Abstract: The invention relates to a method and apparatus for identifying objects (e.g. consumer products in a supermarket) appearing in random positions and orientations and for random times on an image window and having an identification on the surface facing the image window in the form of a data field having contrasting indicia in at least one data track. The data field is first scanned with a scanning raster until a product identification code is recognized denoting the position and orientation of the data track. The data track is then read with a closely-spaced reading raster and converted to a videosignal. The amplitude of the videosignal is coded into binary digits at discrete time points and the digits are stored in a memory matrix organized into columns and rows in such a manner that an image of the data track is stored in the memory.