Anoto regional contacts
In addition to the product offerings described under Consumer Solutions and Business Solutions Anoto has representatives on many markets who are handling distribution of Anoto products, Pattern and usage licensing and customer support. In some countries these services are handled by Anotos subsidiaries and in some countries it’s handled by so called Country Agents. By selecting country you will find more information in your local language.

Do the Write thing
Start using Anoto Functionality is easy but you have different options depending on what your needs are:
- I just want to use existing services and products and don´t want to develop anything.
Take a look at the Consumer Solutions or Business Solutions if any of Anotos existing partners have an offering that would be interesting to you. You will find all contact details in each product offering.

- I can´t find anything interesting among the existing products, so I want to develop my own service.
Take a look at the Anoto Representatives page. The Anoto Representatives can offer you all the tools, training and information required to get going.

- I want to have my own service, but I don’t have the resources needed to develop any applications. Who can help me?
Anoto have a broad spectrum of system integrators and consultants who know Anoto Functionality and can help you develop your own service. To find any of these companies go to Find a Partner and select your country and category and you will find a list of Anotos partners in your country.

From vision to reality
In 2001 Anoto created a visionary film to describe what could be done with Anoto Functionality. Today all these visions have come through and you are able to use your digital pen for all the services described in the film.

Watch video clips
To see the original film, click the link below. To see what our partners have done please see the different solution areas to the right to view their thoughts on Anoto and Anoto Functionality Services. In addition to the film cuts on this web page there is also a longer film which can be ordered at info@anoto.com.

Competitive solutions
Anoto and competing systems for digital handwriting

The Anoto concept
Anoto has solved the problem by using a special pattern to make normal paper digitally legible. The information on the paper can be deciphered by a pen with Anoto functionality. Using the pen, text and pictures on the paper can then be distributed to a computer or mobile phone. The implications of this are limited only by our own imagination. Anoto’s special pattern can be printed on all types of paper, including notepads, calendars, POST-IT® notes, tax return forms and hospital journals. Sending faxes, e-mail and SMS messages using a pen and paper are just a few of the more basic functions that are made possible. For instance, providing newspaper advertisements and medical journals with Anoto functionality facilitates e-commerce and possibly even more rapid treatment in emergency health care. The paper provides information about the text’s context both visually to the user and digitally to the Digital pen.

By refining the relationship between pen and paper, it is possible for both text and context to be interpreted digitally and transmitted to a computer anywhere in the world. With its ”intelligent” paper, Anoto is opening the door to a new dimension for handwriting. It is this that makes Anoto’s concept unique and which is facilitating a digital revolution for traditional handwriting.

Since we announced our concept, a number of companies have launched various technologies for converting handwritten text into digital code. These companies compete with Anoto in some areas, but no other technology has as many areas of application or is as simple to use. With Anoto’s concept, we use a pen and paper in exactly the same way as we have always done, but with all the opportunities offered by digital technology. To understand the concept’s unique benefits compared to seemingly competing systems, it is necessary to give an explanation of the alternatives being developed or which already exist.

Digital pens
The alternative solution most often compared to Anoto’s concept is the digital pen. Companies which claim to have invented a digital pen which works on any paper often forget to mention that if the paper cannot give information to the pen, the person holding the pen has to do so instead. The digital pen can reproduce a limited quantity of written text as a graphical, digital copy, but as the paper has no information about the context, the user himself has to give this information to the pen. Without instructions from the user, the pen has no idea what it is doing.

In order to control the information which the user has to give, the pen has to be equipped with a display, a number of built-in menus and one or more command buttons. Alternatively, the pen has to learn to decipher certain commands which the user writes directly on the paper. However, this places considerable demands on the system interpreting these commands correctly and learning to distinguish them from other information. Otherwise, there is a significant risk that the user and the system will have different perceptions of what is happening.

Unlike Anoto’s solution, this system is limited as regards the functions contained in the pen. Any new functions require a new version of the pen. The demand for continuous instructions also entails entirely new operations for the person using the digital pen - operations which mean that the natural and simple way of using traditional handwriting is lost.

Digitizing tablets and digital notepads
Another technique that is used to convert handwritten text into digital code comprises digitizing tablets and digital notepads. These work by means of the tablet or notepad, which has to be connected to a computer, registering the pen’s movements and converting them into a digital code. Just like Anoto’s paper, the tablet contains all the functionality. However, the vast majority of digitizing tablets only contain one or two functions, and do not therefore compete with Anoto, which has a much broader area of application. Even though there are many advantages with using digitizing tablets - they are often functional and simple to use - they also have their limitations. They are often expensive and unwieldy, and usually lack the sensitivity of normal paper. Above all, though, they are yet another technical apparatus which we have to learn to use. In most cases, a pointer has to be moved over a plastic surface to create artificial writing. As a result, the technique does not have a great deal to dowith the traditional and natural way of using a pen and paper.

Positioning systems
Positioning systems represent yet another technique that is used to register and save the movements of a pen. This technique is based on the paper being attached to a device with two reference points which continually measure the distance to the pen. The measurement is performed with the aid of sound waves, light waves or laser beams. The device to which the paper is attached also contains a microprocessor which processes the information and converts it to a digital code corresponding to the pen’s movements on the paper. This technique requires no special paper, but rather a special pen and a special measuring device. The advantage with this solution is that it is not particularly bulky, but can fit in an ordinary pen case. Just like the digital pen, this technology requires that all the information about function and context are held in the pen or in the accompanying device. This places great demands on the user constantly providing information to the pen or the special measuring device. The technology is neither as simple nor as functional to use as a normal pen.

If we want to use a pen and paper in the same natural and simple way as we have always done, only with undreamed-of digital possibilities, there is currently only one alternative. If we want to learn new techniques and ways of writing, there are a multitude of different variants

Technology components Anoto® functionality brings digital life to paper products

All paper form design can be used as direct input to any digital application. Digital Pens enabling Anoto functionality allows you to utilize the speed and opportunities of digital technology but at the same time keep all the advantages of using ordinary pen and paper.

Uniquely Anoto functionality not only transfers what you have written or drawn into digital information, it also keeps track of what piece of paper that you are writing on, and more specifically exactly where on the paper you write. This means that you can flick swiftly in between different paper products (applications). It also means that the design of the paper is the interface for your application.

Using an application enabled by Anoto functionality is as easy as using normal pen and paper. The main differences are that the paper must have so called Anoto pattern printed on it and the user must use a digital pen when writing and drawing on the paper. The user also needs some kind of device in order to connect the pen to the Internet. It can either be a Bluetooth™ compatible mobile phone or a PC where the pen uses a USB connectivity stand to connect.

The Anoto Technology consists of:

- The Anoto Pattern
- Paper and Printing
- The digital pen
- Architecture
- Interfaces

More information about these comonents is found in this section.

Technology Behind Anoto Functionality

Think about it, when you zoom off to the shopping mall in your car, who – except technofreaks – is interested in how everything under the bonnet gets you there?

Nevertheless, we expect our partners – and our partners expect - to become familiar with the different aspects of the technologies behind Anoto functionality.

It ’s all about keeping track of 669 845 157 115 773 458 169 very small dots.

The digital pen writes on ordinary paper printed with a unique pattern that is almost invisible to the naked eye. When you look at a piece of paper enabling Anoto functionality, you’re actually looking at a fraction of a map that is equivalent to that of Europe and Asia combined.

Since the map consists of tiny distinctive squares, small portions of this huge map can be given any specific function, such as “send”, “store” or “synchronize”.
Other portions of the map can be given specific embedded applications, such as “notepad”, “paper calendar” or “medical journal”. Then it remains to keep track of which dots activate which function in which computer.

The information given in this section is provided as an appetizer to the much more detailed information that our partners will receive in cooperation with Anoto, and can gain from ongoing discussions in the Forum.

How does it work?

When using digital pen and paper enabling Anoto functionality, a tiny camera in the pen registers the pen's movement across the grid surface on the paper and stores it as series of map coordinates. These coordinates correspond to the exact location of the page you’re writing on.

When you make a mark in the SEND box with your digital pen, the pen is instructed to send the stored sequence of map coordinates, which are translated into an image that will result in an exact copy of your handwriting displayed on any computer or mobile phone, or received as a Fax anywhere in the world.

What is Anoto functionality?

Anoto functionality brings together digital communication and handwriting, putting the power of digital communication into pen and paper. Anoto functionality involves digital pen technology, digital paper technology and server technology. But Anoto functionality is not any one of these technologies; together digital pen, digital paper and server enable Anoto functionality.

Anoto functionality is driven by an ever-growing list of partners whose products and services form its framework. Anoto functionality is what all products and services have in common. This compatibility allows you to use pen and paper just as you have always done, but now you are also connected to the digital world.

Illustration 3: A cross-sectional diagram of digital pen and paper