Barcode Reading Basics 81518 What Is a Barcode

Barcode Reading Basics 8/15/18

What Is a Barcode? ■ A way to print data that is designed to be easy for machines to read. ■ Reading the data just requires a machine to analyze rows of dark bars and light spaces between them and distinguish the widths of the bars and spaces. ■ There are many different ways to encode data in a barcode symbol, we call these different strategies barcode “symbologies”. Thick Bars ■ Pharmacode, for example is a very simple symbology with only 2 different bar widths to encode all the data with. Thick bars are 1’s, thin bars are 0’s. 1010= Thin Bars

Barcode Origins ■ In 1949, the 1 st patent is filed by 2 friends and Drexel alumni, Silver and Woodland. ■ In 1966, the National Association of Food Chains met to discuss the possibility of automated checkout in grocery stores. Tech companies submitted proposals, IBM’s was accepted. ■ In 1974, the first UPC was scanned at checkout

Barcode Origins in Industry ■ Large scale industrial use started in 1981, when the US Do. D Started LOGMARS, (LOGistics application of automated Marking And Reading Symbols) Military Standard MIL-STD-1189 B, to mark every product they bought, using symbology Code 39.

QR code and Mobile Use ■ Now there are many new uses, like accessing web pages by scanning a QR code with a phone.

Traceability: Anti-Counterfeit e. Pedigree Requirements ■ Counterfeit drugs – 10% Worldwide, 1% in USA – Need Track & Trace Technologies ■ Drug Quality and Security Act (2013) – Serialization on each item of sale – By RFID or Barcode

Government - Military UID (Unique IDentification) ■ Military Standard MIL-STD-130 L – US Dept of Defense project to mark (with a Data Matrix symbol) every component and/or subassembly costing over $5000

Data Matrix – Direct Part Marks

Market Potential

Barcode Family Types LINEAR or 1 D ■ First type invented. All lines are parallel so the code can be read along one line alone, such as with a laser line scanner POSTAL ■ Mostly 1 -Dimensional, except that lines are different heights instead of widths. Designed for printing on envelopes for mail sorting. 2 D and STACKED ■ A more complex designed to take advantage of capabilities of modern reading devices like cameras and allow for better density, redundancy and error checking.

Standard Barcode Symbologies ■ 1 D: – – – – – Codabar Code 39 Code 128 I 2 of 5 EAN 13 EAN 8 UPC Code 93 MSI Pharmacode ■ Postal: – Postnet – IMB – Australia Post – Royal Mail 4 State – Japan Post – PLANET – Swedish Post ■ 2 D and Stacked: – ECC-200 Data. Matrix – PDF-417 – QR – Micro. QR – MAXICODE – Aztec Code – GS 1 Databar

Where Used? LINEAR ■ Codabar (aka USD-4, 2 of 7 Code, NW-7 in Japan) c. 1972 [discrete, self-checking, 16 characters] Used in blood banks, cotton industry, libraries, photo labs, air parcel express, other information processing applications. ■ Code 39 (public domain) c. 1975 [discrete, optional check-sum, 43 characters] Most common non-UPC (i. e. non-retail) code. Users include Department of Defense (LOGMARSLogistics Applications of Automated Marking and Reading Symbols), automotive industry (AIAG- Automotive Industry Action Group), general industry, health industry (HIBCCHealth Industry Business Communications Council).

Where Used? LINEAR (Continued) ■ Code 128 (aka UCC-128) (public domain) c. 1981 [continuous, check-sum, 128 characters] Most compact linear code. Common in applications where a large amount of data needs to be encoded. Used in retail distribution, serialized carton tracking (“use before” dates encoded), general industrial, inventory control, retail container marking. Some of the types of data that can be encoded: traceability dates & numbers, measurements, quantities, transaction references, and location numbers.

Where Used? LINEAR (Continued) ■ Interleaved 2 of 5 (aka “I” 2 of 5)- (public domain) c. 1972 [continuous, optional checksum, numeric] Used mostly in corrugated carton labeling for distribution industry, warehousing, product/container identification, general industrial, automotive.

Where Used? LINEAR (Continued) ■ EAN-13 (European Article Numbering Code-13) (public domain) UPC c. 1973; EAN c. 1976 [discrete, check-sum, numeric] Like an international UPC system. Includes UPC-A format, also includes JAN (Japanese Article Numbering) format. Used mainly for retail products worldwide. ■ EAN-8 (public domain) c. 1976 [discrete, check-sum, numeric] A shorter version of EAN-13 developed for smaller packages. Not equivalent to UPC-E, the US shortened version of the UPC-A barcode.

Where Used? TWO DIMENSIONAL ■ Data Matrix - (public domain) c. 1990 Mostly used to label integrated circuits and printed circuit boards. Industries include automotive, aerospace, electronics, semiconductor and medical devices. Stores 1. 555 kb of data. 2 -D symbols like the Data Matrix are a method of encoding a large amount of information in a small space. By using sophisticated error checking and correction schemes up to 27% of the symbol can be damaged or missing and the data is still readable ■ PDF 417 - (public domain) c. 1991 Uses include fingerprints and photographs on driver’s license, hazardous material labeling, technical or calibration data stuck directly on side of equipment. Stores 1. 1 kb of data.

Linear Barcodes - Terminology Min Bar Width Bar Space Height Quiet Zone (no print allowed) ■ Min Bar Width, AKA ‘X’ dimension, Min Element Width, resolution, or barcode size, is the most important spec for a barcode, to make sure it can be read when planning a reading application. ■ Common ‘X’ dimensions are between 0. 006”-0. 020” ■ Quiet Zones should be at least 10 times the width of the Min Bar Width

Data Matrix Symbol - Terminology ■ Common Element or cell sizes are Element (cell) between 0. 005”-0. 030”. Size (ex. 14 x 14) Quiet Zone (Size Varies, typically 2 elements)

2 -D Barcodes - Data Matrix ■ The most popular 2 -D code in use today is the Data Matrix, first patented in 1990 (since placed in the public domain) ■ A Data Matrix is a two dimensional array made up of individual elements or cells. ■ Locator Bars - An L-shaped solid border brackets two sides of the symbol and defines the symbol’s location. ■ Timing Bars - A broken border along the other two sides defines the data density. (Example is 14 x 14)

Data Matrix n Data Matrix Symbols can be: – Rectangular – Square – Inverse Polarity (white on black) – Mirrored (flipped vertically) n Most Popular format called ECC 200 – Always even number of cells All these matrices say: Banner Engineering BCR

2 -D Barcodes- Data Matrix ■ The symbols can encode up to 3116 numbers or 2335 letters! ■ This example is the Gettysburg Address: The Gettysburg Address Gettysburg, Pennsylvania November 19, 1863 Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Barcode Reading Technologies Laser (older technology) Imager-based (newer technology) ■ Spins a mirror wheel to generate a laser ■ Takes a digital picture of a 2 D area ■ Advantages: line to illuminate barcodes ■ Advantages: – Cost/Performance Value – Omnidirectional – Barcode Placement Flexibility – No Moving Parts – 2 D Code reading Photo Via: http: //www. photonics. ld-didactic. de