INPUT DEVICES : DEFINITION, EXAMPLES AND DESCRIPTION (SS1 NOTES)

 INPUT DEVICES

 DEFINITION, EXAMPLES AND DESCRIPTION

DEFINITION OF INPUT DEVICES

Input device is any hardware component that allows a user to enter data and instructions into a computer. Any peripheral used to provide data and control signals to a computer.
Without any input devices, a computer would only be a display device and not allow users to interact with it. Before computer processing, data must be entered into the computer by an input device so that they can be translated into machine-readable form. Some input devices include the following:

1. Keyboard
2. Mouse
3. Joy Stick
4. Light pen
5. Track Ball
6. Scanner
7. Graphic Tablet
8. Microphone
9. Magnetic Ink Card Reader (MICR)
10. Optical Character Reader (OCR)
11. Bar Code Reader 

12. Optical Mark Reader (OMR), 

13. Web cam

14. Touch Screen

15. Digital Camera

1. Keyboard: This is an input device used to enter characters and functions into the computer system by pressing buttons, or keys. It is the primary device used to enter text.

2. Mouse:  This is a handheld hardware input device that controls a cursor in a GUI (graphical user interface) for pointing, moving and selecting text, icons, files, and folders on your computer. In addition to these functions, a mouse can also be used to drag-and-drop objects and give you access to the right-click menu.

3. Joy Stick: A joystick is an input device that is commonly used to control gaming applications and, sometimes, used in graphics applications.

 

 

4. Light pen: This is a light-sensitive computer input device, basically a stylus, that is used to select text, draw pictures and interact with user interface elements on a computer screen or monitor.

5. Track Ball: This  is a computer cursor control device used in many laptop computer keyboards and older versions of computer mice. The device comprises a ball held by a socket containing sensors to detect a rotation of the ball about two axes -- like an upside-down mouse with a ball in it.

6. Scanner: This  is a device that captures images from photographic prints, posters, magazine pages and similar sources for computer editing and display. Scanners work by converting the image on the document into digital information that can be stored on a computer through optical character recognition (OCR).

7. Graphic Tablet/Digitizer: This is  a computer input device that enables a user to hand-draw images, animations and graphics, with a special pen-like stylus, similar to the way a person draws images with a pencil.

8. Microphone: A microphone is a device that translates sound vibrations in the air into electronic signals and scribes them to a recording medium or over a loudspeaker.

9. Magnetic Ink Card Reader (MICR): A magnetic ink character recognition line (MICR) is a line of characters on a check printed with a unique ink that allows the characters to be read by a reader-sorter machine. Introduction of the MICR reader-sorter process allowed check processing to be automated while making it more difficult to counterfeit checks.

 10. Optical Character Reader (OCR): It is a technology that recognizes text within a digital image. It is commonly used to recognize text in scanned documents and images.

11.  Bar Code Reader : A barcode reader, also called a price scanner or point-of-sale (POS) scanner, is a hand-held or stationary input device used to capture and read information contained in a barcode.

12. Optical Mark Reader (OMR): This is gathering information from human beings by recognizing marks on a document. OMR is accomplished using a hardware device (scanner) that detects a reflection or limited light transmittance on or through a piece of paper.

13. Web cam: is a video camera that is connected to a computer or other device, typically via a USB port, and is used to capture and transmit video over the internet.

14. Touch Screen :  a computer screen that allows the user to give commands to the computer by touching parts of the screen rather than by using the keyboard or mouse.

15. Digital Camera : is a hardware device that takes photographs and stores the image as data on a memory card.

Class Activities

1. Define input devices and list any eight input devices that you know..

2. Explain any six (6) input devices.