NOV 1D and 2D Barcodes

Codabar is a linear barcode symbology. It and its variants are also known as Codeabar, Ames Code, NW-7, Monarch, Code 2 of 7, Rationalized Codabar, ANSI/AIM BC3-1995 or USD-4.

It was designed to be accurately read even when printed on dot-matrix printers for multi-part forms such as FedEx air bills and blood bank forms, where variants are still in use as of 2007. Although newer symbologies hold more information in a smaller space, Codabar has a large installed base in libraries. It is even possible to print Codabar codes using typewriter-like impact printers, which allows the creation of a large number of codes with consecutive numbers without having to use computer equipment. After each printed code, the printer's stamp is mechanically turned to the next number, as for example in mechanical mile counters.

Code 11 is a barcode symbology developed by Intermec in 1977. It is used primarily in telecommunications. The symbol can encode any length string consisting of the digits 0-9 and the dash character (-). One or more modulo-11 check digit(s) can be included.

Code 128 is a very high-density barcode symbology. It is used for alphanumeric or numeric-only barcodes. It can encode all 128 characters of ASCII and, by use of an extension character (FNC4), the Latin-1 characters defined in ISO/IEC 8859-1.

Code 128 Subset A supports numbers, upper-case letters, and control characters, such as tab and new-line (ASCII characters 00 to 95 (0-9, A-Z and control codes), special characters, and FNC 1-4).

Code 128 Subset B supports numbers, upper- and lower-case letters (ASCII characters 32 to 127 (0-9, A-Z, a-z), special characters, and FNC 1-4).

Code 128 Subset C supports numbers only (00-99 (encodes each two digits with one code) and FNC1).

Code 39 (also known as Alpha39, Code 3 of 9, Code 3/9, Type 39, USS Code 39, or USD-3) is a variable length, discrete barcode symbology.

The Code 39 specification defines 43 characters, consisting of uppercase letters (A through Z), numeric digits (0 through 9) and a number of special characters (-, ., $, /, +, %, and space). An additional character (denoted '*') is used for both start and stop delimiters. Each character is composed of nine elements: five bars and four spaces. Three of the nine elements in each character are wide (binary value 1), and six elements are narrow (binary value 0). The width ratio between narrow and wide can be chosen between 1:2 and 1:3.

Code 93 is a barcode symbology designed to provide a higher density and data security enhancement to Code 39. It is an alphanumeric, variable length symbology. Code 93 is used primarily by Canada Post to encode supplementary delivery information. Every symbol includes two check characters.

Each Code 93 character is divided into nine modules and always has three bars and three spaces, thus the name. Each bar and space is from 1 to 4 modules wide.

An EAN-13 barcode (originally European Article Number, but now renamed International Article Number even though the abbreviation EAN has been retained) is a 13 digit (12 data and 1 check) barcoding standard which is a superset of the original 12-digit Universal Product Code (UPC) system developed in the United States.

The 13 digits in the EAN-13 barcode are grouped as follows:

• The left group: Digits 2-7. The left group also encodes digit 1, through a scheme of odd and even parity.
• The right group: Digits 8-13, digit 13 is the check digit.

The EAN-13 barcodes are used worldwide for marking products often sold at retail point of sale.

An EAN-8 is a barcode and is derived from the longer European Article Number (EAN-13) code. It was introduced for use on small packages where an EAN-13 barcode would be too large; for example on cigarettes, pencils (though it is rarely used for pencils), and chewing gum packets. It is encoded identically to the 12 digits of the UPC-A barcode, except that it has 4 (rather than 6) digits in each of the left and right halves.

The Facing Identification Mark, or FIM, is a bar code designed by the United States Postal Service to assist in the automated processing of mail. The FIM is a set of vertical bars printed on the envelope or postcard near the upper edge, just to the left of the postage area (the area where the postage stamp or its equivalent is placed). The FIM is intended for use primarily on preprinted envelopes and postcards and is applied by the company printing the envelopes or postcards, not by the USPS.

The FIM is a nine-bit code consisting of ones (vertical bars) and zeroes (blank spaces). The following four codes are in use:

• FIM A: 110010011
• FIM B: 101101101
• FIM C: 110101011
• FIM D: 111010111

The FIM serves the following purposes. It allows the proper facing of mail for cancelation. It also identifies the manner in which postage is paid (e.g., business reply mail or Information Based Indicia (IBI) postage) and whether that business reply mail has a POSTNET bar code. If the POSTNET bar code is present, the mail can be sent directly to a barcode sorter.

The four codes have the following uses:

• FIM A is used for courtesy reply mail and metered reply mail with a preprinted POSTNET bar code.
• FIM B is used for business reply mail without a preprinted ZIP+4 bar code.
• FIM C is used for business reply mail with a preprinted ZIP+4 bar code.
• FIM D is used only with IBI postage.

Interleaved 2 of 5 (ITF, from Interleaved Two of Five) is a continuous two-width barcode symbology encoding digits. It is used commercially on 135 film, for ITF-14 barcodes, and on cartons of some products, while the products inside are labeled with UPC or EAN.

ITF encodes pairs of digits; the first digit is encoded in the five bars (or black lines), while the second digit is encoded in the five spaces (or white lines) interleaved with them. Two out of every five bars or spaces are wide (hence exactly 2 of 5).

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a unique numeric commercial book identifier based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering (SBN) code. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO 2108. Since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with "Bookland" European Article Number EAN-13s.

ITF-14 (Interleaved Two of Five) is the GS1 implementation of an Interleaved 2 of 5 bar code to encode a Global Trade Item Number. ITF-14 symbols are generally used on packaging levels of a product, such as a case box of 24 cans of soup. The ITF-14 will always encode 14 digits.

This Symbology is also known as Japanese Article Number 13, JAN-13 Supplement 5/Five-digit Add-On, JAN-13 Supplement 2/Two-digit Add-On, JAN-13+5, JAN-13+2, JAN13, JAN13+5, JAN13+2.

JAN-13 (Japanese Article Numbering) barcode Symbology is another name for EAN-13 barcode Symbology. For JAN barcodes the first two digits must be 45 or 49 which identifies Japan. The value to encode by JAN-13 has the following structure:

• 2 digits for Number System or Country Code which MUST BE 49 or 45
• 5 digits for Manufacturer (Company) Code or prefix
• 5 digits for Product Code
• 1 digit for checksum

MSI (also known as Modified Plessey) is a barcode symbology developed by the MSI Data Corporation, based on the original Plessey Code symbology. It is a continuous symbology that is not self-checking. MSI is used primarily for inventory control, marking storage containers and shelves in warehouse environments.

When using the Mod 10 check digit algorithm, a string to be encoded 1234567 will be printed with a check digit of 4: 12345674.

The "2 Modulo 10" method essentially means the MSI bar code has two Modulo 10 checksum digits. The first Modulo 10 checksum digit is calculated as described above and appended to the bar code.

The second Modulo 10 checksum digit is calculated by taking the new bar code (including the first modulo 10 checksum digit) and repeating the modulo 10 checksum digit process. You are essentially performing a modulo 10 checksum on the bar code that already has a single modulo 10 checksum appended to it. This checksum digit is appended after the first checksum digit.

Another method used to calculate a check digit is a Modulo 11 approach. This approach is significantly different than the method used to calculate the Modulo 10 check digit above. To calculate the Modulo 11 check digit, use the following process:

1. Assign a weight to each character in the code, starting with a weight of 2 in the right-most position and incrementing by one as you move to the left. After you reach a weight of 7, the next digit will have a weight of 2 (i.e., weighting goes from 2 to 7 and then wraps around back to 2).
2. Multiply the value of each character by its weight, and sum the result of all the characters.
3. Perform a modulo 11 on the result of step 2.
4. The modulo 11 checksum is that value which must be added to the result of step 3 in order to arrive at a total of 11.

Another method that implements a double checksum involves taking the original bar code and running it through the Modulo 11 checksum digit process. The calculated checksum is then appended to the bar code.

The new bar code, with the modulo 11 checksum appended, is then run through the modulo 10 checksum process. The calculated checksum is then appended to the new bar code such that the bar code consists of the original data followed by a modulo 11 checksum digit followed by a modulo 10 checksum digit.

Pharmacode, also known as Pharmaceutical Binary Code, is a barcode standard, used in the pharmaceutical industry as a packing control system. It is designed to be readable despite printing errors. It can be printed in multiple colors as a check to ensure that the remainder of the packaging (which the pharmaceutical company must print to protect itself from legal liability) is correctly printed.

Pharmacode can represent only a single integer from 3 to 131070. Unlike other commonly used one-dimensional barcode schemes, pharmacode does not store the data in a form corresponding to the human-readable digits; the number is encoded in binary, rather than decimal.

POSTNET (Postal Numeric Encoding Technique) is a barcode symbology used by the United States Postal Service to assist in directing mail. The ZIP Code or ZIP+4 code is encoded in half- and full-height bars.[1] Most often, the delivery point is added, usually being the last two digits of the address or PO box number.

The barcode starts and ends with a full bar (often called a guard rail or frame bar and represented as the letter "S" in one version of the USPS TrueType Font) and has a check digit after the ZIP, ZIP+4, or delivery point. The encoding table is shown on the right.

Each individual digit is represented by a set of five bars, two of which are full bars.

Standard 2 of 5 is a self-checking numeric-only barcode. Unlike Interleaved 2 of 5, all of the information is encoded in the bars; the spaces are fixed width and are used only to separate the bars. Standard 2 of 5 is used primarily for warehouse sorting, photo finishing, and airline ticket marking.

Telepen is a name of a barcode symbology designed in 1972 in the UK to express all 128 ASCII characters without using shift characters for code switching, and using only two different widths for bars and spaces. (Unlike Code 128, which uses shifts and four different element widths.)

Unlike most linear barcodes, Telepen does not define independent encodings for each character, but instead operates on a stream of bits. It is able to represent any bit stream containing an even number of 0 bits, and is applied to ASCII bytes with even parity, which satisfy that rule. Bytes are encoded in little-endian bit order.

The Universal Product Code (UPC) is a barcode symbology (i.e., a specific type of barcode) that is widely used in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and in other countries for tracking trade items in stores. Its most common form, the UPC-A, consists of 12 numerical digits, which are uniquely assigned to each trade item. Along with the related EAN barcode, the UPC is the barcode mainly used for scanning of trade items at the point of sale, per GS1 specifications.

Each UPC-A barcode consists of a scannable strip of black bars and white spaces, above a sequence of 12 numerical digits. No letters, characters, or other content of any kind may appear on a standard UPC-A barcode. The digits and bars maintain a one-to-one correspondence - in other words, there is only one way to represent each 12-digit number visually, and there is only one way to represent each visual barcode numerically.

To allow the use of UPC barcodes on smaller packages where a full 12-digit barcode may not fit, a 'zero-suppressed' version of UPC was developed called UPC-E, in which the number system digit and all trailing zeros in the manufacturer code and all leading zeros in the product code are suppressed (omitted). This symbology differs from UPC-A in that it only uses a 6-digit code, does not use middle guard bars, and the end bit pattern (E) becomes 010101. The way in which a 6-digit UPC-E relates to a 12-digit UPC-A is determined by the last (right-hand most) digit. It can only be used with UPC-A number system 0 or 1, the value of which, along with the check digit, determines the parity pattern of the encoding.

2-digit supplemental bar codes should only be used with magazines, newspapers and other such periodicals. The 2-digit supplement represents the issue number of the magazine. This is useful so that the product code itself (contained in the main bar code) is constant for the magazine such that each issue of the magazine doesn't have to have its own unique bar code. Nevertheless, the 2-digit supplement can be used to track which issue of the magazine is being sold, perhaps for sales analysis or restocking purposes.

In reality, this is sometimes an "internal" issue number. The 2-digit extension is not always the same as the "Issue Number" that is printed somewhere on the cover. Sometimes the encoded issue number just gets incremented with each issue. In other cases, the encoded issue number may just be the number of the month of the year, or the week number, depending on the frequency with which the periodical is published.

5-digit supplemental bar codes are used on books to indicate a suggested retail price. The first digit of the supplement indicates the currency in which the price is expressed. A "0" represents a price expressed in British Pounds whereas a "5" represents a price expressed in U.S. dollars. The remaining 4 digits of the supplement indicate the price. For example "51195" indicates a suggested retail price of US$11.95 (US Dollars). A supplementary code of "90000" means the book has no suggested retail price. A supplementary code of "99991" indicates a complimentary copy of the book. Supplementary codes of 90001 to 98999 are used by some publishers for internal purposes. The supplementary code "99990" is used by the National Association of College Stores to mark used books.

QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response Code) is the trademark for a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional barcode) first designed for the automotive industry in Japan. A QR code uses four standardized encoding modes (numeric, alphanumeric, byte / binary, and kanji) to efficiently store data; extensions may also be used.

The QR Code system has become popular outside the automotive industry due to its fast readability and greater storage capacity compared to standard UPC barcodes. Applications include product tracking, item identification, time tracking, document management, general marketing, and much more.

A QR code consists of solid color modules (square dots) arranged in a square grid on a white background, which can be read by an imaging device (such as a camera) and processed using Reed–Solomon error correction until the image can be appropriately interpreted. The required data are then extracted from patterns present in both horizontal and vertical components of the image.

Data Matrix is a 2D matrix barcode symbology that can be used to encode text and numeric data. A Data Matrix barcode can store up to 2 335 alphanumeric characters. Data matrix barcodes feature very good error correction, which means the message can be recovered even when the barcode is severely damaged. Data Matrix barcodes are also considered more secure than QR codes and that is why they are preferred in high security scenarios (e.g. for military purposes).

PDF417 is a stacked linear barcode symbol format used in a variety of applications, primarily transport, identification cards, and inventory management. PDF stands for Portable Data File. The 417 signifies that each pattern in the code consists of 4 bars and spaces, and that each pattern is 17 units long.

PDF417 is one of the formats (along with Data Matrix) that can be used to print postage accepted by the United States Postal Service. PDF417 is also selected by the airline industry's Bar Coded Boarding Pass standard (BCBP) as the 2D bar code symbolism for paper boarding passes. PDF417 is the standard selected by the Department of Homeland Security as the machine readable zone technology for RealID compliant driver licenses and state issued identification cards. It is also used by FedEx on package labels.

In addition to features typical of two dimensional bar codes, PDF417's capabilities include:

• Linking. PDF417 symbols can link to other symbols which are scanned in sequence allowing even more data to be stored.
• User-specified dimensions. The user can decide how wide the narrowest vertical bar (X dimension) is, and how tall the rows are (Y dimension).
• Public domain format. Anyone can implement systems using this format without any license.