Who invented the new barcodes

He had cashed in some stocks to tide him over. It was in January that Woodland had his epiphany, though the brilliance of its simplicity and its far-reaching consequences for modern existence were not recognized until many years later. It was Morse Code that gave him the idea. Woodland had learned it when he was in the Boy Scouts. As he was sitting in a beach chair and pondering the checkout dilemma, Morse came into his head:.

Now I have four lines and they could be wide lines and narrow lines, instead of dots and dashes. Now I have a better chance of finding the doggone thing. Back in Philadelphia, Woodland and Silver decided to see if they could get a working system going with the technology to hand. They first filed a patent in , which was finally granted in Although the patent illustrates the basic concept, there is only a smattering of anecdotal evidence about what Woodland and Silver actually built.

An oscilloscope was used to "read" the code; the whole thing was the size of a desk. Allegedly, it worked, up to a point. But an objective evaluation judged it to be 20 years ahead of its time. Woodland and Silver had the right idea, but they lacked the minicomputer and, critically, a very bright light with which to "read" the black and white bar code. On July 16, , when he first saw the laser, the head of public relations at Hughes Aircraft Company of Culver City, California, Carl Byoir, declared they were in big trouble: "It looks like something a plumber made.

One of their research scientists, Theodore Maiman, had made an "atomic radio light brighter than the center of the sun. Most of the reporters were eager to learn what the laser was for, and what it could do.

It was like science fiction. Maiman said the laser beam was so concentrated, so "coherent," that if it were beamed from Los Angeles to San Francisco it would spread only feet. The tiny beam was hot and sharp enough to cut through materials. Could it be used as a weapon? That was not the intention, Maiman assured reporters. Maiman had won the race to build the very first laser, beating fierce competition from around the world.

They did not know then what it might be used for, but they imagined it would have many applications in science and communications, in industry for cutting and welding, and in medicine for delicate surgery. But, as Maiman wrote, "I did not foresee the supermarket check-out scanner or the printer. A booklet produced in by the Kroger Company, which ran one of the largest supermarket chains in North America, signed off with a despairing wish for a better future: "Just dreaming a little.

Faster service, more productive service is needed desperately. We solicit your help. A small research team at the powerful Radio Corporation of America RCA was looking at a few new projects, including the possibility of an automatic bank cash machine, which they decided would not go because "the customer would not buy the concept.

A search of the history turned up some apparently hare-brained schemes: in one, customers picked out punch cards that identified what they wanted to buy and presented them to a cashier, who retrieved the goods from a store. This did not survive long in the grocery business. Then there was the patent for a system in which the supermarket shopper threw everything into a basket, which was pushed under a scanner that identified each item and printed out a bill. They soon found the Woodland and Silver patent.

This was not the rectangular bar code that Woodland had first envisaged on Miami Beach but the "bull's-eye" of concentric circles he thought would be a better design. Who would have guessed that on one summer day in when a pack of gum was scanned, history was being made and would change the way information is processed? Barcodes and barcode scanners have had a universal impact, and today, almost 50 percent of smartphone users in the United States have a barcode scanner app on their device.

However, the benefits of barcode and barcode readers extend beyond that. They also:. The future of barcodes and barcode scanners is wide open. With companies such as DBK Concepts, businesses will be able to excel in mobile data-collection solutions with the different types of wireless barcode hardware, software and services. DBK specializes in refurbishing and repairing legacy equipment, and buying and selling scanners and mobile computing devices.

It is one of the largest independently owned service centers in the United States for handheld mobile technology. You can contact DBK for additional information. All Rights Reserved. History of the Barcode Scanner It may be hard to remember for some, but there was a time when barcodes, also known as UPC codes , and barcode scanners were considered future technology.

Who Invented Barcodes and Barcode Readers? However, in the summer of , three supermarkets first used scanners for barcodes: In June , Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio, installed a prototype system. The very first barcode-scanned item was a pack of Juicy Fruit gum. After a trial period, the benefits of using this type of barcode system included: Checkout productivity increased. Stores reduced service desk hours because checks could be cashed at the register, and also because cigarettes were being sold at the register, since the store had a system in place to monitor inventory.

Bookkeeping hours decreased because counting coupons and other tasks were done by the system. Stores installed electronic scales at the register, speeding up the weighing and pricing of produce. Customer acceptance was positive. Timeline of Barcodes and Barcode Scanners To really get a feel for what the future holds for barcodes and barcode readers, you need to look at how far this technology has really come. David Allais creates Code 39, the first alphanumeric barcode.

Today: QR codes are used almost everywhere, including websites, decorative items and signs. Introduction of the QR Code In , about 20 years after the initial barcode scanners were introduced, it became apparent you would have limitations using them. Laser This type of reader takes more exact light readings, preventing scanner errors or false positives. The light reflects off the barcode to a photoelectric cell, which is an electronic component that detects light.

The black areas reflect small amounts of light, while the white lines reflect the most. How Barcodes and Barcode Scanners Have Changed the World Who would have guessed that on one summer day in when a pack of gum was scanned, history was being made and would change the way information is processed?

Log in. Dial-up to the internet year , right? Grab your :CueCat and scan the barcode you remembered to bring the magazine, didn't you? Now wait patiently for a web page to progressively load bearing the gift of additional advertising. There's so much more to learn about :CueCat over on the Wikipedia page. Trust me, it's worth it. Barcodes and other kinds of ID tags are everywhere, tracking everything that moves in novel and clever ways. Today, barcodes are used to identify patients in hospitals, validate prescriptions, automate manufacturing processes, log into wifi networks, exchange contact information, check in airline passengers and movie-goers, check out groceries and other retail purchases, help you track your calories using smartphone apps and much, much more.

Recently, I scanned a QR code posted at a bus stop and my smartphone told me how many minutes until the next bus. Oh, and barcodes are also used to track physical assets through the supply chain, which is why I'm writing this book. There's a lot to know about barcodes, but from here on out, we're going to focus on the asset tracking space. I look forward to exploring the world of barcodes and asset tracking with you. I hope you enjoy the journey.

Wikipedia: KarTrak Barcoding. Topics: Barcodes. E-mail amtoland datacor. Get in Touch. You might still see the occasional KarTrak label on a railroad car today.

Super Lasers Meet Supermarkets Barcodes for supermarkets remained a holy grail of sorts due to the potential for huge productivity gains. Regardless of the lack of serialized asset tracking, the benefits of barcode adoption in supermarkets were enormous: Scanning barcodes greatly sped up checkout, enabling the customer to finish shopping more quickly.

Faster checkout enabled the store to serve more customers using fewer employees. Barcodes improved the accuracy of the checkout process and greatly reduced theft and fraud.

A computer maintained the database that mapped UPC codes to prices. Dishonest customers who would replace price labels with those from less expensive products were thwarted. Although in stores where they continued to use price labels in addition to barcodes, customer disputes between the label and the scanned price displayed at the register abounded.

This eventually led stores to stop putting the price directly on products whenever possible. Barcodes enabled the store to monitor sales in real time by product and category. They could generate reports of what was selling, at what rate, and what was not. It enabled faster inventory audits and reordering with handheld mobile devices.

It enabled automatic coupon recognition - the computer knows what was purchased and whether the coupon which also has a barcode is valid. It enabled instant price changes by changing a row in a database. Previously, a stock worker yours truly would have to take product off the shelves, manually scrape off old price labels from hundreds of items each week, print and affix new price tags and restock the shelves.

The phrase "cat food is on sale" still sends me into cold sweats. Hundreds of dusty cans of cat food. Install the proprietary bundled software from CD that enabled the :CueCat to do something "useful" when a barcode was scanned namely, open a web page. So what exactly was going on here? The :CueCat was universally considered a failure of the highest order.

Today Barcodes and other kinds of ID tags are everywhere, tracking everything that moves in novel and clever ways. Written by Larry Silverman. Follow the TrackAbout Blog. Subscribe Here! Recent Posts.