Specifications

Glossary GL-11
Substrate A foundation material on which a substance or image is
placed.
Symbol A scannable unit that encodes data within the conventions
of a certain symbology, usually including start/stop
characters, quiet zones, data characters, and check
characters.
Symbol Aspect Ratio The ratio of symbol height to symbol width.
Symbol Density The number of data characters per unit length; usually
expressed as characters per inch (CPI).
Symbol Height The distance between the outside edges of the quiet zones
of the first row and the last row.
Symbol Length Length of symbol measured from the beginning of the quiet
zone (margin) adjacent to the start character to the end of
the quiet zone (margin) adjacent to a stop character.
Symbology The structural rules and conventions for representing data
within a particular bar code type (e.g. UPC/EAN, Code 39).
Tilt Rotation of a bar code symbol on an axis perpendicular to
the substrate.
Tolerance Allowable deviation from the nominal bar or space width.
2-dimensional (2D) symbology A machine-readable symbol which must be examined both
vertically and horizontally to read the entire message. A 2D
symbol may be one of two types of machine-readable
symbols: a Matrix Symbol or a stacked symbol. 2D symbols
differ from linear bar codes with the ability for high data
content, small size, data efficiency and error correction
capability.
UCC Uniform Code Council: the organization that administers
the U.P.C and other retail standards.
UCC.EAN-128 Code 128 with a Function 1 character in the first position
that is the symbology used with the UCC.EAN format for a
universal product number (UPN).
UPC Universal Product Code. A relatively complex numeric
symbology. Each character consists of two bars and two
spaces, each of which is any of four widths. The standard
symbology for retail food packages in the United States.
Variable Length Code A code with a number of encoded characters within a
range, as opposed to a code with a fixed number of
encoded characters.
Vertical Bar Code A bar code pattern presented in such orientation that the
symbol from start to stop is perpendicular to the horizon.
The individual bars are in an array appearing as rungs of a
ladder.
Visible Laser Diode (VLD) A solid state device which produces visible laser light.
Wand Scanner A handheld scanning device used as a contact bar code or
OCR reader.
Wedge A device that plugs in between a keyboard and a terminal
and allows data to be entered by a keyboard or by various
types of scanners.