Barcode Technology - UPC-A Barcode               Hide the description

The Universal Product Code (UPC) is a barcode symbology that is widely used in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries for tracking trade items in stores.

Valid characters:  0123456789

UPC-A is one of the many barcode formats currently in use.

A Barcode is a method of representing data in a visual, machine-readable form.

The barcode formats has two categories:

One-dimensional (1D) --- Barcodes represented data by varying the widths and spacings of parallel lines.

Two-dimensional (2D) --- Using rectangles, dots, hexagons and other geometric patterns to represented data.

UPC-A consists of 12 numeric digits that are uniquely assigned to each trade item. It is also called UPC 12 and is very

similar to the EAN code. Along with the related EAN barcode, the UPC is the barcode mainly used for scanning of trade items at the point of sale, per GS1 specifications. UPC data structures are a component of GTINs and follow the global GS1 specification, which is based on international standards. But some retailers (clothing, furniture) do not use the GS1 system (rather other barcode symbologies or article number systems). On the other hand, some retailers use the EAN/UPC barcode symbology, but without using a GTIN (for products sold in their own stores only).

UPC-A is a subset of EAN-13; in reality, an UPC-A bar code is an EAN-13 bar code with the first EAN-13 number system

digit set to "0". This means that any hardware or software capable of reading EAN-13 is automatically capable of reading UPC-A.

NOTE: The UCC Council has announced that as of January 1, 2005, all products must be labeled with EAN-13. More

correctly said, all decoding and related database systems must be able to handle EAN-13 by this date. Thus when developing your system it is best to implement EAN-13. By implementiong EAN-13 you will automatically be implementing UPC-A, but will be ready when the transition to EAN-13 is complete at the beginning of 2005.

Formatting: UPC-A barcodes can be printed at various densities to accommodate a variety of printing and scanning

processes.The x-dimension for the UPC-A at the nominal size is 0.33 mm (0.013"). Nominal symbol height for UPC-A is 25.9 mm (1.02"). The bars forming the S (start), M (middle), and E (end) guard patterns, are extended downwards by 5 times x-dimension, with a resulting nominal symbol height of 27.55 mm (1.08"). This also applies to the bars of the first and last numerical digit of UPC-A barcode. UPC-A can be reduced or magnified anywhere from 80% to 200%.A quiet zone, with a width of at least 9 times the x-dimension, must be present on each side of the scannable area of the UPC-A barcode.

Numbering of UPC-A :

(10 possible values per left digit ^ 6 left digits) × (10 possible values per right digit ^ 5 right digits) = 100,000,000,000.

Check digit calculation:

The UPC includes a check digit to detect common data entry errors.
The UPC-A check digit may be calculated as follows:
Sum the digits at odd-numbered positions (first, third, fifth,..., eleventh).
Multiply the result by 3.
Add the digit sum at even-numbered positions (second, fourth, sixth,..., tenth) to the result.
Find the result modulo 10 (i.e. the remainder, when divided by 10) and call it M.
If M is zero, then the check digit is 0; otherwise the check digit is 10 − M.
For example, in a UPC-A barcode "03600029145x12", where x12 is the unknown check digit, x12 may be calculated by:
Sum the odd-numbered digits (0 + 6 + 0 + 2 + 1 + 5 = 14).
Multiply the result by 3 (14 × 3 = 42).
Add the even-numbered digits (42 + (3 + 0 + 0 + 9 + 4) = 58).
Find the result modulo 10 (58 mod 10 = 8 = M).
If M is not 0, subtract M from 10 (10 − M = 10 − 8 = 2).
Thus, the check digit x12 is 2.
UPC-A can detect 100% of single digit errors.

Variations:

UPC in its most common usage technically refers to UPC-A.
Other variants of the UPC exist:
UPC-B is a 12-digit version of UPC with no check digit, developed for the National Drug Code (NDC) and National Health Related Items Code.[failed verification] It has 11 digits plus a 1-digit product code, and is not in common use.
UPC-C is a 12-digit code with a product code and a check digit; not in common use.
UPC-D is a variable length code (12 digits or more) with the 12th digit being the check digit. These versions are not in common use.
UPC-E is a 6-digit code, that has its equivalent in UPC-A 12-digit code with number system 0 or 1.
UPC-2 is a 2-digit supplement to the UPC used to indicate the edition of a magazine or periodical.
UPC-5 is a 5-digit supplement to the UPC used to indicate suggested retail price for books.

Human Readable:

Most barcodes display their corresponding values below them, which makes it possible to human read and manually  enter the barcode values into the equivalent system when the barcode label is worn out and cannot be read by the barcode scanner.

Advantages:

It's not required to label all articles with the price. The price is stored in the database and can be accessed via the barcode number. There is no need to manually calculate the price of the product. You only need to use the POST system to scan the EAN barcode on each product purchased by a customer. Because each product has its own unique EAN number, the POST system can get the corresponding price of each product in the database and calculate the total amount. It is fast and safe because there is no way to make a mistake.

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