Many of you might have seen barcodes which are present on every consumer good at many places. These are nothing but labels of vertical bars and spaces having certain symbology. The labels are printed on the label using a barcode printer. Many such printers exist today and Zebra printers are one of the mostly used printers. The data is collected from these symbols through a scanner and is used to track the record of items.
Barcodes have their application in many departments including libraries, grocery stores, department stores, and hospitals. However, different types of barcodes exist based on different symbologies. We are going to know about some types of barcodes. They are:
- Numeric-only Barcodes
- Alpha-Numeric Barcodes
- Two-Dimensional Barcodes
Numeric-only Barcodes:
Numeric-only barcodes are mostly applicable in library systems, telecommunication equipment, and automated mail sorting. The European retail product code is of numeric-only barcode type. Only numbers can be encoded by the numeric-only barcodes. So the name is given as ‘Numeric-only barcodes’. Universal Product Code (UPC) is also a numeric-only barcode but has certain limitations. Some other examples of numeric-only barcodes are Interleaved 2 or 5, MSI, Code 11, Codabar,EAN-8, EAN-5, Plessey, and PostNet.
Alpha-Numeric Barcodes:
The name itself suggests that they can encode both alphabets and numerals. The U.S. Department of Defense prefer a code called Code 39. This is an alpha-numeric code that consists of five bars and two spaces. Any virtual scanner can read this code. It is a general purpose code used worldwide. Another example is Code 128 which has excellent density, high reliability, and capability. It is also used throughout the world. Some other examples include Code 39 and LOGMARS.
Two-Dimensional Barcodes:
In this type the information is stored in both horizontal and vertical ways. Code 49 is the first two-dimensional barcode used. Maxicode is another example which has a fixed length. It has been used by United Parcel Service for automated package sorting. QR Code is another 2D code that is used for material control and order confirmation. 16K, Data Code, and PDF417 are some of the examples of two-dimensional barcodes.