Composite Barcodes - TransAct Epic 3000 Programmer's Manual

Programming Codes

Composite Barcodes

GS1 Composite barcode consists of a linear component, that encodes the item's primary
data and an adjacent 2D composite component, that encodes supplementary data.
The linear component will be EAN GS1-128, EAN-8, EAN-13, UPC-A, UPC-E or any
barcode in the Databar group.
The supplementary, 2D composite component will be one of the following:
Composite Code A barcode, which is derived from the MicroPDF417
specification, for EAN-8, EAN-13, UPC-A, UPC-E, GS1 DataBar barcodes, or
Composite Code C barcode, which is derived from the PDF417 standard GS1-
128 (EAN-128) barcodes.
MicroPDF417 barcodes are assigned a specific matrix of row/column combinations. This
matrix limits the amount of data that may be encoded in 2D composites. The 2D
composites can encode up to 56 numeric characters. Alpha characters and certain
punctuation characters may also be encoded in the composite, but the maximum
number of characters that can be encoded will be reduced significantly.
The composite component is referred to as the CC component and may be encoded as
CC-A, CC-B or CC-C

CC-A: a variant of MicroPDF417

CC-B: a MicroPDF417 symbol with new encoding rules

CC-C: Composite Code C barcodes, is only used as the composite for GS1-128
and is based on PDF417 standards, can encode approximately 800 characters.
The composite portion is saved in the composite buffer. This buffer is loaded using the
composite data command and is processed as GA- data as the barcode is processed.
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