Bar Code Technology: The power of coded lines and numbers

Hi fabulous steemians! Welcome to my blog once again, I hope you’ve been doing great. As usual, I’ll like to appreciate you for your continued support and engagement on my posts so far. You are the best!

Well, I’ve been away! By that I mean away from the world of STEM owing to some hard times which knocked and stayed since like 4 days ago. However, I managed to sail through and I’m back with a bang!

Yes, a bang!

Have you ever wondered what those parallel striped lines on gala nylon indicate? Or the extent of importance of those bar code on Silverbird movie tickets? Even those at the back of our ID cards?

Well, it was when I had to use barcode scanning to connect my phone’s WhatsApp to my system that I got interested in its concept which birthed the topic of today where I’d be explaining to us what the “Bar Code Technology” is and its numerous applications.

I know you’re raring to go, so let’s do this fam!

_{wikimedia: Bar Code}

CONCEPT OF BAR CODE TECHNOLOGY

Bar Codes are simply a representation of data in a graphical manner using letters, lines, numbers or shapes that can be easily read by an optical magnetic scanner. They aren’t really a code themselves as we’ll expect. They are just a representation of a product’s unique number (or identification) that must have been previously assigned to it.

So, the optical magnetic scanner basically scans the represented data in form of a number, line or any other representation and retrieve the unique assigned ID for the products and sends it to the integrated processing unit for data matching with the retrieved data.

The emergence of this technology has been a breakthrough in many fields of operation. Its ability to be assigned to a unique product makes identification and most especially, inventory and sales management easier tasks.

HISTORY OF BAR CODE TECHNOLOGY

Days before the emergence of Bar Code Technology, managers relied on clerks to do manual documentation of product details, monitoring and recording of sales. But as time went and there are arising questions about the possibility of automatic execution of such operations, the Bar Code Technology was birthed.

It was in 1949 that the first question that led Bernard Silver, a graduate of Drexel Institute of Technology to the discovery of the technology came up. The president of a local food chain, Food Fair, asked the head of the research department to find out about a technology that could help read product information during checkout and this was overheard by Bernard Silver.

He informed his friend (also his student) about the request and they both researched on the possibility and arrived with the idea of using Ultraviolet sensitive ink as a means of automatically monitoring product information during checkout. Due to the fading of the ink, an alternative or rather an improvement was further sought.

By 1952, a patented Barcode system was already in operation and the spread of Bar code implementation on products began to grow. By 1970, the first scanning of the now popularly assigned Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode came into existence and later in 1977, the EAN (European Article Numbering) was presented and was made to match the UPC.

Nowadays, we have various types of barcodes like the QR Code, ACIs (Automatic Car Identification), AIDC (Automatic Identification and Data Capture) and so on finding application in different industries and knowledge areas.

TYPES OF BARCODE

There are majorly two types of Barcode – the Linear(or 1-Dimensional) Bar Code and the Matrix (or 2-Dimensional) Bar Code.

The Linear Barcode is usually made of lines and spaces of different widths and thickness making specific pattern as desired for each product. They are the first generation and the traditional Bar code patterns that’s mostly found on products. Each linear Bar Code is designed to fit a particular kind of products and is usually embedded with different numbers representing the product data.

Common examples of the Linear type of Bar code includes; UPC-A and UPC-E, the Pharmacode – for pharmaceutical packaging, the KarTrak ACI – car identification, the POSTNET – for US Postal Service, the Code 128 – used for shopping, Plessey – used for store shelves, catalogs, and inventory and many more.

The Matrix or 2-Dimensional are more recent Bar Code types that represents data in a 2-dimensional manner. It is not too different from the Linear type but can only hold more data per unit area. They are the common types we see almost everywhere especially on digital devices and applications.

Common examples of Matrix Bar Code are the Maxi code - used for sorting and tracking of Parcels, the Data Matrix - for automotive item identification, the Dot Code used for tracking individual cigarette and pharmaceutical packages, the PDF417 used for transport identity card, the QR Code - used for smartphone scanning (common for BBM pin and whatsapp scanning) and many more.

APPLICATIONS OF BAR CODE TECHNOLOGY

The application of Bar code Technology in the modern world cut across almost all industries either à product or service industry. It has been very effective in making identification, packaging, inventory and sales management much easier to do.

The areas of application of Bar Code Technology are as follows:

• Inventory Control

The emergence of Bar Code Technology has been a groundbreaking innovation in inventory applications. It can be very tedious and error prone to keep track of all items in stock, outgone and incoming without having an automatic structure.

With the application of Bar Code Technology, each item can be assigned a unique identification through imprinting on it its Bar code. This way, every outgoing item would be duly scanned during checkout and incoming ones are as well registered with thier own Bar Code thereby making stocking easy and thus Inventory Control to be easily practiced.

• Health Care Applications

It is no news that the Bar Code Technology has been extensively adopted in health care services. Blood banks, pharmaceutical labs and medical equipment stores are now being managed using unique Bar Code systems.

Each blood sample has its own Bar code and can be easily identified for administering. Likewise, drugs are labeled with their own Bar Code and makes it easy to pick up specific drugs after prescription. The manufacture dates as well as the expiry dates of drugs can also be easily tracked using this system of identification.

• Retail Applications

It is now becoming a widely used technology to print bar codes on every goods in the supermarket and malls. Clerks doesn't need to manually identify the price of goods when checking the goods for billing. There are now Bar Code scanners that automatically detect the prize and calculate the bill through the automated computer system.

Hotels and other retail markets like Petrol station are also beginning to improvised the life enhancing services of Bar Code Technology. Smart cards with bar codes can easily be used for payments without delay or problem of change (as common amongst Nigeria retailers). Movie tickets can now be purchased at home and can easily be assigned to a unique buyer through bar code generation.

• Games and Softwares

They growing technology of Bar Coding also find use in games and Softewares. Consoles are being created using bar code scanner where monsters are being created and can be trained to compete with other characters in the game. Barcode Beasties is a common one that help to generate power-ups that has increased features as compared to the other characters in the game.

Softwares are also imprinted with Barcodes and they can easily be assigned to a unique buyer who would be provided with some access data. This makes hacking and cracking of softwares less doable and protects the license or copyright of the owner.

• Food Industry

Another big area where bar code technology is being improvised is in the food industry. History has it that the idea of Bar Code Technology grew from the food industry and has since been a great tool in the industry.

Food products largely improvise the bar code technology as a means of recognizing registered and certified consumable products. One could easily detect a fake food product if it doesn't have a bar code or easily track its expiry date.

Food regulating bodies uses it as a means of assigning registration numbers for food companies and also to regulate their production quality.

• Libraries

This is by far a big area where the application of Bar Code Technology is not just useful but important. Imagine a library hiding millions of books, having no automatic means of keeping records of the books can be impossible.

Catalogs and shelf arrangement of books are being monitored using the bar code system. Borrowed books would be easy to track with its Bar code and it's record would be as well easy.

BAR CODE SCANNERS

The data represented by the Bar Code lines, numbers or shapes are usually interpreted and processed into usable and understand ke formats by Bar Code scanners.

Bar Code Scanners are devices that retrieve data from the bar code using optical signals.

When illuminated reflected lines embedded in the space between the numbers and vertical representation of the bar code are detected by the optical scanner sensor, the reflected light are converted into electric voltage signals.

These are digitalized into raw data and converted by the decoder into character data originally represented by the Bar Code symbols.

They are the means through which encoded data in Bar Code are interpreted and formatted for processing and use. These scanners are majorly of two types;

• Contact Bar Code Scanners
• Non-contact Bar Code scanners

The contact scanners requires a close contact with the bar code so as to scan and interpret the encoded data. They are normally hand-held and are used when the label or Barcode is placed in a closed part. A common type is the Pen Reader.

The Non-contact types are fixed beam reader scanners that doesn't require close proximity to the bar code. They can be hand-held as well but could be as far as six inches away from the bar code.

PROS OF BAR CODE TECHNOLOGY

There are many benefits that comes with the adoption of this technology. More than its wide use in inventory control, it also has other benefits that make it invaluable and significant. Some includes:

• Reduced labor cost
• Fast and accurate retrieval of data
• Increased productivity
• Timely information
• Better Decision making
• Lesser staff training cost
• Reduced staff training time
• Easy sales management
• Automatic product account information
  

CONS OF BAR CODE TECHNOLOGY

• Time consuming in terms of product Bar Code printing
• High Cost of Scanning devices
• Great culture shift in terms of adapting to the technology
• Lesser employment opportunities
• Low Return Of Investment (ROI) for small retailers

CONCLUSION

In the growing world of technology, the concept of Bar coding has been a revelation and has been a life enhancing one. It makes sales faster, inventory easier, health care resources management easier and well makes entertainment more fun.

It is fantastic how one could scan a code from another person's phone and we could initiate a chat from there. The fact that food products are also considered safe with the presence of Bar Code also is interesting and many others.

This makes me conclude that, Technology is the way and it is here to stay!

Thanks for reading with me. I hope you found it educative and interesting.

REFERENCES

1. Dhananjay Prajapati, "Présentation on Bar Code Technology" B.TECH 3RD YEAR , DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE & ENGINERING

2. Wikipedia | Bar Code Technology

3. Chrons | Benefits of Bar Code Technology

4. Pros and Cons of Bar Code Technology

5. Interesting Use of Bar Code

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