CompSci IO Vocab

Active Matrix LCD

Each pixel has its own circuit that controls the twisting of the liquid crystal in that pixel. This level of control allows these screens to have higher contrast ratios and produce better images than their passive counterparts

Aspect Ratio

The ratio between the width and heigh of a display device. In most, but not all, cases this takes one of two values: full screen(4:3) and anamorphic widescreen(16:9)

Augmented Reality

A type of interactive computer experience in which users interact with virtual items that are superimposed on top of the real world. This may include such things as navigation arrows or additional information boxes that pop up next to real objects and enhance out ability to use them.  

Band Printer

A type of impact printer that produces letters on paper using a metal band. The band has every  letter of the alphabet  stamped into it and when the printer desires to print a given letter it spins the band so that the correct imprint is facing the paper. The printer then stamps the band against an inked ribbon that is forced into the paper to make the letter.

Biometrics

A device that is designed to make use of a biological measurement such as the lengths of a person's fingers. Most of these are created to help authenticate the identity of a user through traits such as hand geometry, fingerprints, voice timbre, or retinal pattern

Contrast Ratio

This is the ratio between the brightest and darkest pixels a computer screen can display.

CRT Monitor

Older computers made use of monitors that employed a Cathode Ray Tube to place images on a screen - works by firing electrons from the back of a vacuum tube and using them to excite red, green, and blue phosphors found on the inside of the screen surface

Cursor

A small blinking line on the computer screen that indicates where keyboard input will go if the user should start typing

DLP Digital Light Processing

is used in projectors and creates an image by using thousands of microscopic mirrors along with a color wheel to create vivid images

DOT Pitch

On a CRT monitor, a measurement of the thickness of the black region between pixels. Typically measured as 10ths of a millimeter with a good modern CRT display having a one of 0.2mm or less

DPI

A measurement of resolution that indicates the number of dots of ink or color that are printed into a length of 1 inch

Ergonomics

is the science of creating devices so that they fit well with the human body. ——— keyboards and mice possess body fitting contours and are designed to reduce the stresses placed on their operators

Fax Machine

A device that transmits a scanned document through the telephone lines to another similar machine that then prints or saves it. Many modern computers include a fax modem that not only allows one to connect to an ISP, but can also be used to send and receive faxes.

Field Camera

A more complicated version of a point and shoot camera that allows photographers to capture very high quality images - can often support all the kinds of lens a professional 35mm camera can support and can provide a resolution of 15+ Megapixels

Flat Panel Display

Any type of display device that is designed to be as thin as possible and to reduce desk space. Examples include LCD screens and plasma displays

Graphics Tablet

This is another form of pen input where a user can make selections or write through the use of a pen on a pressure sensitive pad. Unlike a simple stylus arrangement, these have delicate pressure sensors that can determine just how hard the user draws. This makes them ideal for the creation of graphics or artwork and can handle delicate tasks like shading

Hard Copy

Any output from a computer that is rendered in a tangible form is called ———-. Can consist of printouts, 3D printed prototypes, ID cards, machined parts, and even printed cells.

Impact Printer

A printer that creates images or characters by striking something against an ink ribbon that then transfers ink to the paper. Examples include:

• Dot Matrix - pushes bins

• Line - pushes enough pins to make a whole line

• Band - pushes characters stamped into a metal band

• Shuttle-Matrix

Ink-Jet Printer

A type of printer that produces images and text on paper by spraying ink through thousands of tiny nozzles

Isometric Pointing Device

Also known as a pointing stick, this small erasure like nub is placed in the middle of the keyboard and moves the pointer around the screen by sensing pressure. Despite what many users may wish, the nub is fixed and will break if too much pressure is applied

Keyboard

A collection of keys arranged so that one can enter characters into a computer. Keyboards may be created with a basic QWERTY layout or may use a more streamlined layout such as that created by Dvorak. Some keyboards may also be designed to be ergonomic and reduce wrist and hand strain when typing

LCD Monitor

A computer monitor that takes advantage of the polarizing properties of liquid crystals to produce images on a screen

Light Pen

A small hand-held device that detects the presence of light. Most commonly used to select items from colored menus on a screen but have also seen application in computer games such as the gun in the game "Duck Hunt"

MICR - Magnetic Ink Character Recognition

in which the computer examines documents in a special magnetic ink and renders them usable on the computer. Currently, this is most commonly used on bank checks

Monochrome

displays images using only active one color along with the standard black background. For example, a black and white monitor. In many early systems, the phosphors used in CRTs glowed green and gave rise to a green/black monitor.

Mouse

A pointing device that fits conveniently under the palm of the hand and moves the pointer by being dragged across a surface. Mechanical mice make use of a ball and rollers to detect the motion of the device; where as, optical mice make use of light reflected off the surface on which the mouse sits

Native Resolution

LCD displays are manufactured to work optimally at a specific resolution called the ———————. The monitor can display images at other resolutions but the quality of the image often suffers

Near Letter Quality (NLQ)

Print produced from a computer printer that is good enough to be legible but not acceptable for a business letter or formal communication is considered to be:

Non-Impact Printer

Creates images or characters by using a means other than striking an inked ribbon. Examples include:

• Inkjet

• Laser

• Thermal

  • cheap fax machine printers

  • dye sublimation printers

• Plotters

OCR - Optical Character Recognition

indicates a technique in which the computer attempts to analyze an image and extract actual ASCII or Unicode characters. For example, a user could take an entry from a book, scan it into the computer, and then use this to render it as a word document they could then edit

OMR - Optical Mark Recognition

Technology in which the computer analyzes a document for marks made with a pencil, pen, or marker that it can detect, and then compares those marks with an answer sheet read in previously - i.e. a scantron test

Passive Matrix LCD

Each row and coulum of the screen is controlled by a separate circuit. This control is not as precise as that found in an active matrix screen and tends to make for cheaper monitors at the expense of image quality

Pixel

is short for picture(pix) element(el) and refers to the small bits of color that go together to make up an image. In a CRT monitor pixels are made from a combination of red, green, and blue phosphors. In a LCD monitor, pixels are made from cells containing liquid crystals together with red, green, and blue filters.

Plasma TV/Display

A type of flat screen monitor in which images are created by taking advantage of the properties of ionized gas(plasma) - are very bright and have wonderful color, unfortunately the pixels tend to burn out and are subject to burn-in

Point and Shoot Camera

A smaller digital camera that makes use of a single CCD to capture photographs. Currently have a resolution of around 8 megapixels and have no attachments

Refresh Rate

In CRT monitors an electron beam is focused onto individual phosphors to make them glow and produce an image. The gun has to be scanned over the phosphors starting at the top and working to the bottom of the monitor. The number of times the electron beam does this each second is known as the ————

Resolution

The number of rows and colums of pixels(soft copy) or dots (hard copy) that make up a display or printout

Response Time

LCD monitors do not refresh from top to bottom quite the same way a CRT does. Instead transistors change how much the liquid crystals in each pixel are twisted. The time it takes for a pixel to respond to the change is called the —————-

RFID - Radio Frequency Identification

A tag that allows one to identify a product, person, key, or animal by the radio signals it emits. Used to tag pets, prevent shoplifting, and in intelligent car keys

Scanner

A device that uses cameras or other means to scan a document or object and render an image on the computer. After being captured, a scanner image may be subjected to analysis such as OMR, OCR, or MICR

Soft Copy

Output from a computer that is displayed by a monitor or projector is called ——— because it is not tangible and cannot be held

Studio Camera

A high quality digital camera that is directly connected to a computer and, as such, is limited to use in a controlled environment such as a studio

Stylus

A small plastic or metal pen that is used to interact with a touch sensitive screen to allow a user to write or make selections. Some PDAs allow users to implement commands with the pen using simple strokes called gestures

Thermal Printer

A type of printer that uses heated pins and temperature sensitive paper to produce images

Touch Pad

A pressure sensitive pad that moves a pointer on the computer screen by capturing the motion of a finger or fingers across its surface

Touch Screen

A screen that allows a user to directly interact with visual elements by touching them. Simple single-touch screens are excellent for applications where a user only needs to make selections from a list of provided options. These kind of screens have seen use in election systems. A multi-touch screen is more advanced and can detect touches from multiple fingers or multiple users. This makes multi-touch screens very powerful for use in GUI's and modern computers

Trackball

a mechanical mouse that has been turned upside down. Instead of dragging the device across a surface, a user rolls the exposed ball. They have the advantage that they are stationary.

Video Card

A computer expansion card that takes graphical data from the computer and converts it to a signal that can be transmited to a monitor over a wire or cable

Viewable Size

The diagonal measurement of the actual viewable area of a display device. It is always smaller than the actual physical size measurment given by most manufacturers. For example, a 22in TV may actually only have 22.8in viewable

Virtual Reality

A technology that allows computer users to step inside a virtual world and interact with objects that do not exist in reality. This technology generally provides 3D vision using goggles and may make use of other kinds of input devices to help users interact with the virtual world

Voice/Speech Recognition

Technology that attempts to take a recording of a person's voice and translate it into characters and words that a computer can use. For example, one could dictate a paper and it would show up as an editable document in MS Word

Web Camera

A camera that streams its current images over the web

Bluetooth Pens

A pen like the apple pencil that uses Bluetooth along with internal sensors to allow one to write on a tablet 

Optical Zoom

The maximum magnification using optical elements 

Digital Zoom

The maximum magnification using digital processing techniques 

Capture Speed

How fast the camera can capture an image 

Dynamic Range

The range between the brightest and darkest elements the camera can distinguish

Optical Scanner

like a camera in that it is used to capture an image, but it does so on documents and uses DPI to measure its resolution 

Speaker Dependent Recognition Software

the software must be trained to understand your voice

Speaker Independent Recognition Software

No training require for the program to recognize voice inputs, though it can still struggle with certain words/accents

VRAM

A specialized memory within many video cards

Data Projectors

Project images from the computer to a screen for an audience to see 

Terminals

devices that can perform both input and output 

Dumb Terminals

A terminal with no processing power and must be connected to a host computer 

Intelligent Terminals

Terminals that can function independently of the host computer

Special Purpose Terminals

Examples include point-of-sale (POS) and ATM terminals

CCD - Charge Coupled Device

Device used in a digital camera instead of film to record the light collected by the lense

Dvorak

Type of keyboard that was designed based on the psychology of typing

Toner

Fine powder that used used by laser printers to produce an image on a page