Random Movement Printing Technology

mszeto writes "For all those gadget lovers out there, here is a neat one. It's the worlds smallest printer[ed. note: no it isn't], and is Bluetooth enabled. Rub it over the page to print! Here are some more articles about it:"

If its not the smallest

[Derg]

then wheres the proof? That editors note is rather convenient, but it doesnt prove anything, which is easily done by providing a link or two to sources of smaller devices.

I looked at the links, and from my brief once over, it looks pretty cool, I just cant figure out how the device knows with respect to the media, where it is and accurately enough to print without mucho mucho problemo's

Hmmm....

[Pig Hogger]

I wonder if the ink will leak if you shake it too much...

Re:How does it work?

[pompousjerk]

"I can't figure it out."
"[Wave] something the size of a mouse and the print magically appears"
"How in the world can it know where [to] print?"
"I WANT ONE!...I think [this] company is going to make zillions."

Gentlemen, I believe that this post pretty much encapsulates all of consumerism in those phrases. No matter how much doubt there is, "OMG, that's so spiff!" often takes over.

Like those shitty products on infomercials that you know won't do anything worthwhile, but look damn spiffy up on the screen...

Impressive.

Shucks!

[Mostly a lurker]

We are expecting the first RMPT based printer products to be launched on the market early 2005" says CEO PrintDreams Jan Erik Hedborg.

Seems like a great idea but, based on this quote, it is all just vapourware right now.

Re:It's a mouse that prints. Okay.

[zanderredux]

Guess it's another stupid IP-only company, just as Celera Genomics is.

They expect some other big manufacturer to take the challenge of making the technology viable for mass production while they sit and wait for the IP-rights cheques to arrive!

What was even more impressive ...

[jc42]

... was how, in the demo movie, it seemed to know where the print head was going to be, and made the text appear there just before the printer passed over the spot.

That is truly impressive tracking technology.

Registration and orentation of the print head?

[pixelfreak]

An optical mouse only tracks relative movements.

Beyond the needs of an optical mouse, the device needs to keep track of orientation and registration.

The human hand is not capable of keeping the device exactly parallel to the side of the page. It also needs to keep track of registration issues such as page margins, etc. This means it must it calculate the absoulte x, y position of the document, track the orentation of the print head and compensate accordingly.

What's interesting about this is that the print head must be able to print text at any angle... even when this angle changes several times per second!