Enhanced barcode reading via augmented reality with fast continuous capture

Increasing operator performance and customer satisfaction, reducing disability through augmented reality (AR) and continuous camera scanning in our applications!

(“AR” or “RA” = Augmented Reality)

We have mastered these technologies in order to apply and include them in our professional applications for code entry assistance, and for searching for precise barcodes in an area of the screen to add data or visual and audio value: so you’ll always be at the height of the assistance provided by an Android smartphone!

Quick video demo: continuous reading and RA assistance with barcode selection identifier: 30s (silent)

Principles used

As a conclusion to our research and performance enhancement work on Android cameras, including our announcement on the speed of camera barcode reading, we have achieved high-speed detection and continuous automatic reading of barcodes passing under the camera’s field of view.

Remember that in most cases, barcodes encode data: product identifiers, price details, batch numbers, and so on.

Beyond retail, barcodes can be found in fields such as healthcare: patient wristbands, hospital prescriptions, parcel tracking logistics and library management: cataloguing books. Their effectiveness lies in their universality: whether on a cereal box or a museum exhibit, they are primarily used to present an identifier that can be decoded without copying errors. This barcode identifier facilitates rapid data retrieval by networks.

We superimpose a layer (transparent AR overlay) on top of the camera’s reading layer (which decodes barcodes / QR codes), on which we add the required information in real time: here in the demo, a green frame of the barcode you’re looking for. This technology includes QR-code technology, which generates an AR image. Imagine pointing your smartphone at a historic monument and suddenly, historical figures come to life, telling stories of bygone days. AR guides operators through complex machine repairs, overlaying step-by-step instructions on their smartphone.

We do NOT need special glasses: just a smartphone and just look at the screen while aiming at the product. We could actually send this layer of information back to a screen like special glasses to make it “total hands-free”, but that’s not in the budget of our target customers. On our overlay, we can add functions such as a button that takes the user (operator or consumer) to another application, an explanatory PDF or a zoom photo of the room, etc…

Note: we use our own source code and no SDKs from other companies, so imagination is your limit. We also sell complete applications based on these functions; no SDKs are sold.

Examples of applications

As we saw above, augmented reality based on barcodes will increase the amount of information available to the user, whether operator or customer, enabling them to get to the heart of the matter more quickly.

In addition, the continuous scan barcode function can be used to quickly take inventory of unique codes (item codes with carton numbers, for example), or if you don’t have unique codes but have similar codes, you can scan, decode and uniquely count everything on the screen, screen by screen (a screen can be a pallet).

For code verification by pallet or by shelf, by combining the 2 functions (continuous scanning and augmented reality), we can create applications to identify on a screen which reference is different from the majority of those on the screen: in other words, to visually identify the different product(s) which, on the face of it, have no place in this batch.

AR in retail / stores

except that we don’t make public apps, so we have to “organize” the provision of Android devices to customers, AR in-store pushes information to customers: create attractive tools for your customers with us. Customers scan to check a nutri-score or view promotions. Instead of customers, we can imagine putting these functions in the hands of the salesperson, if your store has a last-step tip selling system.

At the same time, your employees work faster and have access to product information on the shelves.

As far as AR for store employees is concerned, it’s the same as that developed below for stock management AR.

AR for mail and parcel retrieval

hovering over a pile of parcels in a van with legible codes identifies the parcel the letter carrier or deliveryman is looking for. Location functions can be added: registration of the drop-off position or a map search of the position (existing app on this site).

AR in stock management, Augmented Reality in assistance to disabled people

As the value and symbology of each code is analyzed in real time as soon as the barcode or QR code, Datamatrix (see list of fonts below) passes in front of the camera, a very precise selection of values can be stored in memory for use in the data entry process at a later date.

For example, if you have a list sheet of item barcodes and order numbers (printed from an ERP) with distinctive values in the codes: you can store the whole list at once.

The continuous mode will allow you to press a button on the screen while passing the camera in front of the sheet, scanning it to create a digital order preparation list in the smartphone: then, depending on the information present, we can imagine helping the order preparation operator, in logistics, or a person in a situation of disability, slowing down or simply tiredness, to tell him where precisely to put away the products he receives or find the items he needs to prepare for an order!

What’s more, with an added function, we can interactively indicate on the operator’s screen and audibly where the item is located or where it should be put away with the same barcode as on the list prepared beforehand!

With a smartphone camera and our professional continuous barcode reading software, an operator can enter an order form with barcodes in just a few seconds, and prepare it without making any mistakes: errors are reduced by comparison, and visual assistance in selecting small boxes on the shelf enhances performance.

Which mobile can scan what?

You can scan continuously with the camera of an Android smartphone from version 8 upwards.

Barcode scanning speed depends on (recall) :

• the quality of the optics, the firmware of your camera (always the one on the back of the device), imager or scanner integrated into your smartphone, in this case called a “rugged terminal”.
• the quality, font and size of your printed barcodes: if you have items or labels that you don’t know how to print, reading the barcode font (see barcode reading principle) will take more or less seconds or milliseconds, depending on the reader, or may not be readable at all!
• the position of the barcodes on the label: proximity, number, white “quiet zone” around each one,
• software ergonomics: the position of keys and touchpads will save you one or two seconds per scan,
• the amount of information to be completed by the operator: this depends on the needs of the application.

About standard formats / fonts / symbologies:

- linear formats: Codabar, Code 39, Code 93, Code 128, EAN-8, EAN-13, ITF, UPC-A et UPC-E
- 2D formats: Aztec, Data Matrix, PDF417, code QR

We can add defined symbology selections to our applications.

Ask us for the test app loading link.

You already have an Android smartphone and would like to try out this mobile application module ?

Android app (Apk) provided on Productivix private repository, on request - link and loading QRcode provided To install it, read here

Quantitative test limit displayed according to modules, over 30 days. Qualification customer call before shipment.

Do you have a similar need? Don’t hesitate to tell us what you need: a copy of a pencil drawing of an interface, examples of interface files, a video of an obsolete software program in action will be enough.