Chapter 7: Basic Computer Principles

Computer

What refers to a programmable electronic device that can store, retrieve, and process data?

- Keyboards

- Mice

- Microphones

- Bar Code Readers

- Touch Screens

- Image Scanners

What are the six input devices a computer uses?

- Monitors

- Printers

- Speakers

What are the three output devices a computer uses?

Binary Code

What refers to a machine language of 1s and 0s?

Through a series of transistors, which are switches that are on or off

In terms of the binary code, how is computer processing performed?

1

If the circuit is closed and a current passes through, what is its assigned value?

0

If the circuit is open and a current does not pass through, what is its assigned value?

millions / second

A computer's transistors can be switched on and off ______________ of times in a _____________

Bit

What refers to a single unit of data?

1 / 0

A bit can be either a ____ or a ____

Byte

What is made up of 8 bits and is the amount of memory needed to store one alphanumeric character?

By the number of bytes and kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes

What is the computer's memory defined by, and what are they?

The case

What is the hardware component of the computer that is made of heavy metal and has two major functions?

In a relatively cool, clean, and safe environment

One of the major functions of the case is holding all of the computer's components in what?

From the radio frequencies being emitted by the electronic components of the computer

The second major function of the case is shielding the outside environment from what?

The Motherboard

What is the largest circuitry board inside the computer that contains many important small components to make the computer function properly?

- CPU

- CMOS

- BIOS

- Bus

- Ports

- Memory

What is all included in the motherboard components?

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

What is a small chip found on the motherboard, and is a series of transistors that are arranged in order to manipulate data received from the software?

read / manipulate / move

The basic task of a CPU is to _________ data from storage, ______________ the data, and then ________ the data back to sotrage or send it to external devices, such as monitors or printers

Basic Input/Output System (BIOS)

What does the microprocessor use during the boot-up process of the computer to help bring the computer to life?

Runs the start-up diagnostic on the system

What does the BIOS run on the system to make sure all the peripherals are functioning properly?

The basic functions of receiving and interpreting signals

What does the BIOS oversee the basic function of?

The Bus

What refers to a series of connections, controllers, and chips that creates the information highway of the computer?

The Universal Serial Bus (USB)

What type of bus is used for a variety of devices?

Random Access Memory (RAM)

What stores information currently being processed within the CPU temporarily and takes the data from the CPU so that the CPU can handle the processing needs of the programs that are running?

Bytes

What is memory measured in?

Ports

What is a collection of connectors on the PC that links adapter cards, drives, printers, scanners, keyboards, and mice, and other peripherals?

- Parallel

- Serial

- USB

- IDE

- SCSI

What are the different types of ports?

Parallel Ports

What type of port is a 25-pin connector that is found on the back of most modern PCs and can send 8 bits of data through the connection?

A printer port

What are parallel ports synonymous with?

Serial Port

What type of port is universally used for many of the components plugged into the computer, such as a mouse, that can only send 1 bit of data down a single wire, and can have 9-pin or up to 25-pin connections?

Universal Serial Bus (USB) Port

What type of port is a common interface connection used between most modern devices, which can have multiple devices connected into one port?

127 / more

A user can connect up to _____ devices to one single USB port, and most compputers have _______ than one USB port avialble

Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS)

What is a special type of memory chip that uses a small rechargeable or lithium battery to retain information about the PC's hardware while the computer is turned off?

The system clock that keeps track of the date and time

What is located in the CMOS?

Power Supply

What delivers all the electricity to the PC?

A fan

What does the power supply contain to help keep the inside of the computer cool?

A transformer

What does the power supply contain that converts the wall outlet AC to DC into voltages that are appropriate for each powered device?

The brunt of the force if the computer ever receives a power surge

What is the power supply designed to take?

Hard Drive

What is the main repository for programs and documents on a PC, and is made up of many hard, thin, magnetic platters stacked one on top of the other?

The price per gigabyte decreases

As the storage capacity of a hard drive increases, what happens to the price per gigabyte?

Because they are both electrical and mechanical

Why are hard drives considered the slowest part of the PC?

CD

What is a thin injection-molded polycarbonate plastic disk that is impressed from a mold to form microscopic bumps that indicate either a 1 or 0 to the computer?

Digital Versatile Disk (DVD)

What has multiple layers of polycarbonate plastic that uses aluminum behind the inner layers and gold behind the outer layers?

CDs hold 800 MB of data and DVDs hold 7 times more than a CD

How much MB of data can CDs hold, and how much can DVDs hold?

Keyboard

What type of peripheral has keys and has two basic types that include soft and click?

Mouse

What type of peripheral is a device with two or three buttons that allows the user to move the computer's cursor to activate and perform functions within the computer software?

Scanners

What type of peripheral devices capture drawings or written paper documents and convert them into digital images or documents that can be edited?

Speakers

What type of peripheral receives sound data from a sound card that is built into the motherboard or is an expansion card?

Microphones

What type of peripheral is used to record voices or uses voice dictation software that is commonly used in radiology departments by the radiologists?

- Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)

- Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)

- Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED)

What are the two major types of monitors? What type of monitor is gaining acceptance?

Pixel

On a monitor, what is an individual controllable set of dot triads?

Dot Triad

On a monitor, what is a grouping of one red dot, one green dot, and one blue dot?

Matrix

What is a rectangular or square table arrangement of numbers that represent the pixel intensity to be displayed on a monitor?

Resolution

On a monitor, what is the number of pixels contained on a display?

more / higher / information

The _________ pixels in an image, the __________ the spatial resolution of the image and the more __________________ can be displayed

Resolution

On a monitor, what is the process or capability of distinguishing between individual parts of an image that are adjacent?

Dot Pitch

On a monitor, what is a measurement of how close the dots are located to one another in a pixel?

smaller / finer

The _______ the dot pitch of a display, the _______ the resolution

Refresh Rate

In a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitor, what is the measure of how fast the monitor rewrites the screen or the number of times the image is redrawn on the display each second?

higher / less

The __________ the refresh rate, the _______ flicker will be seen

Response Rate

In a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) monitor, what is the measure of the time it takes for the crystal to go from an off state to an on state and vice versa?

Blurring during the viewing of dynamic images

What does a slower response time cause during the viewing of dynamic images or moving images?

Aspect Ratio

What is the ratio of the width of the monitor to the height of the monitor?

- 4:3

- 16:1

- What is the aspect ratio of CRT monitors?

- What is the aspect ratio of LCD monitors?

Viewable Area

What is measured diagonally from one corner of the display to the opposite corner?

- resolution

- 2.5K x 2.5K

- 3K x 5K

- expensive

- diagnosis

Radiologist Workstation

- High ________________

- ____K x _____K common

- _____K x _____ K becoming used

- Most _____________

- Used for primary _____________

- desktop

- tech / physicians

- Image quality

Technologist Workstation

- _____________ workstation

- For __________ and other _______________

- ___________ _____________ is not what the radiologist has

Brightness

What is a measurement of the luminance on an area of an image displayed on the monitor?

Photometer

What tool is used to measure brightness?

Candela per square meter

What is brightness measured in?

171 cd/m^2

What is the ACR standard of minimum luminance for monitors in radiology?

Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)

What type of monitor consists of a cathode and an anode within a vacuum tube?

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)

What type of monitor produces images by shining or reflecting light through a layer of liquid crystal and a series of color filters?

Two pieces of polarized glass with a liquid crystal material between them

An LCD monitor has two pieces of what kind of glass with what kind of material between them?

In brightly lit rooms

Where are LCD monitors particularly effective?

The image fades as the viewing angle moves away

What is the main disadvantage of LCD monitors?

Because of the LED backlight

Why have the image viewing angles of the LCD monitors improved?

All white or RGB (red, green, blue)

Depending on the function of the display, what color will the LED backlight be?

An LED backlight with an IPS panel

What type of backlight do most medical displays use with LCD monitors?

Because they are slimmer and lighter

Why have LCD monitors taken over the health care field?

Operating System (OS)

What is the software that controls the computer hardware and acts as a bridge between applications and the hardware?

So the computer can fully come up and function properly

Why must computers have an operating system loaded?

Right after the computer wakes up and allows it to begin doing tasks

When does the operating system function, and what does it allow?

Some sort of operating system running behind the user interface

What do all medical imaging devices have behind the user interface?

A window-based platform

What type of operating systems do modern PACS use?

Computer hardware and software

What is chosen to match the application used by the radiology department staff members?

- Comfort

- Cost

- Quality

- Purpose

What are the four areas to address when choosing a computer system?

The application for diagnosis of CT, MRI, and nuclear medicine studies on a mobile device

In February 2011, what did the FDA clear for CT, MRI, and nuclear medicine studies?