MXPA06001082A - System control by stylus location - Google Patents

Abstract

A system and method for controlling a stylus-based computer based on the location of a stylus is described. In some aspects, removing a stylus from storage may turn on the computer system. In other aspects, power consumed by a digitizer may be modified in accordance with the location of a stylus.

Description

CONTROL OF THE SYSTEM THROUGH THE LOCATION OF THE ESTI LETE Field of the Invention The aspects of the present invention relate to computer systems. More particularly, the aspects of the present invention relate to controlling a computer system based on a stylus based on the location of a stylus. Background of the invention Computer systems accept a variety of inputs. Most computer systems are controlled by keyboards and the mouse. Some com puter systems are controlled by a styli. In some cases, the style is the only means to receive the user's input. In other cases, the keyboards and the mouse are used in conjunction with the stylus to transport the user's input. There are two problems with computer-based computers. First, esti letes are often not linked to the computer system. Although they have the freedom for the user to use the stylus as easily as a pen on a piece of paper, the user is often faced with trying to find a wrong stylus.

Second, stiletto-based computing systems generally include a battery power system (primary or secondary). A digitizer, used to determine a user's input consumes energy. When operating on battery power and using a keyboard or mouse, stylus-enabled computers may be supplying power to the digitizer that is not being used. The lack of use wastes the energy that could be used to power the computer for a longer period of time. An improved system is needed to control a stylus-based computer. Summary of the Invention The aspects of the present invention solve one or more of the problems described above, providing a system and process for controlling the operation of a stylus-based computing system. Brief Description of the Drawings. The aspects of the present invention are illustrated by way of example and are not limited in the appended figures, in which similar reference numerals indicate similar elements. Figure 1 shows an illustrative example of a general-purpose computing environment in accordance with aspects of the present invention.

Figure 2 shows an illustrative example of a tablet computer according to the aspects of the present invention. Figures 3A and 3B show the stylets and storage locations associated with stylus-based computers in accordance with aspects of the present invention. Figure 4 shows storage sensors according to the aspects of the present invention. Figure 5 shows a process for controlling the condition of a stylus-based computer in accordance with aspects of the present invention. Figure 6 shows a process for alerting a user while changing the operating conditions of a stylus-based computer in accordance with aspects of the present invention. Figure 7 shows a process for controlling the energy of a digitizer according to the aspects of the present invention. Detailed Description of the Invention The aspects of the present invention relate to the operation control of a stylus-based computer, whose control is based on the movement or locations of a stylet. This document is divided into sections to help the reader. These sections include: general review of the control of stylus-based computers, ink characteristics, terms, general-use computing environments, control of the condition of the stylus-based computer, and control of the condition of a digitizer. It should be noted that several connections are established between the elements in the following description. It will be noted that these connections in general, and unless otherwise specified, may be direct or indirect and that this description is not intended to be limited in this respect.

General Review of Stiletto-Based Computer Control Stiletto-based computers are becoming increasingly common, both in the office and at home. Users use stiletto-based computers to interact more easily with the content. The content may include electronic ink with which the user creates or may have access to information through an interface operated by the pen. Advances have been made regarding the creation and manipulation of electronic ink, as well as the development of interfaces that are friendlier to the stylus. The aspects of the present invention describe a variety of methods for improving the operation of stylus-based computers with these methods being based on the location of the stylet itself. The locations for a stylet are those generally referred to in the present invention as being in one of three locations. A first of the three locations we refer to as being stored inside a stiletto-based computer housing. The second of the three locations is what we refer to as a holding location for a stylet. This attachment location may include a temporary rest location for the stylet. We can refer collectively, both to the first and second locations, as a storage location. The third of the three locations is outside or apart from these two previous locations. For example, a user who is actively writing with the stylus or holding the stylus separate from the digitizer may be included as part of the third location. Figures 3A and 3B show several illustrative examples of the first and second locations described above. Figure 3A shows a stylus-based computation system 301 having a screen and a region of the digitizer 302, the screen in the region of the digitizer 302 residing on a top surface 303. The stylus-based computation system 301 may also include a first side 304 and a second side 305. The computational system based on stylus 301 may include an aperture 306 through which the stylus 307 can be moved within a storage chamber. The stylet 307 may include a tip 308, a body 309 (which may or may not include one or more buttons) and an end 310. The stylet 307 may or may not include a fastener 311. The stylet 307 may be moved into and out of the storage chamber through the opening 306 in the direction of the arrows 312 and 313. Figure 3B illustrates a temporary storage receptacle 314 on the front surface 303 of the stylus-based computer 301. The temporary storage receptacle 314 may be long enough to hold at least one tip 308 of the stylus 307 or in the case of a stylus with a long tip 308, it may only be holding a portion of the tip 308. The cavity within the temporary storage receptacle 314 may not protrude into the surface 303. Alternatively, the cavity within the temporary storage receptacle 314 may continue within at least the surface 303. In addition, instead of a raised temporary storage receptacle 314, the system may include a stepped opening 315 that can only holding a portion of the stylet 307. Again, the stylet 303 can be moved into the temporary storage receptacle 314 or the opening 315 in the direction of the arrows 312 and 313. A difference between a chamber formed by the aperture 306 and the formed chambers by the storage receptacle 314 and the opening 315, is that the chamber associated with the opening 306 is sufficiently long to substantially contain most, if not all, of the stylet 307. The chambers formed by the storage receptacle 314 and opening 315 are not as deep as the chamber associated with opening 306. In addition, the concept of Figure 3B can also be extended to a tray in which a stylet is placed. This tray can include an indentation with sensors of figure 4 behind it. Figure 4 shows internal components that can be used with the cameras associated with the opening 306, the receptacle 314 or the opening 315. In figure 4 the cameras are collectively shown as the camera 400. The camera 400 can include side walls 401 and an end wall 402. Optionally, the side walls 401 and the end wall 402 can be integrated, without leaving a transition therebetween. The chamber 400 may include one or more sensors from 403 to 405. The sensors of the 403 and 405 may be separated along the length of the side wall 401. The chambers may also optionally include a spring or other ejection mechanism and / or a locking mechanism to help push the stylet out for a user. The sensors 403 through 405 may be selected from the group of optical sensors, mechanical sensors, electro-mechanical sensors, electrical sensors (including capacitance and inductive sensors) and the like. These sensors alone or in combination may sense the storage or removal or simply the change in the condition of whether or not a stylus 307 is in the chamber 400. Furthermore, in at least one optional aspect of the present invention, one of the sensors 403 to 405 may include a small digitizer that at least determines the presence of the tip 308 (eg, a Wacom type digitizer and the associated pen). In yet another aspect of the present invention, the identity of the stylet 307 can be determined based on the identification of the tip of the pen 308. The sensors 403 through 405 are shown here as three different sensors. Alternatively, a single sensor (403, 404, or 405) can operate on the total length of the side wall 401. Ink Characteristics As is known to users using ink pens, physical ink (the kind of ink that is written on a paper using a pen with an ink container) can carry more information than a series of coordinates connected in line segments. For example, physical ink may reflect the pressure of the pen (by the thickness of the ink), the angle of the pen (by the shape of the line or segments of the curve and the behavior of the ink around separate points) and the speed of the direction of the pen (by right, the width of the lines and the changes in the width of the lines during the course of a line or curve). Additional examples include how the ink is absorbed within the fibers of the paper or other surface on which it is deposited. These subtle characteristics also help to transport the aforementioned properties. Because of these additional properties, emotion, personality, emphasis, and so on, can be transported more instantaneously than with the uniform line width between points. Electronic ink (or ink) refers to the capture and display on the screen of electronic information captured when the user uses an input device based on a stylus. Electronic ink refers to a sequence or any arbitrary collection of strokes, wherein each stroke comprises a sequence of points. The hits may have been drawn or collected at the same time or they may have been drawn or collected at separate times and locations and for independent reasons. The points can be represented using a variety of known techniques including the Cartesian coordinates (X, Y), polar coordinates (r, T), and other techniques that are known in the art. The electronic ink may include representations of real ink properties including the pressure, angle, speed, color, stylus size and opacity of the ink. The electronic ink may also include other properties including the order in which the ink was deposited on a page (a trace pattern from left to right and then downward for more western languages), a time stamp (indicating when the ink was deposited), the indication of the author of the ink and the device that originates it (at least one of an identification of a machine on which the ink was drawn, or an identification of the pen used to deposit the ink) among other information. Terms Ink: A sequence or set of hits with properties. A sequence of punches may include punches in an orderly manner. The sequence can be ordered by the time of capture or by where the hits appear on a page, or in situations of collaboration by the author of the ink. Other orders are possible. A set of strokes may include sequences of strokes or disordered strokes or any combination thereof. In addition, some properties may be unique for each hit or point of the hit (eg, pressure, speed, angle and the like). These properties can be stored at the hit level or point, and not at the ink level. Blow: A sequence or set of captured points. For example, when the sequence of points is presented, it can be connected with lines. Alternatively, the stroke can be represented as a point and a vector in the direction of the next point. Briefly, a stroke is intended to comprise any representation of points or segments related to the ink, regardless of the representation of underlying points and / or what connects the points. Point: Information that defines a location in space. For example, points can be defined in relation to a capture space (for example, points in a digitizer), a virtual ink space (the coordinates in a space within which the captured ink is placed) and / or screen (the dots or pixels on a screen device). Document: Any electronic file that has a representation and content. A document may include a Web page, a word processing document, a page or notebook, a worksheet, a visual representation, a database record, image files and combinations thereof. General Use Computing Environment Figure 1 illustrates an example of an appropriate computing system environment 100 in which the present invention can be implemented. The environment of the computing system 100 is only an example of a suitable computing environment and is not intended to suggest any limitation with respect to the scope of use or functionality of the present invention.

Nor will the computing environment 100 be interpreted as having any dependency or requirement related to any or a combination of components illustrated in the exemplary operating environment 100. The present invention may operate with numerous environments or configurations of general purpose or computer systems. for special purposes. Examples of well-known computer system environments and / or configurations that may be suitable for use with the present invention include, but are not limited to, personal computers, server computers, portable or manual computers, multiprocessor systems, systems based on microprocessors, television decoders, consumer programmable electronic products, network PCs, minicomputers, system computers, distributed computing environments that include any of the above systems or apparatuses and the like. The present invention can be described in the general context of computer executable instructions, such as program modules that are being executed by a computer. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks and implement particular abstract data types. The present invention can also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing apparatuses that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules can be located on both local and remote computer storage media, including memory storage devices. With reference to Figure 1, an exemplary system for implementing the present invention includes a computing apparatus of general use in the form of a computer 110. The components of the computer 110 may include, but are not limited to, a unit of processing 120, a system memory 130 and a system bus 121 connecting various system components including the system memory to the processing unit 120. The system bus 121 can be any of several types of bus structures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus and a local bus, using any of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example and not limitation, such architectures include an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, a Micro Architecture Channel Bus (MCA), an enhanced ISA bus (EISA), a local bus of the Standard Association of Electronic Video Components (VESA) and a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus also known as a Mezzanine bus. The computer 110 generally includes a variety of computer readable media. The computer-readable media can be any available medium that can be accessed through computer 110 and includes both volatile and non-volatile media and removable and non-removable media. By way of example and not limitation, a computer readable medium may comprise computer storage media and media. The computer storage means include both volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storing information, such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, versatile digital discs (DVD) or other optical disc storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tapes , magnetic disk storage or other magnetic disk storage devices or any other means which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed through the computer 110. The means of communication generally incorporate the readable instructions by computer, data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information input means. The term "modulated data signal" means a signal having one or more of its characteristics adjusted or changed in such a way as to encode the information of the signal. By way of example and not limitation, the communication means includes wired means, such as a wired network or a direct wired connection and the wireless means, such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless means. Combinations of any of the above should also be included within the scope of computer readable media. The system memory 130 includes the computer storage means in the form of a volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as a read-only memory (ROM) 131 and random access memory (RAM) 132. A basic input system / output 133 (BIOS), which contains basic routines that help to transfer information between the elements within the computer 110, such as during startup, and are generally stored in ROM memory 131. RAM memory 132 generally contains data and / or program modules which can be immediately accessed and / or which are currently being executed by the processing unit 120. By way of example and not limitation, Figure 1 illustrates the operating system 134, the application programs 135 , other program modules 136 and program data 137. Computer 110 may also include other removable / non-removable, volatile / non-volatile computer storage media. By way of example, only Figure 1 illustrates a hard disk drive 141 that reads and writes to the non-removable, non-volatile, magnetic media, a magnetic disk unit 151 that reads or writes to a removable, non-volatile magnetic disk. 152, and an optical disk drive 155 that reads and writes to a removable, non-volatile optical disk, such as a CD ROM or other optical medium. Other removable / non-removable, volatile / non-volatile computer storage media that can be used in the exemplary operating environment include, but are not limited to, magnetic tape cassettes, instant memory cards, versatile digital discs, digital tape video, solid state RAM, solid state ROM and the like. The hard disk drive 141 is generally connected to the system bus 121 through a non-removable memory interface, such as the interface 140 and a magnetic disk unit 151 and an optical disk unit 155 are generally connected to the system bus 121 by means of a removable memory interface, such as the interface 150. The units and their associated computer storage means explained above and illustrated in Figure 1, provide storage of computer-readable instructions, data structures, modules of program and other data for the computer 110. For example in Figure 1, the hard disk unit 141 is illustrated as the storage operating system 144, application programs 145, other program modules 146, and program data 147. Note that these components can be either the same or different from the operating system 134, the application programs 135, other prog modules branch 136 and program data 137. Operating system 144, application programs 145, other program modules 146, and program data 147 have different numbers in the present description to illustrate that, at a minimum, they are different copies. A user can enter commands and information into the computer 20 through the input devices, such as a keyboard 162 and a pointing device 161, commonly referred to as a mouse, tracking ball or contact pad. Other input devices (not shown) may include a microphone, lever, a game pad, a satellite dish, a scanner or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit 120 through a user input interface 160 that is connected to the system bus, but can be connected by another interface and bus structures, such as a parallel port, game ports, or a universal serial bus (USB). A monitor 191 or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus 121 via an interface, such as a video interface 190. In addition to the monitor, computers may also include other peripheral output devices such as speakers 197 and the printer 196, which can be connected through a peripheral output interface 195. The computer 110 can operate in a network environment using logical connections for one or more remote computers, such as the remote computer 180. The computer remote 180 can be a personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a similar device or another common network node, and generally includes many or all of the elements described above in relation to the computer 110, although only the device Memory storage 181 has been illustrated in Figure 1. The logical connections illustrated in Figure 1 include a network Local area (LAN) 171 and a wide area network (WAN) 173, but can also include other networks. These network environments are common places in offices, computer networks of companies, intranets and the Internet. When used in a LAN environment, the computer 110 is connected to the LAN network 171 through a network adapter interface 170. When used in a WAN network environment, the computer 110 generally includes a 172 u modem. other means for establishing communications over the WAN 173 network, such as the Internet. The modem 172, which can be internal or external, can be connected to the system bus 121 by means of a user input interface 160 or other appropriate mechanism. In a network environment, the program modules illustrated in relation to the computer 110 or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. By way of example and not limitation, Figure 1 illustrates the remote application programs 185 as residing in the memory device 181. It should be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and that other means may be used to establish the communication link between computers. In some aspects, a pen digitizer 165 and a pen or stylus accompanying it 166 are provided for the purpose of capturing, with the free entry of the digital capture or with the free entry of free hands. Although a direct connection is shown between the pen digitizer 165 and the user input interface 160, in practice, the pen digitizer 165 may be directly connected to the processing unit 110, a parallel port or other interface and the bus of the system 130 by any technique including the wireless technique. Also, the pen 166 may have a camera associated therewith and a transceiver to wirelessly transmit the image information captured by the camera to an interface that interacts with the bus 130. In addition, the pen may have other sensor systems in addition. from or in place of the camera to determine electronic ink strokes including accelerometers, magnetometers and gyroscopes. It should be appreciated that the network connections shown are illustrative and that other techniques can be used to establish the communications link between the computers. The existence of any of the different well-known protocols is presumed, such as TCP / IP, Ethernet, FTP, HTTP and the like, and the system can be operated in a client server configuration to allow a user to retrieve the Web pages of a Web-based server. Any of different conventional web browsers can be used to display on the screen and manipulate the data of the Web pages. Figure 2 illustrates an illustrative tablet PC 201 that can be used in accordance with various aspects of the present invention. Any or all of the features, subsystems and functions of the system of Figure 1 may be included in the computer of Figure 2. The tablet PC 201 includes a large screen surface 202, for example, a flat panel screen preferably digitizing , a liquid crystal display (LCD), on which a plurality of windows 203 are deployed. By using the stylet 204, a user can select, highlight and / or write on the digitizing screen surface 202. The examples of the Suitable digitizing screen surfaces 202 include electromagnetic pen digitizers, such as Mutoh or Wacon pen digitizers. Other types of pen digitizers, for example, optical digitizers, can also be used. The tablet PC 201 interprets the movements made using the stylus 204 in order to manipulate the data, enter text, create drawings and / or perform tasks of conventional computer applications, such as worksheets, word processing programs and the like. . The stylet 204 may be equipped with one or more buttons or other features to increase its selection capabilities. In another embodiment, the stylet 204 could be implemented as a "pencil" or "pen", in which one end constitutes a writing portion and the other end constitutes one end of the "eraser", and which, when moved to The width of the screen indicates portions of the screen that are going to be deleted. Other types of input devices could be used, such as a mouse, tracking ball and the like. Additionally, the user's own finger may be the stylet 204 and be used to select or indicate portions of the displayed image on a touch-sensitive or proximity-sensitive screen. Accordingly, the term "user input device", as used in the present description, is intended to have a broad definition and comprises many variations on well-known input devices, such as a stylet 204. Region 205 shows a region feedback or contact region that allows the user to determine if the stylus 204 has made contact with the display surface 202. In various embodiments, the system provides an ink platform as a set of COM services (object component model) You can use an application to capture, manipulate, store ink. Another service makes it possible for an application to read and write ink using the ink representations described. The ink platform can also include a brand language including a language similar to the extensible markup language (XML). In addition, the system can use DCOM as another implementation. Other implementations can still be used, including the Win32 programming model and the Microsoft Corporation .Net programming model. Control of the Condition of a Computer Based on a Stiletto Figures 5 and 6 are related to interactions between a stylus and the change in the operating condition of a computer system. In particular, Figure 5 shows the manner in which the system can be turned on, in response to the movement of a stylet. In step 501, a stylet is removed from its fastener. In this case, the fastener may be a permanent storage as shown in Figure 3A or it may be a temporary storage as shown in Figure 3B. In step 502, a decision is made as to whether the system is powered on. If it is on, then the system continues the operation in step 503. If it does not come from step 502, the computer system is turned on in step 504. Figure 6 shows the modification of an operation condition and the warning to a user with respect to the stylet. In step 601, a user input is received. In step 602, the system determines whether the user has requested a change in the operation condition. If they do not come from step 602, then in step 603 the normal operations are performed according to the user input perceived in step 601. If they come from step 602, then the system determines whether the stylus is found or not, in the storage hosting position. For example, the storage position or accommodation can be one of the storage positions of the figures from 3A to 3B. If it does not come from step 604, then the system notifies the user to place the stylus in the housing in step 605. Then, in step 606, the operating condition of the system is changed. If it comes from step 604, the system may perform step 606 in which the operating condition of the system is changed. Optionally, the system can provide a user with a user interface that allows the user to disable the warning step 605, for example, through a menu on the screen. In some situations, a user may have lost a stiletto. The alert continues to the user in step 605 for a situation where the user is warned, can be frustrating. Alternatively, the system may warn the user based on a change generated in the operating condition of the system. For example, in step 608, the system can provide a self-generated instruction to close or otherwise change the condition. The system may attempt to hibernate or enter a standby mode after the user has been inactive for a period of time. In addition, the system may attempt to change its operating condition when the batteries that supply power to the system are operating low. The system can process the instruction of the system 608 as it does in step 601. Control of the Condition of a Digitizer In figure 7, the energy condition of a digitizer is controlled based on the location of a stylus. In step 701, the system determines whether the stylet location has changed. Otherwise, the system returns to step 701. If so in step 701, the system determines whether the stylet has been removed from storage in step 702. As in the above, the storage can be any of the locations of storage described in the figures of 3A and 3B. If the answer of step 702 is yes, then the digitizer is turned on in step 703. The process then returns to step 701 and waits for the change of the stylet location. If it has not been changed in step 702, then the system turns off the digitizer in step 705 and returns to step 701. In steps 703 and 705, power is provided to be removed from the digitizer, respectively. Alternatively, the system can perform other tasks that reduce the energy consumption of the digitizer, including but not limited to, minimizing the sampling rate at which the digitizer information is collected, modifying the operation cycle of the energy being applied. to dig ital izador and similar. In some situations a user may wish to ignore the automatic power control to the digital hoist. For exampleIf a user is using two stilettos and places a stylus in the storage, the user would like the second stiletto to be recognized by the designer. In this situation, the system can provide the user with an option to turn on the digitizer in step 706. If the answer of step 706 is yes, the digitizer is turned on in step 703. If the answer of step 706 is no, the system reg resa to step 701. In a similar way, a stylet can be removed from storage and lost. In this situation, a user may wish to minimize the power consumption of the digitizer. In this case, the system can provide the user with an interface (for example, an interface on the screen) that allows the user to turn off or minimize the power consumption of the digitizer, as shown in step 704. If the user has Once the digitizer is turned off from step 704, then the digitizer is turned off in step 705. Alternatively, if the user has not decided to turn off the digitizer, the digitizer remains on and the system respects step 701. The present invention has been described in terms of preferred embodiments and example thereof. Those skilled in the art will think of numerous other modalities, modifications and variations within the scope and spirit of the appended claims, upon review of this description.

Claims (20)

1. CLAIMS 1. A process for controlling the energy consumption of a digitizer, which comprises the steps of: receiving an indication of a change in the location of a stylus; determine if the stylet was removed from storage; and modifying the energy consumption of said digitizer based on the determination step.
2. 2. The process as described in claim 1, characterized in that the modification step includes turning on said digitizer.
3. 3. The process as described in claim 1, characterized in that the modification step includes modifying a task cycle of a digitizer.
4. 4. The process as described in claim 1, characterized in that the modification step includes turning off said digitizer.
5. The process as described in claim 1, characterized in that the modification step includes modifying a sampling rate of said digitizer.
6. The process as described in claim 2, which further comprises the steps of: receiving a user input to turn off said digitizer; and turn off the digitizer.
7. The process as described in claim 4, which further comprises the steps of: receiving a user input to turn on said digitizer; and turn on that digitizer.
8. 8. A system for controlling the energy consumption of a digitizer, which comprises: means for receiving an indication of a change in the location of a stylet; means to determine if said stylet was removed from storage; and means for modifying the energy consumption of said digitizer based on the results of the determination means.
9. The system as described in claim 8, characterized in that the modification means include means for turning on said digitizer.
10. The system as described in claim 8, characterized in that the means for modification include means for modifying a task cycle of said digitizer.
11. The system as described in claim 8, characterized in that the means of modification include means for turning off said digitizer.
12. The system as described in claim 8, characterized in that the modification means include means for modifying a sampling rate of said digitizer.
13. The system as described in claim 9, which further comprises: means for receiving a user input to turn off said digitizer; and means to turn off said digitizer.
14. The system as described in claim 11, further comprising: means for receiving a user input to turn on said digitizer; and means to turn on said digitizer.
15. 15. A system for determining the location of a stylet, which comprises: a camera; at least one sensor associated with said chamber, characterized in that at least one sensor determines whether the stylet has been placed in or removed from said chamber.
16. 16. The system as described in claim 15, which further comprises: a second sensor.
17. 17. The system as described in claim 15, further comprising: at least one second sensor.
18. 18. The system as described in claim 15, characterized in that the camera is in a housing of a stylus-based computer.
19. 19. The system as described in claim 15, characterized in that the chamber is formed in a receptacle adhered to the exterior of a stylus-based computer. The system as described in claim 15, characterized in that the camera is formed in a receptacle adhered to the outside of a stylus-based computer and extends at least within the surface of the stylus-based computer.