Hybrid printing/pointing device

摘要

A hybrid printing device for printing on a surface, the device comprising a printing means adapted to print on the surface and a sensing means adapted to sense the position of the printing device in relation to positioning indicia located on the surface wherein the printing means is further adapted to be responsive to the detected position of the device in relation to the detected position. The device operates by detecting the position whereby a print control means responds and signals to the printing head to function to build the image on the printing surface. The invention preferably uses optical glyphs pre-printed on the page to provide position information to the sensing means. The device may operate as a peripheral where the print head is controlled in response to the detected position. Alternatively, the print head may be triggered by print control data itself embedded in the optically detected glyph information. Applications range from graphic design "toys" to hybrid large format printers either in a handheld or printer form-factor.