Please Help for Barcode Decoding

Python
,
1

Hello,

I am trying to learn how to use the OpenCV Barcode detection functions using the Python wrappers. I read through the OpenCV documentation and went through some examples on blogs online. Those examples worked well for me.

I generated a barcode using this website with settings as below:

  • Type: UPC-E
  • Data: 1

I couldn’t decode an image of that barcode that I printed on paper with an office printer but I could detect the barcode at least roughly accurately. In order to rule out any issues with image quality, I converted the svg of the barcode to png. With the exported image it is not even detecting the barcode. I do imshow on the imported image and it looks totally like the one I uploaded.

I am using OpenCV version 4.10.0 with Python 3.9.13

Please see below for the image, Python code, and output of cv.getBuildInformation(). I would appreciate any help figuring out what I am doing wrong here.

barcode_Created_Large
barcode_Created_Large965×717 8.36 KB

import cv2 as cv

img = cv.imread("./Images/barcode_Created_Large.png", cv.IMREAD_GRAYSCALE)

cv.imshow("Display window", img)  
k = cv.waitKey(0)

barcode_detector = cv.barcode.BarcodeDetector()

print("Detecting...")
retval, points = barcode_detector.detect(img)

print(retval) # False
print(points) # None

General configuration for OpenCV 4.10.0 =====================================
  Version control:               4.10.0

  Extra modules:
    Location (extra):            D:/a/opencv-python/opencv-python/opencv_contrib/modules
    Version control (extra):     4.10.0

  Platform:
    Timestamp:                   2024-06-17T18:00:01Z
    Host:                        Windows 10.0.17763 AMD64
    CMake:                       3.24.2
    CMake generator:             Visual Studio 14 2015
    CMake build tool:            MSBuild.exe
    MSVC:                        1900
    Configuration:               Debug Release

  CPU/HW features:
    Baseline:                    SSE SSE2 SSE3
      requested:                 SSE3
    Dispatched code generation:  SSE4_1 SSE4_2 FP16 AVX AVX2
      requested:                 SSE4_1 SSE4_2 AVX FP16 AVX2 AVX512_SKX
      SSE4_1 (16 files):         + SSSE3 SSE4_1
      SSE4_2 (1 files):          + SSSE3 SSE4_1 POPCNT SSE4_2
      FP16 (0 files):            + SSSE3 SSE4_1 POPCNT SSE4_2 FP16 AVX
      AVX (8 files):             + SSSE3 SSE4_1 POPCNT SSE4_2 AVX
      AVX2 (36 files):           + SSSE3 SSE4_1 POPCNT SSE4_2 FP16 FMA3 AVX AVX2

  C/C++:
    Built as dynamic libs?:      NO
    C++ standard:                11
    C++ Compiler:                C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0/VC/bin/x86_amd64/cl.exe  (ver 19.0.24247.2)
    C++ flags (Release):         /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /W4 /GR  /D _CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE /D _CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE /D _SCL_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS /Gy /bigobj /Oi  /fp:precise     /EHa /wd4127 /wd4251 /wd4324 /wd4275 /wd4512 /wd4589 /wd4819 /MP  /O2 /Ob2 /DNDEBUG
    C++ flags (Debug):           /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /W4 /GR  /D _CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE /D _CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE /D _SCL_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS /Gy /bigobj /Oi  /fp:precise     /EHa /wd4127 /wd4251 /wd4324 /wd4275 /wd4512 /wd4589 /wd4819 /MP  /Zi /Ob0 /Od /RTC1
    C Compiler:                  C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0/VC/bin/x86_amd64/cl.exe
    C flags (Release):           /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /W3  /D _CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE /D _CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE /D _SCL_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS /Gy /bigobj /Oi  /fp:precise     /MP   /O2 /Ob2 /DNDEBUG
    C flags (Debug):             /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /W3  /D _CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE /D _CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE /D _SCL_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS /Gy /bigobj /Oi  /fp:precise     /MP /Zi /Ob0 /Od /RTC1
    Linker flags (Release):      /machine:x64  /NODEFAULTLIB:atlthunk.lib /INCREMENTAL:NO  /NODEFAULTLIB:libcmtd.lib /NODEFAULTLIB:libcpmtd.lib /NODEFAULTLIB:msvcrtd.lib
    Linker flags (Debug):        /machine:x64  /NODEFAULTLIB:atlthunk.lib /debug /INCREMENTAL  /NODEFAULTLIB:libcmt.lib /NODEFAULTLIB:libcpmt.lib /NODEFAULTLIB:msvcrt.lib
    ccache:                      NO
    Precompiled headers:         YES
    Extra dependencies:          wsock32 comctl32 gdi32 ole32 setupapi ws2_32
    3rdparty dependencies:       libprotobuf ade ittnotify libjpeg-turbo libwebp libpng libtiff libopenjp2 IlmImf zlib ippiw ippicv

  OpenCV modules:
    To be built:                 aruco bgsegm bioinspired calib3d ccalib core datasets dnn dnn_objdetect dnn_superres dpm face features2d flann fuzzy gapi hfs highgui img_hash imgcodecs imgproc intensity_transform line_descriptor mcc ml objdetect optflow phase_unwrapping photo plot python3 quality rapid reg rgbd saliency shape signal stereo stitching structured_light superres surface_matching text tracking video videoio videostab wechat_qrcode xfeatures2d ximgproc xobjdetect xphoto
    Disabled:                    java world
    Disabled by dependency:      -
    Unavailable:                 alphamat cannops cudaarithm cudabgsegm cudacodec cudafeatures2d cudafilters cudaimgproc cudalegacy cudaobjdetect cudaoptflow cudastereo cudawarping 
cudev cvv freetype hdf julia matlab ovis python2 sfm ts viz
    Applications:                -
    Documentation:               NO
    Non-free algorithms:         NO

  Windows RT support:            NO

  GUI:                           WIN32UI
    Win32 UI:                    YES
    VTK support:                 NO

  Media I/O:
    ZLib:                        build (ver 1.3.1)
    JPEG:                        build-libjpeg-turbo (ver 3.0.3-70)
      SIMD Support Request:      YES
      SIMD Support:              NO
    WEBP:                        build (ver encoder: 0x020f)
    PNG:                         build (ver 1.6.43)
      SIMD Support Request:      YES
      SIMD Support:              YES (Intel SSE)
    TIFF:                        build (ver 42 - 4.6.0)
    JPEG 2000:                   build (ver 2.5.0)
    OpenEXR:                     build (ver 2.3.0)
    HDR:                         YES
    SUNRASTER:                   YES
    PXM:                         YES
    PFM:                         YES

  Video I/O:
    DC1394:                      NO
    FFMPEG:                      YES (prebuilt binaries)
      avcodec:                   YES (58.134.100)
      avformat:                  YES (58.76.100)
      avutil:                    YES (56.70.100)
      swscale:                   YES (5.9.100)
      avresample:                YES (4.0.0)
    GStreamer:                   NO
    DirectShow:                  YES
    Media Foundation:            YES
      DXVA:                      YES

  Parallel framework:            Concurrency

  Trace:                         YES (with Intel ITT)

  Other third-party libraries:
    Intel IPP:                   2021.11.0 [2021.11.0]
           at:                   D:/a/opencv-python/opencv-python/_skbuild/win-amd64-3.9/cmake-build/3rdparty/ippicv/ippicv_win/icv
    Intel IPP IW:                sources (2021.11.0)
              at:                D:/a/opencv-python/opencv-python/_skbuild/win-amd64-3.9/cmake-build/3rdparty/ippicv/ippicv_win/iw
    Lapack:                      NO
    Eigen:                       NO
    Custom HAL:                  NO
    Protobuf:                    build (3.19.1)
    Flatbuffers:                 builtin/3rdparty (23.5.9)

  OpenCL:                        YES (NVD3D11)
    Include path:                D:/a/opencv-python/opencv-python/opencv/3rdparty/include/opencl/1.2
    Link libraries:              Dynamic load

  Python 3:
    Interpreter:                 C:/hostedtoolcache/windows/Python/3.9.13/x64/python.exe (ver 3.9.13)
    Libraries:                   C:/hostedtoolcache/windows/Python/3.9.13/x64/libs/python39.lib (ver 3.9.13)
    Limited API:                 YES (ver 0x03060000)
    numpy:                       C:/hostedtoolcache/windows/Python/3.9.13/x64/lib/site-packages/numpy/_core/include (ver 2.0.0)
    install path:                python/cv2/python-3

  Python (for build):            C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Python\3.9.13\x64\python.exe

  Java:
    ant:                         NO
    Java:                        YES (ver 1.8.0.412)
    JNI:                         C:/hostedtoolcache/windows/Java_Temurin-Hotspot_jdk/8.0.412-8/x64/include C:/hostedtoolcache/windows/Java_Temurin-Hotspot_jdk/8.0.412-8/x64/include/win32 C:/hostedtoolcache/windows/Java_Temurin-Hotspot_jdk/8.0.412-8/x64/include
    Java wrappers:               NO
    Java tests:                  NO

  Install to:                    D:/a/opencv-python/opencv-python/_skbuild/win-amd64-3.9/cmake-install
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2

afaik, it can read ean13 and ean8, but not upc-e or other variants

3

Thanks for the response! I was under the impression that OpenCV supports UPC-E due to the documentation page here

It does say under the “basics” section

Currently, we support EAN-8, EAN-13, UPC-A and UPC-E standards

4

oh, apologies, did not know about that

5

No problem. I am now not sure if I should doubt the documentation or if the barcode algorithm is just not very robust. I switched to a UPC-A barcode and that went well even on a realistic image.

However, from this issue, it seems there are some problems with the barcode algorithm when it comes to scaling due to some hardcoded parameters there. Looks like some capability to tune parameters was introduced but those were not merged into 4.10.

I was going to use this for some ancillary features of my application but wanted to avoid paid libraries if possible as this is the only image processing needed for that app. Based on the discussions on GitHub, maybe the wiser thing is not to rely on OpenCV for barcode reading at this time but rather to use some other library with more developed barcode reading capability or do away with barcode reading capability altogether.

In any case, thank you for the responses!