Microsoft Pen Protocol V2.0 
 
 
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©  2017 Microsoft
12-22-17
Document Revision 1.0 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Table of Contents 
Introduction ................................................................................................................... 5 
Timing/Frequency Accuracy ......................................................................................... 6 
Pen Electrodes ............................................................................................................... 7 
Pen State Machine ........................................................................................................ 8 
Pen Protocol .................................................................................................................. 9 
Physical Layer .............................................................................................................................. 9 
Transmitted Signal ....................................................................................................................... 9 
5.1.2  Modulation .................................................................................................................................. 9 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
5.1 
5.1.1 
5.1.3 
5.2 
5.2.1 
5.2.2 
5.2.3 
5.3 
6 
6.1 
6.2 
 
Frequencies ................................................................................................................................. 9 
Link Layer ................................................................................................................................... 10 
Transmitted Frame .................................................................................................................... 10 
Symbols ..................................................................................................................................... 10 
State Specific Frames ................................................................................................................ 14 
Data Layer .................................................................................................................................. 19 
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Electro Static Design Guidelines ................................................................................ 25 
Materials stack up ..................................................................................................................... 25 
Critical dimensions .................................................................................................................... 25 
5.3.1  Digital LF Data (same as Microsoft Pen Protocol V1.x) ............................................................. 19 
5.3.2  Digital HF Data ........................................................................................................................... 20 
5.3.3  Pressure Data ............................................................................................................................ 23 
 
List of Tables 
Table 1 – Revision History ..................................................................................................................... 4 
Table 2 – Timing/Frequency Accuracy ................................................................................................ 6 
Table 3 – Symbols Timing and Frequencies ..................................................................................... 11 
Table 4 – Pressure and Digital HF Inter Symbol Timing ................................................................. 12 
Table 5 – MFSK Pressure Frequencies ............................................................................................... 13 
Table 6 – Front Ink Frame Transmitted Symbols ............................................................................. 14 
Table 7 – Front Hover Frame Transmitted Symbols ........................................................................ 15 
Microsoft Pen Protocol V2.0, Revision 1.0 
Microsoft Proprietary and Confidential, Released under NDA 
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Table 8 – Tail Hover Frame Transmitted Symbols ........................................................................... 16 
Table 9 – Front Ink Frame Transmitted Symbols ............................................................................. 17 
Table 10 – Buttons bits mapping ....................................................................................................... 23 
Table 11 – Data Type Priority ............................................................................................................. 23 
Table 12 – ES Critical Dimensions ...................................................................................................... 26 
 
List of Figures 
Figure 1 – Multiple Tx phase error ....................................................................................................... 6 
Figure 2 – Tip and Ring Electrodes (illustration only) ........................................................................ 7 
Figure 3 – Pen State Machine ............................................................................................................... 8 
Figure 4 – Tip and Ring Signal Waveform .......................................................................................... 9 
Figure 5 – Microsoft Pen Protocol V2.0 General Frame .................................................................. 10 
Figure 6 – Front Ink Frame .................................................................................................................. 14 
Figure 7 – Front Hover Frame ............................................................................................................. 15 
Figure 8 – Tail Hover ............................................................................................................................ 16 
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Figure 9 – Tail Erase ............................................................................................................................. 16 
Figure 10 – Digital LF Data Byte (8-bits) ........................................................................................... 19 
Figure 11 – Byte Ordering (including error correction) ................................................................... 19 
Figure 12 – Data for Pen ID ................................................................................................................ 20 
Figure 13 – Data for Battery Low Indication ..................................................................................... 20 
Figure 14 – Digital HF Data bits mapping ......................................................................................... 21 
Figure 15 – Digital HF Data Bytes (16-bits) ....................................................................................... 21 
Figure 16 – Digital HF Hamming calculation .................................................................................... 21 
Figure 17 – Digital HF Messages Mapping ....................................................................................... 21 
Figure 18 – Aware bit example ........................................................................................................... 22 
Figure 19 – Pen ID bits mapping ........................................................................................................ 22 
Figure 20 – Front Ink State Pressure Data Mapping ........................................................................ 24 
Figure 21 – Front Hover to Ink Pressure Data Mapping ................................................................. 24 
Figure 22 – Front Ink to Hover Pressure Data Mapping ................................................................. 24 
Microsoft Pen Protocol V2.0, Revision 1.0 
Microsoft Proprietary and Confidential, Released under NDA 
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Figure 23 – Front Ink to Hover Pressure Data Mapping – First Frame exception ....................... 24 
Figure 24 – Tail Erase Pressure Data Mapping ................................................................................. 25 
Figure 25 – Materials Stack Up ........................................................................................................... 25 
Figure 26 – Front Pen critical dimensions ......................................................................................... 26 
Document Revision History 
Revision 
Date 
Author 
Description 
1.0 
June 24, 2017 
Creation 
Mishalov, Uri Ron 
Amir Zyskind, Vadim 
Table 1 – Revision History 
HBI: Microsoft Confidential
Shared under NDA
For EEAP
©  2017 Microsoft
12-22-17
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Microsoft Proprietary and Confidential 
Released under NDA 
Microsoft Pen Protocol V2.0, Revision 1.0 
Microsoft Proprietary and Confidential, Released under NDA 
 
 
Page 4 
 
 
 
1  Introduction 
 
This document presents the Microsoft Pen protocol specifications and requirements. 
The protocol embeds the following modes: 
1.  Microsoft Pen Protocol V1/V1.5/V1.51: Supports Tip and Tail electrodes transmission 
2.  Microsoft Pen Protocol V2.0: Supports Tip, Ring and Tail electrodes transmission 
All  the  information  in  this  document  contains  Microsoft  proprietary  and 
confidential information and is released under NDA. 
 
 
 
 
HBI: Microsoft Confidential
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Microsoft Pen Protocol V2.0, Revision 1.0 
Microsoft Proprietary and Confidential, Released under NDA 
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2  Timing/Frequency Accuracy 
The  table  below  summarizes  the  accuracy  of  all  the  data  provided  throughout  this 
document –  
Parameter 
Functionality 
Nominal Frequency  Accuracy 
Frame timing Clock  All frame timing data  
32.7707 kHz 
±20 PPM 
Tx Frequency 
Transmitted frequency data 
18 – 210 kHz (2) 
±1500 PPM 
<±500 nsec 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Multiple Tx Phase 
Error(1) 
 
Table 2 – Timing/Frequency Accuracy 
Phase error between 
transmitting electrodes 
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(1) Multiple Tx phase error -  
Figure 1 – Multiple Tx phase error 
 
 
 
(2) All frequencies within the frequency range (summarized in table 3) can be generated 
by  multiplying  the  frame  timing  clock  and  then  dividing  it  by  fractional  divider  per 
frequency. A PLL or other frequency multiplication and division scheme can be used  
Microsoft Pen Protocol V2.0, Revision 1.0 
Microsoft Proprietary and Confidential, Released under NDA 
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Frame NFrame Nø Electrode nElectrode n+1
 
 
 
3  Pen Electrodes 
The pen transmits a signal to the digitizer through three electrodes –  
  Tip electrode 
  Ring electrode 
  Tail electrode 
Unless stated otherwise, the specifications in the document refer to all three electrodes. 
 
 
 
 
Figure 2 – Tip and Ring Electrodes (illustration only) 
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Microsoft Pen Protocol V2.0, Revision 1.0 
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4  Pen State Machine 
 
The  pen  transmits  a  signal  with  the  same  frame  length  through  all  its  modes  of 
operation. The content of the frame varies between the states.  
The pen state machine is presented in the figure below –  
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Figure 3 – Pen State Machine 
 
The transition between the states is done based on sensing the pressure applied on the 
pen tip and tail with each sub-system (side) is controlled separately.  
 
 
 
Microsoft Pen Protocol V2.0, Revision 1.0 
Microsoft Proprietary and Confidential, Released under NDA 
Page 8 
 
Front HoverFront InkFront Ink To HoverFront Hover To InkTail EraseTail PressedTail LiftTip PressedTip LiftTip Pressed(Single Frame)Tip Lift &Frame Counter --TailHoverFrontTail