Have you ever stood in a checkout queue wishing there was some way that your shopping could be scanned and paid for without all of that standing around? Dr Jerome Swartz, chairman of Symbol Technologies Inc, obviously has. In fact a couple of years ago he went further than that and came up with a Portable Pen Terminal with Integrated Scanner – the PPT4100. The handheld computer can scan the bar codes on your purchases as you shop and at the same time record an inventory of sales and then reorder stock. PPT4100 also has marketing and promotions uses since a sales assistant using a PPT4100 can ask you why you chose one item in preference to another and input your answers. Store managers can then work out the most successful product lines. Dr Swartz is now working on a PPT4100 that can scan your credit card, carry out credit verification and complete the purchase all at once, so you will never have to queue again. But perhaps you don’t fancy the idea of doing the shopping with an assistant in tow. In that case self checkout may be the answer. In Toys ‘R’ Us in the US, customers can already use portable scanners to check bar code pricing. But according to Dr Swartz, within the next five years self-checkouts will become a reality. Shoppers will have a scanner that they point at product bar codes to find prices, the scanner will then keep a record of purchases so you don’t over-spend. And by keying in details of the products purchased, the shopper need only go to the checkout with a print-out from the scanner and pay for the goods. The print-out is passed to the storeroom and the goods delivered to your car.
Two-dimensional bar codes
According to Swartz, the core technology behind such visions of future shopping is two-dimensional bar codes or Portable Data Files (CI No 2,198). Traditionally, bar codes contained a small amount of information that accessed files stored on the host computer. But Portable Data File symbols are self-contained and hold the entire data record previously stored in the database. This is why Symbol believes that Portable Data Files are the most significant development in information processing since the introduction of the personal computer. Such files enable you to access data in virtually any location since it functions as a disposable paper-based computer memory and therefore can be written once and read many times. PDF417 is the Portable Data File protocol designed by Symbol. It can store 24 feet to 48 feet of linear bar code in one square inch. It has been designed to detect and correct errors and according to the company is dirt, grease, dust and bullet proof. These capabilities are due to the Reed Solomon error correction algorithm that gives the bar code a resiliance such that two-thirds of it can be destroyed before reading the data becomes a problem. This is because the alogorithm gives each bit of data a relationship to other bits so that the whole can be calculated from its constituent parts. And if security is an issue, the bar code can be encrypted using a proprietary or off-the-shelf encryption tool. PDF417 could therefore be used on credit cards where security is paramount. The PDF symbol could then contain information such as the card-holder’s signature, photograph and agreed spending limit. Symbol predicts that in the not too distant future credit cards will be Smart Cards, the memory holding your credit limit and any other banking services you uses, such as details of direct debits and standing orders. Banks will therefore know the details of their customers without having to trawl central computers. The US government is currently carrying out trials in several states using bar codes on driving licences. Furthermore, and the company predicts that bar codes will become compatible with Smart Cards so that the data encoded within credit cards can be erased and updated using laser technology that will heat the data up and erase it. Symbol, in conjuction with Olympus Optical Co Ltd is currently working on a fuzzy logic scanner that will have an adjustable focus. The company believe
s that it will be used in warehouses to mark and price stock since it will read bar codes on products that are at ground level and ceiling level. Bohemia, New York-based Symbol Technologies promises that it will be ready to ship in autumn of this year.
