Penabled™ Technology Allows Pressure Input For Navigation, Drawing and Note Taking
The new OQO ultra personal computer (uPC) penabled by Wacom Components, a leader in design and delivery of embedded input technology, has been launched at CES in Las Vegas. The OQO computer, measuring just 4.1 x 3.4x 0.9 inches, fits into a pocket yet runs off-the-shelf Windows XP and supports all existing Windows applications.
The OQO computer features a super thin Wacom digitiser, mounted behind an ultrabright, near-print quality 200 dpi colour display. The display is optimised for hand viewing at a typical distance of 8 inches to 20 inches from the eye. Penabled technology allows for fully luminous colour transmission, making the display clearer and colours more vivid. It also removes the issue of border 'dead zones', substantially increasing the input area.
OQO users can use the Penabled cordless and battery-less pen directly on the computer's high-resolution screen for menu navigation and selection as well as handwritten notes using third party software. The Penabled pen's pressure sensitivity allows for more flexible and accurate handwriting and drawing. In addition, side switches allow right, left and double clicking and can also double as an eraser.
"The OQO ultra personal computer is a ground-breaking product that creates a new category in the personal computer industry - that of pocket-sized, full function computers," said Justin Staines, sales and marketing director, Wacom Components. "We are very pleased to have worked with OQO on this project."
"OQO relies on Wacom's Penabled technology to bring the benefits of a cordless and battery-less digital pen to the new generation of highly mobile PC users," said Jory Bell, CEO of OQO. "Shrinking an entire pen-enabled notebook computer into the pocketable OQO required using the best available components. Only Wacom's exceptional Penabled solution met our designers' criteria for performance, reliability, and miniaturisation."
Penabled™ Interface
Penabled technology creates a natural interface between users and electronic devices to enable
simpler, more flexible and intuitive interaction. The Penabled solution's ability to recognise the
position of the pen and the pressure it is putting on the display screen is the main benefit for end
users: they can create lines that are wider or darker according to how hard the pen is pressed. In
addition, as there is no need for contact with the screen for input activity, as the pen can hover
up to 14mm from the display, enabling for a mouse-like interface.
How Penabled Pens Work
The penabled cordless and battery-less pen uses Wacom's patented technology in which an
electromagnetic signal is sent from a sensor board to a pen and returned for position analysis. A
grid of wires in the sensor board alternates between transmit and receive modes about every 20
microseconds. In transmit mode, the sensor board's signal stimulates oscillation in a coil-and-capacitor
resonant circuit in the pen. In receive mode, the energy of the resonant circuit oscillations in the
pen is detected by the sensor board's antenna grid and analysed for position, pressure, tilt and other
information.
