BarDIMM Pro & BarDIMM Box – Intelligent Barcode Printing System
©2004-2006 Jetmobile
Page 43
PDF417
The PDF417 is a high-density 2D barcode created by Symbol
Technology and now an ANSI/AIM USA standard. This barcode
is composed of a stack of rows with small black rectangles
arranged in columns. The number of rows and columns can be
user defined or set automatically to fit a ratio (2:3 is the most common ratio). PDF417
features built-in error correction capability, automatic data compression and full ASCII
and binary character sets. It can encode up to 1848 characters of information per barcode,
based on the compression level achieved.
PDF 417 supports two encoding modes: ASCII (Letters, punctuation and digits) and
Binary (any binary value between 0 and 244) modes. ASCII mode has a better data density
than the binary mode (maximum 106 versus 177 bytes per cm²) and can encode much
more data than the binary mode (maximum 1848 bytes versus 1108 bytes). BarDIMM
automatically selects the best encoding (binary or ASCII) for the supplied data.
Also, note that PDF417 has extensive error correction capabilities.
PDF417 barcodes are read with laser scanner and CCD cameras.
Number of rows (min/max):
3/90
Number of columns (min/max): 1/30
Note that
number of rows x number of columns
must be less than
929
.
Data too long to be encoded in a PDF symbol can be encoded into a series of linked
PDF417 symbols. This is called
Macro PDF417
(please read below).
There are many options for the PDF417 symbol, activated using parameters of the font-
like PCL sequence. Please read carefully the parameters descriptions in the
FONT-LIKE
PARAMETERS DESCRIPTION
chapter.
Macro PDF417
Data too long to be encoded in a PDF symbol can be encoded into a series of linked
PDF417 symbols. Macro PDF417 options are similar to the PDF417 barcode options, plus
the maximum number of PDF417 symbols per column. When that maximum is reached a
new column is created on the right of the previous column.
