From: azur@netcom.com (Steve Schear)
Date: Wed, 5 Feb 1997 09:25:15 -0800 (PST)
To: jim bell <jimbell@pacifier.com>
Subject: ITAR and Paper ROM
Message-ID: <v02140b07af1e6d0de3b5@[10.0.2.15]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


>Given that high-density inkjet printers can do 600x600 dpi resolution, it
>should be possible to achieve the equivalent of 100x100 bpi of
>easily-recoverable data on ordinary paper.  That's about 800 kilobits, or
>100 kilobytes.   What does ITAR say about this?
>
>
>Jim Bell
>jimbell@pacifier.com

I'm not sure if what I did in the 80s, trying to create what I called
'paper ROM, is applicable.  In these investigations I used matricies of
small (1-3 mm) squares of gray (16 levels) or color (64 levels) with a mind
to replace diskettes for inexpensive mass data distribution.  I was able to
reliably get 100-200 KB/page side using standard offset printing.  With
modern ink-jet/laser printers you should be able to reliably get at least
10-50KB/page side. Although a technical success, I abandoned the effort
when I discovered someone had patented (4,488,679) something similar a few
years earlier.

-- Steve