The LongPen is a remote type of
autopen
An autopen, or signing machine, is a device used for the automatic signing of a signature. Prominent individuals may be asked to provide their signatures many times a day, such as celebrities receiving requests for autographs, or politicians s ...
. This signing device was invented by writer
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian novelist, poet, literary critic, and an inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight chi ...
in 2004 and debuted in 2006.
It allows a person to write remotely in
ink anywhere connected to the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
, via a
touchscreen
A touchscreen (or touch screen) is a type of electronic visual display, display that can detect touch input from a user. It consists of both an input device (a touch panel) and an output device (a visual display). The touch panel is typically l ...
device operating a robotic hand.
It can also support an audio and video conversation between the endpoints, such as a fan and author, while a book is being signed.
The system was used by
Conrad Black
Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour (born 25 August 1944), is a Canadian-British writer and former politician, Publishing, newspaper publisher, Investor, financier, and Fraudster, convicted fraudster.
Black's father was businessma ...
, who was under arrest, to "attend" a book signing event without leaving his home.
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]
See also
* List of Canadian inventions and discoveries
*Interactive whiteboard
An interactive whiteboard (IWB), also known as interactive board, interactive display, interactive digital board or smart board, is a large interactive display board in the form factor of a whiteboard. It can either be a standalone touchscre ...
* Polygraph (duplicating device)
*Autopen
An autopen, or signing machine, is a device used for the automatic signing of a signature. Prominent individuals may be asked to provide their signatures many times a day, such as celebrities receiving requests for autographs, or politicians s ...
*Telautograph
The telautograph is an ancestor of the modern fax machine. It transmits electrical signals representing the position of a pen or tracer at the sending station to repeating mechanisms attached to a pen at the receiving station, thus reproducing at ...
, another remote signing device, patented by Elisha Gray in 1888
References
Pointing-device text input
Computer output devices
Margaret Atwood
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