page_title: Teleprompter
section_title: Etymology
hierarchical_section_title: Teleprompter / Etymology
caption_attribution_description: A teleprompter displaying text mounted on a camera. The used display for the teleprompter is a flat screen mounted on top of the unit. Text courtesy of Wikinews.
context_page_description: A teleprompter, also known as an autocue, is a display device that prompts the person speaking with an electronic visual text of a speech or script. Using a teleprompter is similar to using cue cards. The screen is in front of, and usually below, the lens of a professional video camera, and the words on the screen are reflected to the eyes of the presenter using a sheet of clear glass or a specially prepared beam splitter. Light from the performer passes through the front side of the glass into the lens, while a shroud surrounding the lens and the back side of the glass prevents unwanted light from entering the lens. Mechanically this works in a very similar way to the "Pepper's Ghost" illusion from classic theatre – an image viewable from one angle but not another – and the concept may have similar origins.
  Because the speaker does not need to look down to consult written notes, the teleprompter creates the illusion that the speaker has memorized the speech or is speaking spontaneously, looking directly into the camera lens.
context_section_description: The word "TelePrompTer", with internal capitalization, originated as a trade name used by the TelePrompTer Company, which first developed the device in the 1950s. The word "teleprompter", with no capitalization, has become a genericized trademark, because it is used to refer to similar systems manufactured by many different companies. The United States Patent Office does not have any live trademarks registered for the word teleprompter, but this does not rule out the possibility of a company enforcing the trademark without registering it. Some other common terms for this type of device are:
  Autocue or Autoscript (the trademark of Autocue Group Ltd, most commonly used in Commonwealth countries; Autoscript is used to brand the devices in the United States)
  cueing device
  electronic speech notes
  idiot board (slang)
  prompter
caption: A teleprompter displaying text
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