Cambridge IGCSE ICT Teacher’s Resource

Resource 2.01 Direct data entry devices

Direct data entry or automated input devices
These are sometimes called direct data entry, or DDE for short, and are methods of capturing and entering
data directly without any need for human intervention; they are usually used when very large amounts of data
have to be input quickly and accurately.

Examples of automated input devices:

• Magnetic Ink Character Recognition

• Magnetic stripe readers
• Optical Character Recognition
• Radio Frequency Identification
• Bar codes
• Magnetic Stripe Readers
• Sensors
• Data logging
• Chip and pin readers
• Image scanners
• Digital cameras
• Biometric systems
• Sensors

Optical Mark Recognition (OMR)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl8oLftu8Bw (Explaining the Optical Mark Reader).

• OMR uses an input device called an Optical Mark Reader to detect marks made in certain places on
specially printed forms.
• A fast input method, used when large amounts of data need to be input quickly.
• Used to input data from things like answer sheets for multiple choice exams and registration forms in
schools.
• Also National Lottery forms.

Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR)

• MICR uses an input device called a magnetic ink character reader to input characters that have been
printed in special magnetic ink.
• Banks use MICR to process cheques because it is very secure.
• The equipment needed to print and read characters in magnetic ink is very expensive.

Optical Character Recognition (OCR)

• OCR is the use of an ordinary scanner and special software to convert text in a scanned image into a
format that can be edited by word processing software.
• Text must be printed or written very clearly.
• Used for the reading of typed postcodes.
• OCR depends on the shape of the marks whereas OMR depends on the position of the marks.

© Cambridge University Press 2019

 Cambridge IGCSE ICT Teacher’s Resource

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) readers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGu_fktA_qM (RFID how it works).

Bar codes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6aR1k-ympo (How barcodes work).

• A bar code is a set of lines of different thicknesses that represent a number.

• Bar code readers are used to input data from bar codes.
• Most products in shops have bar codes on them.
• Bar code readers work by shining a beam of light on the lines that make up the bar code and detecting the
amount of light that is reflected back.
• Bar codes represent a code number for a product.

Magnetic stripe readers

• A magnetic stripe is a thin band of magnetic tape.

• Often on the back of a credit or debit card, identity cards and electronic key cards in hotels and
businesses.
• Magnetic stripes can hold only a small amount of data and are quite easy to forge. In the next few years,
magnetic stripes will be replaced by smart cards that store much more data on a small microchip built into
the surface of the card.

Sensors

• Sensors are used to detect physical quantities outside a computer such as temperature, pressure and
light.
• To be able to process input from sensors a device called an analogue-to-digital converter must be
connected between the computer and the sensors.
• This device converts signals from sensors into digital data that the computer can process.

Data logging

• Data logging is a way of using a computer to automatically collect data over a period of time without any
need for human supervision.
• Useful when data needs to be collected in remote or inhospitable conditions where it would be difficult for
humans to take measurements.
• Used in weather monitoring stations and in science experiments.

Applications of data logging

• Collecting scientific data.

• Monitoring hospital patients.
• Collecting weather data.
• Monitoring indoor air quality.
• Measure runtimes of equipment.

© Cambridge University Press 2019