Signature Capture Device

A device that reads an individual's signature and converts it toa digital form. There are 2 basic types of signature capturetechnology: pressure sensitive (also known as touch screen)and electromagnetic. Pressure sensitive signature capturedevices utilize technology that acts as an input device allowingone to sign their name just by touching the display screen.Signing is typically done using a plastic pen like device thatcontains no electrical or ink components or a true ink pen thatwrites ink over a paper that is placed over the signaturecapture display screen. One could use their finger or someother pointing device but the signature capture quality wouldsuffer.

The Technology

There are a number of pressure sensitive technologies that areavailable on the market today. They range from electrically-sensitive (capacitive), acoustically-sensitive (SAW - surfaceacoustic wave) or photo-sensitive (infra-red). The mostdominate signature capture pressure sensitive technology inuse today is capacitive. For a good description of the differentsignature capture pressure sensitive technologies, refer to theWikipedia descriptions on Touchscreen.

Electromagnetic signature capture devices utilize technologycomprised of a magnetic field and an electrical field. Thesetypes of device do not use pressure sensitive technology andthus require a special pen to transmit the signature capturedata points. The signature capture pen is typically electricalwhile the signature capture pad is the magnetic field

Some devices use a hybrid of both technologies.

The advantage of pressure sensitive technology is that you donot need a special pen device to function, you merely need toapply pressure. A disadvantage to this technology is that, ifmore than one pressure point is applied at the same time, thedevice will sometimes spike and draw an incorrect straight linebetween the two points. The electromagnet devices do nothave this spiking problem.Signature data formats

Most signature capture devices convert the signature datapoints to vector (simply X and Y coordinates data) and transmitthe data points to the host using varying formats andcommunications protocol. Some formats (as well as thedevice) are designed to be simple and supply a simple stream(similar to a mouse) of data points to an attached host systemvia the Serial port. The format typically contains the X and Yvector data along with a few control flags. The data is typicallysent unencrypted. These types of devices do not typicallycontain a processor so the extent of what logic can beperformed is extremely limited. In many respects these devicesbehave very similarly as mouse and can be priced somewhere

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in the same range. Very often these signature capture devicesdo not have LCD (screen displays). The more sophisticatedsignature capture devices include builtin processors, LCDscreen, and possibly a number of other features such as MagStripe Reader and Smart Card Readers, of which you will findmost often in the Retail or Commerce industry. Because of thebuiltin processor, these devices perform more features such assignature data encryption, advanced compression (whichreduces the signature data points transmission to the host),and more complicated formats. Some devices will capture theentire stylus data (a number of signature data points betweenpen up events) and others will format the data into a bitstream that are non-aligned with the size of a byte (whichsaves space and transmission time). These signature capturedevices will, often, support multiple communications vehicles(notably USB and IP) beyond Serial communications.

Signature verification is the ability to reasonably verifywhether a given signature is fraudulent. Signature verificationprovides an external system and cannot be done in the device.The primary reason is that the system will need to lookupsystem stored information of the individual from a database ofwhich there may be many. The approach requires an individualto sign their name several times (called enrollment) ahead oftime to inform the system what their signature "looks like. Thesystem stores characteristics (not necessary the signatureitself) such as the time it takes to complete the signature,dimensions of the signature, etc. The idea is that people signtheir name in much the same fashion each time and thus itwould be difficult for someone else to know or match thesesalient characteristics. At some later time when this individualsigns some form or activity, the system will compare thecharacteristics with the saved enrolled ones and make adetermination whether the signature is from the individual ornot. Signature verification is used mainly in access controlenvironments and is almost never found in commerce,authorization, or other applications. In most non-access controlapplications, the signature is captured as an image orimageable object, encrypted and stored with the signed form. The drawback to signature verification is that it is an imperfectscience. The algorithms can fail an individual�s signature.Individuals may sign slightly differently and cause theverification to fail.

Low End Class: Simple, low cost ($100 to $200)

There are a number of vendors producing low cost signaturecapture devices with the price range from $100 to $200 USdollars. This class of device provides the basic signaturecapture function and connects to a local PC serial or USB port.Since these devices do not have builtin processors, they mustcommunicate locally (ie. they cannot communicate over a LANor WEB). They do not have an LCD screen, or many of themore sophisticated features found in the upper class of device.The benefit of this class of device is cost and can be found inlow-cost operations.

Midrange Class: with LCD screen, single feature ($200 to$400)

A midrange class of signature capture devices is priced in the$200 to $400 US dollar range and usually have a similardesign as the low cost unit with the added feature of an LCDscreen. The screen provide additional features as text andgraphic display output, signature display while signing andtouch screen input. Other than the LCD screen, this class ofsignature capture device�s design and features are the sameas the low cost units.

High End Class: with onboard processor, Multi FeatureTerminals ($400-$600)

The highest class of signature capture device is prices in the$400 to $600 or more US dollar range. This class of devicesincludes a builtin processor, LCD screen and other advancefeatures such as Mag Stripe Reader and Smart Card Reader.Found mostly in the Retail or Commerce industry, thesedevices can also perform DEBIT or CREDIT card processingusing the LCD touch screen pad. As such, they are multipurpose and combine many of the retail functions into onepiece of hardware. They are commonly referred as PaymentTerminals or Transaction Terminals.

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