How is a barcode made?

How is a barcode made?

How is a barcode made?

Barcodes were used in automated car manufacturing plants at the very beginning of the invention. General Telephone and Electronics used an early version of the barcode. At that time it was named Cartreck ACI (Automating Car Identification). Gradually it began to be used in many other cases as well.

A barcode is a pattern of parallel lines of different widths printed on a machine-readable product. A barcode is basically some information kept in a visual pattern that only the machine can read. The patterns of black and white mixed bars that we see in the barcodes follow an algorithm.

Barcodes usually contain product information such as: product price and weight, date of manufacture and expiration (expiration), manufacturer's name, etc. Internationally, the barcode of each product is different. However, barcodes are used for many other purposes besides products.

There are two types of barcodes. One-dimensional and two-dimensional.

One-dimensional barcodes are used in common products such as groceries, pens and electrical appliances.

Two-dimensional barcodes are similar to one-dimensional barcodes, but it can store more information per unit than one-dimensional. Two-dimensional code is also called EQR - Quick Response Code

How does barcode work?

A barcode contains a total of 95 blocks. 95 blocks are divided into 3 parts. Left Guard, Center Guard and Right Guard. Barcodes are written in 12 of these blocks. The information is encoded between each black and white bar bar and the space between them.

The codes are decoded using a scanner device called a barcode reader. It works using lasers. The reader reads from left to right while reading.

Binary bits are stored in bar-patterns and those bits point to certain characters. The scanner device transmits the binary sequences to the computer and the computer translates them into our comprehensible language.

Again, barcodes are created with barcode generator software. The software first inputs the data as a string then converts them to binary and generates the output using the barcode's algorithm. A one-dimensional barcode can hold about 20 characters and a two-dimensional barcode can hold about 2000 characters. Two-dimensional barcodes have error correction so that even if some part of it is lost, the scanner can scan it.

The digits below the barcode are called EAN-13. One digit precedes 12 digits of UPC-A and creates EAN-13 code. To use a barcode for an international product, you must purchase a barcode from an organization called GS1. They generate unique barcodes that allow the product to be scanned by any country.

The first bit of the barcode indicates the company and the first 3 digits indicate the country in which the company is located. The 12th digit is given to the scanner to verify that the entire code has been read correctly. This is called a check digit. Company prefix and 12 There are no specific rules for determining the digits in the middle of the th digit. These can be determined by the product companies as they wish. These are all in a central database that allows scanners to detect the product anywhere in the world.

Two types of scanning technology are used for scanning barcodes. One is laser type barcode scanner and the other is image type barcode scanner. The laser type scanner projects the laser over the barcode and its receiver detects and processes the reflected light. The black bars of the barcode absorb light and the white bars reflect light.This is how a laser barcode scanner works. And when we scan the barcode using the phone's camera, the camera actually takes a picture of the whole barcode and then decodes the image with the help of some image processing algorithms. This can be done by the processor inside the device.