mimio Technology-how it works:

mimio uses a high-resolution ultrasonic position capture system consisting of a capture bar, color-coded marker sleeves and an electronic eraser. The capture bar is a two-foot long ultrasonic tracking array positioned along the upper left edge of the whiteboard or flip chart. The capture bar connects to a personal computer - either PC or Macintosh - through either a serial or USB interface cable.

The electronic marker sleeves transmit an ultrasonic signal to the capture bar, which triangulates the pen's position on the board as the user writes. The only change users must make is to be sure they use the electronic eraser to make corrections, since mimio can't capture changes made with a standard eraser or with one's fingers.

The mimio system captures each move of a marker or stylus on the whiteboard or flip chart surface as digital data that expresses vector strokes over time. This data can be interpreted by mimio software to provide broad functionality.

"Stroke over time" recording

mimio's "stroke over time" recording allows you to rewind, fast-forward and play-back everything that has been written on the whiteboard or flip chart, in sequence. This VCR-like viewing feature lets the user save a whiteboard, clear it from the screen to start over and still recall any previous board or sequence of the whiteboard session. With this function, the user captures the information as it is written and the progress of ideas as they are generated.

The power of this recording metaphor provides immediate value. For example, suppose that you are writing a long formula on the board, but scribble over it believing it to be incorrect. With a copy board system (or with a whiteboard without mimio), your record of this formula could be gone forever. With mimio, since it recorded all strokes of the pen and eraser, you use your PC to "rewind" to the point in time that the formula was visible and print that point in time, or tag it for later retrieval.

mimio's capture of time as a factor in a presentation allows you to distribute recordings of whiteboards with more information. Instead of merely reviewing the end-result of notes, future audiences can choose to follow the thought process by viewing a "playback" recreation of the notes as they were written, or at pre-selected points in time that were "tagged" by the presenter.