MULTIPLE-USER COLLABORATION WITH A SMART PEN SYSTEM
A central device concurrently receives handwriting gestures from a plurality of smart pen devices. Each set of handwriting gestures includes a sequence of spatial positions of the corresponding smart pen device with respect to a writing surface. Representations of the handwriting gestures are displayed on a display screen, and the representations show relative timing between the different sets of handwriting gestures. In one embodiment, a portion of the received handwriting gestures is outputted for display.
1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
wirelessly receiving, by a central device, first handwriting gestures from a first smart pen device, the first handwriting gestures comprising a sequence of spatial positions of the first smart pen device with respect to a first writing surface;
wirelessly receiving, by the central device, second handwriting gestures from a second smart pen device, the second handwriting gestures comprising a sequence of spatial positions of the second smart pen device with respect to a second writing surface, at least a portion of the second handwriting gestures received concurrrently with the first handwriting gestures;
identifying the first and second smart pen devices by recognizing metadata received from the first and second smart pen devices; and
displaying representations of the first and second handwriting gestures concurrently on a display screen, the displaying comprising replaying the representations in substantially real-time as the first and second handwriting gestures are captured by the first and second smart pen devices.
2 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the central device, audio data from the first smart pen device, the audio data captured by an audio capture system of the first smart pen device; and
replaying a representation of the audio data from the central device.
3 . The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the audio data is temporally synchronized with corresponding handwriting gestures generated concurrently with the audio data.
4 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting a portion of the received handwriting gestures, and outputting the portion of the received handwriting gestures for display.
5 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising filtering each displayed representation to identify the corresponding smart pen device.
6 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
displaying the representations of the first and second handwriting gestures from the identified smart pen devices in separate display windows on the display screen.
7 . The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , further comprising displaying each representation from each identified smart pen device in a different color.
8 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein displaying representations of the first and second handwriting gestures concurrently on a display screen further comprises overlaying the displayed representations on top of one another.
9 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, at the central device, a selection of one of the first and second handwriting gestures; and
displaying the selected one of the first and second handwriting gestures on the display screen.
10 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions for displaying representations of handwriting gestures from multiple smart pens, the instructions when executed causing a processor to perform steps comprising:
wirelessly receiving, by a central device, first handwriting gestures from a first smart pen device, the first handwriting gestures comprising a sequence of spatial positions of the first smart pen device with respect to a first writing surface;
wirelessly receiving, by the central device, second handwriting gestures from a second smart pen device, the second handwriting gestures comprising a sequence of spatial positions of the second smart pen device with respect to a second writing surface, at least a portion of the second handwriting gestures received concurrrently with the first handwriting gestures;
identifying the first and second smart pen devices by recognizing metadata received from the first and second smart pen devices; and
displaying representations of the first and second handwriting gestures concurrently on a display screen, the displaying comprising replaying the representations in substantially real-time as the first and second handwriting gestures are captured by the first and second smart pen devices.
11 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , the instructions when executed causing the processor to perform further steps comprising:
receiving, by the central device, audio data from the first smart pen device, the audio data captured by an audio capture system of the first smart pen device; and
replaying a representation of the audio data from the central device.
12 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the audio data is temporally synchronized with corresponding handwriting gestures generated concurrently with the audio data.
13 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , the instructions when executed causing the processor to perform further steps comprising selecting a portion of the received handwriting gestures, and outputting the portion of the received handwriting gestures for display.
14 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , the instructions when executed causing the processor to perform further steps comprising filtering each displayed representation to identify the corresponding smart pen device.
15 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , the instructions when executed causing the processor to perform further steps comprising:
displaying the representations of the first and second handwriting gestures from the identified smart pen devices in separate display windows on the display screen.
16 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , the instructions when executed causing the processor to perform further steps comprising displaying each representation from each identified smart pen device in a different color.
17 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein displaying representations of the first and second handwriting gestures concurrently on a display screen further comprises overlaying the displayed representations on top of one another.
18 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , the instructions when executed causing the processor to perform further steps comprising:
receiving, at the central device, a selection of one of the first and second handwriting gestures; and
displaying the selected one of the first and second handwriting gestures on the display screen.