Camera Barcode Scanners

Barcodes have evolved over the years from being one dimensional to now coming in two dimensional varieties as the need to pack more data into the barcode has increased.

One dimensional (1D) barcodes are the familiar barcodes that are a series of thick and thin lines. Two dimensional barcodes (2D), on the other hand, are patterns of polygons or other shapes with data that is arranged vertically and horizontally. Normal laser and wand barcode scanners do not have the ability to read 2D labels. LED scanners can read 2D barcodes up to a certain size, but newer camera based barcode scanners are becoming the industry standard for reading these newer barcodes.

Camera barcode scanners take pictures of the barcodes and store them as digital images. These images are then read using sophisticated imaging software that interprets the pictures and converts them to usable data.