Figure 1
BARCAM
Masudur Rahman Khan
B.Sc. Engineer (Mechanical), BUET
Last Updated: 19 Aug 2005
Barcode system has become one of the most useful and popular coding systems for inventory management, human resource management in various sectors all over the world. Its reliability, convenience and lower production cost makes it so popular.
In this article, an alternative
technology will be described for barcode reading which is not only cheaper but
also has a number of scopes for further research also.
What is a barcode?
Simply, barcode is noting but a collection of vertical monochrome bars having different widths. A number of standards are available having different specification, merits and demerits but it is your job to choose the most suitable barcode for your system.
Figure 1
In the figure above, a sample barcode is shown.
What does it contain?
A barcode may contain a simple numerical figure. It can even store your name in the form of bars!
If we take a closer look on the figure we will see that,
1. There are four types
of bars. (Categorized by their width),
2. Each type can be either black or white
3. There must be a white bar between two black bars.
4. The code starts with three thin bars and also ends with same fashion. (We
will call it End Bars)
Let us name the different
bars as B1, B2, B3 and B4. Here the numbers (1,2,3,4) are not only the indexes
but also represent the width ratio of the bars. For example, if the width of
B1 is 3mm, width of B4 will be 3 mm X4 = 12 mm.
