Chapter-Two

Computer Graphics Hardware

Contents
Introduction
Input devices: Keyboard, Mouse, Trackball, Joystick, Digitizer and
Graphic Tablet, Touch Panel, Light Pen, Data Glove and Voice System
Hardcopy Devices: Printer and Plotter
Display Devices: Raster Scan, Random Scan, DVST, and Flat Panel
Display
Introduction
Graphic hardware can be divided into three major categories of
devices:
1) Input devices with which the user interacts to generate necessary
instruction or data for creating graphics
2) Display systems where the graphics are rendered on the monitor
screen
3) Hardcopy devices or printers through which the tangible graphics
output is produced.
… Cont’D
Based on the logical interaction types the input devices can be broadly
classified as:
 locator device such as graphics tablet, touch panel, mouse, trackball, joystick,
keyboard that indicates a position (e.g., point coordinate) or orientation,
 pick device such as the light pen, joystick, mouse that can select a graphical
object,
 valuator device such as joystick or trackball that are used to input scalar values
such as rotation angle, scale factors etc.
 keyboard or text input device and
… Cont’D
 choice device such as the keyboard function keys, mouse, touch panel, voice
systems that are used to select menu options.
There are two broad categories of hardcopy devices:
 the printer and
 the other is the plotter
Though plotters have limited and specialized uses, printer is a
common yet important accessory of any computer system, especially
for a graphics system.
… Cont’D
The display medium for computer graphic-generated pictures has
become widely diversified.
Typical examples are CRT-based display, Liquid Crystal, LED and
Plasma-based display and stereoscopic display.
CRT display is by far the most common display technology and most
of the fundamental display concepts are embodied in CRT technology.
 This unit focuses on CRT-based display technologies explaining the
related concepts followed by illustrations of structural and functional
components and working principles of each.
Input Devices: Keyboard
With a keyboard, a person can type a document, use keystroke shortcuts,
access menus, play games and perform a variety of other tasks.
Though keyboards can have different keys depending on the
manufacturer, the operating system that they are designed for, and
whether they are attached to a desktop computer or are part of a laptop
most keyboards have between 80 and 110 keys.
A keyboard is a lot like a miniature computer. It has its own processor,
circuitry (key matrix) and a ROM storing the character map.
It uses a variety of switch technology.
Input Devices: Mouse
A mouse is a hand-held pointing device, designed to sit under one
hand of the user and to detect movement relative to its two-
dimensional supporting surface.
 Drawing or designing figures and shapes using graphic application
packages like AutoCAD, Photoshop, CorelDraw, and Paint is almost
impossible without mouse.
An optical mouse uses LED and photodiodes (or optoelectronic
sensors) to detect the movement of the underlying surface, rather
than moving some of its parts as in a mechanical mouse.
Input Devices: Trackball
A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball housed in a socket
containing sensors to detect rotation of the ball about two axes—like
an upside-down mouse with an exposed protruding ball.
The user rolls the ball with his thumb, fingers, or the palm of his hand
to move a cursor. A potentiometer captures the track ball orientation
which is calibrated with the translation of the cursor on screen.
Tracker balls are common on CAD workstations for ease of use and,
before the advent of the touchpad, on portable computers, where
there may be no desk space on which to use a mouse.
Input Devices: Trackball …
Input Devices: Joystick
A joystick is used as a personal computer peripheral or general
control device consisting of a hand-held stick that pivots about the
base and steers the screen cursor around.
Most joysticks are two-dimensional, having two axes of movement
(similar to a mouse), but three-dimensional joysticks do exist.
In conventional joystick potentiometers, or variable resistors, are
used to dynamically detect the location of the stick and springs are
there to return the stick to center position as it is released.
Input Devices: Joystick …
One of the biggest additions to the world of joysticks is force feedback
technology.
On using a force feedback (also called haptic feedback) joystick if you’re
shooting a machine gun in an action game, the stick would vibrate in
your hands.
Or if you crashed your plane in a flight simulator, the stick would push
back suddenly which means the stick moves in conjunction with
onscreen actions.
Joysticks are often used to control games, and usually have one or more
push-buttons whose state can also be read by the computer.
Input Devices: Joystick …
Input Devices: Digitizer and Graphics Tablet
A digitizer is a locator device used for drawing, painting, or
interactively selecting coordinate positions on an object.
Graphics tablet is one such digitizer that consists of a flat surface
upon which the user may draw an image using an attached stylus, a
pen-like drawing apparatus.
The image generally does not appear on the tablet itself but, rather, is
displayed on the computer monitor.
The first graphics tablet resembling contemporary tablets was the
RAND Tablet, also known as the Grafacon (for Graphic Converter).
Input Devices: Digitizer and Graphics Tablet…
Input Devices: Touch Panel
A touch panel is a display device that accepts user input by means of
a touch sensitive screen.
The input is given by touching displayed buttons or menus or icons
with finger.
In a typical optical touch panel LEDs are mounted in adjacent edges
(one vertical and one horizontal).
The opposite pair of adjacent edges contain light detectors.
Input Devices: Touch Panel …
These detectors instantly identify which two orthogonal light beams
emitted by the LEDs are blocked by a finger or other pointing device
and thereby record the x, y coordinates of the screen position
touched for selection.
However, because of its poor resolution the touch panel cannot be
used for selecting very small graphic objects or accurate screen
positions.
Touch panels have gained wide acceptance in bank ATMs, video
games and railway or tourist information systems.
Input Devices: Touch Panel …
Input Devices: Light Pen
A light pen is a pointing device shaped like a pen and is connected to
the computer.
The tip of the light pen contains a light-sensitive element
(photoelectric cell) which, when placed against the screen, detects
the light from the screen enabling the computer to identify the
location of the pen on the screen.
It allows the user to point to displayed objects, or draw on the screen,
in a similar way to a touch screen but with greater positional accuracy.
Input Devices: Light Pen …
A light pen can work with any CRT-based monitor, but not with LCD
screens, projectors or other display devices.
The light pen actually works by sensing the sudden small change in
brightness of a point on the screen when the electron gun refreshes
that spot.
By noting exactly where the scanning has reached at that moment,
the x, y position of the pen can be resolved.
Light pens are popularly used to digitize map or engineering drawing
or signature or handwriting.
Input Devices: Light Pen …
Input Devices: Data Glove
The data glove is an interface device that uses position tracking
sensors and fiber optic strands that run down each finger and are
connected to a compatible computer; the movement of the hand and
fingers are displayed live on the computer monitor which in turn
allows the user to virtually touch an object displayed on the same
monitor.
With the object animated it would appear that the user (wearing the
data glove) can pick up an object and do things with it just as he
would do with a real object.
Input Devices: Data Glove …
In modern data glove devices, tactile sensors are used to provide the
user with an additional feeling of touch or the amount of pressure or
force the fingers or hands are exerting even though the user is not
actually touching anything.
Thus data glove is an agent to transport the user to virtual reality.
Input Devices: Voice-System
The voice-system or speech recognition system is a sophisticated
input device that accepts voice or speech input from the user and
transforms it into digital data that can be used to trigger graphic
operations or enter data in specific fields.
A dictionary is established for a particular operator (voice) by
recording the frequency-patterns of the voice commands (words
spoken) and corresponding functions to be performed.
Later when a voice command is given by the same operator, the
system searches for a frequency-pattern match in the dictionary and if
found the corresponding action is triggered.
Input Devices: Voice-System …
If a different operator is to use the system then the dictionary has to
be re-established with the new operator’s voice patterns.
Break
Hardcopy Devices: Printer
The printer is an important accessory of any computer system,
especially for a graphics system.
This is because most of the graphics creation using computer graphics
has its ultimate utilization in printed form – for documentation,
exhibition or publication in print media or books.
It is the quality of printed output that finally matters in many
businesses.
Based on the available printing technology the major factors which
control the quality of printer are individual dot size on the paper and
number of dots per inch (dpi)
Hardcopy Devices: Printer …
Clearly, the lesser the size of the dots the better the detail of the
figure reproduced.
Higher dpi values increase the sharpness and detail of a figure and
enhance the intensity levels that a printer supports.
Other important factors for selection of a printer are printing speed
and print area or printer memory.
There are several major printer technologies available. These
technologies can be broken down into two main categories with
several types in each: Impact and no-impact
Hardcopy Devices: Printer …
Impact: These printers have a mechanism whereby formed character
faces are pressed against an inked ribbon onto the paper in order to
create an image.
For example, dot matrix printer and line printer.
Non-impact: These printers do not touch the paper rather use laser
techniques, ink sprays, xerographic processes and electrostatic
methods to produce the image on paper.
For example, laser printer, inkjet printer, electrostatic printer, drum
plotter, flatbed plotter.
Hardcopy Devices: Dot Matrix Printer
A dot matrix printer refers to a type of computer printer with a print head
(usually containing 9 to 24 pins) that runs back and forth on the page and
prints by impact, striking an ink-soaked cloth ribbon against the paper,
much like a typewriter.
Unlike a typewriter or daisywheel printer, letters are drawn out of a dot
matrix, and thus, varied fonts and arbitrary graphics can be produced.
Because the printing involves mechanical pressure, these printers can
create carbon copies.
The print head normally prints along every raster row of the printer paper
and the color of print is the color of the ink of the ribbon.
Hardcopy Devices: Dot Matrix Printer …
Each dot is produced by a tiny yet stiff metal rod, also called a ‘wire’
or ‘pin’,which is driven forward by the power of a tiny electromagnet
or solenoid, either directly or through small levers (pawls).
The pins are usually arranged vertically where marginal offsets are
provided between columns to reduce inter-dot spacing.
The position of pins in the print head actually limits the quality of
such a printer.
Hardcopy Devices: Dot Matrix Printer …
Hardware improvements to dot matrix printers boosted the carriage
speed, added more (typeface) font options, increased the dot density
(from 60dpi up to 240dpi), and added pseudo-color printing through
multi-color ribbon.
Still such printers lack the ability to print computer-generated images
of acceptable quality.
It is good for text printing in continuous sheets.
Strictly speaking, ‘dot matrix’ in this context is a misnomer, as nearly
all inkjet, thermal, and laser printers produce dot matrices.
Hardcopy Devices: Dot Matrix Printer …
However, in common parlance these are seldom called ‘dot matrix’
printers, to avoid confusion with dot matrix impact printers.
Hardcopy Devices: Line Printer
The line printer is a form of high speed impact printer in which a line of
type is printed at a time.
In a typical design, a fixed font character set is engraved onto the
periphery of a number of print wheels, the number matching the
number of columns (letters in a line).
The wheels spin at high speed and paper and an inked ribbon are
moved past the print position.
As the desired character for each column passes the print position, a
hammer strikes the paper and ribbon causing the desired character to
be recorded on the continuous paper.
Hardcopy Devices: Line Printer …
Printed type is set at fixed positions and a line could consist of any
number of character positions with 132 columns as the most common,
but 80 column, 128 column and 160 column variants are also in use.
Other variations of line printer have the type on moving bars or a
horizontal spinning chain.
The line printer technology is usually both faster and less expensive (in
total ownership) than laser printers.
It has its use in medium volume accounting and other large business
applications, where print volume and speed is a priority over quality.
Hardcopy Devices: Line Printer …
Because of the limited character set engraved on the wheels and the
fixed spacing of type, this technology was never useful for material of
high readability such as books or newspapers.
Hardcopy Devices: Inkjet Printer
An inkjet printer is a non-impact printer that places extremely small
droplets of ink onto the paper to create an image.
These printers are popular because they are less costly but generate
attractive graphic output.
The dots sprayed on paper are extremely small (usually between 50
and 60 microns in diameter), and are positioned very precisely, with
resolutions of up to 1440 × 720 dpi.
The dots can have different colors combined together to create
photo-quality images.
Hardcopy Devices: Inkjet Printer …
The core of an inkjet printer is the print head that contains a series of
nozzles that are used to spray drops of ink.
The ink is contained in ink cartridges that come in various
combinations, such as separate black and color cartridges, or a
cartridge for each ink color.
A stepper motor moves the print head assembly (print head and ink
cartridges) back and forth across the paper.
The mechanical operation of the printer is controlled by a small
circuit board containing a microprocessor and memory.
Hardcopy Devices: Inkjet Printer …
There are two main inkjet technologies currently used by printer
manufacturers.
Thermal bubble (or bubble jet):
 This is used by manufacturers such as Canon and Hewlett Packard.
 In a thermal inkjet printer, tiny resistors create heat, and this heat
vaporizes ink to create a bubble.
 As the bubble expands, some of the ink is pushed out of a nozzle
onto the paper.
 When the bubble ‘pops’ (collapses), a vacuum is created.
Hardcopy Devices: Inkjet Printer …
 This pulls more ink into the print head from the cartridge.
 A typical bubble jet print head has 300 or 600 tiny nozzles, and all
of them can fire a droplet simultaneously.
Piezoelectric:
 Patented by Epson, this technology uses piezo crystals.
 A crystal is located at the back of the ink reservoir of each nozzle.
 The crystal receives a tiny electric charge that causes it to vibrate.
Hardcopy Devices: Inkjet Printer …
 When the crystal vibrates inward, it forces a tiny amount of ink out
of the nozzle.
 When it vibrates out, it pulls some more ink into the reservoir to
replace the ink sprayed out.
Hardcopy Devices: Laser Printer

The laser printer employs technology similar to that of a photocopy

machine.
A laser beam focuses a positively charged selenium-coated rotating
drum.
The laser gun removes the positive charge from the drum except for
the area to be printed (black portion of the paper).
In this way, the laser draws the letters and images to be printed as a
pattern of electrical-charges — an electrostatic image.
Hardcopy Devices: Laser Printer …
The negatively-charged black toner powder first adheres to this
positively-charged area (image) on the drum from where it is
transferred to the rolling white paper.
Before the paper rolls under the drum, it is given a positive charge
stronger than the positive charge of the electrostatic image, so the
paper can pull the toner powder away.
The paper is then subjected to mild heating to melt and fix the loose
toner on the paper.
The laser printer is mainly a bi-level printer.
Hardcopy Devices: Laser Printer …
In case of color lasers, this process is repeated three times.
For the printer controller and the host computer to communicate,
they need to speak the same page description language.
The primary printer languages used nowadays are Hewlett Packard’s
Printer Command Language (PCL) and Adobe’s Postscript.
Both these languages describe the page in vector form — that is, as
mathematical values of geometric shapes, rather than as a series of
dots (a bitmap image).
Hardcopy Devices: Laser Printer …
Apart from image data the printer controller receives all of the
commands that tell the printer what to do — what paper to use, how
to format the page, how to handle the font, etc.
Accordingly the controller sets the text margins, arranges the words
and places the graphics.
When the page is arranged, the raster image processor (RIP) takes the
page data, either as a whole or piece by piece, and breaks it down
into an array of tiny dots so the laser can write it out on the
photoreceptor drum.
Hardcopy Devices: Laser Printer …
In most laser printers, the controller saves all print-job data in its own
memory.
This lets the controller put different printing jobs into a queue so it
can work through them one at a time.
Hardcopy Devices: Electrostatic Printer
In inkjet printers, the single printing head moves left-to-right and prints as
it is traveling.
In contrast, the electrostatic printer has many print heads, actually covering
the entire 36"media width.
So instead of a single print head moving across the width of the media, the
electrostatic printer prints an entire width of the page at one time.
The media (paper, vellum, film) is electrostatically charged (energized).
The toner solution is circulated past the media and ‘sticks’ to the energized
portion of the media, thus producing a very fast high quality image.
Hardcopy Devices: Electrostatic Printer …
Hardcopy Devices: Plotter
In contrast to the printer which is primarily a raster scan device, the
plotter is a vector device.
In color plotters the carriage accommodates a number of pens with
varying colors and widths.
The microprocessor in the plotter receives instructions from the host
computer and executes commands like ‘move’ (moving the carriage to a
given position with pens up) and ‘draw’ (drawing geometric entities like
point, line, arc, circle etc. with pens down)
Since the plotter is a vector device it can directly reach specific positions
on printer paper without following raster row sequence.
Hardcopy Devices: Plotter …
In flat bed plotter the paper lies flat and stationary while the pen
moves from one location to another on the paper.
But in drum plotters the paper itself slides on a cylindrical drum and
the pen moves over the drum.
Break
Video (Reading Assignment)
About video and its advantages
Digital video and its advantages
Digital Video Standards
Video Compression
Video Editing Software
 Adobe Premiere
 Adobe After Effects
Display Devices
The most prominent part in a personal computer is the display system
that makes graphic display possible.
The display system may be attached to a PC to display character, picture
and video outputs.
Some of the common types of display systems available in the market
are:
 Raster Scan Displays
 Random Scan Displays
 Direct View Storage Tube
Display Devices …
 Flat Panel Displays
 Three Dimensional Viewing Devices
 Stereoscopic and Virtual Reality System
The display systems are often referred to as Video Monitor or Video
Display Unit (VDU).
The most common video monitor that normally comes with a PC is
the Raster Scan type.
Display Devices …
However, every display system has three basic parts:
 the display adapter that creates and holds the image information,
 the monitor which displays that information and
 the cable that carries the image data between the display adapter and the
monitor.
Before we discuss the major display systems let us first know about
some basic terms.
Pixel
A pixel may be defined as the smallest size object or colour spot that
can be displayed and addressed on a monitor.
Any image that is displayed on the monitor is made up of thousands
of such small pixels (also known as picture elements).
 Though the size of a pixel depends mostly on the size of the electron
beam within the CRT, they are too fine and close to each other to be
perceptible by the human eye.
The number of pixels in an image is fixed by the program that creates
the image and not by the hardware that displays it.
Resolution
Image resolution refers to the pixel spacing, i.e., the distance from
one pixel to the next pixel.
A typical PC monitor displays screen images with a resolution
somewhere between 25 pixels per inch and 80 pixels per inch.
 In other words, Resolution of an image refers to the total number of
pixels along the entire height and width of the image.
 For example, a full-screen image with resolution 800 × 600 means
that there are 800 columns of pixels, each column comprising 600
pixels, i.e., a total of 800 × 600 = 4,80,000 pixels in the image area.
Resolution …
The internal surface of the monitor screen is coated with red, green
and blue phosphor material that glows when struck by a stream of
electrons.
This coated material is arranged into an array of millions of tiny cells–
red, green and blue, usually called dots.
The dot pitch is the distance between adjacent sets (triads) of red,
green and blue dots.
This is also same as the shortest distance between any two dots of
the same colour, i.e., from red-to-red, or, green-to-green like that.
Resolution …
Usually monitors are available with a dot pitch specification 0.25mm to
0.40 mm.
 Depending on the intensity of the red, green and blue colors different
colors results in different triads.
Each dot glow with a single pure colour (red, green or blue) and each
glowing triad appears to our eye as a small spot of colour (a mixture of
red, green and blue).
The dot pitch of the monitor thus indicates how fine the colored spots
that make up the picture can be, though electron beam dia is an
important factor in determining the spot size.
Resolution …
Pixel therefore, is the smallest element of a displayed image, and dots
(red, green and blue) are the smallest elements of a display surface
(monitor screen).
The dot pitch is the measure of screen resolution.
The smaller the dot pitch, the higher the resolution, sharpness and
detail of the image displayed.
The resolution of an image you see is a function of what the video
card outputs and what the monitor is capable of displaying.
Image Resolution versus Dot Pitch
If the image resolution is more as compared to the inherent
resolution of the display device, then the displayed image quality gets
reduced.
 As the image has to fit in the limited resolution of the monitor, the
screen pixels (comprising a red, a green and a blue dot) show the
average colour and brightness of several adjacent image pixels.
Only when the two resolutions match, will the image be displayed
perfectly and only then is the monitor used to its maximum capacity.
Aspect Ratio
The aspect ratio of the image is the ratio of the number of X pixels to
the number of Y pixels.
The standard aspect ratio for PCs is 4:3, and some resolutions even
use a ratio of 5:4.
Monitors are calibrated to this standard so that when you draw a
circle it appears to be a circle and not an ellipse.
Displaying an image that uses an aspect ratio of 5:4 will cause the
image to appear somewhat distorted.
Aspect Ratio …
The only mainstream resolution that uses 5:4 is the high-resolution
1280 × 1024.
Raster Scan Display
This type of display basically employs a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) or
LCD Panel for display.
The CRT works just like the picture tube of a television set.
Its viewing surface is coated with a layer of arrayed phosphor dots.
At the back of the CRT is a set of electron guns (cathodes) which
produce a controlled stream of electrons (electron beam).
The phosphor material emits light when struck by these high-energy
electrons.
Raster Scan Display …
The frequency and intensity of the light emitted depends on the type
of phosphor material used and energy of the electrons.
To produce a picture on the screen, these directed electron beams
start at the top of the screen and scan rapidly from left to right along
the row of phosphor dots.
They return to the left-most position one line down and scan again,
and repeat this to cover the entire screen.
The return of the beam to the leftmost position one line down is
called horizontal retrace during which the electron flow is shut off.
Raster Scan Display …
In performing this scanning or sweeping type motion, the electron guns
are controlled by the video data stream that comes into the monitor
from the video card.
This varies the intensity of the electron beam at each position on the
screen.
The instantaneous control of the intensity of the electron beam at each
dot is what controls the colour and brightness of each pixel on the
screen.
All this happens very quickly, and the entire screen is drawn in a fraction
(say, 1/60th) of a second.
Raster Scan Display …
An image in raster scan display is basically composed of a set of dots
and lines;
Lines are displayed by making those dots bright (with the desired
colour) which lie as close as possible to the shortest path between the
endpoints of a line.
Refresh Rate and Interlacing
When a dot of phosphor material is struck by the electron beam, it
glows for a fraction of a second and then fades.
As brightness of the dots begins to reduce, the screen-image
becomes unstable and gradually fades out.
In order to maintain a stable image, the electron beam must sweep
the entire surface of the screen and then return to redraw it a
number of times per second.
This process is called refreshing the screen.
Refresh Rate and Interlacing …
After scanning all the pixel-rows of the display surface, the electron
beam reaches the rightmost position in the bottommost pixel line.
The electron flow is then switched off and the vertical deflection
mechanism steers the beam to the top left position to start another
cycle of scanning.
This diagonal movement of the beam direction across the display
surface is known as vertical retrace.
If the electron beam takes too long to return and redraw a pixel, the
pixel will begin to fade; it will return to full brightness only when
redrawn.
Refresh Rate and Interlacing …
Over the full surface of the screen, this becomes visible as a flicker in
the image, which can be distracting and hard on the eyes.
In order to avoid flicker, the screen image must be redrawn fast
enough so that the eye cannot tell that refresh is going on.
The refresh rate is the number of times per second that the screen is
refreshed.
It is measured in Hertz (Hz), the unit of frequency.
The refresh rates are somewhat standardized; common values are 56,
60, 65, 70, 72, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95,100, 110 and 120 Hz.
Refresh Rate and Interlacing …
Though higher refresh rates are preferred for better comfort in
viewing the monitor, the maximum refresh rate possible depends on
the resolution of the image.
The maximum refresh rate that a higher resolution image can support
is less than that supported by a lower resolution image, because the
monitor has more number of pixels to cover with each sweep.
Actually, support for a given refresh rate requires two things: a video
card capable of producing the video images that many times per
second, and a monitor capable of handling and displaying that many
signals per second.
Refresh Rate and Interlacing …
Every monitor should include, as part of its specification, a list of
resolutions it supports and the maximum refresh rate for each resolution.
Many video cards now include setup utilities that are pre-programmed
with information about different monitors.
When you select a monitor, the video card automatically adjusts the
resolutions and respective allowable refresh rates.
Windows 95 and later versions extend this facility by supporting Plug and
Play for monitors; you plug the monitor in and Windows will detect it, set
the correct display type and choose the optimal refresh rate automatically.
Refresh Rate and Interlacing …
Refresh Rate and Interlacing …
Some monitors use a technique called interlacing to cheat a bit and
allow themselves to display at a higher resolution than is otherwise
possible.
Instead of refreshing every line of the screen, when in an interlaced
mode, the electron guns sweep alternate lines on each pass.
In the first pass, odd-numbered lines are refreshed, and in the second
pass, even-numbered lines are refreshed.
This allows the refresh rate to be doubled because only half the
screen is redrawn at a time.
CRT
A CRT is similar to a big vacuum glass bottle.
It contains three electron guns that emit a focused beam of electrons,
deflection apparatus (magnetic or electrostatic), which deflects these
beams both up and down and sideways, and a phosphor-coated screen
upon which these beams impinge.
 The vacuum is necessary to let those electron beams travel across the
tube without running into air molecules that could absorb or scatter
them.
 The primary component in an electron gun is a cathode (negatively
charged) encapsulated by a metal cylinder known as the control grid.
CRT …
A heating element inside the cathode causes the cathode to be heated
as current is passed. As a result, electrons ‘boil-off’ the hot cathode
surface.
These electrons are accelerated towards the CRT screen by a high
positive voltage applied near the screen or by an accelerating anode.
If allowed to continue uninterrupted, the naturally diverging electrons
would simply flood the entire screen.
 The cloud of electrons is forced to converge to a small spot as it
touches the CRT screen by a focusing system using an electrostatic or
magnetic field.
CRT …
Just as an optical lens focuses a beam of light at a particular focal
distance, a positively charged metal cylinder focuses the electron
beam passing through it on the center of the CRT screen.
A pair of magnetic deflection coils mounted outside the CRT envelope
deflects the concentrated electron beam to converge at different
points on the screen in the process of scanning.
Horizontal deflection is obtained by one pair of coils and vertical
deflection by the other pair, and the deflection amount is controlled
by adjusting the current passing through the coils.
CRT …
When the electron beam is deflected away from the center of the screen,
the point of convergence tends to fall behind the screen resulting in a
blurred (defocused) display near the screen edges.
When the electron beam converges on to a point on the phosphor-coated
face of the CRT screen, the phosphor dots absorb some of the kinetic
energy from the electrons.
This causes the electrons in the phosphor atoms to jump to higher energy
orbits.
 After a short time, these excited electrons drop back to their earlier
stable state, releasing their extra energy as small quantum of light energy.
CRT …
As long as these excited electrons return to their stable state
phosphor continue to glow (phosphorescence) but gradually loses
brightness.
The time between the removal of excitation and the moment when
phosphorescence has decayed to 10 percent of the initial brightness is
termed as persistence of phosphor.
The brightness of the light emitted by phosphor depends on the
intensity with which the electron beam (number of electrons) strikes
the phosphor.
CRT …
The intensity of the beam can be regulated by applying measured
negative voltage to the control grid.
Corresponding to a zero value in the frame buffer a high negative voltage
is applied to the control grid, which in turn will shut off the electron beam
by repelling the electrons and stopping them from coming out of the gun
and hitting the screen.
The corresponding points on the screen will remain black.
Similarly, a bright white spot can be created at a particular point by
minimizing the negative voltage at the control grid of the three electron
guns when they are directed to that point by the deflection mechanism.
CRT …
In a monochrome CRT there is only one electron gun, whereas in a
colour CRT there are three electron guns each controlling the display
of red, green and blue light respectively.
Unlike the screen of a monochrome CRT, which has a uniform coating
of phosphor, the colour CRT has three colour-phosphor dots (dot
triad) – red, green and blue – at each point on the screen surface.
 To ensure that the electron beam emitted from individual electron
guns strikes only the correct phosphor dots (e.g., the electron gun for
red colour excites only the red phosphor dot), a shadow mask is used
just before the phosphor screen
CRT …
The mask is a fine metal sheet with a regular array of holes punched
in it.
The mask is so aligned that as the set of three beams sweeps across
the shadow mask they converge and intersect at the holes and then
hit the correct phosphor dot; the beams are prevented or masked
from intersecting other two dots of the triad.
Thus, different intensities can be set for each dot in a triad and a
small colour spot is produced on the screen as a result.
CRT …
There is an alternative to accomplishing the masking function which is
adopted by some CRTs.
Instead of a shadow mask, they use an aperture grill. In this system, the
metal mesh is replaced by hundreds of fine metal strips that run
vertically from the top of the screen to the bottom.
In these CRTs, the electron guns are placed side-by-side (not in a
triangular fashion).
The gaps between the metal wires allow the three electron beams to
illuminate the adjacent columns of colored phosphor which are
arranged in alternating stripes of red, green and blue.
CRT …
Bit Planes, Colour Depth and Colour Palette
The appearance and colour of a pixel of an image is a result of intersection
of three primary colors (red, green and blue) at different intensities.
When the intensities of all three electron beams are set to the highest
level (causing each dot of a triad to glow with maximum intensity), the
result is a white pixel; when all are set to zero, the pixel is black.
The number of memory bits required to store colour information
(intensity values for all three primary colour components) about a pixel is
called colour depth or bit depth.
A minimum of one memory bit (colour depth = 1) is required to store
intensity value either 0 or 1 for every screen point or pixel.
Bit Planes, Colour Depth and Colour Palette …
Corresponding to the intensity value 0 or 1, a pixel can be black or
white respectively.
So if there are n pixels in an image a total of n bits of memory used
for storing intensity values will result in a pure black and white image.
The block of memory which stores (or is mapped with) bi-level
intensity values for each pixel of a full-screen pure black and white
image is called a bit plane or bitmap.
Bit Planes, Colour Depth and Colour Palette …
Bit Planes, Colour Depth and Colour Palette …
The more the number of bits used per pixel, the finer the colour detail of
the image.
However, increased colour depths also require significantly more memory
for storage, and also more data for the video card to process, which reduces
the allowable refresh rate.
For true colour three bytes of information are used, one each of the red,
blue and green signals that make a pixel.
A byte can hold 256 different values and so 256 voltage settings are possible
for each electron gun which means that each primary colour can have 256
intensities, allowing over 16 million (256 × 256 × 256) colour possibilities.
Bit Planes, Colour Depth and Colour Palette …
For high colour two bytes of information are used to store the intensity values for
all three colors.
This is done by dividing 16 bits into 5 bits for blue, 5 bits for red and 6 bits for
green.
This means 32 (= 25) intensities for blue, 32 (= 25) for red, and 64 (= 26) for green.
This reduced colour precision results in a loss of visible image quality, but one
cannot easily see the difference between true colour and high colour image.
However high colour is often used instead of true colour because high colour
requires 33 percent (or 50 percent in some cases) less memory and also image
generation is faster.
Bit Planes, Colour Depth and Colour Palette …
In 256-colour mode the PC uses only 8 bits; this means something like
2 bits for blue and 3 each for green and red.
There are chances that most of the colors of a given picture are not
available, and choosing between only 4 (= 22) or 8 (= 23) different
values for each primary colour would result in rather blocky or grainy
look of the displayed image.
A palette or look-up table is used here.
A palette is a separate memory block (in addition to the 8 bit plane)
created containing 256 different colors.
Bit Planes, Colour Depth and Colour Palette …
The intensity values stored there in are not constrained within the
range 0 to 3 for blue and 0 to7 each for green and red.
Rather each colour is defined using the standard 3-byte colour
definition that is used in true colour.
Thus, the intensity values for each of the three primary colour
components can be anything between 0 and 255 in each of the table
entries.
Upon reading the bit planes, the resulting number instead of directly
specifying the pixel colour, is used as a pointer to the 3-bytecolour value
entry in the look-up table.
Bit Planes, Colour Depth and Colour Palette …
For example, if the colour number read from the bit-planes is 10 for a
given pixel, then the intensities of red, green and blue to be displayed
for that pixel will be found in the 10th entry of the table.
The palette is an excellent compromise at the cost of moderate
increase in memory: it allows only 8 bits of the frame buffer to be
used to specify each colour in an image and allows the creator of the
image to pick any of the 256 colors for the image.
This is because the palette can be reloaded any time with different
combinations of 256 colors out of 16 million without changing the
frame buffer values.
Frame Buffer and Output Circuitry
The frame buffer is the video memory (RAM) that is used to hold or
map the image displayed on the screen.
The amount of memory required to hold the image depends primarily
on the resolution of the screen image and also the colour depth used
per pixel.
The formula to calculate how much video memory is required at a
given resolution and bit depth is:
 Memory in MB = (X-resolution × Y-resolution × Bits-per-pixel) / (8 × 1024 ×
1024).
Frame Buffer and Output Circuitry …
However, one needs more memory than this formula computes.
One major reason is that video cards are available only in certain
memory configurations (in terms of whole megabytes).
For example, you can’t order a card with 1.7 MB of memory; you
have to use a standard 2MB card available in the market.
Another reason is that many video cards, especially high-end
accelerators and 3D cards, use memory for computation as well as for
the frame buffer.
Frame Buffer and Output Circuitry …
Frame Buffer and Output Circuitry …
Some motherboards designed are to integrate the video chipset into
itself and use a part of the system RAM for the frame buffer.
This is called unified memory architecture. This is done to save costs.
The result is poorer video performance, because in order to use
higher resolutions and refresh rates, the video memory needs a
higher performance than the RAM normally used for the system.
This is also the reason why video card memory is so expensive
compared to regular system RAM.
Frame Buffer and Output Circuitry …
In order to meet the increasing demand for faster and dedicated video
memory at a comparable price, a technology was introduced by Intel
which is fast becoming a new standard.
It is called the Accelerated Graphics Port or AGP.
The AGP allows the video processor to access the system memory for
graphics calculations, but keeps a dedicated video memory for the
frame buffer.
This is more efficient because the system memory can be shared
dynamically between the system processor and the video processor,
depending on the needs of the system.
Frame Buffer and Output Circuitry …
However, it should be remembered that AGP is considered a port – a
dedicated interface between the video chipset and the system processor.
The display adapter circuitry (on video card or motherboard) in a raster
graphics system typically employs a special purpose processor called
Display Processor or Graphics Controller or Display Coprocessor which is
connected as an I/O peripheral to the CPU.
Such processors assist the CPU in scan-converting the output primitives
(line, circle, arc etc.) into bitmaps in frame buffer and also perform raster
operations of moving, copying and modifying pixels or block of pixels.
Frame Buffer and Output Circuitry …
The output circuitry also includes another specialized hardware called
Video Controller which actually drives the CRT and produces the display
on the screen.
The monitor is connected to the display adapter circuitry through a
cable with 15-pinconnectors.
Inside the cable are three analog signals carrying brightness information
in parallel for the three colour components of each pixel.
The cable also contains two digital signal lines for vertical and horizontal
drive signals and three digital signal lines which carry specific
information about the monitor to the display adapter.
Random Scan Display
Basically, there are two types of CRTs – Raster Scan type and Random
Scan type.
The main difference between the two is the technique with which the
image is generated on the phosphor coated CRT screen.
In raster scan method, the electron beam sweeps the entire screen in
the same way you would write a full page text in a notebook, word by
word, character by character, from left to right, and from top to
bottom.
Random Scan Display …
In random scan technique, the electron beam is directed straightaway
to the particular point(s) of the screen where the image is to be
produced.
It generates the image by drawing a set of random straight lines much
in the same way one might move a pencil over a piece of paper to
draw an image – drawing strokes from one point to another, one line
at a time.
This is why this technique is also referred to as vector drawing or
stroke writing or calligraphic display.
Random Scan Display …
There are of course no bit planes containing mapped pixel values in a
vector system.
Instead the display buffer memory stores a set of line drawing
commands along with endpoint coordinates in a display list or display
program created by a graphics package.
The display processing unit (DPU) executes each command during every
refresh cycle and feeds the vector generator with digital x, y and Δx, Δy
values.
The vector generator converts the digital signals into equivalent analog
deflection voltages.
Random Scan Display …
This causes the electron beam to move to the start point or from the start
point to the end point of a line or vector.
Thus, the beam sweep does not follow any fixed pattern; the direction is
arbitrary as dictated by the display commands.
When the beam focus must be moved from the end of one stroke to the
beginning of the other, the beam intensity is set to 0.
Though the vector-drawn images lack in depth and colour precision, the
random display scan work at much higher resolutions than the raster displays.
The images are sharp and have smooth edges unlike the jagged edges and
lines on raster displays.
Direct View Storage Tube
DVST marks a significant technological change in the usual refresh
type display.
Both in the raster scan and random scan system the screen image is
maintained (flicker free) by redrawing or refreshing the screen many
times per second by cycling through the picture data stored in the
refresh buffer.
In DVST there is no refresh buffer; the images are created by drawing
vectors or line segments with a relatively slow-moving electron beam.
Direct View Storage Tube …
The beam is designed not to draw directly on phosphor but on a fine wire
mesh (called storage mesh) coated with dielectric and mounted just behind
the screen.
A pattern of positive charge is deposited on the grid, and this pattern is
transferred to the phosphor-coated screen by a continuous flood of electrons
emanating from a separate flood gun.
Just behind the storage mesh is a second grid, the collector, whose main
purpose is to smooth out the flow of flood electrons.
These electrons pass through the collector at low velocity and are attracted to
the positively charged portions of the storage mesh but repelled by the rest.
Direct View Storage Tube …
Electrons not repelled by the storage mesh pass right through it and
strike the phosphor.
To increase the energy of these slow-moving electrons and thus
create a bright picture, the screen is maintained at a high positive
potential.
The storage tube retains the image generated until it is erased. Thus,
no refreshing is necessary, and the image is absolutely flicker free.
A major disadvantage of DVST in interactive computer graphics is its
inability to selectively erase parts of an image from the screen.
Direct View Storage Tube …
To erase a line segment from the displayed image, one has to first
erase the complete image and then redraw it by omitting that line
segment.
However, the DVST supports a very high resolution which is good for
displaying complex images.
Flat Panel Display
To satisfy the need of a compact portable monitor, modern technology
has gifted us with LCD panel, Plasma display panel, LED panel and thin
CRT.
These display devices are smaller, lighter and specifically thinner than
the conventional CRT and thus are termed as Flat Panel Display (FPD).
 FPD in general and LCD panels in particular are most suitable for laptop
(notebook) computers but are expensive to produce.
Though hardware prices are coming down sharply, cost of the LCD or
Plasma monitors is still too high to compete with CRT monitors in
desktop applications.
Flat Panel Display …
However, the thin CRT is comparatively economical.
To produce a thin CRT the tube length of a normal CRT is reduced by
bending it in the middle.
The deflection apparatus is modified so that electron beams can be
bent through 90 degrees to focus on the screen and at the same time
can be steered up and down and across the screen.
Flat Panel Display …
Reading assignment

1. LCD (about 2 pages)

2. Plasma Panel (about half page)
3. Readymade Image (about 1 page)
4. Flatbed Scanner(about 2 pages)
 THE END

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