Hand Held Products Quick Check Bar Code Verifiers 800 User Manual

Contents

Quick Check® 600/800 Series User’s Guide 6 - 16 Background InformationGeneral Bar Code InformationBar code technology allows you to get information into a computer much moreaccurately than keying. Quick Check 600/800 Verifiers measure the quality ofthe bar code symbols to ensure the proper information is encoded and can beread. This instrument is both a quick, easy-to-use pass/fail tester for bar codesymbols and a powerful measuring tool for detailed testing of these samesymbols. You can set your verifier to use either traditional or ISO/IECparameters to analyze bar code symbols. The quality information from theverifier is presented through an easy-to-read liquid crystal display (LCD), lightemitting diodes (LEDs), audible tones and printouts.Bar code symbols consist of a series of parallel, adjacent bars and spaces. Datais encoded in the width patterns of the symbol. These patterns, when interfacedwith computer software, provide a large amount of information. Bar codesystems offer a high degree of confidence that data entry is accurate. Thesubstitution error rate, the rate at which a character may contain an error, is verylow. The first read rate, the probability (percentage) that an attempt to input datawill result in data being captured on the first attempt, is very high.Bar code technology dates back to the 1960s and early 1970s, but did not comeinto widespread use as we know it today until the later 1970s. Retailapplications, primarily grocery stores, saw the need for automatic identificationtechnology and pushed development ahead. As many other industries began totake advantage of bar code technology, they often needed to develop their ownsymbology, or type of bar code, with unique specifications and standards.Depending on the data that needs to be recorded, several different symbologiescan be used. Communication cannot occur unless the reading and printing toolsuse a compatible symbology.The symbologies tested by the verifier include:• EAN/UPC• Code 39• Interleaved 2 of 5• Code 128• Code 93• Codabar• Code 11• Code 16K• Code 49• MSI Code