Microcom 48-466 User Manual

Page 65

Chapter 8

Bar Codes

48-466 Operators Manual

Code 3 of 9 (Code 39), TCI=16
Code 39 is one of the more popular variable length, alphanumeric, bar code in use today. It can
encode numeric characters 0 through 9, all upper case letters, and the characters -.*$/+% and
space. Although most specifications require a specific inter character spacing, Code 39 will
allow custom inter character spacing as long as the maximum does not exceed the timeout
zone of the intended scanning equipment.

Modified Plessey (MSI 1), TCI=24
MSI is primarily used on retail self labels. It is a low density and numeric only bar code due to the
amount of space that each character consumes. MSI 2 and MSI 3 are variations which contain 1
or 2 check digits respectively.

Postnet, TCI=36
Postnet is a numeric only bar code that is used in postal applications to sort mail.

Code 128 (Automatic Compression), TCI=40
Code 128 is a very high density, variable length, full alphanumeric bar code. It contains 3
separate character sets (A, B, and C) and separate shift characters to access them in the same
bar code. Subset C contains 99 matched numeric pairs, each encoded as a single character.
The pairing of numeric characters allows numeric portions of the bar code to consume half as
much space as they would using Subsets A or B. If TCI 40 is selected, the printer will
automatically decide which subset is most efficient and insert the appropriate shift character. It
is also possible to manually change the subset. This would be necessary if function character
access was required. Please note that the printer will still try to find the most efficient subset
after the temporary switch has been made.

Code 128 Special Function Access

Value

CODE A

CODE B

CODE C

FNC3

-----

FNC2

-----

SHIFT

-----

CODE C

-----

100

CODE B

FNC4

CODE B

101

FNC4

CODE A

102

FNC1

103

START

-----

104

-----

START

-----

105

-----

START

-----

Table 13