Input Output Devices

To be useful, a computer system needs to communicate with its external

environment (its users). The input-output devices (abbreviated as I/O devices)
provide this capability to a computer system. They are also known as peripheral
devices because they surround a computer’s CPU and memory. Input devices
are used to enter data from outside world into primary storage, and output
devices supply the results of processing from primary storage to users. A wide
variety of input devices are now available. For a particular application, one type
may be more suitable than the other type. Some devices are used for both input
and output functions. The goal of this chapter is to familiarize you with commonly
used types of I/O devices.

Input Devices

An input device is an electromechanical device that accepts data from the

outside world and translates them into a form a computer can interpret. Several
input devices are available today. They can be broadly classified into following
categories:-
• Keyboard devices
• Point-and-draw devices
• Data scanning devices
• Digitizer
• Electronic cards based devices
• Speech recognition devices
• Vision based devices
The various types of input devices along with their application are described
below.

Keyboard Devices
Keyboard devices are the most commonly used input devices today. They
allow data entry into a computer by pressing a set of keys (labeled buttons)
neatly mounted on a keyboard connected to a computer system. The most
popular keyboard used today is the 101-keys QWERTY keyboard.

Point-and Draw Devices

Interaction with computer was initially restricted mainly to text mode.
However, it was soon realized that interacting with computer in text mode is
cumbersome and time-consuming. Hence, a new type of user interface, called
graphical user interface (GUI), was devised for interacting with computers. A GUI
provides a screen with graphic icons (small images on the screen) or menus and
allows a user to make rapid selections from them to give instructions to a
computer. For efficient utilization, GUI requires an input device that can be used
to rapidly point and select a graphic icon or menu from the multiple options
displayed on the screen. The keyboard though usable, was found to be
inconvenient and unsuitable for this requirement. Hence, research efforts to a
find a suitable input device to meet this requirement gave birth to several input
devices like mouse, trackball, joystick, light pen, and touch screen. Later it was
realized that many of these devices, like mouse and light pen, could also be used
very effectively to create graphic elements on the screen such as lines, curves,
and freehand shapes. With this new ability, these devices came to be known as
point-and-draw devices. These inputs devices have made computers a much
more easily usable tool establishing them as a versatile tool for a wide range of
users including children, illiterate citizens, and graphic designers. Some
commonly used point-and-draw devices are described below.

Mouse

Mouse is the most popular point-and-draw device. It is a must have input

device on modern personal computers and workstations because they support
GUI as their primary user interface. A mouse is a small hand-held device that fits
in a user’s palm comfortably. It rolls on a small bearing and has one or more
buttons on the top. When a mouse that is connected to a user terminal is rolled
on a flat surface, a graphic curser moves on the terminal screen in the direction
of the mouse’s movement. Since all movements of the mouse are reproduced by
the graphics cursor on the screen, you can move the graphics cursor at a menu
item or an icon by moving the mouse.
The graphics cursors are displayed as a variety of symbols such as an arrow,
a wrist with a point finger etc. Depending on the application, the text and graphics
cursors may be displayed on the screen at the same time. The graphics cursor
irrespective of its size and shape has a pixel-size point that is considered the
point of reference to decide where the cursors are positioned on the screen. This
point is called hot-spot of the graphics cursor. When the hot-spot is positioned
ata menu item or an icon, the graphics cursors is said to point to that menu item
or icon. With a click of mouse’s button, the system can be notified of this choice.
Note that notifying the system of a particular choice, out of the various options
provided by the software, is much easier with a mouse than pressing various key
combinations. With proper software, a mouse can also be used to draw pictures
on the screen and edit text.
The roller-ball based mouse is now being replaced with optical sensor based
mouse. The optical sensor mouse has a light source with a sensor arranged in
such a fashion that the light coming from the source is detected by the sensor
after reflection from the surface. The on-board electronics on the mouse uses the
reflection differences to calculate the direction and speed of movement and
notifies the computer system. The optical sensor mouse is more sensitive,
easier, and smoother to use. Another innovation in mouse is to have user-
programmable buttons on the sides and the middle button on the top is replaced
with a wheel that can be rotated as scroll to scroll the screen display and can
also be pressed as a button.
Electronic Pen
It is a pen based point-and-draw device. A user holds the pen in his/her hand
and points with it directly on the screen to select from the displayed menu items
or icons. A user can also draw graphics directly on the screen with it. Another
type of electronic pen comes with a special pad. The pen is used on the pad as
an ink pen would be used on paper. Movement of electronics pen causes the
graphical cursor to move on the screen. Applying pressure on tip causes same
action as left button click and keeping the tip pressed for a short duration causes
same action as right button-click of a mouse.

Touch Screen
Touch screen is the most simple, intuitive, and easiest to use of all input
devices. A touch screen enables to choose from available options by simply
touching the desired icon or menu item displayed on a computer’s screen with
his/her finger.
Touch screen are often used in information kiosks. An information kiosk is an
unattended system located at a public place that stores information of public
interest and allows common people to access stored information as per their
requirement. For example, information kiosks may be located:
• At an airport or a railway station to provide information to arriving
passengers about hotels, restaurants, tourist spots, etc in a city.
• In large museums or zoos to guide the visitors to the locations of
various attractions and facilities, and to caution them against things
they are not supposed to do while inside.
• In a large bank, post office, or insurance company to introduce the
various jobs of offered services to the customers, and to guide them to
appropriate counters for their specifics jobs.

Data Scanning Devices

Data scanning devices are input devices used for direct data entry into a
computer system from source documents. Some of them are also capable of
recognizing marks or characters. These devices have following characteristics:
• They eliminate the need for manual entry of data by human beings.
• Automatic entry of data with their use improves data accuracy and
timeliness of the information processed.
• They demand high quality of input documents because of direct data
entry from source documents. Documents that are typed poorly, have
strikeovers, or have erasures are normally rejected.
• Form a design an ink specifications usually becomes more critical with
the use of these devices when keyboard devices are used to key in
data from forms.

Data scanning devices are of many types. Commonly used once are described
below:-
Image Scanner
An image scanner is an input device, which translates paper documents into an
electronic format, which can be stored in a computer. The input documents may
be typed text, pictures, graphics or even handwritten material. This input device
has been found to be very useful in preserving paper documents in electronic
form. The copy of a document stored in a computer in this manner will never
destroyed in quality or become yellow with age, and can be displayed or printed,
whenever desired. If the computer in which the scanned document is stored has
the right kind of software (called image processing software), the stored image
can be altered and manipulated in interesting ways.

Voice Recognition Devices

Voice recognition devices are input devices, which allow a person to input data
to a computer system by speaking to it. Hence, they make computer much easier
to use. However, as a data input device, current voice recognition systems have
limited success, because interpretation by a machine of large number of words in
vocabulary of language is difficulty. The major difficulty has been that people
speak with different accents (pronounce differently) and intonations (with different
tone or pitch of voice), and the fact that the meanings of word can vary
depending on the context in which they are used. Hence, today’s voice
recognition systems are limited to accepting few words within a relatively small
domain, and can be used to enter only limited kind a quantities of data.
Although in its infancy, voice recognition systems are already being used for a
wide range of applications. Some of its typical applications are as follows:
• For inputting data to a computer system by a person in situations where
his/her hands are busy, or his/her eyes must be fixed on a measuring
instrument or some other object. For example, doctors in an operation
room can request certain information about a patient while operating.
• For authentication of a user by a computer system based on voice input.
• For limited use of computers by individuals with physical disabilities.
In addition to making input of data easier, voice recognition systems also
provide tremendous freedom of movement to the operator, because the operator
is free to stand up and move around, while inputting voice data into the system.

Output Devices

An output device is an electromechanical device, which accepts data from a

computer and translates them into a form, which is suitable for use by the outside
world (the users). Several output devices are available today. They can be
broadly classified into the following categories:-
• Monitors
• Printers
• Plotters
• Screen image projector
• Voice response systems
 They various types of output devices along with their typical applications are
described below:
Output devices generate computer output, which can be broadly classified into
the following two types:
• Soft-copy output: A soft-copy output is an output, which is not produced
on a paper or some material, which can be touched and carried for being
shown to others. They are temporary in nature, and vanish after use. For
example, output displayed on a terminal screen, or spoken out by a
voice response system are soft-copy output.
• Hard-copy output: A hard-copy output is an output, which is produced on
a paper or some material, which can be touched and carried for being
shown to others. They are permanent in nature, and can be kept in
paper files, or can be looked later, when the person is not using the
computer. For example, output produced by printers or plotters on paper
are hard-copy output.

Monitors
Monitors are far the most popular output devices used today for producing soft-
copy output. They display the generated output on a television like screen. A
monitor is usually associated with a keyboard, and together they form a video
display terminal (VDT). That is, it serves as both an input and output device.
The keyboard is used for the input to the computer, and the monitor is used to
display the output from the computer. The name “terminal” comes from the fact
that a terminal is at the terminal, or end, point of a communication path.
The two basic types of monitors used today are cathode-ray-tube (CRT) and
Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). The CRT monitors look much like a television,
and are used with non-portable computer systems on the other hand the LCD are
thinner and lighter, and are commonly with portable computer systems like
notebook computers.

Printers
Printers are the most commonly used output devices today for producing hard-
copy output. The various types of printers in use today:
Dot-Matrix Printers
Dot-matrix printers are character printers which printer one character at a time.
They form characters and all kinds of images as a pattern of dots. Dot-matrix
printers