Bar codes

By: Frank John Paul L. Tresvalles

Bar Code History
•The first barcode, with a design like a bulls eye,
was invented in 1948 by two Drexel University
students named Norman J Woodland and Bernard
Silver.
•The pair received a patent in 1952.
 Bar Code History

•As far back as the 1960s,

barcodes were used to track a
railcars.
Bar Code History
•In the early 1970s, common barcodes started appearing on
grocery stores.
Bar Code
•A bar code is a series of vertical black bars separated by
vertical white bars (called spaces).
•The widths of the bars and spaces along with their
reflective abilities represent binary 1s and 0s, and
combinations of bits identify specific items.
•Bar codes may contain information regarding cost,
inventory management and control, security access,
shipping and receiving, production counting, document and
order processing, automatic billing, and many other
applications.
Bar Code
•. Bar codes are generally classified as being discrete, continuous, or
two-dimensional (2D)
•Discrete code - A discrete bar code has spaces or gaps between
characters. Code 39 is an example of a discrete bar code.

•Continuous code - A continuous bar code does not include spaces

between characters. An example of a continuous bar code is the
Universal Product Code (UPC)
Bar Code
•2D code - A 2D bar code stores data in two dimensions in
contrast with a conventional linear bar code, which stores
data along only one axis. 2D bar codes have a larger storage
capacity than one-dimensional bar codes. QR code is an
example of 2D code.
Code 39
•One of the most popular bar codes in 1974 .
•It consists of 36 unique codes representing the 10 digits and
26 uppercase letters. There are seven additional codes used
for special characters, and an exclusive start/stop character
coded as an asterisk (*). Code 39 bar codes are ideally suited
for making labels, such as name badges
Code 39 Character Set
Example
Universal Product Code
(UPC)
•The grocery industry developed the Universal Product Code
(UPC) sometime in the early 1970s to identify their products.
•Barcodes are a sequence of black and white parallel lines of
different widths.
•Today UPC codes are found on every grocery item and others.
Label Format
UPC Character Set
UPC Number System
Characters
Determine the UPC label structure for the
digit 4.?
The End