Composite bar codes
58
• Right-hand guard bars, encoded as 010101 (a center-guard bar pattern with a trailing
bar).
UPC-E uses the "left-hand odd" and "left-hand even" encoding character sets from the
EAN-13 encoding standard.
It doesn't have a check digit encoded explicitly, but the check digit is encoded in the parity of
the other six characters. This check digit is the check digit from the original UPCA barcode.
UPC-E may only be used if the number system is 0 or 1. The characters are encoded with
odd and even parity from the left-hand columns of the EAN-13 character. The parity used for
each character depends on the number system (0 or 1) and the check digit from the original
UPC-A barcode.
3 EAN-8 (including +2 and +5 variants)
EAN-8 is the EAN equivalent of UPC-E in the sense that it provides a "short" bar code for
small packages. It is shorter than an EAN-13 bar code, but somewhat longer than an UPC-E
bar code. EAN-8 explicitly encodes all eight digits; the parity of the digits carries no particular
significance, thus, EAN-8 has absolutely no compatibility with UPC-E.
An EAN-8 bar code is a 2- or 3-digit number system code followed by a 4- or 5-digit product
code. The EAN-8 product codes are assigned directly by the numbering authority. This has
the advantage that any company can request an EAN-8 code regardless of its EAN-13
manufacturer or product code. It has the disadvantage that the EAN-8 codes must be stored
in each database as a separate product since there is no way to translate an EAN-8 code to
an EAN-13 equivalent.
An EAN-8 bar code has the following physical structure:
a Left-hand guard bars, or start sentinel, encoded as 101.
b Two number system characters, encoded as left-hand odd-parity characters.
c First two message characters, encoded as left-hand odd-parity characters.
Check Character Number System 0 Encoding Number System 1 Encoding
0 EEEOOO OOOEEE
1 EEOEOO OOEOEE
2 EEOOEO OOEEOE
3 EEOOOE OOEEEO
4 EOEEOO OEOOEE
5 EOOEEO OEEOOE
6 EOOOEE OEEEOO
7 EOEOEO OEOEOE
8 EOEOOE OEOEEO
9 EOOEOE OEEOEO
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