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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A
AIM International - An international organization whose mission is to grow a worldwide market for Automatic Identification and Data Capture products and services through concerted action to set international standards, increase global awareness of AIDC solutions, and identify and educate current and potential new users on effective application of the technology.
Alphanumeric - A character set that usually contains the ASCII table characters 32 through 127. This range of ASCII characters consists of upper and lower case letters, numbers 0 through 9 and characters such as the dollar sign, plus, minus, period, comma and other special characters.
ANSI Standard - A document authorized by ANSI that has been approved through the consensus process of public announcement and review. Each of these standards must have been developed by an ANSI accredited committee and must be revisited by that committee within five years for update.
ANSI Symbol Grade - A symbol grade per the ANSI X3.182 Guideline.
ANSI-based verifier - An instrument designed to measure the various characteristics of printed bar code symbols to determine if they meet the requirements of the ANSI X3.182-1990 Bar Code Print Quality Guideline.
B
Bearer Bars - A minimum of two parallel bars running the length of the top and bottom edge of a bar code. Bearer bars, if used, reduce the probability of a misread when a skewed scanning beam enters and/or leaves the symbol through the top or bottom.
C
Check Character - A character used to check the integrity of the preceding bar code symbol. A check character is normally found at the end of the data encoded within the bar code.
Code 39 (Code 3 of 9) - A variable length, bi-directional, discrete, self-checking, alphanumeric bar code. Code 39 encodes 43 characters; zero through nine, capital "A" through capital "Z", minus symbol, plus symbol, forward slash, space, decimal point, dollar sign and percent symbol. Each character is encoded by 9 bars, 3 of which are always wide.
Code 128 - A variable length, bi-directional, continuous, self-checking, alphanumeric bar code. Characters in Code 128 consist of three bars and three spaces. Bars and spaces may be one, two, three, or four modules wide. The total character width is 11 modules. Code 128 obtains its name from its capacity to encode the full ASCII 128 character set.
D
Data Identifier - A character (or set of characters) that uniquely defines the specific use of the data encoded in the bar code symbol following the data identifier. Also known as a Flag Character.
Density (Bar Code) - The number of symbol characters that can be represented in a specific unit of measure.
E
EAN - European Article Numbering System. The international standard bar code for retail food packages.
Element - A single bar or space within a bar code symbology.
F
Film Masters - With the development of U.P.C. in the early 1970s, bar codes became an integral part of product packaging, and (because of variations in specifications and tolerances among commercial printing processes) film became the most practical means of incorporating bar codes into packaging artwork. A very precise image of the bar code is developed on the film master as either a film positive or negative (depending upon the printing method). This film master is then stripped into the appropriate artwork for final plate production.
Because of the many specification variations in presses, plate-making procedures, and inks among printing processes as well as variations in substrates, the UCC developed its Film Master Verification Manual. The manual provides guidelines for determining the variables associated with specific commercial printing processes. Though referenced to the UPC symbology, these rules apply to other symbologies produced by using a film master as well. Film master suppliers have significant experience in matching film master specifications to various printing processes, but they should work directly with the printer for optimum results.
G
GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) - The new global term for the 14-digit numbering structure that encompasses UCC-12, EAN/UCC-8, EAN/UCC-13 & EAN/UCC-14.
Guard Bars - The bars, which are at both ends and center of a UPC and EAN symbol. They provide reference points for scanning.
H
HIBCC - The Health Industry Business Communications Council.
Human Readable Interpretation - Letters or digits associated and printed along with the bar code.
I
Interleaved 2 of 5 (I 2 of 5) - a numeric only bar code. Due to the interleaving of the characters, the number of characters in an Interleaved 2 of 5 message must be even. The check character, if used, must be included in the character count Especially adapted to the poor quality of packaging materials frequently used for trade items (corrugated cardboard), it is designed to be read by a fixed or portable bi-directional scanner.
J
(Empty)
K
(Empty)
L
Ladder Style - A bar code printed in a vertical position such that the bars can be thought of as rungs on a ladder. Opposite of Picket Fence style.
LOGMARS - (logistic applications for Marking And Reading Symbols) A Department of Defense program to place Code 39 symbols encoding specific data on all items sold to the Federal Government.
M
mil - One one-thousandth of an inch (0.001"). Unit of measurement used in bar code specifications.
Module - The narrowest nominal width unit of measure in a symbol.
N
N - The wide to narrow element width ration used for two-width symbologies.
O
Overhead - The fixed number of characters required for start, stop and checking in a given symbol.
P
PCS (Print Contrast Signal) - A measurement of the ratio of the reflectiveness between the bars and spaces of a bar code.
Picket Fence Style - A bar code printed in a horizontal position such that the individual bars appear like the slats in a picket fence. Opposite of Ladder style.
POS - Point of sale.
Q
Quiet zone - A clear space containing no machine readable marks, which precedes the Start Character of a bar code symbol and follows the Stop Character. Formerly referred to as "Clear Area" or "Light Margin."
R
Reflectance - A bar code verification term. The ratio of the amount of light which is reflected back from the white spaces of a bar code during scanning to the amount of light reflected under similar illumination conditions.
RoHS - Material must be compliant to the EU Commission Directive 2002/95/(RoHS) for Cadmium (<100 ppm), Lead (<1000 ppm), Chrome6+(<1000 ppm), Mercury (<1000 ppm), polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs < 1000 ppm), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE's <1000 ppm).
S
SKU Stock Keeping Unit - An individual color, flavor, size, or pack of a product that requires a separate ID number to distinguish it from other items (a measure of an item of merchandise for inventory management). In inventory control and identification systems, it represents the smallest unit for which sales and stock records are maintained.
Stop Character - A special bar code character that tells the scanner to stop reading a bar code symbol. The Stop Character is typically found on the right side of the bar code symbol.
T
Thermal direct - A printing method where a print head consisting of dots that are selectively heated and cooled. A heat-sensitive paper is passed under the print head . The paper turns dark as it is heated.
Thermal transfer - A printing method like thermal direct except a coated ribbon is used and paper or poly material is used as a supply. This eliminates the problems of fading or changing color inherent in thermal direct printing.
U
UCC-12 - The 12-digit EAN.UCC System data structure composed of a UCC Company Prefix, Item Reference, and Check Digit.
UPC - Acronym for Universal Product Code; the bar code symbol that is the standard in the retail marketplace. It uniquely identifies a product and the manufacturer.
UPC-E - barcodes may not be created correctly if you do not enter the full UPC-A number. UPC-E encodes portions of the complete UPC-A within the barcode by using variable parity between character sets. So, you must enter 11 or 12 digits of the UPC-A to create a UPC-E. For example, a UPC-E number that is 02532038 scans as 025300000208 with a barcode scanner. So, for testing purposes, you can use 025300000208 as the UPC-A number. After this number passes through our barcode tools, the text of U(C5D20D)x is returned. When this text is printed with our UPC/EAN barcode font, a correct UPC-E barcode is produced. Only certain UPC-A numbers can be compressed to the UPC-E format.
V
Verification - means to insure accuracy against a measurable industry standard. Below is a quick explanation of the most common verifiers we offer
W
Wedge (Keyboard Wedge) - A device that plugs in between a keyboard and a PC. The wedge takes data from a bar code scanner and converts the data to represent keystrokes.
Wide to narrow ratio - The ratio between the wide elements and the narrow elements in a bar code symbology, such as Code 3 of 9, which has two different element widths.
WMS – Warehouse Management Systems — Software that integrates mechanical and human activities with an information system to effectively manage warehouse business processes and direct warehouse activities. These systems automate receiving, put away, picking, and shipping in warehouses and can prompt workers to do inventory cycle counts. Most support radio-frequency communications, allowing real-time data transfer between the system and warehouse personnel.
X
"X" Dimension - The specified width of the narrow element in a bar code symbol.
Y
(Empty)
Z
(Empty)
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