A
human interface device or
HID is a type of
computer device that interacts directly with, and most often takes
input from, humans and may deliver
output to humans. The term "HID" most commonly refers to the
USB-HID specification. The term was coined by Mike Van Flandern of
Microsoft when he proposed that the
USB committee create a Human Input Device class working group. The working group was renamed as the Human Interface Device class at the suggestion of Tom Schmidt of
DEC because the proposed standard supported bi-directional communication.