USER MANUAL
English
The symbol on our products signifies that they have
been certified in accordance with the EMC directive 89/
336/EEC and the Low Voltage directive 73/23/EEC when
applicable. The products fulfill the requirements of the
following standards:
EN 50 081-1:1992 Electromagnetic compatibility, Generic
Emission Standard.
EN 50 082-1:1992 Electromagnetic compatibility, Generic
Immunity Standard.
First edition (May 1999).
This manual is published by C Technologies AB, without any warranty.
Improvements and changes to this manual necessitated by typographical errors,
inaccuracies of current information, or improvements to programs and/or
equipment, may be made by C Technologies AB at any time and without notice.
Such changes will, however, be incorporated into new editions of this manual.
All rights reserved
© C Technologies AB, 1999
Part No. AM 251 022 R1A
Printed in Sweden
Contents
INTRODUCTION TO C-PEN ............................... 5
Your Personal Digital Assistant ...................................... 5
Optimum reading conditions ......................................... 6
User documentation and support ................................. 8
Care & Safety .................................................................. 9
PRESENTATION OF THE PEN.......................... 10
Parts of the pen ............................................................ 10
Display objects .............................................................. 11
GETTING STARTED ........................................ 14
Installing the batteries ................................................. 14
Turning C-Pen On and Off ............................................ 15
Navigating and selecting ............................................. 15
READING AND SAVING TEXT ....................... 18
Reading text .................................................................. 18
Saving text .................................................................... 20
EDITING TEXT................................................ 21
Entering edit mode ...................................................... 21
Edit menu ...................................................................... 21
C Write........................................................................... 25
APPLICATIONS .............................................. 32
Notes ............................................................................. 33
C Address ....................................................................... 36
Settings ......................................................................... 42
Info ................................................................................ 47
CONNECTING TO A PC .................................. 48
Installing software ........................................................ 48
Connecting C-Pen to a PC ............................................ 49
Getting help .................................................................. 50
C-Pen Viewer ................................................................. 50
Installing and removing applications .......................... 51
Transferring files ........................................................... 51
C Address ....................................................................... 52
C Direct .......................................................................... 53
C-Pen Edit ...................................................................... 54
Closing the connection ................................................. 54
TROUBLESHOOTING ...................................... 55
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS ........................ 57
INDEX............................................................ 58
WARRANTY ................................................... 61
Warranty Information .................................................. 62
5
INTRODUCTION TO C-PEN
Congratulations - you have just bought
yourself a photographic memory! C-Pen is
a Mobile Information Collector that reads,
remembers, processes and transfers printed
text cordlessly to your Windows-equipped
PC. C-Pen is in essence an electronic highlighter that remembers the text that you are
marking. Carry it with you wherever you
go!
Your Personal Digital Assistant
Make it a habit to bring your portable text
collector with you, and you are always
ready to read and save text from books,
papers, brochures or business cards. You
can easily record price-lists, timetables,
wine-tips or witty quotes. You don’t have
to tear out pages any more.
Your saved text files can later be transferred to your PC.
It is also possible to use C-Pen to read text directly into a
Windows application in your PC.
Powerful features
C Read is the basic function of C-Pen. Move C-Pen
over the text, and the text will be placed in
C-Pen, where you can save it as a file for
later processing.
6
C Direct enables you to transfer the read text directly
from C-Pen into your PC. The text will be
placed at the cursor position in for instance a
Word or Excel document.
C Address is an application in C-Pen for storing and
looking up contact information such as
addresses, phone numbers and e-mail
addresses. C Address can be synchronized
with Microsoft Outlook and supports the
vCard standard.
C Write gives you the possibility to enter characters
by writing with C-Pen as an ordinary pen.
This is useful when editing text, entering file
names or searching for a contact in C Address.
Optimum reading conditions
C-Pen uses Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to read
text. OCR is the process of turning an image of characters
into computer-readable text.
As C-Pen is moved over the text, C-Pen’s internal light
source illuminates the characters and a camera takes
images of the text. During OCR, C-Pen analyzes the
images taken by its camera and translates them into text
characters.
The OCR quality will depend on the reading conditions.
The most common confusions between characters with
OCR are:
e → cl → It → c
r+n → mi → lc → o
7
The following conditions affects the quality of the
character recognition:
• The print quality of the text
High-quality printed text produces, of course, maximum OCR accuracy. With lower-quality pages, e.g.
fax copies, OCR accuracy may be poorer. You can
calibrate C-Pen to optimize its performance under
difficult conditions; see Calibration, p. 43.
NOTE: C-Pen only recognizes machine-printed
characters such as laser-printed or typewritten text.
C-Pen does not recognize handwritten text.
• Position and movement of C-Pen
It is important how you hold and move C-Pen over the
printed text. Please read the Quick Start folder to learn
how to use C-Pen correctly. It is crucial that you
follow these instructions in order to get the best results.
• The language of the text
See Text Language, p. 43.
• Deformed characters
Anything that is not a printed character, and any
character distorted by a mark or smudge on the paper
could be unrecognizable.
• Overlapped characters
Characters in the text should not overlap.
• Italics and underlined text
Italics are, for some fonts, difficult for C-pen to read.
Underlined text is difficult for C-Pen to read because
the underline changes the shape of descenders of the
letters q, g, y, p, and j.
!
8
• Certain colors
C-Pen cannot read red or yellow text on a white or red
background, or white text on a red background.
• Small or large character sizes
The size of the characters should be 7–20 points.
User documentation and support
There are different sources to support your use of C-Pen:
• This User Manual contains a description of C-Pen and
instructions for reading, editing and saving files. The
applications Notes, C Address, C Direct, C Write and
Settings are explained. You will also learn how to
connect C-Pen to a PC.
• The attached CD contains the C-Pen Windows Software
for communication between C-Pen and your PC, as
well as a Readme file on how to install and configure
your computer for infrared communication. The User
Manual is available in several languages on the CD.
• When using C-Pen together with your PC, you have
access to online help, which is automatically installed
on your PC, when you install the C-Pen Windows
Software. The help topics are mostly related to the
C-Pen Windows Software. Instructions for using
C Direct is more thorough in the online help than in
this manual.
• Visit our website to get the latest C-Pen news and free
software upgrades. On our website you will also find
several language versions of User Manual, troubleshooting and FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions).
9
Care & Safety
• Keep C-Pen away from direct sunlight, heat, moisture
and dust.
• Do not expose C-Pen to extreme variations in temperature.
• Make sure that the camera opening is free from dust or
any other objects.
• Clean C-Pen with a dry cloth. Do not use detergents or
other chemicals when cleaning C-Pen.
• Use only 1.5 V AAA batteries of type LR03 (alkaline)
• Make backup copies of your C-Pen files regularly and
keep the copies in a safe place.
10
PRESENTATION OF THE PEN
Parts of the pen
On/Off Turns C-Pen on or off, when pressed for one
Nav second.
This button is also used as a control for
moving around in menus and texts (turn
control left or right) and to select an item or
an option (press briefly).
Display Used to display read text and for communi-
cation between C-Pen and the user.
Escape button (ESC)
Trigger button
(Trigg)
Navigation control (Nav)
and On/Off button
IR port
Display
Trigger button
(Trigg)
Camera opening
Battery compartment
11
The orientation of the text on the display can
be changed to suit left-handed users. See
System Settings, p. 45.
IR port The infrared (IR) port is used for wireless
data transfer between C-Pen and a PC that
also is equipped with an IR port.
Trigg To be pressed and held down while reading
text.
ESC Closes menus.
The function of Trigg and ESC can be
exchanged to suit your own preference. See
System Settings, p. 45.
Display objects
C-Pen uses the following display objects to communicate
with you:
• status f ield
• application icon
• menu
• check box
• dialog box
• edit field
• dialog button
12
Status field
The area on the left side of the display is called the status
field. This field displa ys the text settings (Text Quality
and Text Language). See Settings, p. 42.
Application icon
The applications are represented by application icons in
the Main screen. The applications will all be described in
the chapter A pplications , p. 32.
Menu
Menus provide different options. A scroll bar indicates if
there are more menu items available above or below.
Check box
Check boxes also provide different options. A check box
remains checked until you uncheck it.
Text Language (see Settings)
Text Quality
(see Settings)
Main screen
Application icons
Menu
Menu items
Scroll bar
13
Edit field
Dialog box
A dialog box appears when you need to enter information
or give commands to C-Pen. A dialog box contains one
or more objects such as edit fields or dialog buttons.
Edit field
It is possible to enter and edit text in an edit field. An edit
field is recognized by its dotted line.
Dialog button
Dialog buttons are used in dialog boxes to give simple
instructions to C-Pen.
Common dialog buttons
Edit field Dialog buttons
A dialog box
Checked box
Unchecked box
14
GETTING STARTED
Installing the batteries
1. Remove the battery cover from the rear panel of
C-Pen.
2. Insert two alkaline AAA batteries (1.5 V type LR03)
as shown below.
It is imperative to observe the polarity of the batteries.
The orientation of the plus and minus ends are shown
inside the battery compartment.
3. Replace the battery cover. You should hear a “click”
when it locks.
Do not dispose of batteries in a fire – there is a danger of
explosion. Please, recycle batteries!
!
Lift the cover here to open
!
15
Turning C-Pen On and Off
To turn C-Pen on and off, press the On/Off button until
the display is activated/deactivated.
C-Pen turns off automatically after 4 minutes of non-use.
To change the automatic power-off time, see System
Settings, p. 45.
Navigating and selecting
Nav (the navigation control) is used for navigation and to
select an object.
Turn Nav left or right to navigate between
• menu items
• dialog buttons
• edit fields
• check boxes
• lines or characters in text
As you move between objects,
they become highlighted
(inverted) one by one.
Pressing Nav briefly when an object is highlighted is
referred to as selecting that object.
Press to turn C-Pen on and off
Press to select
an object
Turn to navigate
between objects
16
The result when selecting an object is explained for each
situation later in this manual. Below are some general
remarks about selecting objects.
Menus
Selecting a menu item marked with a will display
further alternatives in a new menu.
Menu item with alternatives
Selecting CANCEL will close the menu. Instead of
selecting CANCEL, you can press ESC.
Dialog buttons
In a dialog box you instruct C-Pen how to continue by
selecting a dialog button:
OK You accept a suggestion in a dialog box.
YES Your answer is “Yes” to a question in a dialog
box.
NO Your answer is “No” to a question in a dialog
box.
CANCEL The dialog box closes and you return to your
earlier position. Instead of selecting CANCEL,
you can press ESC.
17
Edit fields
To be able to edit text in an edit field you have to select it.
A cursor will appear in the edit field and the status field
shows the edit mode symbol. See Editing text, p. 21.
Check boxes
To mark an alternative in a list of check boxes, navigate
to the alternative of your choice:
Execute the change by selecting the alternative. The
checkbox becomes checked:
Cursor
Edit mode symbol
Edit field
18
READING AND SAVING TEXT
Please follow the instructions in this chapter in order to
get the best results from your C-Pen. Take a few minutes
to learn ho w to use C-Pen correctly. (See also Optimum
reading conditions, p. 6)
Reading text
To read a line, follow the steps below.
1. Turn C-Pen on. Make sure that the text settings are set
to the appropriate values. The text settings are TEXT
QUALITY, TEXT LANGUAGE and READ MODE. There is
also a possibility to calibrate C-Pen for best performance. Refer to Settings, p. 42, to read about the
different settings and how to modify them.
2. Place C-Pen over the
first character you want
to read. Hold C-Pen with
the pen tip flat against the
surface. Aim at the center
of the line. C-Pen reads one
line at a time.
3. Press and hold Trigg.
NOTE: If Trigg is
pressed and held for
more than two seconds
and C-Pen is not moved,
C-Pen will enter calibration
mode, see p. 43.
!
19
4. Move C-Pen over the
line of text. Keep Trigg
pressed as you move
C-Pen over the text.
5. Release Trigg at the
end of the line.
The Text scr een will appear.
The read text is placed in a new text file in Notes; see
p. 33. You can also create a new, empty text file by
selecting NEW... and then FILE in Notes, before you start
reading.
NOTE: You can move C-Pen either left-to-right or rightto-left over the text.
You can read up to 15 cm/second.
!
15 cm/s
Text screen
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