Reading Barcode From Faxed Document

[stsemrau]

I'm in some new waters dealing with barcodes and faxes and any insight, suggestions and/or recommendations would be greatfully appreciated. My situation is this:

The customer will be generating a document with a Code 39 barcode - at this point my understanding is, embedding it within a 'Word' document with the Code 39 font. This in turn will be converted into a PDF and sent to their end user to be completed. The completed document will be faxed back to the customer and either kept in a TIF or converted into a PDF format.

What they are asking for is to be able to read the barcode on the returned faxed document so that they can manage (move) the document to the proper location as well as do a database entry that the document was received back (via the barcode).

This is where I'm a bit lost on finding a way to read the barcode off the faxed document as it's not the original format in which is was produced.

[Newsgroup_User]

This is where I'm a bit lost on finding a way to read the barcode off
the faxed document as it's not the original format in which is was produced.

Where are you trying to read the barcode from? The electronic document?
Or by hand? The former could be an interesting challenge, the latter
is rather easy.

[stsemrau]

Yes, my understanding is that the customer would be receiving the documents back via fax electronically and they are not sure if the fax would stay in a TIF format or be converted into a PDF format. They are in the process (early stage) of moving all their documents into PDF.

[c_wigginton]

You'll need to find an external utility, java object or other application that can post process the uploaded image containing the barcode. I did a quick search and found the following;

http://www.amicentral.com/pixtools/ip.html (a pricey $2695)

http://www.microway.com.au/catalog/pegasus/smartscanbarcode.stm (com object, looks promising)

[stsemrau]

Wigginton:

thank you so much I will check out both of those links!