How to barcode scanners instantly detect what an item is, despite the barcode being at any angle and often on a crinkled surface, completeley changing the look of the code from the scanner’s perspective?

Question

How to barcode scanners instantly detect what an item is, despite the barcode being at any angle and often on a crinkled surface, completeley changing the look of the code from the scanner’s perspective?

In: Technology

Answer 1

The barcodes is designed in such a way that they are easy to read in different conditions. For example the very common UPC-A barcode used to encode almost all retail products all have the same number of bars and only differentiaties in the width of the bars in relation to each other. The barcode is not valid in reverse but can easily be detected as being in reverse allowing the scanner to reverse its scan direction if you scan something upside down.