Barcode Marking History
A bar code simply put is a machine-readable representation of data. The first bar codes represented data in the spacing’s of parallel lines. This was called linear or 1D (one dimensional) bar codes. In the united States and Canada they are almost always called UPC’s (Universal Bar Codes). Bar codes also come in patterns of hexagons, squares dots and other patterns within images. This is called 2D (two dimensional) matrix codes or symbologies. Even though symbols are used, they are generally called bar codes also.
Bar codes were first used to label railroad cars. They became highly successful when they were used to automate supermarket checkout systems. This is almost universal now; all larger stores use bar codes.
Optical scanners (barcode readers) read bar codes. There are several different types to read the different types of bar codes. In Japan, mobile phones have built in software to read 2D codes. Barcode marking was created to help grocery stores make check out quicker and to help keep track of inventory. The system quickly spread to other retail products because it was so successful in the grocery stores.
Manufacturers of products pay an annual fee to use a bar code that they get from a company called Uniform Code Council (UCC). UCC gives the manufacturer their own six digit manufacturer identification number. You see this number in any standard 12 digit UPC code. The next five digits of the number are the item number; the last is called the check digit. This number tells the scanner if it scanned the number correctly or not.
Sometimes bar codes have a smaller amount of numbers and these are called zero-suppressed numbers. The basic idea here is to leave out a set of four digits that are all zeros. The main reason for creating these smaller UPCs was to fit them on smaller products.
