Input Devices

What Is Input?
 Data
 Unprocessed facts, figures, and symbols
 Instructions
 Programs
 Commands
 User responses
 What Is Input?
 Data or instructions entered into memory
of computer
 Input device is
any hardware
component used
to enter data or
instructions

p. 230 and 232 Fig. 5-1

Types of Input devices
 Keyboard
 Pointing devices
 Reading devices
 Voice input
 Input for PDAs, smart phone..
 Video input
 Terminals
 Biometric input
Scanners and Reading Devices
 Some input devices save users time by
eliminating manual data entry.
 With these devices users do not type, speak,
or write into the computer.
 These devices capture data from source
document , which is the original form of data.
 Devices that can capture data directly from
source document include optical scanner, bar
code reader, magnetic stripe reader,
magnetic ink reader.
Types of scanners/reading
device

 Optical scanners
 OCR
 OMR
 Bar Code Readers
 MICR
Scanners and Reading Devices
What is a scanner?
 Light-sensing device that reads printed
text and graphics and then translates
the result into a form the computer can
process.
 Used for image processing, converting paper
documents into electronic images
 What are various types of scanners?
Pen or
handheld

Flatbed

Drum
Sheet-fed
Type of Scanners
 Flatbed scanner :-
 Flatbed Works like a copier machine,
difference is that it creates a soft copy
rather than hard copy.
 Once a document is scanned it can be
manipulated by displaying it on screen,
storing in memory, printing it, fax, email etc
 How does a flatbed scanner work?

Step 1. Document to be scanned is

placed face down on the glass window.
Step 2. Bright light moves underneath
scanned document.
Step 3. Image of the document is
reflected into a series of mirrors.
Step 4. Light is converted to analog
electrical current that is converted to
digital signal by an analog-to-digital
converter (ADC).
Step 5. Digital information is sent to memory in the computer to be used by
illustration, desktop publishing, or other software; or it is stored on disk.
Step 6. Users can print image, e-mail it, include it in a document, or place it on
a Web page.
Pen or handheld
• Move pen over text to be scanned
• Ideal for mobile users, students,
researchers
Sheet Feed
 Item is pulled into a stationary
scanning mechanism( just like
fax machine)
 Smaller and less expensive
than flatbed
Drum
• Item rotates around a stationary rotating
mechanism
• Very large and expensive
• Used in publishing industry
• Many scanners also include OCR software
Which can read and convert many types of
text documents into softcopy
Currently OCR has 99% success rate, but it
only recognizes printed/typed documents
Quality of Scanner
 The quality of a scanner is measured by
the number of bits it stores in a pixel
and the number of pixels per inch.

 The higher the number, the better the

quality.
Optical Reader
 Device that uses a light source to read
characters, marks and codes and then
converts them into digital data that a
computer can process.
 Technologies used by optical reader……
 Optical character recognition (OCR)
 Optical mark recognition (OMR)
 Bar code reader
 Magnetic Ink Character Recognition Reader(MICR)
Optical Reader
 Optical character recognition (OCR)
reads characters in OCR font

 Optical mark recognition (OMR) reads

hand-drawn pencil marks, such as small
circles
Optical Character Recognition
 OCR is a technology that involves reading
typewritten, computer printed or hand-
printed characters from ordinary documents
and translating images into a form that the
computer can process.
 Most OCR devices include a optical scanner
for reading characters and some software to
analyze what is read.
Optical Character Recognition

 OCR devices range from large machines

that can read thousand of pages per
minute to hand held that read one
document at a time.
 OCR devices read printed characters in
OCR font. Most famous is OCR-A font
OCR-A Font
Optical Character Recognition
 During the scan of a document, an OCR
device determines the shape of characters by
detecting patterns of light and dark.
 OCR software then compares these shapes
with predefined shapes stored in memory and
converts the shape into characters the
computer can process.
 Many companies uses OCR characters on
turnaround document.
 Optical Character Recognition
 What is a turnaround document?

 Document that you

return to the company
that create and sent it
 Portion you return has
information printed in
OCR characters
Optical Character Recognition
 Example-turnaround document
 When customers receives a bill, they often
tear off a portion of the bill and send it
back to the company with their payment.

 The portion of a bill they return usually has

their payment amount and other
information printed in OCR character.
What is optical mark recognition (OMR)?

 Reads hand written marks, such as small

circles or rectangles
 Commonly used in MCQ type test,
surveying, questionnaire answer sheet etc.
 It first reads answer key sheet to record
correct answers based on the patterns of
light, then it reads remaining documents
and matches their patterns of light against
the answer key sheet.
Optical Mark Recognition (OMR)
 What is a bar code?

 Uses laser beam to read bar codes.

 A bar code is an identification code that consists
of vertical lines and spaces of different widths
 It is used to identify manufacturer, item type and
type of the product
 Universal Product Code (UPC)
Type of product
Item number
Manufacturer ID
MICR (Magnetic Ink Character
Recognition Reader)

 Reads text printed with magnetic ink

 Mostly used in bank check books
 The code on cheque represents bank
number, cheque number and account
number
 MICR are standardized by international
banks for standard fonts
MICR (Magnetic Ink Character
Recognition Reader)

cheque bank account cheque

number number number amount
MICR
 Human readable characters are printed on
document using a special magnetic ink.
 In a cheque, the branch code, account no
and cheque no are preprinted at the bottom
using magnetic ink.
 The amount of the cheque is later entered by
the clerk using machine which prints the
amount with magnetic ink.
 The cheque now read using a special input
unit which can recognize magnetic ink
character.
 Benefits :
 This method eliminates the need to
manually enter data from cheques into
floppy or other storage devices.
 Save time.
 Accuracy of data entry.
Capturing picture
 Digital Cameras :
 A digital camera allows users to take
pictures and store the photographed image
digitally, instead of on traditionally form.
 Most digital cameras have some amount of
internal flash memory to store image.
 Home and business users have digital
cameras to save expense of film
developing.
Digital camera
 Digital cameras allow users to review, and sometimes
edit, images while they are in camera.
 Images can be viewed immediately without
processing
 Some digital camera can connect to a printer
allowing user to print or view images directly form
camera.
 Most cameras can connect with a cable to a
computer’s USB port, so you can use the camera just
like you access any drive on the computer.
 operation of Digital Camera
 Focus camera to image

 Light passes into the lens of the camera and

image is focused on a chip called cahrged couple
device (CCD).
Operation on digital camera
 CCD generates analog signal, representing the image
 Analog signal is converted into digital by ADC
 DSP processor adjusts the quality of image & stores
it on storage media
 Images are transferred via cable to PC
 Using software images can be viewed, edited, printed
etc

CCD ADC DSP

Digital camera quality
 Resolution:
 Describes the sharpness and clearness of image.
 Higher resolution, higher will be the quality and higher the cost
 It is specified in Pixels
Picture Element
a single point in the image
 Greater the number of pixels, higher the quality
 1 Mega Pixels = good for screen display like web, emails
 2 Mega Pixels = good for printing, about 5X7” size
 3 Mega Pixels = as good as film roll cameras
Digital Cameras
How does a digital camera work?
Step 1. Point to the image to
photograph and take picture.
Light passes into the lens of the
camera.
Step 7. Using software
supplied with the
camera, images are
viewed on screen,
incorporated into
documents, edited, and
printed.
Step 2. Image is focused on a chip
called a charge-coupled device
(CCD).
Step 3. CCD generates an analog
signal that represents the image.
Step 4. Analog signal is converted
to digital signal by analog-to-
digital converter (ADC).
Step 5. Digital signal processor
(DSP) adjusts quality of image and
usually stores digital image on
miniature mobile storage media in
the camera.
Step 6. Images are transferred to a
computer’s hard disk by plugging one
end of the cable into a camera and the
other end into a computer; or images
are copied to hard disk from storage
media used in the camera.
Capturing Sound
 Voice input is the process of entering data by
speaking into a microphone.

 Voice recognition is the computer’s capability

of distinguishing spoken words.
Voice input
 Most voice recording programs are a
combination of
 speaker-dependent software, which makes a
profile of your voice, which means that you
have to train the computer to recognize your
voice.
 speaker-independent software, which has a
built-in set of word patterns so u don’t have
to train computer repeatedly.
Voice input
 Also called speech recognition
 Speech accepted through microphone
and converted into binary
 Can be used to control the operation of
the computer or to enter data through
dictation
Two Types of Speech
Recognition
 Discrete word systems-limited number of
recognized words; must pause between
words; very accurate
 Continuous word systems-allows almost
normal rate of speech and recognizes many
more words; less accurate; comes in some of
the newer application software packages such
as Office XP
Video input
 Video input is the process of capturing
full-motion images into a computer and
storing them onto a storage medium, like
a hard drive.
 A PC video camera enables users to capture
video and still images and then send or
broadcast the images over the internet.
 A web cam displays its output on a web page.
Video input
 Some video devices record video using
analog signal, computer use digital
signals.

 To enter video from an analog device to

computer, the analog signal must be
converted to a digital signal.
Video input
 To do this, plug video camera in a video
capture port on the system unit.
 Video adapter card is converts an analog
signal into digital signal that a computer
can process.
 Digital video camera
 PC camera
 Web cam
 Video conferences
Digital video camera
 A digital video (DV) camera record video as a
digital signal instead of analog signal.
 To transfer recorded images to a hard disk or
CD or DVD , user connects DV camera directly
to USB port.
 Thus computer does not need video capture
card.
 After saving video on storage medium, you
can play it or edit it using video editing
software
Storing and retrieving data
 Storage hold data, instruction and information
for future use.
 A storage device is the computer hardware
that records and/or retrieves items to and
from storage media.
 Writing is the process of transferring data,
instruction and information from memory to a
storage medium.
 Reading is the process of transferring these
items from a storage medium to memory.
Access time
 The speed of the storage device and memory is
defined by access time.
 Access time measures
 The amount of time it takes a storage device to locate an
item on a storage medium
 The time required to deliver an item from memory to the
processor.
 The access time of a storage device is slow compare to
memory.
 Memory access items in billionths of second (nanosecond)
while storage device can access items in thousand of
second(ms) or millions of second (microsecond)
Transfer rate
 It is a speed with which data,
instruction and information transfer to
and from device.
 The transfer rate for storage device are
stated in KBps or MBps
Backing Storage
•A computers memory is volatile,
•This means every time the computer is
switched off, any programs or data is lost.
•A computer needs to be able to store
programs and data permanently.
•A computers backing storage is where all of
the programs and data are permanently stored
 Computer Memory Units
•1 Bit = 1 Binary Digit
•1 Byte = 8 Bits
•1 Kilobyte = 1000 bytes
•1 Megabyte = 1000 000 bytes
•1 Gigabyte = 1000 000 000 bytes
•1 Terabyte = 1000 000 000 000 bytes
Magnetic Storage
 When something is magnetised it is
positive or ‘on’
 When it is not it is negative or ‘off’
(It’s as simple as that!!!)
 These devices use magnetic film to
store data as ‘on’ or ‘off’ (negative or
positive - one or zero - 1 or 0!!)
Magnetic tape
 It is a magnetically coated ribbon of plastic capable
of storing large amount of data at low cost.
 A tape driver can read and write data and
information on a tape.
 Tape storage require sequential access, which refers
to reading and writing data consecutively.
 While hard disk, CD,DVD use direct access, means
that device can locate a particular data or item
immediately, without having to move consecutively
through items stored in front of the desired item or
file.
 Magnetic Tape
•Has the storage capacity of a 70
gigabytes
•Looks similar to tape used in a tape
recorder
•Stores data in blocks along the tape

•Data is used saved to the magnetic tape

using magnetic heads
Magnetic disks
 It uses magnetic particles to store items such
as data, instructions, and information on a
disk’s surface.
 Disk is divided into track and sectors before
reading or writing.
 Track is a narrow recording band that forms a
full circle on the surface of disk.
 The disk’s storage location consists of pie-
shaped sections, which breaks tracks into
small arcs called sectors.
Magnetic disk
 On a magnetic disk a sector typically stores 512 bytes
of data.
 For reading and writing purposes, sectors are grouped
into clusters.
 A cluster is a smallest unit of disk space that stores
data and information.
 Two types of magnetic disks are
 Floppy disk
 Hard disk
 some disk are portable . It means that we can remove
disk from one computer and carry it to other computer
 Hard Disk
•This is a common form of backing
storage and is found on most computers

•These now have the storage capacity

of 40 gigabytes

•Stores data by magnetising the surface

of a flat circular disc (or platter)
 Floppy Disks
•Most computers have a floppy disk
drive, to allow a floppy disk to be used

•They have a storage capacity of 1.44

megabytes

•To save data the floppy disks spin around

and the computer magnetises or
demagnetises if very quickly!!
Optical discs
 It is type of storage media that consists of a flat,
round, portable disk that is written and read by laser.
 Optical disc primarily store software, data, digital
photographs, movies, and music.
 Some optical disc are read only, meaning user can’t
write (save) on the media.
 Others are read/write, which allows user to save on
the disk just like they are saving on hard disk.
Optical discs
 Types of optical discs:
 CD-ROM ( use can read only)
 CD-R (user can write but not erase) and
CD-RW (rewriteable – user can write
multiple times
 DVD ( digital versatile disk )
Compact Discs
•Compact Discs can store 650MB of data

•Data is stored as very small indentations on

the surface of the CD

•Data is read by a laser light, in the CD drive

•To use this form of backing storage the

computer must have a CD player installed
 DVDs
•DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disk

•Computers now have DVD drives installed

•DVDs have a memory capacity of up 17GB

•DVDs can be READ ONLY or READ and

WRITE
 Memory Sticks
• These are small and
can be inserted into
the USB Drive

• They can normally be

about 1 or 2 Gig or 4
GB
Output
 Screen output
 Monitor screen
 Paper output
 printer
 Audio output
 Speaker, headphones and earphones