SnapTable: physical handling for digital documents with electronic paper

SnapTable, is a human friendly digital document handling system with the function of instant image copying on a photo-addressable electronic paper (E-Paper). By using Snaptable, an intangible optical image on the tabletop screen is able to be instantly transformed into a tangible printed image on a physical E-paper medium. SnapTable is also able to put link data, such as original document file location in the computer, on a built in wireless IC tag of E-paper medium. Therefore, when the E-Paper medium, with copied image and link data, is put on a wireless IC reader installed in the SnapTable, linked digital document file is easily called back on the tabletop screen and can be read or electrically manipulated again. Namely SnapTable realizes an interactive and seamless document handling environment between the real world and the digital world. In this paper, we describe the design concept of the SnapTable, hardware construction of prototype model, primitive application software, and assumptive use scenes of the SnapTable.