Abstract: The present invention proposes the use of a surface or writing surface such as paper and a moveable element such as a pen or a stylus. The stylus comprises an input means such as a charge-coupled device (CCD) or digital camera, a microcomputer, memory, power supply, and a communications device, whereby the digital camera scans the surface for position-related information to determine the position and/or movement of the stylus relative to the surface. The path of stylus is determined by detecting a sequence of position-related information. An output signal from the digital camera or array of light sensitive elements is sent to a computer or processor and finally output to the user. The output can be in various forms including an image on a computer display or a computer printout. When writing on the surface, handwriting recognition software can be used to convert the handwritten text into a “keyboard-typed” representation.