Input Devices of Computer

Input Devices

The devices which are used to feed the Data or instructions into the computer are known as Input devices. An Input device converts input data and instructions into a suitable binary form which is stored in the Main Memory of a computer.

List of Input Devices

1. Keyboard
2. Mouse
3. Joystick
4. Touch Pad
5. Light Pen
6. Scanner
7. OMR (Optical Mark Recognition)
8. BCR (Bar Code Reader)
9. MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition)
10. Digital Camera
11. Webcam
12. Voice Recognition System
13. Microphone
14. Touch Screen
15. Biometric Device

Functions of Input Devices

Keyboard – Keyboard is the most common input device which is used to enter data into the computer. It contains alphabets, digits, special characters, functional keys and some control keys. Most popular keyboard layout is QWERTY which is named after the first character row of this board.

Mouse – It is a pointing device which means that it permits the user to select something on the monitor screen by pointing to it. It is used for drawing sketches, diagrams etc. It is also used to edit text. A typical mouse has two to three buttons, which are left button, right button and the middle scroll button.

Joystick – Joystick is used to play multimedia games. It can be used to move the objects in any direction. Joysticks enable the user to “fly” or “drive” through a game, directing a vehicle or character.

Touch-Pad - Touch-pad is used to feed the instructions into computer memory by finger touch. This is mostly used with Laptop Computers.

         

Light Pen – Light pen is used to mark and finalize output or input. After few seconds mark of light pen is automatically erased.

Scanner - Scanner is used to gather the output i.e. information on the monitor after that we can easily take print out of that information.

OMR - OMR is Optical Marks Recognition. Marks or marking is given in a particular form by the user by pen or pencil. The OMR quickly scans the form and convert the markings into data, which in turn can be used for various purposes.

BCR - BCR stands for Bar Code Reader. It reads the code that is printed on products and sends a signal to the computer. The code contains price of the product, some information about the product and company.

MICR - MICR stands for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition. It has magnetic properties to recognize the character. It is used to detect the Alpha-Numeric characters printed on the bank cheque and currency.

Digital Camera - A digital camera captures the images by breaking down into series of lines and presents them in front of a viewer such that it looks like a video is being played.

Webcam - A Web Camera (webcam) allows a computer to accept input just by focusing on an object. We can make video clips. It is an essential component used in video chatting.

Voice Recognition system - Voice Input and Recognition System consists of a Microphone that converts human speech into electrical signals. A signal pattern obtained in this manner is sent to the computer where it is matched against pre-stored patterns to identify the input. When a close match is found, a word is recognized by the system. A system is trained to recognize the voice.Google assistant is the best example.

Microphone - A microphone (mike) is a device that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones.

Touch Screen – A touchscreen is a both input and output device and normally layered on the top of an electronic visual displays such as cell phone, laptop. A user can give input or control the information through simple or multi-touch gestures by touching the screen.

Biometric Device - A biometric device is a security identification and authentication device. Such devices are used to verify or recognise the identity of a living person based on a physiological or behavioral characteristic. These characteristics include fingerprints, facial images (face scan), iris (retinal scan) and voice recognition.