1. Barcode Reading Basics
8/15/18

2. 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”.
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=
Thick Bars
Thin Bars

3. Barcode Origins In 1949, the 1st 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
The linear code was chosen because early trials of round codes failed due to printers of the day smudging ink linearly in the direction they printed.
The first item rang up at checked in 1974 was a pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum that is now in the Smithsonian.

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

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

6. Traceability: Anti-Counterfeit
ePedigree 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

7. Government - Military UID (Unique IDentification)
Military Standard MIL-STD-130L
US Dept of Defense project to mark (with a Data Matrix symbol) every component and/or subassembly costing over $5000
The US Dept of Defense is at the fore-front again.
UID program started as of Jan 1, 2004.
They are taking the LOGMARS idea a step further. Anything that costs over $5000 OR is mission critical is marked with a data matrix symbol.

8. Data Matrix – Direct Part Marks
Here are some examples of direct part marking– in which various size data matrix symbols have been printed, etched or peened into surfaces.
Types of symbols shown:
Laser on cast metal Laser on stainless Laser on metal
Printed dot peened laser on polycarbonate

9. Market Potential
The barcode reading market is still growing, and image-based readers are taking market share from laser-based readers steadily.

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

11. Standard Barcode Symbologies
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
2D and Stacked:
ECC-200 DataMatrix
PDF-417 QR
MicroQR
MAXICODE
Aztec Code
GS1 Databar

12. 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 [discrete, optional check-sum, 43 characters] Most common non-UPC (i.e. non-retail) code. Users include Department of Defense (LOGMARS- Logistics Applications of Automated Marking and Reading Symbols), automotive industry (AIAG- Automotive Industry Action Group), general industry, health industry (HIBCC- Health Industry Business Communications Council).

13. 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.

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

15. Where Used? LINEAR (Continued)
EAN-13 (European Article Numbering Code-13) (public domain) UPC c.1973; EAN c [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 [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.

16. 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 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
PDF417- (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 1.1kb of data.

17. Linear Barcodes - Terminology
Min Bar Width
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 ”-0.020”
Quiet Zones should be at least 10 times the width of the Min Bar Width
Bar
Space
Height
Quiet Zone
(no print allowed)

18. Data Matrix Symbol - Terminology
Common Element or cell sizes are between 0.005”-0.030”.
Element (cell)
Size
(ex. 14x14)
Quiet Zone
(Size Varies, typically 2 elements)

19. 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)

20. Data Matrix Data Matrix Symbols can be:
Rectangular
Square
Inverse Polarity (white on black)
Mirrored (flipped vertically)
Most Popular format called ECC200
Always even number of cells
All these matrices say: Banner Engineering BCR

21. 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 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.

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