Enterprise-grade mobile barcode scanning with Scandit and Xamarin

www.scandit.com October 15th, 2013

Christian Floerkemeier PhD, CTO & [email protected]

@scandit

Scandit SDK

Barcode Scanning Component For Xamarin

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INTRODUCTION

Source: http://www.intermec.com

Source: http://www.apple.com

In the past: barcode scanning = dedicated, costly

hardware Outstanding scanning performance

But users had to carry dedicated, clunky & costly devices

Smartphone + Built-In Camera + Imaging Software =

Barcode scanner in every consumer’s & employee’s

hands Consumer use cases: Price comparison, Coupons,

Shopping Lists, ….

Enterprise use cases: Mobile Point-Of-Sale, Asset

Management, Ticketing, Procurement, …..

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OUR VISION @ SCANDIT

Develop a smartphone barcode scanner that has laser-like, enterprise-grade scanning performance

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SCANDIT SDK

Scandit SDK is the most user-friendly &

developer-friendly mobile barcode scanning

technology

Highest scanning speed & robustness

Supports iOS and Android devices

Supports all major barcode formats

Easy to integrate into your Xamarin app

Attractive pricing plan (incl. free community version)

SCANDIT DEMO VIDEO

http://www.scandit.com/video

BARCODE READER:

BARCODE SCANNING CHALLENGES WITH

SMARTPHONES

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CHALLENGE: NO AUTOFOCUS CAMERA

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CHALLENGE: LOW RESOLUTION CAMERA MODULES

Android low-end phones have cheap camera modules

Camera resolution can be as low as 320x480

In total, there are 100+ million smartphone and tablets that have fixed focus and low resolution cameras

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CHALLENGE: BLURRY IMAGESWITH AUTOFOCUS DEVICES

Wrong focus point

Camera unable to focus on objects

too close

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CHALLENGE: AUTOFOCUS DELAY

Time

Autofocus duration on iPhone 4S: ~1 secDelay to start autofocus: ~0.3-1 sec

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CHALLENGE: ANDROID DIVERSITY

Different Android devices implement high-level camera API differently

Scandit provides regular software updates to address the Android device idiosyncracies

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CHALLENGE: PACKAGING, FORM FACTOR & LIGHTING

Crumpled surface

Non-uniform background

Transparent code on round surface

Thinbarcode

Glare

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CHALLENGE: USER INTERACTION

Lack of visual cue from laser makes alignment of barcode difficult

Detecting barcode orientations and high dynamic range is essential

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UNDERLYING MAGIC: ADVANCED IMAGE PROCESSING IN REAL-TIME

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 7000

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brightness values along blurry scan line

position in scan line / pixels

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0 100 200 300 400 500 600 7000

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150

200

250

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brightness values along sharp scan line

position in scan line / pixels

bri

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tne

ss v

alu

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BARCODE SYMBOLOGIES SUPPORTED

Scandit SDK supports all major barcode symbologies: EAN13, UPC12, EAN8, UPC8, Code128, Code39, MSI, ITF,

QR, Datamatrix, PDF417(beta)

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PLANS & PRICING

CUSTOMIZATION

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BARCODE DECODER CONFIGURATION

Switch off all barcode symbologies not supported by your app:

e.g.:picker.SetDataMatrixEnabled (false);

picker.SetQrEnabled (false);

picker.SetItfEnabled (false);

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SCAN UI CONFIGURATION

Customize the Scan UI via OverlayController API:

e.g.:picker.OverlayController.ShowToolBar(true);

picker.OverlayController.ShowSearchBar(true);

picker.OverlayController.SetTorchEnabled(true);

picker.OverlayController.SetCameraSwitchVisibility(

SICameraSwitchVisibility.Always);

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SCAN UI INTEGRATION

Add your own elements:

UIToolbar toolbar = new UIToolbar(new RectangleF (0, 200, 320, 49));

picker.OverlayController.View.AddSubview (toolbar);

picker.OverlayController.View.BringSubviewToFront (toolbar);

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INDUSTRY FEEDBACK

Eliane Fiolet

I was impressed by the speed of the scanning technology …. the bar code scanner is better [than RedLaser], …you can capture a barcode even when it is not positioned horizontally, and RedLaser is unable to do it.

Cheryl Morris

[…] tested the scanner through plastic wrapping, on curved bottles and even with scratched barcodes, and all were read successfully. [...] BostInnovation also tested Scandit against competitor Shopsavvy [...], which did not recognize one of the item’s barcodes […]. Overall, Scandit is much faster at recognizing items, […].

Aaron Emigh, CTO

“Scandit is accurate and amazingly fast. It provides a great user experience. Furthermore, Scandit provides great support as a partner.“

Nicholas Florin, CEO CH

“The Scandit SDK provides the fastest and most accurate barcode scanning performance of all solutions we tested. We can recommend Scandit SDK as a reliable and easy-to-implement mobile phone-based barcode scanning solution.“

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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Scandit SDK

Is the fastest and most accurate mobile barcode scanning technology available today

Maintains its excellent performance under conditions where others fail:

Devices without Autofocus/Low Resolution Cameras

Shadows, warped surfaces, different color barcodes etc.

With an outstanding developer support team

Easy to integrate

With an attractive price plan