Patent ID: 7293233

Claim:
A method of capturing, in a computer system, data relating to a note-taking session, the session including handwritten annotations made by a user by way of a writing implement on a plurality of pages, said pages including therein or thereon coded data indicative of at least one reference point of the page, wherein said plurality of pages is provided in the form of a notepad, including a control portion on a part of the notepad other than on one of said pages, wherein the control portion includes therein or thereon coded data indicative of at least one reference point of the control portion, and the method including the steps of: receiving, in the computer system and via the writing implement, an indication of the start of the note-taking session; receiving, in the computer system and via the writing implement, data indicative of said handwritten annotations made by said user on said plurality of pages; receiving, in the computer system and via the writing implement, an indication of the end of the note-taking session; retaining a retrievable record of the received data for the note-taking session; wherein at least one of the indication of the start of the note-taking session and the indication of the end of the note-taking session is received from the writing implement capturing at least some of the coded data from the control portion when placed in an operative position relative to the control portion; and in response to the indication of the end of the note-taking session and without further user intervention, printing a note-taking session end page indicating at least one of a start time and an end time of the note taking session; and wherein the writing implement comprises: (a) an image sensor adapted to capture images of at least some of the coded data when the writing implement is placed in an operative position relative to at least one of the page and the control portion; and (b) a processor adapted to: (i) identify at least some of the coded data from one or more of the captured images; (ii) determine an orientation, within the captured images, of at least some of the coded data; (iii) decode at least some of the coded data, using the determined orientation; (iv) generate the data regarding said indication of at least one of the start and the end of the note-taking session using at least some of the decoded coded data; and (v) generate the data indicative of said handwritten annotations using at least some of the decoded coded data.