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What is a Barcode Reader?
A barcode reader (or barcode scanner) is an electronic device for reading printed barcodes. Like a flatbed scanner, it consists of a light source, a lens and a light sensor translating optical impulses into electrical ones. Additionally, nearly all barcode readers contain decoder circuitry analyzing the barcode's image data provided by the sensor and sending the barcode's content to the scanner's output port (USB, PS2 or Serial).
There are three type of barcode Scanners:
- CCD readers
"CCD readers use an array of hundreds of tiny light sensors lined up in a row in the head of the reader. Each sensor measures the intensity of the light immediately in front of it. Each individual light sensor in the CCD reader is extremely small and because there are hundreds of sensors lined up in a row, a voltage pattern identical to the pattern in a bar code is generated in the reader by sequentially measuring the voltages across each sensor in the row. The important difference between a CCD reader and a laser scanner is that the CCD reader is measuring emitted ambient light from the bar code whereas laser scanners are measuring reflected light of a specific frequency originating from the scanner itself."
- Laser Scanners
"Laser scanners consist of a laser beam as the light source and typically employ either a reciprocating mirror or a rotating prism to scan the laser beam back and forth across the barcode. The light emitted by the reader is rapidly varied in brightness with a data pattern and the photodiode receive circuitry is designed to detect only signals with the same modulated pattern."
- Omni-directional barcode scanners
"Omni-directional scanning uses series of straight or curved scanning lines of varying directions in the form of a starburst, or other multi angle arrangement are projected at the symbol and one or more of them will be able to cross all of the symbol's bars and spaces, no matter what the orientation."
| 2D Barcode Scanners |
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A 2D Barcode Scanner can interpret two-dimensional barcodes, which store data in two dimensions, rather than in just a series of black and white bars. 2D barcodes look like checkerboards or a series of traditional barcodes stacked atop one another. 2D Barcode Scanners use both CCD and Imaging technology to read barcodes.
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| Wireless Barcode Scanners |
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Wireless Barcode Scanners provide portable solutions for rugged environments where users can benefit from the enhanced flexibility, mobility and safety associated with eliminating the data cable. Wireless Barcode Scanners are ideally suited for applications in tough industrial environments, such as loading docks where shipping and receiving of materials requires significant freedom of movement, as well as manufacturing applications where eliminating the cable minimizes the potential for accidents.
Sometimes, when the distance from reader to the receiver is greater than that permitted for normal transmission, a wireless barcode reader can store the read barcode temporarily until it can be sent to the receiver. When used in this way, offline, the scanner can also be referred to as a data collector.
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| Portable Data Collectors |
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Portable Data Collectors are used in conjunction with an application program to gather information from usually barcodes or tagged items. These terminals can have different scanning technologies including CCD, Laser, 1D, 2D, Imager, RFID.
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