Code 3 Of 9 Character (Byte) And Bit Allocation - Pitney Bowes FastPac DI900 Manuallines

3 • Barcode Theory
Barcode
3 of 9
Symbology
3-4

Code 3 of 9 Character (Byte) and Bit Allocation

• We start counting characters from the left with character (byte) 1. The start
and stop characters in Code 3 of 9 are not counted. It does not matter which
end of the barcode the scanner sees first, it reads the same either way.
Characters (bytes) for Code 39 (maximum shown)
Start Byte -> 0 1
(ignored)
• Within a Code 3 of 9 character the most significant bit is counted as bit 4 and
the least significant bit is bit 0. *Note that Code 3 of 9 uses the 6th bit (bit 5)
only to accommodate additional ASCII binary digits needed for counting with
multi-bit functions for bases above 32 (see Appendix A - Base Code Theory).
Ignored
Bit 7 6
Function
(examples)
2 3 4 5 6 7
Code 3 of 9 One Character (byte)
MSB
5* 4 3 2
EOC STP DVF
8 9 10 11 12 13 <-Stop Byte
(ignored)
LSB
1 0
SF1 EOC
SV61314 Rev. A