CELL-DYN
®
3200 System Operator’s Manual
A-3
9140181H—October 2001
Appendix A
Bar Codes
Bar Code Types and Characteristics
The CELL-DYN 3200 System reads four types of bar code labels:
• Code 39
• Code 128
• Interleaved 2 of 5
• Codabar
Code 39
Also referred to as code 3 of 9, Code 39 encodes 43 data characters: 0-9, A-Z, six
symbols, and spaces. Every Code 39 character has five bars and four spaces. Of
these nine elements, three are wide and six are narrow, making Code 39 a two-
width code.
Code 128
Code 128 has 106 different printed characters. Each character has three bars and
three spaces comprising 11 modules. Each printed character can have one of three
different meanings, depending on which of three different character sets is used.
Three different start characters tell the reader which of the character sets is initially
being used, and three shift codes permit changing the character set inside a symbol.
Interleaved 2 of 5
Interleaved 2 of 5 encodes the 10 numeric digits 0-9. The name is derived from the
method used to encode two characters that are paired together. Bars represent the
first character, and the interleaved spaces represent the second character. Each
character has two wide elements and three narrow elements, for a total of five
elements.
Codabar
Codabar uses four bars and three spaces to represent the 10 numeric digits 0-9 and
certain special characters. The code is characterized by four unique start/stop codes
and variable intercharacter spacing.
