Chapter2

Input and Output Devices

The Scope of this chapter is below:

• Different types of input and output devices available and how to use them.
• Where to use the right kind of input and output device.
• Add-ons required for the input Devices.

An I/O device is the short name used for Input/Output devices generally. Input devices used to
send the data or information from the outside world to the computer, where as the output devices
are used to display the data or information contained in the computer to the outside world either
from the computer or from any other device or computer.

A. Input Devices: The devices used for sending the data or information from the outside world to
the computers is categorized as the input devices, these can be further classified into On-line
Entry Devices and Direct Data Entry Devices.

1. Online Entry Devices:

These devices use techniques for data entry that avoid capturing the data on the paper i.e. that
allow the data capturing directly into the computer.

On Line Data Entry Devices

Key Mouse Touch Light Track Joy Stick Voice

Board Screen Pen Ball Recognizer

1.1. Key Board: This is the most popular input and control device for data entry and to issue
commands.
• The keyboard is just like a type writer machine except that it contains only keypads.
Keypads contain number of keys meant for different functions like normal alphanumeric
keys and special symbol keys etc.
• There are many different keyboard layouts and sizes with the most common for Latin
based languages based on QWERTY layout.
Keyboard is normally divided into some areas as per various types of keypads on the keyboard.
Function keypad contains the function keys which are programmable for specific functions.
Example, “F1” to search for help, “F12” to trigger the ‘save as’ option, “F7” to trigger the
‘spelling and grammar check’. Also called as soft keys as when tapped they execute software.
Number Keypad contains number keys for the rapid numeric data entry; this also contains Num
lock for on and off the number pad.
Arrow keypad contains arrow keys or cursor control keys, these allow the user to move the
cursor position up and down, left and right.
Multimedia keypad contains the keys for controlling the multimedia functions like increase
volume, pause/play the movies etc.
Other important keys are – Caps lock, Shift key, Scroll lock, page up, page down, Esc,
Spacebar, Home, End and Print screen.

1.2. Mouse: In most of the computer today the keyboard is supported with one another type of
input device called mouse, this makes the cursor movement very fast on the screen.
• Cursor is a screen element which indicates the location of data entry on screen. With a
keyboard the movement of the cursor can be left, right, up and down, where as using
mouse the cursor can be placed any where on the screen just by a click on the mouse
buttons.
• Mouse can be used with GUI (Graphical User Interface) based software’s like Windows
or LINUX.
• Mouse can be of one, two or three button types. Each button has a specific action, like
left button is used to place the cursor or selecting the function; right button will display
routine functionalities like cut, copy, paste etc and middle button to scroll the screens up
and down.
• Based on the technology used mouse can be mechanical mouse, Optomechanical mouse
and Optical Mouse.
Mechanical Mouse- small round ball(also referred as trackball) projects through the bottom
surface rotates as the mouse is moved along a flat surface. The direction of rotation is detected
and relayed to the computer by the switches inside the mouse.
Optomechanical mouse- is the same as the mechanical mouse except that it uses optical sensors
to the motion of the ball. A mouse pad should be used under the mouse to run on.
An optical mouse- uses a laser instead of a rotating ball to detect movement across a specially
patterned mouse pad. Optical mouse do not have any mechanical moving parts.
The cordless mouse- uses the wireless communication technology (via infrared, radio or
Bluetooth) to transmit data to the computer. And like the wireless, it doesn’t use any cord.

Mouse connects to PCs thru - RS-232C serial port, PS/2 port or USB port. USB port is the latest
port, and other advantage is it can be easily connected to computer from front or back or either
sides of computer case.

1.3. Touch Screen: The concept of touch screen is Hewlett Packard’s innovation in 1984. The
computer screen is made sensitive to the human fingers. By pressing the finger against the
function displayed on the screen infrared beam is broken and the function is activated.

• Two popular technologies exist for touch screens -

In one technology type, the screen is sensitive to touch and exact position of touch is detected.
In other, screen is lined with light emitting devices (LEDs) on its vertical sides; photo-detectors
are placed on the horizontal sides. When the user’s finger approaches the screen, the light beam is
broken and is detected by the photo detectors.
• Touch screen systems are mainly used to provide the user friendly navigation, input and
output systems.
Examples: - The touch screen technology is very popularly seen in ATM’s, Mobile phones.
 1.4. Light Pen: Light pen is mainly used with display device. This device looks like normal
pen but the entire thing will be written on a flat screen directly.
A light pen has a photo-detector at its tip. This detector can detect changes in brightness of the screen. When the pen
is pointed at a particular point on the screen, it records the instant change in brightness that occurs and informs the
computer about this. The computer can find out the exact spot with this information. Thus, the computer can
identify where the user is pointing on the screen.
• When a light pen is placed near the screen; the computer system can determine its
position on the screen because the light pen contains the light sensitive tip.
• This pen is mainly used to draw hand free drawings on the screen or to highlight any part
that is already displayed on the screen like selecting a menu option.
• Also the light pen is useful for drawing graphics in CAD. An engineer, architect or
fashion designer can draw directly on the screen using the light pen.
• Light Pen can be used only on CRT monitors but not on LCD, LED or OLED monitors.

1.5. Track Ball: Track ball is a pointing device that works like an upside-down mouse.
• The user rests his thumb on the track ball and fingers on the buttons. In order to move the
cursor position the track ball is rolled with the thumb.
• This technology is popularly used in the notebooks. But the latest notebooks are coming
with the touch pad for the cursor movement.
1.6. Joy Stick: It is a screen pointing input device. It is a vertical lever usually placed in a ball
socket, which can be fitted in any direction to control cursor movements for computer games
and for some professional applications.

1.7. Scanner: It is an input device used for optically scans images, printed text, handwriting, or
an object, and converts it to a digital image.
• The common examples found in offices are variations of the desktop (or flatbed) scanner
where the document is placed on a glass window for scanning.
• Capturing information like this reduces the possibility of errors typically experienced
during large data entry. Hand-held scanners are also commonly seen in big stores to scan
codes and price information for each of the items (Code Readers).

1.8. Camera: Two types of cameras are used for input on a computer.
 • The digital camera is a device that takes digital images and saves them to memory. The
user then connects the camera to the computer where images are uploaded and saved.
• Web cams are the other type of camera that is known as video capture device that is
connected to a computer or computer network, often using a USB port. Web cams are
ways for people to take images from the computer and communicate visually with other
users on the Internet.

1.9. Voice Recognizer:

The “Microphones - Speech Recognition” is a speech Input device. Presently sound capabilities are a standard part
of computers; microphones are becoming increasingly important as input devices. Sound is used most often in
multimedia, where the presentation can benefit from narration, music, or sound effects. In software, sounds are used
to alert the user to a problem or to prompt the user for input.

• For this type of input, we require a microphone and sound card to translate electrical
signals from microphone into a digitized form that the computer can store and process.
Sound cards can also work vice versa, converting digitized data into sound and send back
to speakers.
• Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, tape recorders, hearing
aids, motion picture production, live and recorded audio engineering, in radio and
television broadcasting and in computers for recording voice, speech recognition, VoIP.
• Translating voice to text is a capability known as voice recognition (or speech
recognition). With it, one can speak to the computer rather than having to type. The user
can also control the computer with oral commands, such as “shut down” or “print status
report”.
• Voice recognition software takes the smallest individual sounds in a language, called
phonemes, and translates them into text or commands. Even though English uses only about 40
phonemes, a sound can have several different meanings (“two” versus “too,” for example)
making reliable translation difficult.

1.10. Digitizing Tablet: It is also known as graphics tablet which is a computer input device that
allows hand-draw images and graphics, similar to the way one draws images with a pencil and
paper.
• These tablets may also be used to capture data or handwritten signatures. It can also be
used to trace an image from a piece of paper.
• A graphics tablet consists of a flat surface upon which the user may "draw" or trace an
image using an attached stylus, a pen-like drawing apparatus. The image generally does
not appear on the tablet itself but, rather, is displayed on the computer monitor.

1.11. MIDI Devices: MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a system designed to
transmit information between electronic musical instruments. A MIDI musical keyboard can be
 attached to a computer and allow a performer to play music that is captured by the computer
system as a sequence of notes with the associated

2. Display Devices:
It is a known fact that the one who interacts with computer uses a display device. These display
devices consist of a television like viewing screen to display both input and outputs. The two most
common types of display devices found today are monitors and terminals.
Monitors are the display devices found mostly with Micro computers. Computer terminal (VDT)
are mostly found in remote settings with Main computer and interact with main computer using
communication lines or networks, example – Air line agents, Railway ticket booking points.

There can be several types of terminals as discussed below:

2.1. Dumb Terminal: These are known as limited function terminal i.e. no data processing or
programming facilities are available in these terminals. These terminals are used for just
entering the data in the system and to view the outputs. These are normally used in the online
system for punching the data into computer system for processing purpose, example some
data entry operator is provided the dumb terminal just to do the voucher entry.

2.2. Intelligent terminals: These are most expensive terminals than the dumb terminals.
Intelligent terminal are programmable terminal i.e. these terminals contain the inbuilt
processing capabilities and storage facilities.

• These terminals can be used to perform many processing functions like arithmetic and logical
operations like (Sorting, Summarization etc.), without sending data to mainframe, which help
to save time and also act as back up to mainframe.
• All the micro computers are intelligent terminals because every micro computer terminal (Key
board and VDU) is connected with CPU which can process the data.
• In mini computer and mainframe, terminal can be defined according to the user, if a terminal is
used only for data entry by the data entry operator, it may be a dumb terminal and if the
computer can be used by a programmer or senior executive for some processing purpose then
this terminal will be intelligent terminal.

2.3. Smart terminal: Contain a micro processor and some internal storage. They have data editing
capability and can consolidate the data before sending it to CPU. These terminals are non
programmable by users.
2.4. Remote Job terminal (RJE): Also termed as Remote Job Entry, the terminals which
communicate with the main CPU from a remote location with the help of some
communication devices (direct cable or Telecommunication lines) are called as Remote
terminals.
• These terminals group the data into blocks for transmission to CPU from a remote site. Some
terminals have the capability of receiving back and printing the results of the application
program.
• Terminals linked to the computer system by a direct cable are known as hard-wired terminals. However, for
remote terminals, communication to the main system can be established via telecommunication lines such as
ordinary telephone lines.

2.5. Keyboard printer terminal (teletypewriter): These terminals consist of keyboard for
sending information to the computer and a printer, for providing a copy of the input and for
receiving the information from the computer.

3. Features of display devices:

There are various types of display devices available in the market. Here are some of the important
features which distinguish one display device with other.

3.1. Screen Resolution: One of the most important features to differentiate the display devices
is clarity or resolution of the images formed on the screen. Most display devices form the
images from tiny dots called “pixels” that are arranged in a rectangular pattern. The more dots
available to display any image on screen, the sharper the image is.

Images on screen are formed with the help of a card called display adaptor card. The type of the
display adaptor determines the quality of image on the screen. Display adaptors mainly provide
two features, which determine the quality of output.
1. Resolution (Video Controller) 2. Memory
Following are the technological improvements over the year in the adaptor technology for
resolution and memory capability.

1) MGA – Monochrome Graphics Adaptor, it is a text – only adaptor works only with
Monochrome monitor.

2) CGA – Color Graphics Adaptor works both with text and graphics mode. However, it has
relatively poor display quality in text mode. CGA has a resolution of either 640 x 200 pixels
with 16 colors or 320 x 200 pixels with 4 palettes.

3) EGA – Enhanced Graphics Adaptor combines features of CGA & MGA, it supports up to 16
colors at a time. An EGA usually has a high resolution of either 640 x 200 pixels or 640 x 350
pixels.

4) VGA – Video Graphics Adaptor is a high quality graphics adaptor which provides up to 256
colors and also a high resolution. VGA has high resolution of 640 x 480 pixels with 16 colors
or 320 x 200 pixels with 256 colors.
5) SVGA – Super Video Graphics Adaptor is an improvement on the VGA. The combinations of
resolution and colors provided by SVGA are –
640 x 480 pixels with 256 colors
1024 x 480 pixels with 16 colors

Beside these early versions of Super Video Graphics Adapter(SVGA), variations include Wide
SVGA (WSVGA) ,eXtended GA(XGA), Super eXtended GA(SXGA), Wide eXtended
GA(WXGA), and UXGA which are commonly used technology ranging from 1024 x 600 pixels
to 1600 x 1200 pixels that covers a wide range of computer display standards now-a-days.

Digital monitors such as small flat panel LCD monitors come in usually XGA, SXGA and other
formats. These monitors usually have resolution rates of either 1024 x 768 or 1280 x 800. While
digital computer monitors can handle the enhanced resolution, it is up to the end user to choose
the settings. Many people choose a SVGA setting of only 800 x 600 resolutions.

Digital TV sets such as HDTV sets have increased screen resolution. Because HDTV sets can
handle more lines per screens, their image quality is dramatically increased.

3.2. Text and Graphics: Many display devices made today (except very few those used in
dedicated transaction processing applications) can produce both text and graphics output. Text
output is composed entirely of alphabetic characters, digits, and special characters. Graphics
output includes such images as drawings, charts, photographs, and maps.

• Display devices that are capable of producing graphics output commonly employ a method
called bit mapping. Bit-mapped devices allow each individual pixel on the screen to be
controlled by the computer.

3.3. CRT Vs Flat-Panel: The display devices, which are like picture tube TVs are of CRT
(Cathode Ray Tube) type. But these days flat panel display devices are becoming more popular.
Laptops are coming with flat panel display, even micro computers monitors started using the
Flat-panel display devices which are light weight and compact.
• Flat panel display devices are costly compared to CRT but provides better clarity, resolution
with low power consumption. These Flat panel devices use LCD (Liquid crystal display) or
gas-plasma technology or LED technology.
• To form images LCD devices use crystalline materials sandwiched between two panes of
glasses. When voltage is supplied the crystals line up. This prevents light from passing through
certain areas and produces the display.
• Gas-plasma uses gas trapped between glass to form images. They provide better resolution
than LCD but are more expensive.

Video Controller: The quality of the images that a monitor can display is defined by the video
controller. The video controller is an intermediary device between the CPU and the monitor.
• It contains the video-dedicated memory and other circuitry necessary to send information to
the monitor for display on the screen.
• It consists of a circuit board, (“video card” ) which is attached to the computer’s motherboard.
The processing power of the video controller determines the refresh rate, the resolution, and
the number of colors that can be displayed.
• Video controllers have increased dramatically in power and importance. There is a
microprocessor on the video controller, and the speed of the chip limits the speed at which the
monitor can be refreshed. Most video controllers today also include at least 128 MB of video RAM, or
VRAM. (This is in addition to the RAM that is connected to the CPU.)
• VRAM is “dual-ported,” meaning that it can send a screenful of data to the monitor while at
the same time receiving next screenful of data from the CPU. It’s faster and more expensive
than DRAM (Dynamic RAM). Users with larger monitors or with heavy graphics needs
usually will want even more than 128 MB that can go upto 4 GB of VRAM.

4. Direct Data Entry (DDE) Devices:

These are the devices, which enter data directly into the computers through machine readable
source documents. DDE does not require any manual transcription of data from original paper
documents. These devices can scan source documents magnetically or optically to capture data fro
direct entry into the computer.
Some of the popular Direct Data entry devices are

Scanners: These input devices are mainly used for entering large amount of data or transaction
which, are in printed or image form. These devices normally operate on magnetic or optical
principle i.e. these devices read the input from the source documents with the help of some
magnetic or optical device and then convert these to computer readable format. Two types of
Scanners, they are Magnetic and Optical.

4.1. MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Reader):

This input device mainly used in the banking industry for reading character coated with special
type of magnetic ink on the bottom of the cheque or draft. The information encoded on the bottom
of the cheque and draft contains the number, bank identification number and branch number etc.

When a cheque is submitted to bank by a customer, it is sent to the data processing center of that
bank. This cheque is then processed with thousands of other similar cheques through a Magnetic
Ink Character Reader unit.

How MICR read the data; When cheque passes through the MICR unit it contain a strong
magnetic field which demagnetized the character which contains some binary code, this binary
code is matched with original one, which is saved in MICR machine for verification purpose. If
code does not matched or MICR unable to read the character then cheque is rejected otherwise the
MICR will process the cheque. After processing, cheques are sorted according to the bank number
etc.
Advantages
1. Automatic processing of cheques except entry of amount.
2. It can read the data with very high accuracy despite the cheque being used roughly i.e. it
can read from smeared or stamped cheque with high accuracy.
3. The magnetic characters are both machine and human readable.
Disadvantages
1. Only small number of characters are used; 10 digits (0 to 9) and 4 special characters, so not
very popular.
2. It is not fully automated technique, as the cheque amount needs to be entered manually.
3. MICR readers and encoders are expensive.

4.2. Optical Character Reader (OCR): These are widely used device for direct data entry. These
devices can read the printed data and can enter this data directly into computer.
• In general language these are called as optical scanner. Data to be entered into computer, first
of all it is scanned through optical device.
• In scanning the optical device throw the light (optic) on the data and the reflection of light
contain the image of the data, which are further converted into electric signals. These electric
signals are entered into computer in a computer readable format.
• Unlike in MICR, in OCR no special ink is required and it can read any type of character and
modern scanners are capable reading images also.
• Thus no input keying is required for direct data entry by using the OCR.

4.3. Optical Marks Reader (OMR): This type of device mainly find application where only
marks recognition is required like e.g. CA exam Application, CPT exam answer sheets,
and many more competitive exams. In multiple choice question sheets every applicant is
required to mark the answer with the help of some pen or pencil on given sheet. Then all the
answer sheets are put under the OMR, which scan the marks and convert them into values to
compare with the pre defined values and gives the results.
• The optical mark reader when online to the computer systems can read up to 2,000 documents
per hour.
• OMR can also be used for such applications as order writing, payroll, inventory control,
insurance, questionnaires, etc. However, it is to be noted that designing the documents for
OMR is rather a tough task.
• Earlier, OMR were designed to use dedicated scanners and special pre-printed forms with
drop-out colors and registration marks. But today, OMR Software makes OMR possible on a
desktop computer by using an Image scanner to process surveys, tests, attendance sheets,
checklists, and other plain-paper forms printed on a laser printer.

4.4. Bar Codes Reader: Bar codes are commonly used to identify the merchandise in retail
shops. The code for each product is unique combination of ten or more pairs of vertical bars.
• This combination of bar contain the information about that particular product which is
normally scanned with the help of hand held bar reader or flatbed scanners and product
information is directly fed into computer.
• Computer program automatically write the type of product and cost in the invoice. This is very
important way of keeping track of products because it automatically maintain inventory also.
• Bar codes provide advantages of improved accuracy of data entry, fast data entry which helps
in providing better customer service with faster checkout at the point of sale in big
departmental showroom etc. and it also provides greater control and reliability of inventory
records etc.
• We can observe this in almost all the supermarkets, readymade showrooms to bill the items
purchased.
There are five basic kinds of barcode readers – pen wands, slot scanners, Charge-Couple Device
(CCD) scanners, image scanners, and laser scanners:
a. A pen wand is the simplest barcode reader. It contains no moving parts and is known for its durability and low
cost. A pen wand can present a challenge to the user, because it has to remain in direct contact with the bar
code, it must be held at a certain angle, and has to be moved over the bar code at a certain speed.
b. A slot scanner remains stationary and the item with the bar code on it is pulled by hand through the slot. Slot
scanners are typically used to scan bar codes on identification cards.
c. A CCD scanner has a better read-range than the pen wand, it is a "gun" type interface and has to be held no
more than one inch from the bar code. A disadvantage of the CCD scanner is that it cannot read a bar code that
is wider than its input face.
d. An image scanner, also called a camera reader, uses a small video camera to capture an image of the bar code
and then uses sophisticated digital image processing techniques to decode the bar code. It can read a bar code
from about 3 to 9 inches away and generally costs less than a laser scanner.
e. A laser scanner, either hand-held or stationary, does not have to be close to the bar code in order to do its job. It
uses a system of mirrors and lenses to allow the scanner to read the bar code regardless of orientation, and can
easily read a bar code up to 24 inches away. To reduce the possibility of errors, a laser scanning may perform
up to 500 scans per second. Specialized long-range laser scanners are capable of reading a bar code up to 30
feet away.

4.5. Smart Card System: Smart cards resemble credit cards in size and shape; however, they
contain a microprocessor chip and memory. Smart cards are used most frequently to make
electronic purchases and to electronically transfer funds between accounts. However, these
are used in many applications.
For example, in the health care industry; smart cards could be used to store the holder’s identity,
address, insurance data, relative’s details, allergies, and even a brief medical history. If the
cardholder was disabled by an accident or illness, the card could be used immediately to assist
with treatment. Smart cards could also be used for security applications.
For example, a card could contain the digitized fingerprint of the cardholder, which could be
compared at a security checkpoint to fingerprints of people who are authorized to enter a secured
area.
5. Document Imaging or Image Scanning:
Image Processing captures an electronic image of data so that it can be stored and shared. Imaging
systems can capture almost anything, including keystroked or handwritten documents ( such as
invoices or tax returns), flowcharts, drawings, and photographs. Many companies that use
document imaging are making significant progress toward paperless offices. There are five
distinct steps to document imaging:
Step1: Data capture. The most common means of converting paper documents into electronic
images is to scan them. The scanning device converts the text and pictures into digitized
electronic code. This scanner can range from a simple hand held device to a high-end, high-speed
scanner capable of scanning more than 2,500 pages an hour. Hand held scanners could transform
text or graphical images into machine-readable data.

Step2: Indexing. Document images must be stored in a manner that facilitates their retrieval.
Therefore, important document information, such as purchase order numbers or vendor numbers,
is stored in an index. Great care is needed in designing the indexing scheme, as it affects the ease
of subsequent retrieval of information.

Step 3: Storage. Because images require a large amount of storage space, they are usually stored
on an optical disk. One 5.25-inch optical platter can store 1.4 gigabytes, or about 25,000
documents (equivalent to 3 four-drawer filing cabinets) A 12-inch removable optical disk stores
up to 60,000 documents, and up to 100 optical disks can be stored in devices called jukeboxes.

Step 4: Retrieval. Keying in any information stored in an index can retrieve documents. The index
tells the system which optical disk to search and the requested information can be quickly
retrieved.

Step5: Output. An exact replica of the original document is easily produced on the computer.s
monitor or on paper, or is transmitted electronically to another computer.

Advantages of Image Processing: It has been estimated that 90% of the work accountants and
others do today is done using paper. It is also estimated that the volume of information required
by companies doubles every three or four years. As a result we are faced with being buried by
paper. One solution is to make better use of document imaging. More companies are moving to
this technology and it is estimated that by 2004 only 30% of our work will be paper-based; 70%
will be electronic. The move to document imaging provides the following advantages:
(i) Accessibility : Documents can be accessed and reviewed simultaneously by many people, even
from remote locations.
(ii) Accuracy : Accuracy is much higher because costly and error-prone manual data-entry
processes are eliminated.
(iii) Availability : There are no more lost or misfiled documents.
(iv) Capacity: Vast amounts of data can be stored in very little space, which significantly reduces
storage and office space.
(v) Cost : When large volumes of data are stored and processed, the cost per document is quite
inexpensive. As a result, the costs to input, file, retrieve, and refile documents are reduced
significantly.
(vi) Customer satisfaction : When waiting time is significantly reduced (due to lost or misfiled
documents, queue time, etc.), customers can get the information almost immediately.
(vii) Security : Various levels of passwords (network, data base, files, etc.) and clearances can be
assigned to restrict document access.
(viii) Speed : Data can be retrieved at fantastic speeds. Stored documents can be indexed using
any number of identifying labels, attributes, or keywords.
(ix) Versatility : Handwritten or types text can be added to an image, as can voice messages.
Documents can be added to word processing files; the data can be included in a spreadsheet or
data base.

B. Output Devices:
Computer Output devices are pieces of computer hardware that allow a computer system to communicate
information to a user or another system. This information can be in any form, and includes sound, images, written
documents etc. Output devices can usually only be used to send data from the computer; items called input devices
allow users and other systems to send data to the computer.
Some of the most common output devices allow computers to present information visually. The visual display unit
called a monitor that can be found connected to almost every personal computer is the best example of this. Text,
pictures, and other images are displayed on the monitor, allowing users to interact with computer programs and
receive data.
Video projectors are another type of output device. They function in a way similar to monitors, but display images
over a much larger area.
Computer printers are another type of output device that can be easily found. Printers allow the computer to produce
documents, pictures, and images on paper through the use of inks and other dyes.
Audio output devices are also common. Computer speakers are the primary source of this form of output. They
allow the computer to emit sounds that include music, audio tracks to digitized television shows, and even the
voices of other users. Headphones also do the same thing, but are placed closer to the ears so that the sounds can not
be heard by others.

The devices used to display the data or information from the computer to the outside world are
categorized as output devices.

These devices are used to provide output of data and information from a computer.
1) Monitors
2) Printed Output
3) COM (Computer Output on Microfilm)
4) Audio System(Speaker)
5) Graphical
1) Monitors: A monitor is also called as video display terminal (VDT). Computer monitors
come in a variety of screen sizes. Two types of computer monitors – CRT and Flat pannel .
• Resolution – This will indicate the quality of the picture displayed on the monitor, higher the
resolution the higher the quality. More dots per inch will make higher resolution, therefore
1024 x 768 resolutions will be sharper than 800x600 resoltions.

• Refresh rate: This indicates how many times per second the screen is repainted. Monitors
have different refresh ratios, lower resolution refresh rate will be higher. If refresh rate is 85Hz
the screen will be repainted or refrshed 85 times per second.

Advantages and Limitations of CRT, LCD and Plasma display devices

CRT LCD Plasma
1. Having high dynamic range 1. Very compact and light 1. Compact and light weighted.
of colors, wide gamut and weighted.
low black level.
2. It can display natively in 2. Low power consumption. 2. High contrast ratios,
almost any resolution and excellent color, wide gamut
refresh rate. and low black level.
3. It has low response time 3. No geometric distortion. 3. High speed response time.
generally in Sub-
milliseconds.
4. It has zero color, saturation, 4. Little or no flicker depending on 4. Near zero color, saturation,
contrast or brightness backlight technology. contrast or brightness
distortion as well as distortion as well as
excellent viewing angle. excellent viewing angle.
5. Usually much cheaper than 5. No geometric distortion.
LCD and Plasma.
6. Highly Scalable, with Less
weight gain per increase in
size (from less than 30
inches (760 mm) wide to the
world's largest at 150 inches
(3,800 mm)).

Disadvantages:

1. Large size and weight,
especially for bigger screens
(a 20-inch unit weighs about
20 to 30 Kg).
2. High power consumption.
1. Limited viewing angle, causing 1. Large pixel pitch, meaning either
color, saturation, contrast and low resolution or a large screen.
brightness to vary, even within the
intended viewing angle, by
variations in posture.
2. Uneven backlighting in some 2. Noticeable flicker when viewed at
monitors, causing brightness close range.
distortion, especially toward the
edges.
 3. Geometric distortion caused
by variable beam travel
distances.
4. Older CRTs are prone to
screen burn-out.
5. Produces noticeable flicker
at low refresh rates.
3. Slow response times, which 3. Only has one native resolution.
cause smearing and ghosting Displaying other resolutions
artifacts. Modern LCDs have requires a video scalar, which
response times of 8 mini seconds or degrades image quality at lower
less. resolutions.
4. Only one native resolution. 4. Only has one native resolution.
Displaying resolutions either Displaying other resolutions
requires a video scalar, lowering requires a video scalar, which
perceptual quality, or display at 1:1 degrades image quality at lower
pixel mapping, in which images will resolutions.
be physically too large or won't fill
the whole screen.
5. Fixed bit depth, many cheaper 5. Fixed bit depth, many cheaper
LCDs are incapable of producing Plasma are incapable of
true color. producing true color.
6. In a constant on situation, 6. Dead pixels are possible during
thermalization may occur, which is manufacturing.
when only part of the screen has
overheated and therefore looks
discolored compared to the rest of
the screen.

2) Printed Output:
Printed output is most common or popular form of output of computer. This form of output can be
obtained by using an output device known as printer. Printer is an output device which gives hard
copy or printed output of data on paper.

Types of Printers: There are two types of printer – Impact printers and Non-Impact printers.
Printers

Impact Type Non-Impact Type

Character or Serial
Line Printer
Printer

Thermal Ink Jet Laser

Dot Matrix Daisy Wheel Printer Printer Printer
Printer Printer

Chain Type
Drum Type
Chain Type

A. Impact Printers:
These printers print with hammering or striking the head on paper through a ribbon. These
printers will create some sort of noise while printing on paper just like striking some object on
hard surface.
Character Printers: These are the printers, which print the data character by character. There are
two types of character printers as discussed below.

a. Dot Matrix Printer: These printers print each and every character in the form of
matrix with the help of dots. Dot Matrix printer contain a head, which, contains the wire pins
arranged vertically 9 in nos. or 24 in nos. etc. 9 pins printer prints one character in the 9x9 form of
matrix and 24 pins printer print the same character with higher nos. of dots in the matrix form. 24
pins printer print better quality output as more the nos. of dots per character will be used to
produce printed output.

In Dot Matrix Printer output is printed by striking pins head on the paper with a ribbon and ribbon
puts the impression on the paper similar to a simple typewriter machine. Characters are printed
serially in a line. The printing of character can be unidirectional or bidirectional depending upon
the printer.

Dot Matrix printers have a range of print speeds, print quality and features. Speed of Dot Matrix
printer is measured in terms of CPS (Characters per second) normally it prints 200 characters per
second.

b. Daisy Wheel Printer: This impact printer is just like an electric typewriter. In this
printer there is a circular plastic or metal wheel that looks like a daisy flower with a round center
around which the daisy’s petals grow.
The petals in this case are flexible arms with character engraved on them at the end. The wheel
rotates and the printing is carried out when the wheel is positioned to the correct character and the
print hammer (flexible arm) strikes to produce the output.
A daisy wheel can print only the limited types of fonts as it can print the type of character which
is already engraved on the wheel arm. This printer can produce the good quality printing just like
electronic type writer. But, due to slow speed and limitation in printing the different character
styles, it is not popularly used in commercial applications.

Line Printer: Line printers print many characters at a time. This type of printer is used when the
large volume of output is to be printed and print quality is not as important as the speed. These
printers can print from 300 LPM (Line per Minute) to 3000 LPM. Mainly there are two types of
printers as discussed below.

c. Drum Printer: The drum printer uses a metal drum for printing purpose. This drum
revolves at a high speed, which print the data by striking on paper using hammers through a
ribbon. In one rotation of drum one line is printed. Therefore the speed of Drum is Rotation per
Minute (RPM) provide speed in line per minute.

d. Chain Type: In this type of printer a continuous length of chain is used. This chain is
composed of 5 sections of 48 characters per section. The 48 character are a composite of numeric,
alphabetic and special characters. The chain rotates at a high speed over a continuous length paper
and in-front of the paper are an ink ribbon and below the paper are a set of 132 magnetic hammer.
The chain revolves horizontally and passes all print positions. As the character to be printed
comes to print position the hammer behind the paper gets activated, pressing paper against the
inked ribbon, which in turn presses against the appropriate characters on the chain, thereby
printing the character on paper.

B. Non-Impact Printer: Non-Impact printer produces output without striking on the paper.
These printers are quieter than the impact printers.
Following are the popular non-impact printers:
a. Thermal Printer: These printers are slow speed serial (character type) Non-Impact
printer. These printers work on the principle of a Dot matrix printer and print the output on a
heat sensitive paper. The printer contains a print head which prints the character with the help of
dots in the form of matrix. In this printer the print head contains the pins, which will be heated
and move across the paper and wherever these pins head touch the heat sensitive paper, the
color of the paper changes to black or brown. These printers are normally used in medical
equipments. The most common use of thermal printer in Fax Machine. The quality of output is
not a better quality and hence these are not popular for commercial purposes.

b. Ink Jet Printer: These printers also work on the principle of Dot Matrix printer but
in these printers the head contain the ink nozzle in place of wire pins as it contain in a simple
dot matrix printer. The droplets (Nozzles) of inks are then guide to a proper position on the
paper by some electronic system and ink passes on the paper and a character is formed.

The print quality with these printers is much better than the wire pins dot matrix printer. Nos. of
dots for one character in these printers is approx 500 or more as compared to 63 or more in dot
matrix printer. Ink jet printer can print wide variety of output in different kinds of fonts. These
printers are capable of printing graphic output as well as color output also. These printers are
normally used for personal applications or office applications connected to a personal/micro
computers.

c. Laser Printer: This is the most popular type of Non-Impact printer. Laser printer is
highest quality printer compared with all others.
Data which is to be printed is transferred from CPU to printer in the form of electrical signals. In
printer these signals are converted with beam of laser light into a high intensity invisible image of
data on a selenium drum. When paper passes over this drum, this image is transferred on paper
and paper get charged at places where the image is transferred. This charged image of data on
paper attracts the particles of toner (Dry Ink) when the paper is passes over the toner and they are
permanently fixed using heat.

Laser printer produces a very high quality output. This printer can print any type and style of
fonts, graphic images etc. This printer is mainly used in business correspondence and for
preparation of high quality presentation. This is also compatible to take color printouts. These can
print 4 to 17 pages per minute with the resolution of 600 dpi to 1200 dpi.

3) COM (Computer Output Microfilm/Microfiche):

This is an output technique that records output from a computer as a microscopic image on a roll
or sheet of photographic film. Image stored on a COM are same as the images printed on a paper.
However the images stored on COM can be reduced by 48 times or smaller than the images
printed on a paper. Microfilm comes in the sizes of 16 mm, 36 mm and 100 mm as the normal
photographic roll comes. These are very effective type of media to produce the output. These are
also used where the historical record are to be maintained for so many years, as this type of output
takes smaller space for keeping large amount of printed records than the paper printed records and
these are lesser prone to destruction than the paper records.

To record data on a microfilm from a computer a special device known as microfilm recorder is
required and in the same way for reading also microfilm reader is required. Cost of recording of
data on microfilm is much lesser than the printed data. Even the particular data processing is also
possible with in a second from millions of stored character on microfilm with the help of
specialized software.

Micro film can be of two types in a continuous roll and sheet form. Sheet form film is known as
Micro Fiche.

4) Voice Output Devices:

These days various computer applications uses the voice output, which is generated by a voice
output device that is attached to the computer. Voice output contains the spoken words that are
conveyed to user from the computer.

Voice output is generated by a technique called the voice synthesizer, which can transform words
stored in the main memory into human speech. The words which are converted into sound are first
analyzed by a program. The speech is then projected over speakers attached to the computer.

Voice output is primarily used in the automatic telephonic enquiries system like by telecom
companies and in other types of computerized enquiries example, Railway enquiries, Customer
care for mobiles etc. It is also used by banking industry for answering queries from clients
regarding bank balances etc.
5) Graphic Output (Graph Plotter):

These are the devices used for creating maps, charts, drawings etc on a big size paper sheet. They
are normally used when the hard copy output of drawings of good quality and bigger sizes are
required. The most popular type of graphics output device is plotter. (Plotter is a similar to a
printer but is used only for printing graphical output although the plotter can print alphabetical and
numeric letter but these are normally printer for drawings output only). Like printer plotter are
also getting faster, less expensive and smarter. The plotter is normally supplied with the
CAD/CAM system. The plotter is almost an essential component of CAD system.

Plotters normally print with the help of a Pen and it is known as Pen Plotter.
Pen Plotter: Pen plotter plot the images on a sheet of a paper by the movements of one or more
pens over the surface of paper or by the movement of paper under the tip of a pen.
Pen plotter may be either Drum type or Flat Bed type.
In drum type of plotter the movement of the sheet takes place under the tip of one or more
horizontally moving pens for printing the required image on the paper.
Whereas, in flat bed type of plotter the paper sheet remain fixed, the movement of pens takes
place horizontally and vertically to print the required image. If more than one pen is used in the
plotter then normally drawings with different colors are possible.

Case Study 1
Automated Scoring of General Assessment Test for Students
Introduction
In response to education reform In India and accountability requirements, most recently, the Right
to Education Act, national agencies, states, and large districts across the country has implemented
far-reaching systems that reform educational standards and include large-scale assessments to
monitor student achievement of those standards. Basic reform strategies emphasize the need for
high academic standards describing what all students should know and be able to do and high-
quality assessments aligned with those standards. States have developed and implemented
assessment programs that correspond to curriculum standards and assess students in designated
grade levels and subjects.
Challenges
The authorities has combined both traditional and innovative measures in the design of large scale
assessment programs, most of which include multiple-choice, short answer, open response
questions, and writing tasks for elementary, middle, high school, and college students. The
teachers and local educators are usually involved in the processes of test development, standard
setting, scoring, and interpretation of results. The objective of this case study is to address the
challenges faced by the teacher in scoring of the assessment test papers that are returned after test
administration.
The key challenges faced in the scoring process:
– To process vast number of answer sheets.
– To provide results in timely manner to meet Department of Education (DOE) deadlines.
– To assure 99.9% accuracy of all student results.
– To provide highly automated processing with minimum human intervention.
– To provide scalable solution to meet peak processing.
– To get cost effective solution.
Kind of document to be processed
Once the test development is completed, the end result is a student test booklet containing various
content areas like Computer, Math, Science, etc. Each content area contains multiple test
questions. The question could be in form of multiple-choice, short-answer, open-response, or
writing. The first page of the booklet and the multiple choice questions has “bubble” areas to fill
in the answers. The “bubble” area is a set of blank ovals or boxes that correspond to each
question, usually on separate answer sheets of paper or underneath the question.
Students use 2 HB pencils to mark their answers, or other information by darkening ovals areas.
The student booklet also contains a bar code describing the serial number of the booklet. The
serial number binds the student to the booklet. Each sheet of the booklet contains a page number
and it is related to the configuration of bubble areas on each page.
Solution
The customer has implemented automated scoring solution based on Forms Processing application
to recognize machine printer character using Optical Character Recognition (OCR), penciled
bubbles using Optical Mark Recognition (OMR), handwriting using Intelligent Character
Recognition (ICR) & Barcode technologies off the student test booklet. Students’ booklets are cut
into sheets and scanned by high speed scanning systems that use Kodak 840 scanners to create
JPEG image files. These image files are then processed by Forms Recognition Processor that is
calibrated to recognize various booklets types and the contents of each booklet type including
bubble, bar-coded, and machine printed areas. The following diagram depicts the process. The
application processes in the following way:
ICR for hand printed characters OMR for penciled mark bubbles OCR for machine printed
characters Barcode.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS:

1. The standard keyboard has ___________ keys.
a) 95 b) 101 c) 111 d) None of the above
2. An input device which is used to draw the graphics for engineer, architect or a fashion designer
is ________.
a) Touch screen b) Light Pen c) Joystick d) Track Ball
3. The terminal that has built in processing capability and is user-programmable also is known as:
a) Dumb terminal b) Intelligent terminal
c) Smart terminal d) None of the above
4. Display devices that are capable of producing graphics output commonly employ a method
called ___________.
a) Bit mapping b) Byte mapping
c) Word mapping d) None of the above
5. LCD and gas-plasma displays are which kind of display devices?
a) CRT Based b) Flat-Panel Based
c) Both A and B d) None of the above
6. Which of the technology has the potential of reading handwritten documents straightway?
a) OMR b) OCR
c) Both A and B d) None of the above
7. A high speed scanner is capable of scanning more than ________ pages an hour.
a) 1000 b) 2000
c) 3500 d) 2500
8. Printing is done by spraying ionized ink at a sheet of paper __________.
a) By Dot-matrix printer b) By Laser printer
c) By Ink-jet printer d) None of the above
9. A 16 MM or 35 MM roll of film contains how many pages of information?
a) 1000 to 3000 pages b) 2000 to 4000 pages
c) 2000 to 5000 pages d) None of the above
10. The card which translates digital sounds into electric current is known as ________.
a) Sound Card b) Smart Card
c) Credit Card d) None of the above
11. The mouse which uses wireless technology to operate the computer is known as______.
a) Serial Mouse b) USB Mouse
c) Cordless mouse d) None of the above
12. The resolution of SVGA is _______________.
a) 640 x 480 pixels b) 640 x 840 pixels
c) 1024 x 600 pixels d) None of the above
13. How many types of Bar code reader is available for application uses ?
a) 3 b) 5
c) 4 d) 6
14. SOHO is the name of which kind of printer.
a) Thermal printer b) Line printer
c) Ink-Jet printer d) Multi-functional printer

1. b 2. b 3. b 4. a 5. b 6. b 7. d 8. c 9. c 10. a 11. c 12. a 13. b 14. d