Bar Code is perhaps the oldest of the AIDC technologies. The automatic identification industry has played a key role in the advancement of identification technology. With its primary focus on capturing information both quickly and accurately, automatic identification provides the fastest and most efficient means of gathering data.
The structure of the barcode consists of the height and the width. Information is encoded into spaces and bars of various widths. The number of characters is represented in a linear inch called the barcode density. The density depends on the symbology.
Currently there are more than 400 barcode symbologies in use. Some are alphanumeric, while others contain the full ASCII set, or only numeric data. Only 10 are standardized and prevalent in industry. Barcodes can also be produced easily and inexpensively. They can be printed on most dot matrix, laser, and thermal transfer printers depending on the quality you demand.