Data Capture using Automatic Identification techniques is becoming more and more common both in business and everyday life. Much of the basic technology (abbreviated hereafter as AIDC) has been in existence in various forms for decades, but recent advances in electronics, optics, and miniaturization are fuelling the growth of a myriad of applications as capabilities increase at the same time that costs decrease.

Basic AIDC techniques include Bar Code, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Optical Character Recognition (OCR), Magnetic Stripe, and Machine Vision. If we expand the definition of AIDC to include technologies that involve an operator, we can also embrace other approaches such as Voice Recognition, Smart Cards, and Touch Memory.