11 June 2009

Engineering Students From Duke University
Invented App That Will Let You Write In The Air?

Forget the fumbling with tiny cell phone keys and virtual onscreen keyboards.

Two engineering students from Duke University have developed a prototype of a new application for S60 devices that allows Smartphone users to write short notes in the air and send them automatically to an e-mail address by using advanced sensor technology.

This represents just one possible step toward allowing people to naturally merge the real world with the information power of the Internet. Travelers and other mobile users could air-write notes to themselves rather than have to text on the run.

Imagine yourself in the following situation: You're at the airport, scurrying from parking garage to terminal. Luggage in tow, you glance at the signage as you rush for the elevator: "Level 4, Row C."

Now, rather than juggle your hand luggage, suitcase, PDA, and stylus (or worse, dig for a pen and a slip of paper), you think to yourself: I'll just remember 4C and write it in my phone when I get inside the airport. Now, when you return to pick up your car next week, you'll wander around lost like the costars of "Dude, Where's My Car?"

This scenario, put forth by a group of Duke University engineering students who have taken advantage of the multi-sensor technology in emerging cell phones to create an application that permits users to virtually write short message with their phone.

"By holding the phone like a pen, you can write short messages or draw simple diagrams in the air," said Sandip Agrawal, electrical and computer engineering senior at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering, who with Duke graduate student Ionut Constandache developed the PhonePoint Pen. "We developed an application that uses the built-in accelerometers in cell phones to recognize human writing," he added.

"By holding the phone like a pen, you can write short messages or draw simple diagrams in the air. "The accelerometer converts the gestures to images, which can be sent to any e-mail address for future reference," Constandache said. "Also, say you're in a class and there is an interesting slide on the screen.

We foresee being able to take a photo of the slide and write a quick note on it for future reference. The potential uses are practically limitless. That this prototype works validates the feasibility of such a pen."