- Introduction to Human Interface Devices (HID); 2 minutes to read; b; D; E; In this article. Human Interface Devices (HID) is a device class definition to replace PS/2-style connectors with a generic USB driver to support HID devices such as keyboards, mice, game controllers, etc. Prior to HID, devices could only utilize strictly-defined protocols for mice and keyboards.
- The HID class driver transparently manages and routes all communication between upper-level drivers and applications and the underlying input devices that support HID collections. It manages the different data protocols that are used by different input devices and input queues that support more than one open file on the same HID collection.
- When you connect a plug and play device, Windows Plug and Play manager detects it, finds and installs the driver. Device Manager lists the device with a solid icon. The driver is only removed when you uninstall the device, not simply by disconnecting the device. When the device is disconnected, its driver is still installed.
Human Interface Devices (HID) is a device class definition to replace PS/2-style connectors with a generic USB driver to support HID devices such as keyboards, mice, game controllers, etc. Prior to HID, devices could only utilize strictly-defined protocols for mice and keyboards. Hardware innovation required either overloading data in an existing protocol or creating non-standard hardware with its own specialized driver. HID provided support for these “boot mode” devices while adding support for hardware innovation through extensible, standardized and easily-programmable interfaces.
Looking in device manager - the audio devices all say working OK. But on bar at bottem of screen get speaker with red cross - Playing audio - Audio trouble shouter cannot find any problems. Sound settings say - No output or Input devices found. Have tried to re-install Realtek audio drivers for motherboard - installed but no change.
HID devices today include a broad range of devices such as alphanumeric displays, bar code readers, volume controls on speakers/headsets, auxiliary displays, sensors and many others. Many hardware vendors also use HID for their proprietary devices.
HID began with USB but was designed to be bus-agnostic. It was designed for low latency, low bandwidth devices but with flexibility to specify the rate in the underlying transport. The specification for HID over USB was ratified by the USB-IF in 1996 and support over additional transports followed soon after. Dpict hds. Details on currently supported transports can be found in HID Transports Supported in Windows. 3rd-party, vendor-specific transports are also allowed via custom transport drivers.
Gspy Hid Device Window
HID Concepts
HID consists of two fundamental concepts, a Report Descriptor, and Reports. Reports are the actual data that is exchanged between a device and a software client. The Report Descriptor describes the format and meaning the data that the device supports.
Reports
Applications and HID devices exchange data through Reports. There are three Report types: Input Reports, Output Reports, and Feature Reports.
Gspy Input Devices Driver
| Report Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Input Report | Data sent from the HID device to the application, typically when the state of a control changes. |
| Output Report | Data sent from the application to the HID device, for example to the LEDs on a keyboard. |
| Feature Report | Data that can be manually read and/or written, and are typically related to configuration information. |
Each Top Level Collection defined in a Report Descriptor can contain zero (0) or more reports of each type.
Usage Tables
The USB-IF working group publishes HID Usage Tables that are part of the Report Descriptors that describe what HID devices are allowed to do. These HID Usage Tables contain a list with descriptions of Usages, which describe the intended meaning and use of a particular item described in the Report Descriptor. For example, a Usage is defined for the left button of a mouse. The Report Descriptor can define where in a Report an application can find the current state of the mouse’s left button. The Usage Tables are broken up into several name spaces, called Usage Pages. Each Usage Page describes a set of related Usages to help organize the document. The combination of a Usage Page and Usage define the Usage ID that uniquely identifies a specific Usage in the Usage Tables.
See also
USB-IF HID Specifications.