Progressive Barcodes

Barcodes are a familiar data-carrying mark printed onto physical items such as packaging, labels, magazines, etc. Many consumers, retailers, and distributors are routinely reading them with their mobile devices. We introduce the four-dimensional Progressive Barcode which is a printed mark that does not take up more real estate as it is used to advance a workflow. Adding progressive information to a barcode allows it to change through time-supporting many different information lifecycles.