90 N3680 Decoded Engine User Guide
ISBT 128 Concatenation
In 1994 the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) ratified a standard 
for communicating critical blood information in a uniform manner. The use of ISBT 
formats requires a paid license. The ISBT 128 Application Specification describes 
1) the critical data elements for labeling blood products, 2) the current recommen-
dation to use Code 128 due to its high degree of security and its space-efficient 
design, 3) a variation of Code 128 that supports concatenation of neighboring 
symbols, and 4) the standard layout for bar codes on a blood product label. Use the 
bar codes below to turn concatenation on or off. Default =Off.
Code 128 Message Length
Scan the bar codes below to change the message length. Refer to Message Length 
Description (page 76) for additional information. Minimum and Maximum lengths 
= 0-80.  Minimum Default = 0, Maximum Default = 80.
Code 128 Append
This function allows the scanner to append the data from several Code 128 bar 
codes together before transmitting them to the host computer. When the scanner 
encounters a Code 128 bar code with the append trigger character(s), it buffers 
Code 128 bar codes until it reads a Code 128 bar code that does not have the 
append trigger. The data is then transmitted in the order in which the bar codes 
were read (FIFO). Default = On.