Input Devices
The Input Devices are the hardware that is used to transfer transfers input to the
computer. The data can be in the form of text, graphics, sound, and text. Output
device display data from the memory of the computer. Output can be text,
numeric data, line, polygon, and other objects.
Types of Input Devices:
1. Keyboard
2. Mouse
3. Trackball
4. Spaceball
5. Joystick
6. Light Pen
7. Digitizer
8. Touch Panels
9. Voice Recognition
[Link] Scanner
Keyboard:
The most commonly used input device is a keyboard. The data is entered by
pressing the set of keys. All keys are labeled. A keyboard with 101 keys is
called a QWERTY [Link] keyboard has alphabetic as well as numeric
keys. Some special keys are also available.
1. Numeric Keys: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
2. Alphabetic keys: a to z (lower case), A to Z (upper case)
3. Special Control keys: Ctrl, Shift, Alt
4. Special Symbol Keys: ; , " ? @ ~ ? :
5. Cursor Control Keys: ↑ → ← ↓
6. Function Keys: F1 F2 F3....F9.
7. Numeric Keyboard: It is on the right-hand side of the keyboard and used
for fast entry of numeric data.
Function of Keyboard:
1. Alphanumeric Keyboards are used in CAD. (Computer Aided Drafting)
2. Keyboards are available with special features line screen co-ordinates
entry, Menu selection or graphics functions, etc.
3. Special purpose keyboards are available having buttons, dials, and
switches. Dials are used to enter scalar values. Dials also enter real
numbers. Buttons and switches are used to enter predefined function
values.
Mouse:
A Mouse is a pointing device and used to position the pointer on the screen. It is
a small palm size box. There are two or three depression switches on the top.
The movement of the mouse along the x-axis helps in the horizontal movement
of the cursor and the movement along the y-axis helps in the vertical movement
of the cursor on the screen. The mouse cannot be used to enter text. Therefore,
they are used in conjunction with a keyboard.
Trackball
It is a pointing device. It is similar to a mouse. This is mainly used in notebook
or laptop computer, instead of a mouse. This is a ball which is half inserted, and
by changing fingers on the ball, the pointer can be moved.
Spaceball:
It is similar to trackball, but it can move in six directions where trackball can
move in two directions only. The movement is recorded by the strain gauge.
Strain gauge is applied with pressure. It can be pushed and pulled in various
directions. The ball has a diameter around 7.5 cm. The ball is mounted in the
base using rollers. One-third of the ball is an inside box, the rest is outside.
Applications:
1. It is used for three-dimensional positioning of the object.
2. It is used to select various functions in the field of virtual reality.
3. It is applicable in CAD applications.
4. Animation is also done using spaceball.
5. It is used in the area of simulation and modeling.
Joystick:
A Joystick is also a pointing device which is used to change cursor position on a
monitor screen. Joystick is a stick having a spherical ball as its both lower and
upper ends as shown in fig. The lower spherical ball moves in a socket. The
joystick can be changed in all four directions. The function of a joystick is
similar to that of the mouse. It is mainly used in Computer Aided Designing
(CAD) and playing computer games.
Light Pen
Light Pen (similar to the pen) is a pointing device which is used to select a
displayed menu item or draw pictures on the monitor screen. It consists of a
photocell and an optical system placed in a small tube. When its tip is moved
over the monitor screen, and pen button is pressed, its photocell sensing element
detects the screen location and sends the corresponding signals to the CPU.
Uses:
1. Light Pens can be used as input coordinate positions by providing
necessary arrangements.
2. If background color or intensity, a light pen can be used as a locator.
3. It is used as a standard pick device with many graphics system.
4. It can be used as stroke input devices.
5. It can be used as valuators
Digitizers:
The digitizer is an operator input device, which contains a large, smooth board
(the appearance is similar to the mechanical drawing board) & an electronic
tracking device, which can be changed over the surface to follow existing lines.
The electronic tracking device contains a switch for the user to record the desire
x & y coordinate positions. The coordinates can be entered into the computer
memory or stored or an off-line storage medium such as magnetic tape.
Touch Panels:
Touch Panels is a type of display screen that has a touch-sensitive transparent
panel covering the screen. A touch screen registers input when a finger or other
object comes in contact with the screen.
When the wave signals are interrupted by some contact with the screen, that
located is recorded. Touch screens have long been used in military applications.
Voice Systems (Voice Recognition):
Voice Recognition is one of the newest, most complex input techniques used to
interact with the computer. The user inputs data by speaking into a microphone.
The simplest form of voice recognition is a one-word command spoken by one
person. Each command is isolated with pauses between the words.
Voice Recognition is used in some graphics workstations as input devices to
accept voice commands. The voice-system input can be used to initiate graphics
operations or to enter data. These systems operate by matching an input against
a predefined dictionary of words and phrases.
Image Scanner
It is an input device. The data or text is written on paper. The paper is feeded to
scanner. The paper written information is converted into electronic format; this
format is stored in the computer. The input documents can contain text,
handwritten material, picture [Link] storing the document in a computer
document became safe for longer period of time. The document will be
permanently stored for the future. We can change the document when we need.
The document can be printed when [Link] can be of the black and
white or colored picture. On stored picture 2D or 3D rotations, scaling and other
operations can be applied.
Types of image Scanner:
1. Flat Bed Scanner: It resembles a photocopy machine. It has a glass top on
its top. Glass top in further covered using a lid. The document to be scanned is
kept on glass plate. The light is passed underneath side of glass plate. The light
is moved left to right. The scanning is done the line by line. The process is
repeated until the complete line is scanned. Within 20-25 seconds a document
of 4" * 6" can be scanned.
2. Hand Held Scanner: It has a number of LED's (Light Emitting Diodes) the
LED's are arranged in the small case. It is called a Hand held Scanner because it
can be kept in hand which performs scanning. For scanning the scanner is
moved over document from the top towards the bottom. Its light is on, while we
move it on document. It is dragged very slowly over document. If dragging of
the scanner over the document is not proper, the conversion will not correct.
