Abstract: Disclosed is a method and an apparatus for identifying objects, such as articles sold in a store, appearing in a random position and orientation and at random times on an image window. On a surface facing the image window, each object has an identification in the form of a field which comprises on at least one data track contrasting indicia with at least one contrasting line pattern identifying the position and the orientation of the data track. The track also includes a plurality of parallel lines with variable spacing and/or line widths. The image window is scanned line-by-line to generate a binary video signal which corresponds to the scanned contrast sequence.