The module can recognize particular 1D and 2D barcodes.

The module BAR is included only in the Professional Recognition Kit (not the OCR kit). Separate barcode distribution licensing is required if barcode technology is included in your application: these are 1D barcode Standard (BAR1D), 2D barcode Standard (BAR2D). See the topic on Licensing in the General Information help system.

The parts of the BAR barcode recognition module are 1D barcode recognition and 2D barcode recognition. This topic presents only information common to 1D and 2D BAR modules. The following two topics present information unique to each module.

Module name:	BAR
Module identifier:	RM_BAR
Filling methods supported:	FM_BARCODE, FM_BARCODE2D
Filters supported:	ignores all filter settings
Knowledge base file:	none
Training file supported:	no

Output

In LETTER structure output, the character size (width, height), the character position (top, left) and confidence data (err) information for each recognized character present barcode-level information, i.e. these values will be identical for all characters deriving from the barcode.

Coordinates (top, left, width, height) of all characters correspond to those of the barcode that contains them.

Barcode type is stored in the info member of the LETTER structure for each character.

Barcode orientation is stored in the makeup field of the LETTER structure for each character. See R_TEXT_ORIENT_MASK and related makeup bits.

Of course, the general rules are applied also by this module, i.e. the LETTER array contains zero pixel wide end-line spaces and the character codes read from the barcode are converted to Unicode using the current code page. EOL control codes (0x0d, 0x0a) are converted to an R_ENDOFLINE makeup flag. Other control codes (0x00 .. 0x1F and 0x7F .. 0x9F) are by default shifted to Unicode Private Use Area (0xE0xx). See the setting Kernel.OcrMgr.Codes.CtrlOffset.

However, there is a special format for avoiding conversions. This is the binary output (see below).

The end of the barcode is marked with the flag R_ENDOFPARA on the latest 0-width space of the barcode. It is neccessary because there could be more lines within one barcode – mainly in 2D barcodes –, thus R_ENDOFLINE is not enough for handling such cases. The latest 0-width space of the barcode has both flags.

Binary output

The binary output can be forced globally by changing the setting Kernel.OcrMgr.BarBinary to true, or can be specified zone by zone with the kRecSetZoneBarTypes function. In binary mode the module supposes that the barcode contains binary data and skips the conversion of the result, i.e. it does not convert the codes to Unicode and control codes are also kept unchanged. Note that the LETTER array contains a dummy zero pixel wide end-line space even in this case. However, this output is recommended to use together with the DTXT output method DTXT_BINARY or the kRecGetOCRZoneText function, which remove these end-line spaces.

Different barcode types in one zone

OPSDK provides a function (kRecCheckBarTypes) to check whether elements of the enabled barcode type set are compatible each other or not. The details about the incompatible barcode types can be found in notes of this function.

Zone-by-zone barcode type enabling

OmniPage SDK 19 introduced the possibility of enabling barcode type set not only globally, but zone by zone. This can be performed by the function kRecSetZoneBarTypes for the specified user zone. The enabled barcode type selection can be retrieved for both user and OCR zones (kRecGetZoneBarTypes, kRecGetOCRZoneBarTypes).

Batch separation support

In document processing workflows special pages can be used for batch separation of different page flows. If the workflow uses barcodes for separation on such a special page, OPSDK provides a faster operation mode of BAR Module. To be enough fast and accurate this mode requires stricter dimension and quality conditions (if the image resolution is 300 DPI, bar height should be between 75 and 600 pixels). This batch separation mode can be switched on using the setting Kernel.OcrMgr.BarFastMode.

Tips for easier use of BAR module

The use of the BAR barcode module is simpler from version 20.2 of OmniPage SDK.

Recognizing 1D and 2D barcode types is allowing in one step in a zone: it is no more needed to use filling method FM_BARCODE and FM_BARCODE2D separately. Use of FM_BARCODE filling method makes possible to search and recognize 1D and 2D barcodes together at the same time in the same zone. See setting Kernel.OcrMgr.BarEnable1D2D.
There can be more than one BAR_QR barcode in a zone.
If you do not know your barcode type, we recommend to use kRecGetAutoBarTypes function. This function gets the largest set of barcode types that can be used simultaneously for an automatic detection.
Full-page barcode zones: If the default recognition module is RM_BAR and there is no user zone and OCR zone at all, the engine puts a full-page barcode zone on the page and searches barcodes within it.
In many cases we experienced that the despeckle algorithm changes the width of the bars. If they are originally very thin, this changes can cause inadequate ratio of narrow and wide bars. See the details at setting Kernel.Ocr.BAR.bar1D.UseOriginalImage.
We make it easier to enable some barcode types together:
1. Enabling 1D and 2D barcode types together
2. Enabling not typical barcode types together with 2D barcodes as far as we can. E.g. enabling BAR_PATCH barcodes with any 2D barcodes.
3. Enabling types BAR_EAN, BAR_UPC_A, BAR_BOOKLAND together. An automatic detection specifies the real type.
4. Enabling BAR_C39, BAR_C39_EXT together. An automatic detection specifies the real type. (Can be disabled with the setting Kernel.OcrMgr.BarCheckBarTypes.Enable.C39_C39EXT.)
5. Enabling BAR_C128, BAR_UCC128, BAR_EAN14, BAR_SSCC18 together. An automatic detection specifies the real type.
If the real barcode type is not enabled but one of its family is, the engine can recognize the barcode. In such a case it is more useful to give a result of type within the family than not to give anything, thus the "main" member of the family can be retrieved as recognized type. If this "main" member was even not enabled, the return value of the recognition is BAR_FAMILY_FORCED_WARN. For disabling this working mode set the setting Kernel.OcrMgr.BarEnableFamily to FALSE.
For example:
1. EAN Family - BAR_EAN ("main" member), BAR_UPC_A, BAR_BOOKLAND:
  If only BAR_UPC_A type is enabled and the real barcode type is BAR_BOOKLAND, the result of the recognition will be a BAR_EAN type barcode (instead of NO_TXT_WARN) with BAR_FAMILY_FORCED_WARN. If BAR_EAN is also enabled the return value will be REC_OK.
  For instance the barcode on the page is "9787442521744" (which is a Bookland), but only BAR_UPC_A is enabled (which always starts with '0'), then the recognition result will be "9787442521744" with type BAR_EAN and with return value BAR_FAMILY_FORCED_WARN.
2. Code-128 Family - BAR_C128 ("main" member), BAR_UCC128, BAR_SSCC18, BAR_EAN14:
  If the barcode starts with "FNC1" function code, it has special meaning: it indicates that the barcode is a BAR_UCC128 and the following 2, 3 or 4 digits are an application identifier assigned by the Uniform Code Council. The "FNC1" string is not visible in the recognition result, but it is encoded in the barcode.
  For instance this string is written below the barcode: "(8003)09412345123452" and the barcode is encoded as: "FNC1800309412345123452". This indicates that the barcode is a BAR_UCC128 and the OCR result is "800309412345123452". (The '(' and ')' characters are not encoded in the barcode lines). The engine detects the "FNC1" prefix. If neither BAR_UCC128 nor BAR_C128 types are enabled (but any other family member is), the result depends on the setting BarEnableFamily. If it is set to TRUE, the recognition result is "FNC1800309412345123452" with type BAR_C128 and with return value BAR_FAMILY_FORCED_WARN. If it is FALSE, the return value is NO_TXT_WARN and there is no recognition result. If BAR_UCC128 is enabled the engine retrieves "800309412345123452" with the return value REC_OK.
3. Code-39 Family - BAR_C39 ("main" member), BAR_C39_EXT: BAR_C39_EXT can contain special characters with special meaning. For instance '+' character followed by a capital letter indicates the lower case pair of that letter if BAR_C39_EXT is enabled. But the '+' character followed by a number is not a valid combination for BAR_C39_EXT, but is valid for BAR_C39. If BAR_C39_EXT is enabled but BAR_C39 is not enabled, the result contains both the '+' and the following character with the type BAR_C39 and with the return value BAR_FAMILY_FORCED_WARN. However if the setting BarEnableFamily is set to FALSE, the return value is NO_TXT_WARN and there is no recognition result for the invalid character combinations.
kRecCheckBarTypes works according to the below table of barcode type combinations.

EAN

UPC_A

UPC_E

ITF

C39

C39_EXT

C128

CB

POSTNET

A2of5

UCC128

2of5

C93

PATCH

PDF417

PLANET

DMATRIX

C39_NSS

QR

MAT25

CODE11

ITAPOST25

MSI

BOOKLAND

ITF14

EAN14

SSCC18

DB_LTD

DB_EXP

4S_USPS

4S_AUSPOST

EAN

+

-

+

-

+

-

+

-

+

-

+

-

+

-

UPC_A

+

-

+

-

+

-

+

-

+

-

+

-

+

-

UPC_E

+

-

+

-

+

-

+

-

+

-

+

-

+

-

ITF

+

-

+

-

+

-

+

-

+

-

+

-

+

-

+

-

+

-

C39

+

-

+

-

+

-

+

-

+

-

+

-

+

-