Thursday, February 17, 2011

Know About Working of 3D Barcodes

The technology of barcodes is advancing these days. 3D barcode technology is the one which is most advanced and increasingly used in manufacturing and other industries.

Generally 2D and linear barcodes are printed on labels which are attached to the items. These barcodes are read by a barcode scanner like a Symbol barcode scanner. But, 3D barcodes are different from those barcodes. 3D barcodes are physically raised on an item. An elevated, bumpy design of barcodes are included in 3D barcodes. So they can store larger amounts of information. They can include pictures, or product manuals or specifications. 3D barcode technology creates an image of some sort and is applied to a product. The barcodes are then read by a device for categorizing, inventory, and tracking an individual product.

Materials like plastic which can bend and come back to their original shape are used in making 3D barcodes. These barcodes can be created simultaneously during the process of manufacture. Hence, further costs and time in creating the barcodes can be avoided. They are able to resist to extreme environment conditions like heat, cold and other chemical conditions.

Laser technology can be used to read 3D barcodes. However, general barcode scanners like Symbol scanners are not used for reading them. As 3D barcodes are bumpy, they can be read only by specific bumpy barcode readers. Linear barcodes are read by variances in reflected light. But 3D barcodes are read by determining the height of each line in the barcode. The time taken for the laser to bounce back is recorded and it determines the height as a function of distance and time.

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