INTRODUCTION

INPUT DEVICE
An input device is any hardware device that sends data to the computer, without any input devices a computer would only be a display device and not allow users to interact with it, much like a TV. In the picture to the right, is a Logitech trackball mouse and an example of an input device. Below is a complete listing of all the different computer input devices that can be used on a computer.

Types of input devices

Audio conversion device Barcode reader Business Card Reader Digital camera and Digital Camcorder Finger (with touchscreen) Fingerprint scanner Gamepad, Joystick, Paddle, Steering wheel, and Microsoft Kinect Graphics tablet Keyboard Light gun Magnetic-stripe reader Medical imaging devices (e.g., X-Ray, CAT Scan, and Ultrasound images) Microphone (using speech recognition) MIDI keyboard Mouse, touchpad, or other pointing device Optical Mark Reader (OMR) Remote Scanner Sonar imaging devices Touch screen Video capture device VR helmet and gloves Webcam

CLASSIFICATION OF INPUT DEVICES

Many input devices can be classified according to :

The modality of input (e.g. mechanical motion, audio, visual, sound, etc.) whether the input is discrete (e.g. keypresses) or continuous (e.g. a mouse's position, though digitized into a discrete quantity, is high-resolution enough to be thought of as continuous) the number of degrees of freedom involved (e.g. many mice allow 2D positional input, but some devices allow 3D input, such as the Logitech Magellan Space Mouse) Pointing devices, which are input devices used to specify a position in space, can further be classified according to Whether the input is direct or indirect. With direct input, the input space coincides with the display space, i.e. pointing is done in the space where visual feedback or the cursor appears. Touchscreens and light pens involve direct input. Examples involving indirect input include the mouse and trackball. Whether the positional information is absolute (e.g. on a touch screen) or relative (e.g. with a mouse that can be lifted and repositioned) Note that direct input is almost necessarily absolute, but indirect input may be either absolute or relative. For example, digitizing graphics tablets that do not have an embedded screen involve indirect input, and sense absolute positions and are often run in an absolute input mode, but they may also be setup to simulate a relative input mode where the stylus or puck can be lifted and repositioned.

KEYBOARD
This is most commonly used device which acts as input device. Its structure is like typewriter.It contains no. of keys which have some specific ASCII values. Like A has ASCII value 65. When this is pressed , it is converted into 65 & this 65 is sent to CPU in the form of Binary language (i.e. 1000001). Then operations are done on this data.

MOUSE
This is a pointing device which contains a roller in its base. When the mouse is moved on any surface, the pointer on the screen is also moved. It contains a potentiometer coupled with the roller. This potentiometer senses the motion of mouse & convert it into digital value. A mouse may contain two or three buttons.

BAR CODE READER

It is a device which is used to read the code from the products which are usually in the form of Bars. It contains a light sensitive detector which identifies the values of the bars on the product & converts them into numeric code. These Bar re aders are used in Shopping malls in a very large scale.

DIGITAL CAMERA
As the name specifies, these camera stores the data digitally, which then can be stored in the computer & can be stored for a long time. But it has very limited storage capacity. These are very popular because of less expensive photographs & Speed.

LIGHT PEN
It is a pointing device which contains a photocell mounted at its tip. It senses the light from the screen when it becomes closer to the screen, & generates a pulse. So for identifying a particular location on the screen these light pens are very useful. But this is not in very much use these days.

SCANNER
The scanner is an input device like the photocopier machine which makes the electronic copy of the picture or document which can be further edited.

MIC's or MICROPHONES
The scanner is an input device like the photocopier machine which makes the electronic copy of the picture or document which can be further edited.

Joystick
A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Joysticks, also known as 'control columns', are the principal control in the cockpit of many civilian and military aircraft, either as a center stick or side-stick. They often have supplementary switches on them to control other aspects of the aircraft's flight.many people use joysticks on computer games involving flight such as flight simulator.

Trackball
A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball held by a socket containing sensors to detect a rotation of the ball about two axeslike an upside-downmouse with an exposed protruding ball. The user rolls the ball with the thumb, fingers, or the palm of the hand to move a pointer.