What Are Input & Display Devices?
An input device is a device used to input data or information into or give instructions to a device such as a computer. A display device is a type of output device that visually displays information held by a device.
Types of Input Devices
The most widely used input devices include keyboards, touch panels, and mice. Other input devices include image scanners, optical character readers (OCR), optical mark readers (OMR), barcode, magnetic card, and IC card readers, and their accompanying PIN pads. Voice input devices such as smartphones and biometric authentication devices, which have become commonly used in recent years, are also examples.
Types of Display Devices
A typical example of a display device is a monitor display. Today, thin flat panel displays are the mainstream, replacing character displays (CRT displays), which are large in volume and weight.
Typical flat panel displays include plasma displays and liquid crystal displays (PDP, LCD), which are used in a variety of devices including televisions and personal computers. While plasma displays offer slightly inferior picture quality, they have a wide viewing angle and high strength. LCDs, on the other hand, project bright, detailed images but tend to blur images when viewed from an angle, so they are used for different purposes.
In addition, displays utilizing new technologies, such as organic EL displays, micro LED displays, mini LED displays, and hologram displays, are being created one after another. Some displays, such as touch panel displays, have the functions of both a touch panel as an input device and an LCD as a display device.
Pilot lamps and indicators that display equipment operating status and other information in analog form are also examples of display devices.