InPlay Technologies launches next generation digital pen technology platform

InPlay Technologies has introduiced significant advancements in its FinePoint system of active digital computing pen technology. The FinePoint MPD-9xx series is a complete platform, offering cost savings and a full range of user-defined digital options.

With a choice of battery-powered or battery-free pens, the patented FinePoint MPD-9xx series pen is a cordless, active RF digital pen (versus the analog pen used with most pen computing systems in the tablet PC market today). The digitizer behind the LCD screen employs electromagnetic technology to communicate with the pen as it moves across the surface, reporting the tip status, sensitivity, pen position, and other details.

InPlay's FinePoint MPD-9xx series ushers in an expanded suite of digital features for pen input. The only digital communication pen product on the market, the FinePoint MPD-9xx allows OEMs to easily design in a wide range of customization options such as secure pens, flash memory capability and unique pen IDs.

The MPD-9xx digitizer board – the thinnest on the market – incorporates InPlay’s new design which houses all of the controller components in a single strip on one side of the main digitizer board. The result is lower impact to overall product thickness, from 0.4 mm in a completely optimized design to approximately 1.2 mm. Thickness of competing products typically measures 2.6 mm.

“Our goal is to drive market growth by reducing the cost and complexity of the components used to provide pen input for computing devices,” said Eric Vandewater, CTO, InPlay. “At the same time, we are enabling market expansion with the increased functionality offered by our digital roadmap.”

“We can provide a drop-in replacement for an existing product, or help design a custom solution,” Ramchandani added. “This is a user-driven platform, giving OEMs ultimate design freedom.”

InPlay’s core MPD-9xx system consists of a single-board digitizer and digital writing pen. Variable grid sizes, including 7-inch, 12.1-inch and wide 14.0-inch, make the technology easily implemented in kiosk, POS, UMPC and tablet PC applications. Smaller formats are also available for use in smartphone and PDA products.

InPlay's FinePoint digital computing system (the only of its kind in the industry) is designed and engineered to optimize power consumption while maintaining high accuracy, high resolution and low noise performance, all while enabling advanced functions such as hover capability and security coding in a compact, competitively-priced device. This pen-and-digitizer system allows the pen itself to interact with the computer and gives the OEM the capability to incorporate a wide variety of functions and pen outputs, via a side-mounted button.

InPlay Technologies