If you are familiar with purchasing items with barcodes printed on their label, then you have seen how a barcode scanner work. This is the little handheld device with red lasers on it. The cashier points to on every item you purchased at a local convenience store. Sometimes it is conveniently located at the cashier’s counter top, allowing her to slide the items being purchased across the counter top.
Basically, the function of the barcode scanner is to input the item number of particular product by reading the printed barcode on its label. Ones the item number was scanned, the software of epos till systems will check what product was being purchased. It will display the price of the item as well as update the inventory on the store shelf after the product for every sales transaction.
Parts of the Barcode Scanner
A barcode scanner consists of a lens, a light source and a sensor that will enable it to read a barcode.
When a scanner scans a barcode, it will convert the light impulses it has gathered into electrical impulses that the Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) system is capable of reading. In the last few years, barcode scanning technology has undergone major developments. Although their basic parts are the same, their packaging continually improved so that we now have several choices when it comes to what barcode scanners to buy. Here are some of the choices:
Light Pens
This kind of scanner has a photodiode and an LED light placed side by side at the tip of a pen shaped device. With this configuration, you can easily point the pen or the wand to the black and white barcode print on any item label. These devices are durable, inexpensive and very light that it is quite handy. Once a staff mastered how it works, it can scan quickly and accurately.
Laser Scanners
For business with many products like grocery stores, laser scanners are the perfect choice. It works well with epos tills. In terms of accuracy and productivity, this device is very dependable. It can even scan items that are moving which means even an amateur can use this device with great success. This is beneficial to self-service line of business where the customer will do the scanning himself or herself. It can also scan 1D barcodes and it is capable of long distance decoding.
Digital Imagers
This device is used for scanning items that uses the 2D barcode on their labels. To do this, this device is equipped with 2D cameras that have advanced omnidirectional function. Because it uses a camera to take pictures of the barcode, it also has several tiny lights arranged into several rows in order to illuminate the barcode.
CCD
CCD are also called Charged Coupled Devices that are known for their high accuracy and versatility. It employs hundreds of LED lights that lets the scanner on the device measure the ambient light voltage in each LED. After reading those measurements, it is automatically converted into electrical impulses that can be read by the ePOS system at the counter.
