Thursday, February 17, 2011

How are Barcodes Used in Hardcopy document Verification?

Now a days, barcode technology is being used by government, security and educational institutions for various reasons. Security is primarily concerned in any business. Forgery of documents in any organization can cause significant damage. Therefore it is essential to maintain integrity of documents. 2D barcode technology helps in enhancing security of documents.

2D barcodes are symbologies which can store information both horizontally and vertically. These are read by specific barcode readers like Symbol scanners and others. 2D barcodes like data matrix barcodes and others are encoded on hardcopies of various documents. They are integrated in documents like certificates, academic transcripts, contracts, wills, and land titles.

A specific barcode number is given for each document which is printed on the back of a document. This enhances the document security protection. Barcode scanners like symbol scanners with the help of specific software can read the data on them. Data obtained after scanning can be verified from online websites set up by the authority issuing the paper document.

High data capacity and error correction capability are the best features of two-dimensional barcodes. The integrity information stored in the barcode consists of the text content of the document. A timestamp can be provided to prove that a page is created at a certain period, whereas tracking number can give an identification number of a document that is created by a user. Data compression techniques and others can be integrated with 2D barcode technology for maintaining hardcopy document verification.

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