One-dimensional barcode reading: an information theoretic approach

Karim Houni (1) , Wadih Sawaya (2) , Yves Delignon (2)

1 LAGIS - Laboratoire d'Automatique, Génie Informatique et Signal
2 LAGIS-SI

In the convergence context of identification technology and information-data transmission, the barcode found its place as the simplest and the most pervasive solution for new uses, especially within mobile commerce, bringing youth to this long-lived technology. From a communication theory point of view, a barcode is a singular coding based on a graphical representation of the information to be transmitted. We present an information theoretic approach for 1D image-based barcode reading analysis. With a barcode facing the camera, distortions and acquisition are modeled as a communication channel. The performance of the system is evaluated by means of the average mutual information quantity. On the basis of this theoretical criterion for a reliable transmission, we introduce two new measures: the theoretical depth of field and the theoretical resolution. Simulations illustrate the gain of this approach.

Domaines: Traitement du signal et de l'image [eess.SP]; Traitement du signal et de l'image [eess.SP]

Karim Houni, Wadih Sawaya, Yves Delignon. One-dimensional barcode reading: an information theoretic approach. Applied optics, 2008, Vol. 47, Issue 8, pp. (2008) (8), pp.1025-1036. ⟨10.1364/AO.47.001025⟩. ⟨hal-00805824⟩