As early as 1952, Woodland obtained a patent for the design of commodity identification code similar to "bull's-eye", which consists of a group of concentric rings, and different commodities can be identified by the change of the width and spacing of each ring. However, due to the limitation of computer technology at that time, Wooland's design failed to be realized. After entering the 1970s, the circulation of commodities developed rapidly and the types of commodities increased day by day. Both manufacturers and distributors hope to find a simple and effective commodity management method, and the best way to solve this problem is to establish a unified commodity identification code. At that time, computer companies headed by IBM became more and more mature in computer and laser scanning technology, so it was time to use a unified commodity identification code for computer management of commodities. In order to choose a fast, simple and accurate product identification code that can be read by laser scanner, the United States set up a standard code committee in 197 1 to take charge of this work. Woodland joined the organization on behalf of IBM.
Bar code scanner At that time, IBM was in a leading position in the research of laser scanning technology and commodity identification code. Woodland found that the "bull's-eye" code he originally designed had many difficulties in implementation, so he designed a bar code, which is now widely used. This new design was first implemented and promoted in a retail store in Cincinnati. It is found that barcode has many advantages over the "bull's-eye" code originally designed by Wooland. Therefore, IBM recommended bar code to the Standard Code Committee as a unified commodity identification code. Mr. Wolan explained the superiority and feasibility of bar code to the Committee, and pointed out the difficulties in the implementation of "bull's-eye" code. Mr. Warland's report was approved by the Committee. Therefore, in 1972, the Committee decided to adopt the bar code recommended by IBM as a unified commodity identification code, thus establishing a unified identification standard for various commodities. The use of bar code has laid a good foundation for computer management in commodity circulation industry.