Barcode Reader

History

The first barcode scanner was employed and the first product barcoded in 1974. In 1932 Wallace Flint started a project at the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration to better automate customer purchasing. As punch cards were all the rage at the time, the system they envisioned used a catalog of items with corresponding punch cards for each one. The customer would hand the cards to a clerk who would load them into a reader. The item would then be found and retrieved from a fully automated warehouse.An itemized bill was automatically produced. In spite of its promise, punch card systems were expensive.

During the 40s, 50s and 60s several code formats were developed . In america,1966 the National Association of Food Chains (NAFC) held a meeting where they discussed the idea of using automated checkout systems. On 3 April 1973 the IBM UPC code was selected by NAFC as their standard. NCR(national cash register) installed a testbed system at a Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio .

Types of Barcode

A bar code (also barcode) is an optical machine-readable representation of data. Originally, bar codes represented data in the widths (lines) and the spacings of parallel lines and may be referred to as linear or 1D (1 dimensional) barcodes or symbologies. But they also come in patterns of squares, dots, hexagons and other geometric patterns within images termed 2D (2 dimensional) matrix codes or symbologies.

1-D Barcode
Name Use

UPC
Code128 EAN

Worldwide retail
Shipping company Magazines , Books

2-D Barcode
PDF417

Data Matrix

Maxi Code

Aztec Code

Name
PDF417 Data Matrix Maxi Code Aztec Code

Capacity
2725 char 3116 char 138 char 3750 char

Accuracy

In studies conducted by the University of Ohio, common bar code symbologies were tested to determine real life accuracy. The worst bar code for data accuracy in the test proved to be one of the most common - the UPC. The UPC had a worst-case error rate of 1 error in 394K characters. The best-tested symbologies were the DataMatrix and PDF417, with a worst case error rate of 1 error in 10.5M characters. All the results from the University of Ohio study are listed below.

Name Data Matrix PDF417 Code 128 UPC

Worst Case 1 error in 10.5M 1 error in 10.5M 1 error in 2.8M 1 error in 394K

Best Case 1 error in 612.9M 1 error in 612.4M 1 error in 37M 1 error in 800K

Process of Reading

The photo diode measures the intensity of the light reflected back from the light source and generates a waveform that is used to measure the widths of the bars and spaces in the bar code. Dark bars in the bar code absorb light and white spaces reflect light so that the voltage waveform generated by the photo diode is an exact duplicate of the bar and space pattern in the bar code. This waveform is decoded by the scanner .

Types of Barcode Reader

Pen

type reader Laser scanner CCD reader Camera based reader

Pen type reader

Pen type readers consist of a light source and a photo diode that are placed next to each other in the tip of a pen . To read a bar code, you drag the tip of the pen across all the bars . The photo diode measures the intensity of the light reflected back from the light source and generates a waveform .

Laser Scanner

Laser scanners work the same way as pen type readers except that they use a laser beam as the light source and typically employ on rotating prism to scan the laser beam back and forth across the bar code. Just the same as with the pen type reader, a photo diode is used to measure the intensity of the light reflected back from the bar code. In both pen readers and laser scanners, the light emitted by the reader is tuned to a specific frequency and the photo diode is designed to detect only this same frequency light.

CCD Reader

CCD (Charge Coupled Device) readers use an array of hundreds of tiny light sensors lined up in a row in the head of the reader. Each sensor can be thought of as a single photo diode that measures the intensity of the light immediately in front of it. Each individual light sensor in the CCD reader is extremely small and because there are hundreds of sensors lined up in a row.

Camera based Reader

The fourth and newest type of bar code reader currently available are camera-based readers that use a small video camera to capture an image of a bar code. The reader then uses sophisticated digital image processing techniques to decode the bar code. Video cameras use the same CCD technology as in a CCD bar code reader except that instead of having a single row of sensors, a video camera has hundreds of rows of sensors arranged in a two dimensional array so that they can generate an image.

Interface with Computer

Keyboard wedge RS-232 port Wireless connection

Keyboard Wedge

The bar code readers with keyboard wedge output plug directly into the keyboard port on your PC and they also provide a pigtail connector so that you can plug in your keyboard at the same time. When you scan a bar code with the keyboard wedge bar code reader, the data goes into the computer just as if it were typed in on the keyboard. This makes it extremely easy to interface the bar code reader to any application that is written to accept keyboard data.

RS-232 Port

With these types of bar code readers, you connect the reader to an available serial port on the back of your PC. You would then need a program called a "Software Wedge" to take the data from the bar code reader and feed it to the application where you want the data to go.

Wireless Connection

Modern handheld barcode readers are operated in wireless networks according to WLAN or Bluetooth. However, such configuration limits the time of operation from battery or rechargeable battery and required recharging at least after a shift of operation.

Barcode software

Production software-to print bar codes on labels, documents, tickets, etc. or generate bar codes in Windows applications or on the Internet. Database & Inventory control software-to store data from my bar codes in my computer for inventory and other purposes. I need to look up recorded data, add, remove and change items, print recorded data and manipulate the saved data in various ways.

Thank you