Symbologies

Symbologies:

Symbology is the equivalent to a language, the mapping between messages and barcodes.
Several systems require that you conform to a specific company-specified symbology.
With a few systems, you have the choice of using any symbology you want.

Linear Symbologies can be classified properties:

Continuous or discrete:
Continuous is when the characters are adjoin, with one character ending with a space,
the following character starting with a bar, or conversely.

Discrete Symbologies begin and end with bars ignoring the intercharacter space providing
it doesn't appear to be the code ends.

Two-width or many-width:
Two-width Symbologies can be wide or narrow. Their width has no significance providing
the symbology specifications for wide bars are adhered.

Many-width Symbologies are multiples of the basic modules, usually using four widths
of 1, 2, 3, and 4 modules.

Stacked Symbologies are a given linear symbology that is repeated vertically in
multiple rows.

2-D Symbologies feature square or dot-shaped modules position on a grid pattern.
The most common 2-D Symbologies are matrix codes. There are numerous 2-D Symbologies
that use steganography to hide various sized or shaped modules within a user-specified
image.

Scanner/symbology interaction:

Linear Symbologies are read by a laser scanner. The scanner sweeps a light beam
across the barcode, reading the barcodes light-dark patterns.

Stacked Symbologies are also read by laser scanning. With stacked Symbologies,
the laser makes multiple passes across the barcode.

2-D Symbologies cannot be read by a laser they must be read or scanned by a camera
capture device.


For more information on Symbologies click here:

Symbologies and Their Use

Bar code info pages  | Terms and legal | Business info

Bar codes business resources