1. Which is the most suitable device and whyA school wishes to back up all work of all students daily

Tape Streamer – • can store large amounts of data 700gb or more.• The tapes are small and portable- can easily be stored e.g. in a safe•Tapes are cheap to buy so it is possible to have 1 tape per day giving multiple back ups

A magazine wishes to distribute a free compilation of sound tracks from moviesCD or DVD-• They are cheap to produce• Light, robust and compact•Can store up to 700mb on CD (easily enough for an album)

A large database needs too be stored by a company of all the products it sellsHard Disk-•Large capacity 500 gb or more•Fast / direct access to required record

A student wishes to take they database project home to work on it over the week endFlash RAM-• They are portable• Can store a reasonable amount cheaply 2gb £5.00 up to 32gb• Easy to use fitting into USB – no drivers needed

2a) What is handshaking

Handshaking is the preliminary signals used to establish connection between two different devices. It establishes that both devices are ready to communicate. An example may be between a computer and a peripheral device such as a printer,.

b) Outline the process

In the above example

• The computer will check if the printer is ready

• The printer will send a message that it is

• The computer will send a message that it is about to transmit data

3. Give an example of a situation where analogue to digital conversion is needed and say why it is needed.

Analogue to digital conversion is needed in a light meter that is attached to a street light.

The light is an analogue value as it can vary

The A-D converter translates the varying values\into digital values

These values can then be used to control the light e.g. If light value< 15 the switch on street light

1.Outline a situation where voice recognition might be needed. Describe 3 benefits of using it in this situation. Also describe two problems that may arise.

Voice Recognition would be needed in a hospital. Traditionally specialist doctors saw patients and wrote notes about the visit. They then at the end of the day wrote the notes up neatly.

With Voice recognition the doctor dictate notes as he is treating the patient. The voice recognition system digitises the words and adds them to the file automatically. This saves a great deal of time and the notes are very accurate as they a made in real time not after the visit .

• The reduction in time writing typing up means doctors can treat more• Doctors hand writing no longer an issue• All notes stored electronically – easy to access

• One problem that may arise is with words that sound the same but are spelt differently e.g. sail sale to two too• Another problem is the fact that everyone has a different accent and the system may need to be “trained” to understand different doctor’s voices

5. Describe two problems associated with Handwriting Recognition.

• People write differently and sometimes not that neatly• Confusing letters / numbers e.g. 5 S l 1 I

6. What is disk cache and why is it used

Disk cache is an area of RAM that is usually supplied with as part of a hard disk . It is used to store data that

• Has recently been used and therefore may be used again

• Is frequently used and therefore there is a good chance it will be used again soon

• Is near data that has recently been used as there is a good chance that it could be used soon

The reason it is used is that it is much fast to access this data from Disk cache than off the disk. Thus the most often / recent used data can be retrieved more speedily

7. Primary

RAM

ROM

7. Secondary

Hrad Disk

Flash RAM

CD

DVD

Tape