Lesson 10-INPUT AND OUTPUT DEVICES

describe the principles of operation (how each device works) of a range of input devices
including 2D and 3D scanners, barcode readers, digital cameras, keyboards, mice, touch screens,
microphones
describe how these principles are applied to real-life scenarios, for example: scanning of
passports at airports, barcode readers at supermarket checkouts, and touch screens on mobile
devices
describe how a range of sensors can be used to input data into a computer system, including
light, temperature, magnetic field, gas, pressure, moisture, humidity, pH/acidity/alkalinity and
motion/infra-red
describe how these sensors are used in real-life scenarios, for example: street lights, security
devices, pollution control, games, and household and industrial applications

Input devices allow us to enter raw data into a computer. The computer processes the data and
then produces outputs.
Input devices are usually categorised as either manual or automatic and sensors
Manual Input devices(are used by
people to capture data)

Devices and methods for

automatic data capture

sensors

Keyboards

OCR

Temperature

Pointing
devices(mouse,touchpad,touchscreen
)

OMR

Pressure

Scanners

MICR

Light

Cameras(webcam,video camera)

RFID(Radio frequency
identification )tag readers

Humidity

Microphones

Magnetic stripe readers

Gas

Musical keyboards

Smart card readers

Remote controls

Biometric data capture

devices(Finger print
readers,retina or iris
scanners,
microphones,cameras)

Examples of automatic input devices are

optical mark reader (OMR)

Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR)

Optical Character Recognition (OCR)

Magnetic stripe readers

Sensors

Biometric devices

Manual Input devices

1.Concept keyboard
Each button on a concept keyboard relates to a particular item or function. Buttons can be
labelled with text or a picture. Fast food restaurants often use concept keyboards because
very little training is needed to operate them and they're efficient - a single button can order
an entire meal .use at POS
2.Joystick(pointing device)
Joysticks used to be popular with gamers but have slowly been replaced by other types of
game controller. In construction, joysticks are used to control machinery such as cranes.
Also used in motorised wheelchair
Disadv: more difficult to control fine movement than with a mouse
3.Digital camera
A digital camera takes pictures and can usually record video too. The pictures it takes and the
videos it records are stored in files. These files can be copied to a computer and later edited.
Adv over traditional camera
No film needed
Photos can be saved , edited and modified
Better quality
4.Microphone
Microphones are used to input sound. In computing they can be used with voice recognition
software and a word processing application to enter text. Webcams commonly have
microphones built-in too.
5.Video digitiser
A video digitiser takes an image from a video camera or television and digitises it so it can be
read by, and stored on, a computer. Video sequences captured using a video digitiser are often
used in multimedia presentations.

6. Scanner
A scanner can be used to digitise images. They're similar to a photocopier but they make a
digital copy instead of a physical copy. They can also be used with optical character
recognition (OCR) software to scan in text that is then editable.
Research work: how a 2D scanner works
2D Scanners
Commonly used in offices are variations of the desktop flatbed scanner where the
document is placed on a glass window for scanning.
Modern scanners typically use a charge-coupled device (CCD) or a contact image
sensor (CIS) as the image sensor.

CCD scanner (Example of 2D scanners)

A flatbed scanner is usually composed of a glass pane (or platen), under which there is a bright light (often
xenon, LED or cold cathode fluorescent) which illuminates the pane, and a moving optical array in CCD
scanning. CCD-type scanners typically contain three rows (arrays) of sensors with red, green, and blue
filters.

3D scanner
Any device that measures the physical world using lasers, lights or x-rays and generates
dense point clouds or polygon meshes can be considered a 3D scanner.
Purpose of a 3D-scanner
The purpose of a 3D scanner is usually to create a point cloud of geometric samples on the surface of
the subject. These points can then be used to extrapolate the shape of the subject (a process called
reconstruction). If color information is collected at each point, then the colors on the surface of the
subject can also be determined.
How a 3D scanner works using triangulation technique
Triangulation Based 3D scanner
Triangulation based 3D laser scanners are also active scanners that use laser
light to probe the environment. With respect to time-of-flight 3D laser scanner

the triangulation laser shines a laser on the subject and exploits a camera to look
for the location of the laser dot. Depending on how far away the laser strikes a
surface, the laser dot appears at different places in the camera's field of view.
This technique is called triangulation because the laser dot, the camera and the
laser emitter form a triangle. The length of one side of the triangle, the distance
between the camera and the laser emitter is known. The angle of the laser
emitter corner is also known. The angle of the camera corner can be determined
by looking at the location of the laser dot in the camera's field of view. These
three pieces of information fully determine the shape and size of the triangle and
give the location of the laser dot corner of the triangle.

Hand-held

Benefits of 3D scanning
3D model scanning could benefit the design in the following way:

Increase effectiveness working with complex parts and shapes.

Help with design of products to accommodate someone else's part.

If CAD models are outdated, a 3D scan will provide an updated version

Replacement of missing or older parts

7.Graphics tablet

A graphics tablet consists of a flat pad (the tablet) on which the user draws with a special pen.
As the user draws on the pad the image is created on the screen. Using a graphics tablet a
designer can produce very accurate on-screen drawings as if they were drawing on paper.
Automatic input devices
Bar code reader
The barcode is a series of vertical bars of varying widths that give information about:

the country of manufacture

the name of the manufacturer

a product code

A barcode reader is an automatic input device which is used to scan or 'read' the barcode by
using a visible red light. The reflected light is translated into digital data that is interpreted by
the computer to identify the product and price from the database.
Note :The barcode does NOT contain the price of the item - this is held on the company
database.
Advantages:

The main advantage of using a barcode system is that any price change only needs to
be made to the database and not every single product package.

The scanning process also assists in stock management, reducing the stock by one
each time a product is scanned/sold.

Where used

On books

Library tickets

Magnetic strip (or stripe) reader

Magnetic stripes are built into many plastic cards such as debit or credit cards and personal
identity cards.
The magnetic strip on the back of the card can hold the personal details of the card owner
and, with the necessary PIN, will allow access to secure information, eg bank account details.
Data stored on the strip is scanned and input into a computer system by a magnetic stripe
reader.
Adv:

Cards are inexpensive to produce

Simple for people to use-little or no training

Data on the cards can be altered if necessary

Security is improved by the use of pin numbers

Disad

Data can be easily by strong magnetic field

Not always secure as the data can be read if readers available

Very limited storage capacity for data

Optical Mark Reader

It is a device to interprets the pattern of marks and sends the results to the computer for
storage, analysis and reporting.
Sensors

A sensor is a device which measures a physical quantity such as the temperature

and then sends a voltage to the computer representing the quantity.
Analogue : Sensors can measure a range of values. The size of the voltage the
sensor produces is determined by the size of the quantity that the sensor has
measured. For example if a cold temperature is measured a small voltage will be
sent, whilst if a hot temperature is measured a larger voltage will be sent.
There are lots of different sensors available, each of which is designed to measure
a specific quantity. Examples of sensors include :

Sensor

Type

Quantity Measured

Temperature

Analogue How hot/cold it is.

Application
Monitoring the temperature of a

sensor
Light sensor

science experiment.
Analogue How light/dark it is.

Pressure sensor Digital

If a pad is being pressed.

Turning street lights on when it is

dark.
Detecting cars arriving at a car
park barrier.

pH sensor

Analogue The acidity of a liquid.

Monitoring river pollution.

Button

Digitial

If the button is being

pressed.

Obtaining a ticket at a car park

entry barrier.

Light Gate

Digital

Detects an object passing

through the gate.

Measuring the speed or

acceleration of objects.

Connecting the Sensors to the Computer

The sensors are not plugged directly into the computer. This is because :
Some of the sensors produce analogue voltages which can not be understood
by the computer. These voltages need to be changed into digital signals (0s
and 1s) before the computer can understand them.
The computer could be damaged if the voltages that the sensors sent to it
became too large.
An Interface is put between the sensors and the computer. You can typically
connect up to eight sensors to an interface made for a home
computer. The Interface converts the voltages that the sensors produce into digital
signals that the computer understands and protects the computer from dangerous
voltages.

Research work:
describe how sensors are used in real-life scenarios, for example: street lights, security
devices, pollution control, games, and household and industrial applications

syllabus

describe the principles of operation of a range of output devices, including: inkjet, laser
and 3D
printers; 2D and 3D cutters; speakers and headphones; actuators; flat-panel display
screens,
including Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and Light-Emitting Diodes (LED); and LCD
projectors and
Digital Light Projectors (DLP)
describe how these principles are applied to real-life scenarios for example: printing
single items
on demand or in large volumes; banks of digital displays; use of small screens on mobile
devices;
smart boards

Output devices
4. Output devices
An output device is a piece of hardware that is used to output data that has been previously
entered into a computer or device.
Examples:

monitor

printer

plotter

projector

speaker

headphones

light / LED

a. Monitor
The most common output device is the monitor or VDU(Visual Display Unit)
Modern monitors are usually Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD) or Thin Film Transistors (TFT)
monitors.
Older monitors are Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitors.
Adv of LCD over CRT

Takes less space

b. Printers

Laser printers are quite expensive to buy and run but produce a high quality output
and are quiet and fast.

Ink-jet printers offer black and white or colour printing with reduced levels of
quality and speed. Colour ink jet printers are cheaper to buy than colour laser printers.

Dot matrix printers are not so common today. They are comparatively noisy and low
quality but are cheap to run and are used when carbon copies or duplicates need to be
made, such as for wage slips. Also, they are useful in dirty environments such as a
garage because they are much sturdier than the other two types of printer.

c.Plotters
A plotter can be used to produce high quality, accurate, A3 size or bigger drawings. They are
usually used for Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Manufacture (CAM)
applications, such as printing out plans for houses or car parts.
Other output devices
Many other types of output device exist including:

speakers

projectors

buzzers

motors

switched outputs

lights

mechanical devices, eg a robot arm

use of video conferencing to communicate and to carry out meeting: use of webcam, speaker,
microphone

Question1-7
1.Give an example of the use of each of the following:
a barcode reader
b magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) reader
c optical mark reader (OMR).
2. Give two ways in which words can be input to a computer without using a keyboard.
3. Name three pointing devices and the type of computer system on which they are most
often used.
4.Describe the input devices used at an ATM machine.(igsc1-3)
5. State two desirable properties of processors found in laptop computers. Explain why the
selected property is desirable.(spec2011 5-7).
6.Some items of food now have additional bar codes which convey information about how to
cook the food. Special ovens are needed to take advantage of this additional information. If
the bar code is held close to a reader on the front of the oven, the oven will automatically set
cooking times and temperature settings to ensure the perfect meal.
(a) How does the oven ensure that the food is correctly cooked?
(b) Give two advantages to the user of this new technology.
7 Airports put a unique bar code on all luggage to ensure it is loaded on to the correct flight.
(b) Give two pieces of information that could be stored on the file that links to each unique
bar code.
(c) Give one advantage of using bar codes in this application.
(d) Give an example of another application for bar codes.

Answers:
1.
A barcode reader is used at a supermarket checkout to fi nd the price for an item by
reading
the data stored in the items barcode.
A magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) reader is used in a bank to process
cheques. Th e
cheque number, bank sort code and account number are printed in magnetic ink so
the MICR reader automatically enters them into the system. The operator has to
enter the amount.
An optical mark reader (OMR) is used to mark multiple-choice exam papers.
2. Words can be input to a computer using a microphone with voice recognition soft
ware and
using a scanner with optical character recognition soft ware (OCR).
3. A mouse is used on a desktop computer. A touchpad is used on a laptop. A
touchscreen is used in a kiosk (e.g. a ticket machine in a train station or airport).
4. A mouse is used on a desktop computer. A touchpad is used on a laptop. A
touchscreen is used in a kiosk (e.g. a ticket machine in a train station or airport).

5. consume little power .

. hence prolonging internal battery life
run cool .
. thus minimising problem of heat dissipation
no processor fans required .
. therefore prolonging internal battery life
6.(a) any two required values stored on embedded microprocessor in the oven
- when barcode read, stored values retrieved .
. and are compared to data on the microprocessor
- oven automatically sets timings, temperatures, etc.
(b)any two
cant get it wrong
- no need to set the oven manually (e.g. power settings)
- cooking conditions can be variable therefore produce ideal cooking environment
7.(b) Any two points from:
date/time of flight
flight number
weight (in kg) of luggage
destination airport
intermediate airport(s)
passenger name
passenger address
departure terminal/airport
passport number
(c)Any one advantage from:
- can track whereabouts of luggage
- in case luggage is lost, can locate its history
- easier to ensure correct transfer of luggage if intermediate airport used [1]
(d) Any one from:

supermarkets
smart ovens