User`s guide

42 | PDF417 AND THE ISC-X
Appendix F PDF417 Bar Codes
and the ISC-Xtreme
About PDF417
Imagine a database that's totally portable - freed from the computer to go
anywhere and yet be accessed immediately at any time. Or a paper-based
communication medium that makes documents, labels and cards "live" with
machine-readable information, including text, graphics, biometrics or other
data. And imagine capturing this information quickly, easily and
inexpensively. There's a technology that offers all this – it’s PDF417.
PDF stands for "Portable Data File". A single PDF417 symbol can
represent up to 1500 bytes of machine-readable data in a label the size of a
small business card. And, unlike traditional one-dimensional bar codes that
depend on real-time links to a larger database, a PDF417 symbol is
the
database.
PDF417 answers the need to capture, store and transfer large amounts of
data inexpensively. It can exchange complete data files (such as text,
numerics or binary) and encode graphics, fingerprints, shipping manifests,
electronic data interchange (EDI) messages, equipment calibration
instructions and much more. It provides a powerful communications
capability - without the need to access an external database. And, for
virtually no incremental cost, you can add a PDF symbol to the documents
and labels you are already printing.
Printing PDF417 Bar Codes
PDF417 printing solutions are compatible with all the same printers used to
print 1-D bar codes, including laser, thermal direct, thermal transfer, ink jet
and others. You can print on a wide variety of materials-paper, cards,
labels, plastics, metals and others. You can even fax PDF417 symbols.
Most bar code printing software packages support the printing of PDF417
bar codes.
Scanning PDF417 Bar Codes with the ISC-Xtreme
In order to decode a PDF417 bar code with the Socket In-Hand Scan Card-
Xtreme, the laser must be maneuvered to cover the entire symbol. When
triggered, the ISC-X laser beam sweeps horizontally back and forth 200
times per second, forming a solid bright red line. The user must slowly and
smoothly sweep the laser beam line vertically across the symbol. This
sweeping motion can be either upward or downward, but the beam line
must be parallel with the bottom (or top) of the symbol – it cannot be