Telephone

A telephone handset can be used to capture data using the keypad and a voice response unit. This can provide an automatic response to callers who receive a message from the voice responder unit according to which key they press. More sophisticated systems incorporate speech recognition. Mainly used at present for providing routing of calls for large institutions and simple information systems.

Touch screens

Most of us are now familier with touch screens where you have to press your finger on the relative part of the screen to input data.

The monitor detects the position of a finger placed on the screen. One method of doing this is to have a series of horizontal and vertical infrared beams directed across the screen. Position is calculated from detecting which beams have been interrupted.

This method of input has limited accuracy because the input device is fairly large. It can be used to choose menu items from a selection displayed. Its principal use is in data display applications where the user can select one of a limited number of choices by pointing at the screen. It has the advantage of limiting what the user can do to the system.

Data Recorders

These are hand-held devices that can store data for later input to a computer. The data recorder may incorporate a bar-code gun or a keyboard. Applications include utility meter reading, ticket inspecting on public transport and stock movement control.

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