Glossary
A
Aperture. The opening in an optical system defined by a lens or baffle that establishes the field of view.
API. An interface by mean s of which one software component comm unicates with or controls another. Usually used to refer
to services provided by one software component to another, usually via software interrupts or function calls
Application Programming Inter face. See API.
ASCII. American Standard Code for Information Interchange. A 7 bit-plus-parity code representing 128 letters, numerals,
punctuation marks and control characters. It is a standard data transmission code in the U.S.
Autodiscrimination. The ability of an interface controller to determine the code type of a scanned bar code. After this
determination is made, the information content is decoded.
B
Bar. The dark element in a printed bar code symbol.
Bar Code. A pattern of variable-width bars and spaces which represents numeric or alphanumeric data in machine-readable
form. The general format of a bar code symbo l consists of a leading margin, sta rt character, data or message character,
check character (if any), stop character, and trailing margin. Within this framework, each recognizable symbology uses
its own unique format. See Symbology.
Bar Code Density. The number of characters represented per unit of measurement (e.g., characters per inch).
Bar Height. The dimension of a bar measured perpendicular to the bar width.
Bar Width. Thickness of a bar measured from the edge closest to the symbol start character to the trailing edge of the same
bar.
BIOS. Basic Input Output System. A collection of ROM-based code with a sta ndard API used to inte rface with standard PC
hardware.