Codabar

Codabar is a linear barcode symbology developed in 1972 by Pitney Bowes Corp. It and its variants are also known as Codeabar, Ames Code, NW-7, Monarch, Code 2 of 7, Rationalized Codabar, ANSI/AIM BC3-1995 or USD-4. Although Codabar has not been registered for United States federal trademark status, its hyphenated variant, Code-a-bar, is a registered trademark.

Codabar was designed to be accurately read even when printed on dot matrix printers for multi-part forms such as FedEx airbills and blood bank forms, where variants are still in use as of 2007. Besides that, in the healthcare industry, Codabar is very important for identifying patients and tracking samples. Laboratories also use Codabar to track specimen tubes. In logistics, Codabar is often used for labeling packages and tracking shipments. Its design allows for quick and efficient scanning, enabling the identification of packages at multiple stages of the shipping process. Although newer symbologies hold more information in a smaller space, Codabar has a large installed base in libraries. It is even possible to print Codabar codes using typewriter-like impact printers, which allows the creation of many codes with consecutive numbers without having to use computer equipment. After each printed code, the printer's stamp is mechanically turned to the next number, as for example in mechanical mile counters.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.