Chapter 2

Display and I/O devices

 Display devices
CRT – Cathode Ray Tube with defection coils
 Display devices
CRT with defection plates
 How is a pixel lit?
* Suppose (x1, y1) is to be lit (part of a picture to be displayed)
* Deflection voltages are adjusted so that electron beam coming
out of focusing anode strikes (x1, y1)
* Electron particles hit (x1, y1)
* Phosphorous crystal at (x1, y1) glows – phosphorescence
* This glow is seen briefly – persistence
* After some time the light fades away and if electron particle
don’t strike (x1, y1) soon – flickering
* So refresh of screen is done. Refresh is so fast that the light at
(x1, y1) is always seen
* Rate at which refresh is done (so many time a second typically
60 times per second) is called refresh rate
* Low refresh rate can cause flicker
Raster scan display
 Frame buffer
* Special storage area in memory for storing picture
information
* In raster scan systems frame buffer size is resolution of
the monitor (640 x 480 pixels) x 1 bit or 1 byte or 3
bytes
* 1 bit per pixel – monochrome
* 1 byte – grey scale
* 3 bytes – one byte for each color component – full color
system
* Has 256 voltage settings for each gun and can produce nearly 17
million colors (256 x 256 x 256)
* In case 1 bit per pixel is used the frame buffer is called
bitmap otherwise it called pixmap.
 Picture display in Raster scan system

How are pictures

created?
Electron beam is
swept across the
screen one row at a
time from top to
bottom. Beam is set
on or off to create a
pattern of light spots.
Picture is stored in
the memory and
called frame buffer .
Refresh done after a Frame buffer
scan of all pixels. 0 0 ... … 00 scan line 1
00… b 00… 0 scan line 2
00…b0b0… 0 scan line 3
0 … b 0 0 0 b 0… 0 scan line 4
and so on
 Interlacing
* Scanning alternate rows. Done on slow
refresh systems or for screens coated with
low persistence crystals
* Even numbered rows are scanned in cycle 1
and odd numbered rows are scanned in cycle
2. Both cycles complete a full scan of the
display device
* When pixels in row 2 are fading away the
pixels in row 1 and row 3 are refreshed and
so the flickering is not felt
Interlacing
 Interlacing
Picture display in interlaced monitor
Color display devices (raster)
 Color display
 Picture quality is determined by
 Resolution (the number of pixels) and
amount of color information in each pixel
(color depth)
 Refresh rate
Raster scan display
Refresh operations
Raster Scan Horizontal and
Vertical deflection
Generator
voltages

X Y
Reg Reg

Memory Pixel Intensity

Address Reg

Frame Buffer
 Refresh operations
 Deflection voltages set to point to x=0, y=ymax (values
in the x Reg and y Reg)
 x, y converted to memory address in the frame buffer
 Intensity at x, y retrieved from frame buffer
 Intensity value is sent to pixel register and electron
beam and intensity of CRT beam is set
 Content of x register is made x+1 and the same
process repeated
 When whole row is refreshed x, y registers are adjusted
as x=0, y=ymax-1
 When all lines are scanned contents of x and y
registers set to x=0, y=ymax and refresh of the whole
screen begins again
 Refresh operations by video
controller

 Screen must be refreshed at 60 frames

per second
 Otherwise flickering occurs
 RAM chips can’t do this
 Video controller can retrieve multiple pixel
values on each pass
 When the block of pixels are processed the
next block of pixels intensities are
retrieved
Architecture of raster scan systems
with display processor
 Display processor and video
controller
 Video controller
 Speeds up refresh
 Can retrieve pixel intensities from different memory areas on different
refresh cycles, such as, with frame buffers
 One buffer can be used for refresh
 Other can be loaded with pixel intensities
 This is useful in animations
 Some transformations can be done by video processor
 Display processor
 Also called graphics controller or display co processor
 Purpose is to free the CPU from graphics chores
 A separate display processor memory is used
 Major task is digitizing the picture information (lines, circles, curves) in
application program into pixel intensities for storage in frame buffer. This is
called scan conversion
 Other operations interface with interactive devices
 Can perform elementary transformations
 Random scan CRT
* Picture components are lines and one line at a time is
drawn
* Also called vector / stroke display systems
* Picture definition (frame buffer) is the set of end points of as
many lines as there are in the picture
* Frame buffer is also called refresh display file/display
list//display program
* Refresh rate depends on the number of lines
* High end systems can refresh upto 100000 short lines in
refresh cycle
* When a small set of lines is to be displayed refresh is
delayed (to 60 frames per second) to avoid burning of
phosphor
Random scan display
 Random scan color display
 There are two layers of phosphorous crystals
 One layer emits green light (inner layer) and the other red light
(outer layer)
 Screen color is controlled by electron beam acceleration voltage
 These monitors are called beam penetration
 High intensity beam can penetrate the outer layer and strike the
red light emitting crystals
 Low intensity beam has energy just to strike the inner layer and a
green light is seen
 Intermediate intensity will excite red and green layer and orange
or yellow will be seen on the display device
 Only four colors are possible
 The purpose is to use lines to create picture and so only limited
colors are needed
Random scan architecture
 Direct View Storage Tube
DVST
 Stores the picture in the form of charge distribution just behind the
phosphor screen
 No refresh is needed
 For the first time frame buffer is referred and picture displayed and there
after the electrons behind the screen (exactly behind the pixels where the
picture is present) will hit the phosphor crystals and thus picture is seen
 There are two types of guns: primary gun-for first time drawing and
secondary or flooding gun- for flooding electrons and these get
accumulated as charge distribution
 When picture changes, primary gun used to draw the picture
 Advantages: No refresh needed. Picture quality is good
 Disadvantages: When animation is performed picture keeps changing
often and each time the whole screen goes blank and picture appears
again after a while
 Selected parts of the screen cannot be changed
 Flat panel devices
 Flat panels have reduced the volume, size, weight and power
requirements of the display devices
 Some devices are laptops, flat CRTs, calculators, tablets, TV etc
 These devices are classified as emissive and non emissive
 Emissive devices convert electrical energy to light energy. Ex:
Flat CRT, Plasma panel, LEDs
 Non emissive devices use optical effects to convert light source
to picture. Ex: LCDs
 In flat CRTs electron beams are accelerated parallel to the
screen and deflected 90 degrees to the screen
 Plasma panels or gas discharge displays are constructed by
filling region between two glass plates with gases that is
usually neon and others
Basic design of plasma display
 Working of plasma device
 Series of vertical conducting ribbons is placed on one
glass plate and horizontal conducting ribbons on the
other plate
 Firing voltages applied to a pair of horizontal and
vertical ribbons and the gas at the intersection of these
two conductors emits a light
 Refresh is done as in CRTs
 Using different gases can produce different color lights
 Thin electro luminescent displays are similar to
plasma panels
 There is a glass plate of phosphors instead of gases
Plasma panel with phosphor plate
 LCD
 Calculators, some laptops are LCDs
 These devices use compounds that
flow freely
 Sunlight are ambient light are either
blocked or transmitted to produce
patterns using the crystal on the
display
 3D viewing devices
 Genisco SpaceGraph
 Ex: Ultra sound and CAT scan medical
images use this technique
 Stereoscopic and Virtual reality Systems
 This technique does not provide 3D images
but provides a 3D effect by presenting a
different view to each eye. This requires a
special glass.
 Workstations
 Most graphics are raster scan displays
 Workstations have multiple graphics systems
with various screen resolutions and processor
speeds
 Two monitors are common in workstations-one
shows the whole object and the other part of the
object
 Multi screen system is a large display as big as a
wall-common in trade shows, conferences and the
screen divided into segments showing different
parts of the image
 Input devices-classification
* Input devices are classified as locators
and selectors on the basis of operations
* Locators provide position information to
the machine. Some input devices that
can be used as locators are mouse,
joystick, trackball, thumb-wheel etc
* Selectors are used to select a particular
object on the display device. Example of
such a device is light pen
 Input devices-classification
* Based on mode of access, the input devices are
classified as sampled and event driven devices
* Sampled devices are the ones which can be
sampled at any time by the machine without the
device being operated. All locator devices are
sampled devices
* Processor has to wait on the device until some
specific events happen. These are event driven
devices. Processor waits on light pen until light
beam falls on it. Key board, button, switches are
event driven devices
 Input devices
 Keyboards
 Mouse
 Trackball and space ball
 Joysticks
 Data glove
 Digitizers
 Image scanners
 Touch panels
 Light pens
 Input devices
* Key board
* Keyboard is the most common and very popular input
device which helps to input data to the computer. The
layout of the keyboard is like that of traditional
typewriter, although there are some additional keys
provided for performing additional functions.
* Keyboards are of two sizes 84 keys or 101/102 keys,
but now keyboards with 104 keys or 108 keys are
also available for Windows and Internet.
* Useful for writing texts (labels) in the graphics
* In application programs, cursor control keys and
function keys are useful to do specific graphics tasks
 Input devices
Mouse  Positioning cursor is easy with
mouse
 Wheels and rollers can be
used to record the direction of
movement
 Buttons (usually 2) used to
signal the execution of
operations
 Optical mouse uses optical
sensors to detect motion
 Additional features such as 3
buttons, thumbwheel on the
side, a track ball on top are
useful for ease of movement of
cursor. Z mouse has these
features
 Input devices
Joystick

Joystick is also a pointing

device, which is used to
move the cursor position
on a monitor screen. It is
a stick having a spherical
ball at its both lower and
upper ends. The lower
spherical ball moves in a
socket. The joystick can
be moved in all four
directions. Function is
similar to mouse.
 Input devices
A trackball is a computer cursor control
device used in many notebook and laptop
computers. The trackball is usually
located in front of the keyboard toward
the user. Essentially, the trackball is an
upside-down mouse that rotates in place
within a socket. The user rolls the ball to
direct the cursor to the desired place on
the screen and can click one of two
buttons (identical to mouse buttons) near
the trackball to select desktop objects or
Track ball position the cursor for text entry. Space
and Space ball is 3D positioning device. Space ball
does not move but strain gauges measure
ball the amount of pressure applied and
translates this to direction of movement
of cursor.
 Input Devices
Digital Tablet A graphic tablet (also known as
a digitizer, drawing tablet, digital
and stylus drawing tablet, pen tablet,
or digital art board) is a computer 
input device that enables a user to
hand-draw images, animations and
graphics, with a special pen-like 
stylus, similar to the way a person
draws images with a pencil and
paper. These tablets may also be used
to capture data or handwritten
Passive tablets-Magnetic signatures. It can also be used to
Active tablets-Acoustic, trace an image from a piece of paper
which is taped or otherwise secured
Electrical, Optical
to the tablet surface. Capturing data
in this way, by tracing or entering the
corners of linear poly-lines or shapes,
is called digitizing.
 Input devices
 Working of tablets
 Electrical
 Wires in horizontal and vertical directions are
embedded on the tablet and when stylus is placed at
a position the current in a horizontal wire x and
vertical wire y is obstructed and this indicates a
position on the screen
 Acoustic
 Instead of wires microphones are mounted along 4
edges of the tablet. Placing stylus at (x, y) will cause
noise that is picked up by the x (horizontal) and y
(vertical) microphones
 Input devices
Scanners
Scanner is an input device, which
works more like a photocopy machine. It is used
When some information is available
on paper and it is to be transferred to the hard disk
of the computer for further manipulation. Scanner
captures images from the source which are then
converted into a digital form that can be stored on
the disk. These images can be edited before they
are printed. Shown is flat bed scanner. Other types
are drum, hand held, sheet bed.
 Input Devices
A data glove is an interactive device,
resembling a glove worn on the
hand, which facilitates tactile
sensing and fine-motion control in 
Data glove robotics and virtual reality. Data
gloves are one of several types of
electromechanical devices used
in gaming and robot
surgery applications.
 Other input devices
* Microphone – used to add sound effects to graphics
* MICR-Magnetic Ink Card Reader – reads special type of
inks – in cheque books
* OCR- Optical Character Reader – reads printed text
and stores the text in the machine
* BCR – Bar Code Reader (like scanner) reads bar codes
in merchandises and converts these to alpha numeric
characters and sent to the computer to which this is
connected
* OMR – Optical Mark Reader – can read pencil or pen
marks – used in reading marks of multiple choice
questions in an exam
 Output devices
* Display devices
* Light emitting – CRT, LED, Plasma
* Light propagating – LCD
* Projectors
* Hard copy devices
* Printer, Plotter, Tape, CD
* Printers
* Impact / Non impact, Raster scan/ Random scan (plotters)
* Plotters
* Draw lines on sheets. Also called random scan device / line
plotters. Paper is anchored along edges and pen(s) can move in
any direction and comes into contact with paper once a line
drawing begins
 Plotter
* Lines drawn by plotter
 Questions
1. Description of working of all devices
2. What is the function of: Electron gun, control grid, focusing system,
deflection system, accelerating anode, flooding gun in DVST, collector
plate in DVST, refresh in CRT
3. Write a note on the following: phosphorescence, persistence, over
scanning, interlacing, resolution, blanking, retracing, frame buffer,
aspect ratio, display file
4. Give reasons: DVST not suitable for animation, beam penetration
produces limited colors, two frame buffers in high quality systems,
encoding frame buffer, CRT is bent towards edges, flickering, over
scanning
5. Advantages of: plasma displays, LCD, memory tube display
6. Disadvantages of: LCD, Memory tube displays
7. Types of: focusing system, deflection system, plotters, monitors, color
monitors
 Lab problems
Use ready functions in the compiler (such
as line , circle, fill commands, animation)
to describe the story of
1. Tortoise and rabbit/ thirsty crow/ fox
and grapes
2. Draw bar/ pie chart/ line graph for any
data
3. Simulate a clock
4. Bouncing ball
 Chap2
 Display