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43 views7 pages

11779425

Uploaded by

hamza shah
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

Barcodes are machine readable symbols made of patterns and bars. Barcodes
are used for automatic identification and usually are used in conjunction with
databases. It is widely used in the retail industry, military, health industry, document
imaging environments, automatic storage and retrieval systems [1] and on the factory
floor. Barcodes were first introduced about 34 years ago [2]. The main intention is to
encode information in a tight place. It is also a very simple method of data entry and
data collection and is used for supply monitoring, job control and batch separation
[3]. Barcodes are very cost-effective, accurate and can pack great amount of
information [2]. The cost of printing and reading is minimal [4] and moreover, the
actual labor cost for data entry is reduced.

Different bar and space patterns are used to represent different characters.
Sets of these patterns are grouped together to form a “symbology”. There are
numerous types of barcode symbologies each having their own unique characteristics
and features. A majority of symbologies were designed to meet the needs of specific
applications or industry. For example the Universal Product Code (UPC) symbology
was designed for identifying retail and grocery items, while PostNET was designed
to encode postcodes for the US Postal Service. Generally, barcodes can be
categorized into two distinct categories;
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a. One-Dimensional (1-D) barcodes


These barcodes encode information along one dimension with intervals of
alternating black and white color. Information is encoded in bars which
represents the barcode. The term bar refers to the rectangles with the
foreground color while spaces denote the intervals between the bars. Example
of 1-D barcodes are like the Codabar, Code 25, European Article Number
(EAN-8, EAN-13), UPC-A and PharmaCODE which are shown in Figure
1.1. 1-D barcodes differ from one another by the way the information in
encoded. Some symbologies allow encoding of both numeric and
alphanumeric characters.

Codabar Code 25

24 531237$ 23123+- 1 235 452136782

EAN-8 EAN-13 UPC-A PharmaCODE

< 1245 6789 9 5> 1 2 34 5 6 7 8 9 6 45 8 > 4 51 2 3 3 7 8 9 54 3


123456
PostNET

Figure 1.1: Common one-dimensional barcodes

b. Two-Dimensional (2-D) barcodes


2-D barcodes can represent more information per area and was developed to
overcome the restricted amount of information that can be packed in 1-D
barcodes [5, 6]. 2-D barcodes represent information in two axes, creating an
area of barcode. Examples of 2-D barcodes are such as 3-DI, Array Tag [7,
8], PDF417 [6], Data Matrix, MaxiCode and Aztec Code and are shown in
Figure 1.2. Besides that, 2-D barcodes are smaller and have a lower error rate
compared to their 1-D counterpart. For instance, the PDF417 barcode has a
worst case error rate of 1 error for 10.5M characters, compared to UPC-A
which has a higher error rate of 1 error for every 394k characters. However,
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2-D barcode requires sophisticated readers making them more costly and
unpopular in the retail industry.

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f)


Figure 1.2: Two-dimensional barcodes, (a) 3-DI and (b) Array Tag, (c) PDF417, (d)
Data Matrix, (e) MaxiCode and (f) Aztec Code

1.2 Limitations of Conventional Barcode Readers

Barcodes are used extensively in many areas especially in the retail industry.
Although barcodes provide a fast and accurate method of data entry, the readers used
for this purpose have some shortcomings. Laser scanners are far the most commonly
used 1-D barcode reader. Laser scanners look at the pattern of dark and light bars and
decode a barcode, returning the string contained in them. This string is then used to
obtain additional information from a database. Several limitations of conventional
scanners are;

a. Limited depth of field


Barcodes must be placed very close to the reader for a successful reading.
This is true especially for pen type and laser readers.

b. Limited life span due to mechanical wear


Due to close contact between the reader and the barcode, the barcode reader
is likely to have a limited life span due to mechanical wear. This is also due
to the way the reader is handled by humans.
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c. Barcodes must reside on flat surfaces


One of the biggest limitations is that most readers can only operate with
barcodes that reside on flat surfaces. Barcodes placed on curved or irregular
surfaces such as on cylinders are difficult to read.

d. Barcode alignment
Conventional barcode readers require that the barcodes are placed in a proper
alignment prior to reading. Barcodes cannot be rotated or flipped. The
success in reading a barcode depends greatly on how the barcode is aligned.
In actual application environment, proper alignment of barcodes means
human intervention, thus a fully automated system in not feasible.

e. Cost
Although there are variety of barcode readers available, models that do
provide high-end features such as low error rate and high robustness, are
often expensive.

f. Laser hazard
Because the eye focuses laser light just as it does other light, the chief danger
in working with lasers is eye damage. Therefore, laser light should not be
viewed either directly or reflected. Direct exposure to laser light should be
avoided. Laser scanners present danger if accidentally pointed into the eye.

The application of vision in many areas is much sought after due to several
advantages. Vision based barcode readers can be used when the object is far away or
when human intervention is difficult or hazardous such as in the handling of
radioactive materials. Vision systems can perform multiple things at the same time,
without changing the hardware but just by modifying the software to suit a particular
operation. In industries, vision is used to detect production defects, detect missing
components and also to obtain barcodes. All of this is performed with one vision
without the need for a dedicated hardware for every operation. Besides that, the
sources of vision such as digital cameras are becoming more common and
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economical. With the sudden growth in consumer based digital cameras (such as in
mobile phones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)), it becomes even clearer that
vision will be available to the masses in the near future, thus there is a strong
motivation to develop vision based applications.

1.3 Objectives

The main objective of this project is to develop a system comprising of a


camera and software for the purpose of capturing 1-D barcodes and decoding them in
real-time. Suitable image processing techniques must be implemented in the software
to accommodate inaccuracies or environmental changes during the acquiring process.
The project is also aimed at addressing the issues with conventional readers. Lastly,
the objective of this project is to compare the performance and robustness of the final
system with currently available vision based barcode reader technologies.

1.4 Scope of Project

The project is focused on developing a Windows based software using


Microsoft Visual C++ 6 that will perform the image processing and decoding. The
scope of the project will cover the following areas;

1. The program obtains images or frames from offline Windows


Bitmap (BMP) files or in real-time from a camera or framegrabber
that is interfaced to the system.
2. The program developed must be able to decode two 1-D
symbologies, the UPC-A and EAN-13.
3. It is also the aim of the project that the program is able to decode
barcodes in various alignments, on different surfaces and in various
environment conditions.
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4. Finally, the algorithms must be fast and efficient so that it can be


applied in real-time applications. It is the target of the project that
the final program is able to perform detection at a rate of 20 frames
per second (FPS).

1.5 Project Outline

The project is organized into six chapters. The outline is as follows;

Chapter 1-Introduction
This chapter discusses the objectives and scope of the project and gives a
general introduction to barcode technology.

Chapter 2-Review of Literature Studies


This chapter reviews the relevant literature and previous work regarding
vision based barcode readers. In addition to that, the anatomy of EAN-13 and
UPC-A symbologies are given.

Chapter 3-Theoritical Background


Chapter 3 elaborates on the principles behind good quality image acquisition
and the factors that must be taken into consideration to obtain readable
barcodes. This includes lens selection, determination of field of view, and
depth of view.

Chapter 4- Algorithms & Implementation


All the preprocessing executed prior to detection is explained in this chapter.
The algorithms to initiate barcode detection and decoding are also described
and justified in this chapter.
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Chapter 5-Result
The final results of this project are shown and discussed in this chapter.

Chapter 6-Conclusion
Chapter 6 consists of conclusion and suggestions for future improvement.

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