EAN.UCC Composite Symbology

EAN.UCC Composite Introduction

An EAN.UCC Composite symbol consists of a linear component (encoding the item’s primary identification) associated with an adjacent 2D Composite Component (encoding supplementary data, such as a batch number or expiration date). The Composite symbol always includes a linear component so that the primary identification is readable by all scanning technologies, and so that 2D imagers can use the linear component as a finder pattern for the adjacent 2D Composite Component. The Composite symbol always includes a multi-row 2D Composite Component, for compatibility with linear- and area-CCD scanners, and with linear and rastering laser scanners.

EAN.UCC Composite Symbology Characteristics

An EAN.UCC Composite symbol consists of a linear component associated with an adjacent 2D Composite Component. The characteristics of the EAN.UCC Composite Symbology are:

1. Encodable character set:
1. Both linear and 2D Composite Components encode a subset of ISO 646, consisting of the upper and lowercase letters, digits, and 21 selected punctuation characters.
2. The EAN.UCC function character FNC1 and a Symbol Separator character.
2. Symbol character structure: different edge to similar edge decodable symbol characters are used, in accordance with the selected Linear and 2D Composite Components of the symbol.
3. Code type:
1. Linear component: continuous, linear bar code symbology
2. 2D Composite Component: continuous, multi-row bar code symbology
4. Maximum numeric data capacity (including implied application identifiers and calculated check digits where appropriate, but not including any encoded FNC1 characters):
1. Linear component:
1. UCC/EAN-128: up to 48 digits
2. EAN/UPC: 8 or 13 digits
3. RSS Expanded: up to 74 digits
4. Other RSS: 16 digits
2. 2D Composite Component:
1. CC-A: up to 56 digits
2. CC-B: up to 338 digits
3. CC-C: up to 2 361 digits
5. Error detection and correction:
1. Linear component: one check character for error detection
2. 2D Composite Component: a fixed or variable number of Reed-Solomon error correction codewords, depending upon the specific 2D Composite Component.
6. Character self-checking: Yes
7. Bi-directionally decodable: Yes

Summary of additional EAN.UCC Composite features

The following is a summary of additional EAN.UCC Composite Symbology features:

1. Data compaction: The 2D Composite Components utilize a bit-oriented compaction mode, designed to encode efficiently data using application identifiers.
2. Component linkage: the 2D Composite Component of each EAN.UCC Composite symbol contains a linkage flag, which indicates to the reader that no data shall be transmitted unless the associated linear component is also scanned and decoded. All linear components except EAN/UPC also contain an explicit linkage flag.
3. UCC/EAN-128 emulation: Readers set to the UCC/EAN-128 emulation mode transmit the data encoded within the Composite symbol as if the data were encoded in one or more UCC/EAN-128 symbols.
4. Composite Component escape mechanism: a mechanism to support future applications which require data content beyond the ISO 646 subset encodable in the standard form of the EAN.UCC Composite Symbology.

EAN.UCC Symbol examples

Each EAN.UCC Composite symbol consists of a linear component and a multi-row 2D Composite Component. The 2D Composite Component is printed above the linear component at a specified location relative to the linear component and with the same X dimension as the linear component, to facilitate image processing when the Composite symbol is scanned by a 2D imager.

The linear component is one of:

1. a member of the EAN/UPC symbology (EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A, or UPC-E),
2. a member of the Reduced Space Symbology family,
3. UCC/EAN-128.

The choice of linear component determines the name of the Composite symbol, such as an EAN-13 Composite symbol, or a UCC/EAN-128 Composite symbol.

The 2D Composite Component (abbreviated as CC) is chosen based on the selected linear component, and on the amount of supplementary data to be encoded. The three EAN.UCC 2D Composite Components, listed in order of increasing maximum data capacity, are:

1. CC-A, a variant of MicroPDF417, designed for efficient encoding of supplemental application identifier data,
2. CC-B, a MicroPDF417 symbol with a codeword of 920 in the first data codeword position as a linkage flag, and denoting EAN.UCC data compaction, and
3. CC-C, a PDF417 symbol with a codeword of 920 in the first data codeword position as a linkage flag, and denoting EAN.UCC data compaction.

 

Figure 1 – An RSS Limited Composite symbol

Figure 1 illustrates an RSS Limited Composite symbol which utilizes a 4-row CC-A component as its 2D Composite Component. The CC-A component in Figure 1 encodes the expiration date and lot number (as "1701061510A123456") for the product identified by the RSS Limited component as "0113112345678906". The human-readable interpretation of the data in the symbols would be shown, if present, as "(17)010615(10)A123456" and "(01)13112345678906" respectively.

Figure 2 – A UCC/EAN-128 Composite symbol

Figure 2 illustrates a UCC/EAN-128 Composite symbol which utilizes a 5-row CC-C component as its 2D Composite Component. The CC-C component in Figure 2 encodes the lot number and deliver to location number (as "10ABCD123456<FNC1>4103898765432108") for the product identified by the UCC/EAN-128 component as "0193812345678901". The human-readable interpretation of the data in the symbols would be shown, if present, as "(10)ABCD123456(410)3898765432108" and "(01)93812345678901" respectively.

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