Specifications A
UPC Universal Product Code (UPC) is a subset of EAN. It is a fixed length, numeric, continuous symbology employing four element widths. Two common types of UPC are Version A, which encodes 12 digits, and Version E, which encodes 6 digits. UPC has been used in the supermarket industry since 1973. UPC supplemental code is intended for only periodical issue numbers.
2D Symbologies
2D symbologies provide a more efficient way of encoding data than standard bar code symbologies. 2D symbologies use two dimensions to hold data instead of one, allowing much more information to be stored in a smaller amount of space. Your printer provides the capability for printing both stacked and matrix 2D symbologies.
2D Stacked Symbologies
2D stacked symbologies consist of short linear segments stacked on top of each other. In addition to being able to condense a large amount of information into the stacked format, PDF417 provides an extensive error detection and correction option. Up to 510 characters can be recovered if they are lost due to an error in scanning or if the label is damaged. 2D stacked symbologies can be scanned with a laser scanner or imaging device that features 2D code scanning capability.
Code 16K Introduced in 1988, Code 16K is an alphanumeric symbology similar to Code 49 in that it employs multiple rows (from 2 to 16). Each row is fixed length and uses a mirror image of the Code 128 coding patterns.
Code 49 Code 49 is an alphanumeric symbology developed in 1987 as a means of labeling very small objects. A Code 49 bar code contains from two to eight adjacent rows, each separated by a
PDF417 PDF417 is a stacked 2D symbology that provides the ability to scan across rows of code. Each row consists of start/stop characters, row identifiers, and symbol characters (called “codewords”). Each codeword consists of four bars and four spaces and contain the actual data. In addition to being able to condense a large amount of information into the stacked format, PDF417 provides an extensive error detection and correction option. Up to 510 characters can be recovered if they are lost due to an error in scanning or if the label is damaged. PDF417 codes can be scanned with a laser scanner or imaging device that features 2D code scanning capability.
2D Matrix Symbologies
2D matrix symbologies, such as Maxicode, use both the horizontal and vertical axes to encode data even more efficiently than stacked symbologies. 2D matrix codes are created as a matrix of square elements, with each element being either white or black to encode data in a binary code. Extensive error detection and correction codes are appended to 2D matrix symbologies, often automatically.
2D matrix symbologies generally cannot be read with a laser scanner. Instead, they are read by a digital imager that captures the entire symbol at once instead of scanning each component individually. Since the components of 2D matrix symbologies are decoded after the image is captured, they permit very fast data collection.
