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5403 : INFORMATION AND

COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

BY:
SAIRA HAMEED
LECTURER

ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY, ISLAMABAD

Unit 3

INPUT DEVICES
Introduction of Input Devices
• Input devices are used to feed data into a computer. Keyboard and mouse are most
popular input devices.
• Input Devices
• The Input devices are used to enter the data and instructions into the computer.
• Following are most widely used Input devices.
• Keyboard Device
• Point and Draw Devices
• Touch Screen
• Digitizer
• Speech Recognition Device
• Data Scanning Devices
Keyboard Device
• Keyboard is a standard input device as readily available for us to feed the data. A keyboard
is similar to a conventional type writer with about 101 keys as shown below.
• A keyboard is divided into three major parts.
a) Function Keys
b) Numeric Keys
c) Alphabetic Keys
Keyboard Device
• Function Keys
• Function keys are 12 in numbers labeled as F1 to F12.
• Function keys are programmable keys to perform a specific stored function. For
example: F1 key is used for help option.
Keyboard Device
• Numeric Keys
• Numeric keypad is very important for entering numeric data. Numeric keypad is
switched “ON” and switch “Off” by pressing “Num lock” key.
• Numeric keypad can also be used for “Arrow keys” and page up & down tasks as
mentioned on the keys.
Keyboard Device
• Alphabetic Keys
• Alphabetic keys are used to type the character data. It is used for normal typing work.
Point and Draw Devices
• Point and draw device is an input device which helps to rapidly point and select an icon to
display on the screen.
• Some of the most popular point and draw devices are described below
• Trackball
• Joy Stick
• Mouse
• Light Pen
Point and Draw Devices
• Trackball
• Trackball works just like a mouse; trackball contains only one ball instead of different buttons
like left or right etc.
• Trackball uses this ball to move the cursor position from one location to the other.
• Trackball neither uses any such pad nor covers much space.
Point and Draw Devices
• Joy Stick
• Joy stick is a pointing device.
• Joy stick is mostly used by the children to play their games.
• Joy stick is also used as a control stick in the aeroplanes to control the movements.
• It consists of a handle, which can be used to move the cursor position left, right, up and down.
• Joy stick can also be attached with a television set.
• It uses USB or serial port for connection.
• Joy stick is faster than keyboard.
Point and Draw Devices
• Mouse
• Mouse is a pointing device.
• User can move cursor very rapidly on the screen with the help of mouse.
• Mouse controls the movements of the cursor positions.
• There is variety of mouse available in the market.
• For example: Wheel mouse, laser mouse, wireless mouse etc.
• Wheel Mouse
• Wheel mouse contains left, right buttons, and a wheel button at the middle.
• Wheel button is used to scroll the pages up and down very rapidly.
Point and Draw Devices
• Laser Mouse
• Laser mouse uses the laser beam for its movement.
• Laser mouse does not need any mouse pad.
• Laser mouse is automatically activated as it gets attached with the computer.
• Light Pen
• Light pen is a pointing device, which is used for making drawings.
• Light pen rapidly moves on the screen just like ordinary pen but it

works with electricity.

• Light pen does not need any alphabetic keys.
Touch Screen
• Touch screen is an input device.
• Touch screen is capable to touch the data directly by using fingers within the display area.
• Touch screen is very simple and easy to use.
• Currently it is also used in the mobile phones
 Digitizer
• Digitizer is an input device.
• Digitizer is used to convert the maps, pictures and drawings into a digital form for storing
in the computer system.
• A Digitizer consists of a digitizing tablet and a stylus (pen).
• Digitizing tablet is a flat surface on which stylus or a pen is moved to draw shapes, pictures
or maps etc.
Speech Recognition Device
• Speech Recognition is an input device.
• Speech Recognition allows a person to input data to the computer through speaking or
voice.
• Speech Recognition device converts the human voice into text.
• This device is especially helpful for the disable persons.
• Speech recognition has the capability to first recognize words with the help of software or a
device then convert into text or device readable format.
Speech Recognition Device
Types of Speech Recognition System
• Single Word Speech Recognition System
• These systems recognize only single word like “Hello', “Yes”, “No”, at one time.

• Continuous Type of Words Speech Recognition System

• This type of Speech Recognition System recognizes more than one word or a complete
sentence. For example “hello how are you”.
Speech Recognition Device
Uses of Speech Recognition System
• Speech Recognition Systems are especially helpful for the disable persons, who cannot
write.
• It helps those persons who feel comforts to speak rather than to write.
• It facilitates a user in a situation where he/she is unable to edit & review a long text.
• It also helps the users, who are quite busy and don't want to type the data due to shortage of
time.
Data Scanning Devices
• Image Scanner
• Flatbed Scanner
• Hand-Held Scanners

• OCR (Optical Character Recognition)

• OMR (Optical Mark Reader)
• BCR (Bar Code Reader)
• MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition)
• Electronic Card Reader
• Vision Input System
Data Scanning Devices
• Image Scanner
• Image scanner is an input device.
• Image scanner translates the documents into an electronic format and stores them into the
computer.
• Important documents can be preserved in an electronic form by using image scanner for later
use.
• These documents can also be printed.
Data Scanning Devices
• Image Scanner
• Image scanner is further classified into the following

• Flatbed Scanner
• Flatbed Scanner is like a photocopier machine having a glass sheet.
• Flatbed scanner is also called desktop scanners.
• In a flatbed scanner, the paper is placed on a glass sheet, and a light source is moved
horizontally from one line to other line.
• The process is repeated until all the lines are completed.
Data Scanning Devices
• Image Scanner
• Image scanner is further classified into the following

• Hand-Held Scanners
• A handheld scanner is an input device.
• Hand-held scanner works much like a flatbed scanner but it works manually by the user itself.
• For scanning the documents or products, the scanner is dragged slowly with its light on.
• Hand-held scanners are mostly used in the shops to scan the price of the products.
OCR (Optical Character Recognition)
• OCR is also called Optical Character Reader.
• Optical Character Reader uses software called “OCR software”.
• The scanner first creates an image of the document and then OCR software converts that
image into ASCII text.
• Computer interprets the ASCII text as letters, numbers and special characters.
• OCR is also called as ICR (Intelligent Character Recognition), which is used to scan images
and text.
OMR (Optical Mark Reader)
• Optical Mark Reader has the capability to recognize the pre-mentioned marks either of a
pen or a pencil.
• Optical Mark Reader is specifically helpful for making objective type questions.
• The students mark the answer sheet by filling/darkening a circle, oval shape or square.
• This printed answer sheet is fed into the computer and the grading is done by using Optical
Mark Reader.
BCR (Bar Code Reader)
• Barcode reader is an input device. It is normally used in the shops, glossary stores.
• This device contains the photo electric cells that read bar codes consisting of lines having
different thickness.
• Barcode reader helps shopkeepers to analyze the price of an item immediately.
MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition)
• Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) is an input device.
• MICR is used to read the magnetically encoded characters.
• MICR is a system that provides a full alphanumeric recognition of printed or handwritten
characters by simply scanning the form.
• A user scans the data through a scanner, which is recognized by an engine of the OCR
system.
• The MICR converts the images into machine-readable characters.
Electronic Card Reader
• Electronic Card Reader is an input device which is used to scan e-cards / smart cards like
visa card, bank credit cards etc. An electronic card reader reads the memory card of the
ATM debit card or visa card etc.
• The memory card is in the form of a black strip, which is wiped through an electronic
device called an Electronic card Reader machine.
Vision Input System
• Vision Input System is one of the latest input devices that recognize the vision, image,
which appears in the range of its lens.
• These are especially used to design industrial Robots.
Lecture 3 Summary
• Introduction of Input Devices
• Keyboard Device
• Point and Draw Devices
• Touch Screen
• Digitizer
• Speech Recognition Device
• Data Scanning Devices
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