Barcode tag, and method and system employing same, for tracking electronic equipment

A system for determining the presence and location of equipment items disposed in an equipment rack having an array of equipment slots and further having first and second reference barcodes disposed respectively on opposite sides of the array of equipment slots, each equipment item having a respective barcode, said system comprising:

• a camera having controllable focal distance and positioned or positionable to observe the array of slots and the first and second reference barcodes and capture one or more images thereof;
• and
• a controller coupled to control and receive images from the camera;
• wherein said controller and said camera are cooperatively adapted to:
• vary the focal distance of the camera and scan corresponding images captured at each such focal distance and received from the camera, to detect the first reference barcode at a first reference focal distance, and to detect the second reference barcode at a second reference focal distance;
• determine, based on a difference between the first and second reference focal distances, and a difference between locations of the first and second reference barcodes, a plurality of intermediate focal distances, each corresponding to a respective equipment slot or a respective group of equipment slots;
• and
• capture a respective image corresponding to each respective one of the plurality of intermediate focal distances, scan each captured image to detect any barcodes therein, and decode each detected barcode to determine respective barcode information corresponding to each respective equipment slot;
• and
• store in an equipment location database the respective barcode information corresponding to each respective equipment slot.