Executives often need to excuse themselves from a meeting to respond to messages from their secretaries. DoodleMail is a service that allows them to receive messages and respond to them unobtrusively without leaving the meeting.

The executive has a small electronic tablet with a stylus. The tablet makes use of a wireless modem to communicate with the secretary's personal computer. The secretary sends a message to the executive by typing on the personal computer. These messages are displayed on the executive's tablet. The executive responds to these messages by writing on the tablet. The secretary receives a copy of this handwritten response on the personal computer.

This service could also be used by executives to pass secret notes and doodles back and forth during a meeting. A gateway to and from Internet email is possible.

The emergence of palm-size personal digital assistants with wireless communications capabilities makes such a service feasible today. We believe that there is a large unmet need for people to unobtrusively communicate while in meetings. Because it is considered rude to be fiddling with pager buttons or typing on a keyboard while in a meeting, a service that permits communications by handwritten messages may well become the preferred way to communicate in social settings.

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