Introduction to AutoID

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Introduction to Auto-ID

• DISC 4397
• University of Houston
• Bauer College of Business
• Spring 2006

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What is Identification?

• Identification noun U 1 when you
  recognize and can name someone or something

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Why do we need Identification?

• Dealing with human inefficiencies
• Limited Memory
• Making errors is natural for humans

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Ancient Egypt

• Khasekem, an administrator under the Pharaoh
  Khaefre, was responsible for distributing food
  among 100,000 men
• Fraud was common some workers would attempt to
  receive a daily food allowance several times
• Khasekem developed a system for identifying each
  of the workers

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Introduction to Auto-ID

• What is Auto-ID?
• Automatic Identification (Auto-ID) a group of
  technologies that are used to help machines
  identify objects, humans, or animals
• Auto-identification is also referred to as
  automatic data capture
• Companies want to identify items, capture
  information about them and get the data into a
  computer without having employees to type it in

Source Auto-ID Center
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Auto-ID Technologies
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Advantages of Auto-ID

• Increased efficiency
• Barcode systems are 5 times quicker than manual
  identification
• Barcodes systems decrease information asymmetry
  the technology enables instant conversion from
  physical action into digital transaction
• Improved Data Accuracy
• Barcode systems are commonly achieving 99
  accuracy (Zebra Technologies, 2002)
• Better utilization of resources

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Barcode Systems
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The History of Barcodes

• In 1949, N.J. Woodward filed a patent for a
  series of circular symbols. These symbols were to
  be placed on every item in a retail supermarket
  for the purpose of improving productivity and
  automating the checkout process
• In 1973, the grocery industry set standards for
  product identification. The end result was the
  UPC (Universal Product Code), a 12-digit number
  unique to each product. An organization was set
  up to oversee the standard

Source Bar Code Basics, 2005
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The History of Barcodes

• In 1976 EAN (European Article Numbering) barcode
  system was created on an international scale
• EAN was derived from UPC
• EAN-13 contains 13 digits (one digit longer then
  UPC). The extra digit was introduced to
  accommodate country codes
• UPC became the sub-standard of EAN
• EAN is the most popular barcode standard today

Source Bar Code Basics, 2005
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Barcode System Architecture
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How Barcodes Work Encoding

• Barcodes encode information similar to
  International Morse Code __ . __
• Interleaved 2 of 5 symbology
• 3 8
  

Source Barcodebook, 2005
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How Barcodes Work Encoding

• A barcode technology can be
• Numeric (numbers only) / alphanumeric (numbers
  and symbols (letters and special characters))
• Fixed length/variable length
• Compact / not-so-compact

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How Barcodes Work Decoding
Source Beginners Barcode, 2005
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Symbologies

• Symbology - a pattern of bars and spaces
  following specific standards
• There are more than 300 symbologies
• Less than 20 have popular applications
• Usage of a particular symbology is determined by
• Industry
• Application
• Product size

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Symbologies UPC/EAN

• The first popular barcode
• Applications retail
• Consists of
• six-digit manufacturer ID
• five-digit item number
• check digit
• EAN has one additional digit to identify country

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UPC
In the UPC-A barcode, each digit is represented
by a seven-bit sequence, encoded by a series of
alternating bars and spaces. Guard bars, shown in
green, separate the two groups of six digits.
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UPC 7 Bit Encoding Pattern
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Symbologies Code 128

• High-density code
• Applications various industries
• Alphanumeric
• Variable length
• Scanned bi-directionally
• Can encode the entire 128 ASCII character set
  plus four non-data characters
• Numeric data can be ecodedrepre-sented in a
  double-density mode. It uses less space to encode
  six characters than any other linear technology.

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Symbologies Code 39

• Code 39 is probably the most widely used
  symbology after the UPC/EAN
• Applications various industries
• Department of Defense (DoD)
• General Services Administration (GSA)
• Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG),
• Health Industry Business Communication Council
  (HIBC).
• Alphanumeric
• Data of any length
• It works with the greatest selection of printers
  and scanners.

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Symbologies Interleaved 2 of 5

• Popular in warehouse applications
• Variable-length
• Numeric-only code
• Compact data is encoded in pairs of bars and
  spaces
• This also guarantees there are always an even
  number of digits
• A check digit is optional.

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Symbologies - The US Postal Service Code

• The US Postal Service Code is not classified as a
  linear symbology
• It is based on bar height encoding
• It can encode
• a five-digit (32 bars) ZIP code
• a nine digit ZIP 4 Code (52 bars)
• an 11-digit delivery point code (62 bars).

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Symbologies - Codabar

• An older technology
• Application was used initially in libraries,
  blood banks, parcel delivery service
• Is not commonly used nowadays
• Codabar uses a total of 18 widths for bars
  instead of the common wide and narrow element
  widths to encode the logic 1s and 0s in the
  characters.

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Symbologies MSI Plessey

• Numeric
• Developed in England
• Application grocery, library shelf labeling
• Pulse-width modulated
• No check digit

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Symbologies Code 93

• Encodes the same characters as Code 39
• Uses 9 bar code elements per character instead of
  15 ? more compact

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Symbologies - Maxicode

• Created by UPS for high-speed sortation and
  tracking of unit loads and transport packages
• Ideal for applications where
• the label is on a moving package
• label orientation is random
• space is limited
• scanner is placed so a large view of the package
  is taken
• Compact 100 characters of data in 1 square inch.
• The symbol is composed of a central bull's eye
  surrounded by an array of 866 black hexagonal
  shapes
• The bull's eye helps the scanner locate the code
  regardless of its orientation.
• MaxiCode is 15 denser than square dot codes and
  can be read by a scanner even if 25 of the code
  is damaged
• It can be read by either CCD or laser scanners,
  but must be printed by high-resolution printers
  such as thermal transfer ones
• Built-in error correction is part of the code.

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Symbologies PDF 417

• Applications for large amount of information on
  a document
• DoD
• Electronics industry
• Healthcare
• Logistics
• Manufacturing
• Drivers license cards and for national ID cards
• A single PDF417 symbol carries up to 1.1
  kilobytes of data
• Up to 50 of the symbol can be destroyed

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Symbologies Code 49

• Compact
• Continuous, variable-length symbol
• Can encode the full ASCII character set

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Symbologies Data Matrix

• Designed for small parts
• Electrical parts
• Pharmaceutical industry
• Highly reliable
• Data is scattered
• Allows for low-quality printing

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Symbologies Datastrip

• Created by Softstrip Systems to publish software
  in books and magazines in a machine-readable form
• Application used for printing information on ID
  cards and passports
• Dimensions usually 0.75 inches by 3 inches
• This area can store 2,100 bytes of information.

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Symbologies Reduced Space Symbol (RSS)

• The principle use of the RSS family of
  symbologies is to identify items that could not
  be marked with current linear symbols because of
  size restrictions
• It is to be used with UCC/EAN and can be stacked
  in two rows.

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Additional Considerations

• Lower density for better performance
• Element ratio
• Carbon-based ink
• Environment
• Numbering scheme

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Smart Cards
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Smart Cards

• Smart cards are a means of identification that
  relies on transferring some of the identification
  tasks performed by the server to the client side
• Smart cards are, essentially, tiny computers

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Smart Cards Types of Cards

• 1. Contact Smart Cards
• 2. Contactless Smart Cards
• No physical contact is required between a card
  and a reader
• RFID

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Smart Cards Types of Cards

• 1. Memory Cards
• Though referred to as smartcards, memory cards
  are typically much less expensive and much less
  functional than microprocessor cards
• They contain EEPROM and ROM memory, as well as
  some address and security logic
• Typical memory card applications are pre-paid
  telephone cards and health insurance cards.

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Smart Cards Types of Cards

• 2. Microprocessor Cards
• Components of this type of architecture include a
  CPU, RAM, ROM, and EEPROM
• The operating system is typically stored in ROM,
  the CPU uses RAM as its working memory, and most
  of the data is stored in EEPROM

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Smart Cards Types of Cards

• Architecture of Microprocessor Cards

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Smart Cards Types of Cards

• Cryptographic Coprocessor Cards
• Because the common asymmetric cryptographic
  algorithms of the day (such as RSA) require very
  large integer math calculations, an 8 bit
  microprocessor with very little RAM can take on
  the order of several minutes to perform a 1024
  bit private key operation
• However, if a cryptographic coprocessor is added
  to the architecture, the time required for this
  same operation is reduced to around a few hundred
  microseconds
• The addition of a cryptographic coprocessor can
  increase the cost of todays smart cards by 50
  to 100

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Smart Cards Physical and Electrical Properties
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Smart Cards Physical and Electrical Properties
Electrical Contacts
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Smart Cards Physical and Electrical Properties
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Biometric Systems
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Biometrics

• Biometrics - a method of recognizing people based
  on unique physical or behavioral characteristics
• Biometrics - person-identification techniques
  based on such difficult-to alienate
  characteristics as appearance (how a person
  looks), social behavior (how the person interacts
  with others through e.g., voice, body gestures),
  bio-dynamics (e.g., manner in which a signature
  is written, key-stroke dynamics), natural
  physiography (e.g., skull measurement,
  fingerprints sets), and imposed physical
  characteristics (e.g. microchips implanted under
  skin)

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Some promising biometric technologies

• Instant DNA testing
• Brain wave scanning
• P300

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Optical Character Recognition (OCR)