Patent ID: 8794537

Claim:
A method of encoding data in bar codes, comprising: encoding data in a plurality of dimensions within a bar code, the encoded data encoded so as to allow each of the plurality of dimensions to be decoded by a 2-dimensional bar code scan while providing backward compatibility whereby a 1-dimensional (“1-D”) bar code scan can decode a first of the dimensions, wherein: the encoded data encodes the first of the dimensions using varying widths of dark bars and varying widths of spaces therebetween while encoding a second of the dimensions by varying a height of the dark bars that encode the first of the dimensions; the encoding of the second of the dimensions uses 3 different heights for the dark bars; the second of the dimensions encodes additional data beyond the first of the dimensions; and an end of the additional encoded data is signified by presence of a first-appearing dark bar, in a direction of scanning the dark bars and the spaces therebetween, having a shortest of the 3 different heights.