Unique Pattern and Copied Pattern

Traditional Offset printing is typical of the use of “Copied” pattern, that is  the pattern of all pages of the same form is identical.

Generally the “Copied” pattern has a lower total production cost, and mainly depends on the print run (the more copies, the less the unit cost). On the contrary, when using the “Copied” pattern, every user has to fill-in a form each time and to tick the  “New” window at the beginning of the compilation of each form as the Application is not able to recognize which “sheet no. 1” is being written on (as all patterns of all “sheets no. 1” are identical). Therefore the risk of this choice is that – if the operator forgets to tick the  “New” window and fills-in a second form without downloading the pen between the two operations – the characters written on the second form are superimposed on those of the first thus making it impossible for ICR to interpret. In this case, the operator (who anyhow has paper forms as in the past) has to carry out a manual entry in order to recover data.  

In alternative to Offset printing,   also “Unique” Pattern using digital printing can be used, or printing whereby each single page has a different pattern from all the others. In other words, each page is a one-off piece and therefore cannot be “confused” with another. Consequently the “New” window in all forms can be eliminated and there is no risk of confusing data, also when compiling different forms at the same time. Furthermore, one can go back on the same form several times without the risk of losing data.

The cost of Unique Pattern digital printing does not depend so much on the print run and a License has to be paid (to Anoto) which is sold at “Shelf” of 6144 pages.