Tools For Collecting

Numerical Input Devices

Magnetic Stripe:♥ A type of card capable of storing data by modifying the magnetism of tiny iron-based magnetic particles on a band of magnetic material on the card.♥ The magnetic stripe is read by physical contact and swiping past a reading head.♥ Commonly used in credit cards, identity cards, transportation tickets.

Barcode Readers:♥ An electronic device for reading printed barcodes .♥ Consists of a light source, a lens and a light sensor which translates optical impulses into electrical impluses.♥ Nearly all barcode readers contain decoder circuitry analysing the barcode's image data provided by the sensor and sending the barcode's content to the scanner's output port.

Numeric Keypad:♥ A small, palm-sized, section of a computer keyboard, usually on the very far right.♥ Features digits 0 to 9, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, a decimal point, Num Lock and Enter keys.

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Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR):♥ A character recognition technology adopted mainly by the banking industry to facilitate the processing of cheques.♥ Characters are print in unique fonts using magnetic ink or toner, usually containing iron oxide. ♥ Magnetic printing is used so that the characters can be reliably read into a system, even when they have been overprinted with other marks such as cancellation stamps.

Optical Mark Recognition (OMR):♥ The process of capturing human-marked data from document forms such as surveys and tests.♥ Disadvantage: If the user wants to gather large amounts of text then OMR complicates the data collection, there is also the possibility of missing data in the scanning process, incorrectly or unnumbered pages can lead to them being scanned in the wrong order.

Smart Cards:♥ They are in any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits which can process data. ♥ This implies that it can receive input which is processed and deliver it as an output.♥ Can be used for identification, authentication, and data storage.

Numeric Keypad

Barcode Reader

Magnetic Stripe

Smart Card

OMR

MICR

Graphical Input Devices

Scanner:♥ A device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting, or an object, and converts it to a digital image.♥ There is also a 3D scanner, which digitizes the three-dimensional shape of a real object.♥ Uses a beam of light to read the colours of an image or a piece of text. It then converts this information into a digital file. Which can then be sent to a computer for processing.

Digital Camera:♥ Takes video or still photographs, digitally by recording images via an electronic image sensor.♥ Uses lenses to focus the image onto an electronic sensor rather than a strip of film.♥ When a picture is taken, the sensor converts the light striking it into an electrical charge.♥ The strike is then sent to a circuit inside the camera, which measures it and produces a digital value.♥ Computer chips process the data to construct the image, which is then stored on a memory card.

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Graphics Tablet:♥ A computer input device that allows one to 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.♥ Graphic tablets consists of a flat surface upon which the user may "draw" 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.

Video Frame Grabber:♥ An electronic device that captures individual, digital still frames from an analogue video signal or a digital video stream.♥ It is usually employed as a component of a computer vision system, in which video frames are captured in digital form and then displayed, stored or transmitted in raw or compressed digital form.♥ Only has enough memory to acquire and store a single digitized video frame... Hence the name...

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Electronic Whiteboard:♥ A large interactive display that connects to a computer and projector. ♥ A projector projects the computer's desktop onto the board's surface, where users control the computer using a pen, finger or other device. ♥ The board is typically mounted to a wall or on a floor stand.

Facsimile:♥ A telecommunications technology used to transfer copies of documents, especially using affordable devices operating over the telephone network.♥ Telefacsimile: to "make a copy at a distance”.♥ Advantages: the delivery is nearly instantaneous unlike postal mail. ♥ Disadvantages: in quality have relegated it to a position beneath email as the prevailing form of electronic document

transferral.

Scanner

Digital Camera

Graphics TabletVideo Frame Grabber

Electronic WhiteboardFacsimile

Audio Input Devices

Microphone:♥ An acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, tape recorders.♥ Uses a thin membrane which vibrates in response to sound pressure.♥ This movement is subsequently translated into an electrical signal.♥ Most microphones in use today for audio use electromagnetic induction, capacitance change, piezoelectric generation, or light modulation to produce the signal from mechanical vibration.

Speakers:♥Amplifier:

♦ Any device that changes/increases, the amplitude of a signal. The "signal" is usually voltage or current.

♦ The relationship of the input to the output of an amplifier - usually expressed as a function of the input frequency - is called the transfer function of the amplifier, and the magnitude of the transfer function is termed the gain.

Audio Input Devices Continued...

Sound Card:♥ Computer expansion card that facilitates the input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under control of computer programs.♥ Provides the audio component for multimedia applications such as music composition, editing video or audio, presentation, education, and games. ♥ Many computers have sound capabilities built in, while others require additional expansion cards to provide for audio capability. ♥ You need it to be able to hear sound...

Microphone Speakers

Sound Card

Video Input Devices

Digital Video Camera:♥ Used for electronic motion picture acquisition, initially developed by the television industry but now common in other applications as well.

Firewire Cable:♥ A serial bus interface standard for high-speed communications and has faster real-time data transfer, frequently used by personal computers, as well as in digital audio, digital video, automotive, and aeronautics applications.

Webcam:♥ A video capturing device connected to a computer or computer network, often using USB or, if they connect to networks, ethernet or Wi-Fi.♥ Has many privacy issues.

Digital Video Camera

Firewire Cable

Webcam

References...

Wikipedia

Google Images