NaviScribe-based digital pens and styli contain miniaturized optical navigation systems that capture the real-time location of their tips with respect to the dimensions of rectangular writing surfaces including ordinary paper and unmodified flat-panel displays.

NaviScribe devices also capture their full spatial motion as they travel across a writing surface. This absolute 3-D motion data, rich in information not available from methods that capture only relative motion, can be applied to handwriting recognition, biometric authentication, and command/input differentiation in a tablet user interface.

Electronic Scripting Products, inc. has developed NaviScribe.