Input and Output

Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR)

- The machine recognition of numeric data printed with magnetically charged ink. It is used on bank checks and deposit slips. MICR readers detect the characters and convert them into digital data. Although optical methods (OCR) became as sophisticated as the early MICR technology, magnetic ink is still used. It serves as a deterrent to fraud, because a photocopied check will not be printed with magnetic ink.

Optical-Character Recognition (OCR)

- (Optical Character Recognition) The machine recognition of printed characters. OCR systems can recognize many different OCR fonts, as well as typewriter and computer-printed characters. Advanced OCR systems can recognize hand printing.When a text document is scanned into the computer, it is turned into a bitmap, which is a picture of the text. OCR software analyzes the light and dark areas of the bitmap in order to identify each alphabetic letter and numeric digit. When it recognizes a character, it converts it into ASCII text (see ASCII file). Hand printing is much more difficult to analyze than machine-printed characters. Old, worn and smudged documents are also difficult. Scanning documents and processing them with OCR is sometimes as much an art as it is a science.

Optical-Mark Recognition (OMR)

- Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) is the technology of electronically extracting intended data from marked fields, such as check boxes and fill-in fields, on printed forms. It is generally distinguished from OCR by the fact that a recognition engine is not required. This requires the image to have high contrast and an easily-recognizable or irrelevant shape. OMR technology scans a printed form and reads predefined positions and records where marks are made on the form. This technology is useful for applications in which large numbers of hand-filled forms need to be processed quickly and with great accuracy, such as surveys, reply cards, questionnaires and ballots.

Dot Matrix Printer
- A printer that uses hammers and a ribbon to form images out of dots. It is widely used to print multiplex forms and address labels. Also known as a "serial dot matrix printer," the tractor and sprocket mechanism in these devices handles thicker media better than laser and ink jet printers.

Hammers Hit the Ribbon
The dot matrix printer uses one or two columns of dot hammers that are moved across the paper. The hammers hit the ribbon into the paper, which causes the ink to be deposited. The more hammers, the higher the resolution. For example, 9-pin heads produce draft quality text, while 24-pin heads produce typewriter quality output. Speeds range from 200 to 400 cps, which is about 90 to 180 lpm.



Plotters
- A device that draws pictures on paper based on commands from a computer. Plotters differ from printers in that they draw lines using a pen. As a result, they can produce continuous lines, whereas printers can only simulate lines by printing a closely spaced series of dots. The plotter was the first computer output device that could print graphics as well as accommodate full-size engineering and architectural drawings. Multicolor plotters use different-colored pens to draw different colors.

In general, plotters are considerably more expensive than printers. They are used in engineering applications where precision is mandatory.

Photo Printer
- A printer specialized for smaller prints such as 4x6" and 5x7". When first introduced in the mid-1990s, photo printers used dye sublimation for high quality printing because ink jet printing was not quite up to par. Since then, ink jet technology has greatly improved, and most photo printers are ink jets. Epson, Canon and HP are major players in this market.



Portable Printer
- Portable printers are small, lightweight inkjet or thermal printers that allow computer users to print from laptop computers when traveling. They are easy to carry, convenient to use but generally more expensive than normal inkjet printers due to the compact design. Their printing speed is also lower than normal printers. Some portable printers are designed to print photos immediately from digital cameras and are known as portable photo printers.



Fax Machine
- Telecommunications technology used to transfer copies (facsimiles) of documents, especially using affordable devices operating over the telephone network. The device is also known as a telecopier in certain industries. When sending documents to people at large distances, faxes have a distinct advantage over postal mail in that the delivery is nearly instantaneous, yet its disadvantages in quality have relegated it to a position beneath email as the prevailing form of electronic document transfer except where the legal status of a sent fax and its accompanying sending report are desired.



Multifunctional Devices
- An MFP (Multi Function Product/ Printer/ Peripheral), multifunctional, all-in-one (AIO), or Multifunction Device (MFD), is an office machine which incorporates the functionality of multiple devices in one, so as to have a smaller footprint in a home or small business setting (the SOHO market segment), or to provide centralized document management/distribution/production in a large-office setting. A typical MFP may act as a combination of some or all of the following devices:

• Printer
• Scanner
• Photocopier
  
• Fax
• Email

Internet Telephones
- A category of hardware and software that enables people to use the Internet as the transmission medium for telephone calls. For users who have free, or fixed-price Internet access, Internet telephony software essentially provides free telephone calls anywhere in the world. To date, however, Internet telephony does not offer the same quality of telephone service as direct telephone connections.



Telephony
- Meaning "sound over distance," it refers to electronically transmitting the human voice. In the beginning, telephony dealt only with analog signals in the circuit-switched networks of the telephone companies. It later referred to a mix of analog and digital circuits, but still with the telephone industry. Starting in the 1990s, telephony began to embrace sending voice over IP (VoIP) networks, which is now deployed by common carriers, private enterprises and independent VoIP providers.





Blessings,
* Vanessa *