What are Barcodes?

Barcodes are a group of black and white parallel lines arranged to form codes.  The code is often printed below the barcode and is called the clear read area. 

There are many forms of barcodes although they can be separated into two types: 1d and 2d barcodes.   1d barcodes, such as Code 39 or UPC,  are the most common and are similar to the one shown above, where a single line through the barcode can read the code.  2d barcodes, such as PDF-417, are rarer and more difficult to read as they are printed in two dimensions and require a full 100% horizontal and vertical scan of the area.

They are many ways of encoding a barcode known as a symbology.  Symbologies are typically public domain and defined in specifications that define parameters such as the tolerences between bars, the patterns, the interleaving, the start and stop bar patters etc.   One of the best resources for details of barcodes and their symbologies is found at barcode-1.

The different symbologies determine what you can store within the code.  For example, the Code 3 of 9 (known as code 39), allows the encoding of alpha and numeric characters, whereas Code 2 of 5 Interleaved (known as code ITF) allows encoding of numbers only.

Barcodes can be read using either hardware or software.  There are many handheld barcode reading devices from companies such as symbol.  Additionally, many OMR manufacturers include barcode recognition within their unit or  as a separately priced add-on.  A special form of barcode, called a patch code, is recognised by many imaging scanner manufacturers.

What do we do?

At IQ Software we have a software library for reading barcodes captured as images.  This can be used in real-time (i.e. at scan time) or in a post process operation.  We integrate this technology into customer bespoke solutions to achieve the best recognition and form design.

To find more about how IQ Software can help you with your OMR, ICR, OCR, Barcode or Scanning data capture project click here  simply email to dcs@infoqss.com or contact us.