The ViewTablet

Contemporary personal computers have two major flaws: the non-collocation (or dislocation) of haptical focus and optical focus; and the control of the pointing device by the hand, both discussed here. In addition, current computer screens (CRT or TFT) are active devices, i.e. very fatiguing for eyes. These factors combined might be the reason why it is so difficult to prove-read papers on the screen, and why people still print documents. That being said, the requirements for an input/output device are as follows:

• Collocation of drawing area and visualisation area, i.e. a writable screen,
• Usage of electronic paper which is a passive device and hence gentle on the eyes,
• An electronic pen capable of drawing, picking and placing, e.g. when it is posed on the screen, it can draw; it contains also a tiny press button, which acts like a tweezer, a grabber, such that the user can pick and place objects.

ViewTablet, a USB/Bluetooth slave device can remedy the situation:

• A flat panel, 5mm thick, combining electronic paper and touch sensitive film,
• The view area will accomodate both European A4 and American letter paper size,
• A USB and Bluetooth interface to a host computer

Its operation is simple:

• Connect the ViewTablet to your PC (over USB calbe or Bluetooth through pairing),
• The ViewTablet driver will make the device appear as additional screen,
• An additional pointer device will be generated by the ViewTablet driver,
• Drag any application on the external ViewTablet screen,
• Adopt your favorite reading position and enjoy,
• Anotate, correct or simply, be creative!