Specifications

Bar Code Information
365
History and Overview
History and OverviewHistory and Overview
History and Overview
One of the symbologies specified for the representation of Application Identifier
data is GS1-128 (previously referred to as EAN/UCC-128 or EAN-128). GS1-128
is a variant of Code 128, exclusively reserved to GS1. It is not intended to be
used for data to be scanned at the point of sales in retail outlets.
GS1-128 offers several advantages. It is one of the most complete, alphanumeric,
one-dimensional symbologies available today. The use of three different
character sets (A, B and C), facilitates the encoding of the full 128 ASCII
character set. Code 128 is one of the most compact linear bar code symbologies.
Character set C enables numeric data to be represented in a double density
mode. In this mode, two digits are represented by only one symbol character
saving valuable space. The code is concatenatable. That means that multiple AIs
and their fields may be combined into a single bar code. The code is also very
reliable. Code 128 symbols use two independent self-checking features which
improves printing and scanning reliability.
GS1-128 (EAN/UCC-128) bar codes always contain a special non-data character
known as function 1 (FNC 1), which follows the start character of the bar code. It
enables scanners and processing software to auto-discriminate between GS1-
128 (EAN/UCC-128) and other bar code symbologies, and subsequently only
process relevant data.
The GS1-128 (EAN/UCC-128) bar code is made up of a leading quiet zone, a
Code 128 start character A, B, or C, a FNC 1 character, Data (Application
Identifier plus data field), a symbol check character, a stop character, and a
trailing quiet zone.
The purpose of GS1-128 (EAN/UCC-128) is to establish a standard way of
labeling a package with more information than just a product code. It provides
supplemental information such as batch number and "use before" dates.
There are two main components of GS1-128 (EAN/UCC-128): the data with its
Application Identifier and the bar code symbology used to code the data.
GS1
GS1GS1
GS1-
--
-128 (EAN/UCC
128 (EAN/UCC128 (EAN/UCC
128 (EAN/UCC-
--
-128) APPLICATION IDENTIFIER (AI)
128) APPLICATION IDENTIFIER (AI)128) APPLICATION IDENTIFIER (AI)
128) APPLICATION IDENTIFIER (AI)