Chapter 2

Hardware Concepts
Input Devices
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.
Tablet
• A tablet is digitizer. In general a digitizer is a device which is used to scan over an
object, and to input a set of discrete coordinate positions.
• No keyboard, no mouse. Instead, you have an LCD screen and a stylus
• You don't need to convert handwriting to text
• Tablets are gaining popularity as a replacement for the computer mouse as a
pointing device .
Touch Panel
• A touch screen is a type of display that can also be used as an input device. It
enables users to engage with computers by touching images or phrases on the
screen.
• The screens are pressure-sensitive, so when a user touches the screen with their
finger or stylus, it registers the event and sends it to a controller to be
processed. A touch screen may have pictures or words that help users to
operate devices.
• Although it may look like a simple display screen, it contains numerous layers
that identify input.
• The hard protective is the first layer, which preserves touchscreen components
and the actual display.
• An electronic grid is located under the protective layer that identifies inputs
given by users.
• Instead of using this grid, most modern touchscreens utilize capacitive material
in which, when the screen is touched, the electrical charge changes. The LCD
layer, which is located under the touchscreen layer used for the actual display.
Touch screen technologies
• All touch screens are not the same as they use different-different technologies to
make users capable of communicating with a screen.
• Some technologies may only accept input through tools such as a stylus, while
others may only accept input from your finger.
• The three main touch screen technologies are described briefly below.
Capacitive
• This screen is made of an electrically charged material that is monitored by circuits
in each corner. When users touch the capacitive screen, it changes in capacitance
that enables the location to be sent and determined.
• It has an advantage; it has high clarity and cannot be damaged by dust or water. It
also has the disadvantage; it cannot be used by a stylus and must be used with a
bare finger only. Most of the users face a problem when they are wearing gloves
and try to use a smartphone touch screen and are unable to do anything.
Surface acoustic wave (SAW)
• When a surface wave touch screen is touched, it generates ultrasonic waves by
registering changes in the waves it perceives. As compared to the other two
technologies, capacitive and resistive, this technology is more advanced. But it can
be affected by outside elements and does not work with hard materials. It offers
an advantage; it is easily touched by finger or stylus. It also contains a
disadvantage; dust or water may damage it.
Light Pen
• Light Pen (similar to the pen) is a pointing device which is used to select a
displayed menu item or draw pictures on the monitor screen. It consists of a
photocell and an optical system placed in a small tube. When its tip is moved
over the monitor screen, and pen button is pressed, its photocell sensing
element detects the screen location and sends the corresponding signals to the
CPU
• Description and Working The pen contains a photocell in a small tube. When
the pen is moved on the screen, light from the screen at the location of pen
causes the photocell to respond. The electric response is transmitted to the
computer that can identify the position on screen at which the light pen is
pointing
Keyboard
Features Keyboard is a common input device. It is provided along with the
computer, and is easy to use. It is used for entering the text data. For inputting the
data, the user types the data using the keyboard. When the data is being typed, the
display monitor displays the typed data. Cursor is a vertical line, an underscore,
blinking line, etc. Cursor moves with each typed character. The position of cursor
indicates the location on monitor where the typed-in character will be displayed
Description The design of a keyboard is similar to a standard typewriter. The
modern keyboards are QWERTY keyboard (Q, W, E, R, T, Y are the sequence of keys
in top row of letters). Standard keyboard contains 101 keys which are arranged in
the same order as a typewriter. The keyboard has five sections
(1) Typing keys (1, 2, 3…, A, B, C…),
(2) Numeric keypad (numeric keys on right side),
(3) Function keys (F1, F2…. on top side),
(4) Control keys (cursor keys, ctrl, alt.…), and
(5) Special purpose keys (Enter, shift, spacebar…). Some keyboards have 110 keys,
where the extra keys are designed to work with the Windows operating
system.
Working When a key is pressed, keyboard interacts with a keyboard controller and
keyboard buffer. The keyboard controller stores the code of pressed key in
keyboard buffer and informs the computer software that an action has happened
on the keyboard. The computer software checks and reads the keyboard buffer
and passes the code of pressed character to the system software. Due to a time
gap between pressing of a key on keyboard and reading by the system software,
keyboard buffer is designed to store many keystrokes together.
Mouse
Features
It is the most common pointing input device. The data is entered by pointing the
mouse to a location on the computer screen. The mouse may also be used to
position the cursor on screen, move an object by dragging, or select an object by
clicking. The key benefit of using a mouse is that the cursor moves with the mouse.
So, the cursor can be positioned at any location on the screen by simply moving the
mouse. Moreover, it provides an easy way to select and choose commands from
menus, dialog boxes, icons, etc. Mouse is used extensively, while working with
graphics elements such as line, curve, shapes, etc.
A mouse is classified as physical and optical mouse:
Physical Mouse has a rubber ball on the bottom side that protrudes when the
mouse is moved. It requires a smooth, dust free surface, such as a mouse pad, on
Optical Mouse uses a Light Emitting Diode (LED) and a sensor to detect the
movement of mouse. Optical mouse requires an opaque flat surface underneath it.
Optical mouse was introduced by Microsoft in 1999. Optical mouse is better than
physical mouse as there is no moving part that can cause wear and tear, and dirt
cannot get inside it which it is rolled.
BarCode Reader
Barcodes are adjacent vertical lines of different width that are machine readable.
Goods available at supermarkets, books, etc. use barcode for identification.
Barcodes are read using reflective light by barcode readers. This information is
input to the computer which interprets the code using the spacing and thickness of
bars. Hand-held barcode readers are generally used in departmental stores to read
the labels, and in libraries to read labels on books.
Data Glove
A dataglove is an input device that is essentially a glove worn on the hand that
contains various electronic sensors that monitor the hand's movements and
transform them into a form of input for applications such as virtual reality and
robotics. Some datagloves enable tactile sensing, allowing the user to seemingly
feel a virtual object and to apply fine-motion control.
Datagloves are also known as cybergloves or wired gloves.