Barcodes help in identifying items and products. These are a series of numbers and vertical lines with spacing which can be read via barcode scanner. Barcode scanners and mobile computers are specifically designed to read the data which is stored in the barcodes. In the past, barcodes were just a series of horizontal lines and numbers, but today it has improved hugely and there are many types of barcode available. Barcodes with different lengths, widths, numerals, and spacing are available today. Different barcodes offer different services and uses. Two dimension barcodes are the most famous and these are widely used today.
Universal product codes
A universal product code or UPC was among the first barcodes introduced. It contained numerals, lines and spacing, just like a regular barcode. It represented inventory and pricing information. UPC is an example of a linear barcode system. Other linear barcode systems include the pharma code, which is used for packing and controlling pharmaceutical products and the Plessey barcode, which was used for marketing retail inventory.
Two-dimensional bar codes
Two-dimensional or 2D codes include Aztec and EZ codes, used in some mobile phone technologies. Data is embedded as a matrix within the multi dimensions of a bar code. It provides more space for data to fit in. A 2D data space is made longer and also increases dimensionally so as to gather more information about the product.
Stacked barcodes are another example of 2D codes and are more or less similar to matrix codes. These codes are layered, or stacked on already existing codes. 2D codes might seem like a series of dots or targets to the naked eye, but these are much more complicated than that.