1D Reader

A combination of the following flags:

The 'Barcode Symbologies' property determines which types of one-dimensional (linear) barcodes the [1D Reader] will search for during detection. Selecting only the symbologies present in your documents improves performance and reduces the risk of false positives.

Usage and Configuration

• Enable only the barcode types you expect to encounter (e.g., Code128, Code39, Codabar, Pharmacode).
• If unsure, start with a broad selection and review diagnostic output to refine your configuration.

Impact

• Limiting symbologies increases speed and accuracy.
• Enabling unnecessary symbologies may result in slower processing or incorrect barcode values.

Example

• For shipping labels, enable Code128 and Code39.
• For pharmaceutical packaging, enable Pharmacode.

The 'Maximum Barcode Height' property defines the largest vertical size (in unit-aware values, such as inches or points) for regions considered as potential barcodes. This helps filter out large non-barcode areas and focuses detection on appropriately sized regions.

Usage and Configuration

• Enter a value such as 1.0in or 25mm to set the maximum height.
• Adjust this value based on the expected size of barcodes in your documents.

Impact

• A smaller value reduces false positives but may miss unusually tall barcodes.
• A larger value increases detection coverage but may include irrelevant regions, increasing false positives.

Example

• For standard shipping labels, 1.0in is often appropriate.
• For documents with larger barcodes, increase the value as needed.

The 'Code 39 Settings' property allows you to fine-tune how the [1D Reader] interprets Code 39 barcodes. These options control requirements for start/stop characters and whether full ASCII encoding is enabled.

Usage and Configuration

• Enable or disable the requirement for start/stop characters to match your barcode printing standards.
• Adjust ASCII encoding options if your barcodes use extended character sets.

Impact

• Disabling start/stop character enforcement may increase false positives.
• Disabling full ASCII support restricts decoding to standard Code 39 characters.

Example

• For barcodes printed without start/stop characters, disable the requirement.
• For barcodes using only uppercase letters and digits, disable full ASCII.

The 'Minimum Confidence' property defines the lowest confidence score (from 0.0 to 1.0) that a detected barcode must achieve to be accepted as valid. Confidence reflects the certainty of the decoding process.

Usage and Configuration

• Set a value between 0.0 (accept all reads) and 1.0 (accept only perfect reads).
• Lower values allow more degraded or partial barcodes to be accepted.
• Higher values reduce false positives but may miss damaged barcodes.

Impact

• Setting to 1.0 disables recognition of degraded barcodes.
• Lowering the value increases detection of faint or damaged barcodes, but may allow incorrect reads.

Example

• For high-quality scans, use 1.0 for maximum reliability.
• For low-quality or damaged documents, try 0.8 or lower and review diagnostic output.

The 'Full Page' property controls whether the [1D Reader] scans the entire page for barcodes, in addition to analyzing detected candidate regions. This increases the likelihood of finding barcodes that may not fit typical region patterns.

Usage and Configuration

• Enable for documents where barcodes may appear anywhere or are not easily detected by region analysis.
• Disable for documents with predictable barcode placement to improve performance.

Impact

• Enabling increases detection coverage but may slow processing.
• Disabling speeds up detection but may miss barcodes outside candidate regions.

Example

• For forms with barcodes in variable locations, enable 'Full Page'.
• For standardized layouts, disable to optimize speed.

The 'Scan Interval' property determines how many lines are skipped between each scan when performing full-page barcode detection. A lower value increases accuracy but requires more processing time.

Usage and Configuration

• Set to 1 to scan every line (most accurate, slowest).
• Set to a higher value (e.g., 10) to scan every 10th line (faster, less accurate).

Impact

• Lower values improve detection of small or faint barcodes.
• Higher values speed up processing but may miss some barcodes.

Example

• For critical applications, use 1 for maximum accuracy.
• For high-volume processing where speed is more important, use 5 or 10.

The 'Quiet Zone' property defines the amount of empty space (in unit-aware values, such as inches or points) required at the ends of each scan line for a barcode to be considered valid during full-page scanning.

Usage and Configuration

• Enter a value such as 0.25in or 5mm to set the quiet zone requirement.
• Increase the value to reduce false positives in noisy documents.
• Decrease the value if barcodes are printed close to other content.

Impact

• A larger quiet zone reduces false positives but may exclude valid barcodes with little surrounding whitespace.
• A smaller quiet zone increases detection but may allow more false positives.

Example

• For clean documents, use 0.25in or higher.
• For crowded layouts, reduce to 0.1in or less as needed.

A combination of the following flags:

The 'Read Directions' property determines which directions the Barcode Reader will scan when searching for barcodes within an image. By default, the reader scans in all supported directions, but you can limit or expand the search to target specific orientations as needed.

Usage and Configuration

• Select one or more directions to match the expected orientation(s) of barcodes in your documents.
• Common directions include South (top-to-bottom), North (bottom-to-top), East (left-to-right), and West (right-to-left).
• Multiple directions can be enabled to detect barcodes with inconsistent or mixed orientations.

Impact and Considerations

• Enabling all directions increases the likelihood of detecting barcodes regardless of their placement, but may increase processing time.
• Some barcode types may yield different values if read upside down or in a non-standard orientation. For example, a Patch T barcode read upside down may be interpreted as a Patch 3.
• Restricting directions can improve performance and reduce false positives if you know the expected orientation.

Example

• For documents scanned in a consistent orientation, select only the primary direction (e.g., South).
• For mixed or uncertain orientations, enable multiple directions to ensure all barcodes are detected.