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Symbology Background Information
• What are symbologies?
• Character Sets
• Discrete/Continuous
• Two-Width/Multiple-Width
• Fixed/Variable-Length
• Self-Checking
• Definitions

Numeric-Only Symbologies

• UPC-Based Symbologies:
  • UPC-A: Used with consumer products in U.S., 12 characters
  • UPC-E: Short version of UPC symbol, 6 characters
  • EAN-13: Used with consumer products internationally, 13 characters
  • EAN-8: Short version of EAN-13, 8 characters
  • JAN Codes: Same as EAN-13, used in Japan
  • Bookland: Used to mark books with ISBN number
• UPC-Based Extentions
  • 2-Digit Ext.: Used to indicate magazines and newspaper issue numbers
  • 5-Digit Ext.: Used to mark suggested retail price of books
• 2 of 5 Symbologies:
  • Standard 2 of 5: Used in airline ticket marking, photofinishing
  • Industrial 2 of 5: Same as Standard 2 of 5
  • Interleaved 2 of 5: Used in warehouse, industrial applications
• Pulse Width Modulated Symbologies:
  • Plessey Code: Old symbology, used for shelf marking in retail enviornments
  • MSI: Variation of Plessey code, with similar applications
  • Modified Plessey Code: Same as MSI
  • Anker Code: Used in European POS systems before EAN was implementated
• Code 11 (USD-8): Used to identify telecommunications equipment
• Postnet: Printed by U.S. Post Office on envelopes
• Codabar (aka Ames Code/USD-4/NW-7/2 of 7 Code): Used in libraries and blood banks

Alphanumeric Symbologies

• Code 128 Based Symbologies
  • Code 128: Very dense code, used extensively worldwide
  • UCC/EAN-128: Used to encode shipping/product information
  • SISAC: Used to encode serial items/periodic magazines
• Code 39 (aka USD-3, 3 of 9): U.S. Government and military use, required for DoD applications
• Code 93 (aka USS-93): Compressed form of Code 39

2-Dimensional (2D) Symbologies (Coming soon!)

• Code 49