HP announces new technologies

NEW DELHI: HP has announced new technologies, designed to help grow opportunities in rapidly expanding economies.

The technologies created by researchers in HP Labs India, primarily focus on India apart from addressing markets in China, Russia and Brazil. The products are designed to adapt to the needs of non-Western languages, unique infrastructures, and indigenous cultures and customs, according to an HP statement.

Some of the technologies announced include, the gesture keyboard, pen-based solutions for filling out forms, print-supplemented TV broadcasts, multimedia education centers, and Secure paper documents.

Traditional keyboards, based on the Roman alphabet, don't work for many of the world's languages. HP Labs India researchers have created a stylus-and-tablet solution -- the gesture keyboard -- that's easy for people to learn and use, yet affords all the advantages of electronic data processing and storage.

Pen-based solutions

Business, government, education and other forms can be completed by hand in remote locations using a variety of pen-enabled devices. The "digital ink" then can be transmitted to a central location where the handwritten input is converted to machine-readable text for storage and processing.

Print-supplemented TV broadcasts

Television has far greater reach than the Internet in countries such as China and India, broadcasting educational and other important information. HP Labs India researchers are developing technology that delivers print material synchronized with TV programming.

Multimedia education centers

Researchers are working on a technology that enables multimedia access to on-demand broadcast education programming in learning institutions. Educational audio-visual content is tagged with data that enables it to be archived and retrieved in a digital library of broadcast videos whenever students need it.

Secure paper documents

Throughout a large part of the world, public services are being extended to small towns and villages in remote areas through Internet cafes instead of local government offices. The problem is the need to ensure that, in the absence of local officials, transmitted documents are authentic and can't be tampered with. HP Labs has come up with a barcode that incorporates a digital signature that can be printed on sensitive documents.

"Our goal is to help our customers around the world by improving access to information and communications technologies that best suit their needs and the needs of their economies and societies," said Dick Lampman, HP senior vice president, research, and director, HP Labs. "We believe this will create opportunities for HP to access its next billion customers."

HP Labs India was established in Bangalore four years ago and has been working on technologies uniquely designed to fit the needs of Indian society. HP Labs India researchers are working on input methods for Indian regional languages so a broader population can access the power of computing.

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