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by Answerbag Staff on March 9th, 2010

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How is information in bar codes transmitted?

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  • by Jericho McCune on March 9th, 2010

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    Great Answer

    Professionally Researched. (What's this?)

    Bar codes are everywhere. In 2010, nearly every product sold today has a bar code on it, and even the Internal Revenue Service uses bar codes on its tax forms. The bar code began its life at the middle of the century and is now one of the most recognizable coding systems in the world.

    Light

    First, red light needs to hit the black and white lines. The black lines will absorb the light and the white space will reflect it. The bar code reader sends the light onto the paper and then catches it with sensors.

    Sensor

    The sensors in the bar code reader take the reflected light and dissects it. After it figures out where the light is and isn't coming from, it turns the information into an analog signal. The analog signal is sent to a converter, which transforms it into digital output for the reader's software to use.

    Symbology

    There are a variety of different symbologies for bar codes, some more common than others. The bar code reader will test to see if the symbology its reading is recognized by the decoding software it uses.

    Translation

    If the bar code reader recognizes the type of bar code it's reading, software translates the bar code into a string of text and runs the string through formatting software in order to know how to output the information in an organized fashion.

    End User

    Finally, the information is put up on the screen for the user to see. Often, the screen is attached to the back of the bar code reader or connected to the reader by a cord. Sometimes the reader stores the information in a data base for later retrieval by the user.

    Source:

    Carolina Barcode: How Bar Codes Work

    Carolina Barcode: How Bar Code Decoders Work

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