Input Device – Part 1

Input device enables the user to send data, information, or control signals to a computer. The Central
Processing Unit (CPU) of a computer receives the input and processes it to produce the output.

Input Devices are:

 Keyboard
 Mouse
 Light Pen
 Touch Screen
 Scanner
 Joystick
 Microphone
 Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR)
 Optical Character Reader (OCR)

1. Keyboard

The keyboard is a basic input device that is used to enter data into a computer or any other electronic device
by pressing keys. It has different sets of keys for letters, numbers, characters, and functions. Keyboards are
connected to a computer through USB or a Bluetooth device for wireless communication.

Types of keyboards: There can be different types of keyboards based on the region and language used.
Some of the common types of keyboards are as follows:

(i) QWERTY Keyboard

It is the most commonly used keyboard with computers in modern times. It is named after the first six letters
of the top row of buttons and is even popular in countries that do not use Latin-based alphabet. It is so
popular that some people think that it is the only type of keyboard to use with computers as an input device.

(ii) AZERTY Keyboard

It is considered the standard French keyboard. It is developed in France as an alternative layout to the
QWERTY layout and is mainly used in France and other European countries. Some countries have
manufactured their own versions of AZERTY.

Its name is derived from the first six letters that appear on the top left row of the keyboard. The Q and W
keys in AZERTY keyboard are interchanged with A and Z keys in QWERTY keyboard. Furthermore, in
AZERTY keyboard M key is located to the left of the L key.

AZERTY keyboard differs from QWERTY keyboard not only in the placement of letters but also in many
other ways, e.g., it gives emphasis on accents, which is required for writing European languages like French.

(iii) DVORAK Keyboard

This type of keyboard layout was developed to increase the typing speed by reducing the finger movement
while typing. The most frequently used letters are kept in a home row to improve typing.
2. Mouse

The mouse is a hand-held input device which is used to move cursor or pointer across the screen. It is
designed to be used on a flat surface and generally has left and right button and a scroll wheel between them.
Laptop computers come with a touchpad that works as a mouse. It lets you control the movement of cursor
or pointer by moving your finger over the touchpad. Some mouse comes with integrated features such as
extra buttons to perform different buttons.

The mouse was invented by Douglas C. Engelbart in 1963. Early mouse had a roller ball integrated as a
movement sensor underneath the device. Modern mouse devices come with optical technology that controls
cursor movements by a visible or invisible light beam. A mouse is connected to a computer through different
ports depending on the type of computer and type of a mouse.

Common types of the mouse:-

(i) Trackball Mouse

It is a stationary input device that has ball mechanism to move the pointer or cursor on the screen. The ball is
half inserted in the device and can be easily rolled with finger, thumb or the palm to move the pointer on the
screen. The device has sensor to detect the rotation of ball. It remains stationary; you don‟t need to move it
on the operating surface. So, it is an ideal device if you have limited desk space as you don‟t need to move it
like a mouse.

(ii) Mechanical Mouse

It has a system of a ball and several rollers to track its movement. It is a corded type of mouse. A mechanical
mouse can be used for high performance. The drawback is that they tend to get dust into the mechanics and
thus require regular cleaning.

(iii) Optical Mouse

An optical mouse uses optical electronics to track its movement. It is more reliable than a mechanical mouse
and also requires less maintenance. However, its performance is affected by the surface on which it is
operated. Plain non-glossy mouse mat should be used for best results. The rough surface may cause
problems for the optical recognition system, and the glossy surface may reflect the light wrongly and thus
may cause tracking issues.

(iv) Cordless or Wireless Mouse

As the name suggests, this type of mouse lacks cable and uses wireless technology such as IrDA (infrared)
or radio (Bluetooth or Wi-Fi) to control the movement of the cursor. It is used to improve the experience of
using a mouse. It uses batteries for its power supply.

3. Light Pen

A light pen is a computer input device that looks like a pen. The tip of the light pen contains a light-sensitive
detector that enables the user to point to or select objects on the display screen. Its light sensitive tip detects
the object location and sends the corresponding signals to the CPU. It is not compatible with LCD screens,
so it is not in use today. It also helps you draw on the screen if needed. The first light pen was invented
around 1955 as a part of the Whirlwind project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

4. Touch Screen

A touch screen is a computer display screen that serves as an input device. When a touch screen is touched
by a finger or stylus, it registers the event and sends it to a controller for processing.

A touch screen may contain pictures or words that the user can touch to interact with the device.
Input Device – Part 2
 Scanner
 Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR)
 Optical Character Reader (OCR)
 Optical mark recognition (OMR)

5. Scanner

The scanner uses the pictures and pages of text as input. It scans the picture or a document. The scanned
picture or document then converted into a digital format or file and is displayed on the screen as an output. It
uses optical character recognition techniques to convert images into digital ones. Some of the common types
of scanners are as follows:

Types of Scanner:-

(i) Flatbed Scanner

It has a glass pane and a moving optical CIS or CCD array. The light illuminates the pane, and then the
image is placed on the glass pane. The light moves across the glass pane and scans the document and thus
produces its digital copy. You will need a transparency adapter while scanning transparent slides.

(ii) Handheld Scanner

It is a small manual scanning device which is held by hand and is rolled over a flat image that is to be
scanned. The drawback in using this device is that the hand should be steady while scanning; otherwise, it
may distort the image. One of the commonly used handheld scanners is the barcode scanner which you
would have seen in shopping stores.
(iii) Sheetfed Scanner

In this scanner, the document is inserted into the slot provided in the scanner. The main components of this
scanner include the sheet-feeder, scanning module, and calibration sheet. The light does not move in this
scanner. Instead, the document moves through the scanner. It is suitable for scanning single page documents,
not for thick objects like books, magazines, etc.

(iv) Drum Scanner

Drum scanner has a photomultiplier tube (PMT) to scan images. It does not have a charge-coupled device
like a flatbed scanner. The photomultiplier tube is extremely sensitive to light. The image is placed on a
glass tube, and the light moves across the image, which produces a reflection of the image which is captured
by the PMT and processed. These scanners have high resolution and are suitable for detailed scans.

(v) Photo Scanner

It is designed to scan photographs. It has high resolution and color depth, which are required for scanning
photographs. Some photo scanners come with in-built software for cleaning and restoring old photographs.

6. Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR)

MICR computer input device is designed to read the text printed with magnetic ink. MICR is a character
recognition technology that makes use of special magnetized ink which is sensitive to magnetic fields. It is
widely used in banks to process the cheques and other organizations where security is a major concern. It
can process three hundred cheques in a minute with hundred-percent accuracy. The details on the bottom of
the cheque (MICR No.) are written with magnetic ink. A laser printer with MICR toner can be used to print
the magnetic ink.

The device reads the details and sends to a computer for processing. A document printed in magnetic ink is
required to pass through a machine which magnetizes the ink, and the magnetic information is then
translated into characters.

7. Optical Character Reader (OCR)

OCR computer input device is designed to convert the scanned images of handwritten, typed or printed text
into digital text. It is widely used in offices and libraries to convert documents and books into electronic
files.

It processes and copies the physical form of a document using a scanner. After copying the documents, the
OCR software converts the documents into a two-color (black and white), version called bitmap. Then it is
analyzed for light and dark areas, where the dark areas are selected as characters, and the light area is
identified as background. It is widely used to convert hard copy legal or historic documents into PDFs. The
converted documents can be edited if required like we edit documents created in ms word.

8. Optical mark recognition (OMR)

Optical mark reading or optical mark recognition, OMR is the process of gathering information from human
beings by recognizing marks on a document. OMR is accomplished by using a hardware device (scanner)
that detects a reflection or limited light transmittance on or through a piece of paper.

OMR allows for the processing of hundreds or thousands of documents per hour. For example, students may
recall taking tests or surveys where they filled in bubbles on paper (shown right) with a pencil. Once the
form had been completed, a teacher or teacher‟s assistant would feed the cards into a system that grades or
gathers information from them.
Output Device
An output device is any device used to send data from a computer to another device or user. Most computer
data output that is meant for humans is in the form of audio or video. Thus, most output devices used by
humans are in these categories. Examples include monitors, projectors, speakers, headphones and printers.

Following are some of the important output devices used in a computer.

 Monitors
 Graphic Plotter
 Printer

1. Monitors

Monitors, commonly called as Visual Display Unit (VDU), are the main output device of a computer. It
forms images from tiny dots, called pixels that are arranged in a rectangular form. The sharpness of the
image depends upon the number of pixels.

There are two kinds of viewing screen used for monitors.

 Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT)

 Flat-Panel Display

(i) Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) Monitor

The CRT display is made up of small picture elements called pixels. The smaller the pixels, the better the
image clarity or resolution. It takes more than one illuminated pixel to form a whole character, such as the
letter „e‟ in the word help.

A finite number of characters can be displayed on a screen at once. The screen can be divided into a series of
character boxes – fixed location on the screen where a standard character can be placed. Most screens are
capable of displaying 80 characters of data horizontally and 25 lines vertically.

There are some disadvantages of CRT

 Large in Size
 High power consumption

(ii) Flat-Panel Display Monitor

The flat-panel display refers to a class of video devices that have reduced volume, weight and power
requirement in comparison to the CRT. You can hang them on walls or wear them on your wrists. Current
uses of flat-panel displays include calculators, video games, monitors, laptop computer, and graphics
display.

The flat-panel display is divided into two categories −

 Emissive Displays − Emissive displays are devices that convert electrical energy into
light. For example, plasma panel and LED (Light-Emitting Diodes).
  Non-Emissive Displays − Non-emissive displays use optical effects to convert sunlight
or light from some other source into graphics patterns. For example, LCD (Liquid-Crystal
Device).

2. Printer
A printer is an external hardware output device that takes the electronic data stored on a computer or other
device and generates a hard copy of it. For example, if you created a report on your computer, you could
print several copies to hand out at a staff meeting. Printers are one of the most popular computer peripherals
and are commonly used to print text and photos. The picture to the right is an example of an inkjet computer
printer, the Lexmark Z605.
There are two types of printers:

 Impact Printers
 Non-Impact Printers

1. Impact Printers
Impact printers print the characters by striking them on the ribbon, which is then pressed on the paper.
Characteristics of Impact Printers are the following −
 Very low consumable costs
 Very noisy
 Useful for bulk printing due to low cost
 There is physical contact with the paper to produce an image
These printers are of two types −
(i) Character printers
(ii) Line printers

(i) Character Printers

Character printers are the printers which print one character at a time.
These are further divided into two types:
 Dot Matrix Printer(DMP)
 Daisy Wheel

Dot Matrix Printer

In the market, one of the most popular printers is Dot Matrix Printer. These printers are popular because of
their ease of printing and economical price. Each character printed is in the form of pattern of dots and head
consists of a Matrix of Pins of size (5*7, 7*9, 9*7 or 9*9) which come out to form a character which is why
it is called Dot Matrix Printer.
Advantages
 Inexpensive
 Widely Used
 Other language characters can be printed
Disadvantages
 Slow Speed
 Poor Quality

Daisy Wheel
Head is lying on a wheel and pins corresponding to characters are like petals of Daisy (flower) which is why
it is called Daisy Wheel Printer. These printers are generally used for word-processing in offices that require
a few letters to be sent here and there with very nice quality.
Advantages
 More reliable than DMP
 Better quality
 Fonts of character can be easily changed
Disadvantages
 Slower than DMP
 Noisy
 More expensive than DMP

Line Printers
Line printers are the printers which print one line at a time.
These are of two types −
 Drum Printer
 Chain Printer

Drum Printer
This printer is like a drum in shape hence it is called drum printer. The surface of the drum is divided into a
number of tracks. Total tracks are equal to the size of the paper, i.e. for a paper width of 132 characters,
drum will have 132 tracks. A character set is embossed on the track. Different character sets available in the
market are 48 character set, 64 and 96 characters set. One rotation of drum prints one line. Drum printers are
fast in speed and can print 300 to 2000 lines per minute.
Advantages
 Very high speed
Disadvantages
 Very expensive
 Characters fonts cannot be changed

Chain Printer
In this printer, a chain of character sets is used, hence it is called Chain Printer. A standard character set may
have 48, 64, or 96 characters.
Advantages
 Character fonts can easily be changed.
 Different languages can be used with the same printer.
Disadvantages
 Noisy

Non-impact Printers
Non-impact printers print the characters without using the ribbon. These printers print a complete page at a
time, thus they are also called as Page Printers.
These printers are of two types −
 Laser Printers
 Inkjet Printers
Characteristics of Non-impact Printers
 Faster than impact printers
 They are not noisy
 High quality
 Supports many fonts and different character size

Laser Printers
These are non-impact page printers. They use laser lights to produce the dots needed to form the characters
to be printed on a page.
Advantages
 Very high speed
 Very high quality output
 Good graphics quality
 Supports many fonts and different character size
Disadvantages
  Expensive
 Cannot be used to produce multiple copies of a document in a single printing

Inkjet Printers
Inkjet printers are non-impact character printers based on a relatively new technology. They print characters
by spraying small drops of ink onto paper. Inkjet printers produce high quality output with presentable
features.
They make less noise because no hammering is done and these have many styles of printing modes
available. Color printing is also possible. Some models of Inkjet printers can produce multiple copies of
printing also.
Advantages
 High quality printing
 More reliable
Disadvantages
 Expensive as the cost per page is high
 Slow as compared to laser printer

3. Plotter
A plotter is a computer hardware device much like a printer that is used for printing vector graphics. Instead
of toner, plotters use a pen, pencil, marker, or another writing tool to draw multiple, continuous lines onto
paper rather than a series of dots like a traditional printer. Though once widely used for computer-aided
design, these devices have more or less been phased out by wide-format printers. Plotters are used to
produce a hard copy of schematics and other similar applications.

Advantages of plotters

 Plotters can work on very large sheets of paper while maintaining high resolution.
 They can print on a wide variety of flat materials including plywood, aluminum, sheet
steel, cardboard, and plastic.
 Plotters allow the same pattern to be drawn thousands of times without any image
degradation.

Disadvantages of plotters

 Plotters are quite large when compared to a traditional printer.

 Plotters are also much more expensive than a traditional printer.
Microfilm
Microfilm is an analog storage medium using film reels which are exposed and developed into photographic
records using a photographic process. It is typically used to store paper documents such as periodicals, legal
documents, books and engineering drawings. It is compact in nature, is low cost to produce and store and
requires far smaller storage space than paper documents. Therefore, it is considered to be a good archival
form.

Viewing microfilm requires microfilm readers, which are simple devices consisting of a light source and
magnification. Microfilm can be converted into an electronic format so as to be computer accessible. There
are different types of microfilm, such as silver gelatin film, vesicular film and diazo film. Silver gelatin film
is used for records which need to be kept permanently or for high-quality images. Vesicular film and diazo
film are highly sensitive to high humidity or temperature. Microfilm is considered best for records which are
accessed less frequently, but are still necessary to retain.

Advantages of Microfilm

 It enables libraries to greatly expand access to collections without putting rare, fragile, or
valuable items at risk of theft or damage.
 It is compact, with far smaller storage costs than paper documents. Normally 98
document size pages fit on one fiche, reducing to about 0.25% original material. When
compared to filing paper, microforms can reduce space storage requirements by up to
95%.
  It is cheaper to distribute than paper copy. Most microfiche services get a bulk discount
on reproduction rights, and have lower reproduction and carriage costs than a comparable
amount of printed paper.
 It is a stable archival form when properly processed and stored. Preservation standard
microfilms use the silver halide process, creating silver images in hard gelatin emulsion
on a polyester base. With appropriate storage conditions, this film has a life expectancy of
500 years. However, in tropical climates with high humidity, fungus eats the gelatin used
to bind the silver halide. Thus, diazo-based systems with lower archival lives (20 years)
which have polyester or epoxy surfaces are used.
 Since it is analog (an actual image of the original data), it is easy to view. Unlike digital
media, the format requires no software to decode the data stored thereon. It is instantly
comprehensible to persons literate in the written language; the only equipment that is
needed is a simple magnifying glass. This eliminates the problem of software
obsolescence.
 It is virtually impossible to mutilate. Users cannot tear pages from or deface microforms.
 It has low intrinsic value and does not attract thieves. Few heavily used microform
collections suffer major losses due to theft.
 Prints from microfilm are accepted in legal proceedings as substitutes for original
documents.

Disadvantages of Microfilm

 The principal disadvantage of microforms is that the image is (usually) too small to read
with the naked eye and requires analog or digital magnification to be read.
 Reader machines used to view microform are often difficult to use; microfiche is very
time consuming and microfilm requires users to carefully wind and rewind until they
have arrived at the point where the data they are looking for are stored.
 Photographic illustrations reproduce poorly in microform format, with loss of clarity and
halftones. The latest electronic digital viewer/scanners can scan in gray shade, which
greatly increases the quality of photographs; but the inherent bi-tonal nature of microfilm
limits its ability to convey much subtlety of tone.
 Reader-printers are not always available, limiting the user‟s ability to make copies for
their own purposes. Conventional photocopy machines cannot be used.
 Color microform is extremely expensive, thus discouraging most libraries supplying color
films. Color photographic dyes also tend to degrade over the long term. This results in the
loss of information, as color materials are usually photographed using black and white
film. The lack of quality and color images in microfilm, when libraries were discarding
paper originals, was a major impetus to Bill Blackbeard and other comic historians‟ work
to rescue and maintain original paper archives of color pages from the history of
newspaper comics. Many non-comics color images were not targeted by these efforts and
were lost.
 When stored in the highest-density drawers, it is easy to misfile a fiche, which is
thereafter unavailable. As a result, some libraries store microfiche in a restricted area and
retrieve it on demand. Some fiche services use lower-density drawers with labeled
pockets for each card.
 Like all analog media formats, microfiche is lacking in features enjoyed by users of
digital media. Analog copies degrade with each generation, while some digital copies
have much higher copying fidelity. Digital data can also be indexed and searched easily.
 Reading microfilms on a machine for some time may cause headache and/or eyestrain.
Microfiche
Microfiche is a thin photographic film, usually four by five inches, which is capable of storing information
in miniaturized form. This technique is used in preserving fragile materials such as archival documents,
journals, books, newspapers and magazines, as well as a method of saving space in libraries and other
archives.

Microfiche is easy to use and does not require specialized knowledge or software to use it. The documents
are photographed and stored in the small space of the microfiche card. The images are too small to be read
by the naked eye. In order to read the information on the microfiche, a special device is used to greatly
magnify the contents. Like microfilm, microfiche is available as positive and negative images, although
negative images are more common.

Function of Microfiche
Microfiche is a way of storing documents via photographic film. Documents are photographed and then
stored at a small size, too small to be read by the naked eye. It provides long term storage as long as it is
kept in a stable environment. it does not require special training to read or use, and the only equipment
needed is a reader. A common tool of libraries, they are also used by many other archives.

Libraries and other archives face an ongoing battle with storage; there is simply not enough space in any
library to physically house all the materials a library might want to keep on hand. Items such as newspapers
do not store for long periods of time, yet are of tremendous value to researchers. Microfiche offers a solution
to both of these problems, and is a popular archival method.

Features of Microfiche
Microfiche images were stored on small transparent cards not much bigger than a photograph. The images
are too small to read unaided, and require the use of a reader. The reader is essentially a light and a
magnifying lens that then projects the image onto a screen. The images could then be scrolled through and
even enlarged. Microfiche readers were often connected to a copier or printer so that the images could be
printed. Copies could not be made from the cards themselves, of course, as the images were too small.

Libraries and other archives face an ongoing battle with storage; there is simply not enough space in any
library to physically house all the materials a library might want to keep on hand. Items such as newspapers
do not store for long periods of time, yet are of tremendous value to researchers. Microfiche offers a solution
to both of these problems, and is a popular archival method.
Benefits of Microfiche

Microfiche‟s biggest advantage is that it allows for the storage of many documents in a small space.
Materials that would require a room full of shelves can instead be stored on small cards that might then be
kept in a filing cabinet. Entire volumes of books and journals can be kept this way. It also allows materials
to be open to the public, even if the originals are not. For example, copies of plans for city buildings that
might be required by law to be kept at city hall or a planning office can be reproduced on microfiche and
kept in the public library.

Libraries and other archives face an ongoing battle with storage; there is simply not enough space in any
library to physically house all the materials a library might want to keep on hand. Items such as newspapers
do not store for long periods of time, yet are of tremendous value to researchers. Microfiche offers a solution
to both of these problems, and is a popular archival method.

Significance of Microfiche

One of the most common applications of microfiche is storing back copies of newspapers. This is an
example not only of space saving but also of preservation. Old newspapers are stored on microfiche long
after the original paper would have crumbled. Before the advent of digital media, microfiche was the only
viable way to preserve newspaper and have it available to the general public. It is also heavily used for the
storage of government documents, which would otherwise be too cumbersome to store in paper form.

Libraries and other archives face an ongoing battle with storage; there is simply not enough space in any
library to physically house all the materials a library might want to keep on hand. Items such as newspapers
do not store for long periods of time, yet are of tremendous value to researchers. Microfiche offers a solution
to both of these problems, and is a popular archival method.

Considerations of Microfiche

Microfiche has largely been replaced now by digital media. Although CDs are not perfect, being susceptible
to temperature and over-use, they have a number of advantages over microfiche. Foremost among these is
the ability to index the information on digital media. A newspaper stored on CD is searchable through the
use of software and key terms, for example, which is not the case with microfiche. Of additional benefit is
the ability to use any computer instead of the bulky microfiche readers. Not all information has been
transferred to digital media, however, so microfiche is still in use today even if it is not as prominent as it
once was.

Voice Recognition and Response Devices

Voice Recognition

Alternatively referred to as speech recognition, voice recognition is a computer software program or

hardware device with the ability to decode the human voice. Voice recognition is commonly used to operate
a device, perform commands, or write without having to use a keyboard, mouse, or press any buttons.
Today, this is done on a computer with ASR (automatic speech recognition) software programs. Many ASR
programs require the user to “train” the ASR program to recognize their voice so that it can more accurately
convert the speech to text. For example, you could say “open Internet” and the computer would open the
Internet browser.
The first ASR device was used in 1952 and recognized single digits spoken by a user (it was not computer
driven). Today, ASR programs are used in many industries, including healthcare, military (e.g., F-16 fighter
jets), telecommunications, and personal computing (i.e. hands-free computing).

What does voice recognition require?

For voice recognition to work, you must have a computer with a sound card and either a microphone or a
headset. Other devices like smart phones have all of the necessary hardware built into the device. Also, the
software you use needs voice recognition support, or if you want to use voice recognition everywhere, you
need a program like Nuance Naturally Speaking to be installed.

If you are using Microsoft Windows Vista, 7, 8, or 10, you can also use the included Windows Speech
Recognition program.

Examples of where you might have used voice recognition

As voice recognition improves, it is being implemented in more places and its very likely you have already
used it. Below are some examples of where you might encounter voice recognition.

 Automated phone systems: Many companies today use phone systems that help direct
the caller to the correct department. If you have ever been asked something like “Say or
press number 2 for support” and you say “two,” you used voice recognition.
 Google Voice: Google voice is a service that allows you to search and ask questions on
your computer, tablet, and phone.
 Digital assistant: Amazon Echo, Apple‟s Siri, and Google Assistant use voice
recognition to interact with digital assistants that helps answer questions.
 Car Bluetooth: For cars with Bluetooth or Handsfree phone pairing, you can use voice
recognition to make commands, such as “call my wife” to make calls without taking your
eyes off the road.

Types of voice recognition systems

Automatic speech recognition is one example of voice recognition. Below are other examples of voice
recognition systems.

(i) Speaker dependent system

The voice recognition requires training before it can be used, which requires you to read a series of words
and phrases.

(ii) Speaker independent system

The voice recognition software recognizes most users‟ voices with no training.

(iii) Discrete speech recognition

The user must pause between each word so that the speech recognition can identify each separate word.

(iv) Continuous speech recognition – The voice recognition can understand a normal rate of speaking.
(v) NATURAL language – The speech recognition not only can understand the voice, but can also return
answers to questions or other queries that are being asked.

Response Devices

Response Devices is a computer interface which responds to voice commands, instead of responding to
inputs from a mouse or a keystroke.

It is a type of speech synthesis where sentences are organized by concatenating pre-recorded words saved in
a database. Contrary to a text-to-speech (TTS) system, a voice response system functions using limited
vocabulary in scenarios where the sentences or phrases formed adhere to a strict predetermined sequence.

Response device is ideal for visually impaired or other physically impaired persons. Since these people
cannot access a normal mouse or keyboard, being able to instruct a computer how to proceed can be a
revelation for them. Another important use is record keeping.

Also, with the help of some software protocols, data entry can be made voice-activated. This allows users to
input data without using their hands. A good number of people are interacting with response device systems
each day, more than they notice.

Whenever callers dial a financial institution or a travel agency or a catalog company, the first thing they hear
is an electronic voice asking a question and prompting for an answer. Depending on what the callers affirm,
their requests are converted by the central computer into specific actions.

In certain scenarios, a complete telephonic experience may occur via voice response. One downside of this
type of experience is that it does not permit responses outside the parameters programmed in the software. If
the callers ask a question that is outside the approved list, then they may not receive a response that they are
looking for.

Financial institutions often use response device systems to restrict undesired access to accounts or
information. Response device systems in these financial institutions are programmed to respond only to
specific voice patterns and passwords.

Response device systems have evolved in such a way that users can make use of their voices to activate and
operate software applications. Some applications are presently available for response device systems to
operate standard household activities, such as turning lights and fans on and off or closing and opening a
garage door.