and demographic 2.1 EDITORIAL PERSONALIZATION A subscnber can draw on two lands of news sources those that deliver news publications, and those that deliver news streams While news publications are aggregated and edited by the publisher, news streams are aggregated either by a news publisher or by a specialized news aggregator News publications typicall} correspond to traditional newspapers and newsmagazmes, while news streams can be many and vaned a "raw" news feed from a news service, a cartoon stnp, a freelance writer's column, a friend's bulletin board, or the reader's own e-mail The netpage publication server supports the publication of edited news publications as well as the aggregation of multiple news streams Bv handling the aggregation and hence the formatting of news streams selected directly by the reader, the server is able to place advertismg on pages over which it otherwise has no editonal control The subscnber builds a daily newspaper by selecting one or more contnbuting news publications, and creatmg a personalized version of each The resultmg daily editions are pnnted and bound together mto a smgle newspaper The vanous members of a household typically express their different interests and tastes by selecting different daily publications and then customizing them For each publication, the reader optionally selects specific sections Some sections appear daily, while others appear weekly The daily sections available from The New York Times online, for example, mclude "Page One Plus", "National", "International", "Opinion", "Business", "Arts/Living", "Technology", and "Sports" The set of available sections is specific to a publication, as is the default subset The reader can extend the daily newspaper by creating custom sections, each one drawing on any number of news streams Custom sections might be created for e-mail and friends' announcements ("Personal"), or for monitoring news feeds for specific topics ("Alerts" or "Clippings") For each section, the reader optionally specifies its size, either qualitatively (e g short, medium, or long), or numencally (I e as a limit on its number of pages), and the desired proportion of advertismg, either qualitatively (e g high, normal, low, none), or numencally (l e as a percentage) The reader also optionally expresses a preference for a large number of shorter articles or a small number of longer articles Each article is ideally written (or edited) m both short and long forms to support this preference An article may also be written (or edited) m different versions to match the expected sophistication of the reader, for example to provide children's and adults' versions The appropπate version is selected accordmg to the reader's age The reader can specify a "reading age" which takes precedence over their biological age The articles which make up each section are selected and pπoπtized by the editors, and each is assigned a useful lifetime By default they are delivered to all relevant subscnbers, m pnonty order, subject to space constraints m the subscnbers' editions In sections where it is appropnate, the reader may optionally enable collaborative filtenng This is then applied to articles which have a sufficiently long lifetime Each article which qualifies for collaborative filtenng is - 24 - pnnted with rating buttons at the end of the article The buttons can provide an easy choice (e g "liked" and "disliked'), making it more likely that readers will bother to rate the article Articles with high pnonties and short lifetimes are therefore effectively considered essential reading by the editors and are delivered to most relevant subscnbers The reader optionally specifies a serendipity factor, either qualitatively (e g do or don't surpnse me), or numencally A high serendipity factor lowers the threshold used for matchmg dunng collaborative filtenng A high factor makes it more likely that the correspondmg section will be filled to the reader's specified capacity A different serendipity factor can be specified for different days of the week The reader also optionally specifies topics of particular mterest withm a section, and this modifies the pnonties assigned by the editors The speed of the reader's Internet connection affects the quality at which images can be delivered The reader optionally specifies a preference for fewer images or smaller images or both If the number or size of images is not reduced, then images may be delivered at lower quality (l e at lower resolution or with greater compression) At a global level, the reader specifies how quantities, dates, times and monetary values are localized This mvolves specifying whether units are impenal or metnc, a local timezone and time format, and a local currency, and whether the localization consist of in situ translation or annotation These preferences are denved from the reader's locality by default To reduce reading difficulties caused by poor eyesight, the reader optionally specifies a global preference for a larger presentation Both text and images are scaled accordingly, and less information is accommodated on each page The language m which a news publication is published, and its conespondmg text encodmg, is a property of the publication and not a preference expressed by the user However, the netpage system can be configured to provide automatic translation services in vanous guises 2.2 ADVERTISING LOCALIZATION AND TARGETING The personalization of the editonal content directly affects the advertismg content, because advertismg is typically placed to exploit the editonal context Travel ads, for example, are more likely to appear m a travel section than elsewhere The value of the editonal content to an advertiser (and therefore to the publisher) lies m its ability to attract large numbers of readers with the nght demographics Effective advertismg is placed on the basis of locality and demographics Locality determines proximity to particular services, retailers etc , and particular mterests and concerns associated with the local community and environment Demographics determine general mterests and preoccupations as well as likely spending patterns A news publisher's most profitable product is advertismg "space", a multi-dimensional entity determined by the publication's geographic coverage, the size of its readership, its readership demographics, and the page area available for advertismg In the netpage system, the netpage publication server computes the approximate multi-dimensional size of a publication's saleable advertising space on a per-section basis, taking into account the publication's geographic coverage, the section's readership, the size of each reader's section edition, each reader's advertising proportion, and each reader's demographic In companson with other media, the netpage system allows the advertismg space to be defined m greater detail, and allows smaller pieces of it to be sold separately It therefore allows it to be sold at closer to its true value For example, the same advertismg "slot" can be sold in varying proportions to several advertisers, with individual readers' pages randomly receivmg the advertisement of one advertiser or another, overall preserving the - 25 - proportion of space sold to each advertiser The netpage system allows advertismg to be linked directly to detailed product information and online purchasing It therefore raises the intrinsic value of the advertismg space Because personalization and localization are handled automatically by netpage publication servers, an advertismg aggregator can provide arbitraπly broad coverage of both geography and demographics The subsequent disaggregation is efficient because it is automatic This makes it more cost-effective for publishers to deal with advertismg aggregators than to directly capture advertismg Even though the advertismg aggregator is taking a proportion of advertismg revenue, publishers may find the change profit-neutral because of the greater efficiency of aggregation The advertismg aggregator acts as an intermediary between advertisers and publishers, and may place the same advertisement m multiple publications It is worth noting that ad placement m a netpage publication can be more complex than ad placement m the publication's traditional counterpart, because the publication's advertismg space is more complex While ignoring the full complexities of negotiations between advertisers, advertismg aggregators and publishers, the prefened form of the netpage system provides some automated support for these negotiations, mcludmg support for automated auctions of advertismg space Automation is particularly desirable for the placement of advertisements which generate small amounts of mcome, such as small or highly localized advertisements Once placement has been negotiated, the aggregator captures and edits the advertisement and records it on a netpage ad server Coπespondmgly, the publisher records Ore ad placement on the relevant netpage publication server When the netpage publication server lays out each user's personalized publication, it picks the relevant advertisements from the netpage ad server 2.3 USER PROFILES 2.3.1 Information Filtering The personalization of news and other publications relies on an assortment of user-specific profile information, mcludmg • publication customizations • collaborative filtenng vectors • contact details • presentation preferences The customization of a publication is typically publication-specific, and so the customization information is maintained by the relevant netpage publication server A collaborative filtenng vector consists of the user's ratings of a number of news items It is used to conelate different users' mterests for the purposes of making recommendations Although there are benefits to maintaining a smgle collaborative filtenng vector mdependently of any particular publication, there are two reasons why it is more practical to maintain a separate vector for each publication there is likely to be more overlap between the vectors of subscnbers to the same publication than between those of subscnbers to different publications, and a publication is likely to want to present its users' collaborative filtenng vectors as part of the value of its brand, not to be found elsewhere Collaborative filtenng vectors are therefore also maintained by the relevant netpage publication server Contact details, mcludmg name, street address, ZIP Code, state, country, telephone numbers, are global by nature, and are maintained by a netpage registration server Presentation preferences, mcludmg those for quantities, dates and tunes, are likewise global and maintained The localization of advertismg relies on the locality mdicated m the user's contact details, while the - 26 - targefrng of advertismg relies on personal information such as date of birth, gender, mantal status, mcome, profession, education, or qualitative denvatives such as age range and mcome range For those users who choose to reveal personal information for advertising purposes, the information is mamtamed by the relevant netpage registration server In the absence of such information, advertismg can be targeted on the basis of the demographic associated with the user's ZIP or ZIP+4 Code Each user, pen, pnnter, application provider and application is assigned its own umque identifier, and the netpage registration server maintains the relationships between them, as shown in Figures 21, 22, 23 and 24 For registration purposes, a publisher is a special land of application provider, and a publication is a special land of application Each user 800 may be authoπzed to use any number of pnnters 802, and each pπnter may allow any number of users to use it Each user has a smgle default pπnter (at 66), to which penodical publications are delivered by default, whilst pages pnnted on demand are delivered to the pπnter through which the user is interacting The server keeps track of which publishers a user has authonzed to pπnt to the user's default pπnter A publisher does not record the ID of any particular pnnter, but mstead resolves the ID when it is required When a user subscnbes 808 to a publication 807, the publisher 806 (I e application provider 803) is authonzed to pnnt to a specified pπnter or the user's default pnnter This authorization can be revoked at any time by the user Each user may have several pens 801, but a pen is specific to a smgle user If a user is authoπzed to use a particular pnnter, then that pπnter recognizes any of the user's pens The pen ID is used to locate the conespondmg user profile maintained by a particular netpage registration server, via the DNS m the usual way A Web terminal 809 can be authonzed to pnnt on a particular netpage pnnter, allowing Web pages and netpage documents encountered dunng Web browsing to be conveniently pnnted on the nearest netpage pπnter The netpage system can collect, on behalf of a printer provider, fees and commissions on mcome earned through publications pnnted on the provider's pnnters Such income can mclude advertismg fees, click-through fees, e- commerce commissions, and transaction fees If the pnnter is owned by the user, then the user is the pπnter provider Each user also has a netpage account 820 which is used to accumulate micro-debits and credits (such as those descπbed m the preceding paragraph), contact details 815, mcludmg name, address and telephone numbers, global preferences 816, mcludmg pnvacy, delivery and localization settmgs any number of biometnc records 817, containing the user's encoded signature 818, fingerprint 819 etc, a handwnting model 819 automatically mamtamed by the system, and SET payment card accounts 821 with which e-commerce payments can be made 2.3.2 Favorites List A netpage user can maintain a list 922 of "favontes" - links to useful documents etc on the netpage network The list is mamtamed by the system on the user's behalf It is organized as a hierarchy of folders 924, a preferπed embodiment of which is shown m the class diagram m Figure 41 2.3.3 History List The system maintains a history list 929 on each user's behalf, containing links to documents etc accessed by the user through the netpage system It is organized as a date-ordered list, a prefened embodiment of which is shown m the class diagram in Figure 42 2.4 INTELLIGENT PAGE LAYOUT The netpage publication server automatically lays out the pages of each user's personalized publication on a section-by-section basis Since most advertisements are m the form of pre-foπnatted rectangles, they are placed on the page before the editonal content ■ 27 - The advertismg ratio for a section can be achieved with wildly varying advertismg ratios on individual pages withm the section, and the ad layout algoπthm exploits this The algoπthm is configured to attempt to co-locate closely tied editonal and advertismg content, such as placmg ads for roofing matenal specifically withm the publication because of a special feature on do-it-yourself roofing repairs The editonal content selected for the user, mcludmg text and associated images and graphics, is then laid out accordmg to vanous aesthetic rules The entire process, mcludmg the selection of ads and the selection of editonal content, must be iterated once the layout has converged, to attempt to more closely achieve the user's stated section size preference The section size preference can, however, be matched on average over time, allowing significant day-to-day vanations 2.5 DOCUMENT FORMAT Once the document is laid out, it is encoded for efficient distnbution and persistent storage on the netpage network The primary efficiency mechanism is the separation of information specific to a smgle user's edition and information shared between multiple users' editions The specific information consists of the page layout The shared information consists of the objects to which the page layout refers, mcludmg images, graphics, and pieces of text A text object contams fully-formatted text represented in the Extensible Markup Language (XML) usmg the Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) XSL provides precise control over text formatting independently of the region mto which the text is bemg set, which m this case is bemg provided by the layout The text object contams embedded language codes to enable automatic translation, and embedded hyphenation hints to aid with paragraph formatting An image object encodes an image m the JPEG 2000 wavelet-based compressed image format A graphic object encodes a 2D graphic m Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format The layout itself consists of a senes of placed image and graphic objects, linked textflow objects through which text objects flow, hyperlinks and mput fields as descnbed above, and watermark regions These layout objects are summarized m Table 3 The layout uses a compact format suitable for efficient distnbution and storage Table 3 - netpage layout objects - 28 - 2.6 DOCUMENT DISTRIBUTION As descπbed above, for purposes of efficient distnbution and persistent storage on the netpage network, a user-specific page layout is separated from the shared objects to which it refers When a subscnbed publication is ready to be distnbuted, the netpage publication server allocates, with the help of the netpage ID server 12, a umque ID for each page, page mstance, document, and document mstance The server computes a set of optimized subsets of the shared content and creates a multicast channel for each subset, and then tags each user-specific layout with the names of the multicast channels which will carry the shared content used by that layout The server then pomtcasts each user's layouts to that user's pnnter via the appropnate page server, and when the pointcastmg is complete, multicasts the shared content on the specified channels After receivmg its pomtcast, each page server and pnnter subscnbes to the multicast channels specified m the page layouts Duπng the multicasts, each page server and pnnter extracts from the multicast streams those objects refened to by its page layouts The page servers persistently archive the received page layouts and shared content Once a pnnter has received all the objects to which its page layouts refer, the pnnter re-creates the fully- populated layout and then rasteπzes and pπnts it Under normal circumstances, the pnnter pnnts pages faster than they can be delivered Assuming a quarter of each page is covered with images, the average page has a size of less than 400KB The pnnter can therefore hold m excess of 100 such pages m its internal 64MB memory, allowing for temporary buffers etc The pnnter pnnts at a rate of one page per second This is equivalent to 400KB or about 3Mbit of page data per second, which is similar to the highest expected rate of page data delivery over a broadband network Even under abnormal circumstances, such as when the pnnter runs out of paper, it is likely that the user will be able to replemsh the paper supply before the pnnter' s 100-page mtemal storage capacity is exhausted However, if the pnnter' s mtemal memory does fill up, then the pnnter will be unable to make use of a multicast when it first occurs The netpage publication server therefore allows pnnters to submit requests for re- multicasts When a cntical number of requests is received or a timeout occurs, the server re-multicasts the conespondmg shared objects Once a document is pπnted, a pnnter can produce an exact duplicate at any time by retnevmg its page layouts and contents from the relevant page server 2.7 ON-DEMAND DOCUMENTS When a netpage document is requested on demand, it can be personalized and delivered m much the same way as a penodical However, since there is no shared content, delivery is made directly to the requesting pnnter without the use of multicast When a non-netpage document is requested on demand, it is not personalized, and it is delivered via a designated netpage formatting server which reformats it as a netpage document A netpage formatting server is a special mstance of a netpage publication server The netpage formatting server has knowledge of vanous Internet document formats, mcludmg Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF), and Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) In the case of HTML, it can make use of the higher resolution of the pnnted page to present Web pages m a multi-column format, with a table of contents It can automatically mclude all Web pages directly linked to the requested page The user can tune this behavior via a preference The netpage formatting server makes standard netpage behavior, mcludmg interactivity and persistence, available on any Internet document, no matter what its ongin and format It hides knowledge of different document - 29 - formats from both the netpage pnnter and the netpage page server, and hides knowledge of the netpage system from Web servers 3 SECURITY 3.1 CRYPTOGRAPHY Cryptography is used to protect sensitive information, both in storage and m transit, and to authenticate parties to a transaction There are two classes of cryptography m widespread use secret-key cryptography and public-key cryptography The netpage network uses both classes of cryptography Secret-key cryptography, also refeπed to as symmetnc cryptography, uses the same key to encrypt and decrypt a message Two parties wishing to exchange messages must first arrange to securely exchange the secret key Public-key cryptography, also refened to as asymmetric cryptography, uses two encryption keys The two keys are mathematically related m such a way that any message encrypted usmg one key can only be decrypted usmg the other key One of these keys is then published, while the other is kept pnvate The public key is used to encrypt any message mtended for the holder of the pnvate key Once encrypted usmg the public key, a message can only be decrypted usmg the pnvate key Thus two parties can securely exchange messages without first havmg to exchange a secret key To ensure that the pnvate key is secure, it is normal for the holder of the pnvate key to generate the key pair Pubhc-key cryptography can be used to create a digital signature The holder of the pnvate key can create a known hash of a message and then encrypt the hash usmg the pnvate key Anyone can then veπfy that the encrypted hash constitutes the "signature" of the holder of the pnvate key with respect to that particular message by decrypting the encrypted hash usmg the public key and venfying the hash against the message If the signature is appended to the message, then the recipient of the message can veπfy both that the message is genuine and that it has not been altered m transit To make public-key cryptography work, there has to be a way to distπbute public keys which prevents impersonation This is normally done usmg certificates and certificate authonties A certificate authonty is a trusted third party which authenticates the connection between a public key and someone's identity The certificate authonty venfies the person's identity by examining identity documents, and then creates and signs a digital certificate containing the person's identity details and public key Anyone who trusts the certificate authonty can use the public key m the certificate with a high degree of certainty that it is genuine They ust have to venfy that the certificate has mdeed been signed by the certificate authonty, whose public key is well-known In most transaction environments, public-key cryptography is only used to create digital signatures and to securely exchange secret session keys Secret-key cryptography is used for all other purposes In the following discussion, when reference is made to the secure transmission of information between a netpage pnnter and a server, what actually happens is that the pnnter obtains the server's certificate, authenticates it with reference to the certificate authonty, uses the public key-exchange key m the certificate to exchange a secret session key with the server, and then uses the secret session key to encrypt the message data A session key, by definition, can have an arbitranly short lifetime 3.2 NETPAGE PRINTER SECURITY Each netpage pπnter is assigned a pair of umque identifiers at time of manufacture which are stored in read-only memory m the pπnter and in the netpage registration server database The first ID 62 is public and uniquely identifies the pπnter on the netpage network The second ID is secret and is used when the pnnter is first registered on the network When the pnnter connects to the netpage network for the first time after installation, it creates a signature pubhc/pnvate key pair It transmits the secret ID and the public key securely to the netpage registration server The - 30 - server compares the secret ID against the pnnter' s secret ID recorded in its database, and accepts the registration if the IDs match It then creates and signs a certificate containing the pnnter' s public ID and public signature key, and stores the certificate m the registration database The netpage registration server acts as a certificate authonty for netpage pnnters, smce it has access to secret information allowing it to venfy pπnter identity When a user subscnbes to a publication, a record is created m the netpage registration server database authorizing the publisher to pπnt the publication to the user's default pπnter or a specified pπnter Every document sent to a pπnter via a page server is addressed to a particular user and is signed by the publisher usmg the publisher's pnvate signature key The page server venfies, via the registration database, that the publisher is authoπzed to deliver the publication to the specified user The page server venfies the signature usmg the publisher's public key, obtained from the publisher's certificate stored m the registration database The netpage registration server accepts requests to add pnntmg authorizations to the database, so long as those requests are initiated via a pen registered to the pπnter 3.3 NETPAGE PEN SECURITY Each netpage pen is assigned a umque identifier at time of manufacture which is stored m read-only memory in the pen and m the netpage registration server database The pen ID 61 uniquely identifies the pen on the netpage network A netpage pen can "know" a number of netpage pnnters, and a pnnter can "know" a number of pens A pen communicates with a pπnter via a radio frequency signal whenever it is withm range of the pnnter Once a pen and pnnter are registered, they regularly exchange session keys Whenever the pen transmits digital ink to the pπnter, the digital ink is always encrypted usmg the appropnate session key Digital ink is never transmitted m the clear A pen stores a session key for every pnnter it knows, mdexed by pπnter ID, and a pnnter stores a session key for every pen it knows, mdexed by pen ID Both have a large but finite storage capacity for session keys, and will forget a session key on a least-recently-used basis if necessary When a pen comes withm range of a pnnter, the pen and pnnter discover whether they know each other If they don't know each other, then the pnnter determines whether it is supposed to .now the pen This might be, for example, because the pen belongs to a user who is registered to use the pnnter If the pnnter is meant to know the pen but doesn't, then it initiates the automatic pen registration procedure If the pπnter isn't meant to know the pen, then it agrees with the pen to ignore it until the pen is placed m a charging cup, at which time it initiates the registration procedure In addition to its public ID, the pen contams a secret key-exchange key The key-exchange key is also recorded m the netpage registration server database at time of manufacture Duπng registration, the pen transmits its pen ID to the pπnter, and the pnnter transmits the pen ID to the netpage registration server The server generates a session key for the pnnter and pen to use, and securely transmits the session key to the pnnter It also transmits a copy of the session key encrypted with the pen's key-exchange key The pπnter stores the session key mtemally, mdexed by the pen ID, and transmits the encrypted session key to the pen The pen stores the session key mtemally, mdexed by the pnnter ID Although a fake pen can impersonate a pen m the pen registration protocol, only a real pen can decrypt the session key transmitted by the pnnter When a previously unregistered pen is first registered, it is of limited use until it is linked to a user A registered but "un-owned" pen is only allowed to be used to request and fill m netpage user and pen registration forms, to register a new user to which the new pen is automatically linked, or to add a new pen to an existing user - 31 - The pen uses secret-key rather than public-key encryption because of hardware performance constraints m the pen 3.4 SECURE DOCUMENTS The netpage system supports tiie delivery of secure documents such as tickets and coupons The netpage pπnter mcludes a facility to pnnt watermarks, but will only do so on request from publishers who are suitably authonzed The publisher mdicates its authonty to pnnt watermarks m its certificate, which the pnnter is able to authenticate The "watermark" pnnting process uses an alternative dither matnx m specified "watermark" regions of the page Back-to-back pages contain mirror-image watermark regions which coincide when pnnted The dither matnces used m odd and even pages' watermark regions are designed to produce an interference effect when the regions are viewed together, achieved by looking through the pnnted sheet The effect is similar to a watermark m that it is not visible when looking at only one side of the page, and is lost when the page is copied by normal means Pages of secure documents cannot be copied usmg the built-in netpage copy mechanism descnbed m Section 1 9 above This extends to copymg netpages on netpage-aware photocopiers Secure documents are typically generated as part of e-commerce transactions They can therefore mclude the user's photograph which was captured when the user registered biometnc information with the netpage registration server, as descnbed m Section 2 When presented with a secure netpage document, the recipient can veπfy its authenticity by requesting its status m the usual way The umque ID of a secure document is only valid for the lifetime of the document, and secure document IDs are allocated non-contiguously to prevent their prediction by opportunistic forgers A secure document venfication pen can be developed with built-in feedback on venfication failure, to support easy point-of-presentation document venfication Clearly neither the watermark nor the user's photograph are secure m a cryptographic sense They simply provide a significant obstacle to casual forgery Online document venfication, particularly usmg a venfication pen, provides an added level of secunty where it is needed, but is still not entirely immune to forgeπes 3.5 NON-REPUDIATION In the netpage system, forms submitted by users are delivered reliably to forms handlers and are persistently archived on netpage page servers It is therefore impossible for recipients to repudiate delivery E-commerce payments made through the system, as descnbed m Section 4, are also impossible for the payee to repudiate 4 ELECTRONIC COMMERCE MODEL 4.1 SECURE ELECTRONIC TRANSACTION (SET) The netpage system uses the Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) system as one of its payment systems SET, having been developed by MasterCard and Visa, is organized around payment cards, and this is reflected in the terminology However, much of the system is independent of the type of accounts bemg used In SET, cardholders and merchants register with a certificate authonty and are issued with certificates containing their public signature keys The certificate authonty venfies a cardholder's registration details with the card issuer as appropnate, and venfies a merchant's registration details with the acquirer as appropnate Cardholders and merchants store their respective pnvate signature keys securely on their computers Dunng the payment process, these certificates are used to mutually authenticate a merchant and cardholder, and to authenticate them both to the payment gateway - 32 - SET has not yet been adopted widely, partly because cardholder maintenance of keys and certificates is considered burdensome Interim solutions which mamtam cardholder keys and certificates on a server and give the cardholder access via a password have met with some success 4.2 SET PAYMENTS In the netpage system the netpage registration server acts as a proxy for the netpage user (l e the cardholder) m SET payment transactions The netpage system uses biometπcs to authenticate the user and authorize SET payments Because the system is pen-based, the biometnc used is the user's on-lme signature, consisting of time- arying pen position and pressure A fingerprmt biometnc can also be used by desigmng a fingerprmt sensor mto the pen, although at a higher cost The type of biometnc used only affects the capture of the biometnc, not the authorization aspects of the system The first step to bemg able to make SET payments is to register the user's biometnc with the netpage registration server This is done m a controlled environment, for example a bank, where the biometnc can be captured at the same time as the user's identity is venfied The biometnc is captured and stored m the registration database, linked to the user's record The user's photograph is also optionally captured and linked to the record The SET cardholder registration process is completed, and the resulting pnvate signature key and certificate are stored in the database The user's payment card information is also stored, givmg the netpage registration server enough information to act as the user's proxy m any SET payment transaction When the user eventually supplies the biometnc to complete a payment, for example by signing a netpage order form, the pnnter securely transmits the order information, the pen ID and the biometnc data to the netpage registration server The server venfies the biometnc with respect to the user identified by the pen ID, and from then on acts as the user's proxy m completing the SET payment transaction 4.3 MICRO-PAYMENTS The netpage system mcludes a mechanism for micro-payments, to allow the user to be conveniently charged for pnnting low-cost documents on demand and for copymg copynght documents, and possibly also to allow the user to be reimbursed for expenses incurred m pπnting advertismg matenal The latter depends on the level of subsidy already provided to the user When the user registers for e-commerce, a network account is established which aggregates micro- payments The user receives a statement on a regular basis, and can settle any outstanding debit balance usmg the standard payment mechanism The network account can be extended to aggregate subscnption fees for penodicals, which would also otherwise be presented to the user m the form of individual statements 4.4 TRANSACTIONS When a user requests a netpage m a particular application context, the application is able to embed a user- specific transaction ID 55 m the page Subsequent mput through the page is tagged with the transaction ID, and the application is thereby able to establish an appropnate context for the user's mput When mput occurs through a page which is not user-specific, however, the application must use the user's umque identity to establish a context A typical example mvolves addmg items from a pre-pnnted catalog page to the user's virtual "shopping cart" To protect the user's pnvacy, however, the umque user ID 60 known to the netpage system is not divulged to applications This is to prevent difierent application providers from easily conelatmg independently accumulated behavioral data The netpage registration server mstead maintains an anonymous relationship between a user and an application via a umque alias ID 65, as shown m Figure 24 Whenever the user activates a hyperlink tagged with the - 33 - "registered" attnbute, the netpage page server asks the netpage registration server to translate the associated application ID 64, together with the pen ID 61 , mto an alias ID 65 The alias ID is then submitted to the hyperlink's application The application maintains state information mdexed by alias ID, and is able to retneve user-specific state information without knowledge of the global identity of the user The system also maintains an mdependent certificate and pnvate signature key for each of a user's applications, to allow it to sign application transactions on behalf of the user usmg only application-specific information To assist the system in routing product bar code (UPC) "hyperlink" activations, the system records a favonte application on behalf of the user for any number of product types Each application is associated with an application provider, and the system maintains an account on behalf of each application provider, to allow it to credit and debit the provider for click-through fees etc An application provider can be a publisher of peπodical subscnbed content The system records the user's willingness to receive the subscnbed publication, as well as the expected frequency of publication 4.5 RESOURCE DESCRIPTIONS AND COPYRIGHT A prefened embodiment of a resource descnption class diagram is shown m Figure 40 Each document and content object may be descπbed by one or more resource descnptions 842 Resource descnptions use the Dublm Core metadata element set, which is designed to facilitate discover/ of electronic resources Dublin Core metadata conforms to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Resource Descπption Framework (RDF) A resource descnption may identify nghts holders 920 The netpage system automatically transfers copynght fees from users to nghts holders when users pnnt copynght content 5 COMMUNICATIONS PROTOCOLS A communications protocol defines an ordered exchange of messages between entities In the netpage system, entities such as pens, pnnters and servers utilise a set of defined protocols to cooperatively handle user mteraction with the netpage system Each protocol is illustrated by way of a sequence diagram in which the horizontal dimension is used to represent message flow and the vertical dimension is used to represent time Each entity is represented by a rectangle containing the name of the entity and a vertical column representing the lifeline of the entity Duπng the time an entity exists, the lifeline is shown as a dashed lme Dunng the time an entity is active, the lifeline is shown as a double lme Because the protocols considered here do not create or destroy entities, lifelines are generally cut short as soon as an entity ceases to participate m a protocol 5.1 SUBSCRIPTION DELIVERY PROTOCOL A prefened embodiment of a subscπption delivery protocol is shown m Figure 43 A large number of users may subscnbe to a penodical publication Each user's edition may be laid out differently, but many users' editions will share common content such as text objects and image objects The subscnption delivery protocol therefore delivers document structures to individual pnnters via pomtcast, but delivers shared content objects via multicast The application (I e publisher) first obtains a document ID 51 for each document from an ED server 12 It then sends each document structure, mcludmg its document ID and page descnptions, to the page server 10 responsible for the document's newly allocated ID It mcludes its own application ID 64, the subscnber' s alias ID 65, and the relevant set of multicast channel names It signs the message using its pnvate signature key The page server uses the application ID and alias ID to obtain from the registration server the conespondmg user ID 60, the user's selected pnnter ID 62 (which may be explicitly selected for the application, or may be the user's default pnnter), and the application's certificate - 34 - The application's certificate allows the page server to veπfy the message signature The page server's request to the registration server fails if the application ID and alias ID don't together identify a subscnption 808 The page server then allocates document and page mstance IDs and forwards the page descnptions, mcludmg page IDs 50, to the pnnter It mcludes the relevant set of multicast channel names for the pπnter to listen to It then returns the newly allocated page IDs to the application for future reference Once the application has distnbuted all of the document structures to the subscnbers' selected pnnters via the relevant page servers, it multicasts the vanous subsets of the shared objects on the previously selected multicast channels Both page servers and pnnters momtor the appropnate multicast channels and receive their required content objects They are then able to populate the previously pomtcast document structures This allows the page servers to add complete documents to their databases, and it allows the pnnters to pπnt the documents 5.2 HYPERLINK ACTIVATION PROTOCOL A prefened embodiment of a hyperlink activation protocol is shown m Figure 45 When a user clicks on a netpage with a netpage pen, the pen communicates the click to the nearest netpage pnnter 601 The click identifies the page and a location on the page The pnnter already knows the ID 61 of the pen from the pen connection protocol The pπnter determines, via the DNS, the network address of the page server 10a handling the particular page ID 50 The address may already be m its cache if the user has recently mteracted with the same page The pπnter then forwards the pen ID, its own pπnter ID 62, the page ID and click location to the page server The page server loads the page descnption 5 identified bv the page ID and determines which mput element's zone 58, if any, the click lies m Assuming the relevant mput element is a hyperlink element 844, the page server then obtains the associated application ID 64 and link ID 54, and determines, via the DNS, the network address of the application server hosting the application 71 The page server uses the pen ID 61 to obtain the conespondmg user ID 60 from the registration server 11, and then allocates a globally umque hyperlink request ID 52 and builds a hyperlink request 934 The hyperlink request class diagram is shown m Figure 44 The hyperlink request records the IDs of the re esting user and pnnter, and identifies the clicked hyperlink mstance 862 The page server then sends its own serv?r ID 53, the hyperlink request ID, and the link ID to the application The application produces a response document accordmg to application-specific logic, and obtains a document ID 51 from an ID server 12 It then sends the document to the page server 10b responsible for the document's newly allocated ID, together with the requesting page server's ID and the hyperlink request ID The second page server sends the hyperlink request ID and application ID to the first page server to obtain the conespondmg user ID and pnnter ID 62 The first page server rejects the request if the hyperlink request has expired or is for a different application The second page server allocates document mstance and page IDs 50, returns the newly allocated page IDs to the application, adds the complete document to its own database, and finally sends the page descnptions to the requesting pnnter The hyperlink mstance may mclude a meaningful transaction ID 55, m which case the first page server mcludes the transaction ID m the message sent to the application This allows the application to establish a transaction- specific context for the hyperlink activation If the hyperlink requires a user alias, l e its "alias required" attπbute is set, then the first page server sends both the pen ID 61 and the hyperlink's application ID 64 to the registration server 11 to obtain not just the user ID conespondmg to the pen ID but also the alias ID 65 conespondmg to the application ID and the user ID It mcludes the - 35 - alias ID m the message sent to the application, allowing the application to establish a user-specific context for the hyperlink activation 5.3 HANDWRITING RECOGNITION PROTOCOL When a user draws a stroke on a netpage with a netpage pen, the pen communicates the stroke to the nearest netpage pπnter The stroke identifies the page and a path on the page The pπnter forwards the pen ID 61 , its own pπnter ID 62, the page ID 50 and stroke path to the page server 10 m the usual way The page server loads the page descnption 5 identified by the page ID and determines which mput element's zone 58, if any, the stroke mtersects Assuming the relevant mput element is a text field 878, the page server appends the stroke to the text field's digital ink After a penod of inactivity m the zone of the text field, the page server sends the pen ID and the pending strokes to the registration server 11 for interpretation The registration server identifies the user conespondmg to the pen, and uses the user's accumulated handwnting model 822 to interpret the strokes as handwntten text Once it has converted the strokes to text, the registration server returns the text to the requestmg page server The page server appends the text to the text value of the text field 5.4 SIGNATURE VERIFICATION PROTOCOL Assuming the mput element whose zone the stroke mtersects is a signature field 880, the page server 10 appends the stroke to the signature field's digital ink After a penod of inactivity m the zone of the signature field, the page server sends the pen ID 61 and the pending strokes to the registration server 11 for venfication It also sends the application ID 64 associated with the form of which the signature field is part, as well as the form ID 56 and the cunent data content of the form The registration server identifies the user conespondmg to the pen, and uses the user's dynamic signature biometnc 818 to venfy the strokes as the user's signature Once it has venfied the signature, the registration server uses the application ID 64 and user ID 60 to identify the user's application-specific pnvate signature key It then uses the key to generate a digital signature of the form data, and returns the digital signature to the requesting page server The page server assigns the digital signature to the signature field and sets the associated form's status to frozen The digital signature mcludes the alias ID 65 of the conespondmg user This allows a smgle form to capture multiple users' signatures 5.5 FORM SUBMISSION PROTOCOL A preferred embodiment of a form submission protocol is shown m Figure 46 Form submission occurs via a form hyperlink activation It thus follows the protocol defined m Section 5 2, with some form-specific additions In the case of a form hyperlink, the hyperlink activation message sent by the page server 10 to the application 71 also contains the form ID 56 and the cuπent data content of the form If the form contams any signature fields, then the application venfies each one by extracting the alias ID 65 associated with the conespondmg digital signature and obtaining the conespondmg certificate from the registration server 11 5.6 COMMISSION PAYMENT PROTOCOL A prefened embodiment of a commission payment protocol is shown m Figure 47 In an e-commerce environment, fees and commissions may be payable from an application provider to a publisher on click-tiiroughs, transactions and sales Commissions on fees and commissions on commissions may also be payable from the publisher to the provider of the pnnter The hyperlink request ID 52 is used to route a fee or commission credit from the target application provider - 36 - 70a (e g merchant) to the source application provider 70b (I e publisher), and from the source application provider 70b to the pnnter provider 72 The target application receives the hyperlink request ID from the page server 10 when the hyperlink is first activated, as descπbed in Section 5 2 When the target application needs to credit the source application provider, it sends the application provider credit to the onginal page server together with the hyperlink request ID The page server uses the hyperlink request ID to identify the source application, and sends the credit on to the relevant registration server 11 together with the source application ID 64, its own server ID 53, and the hyperlink request ID The registration server credits the conespondmg application provider's account 827 It also notifies the application provider If the application provider needs to credit the pπnter provider, it sends the prmter provider credit to the ongmal page server together with the hyperlink request ID The page server uses the hyperlink request ID to identify the pπnter, and sends the credit on to the relevant registration server together with the pnnter ID The registration server credits the conespondmg pnnter provider account 814 The source application provider is optionally notified of the identity of the target application provider, and the pnnter provider of the identity of the source application provider 5.7 COMPUTER PRINTING PROTOCOL A prefened embodiment of a computer pnnting protocol is shown m Figure 48 A computer 73 which has direct access to a netpage pnnter 601 via the pnnter' s local computer connection 752 can pnnt a document to the pπnter The computer has the option to pπnt the document as a set of netpages, m which case the pπnter ensures that the pages are persistently archived on a page server 10 and are invisibly coded to make them mteractive When the prmter receives a document directly from a computer, it first obtains a document id 51 from an id server 12 It then formats the document and sends it to the page server 10 handling the particular document id The page server allocates page ids 50 for the document's page mstances and adds the document to its database It returns the page ids to the pnnter, allowing the pnnter to code each page with its appropnate id dunng pnnting The pnnter optionally returns the document id and page ids to the computer 73 for future reference Each pnnted page contains, by default, a netpage logo which is linked to a duplicate page 912 page server command element 906 (Figure 39), allowing a user to obtain a digital copy of the page via the netpage system It also contams other page server commands These can optionally be made visible, but are typically hidden Hidden commands can be activated via page server commands embedded m other pages which have their "on selected" attnbute set These hidden commands mclude, by default, reset page 913, get page status 914, duplicate document 915, reset document 916, and get document status 917 Smce the netpage system captures and persistently stores anything written on a field-less Netpage m the page's background field, anything wπtten on a page pnnted from a computer via a netpage pπnter is captured and persistently stored as digital ink This digital ink is reproduced when the page is copied via a duplicate page 912 or duplicate document 915 command It is discarded when the page is copied via a reset page 913 or reset document 916 command 6. NETPAGE PEN DESCRIPTION 6.1 PEN MECHANICS Referring to Figures 8 and 9, the pen, generally designated by reference numeral 101, mcludes a housmg 102 m the form of a plastics moulding having walls 103 defining an mtenor space 104 for mounting the pen components The pen top 105 is in operation rotatably mounted at one end 106 of the housmg 102 A semi-transparent cover 107 is secured to the opposite end 108 of the housmg 102 The cover 107 is also of moulded plastics, and is formed from semi-transparent matenal m order to enable the user to view the status of the LED mounted withm the - 37 - housmg 102 The cover 107 mcludes a mam part 109 which substantially surrounds the end 108 of the housmg 102 and a projecting portion 110 which projects back from the mam part 109 and fits withm a conespondmg slot 111 formed m the walls 103 of the housmg 102 A radio antenna 112 is mounted behind the projecting portion 110, withm the housmg 102 Screw threads 113 suπoundrng an aperture 113A on the cover 107 are arranged to receive a metal end piece 114, mcludmg conespondmg screw threads 115 The metal end piece 114 is removable to enable ink cartndge replacement Also mounted withm the cover 107 is a tn-color status LED 116 on a flex PCB 117 The antenna 112 is also mounted on the flex PCB 117 The status LED 116 is mounted at the top of the pen 101 for good all-around visibility The pen can operate both as a normal marking ink pen and as a non-marking stylus An ink pen cartndge 118 with mb 119 and a stylus 120 with stylus mb 121 are mounted side by side withm the housmg 102 Either the ink cartndge mb 119 or the stylus mb 121 can be brought forward through open end 122 of the metal end piece 114, by rotation of the pen top 105 Respective slider blocks 123 and 124 are mounted to the ink cartndge 118 and stylus 120, respectively A rotatable cam baπel 125 is secured to the pen top 105 in operation and aπanged to rotate therewith The cam baπel 125 includes a cam 126 m the form of a slot withm the walls 181 of the cam barrel Cam followers 127 and 128 projecting from slider blocks 123 and 124 fit withm the cam slot 126 On rotation of the cam baπel 125, the slider blocks 123 or 124 move relative to each other to project either the pen mb 119 or stylus mb 121 out through the hole 122 m the metal end piece 114 The pen 101 has three states of operation By turning the top 105 through 90° steps, the three states are Stylus 120 nib 121 out, • Ink cartndge 118 mb 119 out, and • Neither ink cartndge 118 mb 119 out nor stylus 120 nib 121 out A second flex PCB 129, is mounted on an electronics chassis 130 which sits withm the housmg 102 The second flex PCB 129 mounts an infrared LED 131 for providmg infrared radiation for projection onto the surface An image sensor 132 is provided mounted on the second flex PCB 129 for receivmg reflected radiation from the surface The second flex PCB 129 also mounts a radio frequency chip 133, which mcludes an RF transmitter and RF receiver, and a controller chip 134 for controlling operation of the pen 101 An optics block 135 (formed from moulded clear plastics) sits withm the cover 107 and projects an infrared beam onto the surface and receives images onto the image sensor 132 Power supply wires 136 connect the components on the second flex PCB 129 to battery contacts 137 which are mounted withm the cam baπel 125 A terminal 138 connects to the battery contacts 137 and the cam baπel 125 A three volt rechargeable battery 139 sits within the cam barrel 125 m contact with the battery contacts An induction charging coil 140 is mounted about the second flex PCB 129 to enable recharging of the battery 139 via induction The second flex PCB 129 also mounts an infrared LED 143 and infrared photodiode 144 for detecting displacement m the cam banel 125 when either the stylus 120 or the ink cartndge 118 is used for wnting, m order to enable a determination of the force bemg applied to the surface by the pen mb 119 or stylus mb 121 The IR photodiode 144 detects light from the IR LED 143 via reflectors (not shown) mounted on the slider blocks 123 and 124 Rubber gnp pads 141 and 142 are provided towards the end 108 of the housmg 102 to assist gπppmg the pen 101, and top 105 also includes a clip 142 for clipping the pen 101 to a pocket 6.2 PEN CONTROLLER The pen 101 is aπanged to determine the position of its nib (stylus mb 121 or ink cartndge mb 119) by imaging, m the infrared spectrum, an area of the surface m the vicinity of the mb It records the location data from the nearest location tag, and is arranged to calculate the distance of the mb 121 or 119 from the location tab utilismg optics 135 and controller chip 134 The controller chip 134 calculates the onentation of the pen and the nib-to-tag distance from the perspective distortion observed on the imaged tag - 38 - Utihsmg the RF chip 133 and antenna 112 the pen 101 can transmit the digital ink data (which is encrypted for secunty and packaged for efficient transmission) to the computing system When the pen is m range of a receiver, the digital ink data is transmitted as it is formed When the pen 101 moves out of range, digital ink data is buffered withm the pen 101 (the pen 101 circuitry mcludes a buffer arranged to store digital ink data for approximately 12 minutes of the pen motion on the surface) and can be transmitted later The controller chip 134 is mounted on the second flex PCB 129 m the pen 101 Figure 10 is a block diagram illustrating m more detail the architecture of the controller chip 134 Figure 10 also shows representations of the RF chip 133, the image sensor 132, the tn-color status LED 116, the IR illumination LED 131, the IR force sensor LED 143, and the force sensor photodiode 144 The pen controller chip 134 mcludes a controlling processor 145 Bus 146 enables the exchange of data between components of the controller chip 134 Flash memory 147 and a 512 KB DRAM 148 are also mcluded An analog-to-digital converter 149 is aπanged to convert the analog signal from the force sensor photodiode 144 to a digital signal An image sensor interface 152 interfaces with the image sensor 132 A transceiver controller 153 and base band circuit 154 are also mcluded to mterface with the RF chip 133 which mcludes an RF circuit 155 and RF resonators and mductors 156 connected to the antenna 112 The controlling processor 145 captures and decodes location data from tags from the surface via the image sensor 132, momtors the force sensor photodiode 144, controls the LEDs 116, 131 and 143, and handles short-range radio communication via the radio transceiver 153 It is a medium-performance (~40MHz) general-purpose RISC processor The processor 145, digital transceiver components (transceiver controller 153 and baseband circuit 154), image sensor mterface 152, flash memory 147 and 512KB DRAM 148 are integrated m a smgle controller ASIC Analog RF components (RF circuit 155 and RF resonators and inductors 156) are provided in the separate RF chip The image sensor is a 215x215 pixel CCD (such a sensor is produced by Matsushita Electronic Corporation, and is descnbed in a paper by Itakura, K T Nobusada, N Okusenya, R Nagayoshi, and M Ozaki, "A 1mm 50k-Pιxel IT CCD Image Sensor for Miniature Camera System", IEEE Transactions on Electro, Devices, Volt 47, number 1, January 2000, which is incorporated herein by reference) with an IR filter The controller ASIC 134 enters a quiescent state after a penod of inactivity when the pen 101 is not m contact with a surface It incorporates a dedicated circuit 150 which momtors the force sensor photodiode 144 and wakes up the controller 134 via the power manager 151 on a pen-down event The radio transceiver communicates in the unlicensed 900MHz band normally used by cordless telephones, or alternatively m the unlicensed 2 4GHz industnal, scientific and medical (ISM) band, and uses frequency hopping and collision detection to provide interference-free communication In an alternative embodiment, the pen mcorporates an Infrared Data Association (IrDA) mterface for short- range communication with a base station or netpage pnnter In a further embodiment, the pen 101 mcludes a pair of orthogonal accelerometers mounted m the normal plane of the pen 101 axis The accelerometers 190 are shown m Figures 9 and 10 m ghost outline The provision of the accelerometers enables this embodiment of the pen 101 to sense motion without reference to surface location tags, allowing the location tags to be sampled at a lower rate Each location tag ID can then identify an object of mterest rather than a position on the surface For example, if the object is a user mterface input element (e g a command button), then the tag ID of each location tag withm the area of the mput element can directly identify the input element - 39 - The acceleration measured by the accelerometers m each of the x and y directions is integrated with respect to time to produce an instantaneous velocity and position Smce the starting position of the stroke is not known, only relative positions withm a stroke are calculated Although position mtegration accumulates eπors m the sensed acceleration, accelerometers typically have high resolution, and the time duration of a stroke, over which errors accumulate, is short 7. NETPAGE PRINTER DESCRIPTION 7.1 PRINTER MECHANICS The vertically-mounted netpage wallpnnter 601 is shown fully assembled m Figure 11 It pπnts netpages on Letter/A4 sized media usmg duplexed 8V_" Memjet™ pnnt engmes 602 and 603, as shown m Figures 12 and 12a It uses a straight paper path with the paper 604 passing through the duplexed pπnt engmes 602 and 603 which pnnt both sides of a sheet simultaneously, m full color and with full bleed An integral binding assembly 605 applies a stnp of glue along one edge of each pπnted sheet, allowing it to adhere to the previous sheet when pressed agamst it This creates a final bound document 618 which can range m thickness from one sheet to several hundred sheets The replaceable ink cartπdge 627, shown m Figure 13 coupled with the duplexed pnnt engmes, has bladders or chambers for storing fixative, adhesive, and cyan, magenta, yellow, black and infrared inks The cartndge also contains a micro air filter m a base molding The micro air filter interfaces with an air pump 638 mside the pnnter via a hose 639 This provides filtered air to the pnntheads to prevent ingress of micro particles mto the Memjet™ pnntheads 350 which might otherwise clog the pnnthead nozzles By incorporating the air filter withm the cartndge, the operational life of the filter is effectively linked to the life of the cartπdge The ink cartπdge is a fully recyclable product with a capacity for pπnting and gluing 3000 pages (1500 sheets) Referring to Figure 12, the motorized media pick-up roller assembly 626 pushes the top sheet directly from the media tray past a paper sensor on the first pnnt engme 602 mto the duplexed Memjet™ pnnthead assembly The two Memjet™ pπnt engmes 602 and 603 are mounted in an opposing m-line sequential configuration along the straight paper path The paper 604 is drawn into the first pπnt engme 602 by integral, powered pick-up rollers 626 The position and size of the paper 604 is sensed and full bleed pπnting commences Fixative is pπnted simultaneously to aid drying m the shortest possible time The paper exits the first Memjet™ pnnt engme 602 through a set of powered exit spike wheels (aligned along the straight paper path), which act agamst a rubberized roller These spike wheels contact the 'wet' pnnted surface and continue to feed the sheet 604 into the second Memjet™ pnnt engme 603 Referring to Figures 12 and 12a, the paper 604 passes from the duplexed pnnt engines 602 and 603 mto the bmder assembly 605 The pπnted page passes between a powered spike wheel axle 670 with a fibrous support roller and .mother movable axle with spike wheels and a momentary action glue wheel The movable axle/glue assembly 673 is mounted to a metal support bracket and it is transported forward to interface with the powered axle 670 via gears by action of a camshaft A separate motor powers this camshaft The glue wheel assembly 673 consists of a partially hollow axle 679 with a rotating couplmg for the glue supply hose 641 from the ink cartndge 627 This axle 679 connects to a glue wheel, which absorbs adhesive by capillary action through radial holes A molded housing 682 suπounds the glue wheel, with an openmg at the front Pivotmg side moldmgs and sprung outer doors are attached to the metal bracket and lunge out sideways when the rest of the assembly 673 is thrust forward This action exposes the glue wheel through the front of the molded housmg 682 Tension springs close the assembly and effectively cap the glue wheel dunng penods of inactivity As the sheet 604 passes mto the glue wheel assembly 673, adhesive is applied to one vertical edge on the - 40 - front side (apart from the first sheet of a document) as it is transported down mto the binding assembly 605 7.2 PRINTER CONTROLLER ARCHITECTURE The netpage pnnter controller consists of a controlling processor 750, a factory-installed or field-installed network mterface module 625, a radio transceiver (transceiver controller 753, baseband circuit 754, RF circuit 755, and RF resonators and mductors 756), dual raster image processor (RIP) DSPs 757, duplexed pπnt engme controllers 760a and 760b, flash memory 658, and 64MB of DRAM 657, as illustrated m Figure 14 The controlling processor handles communication with the network 19 and with local wireless netpage pens 101, senses the help button 617, controls the user mterface LEDs 613-616, and feeds and synchronizes the RIP DSPs 757 and pnnt engme controllers 760 It consists of a medium-performance general-purpose microprocessor The controlling processor 750 communicates with the pnnt engme controllers 760 via a high-speed senal bus 659 The RIP DSPs rasteπze and compress page descnptions to the netpage pnnter' s compressed page format Each pπnt engine controller expands, dithers and pnnts page images to its associated Memjet™ pnnthead 350 m real time (l e at over 30 pages per minute) The duplexed pnnt engme controllers pπnt both sides of a sheet simultaneously The master prmt engme controller 760a controls the paper transport and monitors ink usage m conjunction with the master QA chip 665 and the ink cartridge QA chip 761 The pπnter controller's flash memory 658 holds the software for both the processor 750 and the DSPs 757, as well as configuration data This is copied to mam memory 657 at boot time The processor 750, DSPs 757, and digital transceiver components (transceiver controller 753 and baseband circuit 754) are integrated m a smgle controller ASIC 656 Analog RF components (RF circuit 755 and RF resonators and mductors 756) are provided m a separate RF chip 762 The network mterface module 625 is separate, smce netpage pnnters allow the network connection to be factory-selected or field-selected Flash memory 658 and the 2x256Mbit (64MB) DRAM 657 is also off-chip The pnnt engme controllers 760 are provided m separate ASICs A vanety of network mterface modules 625 are provided, each providing a netpage network mterface 751 and optionally a local computer or network mterface 752 Netpage network Internet mterfaces mclude POTS modems, Hybπd Fiber-Coax (HFC) cable modems, ISDN modems, DSL modems, satellite transceivers, cunent and next- generation cellular telephone transceivers, and wireless local loop (WLL) transceivers Local interfaces mclude IEEE 1284 (parallel port), lOBase-T and 100Base-T Ethernet, USB and USB 2 0, IEEE 1394 (Firewire), and vanous emergmg home networking mterfaces If an Internet connection is available on the local network, then the local network mterface can be used as the netpage network mterface The radio transceiver 753 communicates m the unlicensed 900MHz band normally used by cordless telephones, or alternatively m the unlicensed 2 4GHz industnal, scientific and medical (ISM) band, and uses frequency hoppmg and collision detection to provide interference-free communication The pnnter controller optionally incorporates an Infrared Data Association (IrDA) mterface for receivmg data "squirted" from devices such as netpage cameras In an alternative embodiment, the pπnter uses the IrDA mterface for short-range communication with suitably configured netpage pens 7.2.1 RASTERIZATION AND PRINTING Once the mam processor 750 has received and venfied the document's page layouts and page objects, it runs the appropnate RIP software on the DSPs 757 The DSPs 757 rasteπze each page descnption and compress the rastenzed page image The mam processor stores each compressed page image m memory The simplest way to load-balance multiple DSPs is to let each DSP rastenze a separate page The DSPs can always be kept busy since an arbitrary number of rastenzed pages can, m general, be stored m memory This strategy only leads to potentially poor DSP utilization when rasteπzmg short - 41 - documents Watermark regions m the page descnption are rasteπzed to a contone-resolution bi-level bitmap which is losslessly compressed to negligible size and which forms part of the compressed page image The infrared (IR) layer of the pπnted page contams coded netpage tags at a density of about six per mch Each tag encodes the page ID, tag ID, and control bits, and the data content of each tag is generated duπng rastenzation and stored m the compressed page image The mam processor 750 passes back-to-back page images to the duplexed pπnt engme controllers 760 Each pnnt engme controller 760 stores the compressed page image m its local memory, and starts the page expansion and pnnting pipeline Page expansion and pπnting is pipelined because it is impractical to store an entire 114MB bi-level CMYK+IR page image m memory 7.2.2 PRINT ENGINE CONTROLLER The page expansion and pπnting pipeline of the pnnt engme controller 760 consists of a high speed IEEE 1394 senal mterface 659, a standard JPEG decoder 763, a standard Group 4 Fax decoder 764, a custom halftoner/compositor unit 765, a custom tag encoder 766, a lme loader/formatter unit 767, and a custom mterface 768 to the Memjet™ pnnthead 350 The pπnt engme controller 360 operates m a double buffered manner While one page is loaded mto DRAM 769 via the high speed senal mterface 659, the previously loaded page is read from DRAM 769 and passed through the pnnt engine controller pipeline Once the page has finished pnnting, the page just loaded is pπnted while another page is loaded The first stage of the pipeline expands (at 763) the JPEG-compressed contone CMYK layer, expands (at 764) the Group 4 Fax-compressed bi-level black layer, mid renders (at 766) the bi-level netpage tag layer accordmg to the tag format defined m section 1 2, all m parallel The second stage dithers (at 765) the contone CMYK layer and composites (at 765) the bi-level black layer over the resultmg bi-level CMYK layer The resultant bi-level CMYK+IR dot data is buffered and formatted (at 767) for pnntmg on the Memjet™ pnnthead 350 via a set of lme buffers Most of these lme buffers are stored m the off-chip DRAM The final stage pnnts the six channels of bi-level dot data (mcludmg fixative) to the Memjet™ pnnthead 350 via the pnnthead mterface 768 When several pnnt engine controllers 760 are used m unison, such as m a duplexed configuration, they are synchronized via a shared lme sync signal 770 Only one pnnt engine 760, selected via the external master/slave pm 771, generates the lme sync signal 770 onto the shared lme The pnnt engine controller 760 contams a low-speed processor 772 for synchronizing the page expansion and rendering pipeline, configuring the pnnthead 350 via a low-speed senal bus 773, and controlling the stepper motors 675, 676 In the 8'/_" versions of the netpage pnnter, the two pnnt engines each pnnts 30 Letter pages per mmute along the long dimension of the page (11"), givmg a lme rate of 8 8 kHz at 1600 dpi In the 12" versions of the netpage pnnter, the two pnnt engmes each pnnts 45 Letter pages per mmute along the short dimension of the page (8 1 /."), givmg a lme rate of 10 2 kHz These lme rates are well withm the operatmg frequency of the Memjet™ pnnthead, which m the current design exceeds 30 kHz CONCLUSION The present mvention has been descnbed with reference to a prefened embodiment and number of specific alternative embodiments However, it will be appreciated by those skilled m the relevant fields that a number of other embodiments, differing from those specifically descnbed, will also fall withm the spint and scope of the present mvention Accordingly, it will be understood that the mvention is not intended to be limited to the specific embodiments - 42 - descnbed in the present specification, including documents mcorporated by cross-reference as appropnate The scope of the mvention is only limited by the attached claims

Claims: ■ 43 - CLAIMS 1 A method of pπnting a document from a computer mcludmg the following steps (a) transmitting instructions for pnnting the document from the computer to a pπnter, (b) pnntmg the document on the pnnter m accordance with the instructions received from the computer, (c) also pπnting on the document coded data mdicative of an identity of the document and a plurality of reference pomts on the document, wherem the coded data is pπnted on the document m a form which can be read by an optical sensmg device to identify a location of the optical sensmg device relative to the document 2 A method according to claim 1 wherem the identity of the document is determined by an identification code issued by a server which issues document identification codes 3 A method according to claim 1 wherem a copy of the document may be requested by directing an optical sensing device towards a zone on the document, which causes the optical sensmg device to sense coded data on the document and transmit a message to the pnnter, which m turn causes the pnnter to pπnt a copy of the document 4 A method accordmg to claim 1 wherem, as part of the pnnting process, a digital copy of the document is archived 5 A method according to claim 4 wherein the digital copy is archived on a server remote from the computer and the pnnter 6 A method according to claim 1 wherein changes may be requested to the document by means of an optical sensmg device being moved relative to the document, the motions of the optical sensing device bemg detected by means of coded data pπnted on the document bemg detected by the optical sensmg device and/or by means of accelerometers associated with the optical sensmg device and/or by other movement detecting means, data mdicative of the movements of the optical sensmg device bemg transmitted to the pnnter before a copy of the document is pπnted incorporating the requested changes 7 A method of pnntmg a document from a computer including the following steps (a) transmitting instructions for pnnting the document from the computer to a pπnter, (b) obtaining a document identification code which is generated by an identification server, (c) forwarding a copy of the document to a page server for archiving by reference to the document identification code, (d) pnnting the document on the pnnter m accordance with the instructions received from the computer, (e) also pnntmg on the document coded data mdicative of the document identification code and at least one reference pomt on the document, wherem the coded data is pnnted on the document m a form which can be read by an optical sensing device 8 A method accordmg to claim 7 wherem the pπnter also returns the document identification code to the computer for future reference 9 A method accordmg to claim 1 or claim 7 wherein an instruction for performing an action is forwarded from an optical sensmg device to the pnnter when the optical sensing device is used to designate a particular zone of the document 10 A method accordmg to claim 9 wherem the action is one of the following (a) pnnting a copy of the document or part of the document, (b) pnntmg a clean copy of the document or part of the document (c) pnntmg status information about the document - 44 - 11 A method accordmg to claim 1 wherem the document has pnnted on it one or more options which a user may select, each associated with a designated zone on the document, and the user selects an option by movmg an optical sensmg device on the surface of the document withm the associated zone, the optical sensmg device transmitting the user's selection to the pnnter 12 A method according to claim 6 wherem a user draws on the document by drawing on the surface of the document with an optical sensmg device, the movements of the optical sensmg device bemg transmitted to the pπnter and stored with an archived copy of the document 13 A method accordmg to claim 12 wherem the archived copy of the document can be reproduced both with and without the addition of the lmes which the user has drawn on the document 14 A method according to claim 12 wherem the optical sensmg device has a marking b which leaves markings on the document when the user draws on the document 15 A method according to claim 12 wherem the optical sensmg device is a hand-held device 16 A method accordmg to claim 1 wherem the coded data is substantially invisible to the human eye 17 A method accordmg to claim 1 wherem the document is a multi page document and the prmter automatically binds the pages together 18 A method of pπnting a document from a computer mcludmg the following steps (a) fransmittmg instructions for pπnting the document from the computer to a pπnter, (b) pnntmg the document on the pnnter m accordance with the instructions received from the computer, (c) also pnntmg on the document coded data mdicative of at least one function associated with the document, wherem the coded data is pπnted on the document m a form which can be read by an optical sensmg device 19 A method according to claim 18 wherem a copy of the document may be requested by directing an optical sensmg device towards a zone on the document, which causes the optical sensing device to sense coded data on the document and transmit a message to the pnnter, which m turn causes the pπnter to pnnt a copy of the document 20 A method accordmg to claim 18 wherem, as part of the pnntmg process, a digital copy of the document is archived 21 A method accordmg to claim 20 wherein the digital copy is archived on a server remote from the computer and the pnnter 22 A method accordmg to claim 18 wherem changes mav be requested to the document by means of an optical sensmg device bemg moved relative to the document, the motions of the optical sensmg device bemg detected by means of accelerometers associated with the optical sensmg device and/or by other movement detecting means, data mdicative of the movements of the optical sensmg device bemg transmitted to the pnnter before a copy of the document is pnnted incorporating the requested changes 23 A method accordmg to claim 18 wherem an instruction for performing an action is forwarded from an optical sensmg device to the pπnter when the optical sensing device is used to designate a particular zone of the document 24 A method according to claim 23 wherem the action is one of the following (a) pnnting a copy of the document or part of the document, (b) pnnting a clean copy of the document or part of the document, (c) pnntmg status information about the document 25 A method according to claim 18 wherem the document has pnnted on it one or more options which a user may select, each associated with a designated zone on the document, and the user selects an option by movmg an optical sensmg device on the surface of the document withm the associated zone, the optical sensmg device transmitting - 45 - the user's selection to the pnnter 26 A method accordmg to claim 22 wherem a user draws on the document by drawing on the surface of the document with an optical sensmg device, the movements of the optical sensmg device bemg transmitted to the pnnter and stored with an archived copy of the document 27 A method accordmg to claim 26 wherem the archived copy of the document can be reproduced both with and without the addition of the lmes which the user has drawn on the document 28 A method according to claim 26 wherem the optical sensmg device has a marking mb which leaves markings on the document when the user draws on the document 29 A method accordmg to claim 26 wherem the optical sensmg device is a hand-held device 30 A method according to claim 18 wherem the coded data is substantially mvisible to the human eye 31 A system for pnnting a document from a computer including the following components (a) a computer, (b) a pnnter, (c) means for transmitting instructions for pnntmg the document from the computer to a pnnter, (d) the pnnter mcludmg means for pnnting on the document coded data mdicative of an identity of the document and a plurality of reference pomts on the document, (e) an optical sensmg device for reading the coded data 32 A system according to claim 31 further mcludmg an identification server which issues document identification codes 33 A system accordmg to claim 31 wherem the optical sensmg device mcludes means for transmitting one or more of the following to a receiver associated with the pnnter (a) data sensed by the optical sensmg device, (b) data mdicative of the location and/or onentation of the optical sensmg device, (c) data indicative of the movement of the optical sensmg device 34 A system accordmg to claim 31 further mcludmg a page server for archiving a digital copy of the document 35 A system accordmg to claim 32 wherem the computer transmits the document to the pnnter, a document identification code is requested and received from the identification server, the coded data pnnted by the prmter mcludes the document identification code, and the document identification code is returned to the computer for future reference 36 A system accordmg to claim 33 wherem the optical sensmg device transmitting means is a wireless transmitter 37 A system accordmg to claim 31 wherem the optical sensmg device has a marking nib which leaves markings on the document when the user moves the optical sensmg device on the document 38 A system according to claim 37 wherein the optical sensmg device is a hand-held device 39 A system according to claim 31 further mcludmg means for converting data mdicative of movements of the optical sensing device mto computer text 40 A system accordmg to claim 31 further mcludmg means for compaπng data received from the optical sensmg device indicative of a signature with a known signature of the user 41 A system accordmg to claim 31 further including means for interpreting, storing and retπeving data mdicative of movements of the optical sensmg device representing lmes drawn by the user on the photograph 42 A system accordmg to claim 31 wherem the coded data is substantially mvisible to the human eye - 46 - 43 A system accordmg to claim 42 wherem the coded data is pnnted usmg an infrared ink and/or an infrared-absorptive ink 44 A system accordmg to claim 31 further mcludmg a document b der which automatically bmds pages together for multi-page documents

Inventors: LAPSTUN PAUL, LAPSTUN, PAUL
Applicants: LAPSTUN PAUL, SILVERBROOK KIA, SILVERBROOK RES PTY LTD, LAPSTUN, PAUL, SILVERBROOK RESEARCH PTY LTD, SILVERBROOK, KIA
Application year: 2000
Main classification: G06K19
IPC codes: B41J2, B41J3, B41J5, B41J13, B41J21, B41J29, B42C9, B42C19, B65H29, B65H37, G06F3, G06F17, G06K9, G06K17, G06K19, H04M1, H04N1, H04N5