UCU Arua Campus

FS 1102 Basic Computing

Lecture Four Part I : Computer Hardware -

Input devices

Lecturer: Wamusi Robert

Phone: 0787432609
Email: [email protected]
Learning Outcomes
 By the end of this lecture, the student will
be able to
 Describe the purpose of computer input
and the role it plays in processing
 Describe various input devices
 Relate the various input devices to the
category of input they handle
 Describe the circumstances in which a
particular device’s use maybe most
appropriate
Input devices – the need for Input
 The CPU of a microcomputer cannot do
anything until it has data with which to
work.
 All data that enters the CPU for
processing originally comes from devices
located outside the box that houses the
CPU.
 These devices are called input devices
because their function is to get data into
the computer.
Input devices (cont.)
 An input device is any hardware device
that sends data to a computer, allowing
users to interact with and control it.
 Input devices are used to enter data or
instructions.
 ‘Device’ is used in this context to refer to
an individual piece of hardware with a
specific function.
Input devices (cont.)
 The mouse and keyboard are examples of input
devices. Before looking at some input devices
available, it is worth making some observations:
 It should be noted that modern computers make
use of a wide variety of input devices since data
flowing in to the organization may take a number
of different forms
 The choice of an input device will depend upon
the quantity of data to be entered. Entering data
on a small scale is normally carried out by human
operators, using a number of familiar input
devices such as the mouse or a keyboard
Input devices – The Keyboard
 The Keyboard remains the most common input
device and its basic design has remained largely
unchanged for more than a century
 The keyboard is divided into three sections. The
main section looks much like a standard
typewriter keyboard. It contains all the letters of
the alphabet, standard punctuation symbols, the
numbers zero through nine, and several special
purpose keys.
 The arrangement of the keys in the main section
is referred to as a QWERTY format, which
comes from the order of the first six keys in the
second row.
Input devices – The Keyboard
 The keys across the top are called special
function keys (or just function keys). Unlike the
keys in the main section, what happens when you
press a function key depends on what software
you are running
 On the right side of the keyboard is the numeric
keypad. The keys in this section are arranged like
those on a calculator and are designed to speed
the entry of numeric data.
 The NUM LOCK (number lock) key, when
pressed, toggles the numeric keypad between the
number mode and the cursor control arrow
mode.
Input devices – The Keyboard
Input devices – The Mouse
 In the early 1980s the first PCs were equipped
with the traditional user input device - a
keyboard.
 By the end of the decade however, a mouse
device had become an essential for PCs running
the GUI -based Windows operating system
 Computers featuring a graphical user interface
(GUI) often require the use of a mouse or other
pointing device. Although there are many different
kinds of mouse, all use the same basic method of
operation: moving the mouse over a flat surface
causes a corresponding movement to a small
pointer on the screen.
Input devices – The Mouse
Input devices – The Trackball
 A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball
held by a socket containing sensors to detect a
rotation of the ball about two axes—like an upside-
down mouse with an exposed protruding ball.
 The user rolls the ball with the thumb, fingers, or the
palm of the hand to move a pointer.
 Compared with a mouse, a trackball has no limits on
effective travel; at times, a mouse can reach an edge
of its working area while the operator still wishes to
move the screen pointer farther.
 With a trackball, the operator just continues rolling,
whereas a mouse would have to be lifted and re-
positioned.
Trackball
Input devices – The Light pen
 A light pen is a computer input device in
the form of a light-sensitive wand used in
conjunction with a computer's CRT TV
set or monitor.
 It allows the user to point to displayed
objects, or draw on the screen, in a
similar way to a touch screen but with
greater positional accuracy.
Input devices – The Light pen
 Because the user was required to hold his
or her arm in front of the screen for long
periods of time, the light pen fell out of
use as a general purpose input device.
 A light pen can work with any CRT-based
display, but not with LCD screens (though
Toshiba and Hitachi displayed a similar
idea at the "Display 2006" show in Japan),
projectors and other display devices.
Input devices – The Light pen
Input devices – The Joystick
 A joystick is an input device consisting of a
stick that pivots on a base and reports its
angle or direction to the device it is
controlling.
 A joystick, also known as the control
column, is the principal control device in the
cockpit of many civilian and military aircraft,
either as a center stick or side-stick.
 It often has supplementary switches to
control various aspects of the aircraft's flight.
Input Devices - JoyStick
 Joysticks are often used to control video
games, and usually have one or more
push-buttons whose state can also be
read by the computer.
 A popular variation of the joystick used
on modern video game consoles is the
analog stick.
A Joystick and a video game pad
with an analog stick which is a
variation of the joystick
Scanner
 An image scanner—often called just a scanner—is
a device that optically scans images, printed text,
handwriting, or an object, and converts it to a
digital image.
 Common examples found in offices are variations
of the desktop (or flatbed) scanner where the
document is placed on a glass window for
scanning.
 Hand-held scanners, where the device is moved
by hand, have evolved from text scanning "wands"
to 3D scanners used for industrial design, reverse
engineering, test and other applications.
An image scanner
Magnetic Ink Character Recognition
readers
 Magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) is
a character-recognition technology used
mainly by the banking industry to ease the
processing and clearance of cheques and
other documents.
 The MICR encoding, called the MICR line, is
at the bottom of cheques and other
vouchers and typically includes the
document-type indicator, bank code, bank
account number, cheque number, cheque
amount, and a control indicator.
Magnetic Ink Character Recognition
readers (cont.)
 The technology allows MICR readers to
scan and read the information directly
into a data-collection device.
 Unlike barcodes and similar technologies,
MICR characters can be read easily by
humans
A sample cheque and MICR reader
Optical Character Recognition
(OCR) Reader
 OCR, is the mechanical or electronic conversion of
scanned images of handwritten, typewritten or
printed text into machine-encoded text
 Suppose you wanted to digitize a magazine article or
a printed contract.You could spend hours retyping
and then correcting misprints. Or you could convert
all the required materials into digital format in several
minutes using a scanner (or a digital camera) and
Optical Character Recognition software.
 Optical Character Recognition, or OCR, is a
technology that enables you to convert different
types of documents, such as scanned paper
documents, PDF files or images captured by a digital
camera into editable and searchable data
OCR
 A dedicated OCR reader and a software
based OCR reader making use of a phone
camera
Barcodes and QR codes
 A barcode is an optical machine-readable
representation of data relating to the object to
which it is attached. Originally barcodes
systematically represented data by varying the
widths and spacings of parallel lines. Later they
evolved into rectangles, dots, hexagons and other
geometric patterns in two dimensions (2D).
 Barcodes originally were scanned by special
optical scanners called barcode readers. Later,
scanners and interpretive software became
available on devices including desktop printers
and smartphones.
Barcodes and QR codes (cont.)
 QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response
Code) is the trademark for a type of matrix
barcode (or two-dimensional barcode) first
designed for the automotive industry in Japan.
 The QR Code system has become popular
outside the automotive industry due to its fast
readability and greater storage capacity compared
to standard UPC barcodes. Applications include
product tracking, item identification, time tracking,
document management, general marketing, and
much more.
A barcode and QR code
Barcode reader
 A barcode reader (or barcode scanner) is an
electronic device for reading printed
barcodes. Like a flatbed scanner, it consists of
a light source, a lens and a light sensor
translating optical impulses into electrical
ones.
 Additionally, nearly all barcode readers
contain decoder circuitry analyzing the
barcode's image data provided by the sensor
and sending the barcode's content to the
scanner's output port
Barcode reader
Optical mark recognition
 Optical mark recognition (also called optical
mark reading and OMR) is the process of
capturing human-marked data from
document forms such as surveys and tests.
 OMR reader is a special type of optical
scanner used to recognize the type of mark
made by pen or pencil. It is used where one
out of a few alternatives is to be selected
and marked. It is specially used for checking
the answer sheets of examinations having
multiple choice questions.
A sheet with ‘marks’ and OMR
reader
Microphone
 Microphone is an input device to input sound
that is then stored in digital form. The
microphone is used for various applications like
adding sound to a multimedia presentation or
for mixing music. Or even making a phone call
over the internet (VoIP)
Webcam
 A webcam is a video camera that feeds its
image in real time to a computer or
computer network. Unlike an IP camera
(which uses a direct connection using
ethernet or Wi-Fi), a webcam is generally
connected by a USB cable, FireWire cable,
or similar cable.
 Their most popular use is the establishment
of video links, permitting computers to act
as videophones or videoconference stations.
Webcam (cont.)
 The common use as a video camera for
the World Wide Web gave the webcam its
name.
 Other popular uses include security
surveillance, computer vision, video
broadcasting, and for recording social
videos.
Webcam
Test Yourself
 Which input device is best suited to the
following tasks?
 Entering the details of bank cheques
 Entering data from multiple choice test
papers
 Entering data from labels or price tags
 Entering a diagram, picture or photograph
 Entering the text of a letter
 List at least three common pointing devices?
Summary
 There are a multitude of input devices
out there on the market, this list is
definitely not exhaustive.
 I encourage you to look out for more
using resources on the internet like
Wikipedia and if possible bring them to
the attention of the class.