{{short description|Remote signing device}} The '''LongPen''' is a remote signing device that allows a user to produce a signature on a physical document from a distant location. It was invented by writer Margaret Atwood in 2004 and debuted in 2006.<ref name="guardian2006" /> It allows a person to write remotely in ink anywhere connected to the Internet, via a touchscreen device operating a robotic hand.<ref name=dg>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2007/12/the-longpen--fr.html |title=The LongPen: From World-Famous Novelist to High-Tech Entrepreneur|first=Christos|last=Tsirbas|date=2007-12-03 |archive-date=2008-04-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080424142350/http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2007/12/the-longpen--fr.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The system also supports a live audio and video connection between the signer and the receiving location.<ref name="guardian2006">{{cite news |last=Burkeman |first=Oliver |date=6 March 2006 |title=Atwood sign of the times draws blank |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/mar/06/topstories3.books |work=The Guardian}}</ref><ref name="quanser">{{cite web |title=Quanser Helps LongPen Find Short Path to Success |url=https://www.quanser.com/case-study/syngrafii-iinked/ |publisher=Quanser Consulting Inc.}}</ref>
== History == The concept was conceived by Canadian author Margaret Atwood in early 2004, while she was on a paperback book tour for her novel ''Oryx and Crake'', with the initial aim of allowing authors to sign books for readers without travelling.<ref name="guardian2006" /> In 2004, Atwood co-founded Unotchit Inc.{{efn|Pronounced "you-no-touch-it".}} with Matthew Gibson to develop the technology.<ref name="quanser" /> Engineering development was carried out in partnership with Quanser Consulting Inc., a Toronto-based control-systems firm.<ref name="quanser" /> The system was publicly demonstrated at the London Book Fair in March 2006.<ref name="guardian2006" /> The first transatlantic signing using the system took place from Toronto on 24 September 2006. <ref name="quanser" /> In late 2007, Conrad Black, who was on bail in the United States and awaiting sentencing in a fraud case, used the LongPen from his home in Florida to sign copies of his biography of Richard Nixon at a Toronto book event introduced by Atwood.<ref name="torontolife">{{cite news |date=December 2007 |title=Why the Long Pen? |url=https://torontolife.com/city/why-the-long-pen/ |work=Toronto Life}}</ref> Unotchit Inc. subsequently shifted its focus from author book-signings to business and legal transaction signing and was renamed Syngrafii Inc. The LongPen became one component of a broader remote-signing product line.<ref name="quanser" /> == Technology == The system consists of an input device on which the signer writes, software that captures the kinematics and pressure of the signature, and a robotic writing arm at the receiving end that reproduces the signature in ink on a physical document. Unlike an autopen, which reproduces a stored signature without the signatory present, the LongPen produces a one-time original signature in real time, in conjunction with an audio-video link between the parties.<ref name="quanser" /> The underlying technology is the subject of patents filed by Unotchit Inc. and Syngrafii Inc.{{efn|This includes {{US patent|8867062}} ("Remote signing system"), filed 25 November 2005 and issued 21 October 2014.{{refn|{{cite web |title=US Patent 8,867,062: Remote signing system |url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US8867062B2 |publisher=United States Patent and Trademark Office}}}}}}
==See also== * Autopen * Electronic signature * Telautograph
==Notes== {{notelist}}
== References == {{reflist}}
Category:Pointing-device text input Category:Computer output devices Category:Works by Margaret Atwood Category:Canadian inventions Category:2006 establishments