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Syllabus: Module 4
I/O devices - Input Devices-identification and its use, keyboard, pointing devices
(mouse, touch pad and track ball), Video digitizer, remote control, joystick, magnetic
stripes, scanner, digital camera, microphone, sensor, and MIDI instruments
Output Devices identification and its use, monitor, printer (laser, inkjet, dot-
matrix), plotter, speaker, control devices (lights, buzzers, robotic arms, and motors)

Input-Output Devices
To be useful, a computer system needs to communicate with its external
environment (its users). Input-output devices (abbreviated IO devices)
provide this capability to a computer system (see Figure 9.1). They are
also known as peripheral devices.
Input devices enter data from outside world into primary storage, and output
devices supply the results of processing from primary storage to users.

Figure 9.1. Illustrating the role of l/O devices in a computer system.

Note that the speed of I/O devices is very slow as compared to that of primary
storage and CPU. This is because Speed in most cases depends on movement
of mechanical parts and the potential for improvement in speed of such parts
is limited.

INPUT DEVICES
An input device is an electromechanical device that accepts data from
outside world and translates them into a form a computer can interpret.
Several input devices are available today. We classify them broadly into
following categories:
1. Keyboard devices
2. Point-and-draw devices
3. Data scanning devices
4. Digitizer
5. Electronic cards based devices
6. Speech recognition devices
7. Vision based devices
Various types of input devices along with their applications are described
below.

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Keyboard Devices
Keyboard devices are the most commonly used input devices today. They allow
data entry into a computer system by pressing a set of keys (labeled buttons).
The most popular keyboard used today is the 101-keys QWERTY keyboard (see
Figure 9.2).

Figure 9.2. Layout of keys on a QWERTY keyboard.

Alpha numeric These keys include the letter keys (A-Z) and digit keys (09) which
keys generally give the same layout as that of typewriters.
It is used to enter the numeric data or cursor movement. Generally, it
Numeric
consists of a set of 17 keys that are laid out in the same configuration
Keypad
used by most adding machines and calculators
The twelve function keys are present on the keyboard which are
Function Keys
arranged in a row at the top of the keyboard. Each function key has a
unique meaning and is used for some specific purpose.
These keys provide cursor and screen control. It includes four
Control keys
directional arrow keys. Control keys also include Home, End, Insert,
Delete, Page Up, Page Down, Control(Ctrl), Alternate(Alt), Escape(Esc).
Keyboard also contains some special purpose keys such as Enter, Shift,
Special
Caps Lock, Num Lock, Space bar, Tab, and Print Screen.
Purpose Keys

Point-and-Draw Devices
Initially, interaction with computers was restricted mainly to text mode
(Command line Interface). However, users and computer designers soon
realized that text-mode interaction is cumbersome, time-consuming, and
limited in scope of operation. Hence, computer designers came out with the
idea of a new type of user interface, called Graphical User Interface (GUI). A
GUI provides a screen with graphic icons (small images on the screen) or

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menus and allows a user to make rapid selections from them to give
instructions to a computer (see Figure 9.3).
For efficient utilization, GUl requires an input device with which a user can
rapidly point to and select a graphic icon or menu item from multiple
options displayed on the screen. The input devices like mouse, track ball,
joystick, light pen, and touch screen do this task.

Later designers realized that many these devices, like mouse and light pen,
are also useful for effectively creating graphic elements on the screen.
Such as lines, curves, and freehand shapes. With this new ability,
manufacturers and users of these devices started calling them point-and-draw
devices.
Mouse
 Mouse is the most popular point-and-draw
device.
 They support GUl as their primary
interface.
 When a user rolls a mouse (connected to
a user terminal) on a flat surface, a
graphics cursor moves on the terminal
screen in the direction of the mouse's
movement
Commonly categories of mouse devices are

Mechanical vs optical mouse.

A mechanical mouse has a ball inside it that partially projects out
through an opening in its base. As the mouse ball rolls when a user moves
the mouse, the sensors detect-how much each wheel spins and send this
information to the computer in the form of changes to the current position of
the graphics cursor on the screen.
An optical mouse has no mechanical parts like the ball and wheels.
Instead, it has a built-in photo- detector. When a user moves the mouse on
the mouse pad, the photo-detector senses each horizontal and vertical line on
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the pad, and sends this information to the computer in the form of changes
to the current position of the graphics cursor on the screen.

Wired and cordless mouse

A wired mouse connects to a computer with a small cord (wire). On the other
hand, a cordless mouse has no wired connection to a computer. It
communicates with the computer with the help of a special controller that
operates by transmitting a low-intensity radio or infrared signal.

Trackball
 A trackball is a pointing device similar
to a mechanical mouse.
 Its roller ball is on the top (instead of the
base) along with the buttons (see Figure
9.5).
 To move the graphics cursor on the
screen we have to roll the ball with
hand.
 A trackball requires less space than a
mouse for operation.
 Trackball is a preferred device for
CAD/CAM (Computer Aided
Design/Computer Aided Manufacturing
applications)

Joystick
 Joystick is a pointing device that works on
the same principle as a trackball.
 To make the movements of the spherical ball
easier, it is placed in a socket with a stick
mounted on it (see Figure 9.6).
 A user holds the stick in his/her hand and
moves it around to move the position the
graphics cursor at a desired position.
 Typical uses of a joystick include video
games, flight simulators, training
simulators, and remote control of industrial
robots

Electronic Pen
An electronic pen is a pen-based point-and-draw device. Its two commonly
used types are:
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1. Light pen.
 It uses a photoelectric (light sensitive) cell and an optical lens mounted
in a pen-shaped case.
 The pen has a finger-operated button, which the user clicks to select an
option from the screen.
 Computer-aided design (CAD) applications use light pens frequently. For
example, a user can draw on the screen directly with a light pen.
2. Writing pen with pad.
 This type of electronic pen comes with a special type of writing pad
 User writes on the pad with the electronic pen. This input device with
handwriting recognition software often enables easy input of text and
freehand drawings into computer for word processing.
Touch Screen
 Touch screen is the most simple, and easiest to use of all input devices
 It enables a user to choose from available options by simply touching
with a finger the desired icon or menu item displayed on a computer's
screen.
 Computers with touch screen facility use optical sensors, which can
detect the touch of a finger on the screen.
 Information kiosks often use touch screens.
 An information kiosk is an unattended system located at a public place
that allows common people to access stored information as per their
requirement. For example, information kiosks are often located at
airport, railway station, bank, etc...

Data Scanning Devices

Data scanning devices are input devices that allow data entry from source
documents directly. These devices have following characteristics:
 They eliminate the need for manual entry of data by human beings
 Automatic entry of data

Commonly used types of data scanning devices are described below,

Image Scanner
 An image scanner is an input device that translates paper
documents into an electronic format
 The input documents may be typed text, pictures, graphics, or even
handwritten material.
 We can alter and manipulate the stored images in interesting ways, if
the computer has image-processing software.
 Two commonly used types of image Scanner are:
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o Flatbed scanner: A flatbed scanner is like a copier machine
consisting of a box having a glass plate on its top and a lid that
covers the glass plate (see Figure 9.7).
o Hand-held scanner. A user can hold a hand-held scanner in
hand conveniently (see Figure 9.8). To scan a document, a user
drags it slowly over the document from one end to the other
end with its light on.

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Device

When users use image scanners for inputting text documents (typed or
handwritten), they face following limitations:
1. Since a scanned input document is stored as an image, instead of
text, it is not possible to do any word processing of the document
(the computer cannot interpret the stored document as letters,
numbers, and special characters).
2. Storage space required for storing the document as an image is much
more than that required for storing the same document as a text.
OCR technology overcomes/these limitations. In this case, the scanner is
equipped with character recognition software (called OCR software), which
converts bitmap images of characters to equivalent ASCII codes.
OCR recognizes texts written using standard type fonts (called OCR fonts) only.
Two such standard fonts are OCR-A (American standard) and OCR-B
(European standard) (see Figure 9.9).

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Optical Mark Reader (OMR)
OMR is a scanner, which can recognize a pre-
specified type of mark made by pencil or pen.
For example, in objective type tests applicants mark
their choices of correct answers on a special pre-
printed OMR test scoring sheet by darkening a small
square, circular, or oval shaped box by a pencil (see
Figure 9.10). These answer sheets are fed to an OMR
device for evaluation Figure 9.10- OMR sheet

Bar-Code Reader
 Data coded in the form of small lines (known as bars) are known as bar
codes.
 Bar codes represent alphanumeric data by a combination of adjacent
vertical lines (bars) by varying their width and the spacing between them.
 A bar-code reader is a device for reading (decoding) bar-coded data.
 A bar-code reader uses laser-beam scanning technology to scan bar code.
 One of most popular bar code is UPC (Universal Product Code) bar code.

Magnetic-Ink Character Recognition (MICR)

 Banking industry uses MICR for faster processing of large volume of
cheques.
 The characters on the cheque are pre-printed using a special ink
containing particles of iron oxide (having magnetic property).
 The MICR reader reads the pre-printed data on the cheque.
 E13B font is the most commonly used character set by MICR devices.

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Digitizer
 A digitizer is an input device used for converting (digitizing) pictures,
maps, and drawings into digital form for input to computers.
 A digitizer consists of a digitizing tablet (also known as graphics tablet)
associated with a stylus (see Figure 9.14).
 The digitizing tablet is a flat surface that contains hundreds of fine
copper wires forming a grid.
 The stylus is like a pen like cursor with a cross hair and button.
 As a user moves the stylus on the tablet, a Cursor on computer's screen
moves simultaneously. This enables the user to draw sketches directly.
 Architects and engineers commonly use digitizers in the area of
Computer Aided Design (CAD) for designing cars, buildings, medical
devices, robots, mechanical parts, etc.

Electronic-card Reader
 Electronic cards are small plastic cards having encoded data
appropriate for the application for which they are used.
 An electronic-card reader, normally connected to a computer,
reads the data encoded on an electronic card and transfers it to the
computer for further processing
 Banks issue electronic cards (ATM Card) to their customers for use
with automatic teller machines (ATMs)

Speech Recognition Devices (Microphone)

Speech recognition devices are input devices that allow a person to input
data to a computer system by speaking to it. Hence, they make computers
much easier to use.
Speech recognition system use microphone to capture voice.

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Major difficulties with speech recognition systems are that different users
speak with different accents (pronounce differently) and intonations (with
different tone or pitch of the voice), and the fact that the meaning of a
word varies depending on the context in which it is used.
Major Application areas

 Voice search facility in shopping websites

 Authentication to devices using voice
 Voice commands in mobiles and other electronic gadgets.
 For data input by dictation of long text or passage for later editing and
review

Vision-Input System
A computer with a vision-input device consists of a digital camera and follows
the following steps to recognize a given object:
1. It focuses the camera on the given object to take its picture.
2. The camera creates a digital image of the object and feces it to the
computer.
3. The computer matches the image with similarly formed pre-stored
images in its image database.
4. The computer takes appropriate action depending on whether it finds a
match or not.

MIDI Devices
MIDI is short form for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It’s a
communication protocol and digital interface that allows computers, musical
instruments and other hardware to communicate.

Sensors
 Sensors are input devices that record data about the physical
environment around it.
 Sensors send data to a microprocessor (computer). They do not make
judgements or decisions.
o Magnetic Field Sensor: Detect changes in magnetic fields.
o Motion (infra-red) Sensor: Detects movement / heat from objects.
o Temperature Sensor: Measures heat generated by an object or
system.

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Output Devices
An output device is an electromechanical device that accepts data from a
computer and translates them into a form suitable for use by outside world
(users). Several output devices are available today. We classify them broadly
into following categories:
1. Monitors
2. Printers
3. Plotters
4. Screen image projector
5. Voice response system
Output devices generate computer outputs that are broadly of following two
types:
1. Soft-copy output. A soft-copy output is temporary in nature
because it does not appear on a paper or some material. But it can
be stored in digital form in computer memory. For example, contents
displayed on a terminal sereen, or words spoken out by a voice
response system are soft-copy output.
2. Hard-copy output. A hard-copy output is permanent in nature
because it appears on a paper or some material that a user can
carry. For example, output produced on paper by printers or plotters are
hard-copy output.

1. Monitors
 Monitors are the most popular soft-copy output devices used today.
 They display an output on a television like screen
 A monitor is associated usually with a keyboard and together they
form a video display terminal (VDT).
 A VDT (often referred to as just terminal) is both an input and
output device.

Types of Monitor:
A) CRT Monitor
CRT stands for Cathode Ray Tube. The image on CRT display is created by
firing electrons from the back of the tube to phosphorus coated screen.

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Once the electron heats the phosphorus, they light up, and they are projected
on a screen. The color you view on the screen is produced by a blend of red,
blue and green light.

Components of CRT:
Main Components of CRT are:
1. Electron Gun: The electron gun creates a source of electrons which
are focused into a narrow beam directed at the face of the CRT.
2. Control Electrode: It is used to turn the electron beam on and off.
3. Focusing system: It is used to create a clear picture by focusing the
electrons into a narrow beam.
4. Deflection Yoke: It is used to control the direction of the electron
beam. It creates an electric or magnetic field which will bend the electron
beam as it passes through the area.
5. Phosphorus-coated screen: The inside front surface of every CRT is
coated with phosphors. Phosphors glow when a high-energy electron
beam hits them.

B) Flat Panel Display Monitor

The Flat-Panel display refers to a class of video devices that have reduced
volume, weight and power requirement compare to CRT.

Example: LCD Monitor, LED Monitor

LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) Monitor

Liquid Crystal Displays are the devices that produce a picture by passing
polarized light from the surroundings or from an internal light source through
a liquid-crystal material that transmits the light.

Advantage:
1. Low power consumption.

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2. Small Size
3. Low Cost
Disadvantage:
1. Poor Resolution compared to LED
2. LCDs do not emit light; as a result, the image has very little contrast.
LED (Light Emitting Diode) Monitor
In an LED, a matrix of diodes is organized to form the pixel positions in the
display and picture definition is stored in a refresh buffer. Data is read from
the refresh buffer and converted to voltage levels that are applied to the diodes
to produce the light pattern in the display.
Advantage:
1. Small Size
2. High resolution compared to LCD
Disadvantage:
1. High power consumption.
2. High cost

2. Printers:
Printer is the most important output device, which is used to print data on
paper.
Types of Printers: There are many types of printers which are classified on
various criteria as shown in fig:

2.1 Impact Printers

The printers that print the characters by striking against the ribbon and onto
the papers are known as Impact Printers.
Characteristics of Impact Printers are the following −
 Very low consumable costs

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Very noisy
 Useful for bulk printing due to low cost
 There is physical contact with the paper to produce an image
Impact printers are of two types −
a) Character Printers
o Character printers are the printers which print one character at a
time.
o These are further divided into two types:
 Dot Matrix Printer(DMP)
 Daisy Wheel
b) Line Printers
o Line printers are the printers which print one line at a time.
o These are of two types −
 Drum Printer
 Chain Printer

Dot Matrix Printer

 Dot-matrix printers are impact printers
 Dot-matrix printers are character printers that print one character at
a time.
 One of the most popular printers is Dot Matrix Printer because of their
ease of printing and economical price.
 Each character printed is in the form of pattern of dots.
 Print head consists of a Matrix of Pins of size (5*7, 7*9, 9*7 or 9*9) which
come out and strike inked ribbon to form a character ( Inked ribbons are
placed between paper and print head).
 To print a character, the printer activates the appropriate set of pins
in print head independently and strike against inked ribbon
 Normally, dot-matrix printers are slow, having printing speeds in the
range of 30 to 600 characters per second.

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Advantages Disadvantages
 Inexpensive  Slow Speed
 Widely Used  Poor Quality
 Other language characters can
be printed

Daisy Wheel printer

 Daisy wheel printers are impact printers
 Daisy wheel printers are character printers that print one character
at a time.
 These printers have print heads composed of metallic or plastic
wheels cut into petals.
 Each petal has the form of a letter (in capital and lower-case),
number, or punctuation mark on it.
 When the petal is struck against the printer ribbon, the resulting
shape forces ink onto the paper
Advantages
 More reliable than Dot
Matrix Printer
 Better quality
 Fonts of character can
be easily changed
Disadvantages
 Slower than Dot Matrix
Printer
 Noisy
 More expensive than Dot
Matrix Printer

Drum Printer
 Drum Printer is impact printer
 Drum printers are line printers that print an entire line at a time.
 This printer is like a drum in shape hence it is called drum printer.
 Drum printers are fast in speed and can print 300 to 2000 lines per minute.
 Figure 9.19 shows the print mechanism of a drum printer. It consists of
a solid cylindrical drum with characters embossed (raised characters) on
its surface in the form of circular bands.
 Each band consists of all printing characters supported by the printer in
its character set.
 Total number of bands is equal to the maximum number of characters
(print positions) that the printer can print on a line
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 Hence, a drum printer with132 characters per line and supporting a
character set of 96 characters will have altogether 12,672 (132x96)
characters embossed on its surface.
 In addition to the drum, the printer has a set of hammers (one opposite
each band) mounted in front of the drum in a manner that an inked
ribbon and paper can be placed between the hammers and the drum.

Advantages
 Printing speed is high.
 Good quality compared to Dot matrix printer
Disadvantages
 Very expensive
 noisy in operation
 Characters fonts cannot be changed, therefore, they do not have the
ability to print any shape of characters and different sizes of print,

Chain/Band Printer
 Chain/band printers are impact printers because they print by
hammering on a paper and inked ribbon against characters
embossed on the chain/band.
 Chain/band printers are line printers that print one line at a time.
 Below Figure shows the print mechanism of a chain/band printer. It
consists of a metallic chain/band on which all characters of the
cháracter set supported by the printer are embossed.
 The printer has a set of hammers mounted in front of the
chain/band in a manner that we can place an inked ribbon and
paper between the hammers and chain/band.

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 The total number of hammers is equal to the total number of print
positions. Therefore, a printer supporting 132 print positions will have
132 hammers..
 Printing speeds of chain/band printers are in the range of 400 to
3000 lines per minute.
Advantages
 Printing speed is high.
 Character fonts can easily be changed.
 Different languages can be used with the same printer.
Disadvantages
 Very expensive
 Noisy in operation

2.2 Non-impact Printers

It is a type of printer that does not hit or impact a ribbon to print. They use
laser, electrostatic, chemical and inkjet technologies to print document. Non-
impact printers are generally much quieter.
They require less maintenance and service than impact printers.
Example: 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

Inkjet Printers
 Inkjet printers are non-impact character printers
 Inkjet printers are character printers that form characters and
images by spraying small drops of ink on a paper.
 The print head of an inkjet printer contains up to 64 tiny nozzles.
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 The printer can heat up the nozzles selectively in a few microseconds
by an integrated circuit resistor.
 When the resistor heats up, the ink near it vaporizes and ejects
through the nozzle making a dot on the paper placed in front of
the print head.
 To print a character, the printer selectively heats the appropriate set
of nozzles as the print head moves horizontally.
 Color printing is also possible.
 Printing speeds ranging from 40 to 300 characters per second.

Advantages
 High quality printing
 More reliable
 Possible to print graphics such as
charts and graphs
 Less noisy
Disadvantages
 Expensive as the cost per page is
high
 Slow as compared to laser printer

Laser Printers
 Laser printers are non-impact printers.
 Laser printers are page printers that print one page at a time.
 They use laser lights to produce the dots needed to form the characters
to be printed on a page.
Main components of a laser printer are a laser beam source, a multi-sided
mirror, a photoconductive drum, and toner (tiny particles of
oppositely charged ink).
To print a page of output, the printer focuses the laser beam on the
electro statically charged drum. The multi sided mirror focuses the laser
beam on the surface of the drum in a manner to create the patterns of
characters/images that the printer has to print on the page. Since the
drum is photoconductive, print mechanism creates a difference in electric
charge on those parts of the drum surface, which are exposed to the laser
beam. As a result, the toner, composed of oppositely charged ink particles,
sticks to the drum in the places where the laser beam has charged the
drum's surface. The printer then applies heat and pressure to fuse the
toner permanently on the paper to generate the printed output.

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Advantages
 Very high speed
 Laser printers produce high quality print output
 The most common laser printers have resolution of 600-1200 dpi
(dots per inch)
 Good graphics quality
 They are quiet in operation,
Disadvantages
 Expensive
 Cannot be used to produce multiple copies of a document in a single
printing

Difference between Impact and Non-Impact Printers:`

IMPACT PRINTER NON IMPACT PRINTER
 Produces characters and  A type of printer that produces
graphics on a piece of paper by characters and graphics on a
striking it is called impact piece of paper without striking.
printer
 It prints by hammering a set of  Printing is done by depositing
metal pin or character set. ink in anyform.
 Electromechanical devices are  No electromechanical device is
used used.
 Faster speeds around 250 words  Slower speeds around 1 page
per second. per 30seconds.
 Have banging noise of needle on  Works silently
paper
 Dot-matrix printer, Daisy wheel  inkjet printers, photo printers,
printers, line printer are examples. laser printers are examples .

3) Plotter
Many engineering design applications like architectural plan of a building,
design of mechanical components of an aircraft or a car, etc., often require
high-quality, perfectly-proportioned graphic output on large sheets. Various
types of printers described above are not suitable for meeting this output
requirement of such applications.
A plotter is an ideal output device for architects, engineers, city planners,
and others who need to generate high precision, hard-copy, graphic output of
varying sizes.
Advantage:
1. It can produce high-quality output on large sheets.
2. It is used to provide the high precision drawing.

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3. It can produce graphics of various sizes.
4. The speed of producing output is high.
Two types of plotters in common use are drum plotter and flatbed plotter.
Drum Plotter:
It consists of a drum. Paper on which design is made is kept on the drum. The
drum can rotate in both directions. Plotters comprised of one or more pen and
penholders. The holders are mounted perpendicular to drum surface. The pens
are kept in the holder, which can move left to the right as well as right to the
left. The graph plotting program controls the movement of pen and drum.
Flatbed Plotter:
It is used to draw complex design and graphs, charts. The Flatbed plotter can
be kept over the table. The plotter consists of pen and holder. The pen can
draw characters of various sizes. There can be one or more pens and pen
holding mechanism. Each pen has ink of different color. Different colors help
to produce multicolor design of document. The area of plotting is also variable.
It can vary A4 to 21'*52'.

4. Screen Image Projector

Screen image projector is an output device, which is used to project
information from a computer on a large Screen (such as a cloth screen or
wall) so that a group of people can view it simultaneously.
It is very useful for making presentations to a group of people with direct use
of a computer.
5. Voice Response Systems
 A voice response system enables a computer to talk to a user.
 A voice response system has an audio-response device (Speaker)
that produces audio output.
 Voice response systems are of two types voice reproduction
system and speech synthesizer.
 A voice reproduction system produces audio output by selecting
an audio output from a set of pre-recorded audio responses.
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CSC1C01 – Computer Fundamentals Module 4

o For example, banking industry uses voice reproduction systems
in automatic teller machines to provide systematic guidance to
customers on how to transact with the bank by using an ATM.
 On the other hand, a speech synthesizer converts text information
into spoken sentences
o For example, reading out text information to blind persons.

Speakers
Speakers are one of the most common output devices used with computer
systems.
The purpose of speakers is to produce audio output that can be heard by the
listener.

Control Devices
Lights, buzzers, robotic arms, and motors are also function as output devices.

Points to Remember
 Input-output devices provide the capability to a computer system to
communicate with its external environment user). They are also known as
peripheral devices.
 An input device is an electromechanical device that accepts data from
outside world and translates them into a form a computer can interpret.
 A graphical user interface (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.
 Point-and-draw devices are input devices used to rapidly point to and
select a graphic icon or menu item from multiple options displayed on a
screen.
 Data scanning devices are input devices that allow data entry from
source documents directly.
 An image scanner is an input device that translates paper documents into
an electronic format for input to a computer.
 An Optical Character Recognition (OCR) device is a Scanner equipped
with character recognition software.
 An Optical Mark Reader (OMR) is a scanner, which can recognize a pre-
specified type of mark made-by pencil or pen.
 Bar codes represent alpha-numeric data by a combination of adjacent
vertical lines (bars) by varying their width and spacing between them. A
bar-code reader is a device for reading (decoding) bar-coded data.
 Banking industry uses Magnetic-ink character recognition (MICR)
technology for faster processing of large volume of cheques.

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