CSCI-235 Micro-Computers in Science Hardware Part II

Digitizing the Real World Scanner Digital camera Speech recognition Sensing devices Audio and video digitizers

Continuous & Discrete Signals

Representing Sounds Computers are capable of representing much more than numbers and text EXAMPLE: representing sounds Sounds are inherently analog signals with specific amplitudes and frequencies When sound waves reach your ear, they cause your eardrum to vibrate, and your brain interprets the vibration as sound

Analog waveforms must be converted to a sequence of discrete values Digital sampling is the process in which the amplitude of a wave is measured at regular intervals, and stored as discrete measurements Frequent measurements must be taken to ensure high quality (e.g., 44,100 readings per second for a CD) This results in massive amounts of storage Techniques are used to compress the data and reduce file sizes (e.g., MP3, WAV)

Audio Input Computers can accept input from a microphone An expansion card called a sound card records and plays back sound files A sound card has 2 functions Play previously recorded sound (translates a digital file into sound) To record new sound (translate sound into a digital file) Sound files contain digitized sound data Popular sound file formats include: Windows WAV Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) MP2 and MP3 Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI)

Audio Digitizers Audio digitizers capture spoken words, music and sound effects and convert them to digitized sounds These sounds can be stored in a computer’s memory and modified with computer software

Representing Images Images are stored using a variety of formats and compression techniques The simplest representation is a bitmap Bitmaps partition an image into a grid of picture elements, called pixels, and then convert each pixel into a bit pattern

Resolution refers to the sharpness or clarity of an image Bitmaps that are divided into smaller pixels will yield higher resolution images The left image is stored using 96 pixels per square inch, and the right image is stored using 48 pixels per square inch The left image appears sharp, but has twice the storage requirements

When creating a bitmap of a color image, more than one bit is required to represent each pixel The most common system is to translate each pixel into a 24 bit code, known as its RGB value: 8 bits to represent the intensity of each red/green/blue component

Common image formats implement various compression techniques to reduce storage size GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) A lossless format, meaning no information is lost in the compression Commonly used for precise pictures, such as line drawings JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) A lossy format, so the compression is not fully reversible (but more efficient) Commonly used for photographs

Video Digitizers Video digitizers capture input from video sources such as video camera and convert it to a digital signal that can be stored in memory and displayed on a computer screen

Data Representation Binary Numbers!!! Sound  pitch  number  binary number Letter  number  binary number Image  color at each pixel  number  binary number But how many bits are needed to store n symbols? Or, how many bits are needed to represent n numbers? log 2 n

Output Devices: Engaging our Senses Output devices are peripheral devices that enable us to view or hear the computer’s processed data Visual output – Text, graphics, and video Audio output – Sounds, music, and synthesized speech

Monitors A monitor is a peripheral device which displays computer output on a screen Types of monitors: Cathode-ray tube (CRT) Liquid Crystal Display (LCD or flat-panel) CRT LCD

Screen Talk Monitor size - measured as a diagonal line across the screen Pixels (or picture element) - tiny dots that compose a picture Resolution - the number of pixels displayed on the screen (the higher the resolution, the closer together the dots)

Printers A printer is a peripheral device that produces a physical copy or hard copy of the computer’s output Inkjet printer makes characters by inserting dots of ink Letter-quality printouts Cost of printer is inexpensive but ink is costly Laser printer works like a copier Quality determined by dots per inch (dpi) produced Color printers available Expensive initial costs but cheaper to operate per page

Storage Technologies Magnetic – Storage devices that use disks or tapes that are coated with magnetically sensitive material Optical – Storage devices that use laser beams to read patterns etched into plastic disks

Optical Disk Storage Microscopic indentations called pits scatter the laser beam’s light. A light-sensing device receives no light from the pits. A signal is sent to the computer corresponding to a 0 in the binary system Flat, reflective areas, called lands, bounce the light back to the light sensing device, which sends a signal corresponding to a 1 Cross-section of a disk Disk surface magnified

CD-R and CD-RW Discs and Recorders CD-R Discs can be read and written to Discs can only be written to “once” CD-R drives are capable of reading and writing data CD-RW Discs can be read and written to Discs are erasable Discs can be written to many times CD-RW drives are capable of reading, writing, and erasing data