Functions Of Barcodes

The various forms and functions of barcodes – from retail to the military (Part Two)

December 20, 2012

In yesterday's post we explored some of the uses and workings of retail barcodes - today we explore some more linear and 2-dimensional barcodes: Code 3 of 9, Code 128, ISBN & ISSN, DataBar, Interleaved 2 of 5, Data Matrix & QR Codes, Aztec Code, PDF417, Postnet and MaxiCode as shown in the picture alongside... Read Part One here.

Let’s have a look at the varied and sometimes amazing ways that barcodes have been used to track everything from post and parts in warehouses, to medicines and prescriptions and batches donated to blood banks. The record for the world’s smallest barcodes goes to a company called Data2 who developed...

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The various forms and functions of barcodes – from retail to the military (Part One)

December 19, 2012

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From the US Department of Defense, to libraries and blood banks, the postal service and even scientists tracking the movements of bees – barcodes are used in a wide variety of applications and across many new formats. Today we take a look at how and why they work, and investigate some of the newer barcodes formats like datamatrix and codabar.

Essentially those black lines which you see on a barcode are a special font which can be read by a scanner, and decoded to be understood by a computer system. The width of the lines and the spaces between represent numeric values which the barcode scanner picks up – the number printed below the barcode (or ‘human readable’ code) is just for human reference in case the barcode has been damaged and the code needs to be entered manually.

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The various forms and functions of barcodes – from retail to the military (Part Two)

The various forms and functions of barcodes – from retail to the military (Part One)

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SA Barcodes Team

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