Editing Graffiti (Palm OS)

{{Short description|Shorthand input system for Palm OS}}
[[File:Palm Graffiti gestures.png|thumb|220px|Gestures used by original Palm OS handheld computers]]

'''Graffiti''' is an essentially single-stroke [[shorthand]] [[handwriting recognition]] system used in [[Personal Digital Assistant|PDA]]s based on the [[Palm OS]]. Graffiti was originally written by [[Palm, Inc.]] as the recognition system for [[PC/GEOS|GEOS]]-based devices such as HP's [[HP OmniGo 100|OmniGo 100]] and [[OmniGo 120|120]] or the [[Magic Cap]]-line and was available as an alternate recognition system for the [[Apple Newton]] MessagePad, when NewtonOS 1.0 could not recognize handwriting very well. Graffiti also runs on the [[Windows Mobile]] platform, where it is called "Block Recognizer", and on the [[Symbian]] [[UIQ]] platform as the default recognizer and was available for Casio's Zoomer PDA.

The software is based primarily on a [[neography]] of upper-case characters that can be drawn blindly with a stylus on a touch-sensitive panel. Since the user typically cannot see the character as it is being drawn, complexities have been removed from four of the most difficult letters. "A" "F", "K" and "T" all are drawn without any need to match up a cross-stroke.

Some letters can be drawn with strokes other than the "official" ones. Two examples of these alternative strokes are the letters "V" (drawn the same only from right to left) and "X" (drawn the same as the letter "K" except reversed from right to left). These alternative strokes are frequently recognized with greater reliability.

==History==
Graffiti was developed by [[Jeff Hawkins]], who had previously created "PalmPrint" (the character recognition system used by the Casio Zoomer<ref>{{cite news | title=Zoomer XL-7000 | last=Tebbutt | first=David | journal=Personal Computer World |date=October 1993 }}</ref>) to recognize natural handwriting.<ref name="piloting-palm">{{Cite book
  | last1 = Butter
  | first1 = Andrea
  | authorlink = 
  | last2 = Pogue
  | first2 = David
  | author2-link = David Pogue
  | title = Piloting Palm
  | publisher = [[John Wiley & Sons]]
  | location = New York
  | date = 2002
  | pages = [https://archive.org/details/pilotingpalminsi00butt/page/62 62–66]
  | doi = 
  | isbn = 0-471-08965-6
  | url-access = registration
  | url = https://archive.org/details/pilotingpalminsi00butt/page/62
  }}
</ref> By using a simpler alphabet, computers could easily recognize handwriting. Hawkins believed that people would take the time to learn Graffiti just as people learn to [[touch typing|touch-type]]. Hawkins recalled his insight: "And then it came to me in a flash. Touch-typing is a skill you ''learn''."<ref name="piloting-palm" />

The program was first released in 1994 for the [[Casio Zoomer]] PDA,<ref>{{cite mailing list |url=https://www.grot.com/zoomer/zoomer-list/zoomer-list-3Q1994/0048.html |title=Graffiti Arrives! -- Press Release enclosed|date=19 September 1994 |access-date=18 October 2024 |mailing-list=zoomer-list |last=Miller |first=Jack |author-link=}}</ref> while the first device to have the program preinstalled were the [[Pilot 1000]] and [[Pilot 5000|5000]] PDAs, both of which were released in 1996.<ref>{{cite book |title=Palm Pilot Handbook |publisher=3Com Corp. |url=http://www.palm.com/us/support/handbooks/palmpilothb.pdf |access-date=18 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060708153733/http://www.palm.com/us/support/handbooks/palmpilothb.pdf |archive-date=8 July 2006}}</ref>

Hawkins also envisioned a single area for writing letters on top of each other.<ref name="piloting-palm" />

Hawkins called this system "PowerPalmPrint" or P3. Other engineers at Palm revised and expanded the alphabet that Hawkins had created. Joe Sipher and Ron Marianetti created more characters and punctuation, and also designed a prototype of Graffiti that ran on a PC with a [[Graphics tablet|tablet peripheral]].<ref name="piloting-palm" />

Graffiti 2, whose gestures resembled natural handwriting more, was released in 2003 as a result of the lost lawsuit from Xerox.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hardy |first1=Ed |title=Inside Graffiti 2 |url=http://www.brighthand.com/article/Inside_Graffiti_2/ |access-date=18 October 2024 |publisher=Brighthand |date=January 29, 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060825135452/http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=11846 |archive-date=25 August 2006}}</ref>

==Non-Palm OS versions==
Graffiti was also implemented on the [[Apple Newton]]. In 2008, an unauthorized version of Graffiti was introduced for [[iOS (Apple)|iOS]] ([[iPhone]] and [[iPad]]) devices. An [[Android (operating system)|Android]] version was released in 2010 by ACCESS Co., Ltd. of Japan, which acquired the rights to Graffiti when it acquired PalmSource, Inc. in 2005.<ref>{{cite press release |url= http://www.access-company.com/news/press/PalmSource/2005/111405_access.html |title= ACCESS Completes Acquisition of PalmSource |website= access-company.com| publisher= ACCESS Co. Ltd| date= November 14, 2005 |url-status= dead |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20120620131321/http://www.access-company.com/news/press/PalmSource/2005/111405_access.html |archivedate= 2012-06-20 |access-date= August 14, 2020}}</ref> The original patent expired at the end of 2016.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US6567549B1/en | title=Method and apparatus for immediate response handwriting recognition system that handles multiple character sets }}</ref>

StrokeInput,<ref>[https://strokeinput.com/ Website StrokeInput]</ref> is an Apple App for an additional keyboard that enables - when activated - Graffiti input for every text on iPhone or iPad.

==Lawsuit==
The original Graffiti system was the subject of a lawsuit from [[Xerox]], claiming it violated Xerox's patent relating to its ''Unistrokes'' technology ({{US patent|5596656}}, granted in 1997). The Unistrokes technology was invented at the [[Xerox PARC|Palo Alto Research Center]] (PARC) by David Goldberg in 1993.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Goldberg |first1=David |last2= Richardson| first2= Cate |title=Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems - CHI '93 |chapter=Touch-typing with a stylus |date=May 1993 |pages= 80–87 |doi=10.1145/169059.169093 |chapter-url= https://archive.org/details/interchi93confer0000unse/page/80 |accessdate=18 April 2014 |publisher=[[Association for Computing Machinery]] |isbn= 0897915755 |s2cid=17507192 }}</ref>

Palm later appealed the original court ruling, both on the claim it violated Xerox's patent and as to the validity of the patent in the first place. An appeals court ruled in favor of Xerox with regard to the original ruling, that Palm had violated Xerox's patent, but sent the case back down to the lower court to decide whether the patent was valid to begin with. In 2004, a judge ruled in favor of Palm on the patent review, saying Xerox's patent was not valid on the basis that "prior art references to anticipate and render obvious the claim."<ref>{{cite news| url= http://www.theregister.com/2004/05/24/palm_vs_xerox/ |title= PalmOne overturns Xerox Graffiti patent| work= [[The Register]]| date= May 24, 2004| agency= Bloomberg| access-date= August 14, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url= http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2004/05/26/202705/xerox-loses-patent-claim-against-palmone.htm |title= Xerox loses patent claim against PalmOne| date= May 26, 2004 |first= Laura |last= Rohde |website= ComputerWeekly.com| agency= IDG News Service| access-date= August 14, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| last= Burr|first=D. J.|title=Designing a Handwriting Reader| journal=IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence|date=September 1983|volume=PAMI-5 |issue=5|pages=554–559|doi=10.1109/TPAMI.1983.4767435| publisher=IEEE Computer Society|pmid=21869141 |s2cid=16042308 |issn=0162-8828|quote=The curves resemble lowercase cursive script, but the user may change them to suit his own writing style. The only restriction is that each symbol consist of a single curve (no pen lifts).}}</ref> Xerox appealed the ruling.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.technewsworld.com/story/software/33999.html |title= Xerox To Appeal PalmOne Ruling| website= TechNewsWorld.com| last= Mello | first= John P. Jr.| date= May 25, 2004 | publisher= ECT News Network | access-date= August 14, 2020}}</ref> Xerox also obtained a US$22.5 million payment from Palm for retrospective licensing fees. Palm and Xerox agreed to not sue each other for seven years over certain patents, without publicly specifying which patents.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,19669443-26199,00.html |title= Xerox collects from PalmOS | work= [[The Australian]] |date= July 4, 2006 |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20090213183221/http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0%2C24897%2C19669443-26199%2C00.html |archivedate=February 13, 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Graffiti 2]]
* [[Moon type]] &mdash; a writing system for the blind, using embossed symbols mostly derived from the Roman alphabet (but simplified)
* [[Nyctograph]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.access_company.graffiti_pro Graffiti for Android app]
* [https://strokeinput.com/StrokeInput Graffiti for iPhone or iPad]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graffiti (Palm Os)}}
[[Category:Computing input devices]]
[[Category:Input methods for handheld devices]]
[[Category:Palm OS]]
[[Category:Personal digital assistant software]]
[[Category:Pointing-device text input]]
[[Category:User interface techniques]]