How to Generate a Barcode for a Packaging Layout
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Subtitles
History of invention
Methods of encoding information
Linear
Linear (also called strip codes) are barcodes that are readable in one direction (horizontally). The most common linear symbols: EAN (EAN-8 consists of 8 digits, EAN-13 - 13 digits are used), UPC (UPC-A, UPC-E), Code56, Code128 (UPC /EAN-128), Codabar, “Interleaved 2 of 5". Linear symbologies allow you to encode a small amount of information.
2D
Two-dimensional symbologies were developed to encode large amounts of information. Deciphering such a code is carried out in two dimensions (horizontally and vertically).
Two-dimensional codes are divided into multi-level (stacked) and matrix (matrix). Multi-level barcodes appeared historically earlier, and represent several ordinary linear codes stacked on top of each other. Matrix codes pack information elements more tightly vertically.
Currently, many two-dimensional barcodes have been developed, used with varying degrees of distribution. (table Comparison of barcode characteristics) Here are some codes:
Examples of the relationship between the sizes of two-dimensional barcode symbols and code capacity
| Data layers | Character size | Byte |
| 1 | 15x15 | 7 |
| 4 | 27x27 | 53 |
| 7 | 45x45 | 145 |
| 11 | 61x61 | 298 |
| 15 | 79x79 | 502 |
| 20 | 101x101 | 824 |
| 26 | 125x125 | 1314 |
| 32 | 151x151 | 1914 |
Radio tags
Codes starting with the number “2” (prefixes 200 to 299) are reserved separately. These are codes for internal use by businesses for their own purposes. Any enterprise in any region of the world, as well as individuals, can use them in any way they wish, at their own discretion, but exclusively for their internal purposes. Use of these codes outside of the company is prohibited. The internal content of codes starting with 2 can be subject to any logic that a particular enterprise has established for itself (usually retail enterprises), and can contain the price or weight of the product, or any other parameters. This coding is especially often used for weight goods. These codes can be used by any enterprise, and they are not specifically registered anywhere and are not regulated in any way by third parties.
Registration number of the product manufacturer. The second logical group of numbers is the enterprise code of the manufacturer or seller of the product. It usually takes 4-6 digits, meaning that for each regional prefix, from ten thousand to a million businesses can be registered. The length of this field depends on the regional office policy. In some countries, the size of this field depends on the level of payment of membership fees. The problem is that if the length of this field is longer, then more enterprises can be registered, but each enterprise is allocated the opportunity to register a smaller quantity of goods. That is, if the enterprise code is 6 digits, then each enterprise is allocated space to register 1000 units of goods. Previously, the Russian representative office allocated 4 digits as an enterprise code, and then, to encode goods, the enterprise had the ability to register one hundred thousand units of goods. In the 2000s, the Russian representative office decided to allocate 6 digits for the enterprise code and 3 digits for the product code to newly registered enterprises. This was due to the fact that most enterprises produce less than 1000 items of goods, and this would be a more reasonable step towards more economical use of codes.
Product code. Previously it was said that the remaining 3-5 digits are allocated for encoding the product itself. And the length of this field depends on the registrar’s policy, that is, depending on what length of the enterprise code the registrar has chosen as the base one. That is, from one to one hundred thousand items. Contrary to popular belief, digital code The product itself does not carry any semantic meaning. The Association recommends the sequential assignment of codes as a new type of product is released, without investing any additional semantic load into this code. That is, this is neither weight, nor color, nor price, nor anything else - it is just a serial number of the product, which the store’s terminal computer simply takes from its computer database, where both the name and price of the product are stored.
It should be noted that you are unlikely to see the product code 999 or 99999 on product packaging, because this code indicates the enterprise as such. As a matter of fact, the code of this specific product, together with the other parts of the code, identifies the unique code of the enterprise itself ( An identification number Enterprise or GLN) for automation and document exchange purposes. Similarly, for its divisions you can see 998, 997, 996.
Check number. The last digit is a control digit used to check whether the scanner is reading strokes correctly.
How does a computer terminal differentiate which part of the code is which? Doesn't differentiate at all. This is not necessary. The entire unique code is important for the computer, and it is this entire code that is written into the database of the trading enterprise. The only exceptions are codes starting with two, where an enterprise can encrypt its own logic for the product.
To encode small size goods, the abbreviated EAN-8 code is used; this code does not contain information about the manufacturer of the goods. The regional registrar sequentially assigns a serial number to the product in a common space of numbers according to applications sent by manufacturers. Maximum amount these codes are much more limited.
Decoding the regional affiliation of a product for a linear barcode
In addition, there is an official list of GS1 prefixes on information portal Russian national organization. However, it is worth remembering that the presence of a country code on a product’s packaging may not be an indicator of the origin of the product from that particular country.
Logistics
- Postal items
- Storage units
- Assembly parts
Areas of application
- Increasing the speed of document flow in banking and other payment systems;
- Minimizing data reading errors by automating the process;
- Employee identification (corporate barcode);
- Organization of time recording systems;
- Unification of collection forms different types data (medicine, statistics, etc.);
- Simplification of warehouse inventory;
- Monitoring the availability and promotion of goods in stores, ensuring their safety, etc.
Drexel University Institute of Technology in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania, USA), heard the president of a local food chain ask one of the deans to develop a system that would automatically read product information when inspecting it. Silver told his friends Norman Joseph Woodland (1921-2012) and Jordin Johanson about this. The three of them began to explore various systems markings. Their first working system used ultraviolet ink, but it was quite expensive and also faded over time.
Convinced that the system was feasible, Woodland left Philadelphia and moved to his father's apartment in Florida to continue his work. His next inspiration came unexpectedly from Morse code - he formed his first barcode from sand on the beach. As he himself said: “I just extended the dots and dashes down and made narrow and wide lines out of them.” To read the strokes, he adapted soundtrack technology, an optical soundtrack used to record sound in movies. On October 20, 1949, Woodland and Silver filed an invention application, which was granted on October 7, 1952.
Methods of encoding information
Linear
Linear (also called strip codes) are barcodes that are readable in one direction (horizontally). The most common linear symbolisms:
- EAN (EAN-8 consists of 8 digits, EAN-13 - 13 digits are used)
- UPC (UPC-A, UPC-E)
- Code56
- Code128 (UPC/EAN-128)
- "Interleaved 2 of 5"
Linear symbologies allow you to encode a small amount of information.
2D
Two-dimensional symbologies were developed to encode large amounts of information. Deciphering such a code is carried out in two dimensions (horizontally and vertically).
Two-dimensional codes are divided into multi-level (stacked) and matrix (matrix). Multi-level barcodes appeared historically earlier, and represent several ordinary linear codes stacked on top of each other. Matrix codes pack information elements more tightly vertically.
Currently, many two-dimensional barcodes have been developed, used with varying degrees of distribution (table Comparison of barcode characteristics). Here are some codes:
Examples of the relationship between the sizes of two-dimensional barcode symbols and code capacity
Radio tags
Codes starting with the number “2” (prefixes 200 to 299) are reserved separately. These are codes for internal use by businesses for their own purposes. Any enterprise in any region of the world, as well as individuals, can use them in any way they wish, at their own discretion, but exclusively for their internal purposes. Use of these codes outside of the company is prohibited. The internal content of codes starting with 2 can be subject to any logic that a particular enterprise has established for itself (usually retail enterprises), and can contain the price or weight of the product, or any other parameters. This coding is especially often used for weight goods. These codes can be used by any enterprise, and they are not specifically registered anywhere and are not regulated in any way by third parties.
Registration number of the product manufacturer. The second logical group of numbers is the enterprise code of the manufacturer or seller of the product. It usually takes 4-6 digits, meaning that for each regional prefix, from ten thousand to a million businesses can be registered. The length of this field depends on the regional office policy. In some countries, the size of this field depends on the level of payment of membership fees. The problem is that if the length of this field is longer, then more enterprises can be registered, but each enterprise is allocated the opportunity to register a smaller quantity of goods. That is, if the enterprise code is 6 digits, then each enterprise is allocated space to register 1000 units of goods. Previously, the Russian representative office allocated 4 digits as an enterprise code, and then, to encode goods, the enterprise had the ability to register one hundred thousand units of goods. In the 2000s, the Russian representative office decided to allocate 6 digits for the enterprise code and 3 digits for the product code to newly registered enterprises. This was due to the fact that most enterprises produce less than 1000 items of goods, and this would be a more reasonable step towards more economical use of codes.
Product code. Previously it was said that the remaining 3-5 digits are allocated for encoding the product itself. And the length of this field depends on the registrar’s policy, that is, depending on what length of the enterprise code the registrar has chosen as the base one. That is, from one to one hundred thousand items. Contrary to popular belief, the digital code of the product itself does not carry any semantic meaning. The Association recommends the sequential assignment of codes as a new type of product is released, without investing any additional semantic load into this code. That is, this is neither weight, nor color, nor price, nor anything else - it is just a serial number of the product, which the store’s terminal computer simply takes from its computer database, where both the name and price of the product are stored.
It should be noted that you are unlikely to see the product code 999 or 99999 on product packaging, because this code indicates the enterprise as such. In fact, the code of this specific product, together with the rest of the code, identifies the unique code of the enterprise itself (Generation Identification Number or GLN) for the purpose of automation and exchange of documentation. Similarly, for its divisions you can see 998, 997, 996.
Check number. The last digit is a control digit used to check whether the scanner is reading strokes correctly.
How does a computer terminal differentiate which part of the code is which? Doesn't differentiate at all. This is not necessary. The entire unique code is important for the computer, and it is this entire code that is written into the database of the trading enterprise. The only exceptions are codes starting with two, where an enterprise can encrypt its own logic for the product.
To encode small size goods, the abbreviated EAN-8 code is used; this code does not contain information about the manufacturer of the goods. The regional registrar sequentially assigns a serial number to the product in a common space of numbers according to applications sent by manufacturers. The maximum number of these codes is much more limited.
Decoding the regional affiliation of a product for a linear barcode
In addition, there is an official list of GS1 prefixes on the information portal of the Russian national organization. However, it is worth remembering that the presence of a country code on a product’s packaging may not be an indicator of the origin of the product from that particular country.
Logistics
- Postal items
- Storage units
- Assembly parts
Areas of application
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The list of examples in this article or its section is not based on generalizations directly about the subject of the article or its section. |
Bar coding technology is based on a method of encoding information graphically - a bar code. The bar code was first invented as a sequence of black and white stripes (bars) and is still linear codes are the most common. Here is one definition of a barcode:
Barcode (barcode, barcode) is a sequence of black and white stripes that represent some information in an easy-to-read format technical means form.
The barcode is probably the oldest of all automatic identification technologies.
Types and standards of barcodes
Linear (regular) Barcodes are symbols that can be read in one direction (horizontally). The most common linear codes: EAN (EAN-8 consists of 8 digits, EAN-13 uses 13 digits), UPC (UPC-A, UPC-E), Code39, Code128 (UCC/EAN-128), Codabar, “Interleaved 2 of 5". Linear symbologies allow you to encode a small amount of information (up to 20-30 characters, usually numbers).
These are all GS1 barcodes that underpin a worldwide, diversified communication system, the creation of which is provided by two largest specialized international organizations GS1 and AIM Global.
The EAN/UPC barcode symbology, represented by the EAN-8, EAN-13, UPC-A, UPC-E, and Interleaved 2 of 5 symbol family, is intended for encoding digital information. Line symbology Code Code 128 (Code 128) and Code 39 (Code 39) allow you to encode not only digital information, but also data containing Latin letters and special graphic characters. These linear code standards are currently the most common within the international GS1 system.
2D barcodes
- symbols designed to encode large amounts of information. Deciphering such a code is carried out in two dimensions (horizontally and vertically).
Unlike traditional linear barcode symbologies, which allow you to represent a short sequence of data in a barcode symbol, which is usually the key to a record in an external database, multiline symbologies allow you to encode information in full. In addition, multiline symbols include special mechanisms for compressing data (protecting it from damage, linking information) presented in several symbols into one large file; representation of different character sets in one message.
Two-dimensional codes are divided into multi-level (stacked) and matrix (matrix). Multi-level barcodes appeared historically earlier, and represent several ordinary linear codes stacked on top of each other. Matrix codes pack information elements more tightly vertically.
Currently, many two-dimensional barcodes have been developed, used with varying degrees of distribution. Here are some of them: Aztec Code; Data Matrix; MaxiCode; PDF417; QR code; Microsoft Tag.
Regulation and standardization
The assignment of barcodes is carried out by an international non-profit and non-governmental organization - the EAN Association, created in 1977.
Association of automatic identification UNISKAN / GS1 Russia as a member of GS1 is the only organization of product numbering - the representative of GS1 in the territory Russian Federation. GS1 has granted UNISCAN / GS1 Russia the right to use trademark"GS1" in the Russian Federation.
Practical use
Trade
Historically, the EAN/UPC code has been the most commonly used code in trading. The American UPC system was initially developed, containing 12 digits for encoding goods, and it gained such popularity that European countries also paid attention to it. Unfortunately, the entire range of numbers was used to encode goods in the USA and Canada, and goods and companies were exclusively registered in the USA. The developers of the European EAN-13 encoding were faced with the serious task of expanding the range of codes and making a registration system independent from the United States, ensuring maximum compatibility with the UPC encoding, as a result of which a way was found to encode the 13th digit, the first in a row (it is usually indicated by an Arabic numeral to the left of the barcode) using 12 digital templates, just like UPC. At the same time, compatibility was maintained in the EAN-13 encoding, and UPC became a subset of the EAN-13 encoding with the first digit 0.
Thus, the EAN-13 encoding was able to become independent of a single registrar; for a European product it was not necessary to enter additional fields with a barcode or a second field with a different barcode; the shading of an American product did not require any changes.
Logistics
Automatic identification technology is actively used in supply chain management systems, warehouse (labeling units and storage locations) and production logistics (labeling assembly parts), for marking postal items.
Data collection terminals